Financial markets in u.K for the morrison plc. - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 13 Words: 3945 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Narrative essay Did you like this example? Executive Summary: The following assignment focuses on the financial analysis of the annual reports and the effects of the developments and the downturn in the financial markets in U.K for the Morrison Plc. This assignment talks about the financial condition of Morrison plc in London in last few years. In order to analyze the financial statements we have used different financial tools such as ratio analysis to examine the financial condition of the company. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Financial markets in u.K for the morrison plc." essay for you Create order The recession has hit the worlds economy in last few years and had varying degree of effects on the economies of the companies. Some companies were able to cope up and some lost their financial stability. Companies tried various means such as cost cutting in order to cope up with the financial distress. This assignment talks about the financial condition of the Morrison plc after the global recessional hit. It also talks about the various measures or strategies adopted by the Morrison to overcome the recession. Discussion also includes ratio analysis of Morrison plc in UK and comparing it with its competitor Sainsbury. Introduction The food retail industry is one of the fastest and the biggest growing industry in UK with lots of competition over the price and the quality of the products due to presence of lots of competitors providing the service. Few of the major players of this industry in UK market are Sainsbury, Tesco, Morrison and Asda. Morrison was founded by William Morrison in 1899 in west Yorkshire in England. He started the business with a small stall in the Bradford market and has grown with time to become a giant player in food retail industry of UK. Morrison started its market operations and continued them for a long time in North of England. In the year 2004 Morrison acquired Safeway and expanded its market operations to southern England. Morrison plc is the UKs fourth largest retailer with 425 stores across Britain and focuses on food and grocery. They source and process fresh food and meat through their own manufacturing units giving them more control over the quality of their products. It has more than 100 years of experience in supermarket business. Approximately nine million customers visit their stores each day and they have around 124,000 colleagues to take care of their customers. It has its warehouses and plants both in UK and abroad to take care of its demand and supply requirement. Some of the subsidiaries of Morrison plc are- Farmers boy limited Neerock limited Safeway limited Rathbone kear limited Optimization developments limited Bos brothers fruit and vegetables Farock insurance company limited Optimization developments limited On Jan 28, 2010: Loblaw joined as COO in Morrison and on Jan 27, 2010 it appointed a new Non-Executive Director. On Jan 27, 2010 it had new chief executive to its Board. Morrison plc received Red Tractor certification for fresh meats on March 03,2010. On Feb 25, 2010: Morrison joined Zetes wireless IT solution. Morrison showed an increase in the group turnover, earning before tax, earning per share and total dividend per share for the fiscal year 2010 as compared to 2009.these financial highlights shows that the overall performance was good for the company as well as for the share holders but it showed an increase in net debt in 2010 with respect to previous year which is a negative factor for its financial stability. The strategy and vision of the company is to become â€Å"food specialist for everyone†. With this simple mission and vision the company has focused on the quality and the service for their products through their own manufacturing and distribution system which has proved efficient enough for the positive financial growth of the company during the last few years. Morrison market share has also showed an increase during the last four years with 11.9% in 2007 and increasing to 12.6% in 2010. Morrison share of grocers UK 2010 is 12.6% as compared to Tesco, Asda and Sainsburys (combined) 63.5%, Premium (combined) 5.8% and discounters and others (combined) 18.1%. Recently Morrison is working on making use of digital technology for the marketing purpose by developing a mobile enabled website and applications for the I-Phone due to growing use of Smart phones and mobile phones for the shopping purpose. Analysis and Evaluation Financial analysis can be defined as study of the working of an organization in order to plan, budget, monitor, forecast and improve the financials of an organization. Financial Analysis can also be defined as the study of the balance sheet and the profit and loss account in order to relate them in such a way to conclude the financial strengths and weaknesses of the firm. Financial analysis of a company helps in decision making as it gives various information about the firm such as:- firms long-term debt commitment shareholder return financial distress market share growth rate etc All this information helps in doing future forecasts for the company. Financial analysis of a company gives the following information about the business of the company: A profitability of the business B ability to pay the bills or debts C efficient use of assets D dividend per share etc The study and analysis of financial statements of a company is useful for:- Investors Managers Employees Suppliers and creditors Government agencies Public Environmental groups Researchers (academic and professional) Customers Lenders Financial analysts Tools and Techniques of Financial Statement Analysis: Horizontal and Vertical Analysis Ratio Analysis 1 Horizontal Analysis Analyzing the financial statements of a company for two or more years and comparing them. For example: the sales for the year 2010 were 20 million pounds, 30 million pounds in 2011 and so on. In percentage it can be calculated as 30-20/20 * 100=50% increase for 2011 Vertical analysis- This analysis is usually carried out on the PL account and the balance sheet. The figures in the statements are calculated as the percentage of total amount. For example: if trade debtors were 20m pounds and balance sheet total was 50m pounds in 2011 and for 2012 it was 40m pounds and 80m pounds respectively. Debtors can be expressed in percentage of balance sheet total as for 2011 , 40%of the balance sheet total(20*100/50=40%) and similarly for 2012 , 50% of balance sheet total. 2 Ratio Analysis It is most widely used and powerful tool for the analysis of financial statements. It is done by expressing one term in terms of another. Ratio analysis can be used to a nalyse the financial statements in order to examine the strength and weakness and the past and present performance and financial conditioned can be interpreted. Top of Form Bottom of Form Profitability Ratios: Profitability ratios can be defined as the evaluation of the total output produced or the performance efficiency of the company. As the name suggests, profitability ratios are concerned with the efficiency of a business in achieving its targets and generating profits or returns on the invested capital. So profitability ratios are one of the financial analytical tools by means of which we can judge the ability of a business to generate profits or earnings with respect to the expense met with the business. They measure the firms performance by comparing the profits produced by the firm with the size. Assets and the sales made by the firm. There are different types of profitability ratios as follows: 1 Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) as the name suggests this ratio is a measure of the return or the gain that a company gets by investing its finance and resources. It can be defined as the percentage of return with respect to the capital employed. Formula:- ROCE = [profit before interest and tax/capital employed] x100 For the Morrison plc measure of ROCE ratio is stated below for the years 2007- 2009:- In 2007 (369/3927) x100=9.39 In 2008- (612/4378) x100=13.97 In 2009- (655/4520) x100=14.49 2007 2008 2009 9.39 13.97 14.49 The above data shows that there is an increase in ROCE over the years for Morrison plc which shows that the return on capital employed has shown an improvement over the years which is a good symbol for the success of the business. 2 Net Profit Margin- it can be defined as the amount of profit a company makes from every pound of the total revenue it produce or sales it makes. Its good for the company to have more net profit margin as compared to its rivals. Formula: Net Profit Margin= [profit before interest and tax/sales or turnover] x100 For the Morrison plc measure of net profit margin ratio is stated below for the years 2007- 2009:- In 2007 (369/11826) x100=3.12 In 2008- (612/12151) x100=5.03 In 2009- (655/13615) x100=4.81 2007 2008 2009 3.12 5.03 4.81 The above data shows that the net profit margin shows an increase from 2007 to 2008 but then gradually decreased in 2009.This shows that the performance has gone down with respect to the profit the company has made in the previous year. 3 Net Asset Turnovers- It can be defined as the measure of how capable the management of a firm is in producing returns by the best and optimal utilization of firms net assets. If this ratio is very large it signifies very low investment while if the ratio is very small it signifies inept management. Formula: sales or turnover/capital employed For the Morrison plc measure of net asset turnover ratio is stated below for the years 2007- 2009:- In 2007 11826/3927=3.01 In 2008- 12151/4378=2.77 In 2009- 13615/4520=3.01 2007 2008 2009 3.01 2.77 3.01 4 Gross Profit Margin- The gross profit margin ratio can be defined as the amount of profit a firm can produce with respect to the cost of sales, or cost of goods sold. We can also state it as the amount of gross profit a company makes compared to each 1 pound of the total turnover a business is able to make. Gross profit is the amount of profit we get before we deduct any cost of administration, sales etc. thus its good if net profit margin is lower then the gross profit margin. Formula- [gross profit/sales or turnover] x100 For the Morrison plc measure of gross profit margin ratio is stated below for the years 2007- 2009:- In 2007 (636/11826) x100=5.37 In 2008- (818/12151) x100=6.73 In 2009- (913/13615) x100=6.70 2007 2008 2009 5.37 6.73 6.70 From the study of above data we have seen that the gross profit margin in higher than the net profit margin for Morrison plc over the years 2007,2008 and 2009 which is good for the financial condition of the company. Activity ratios- it can be defined as how actively or quickly a company is able to change the assets into sales or cash. Different types of activity ratios are as follows: 1 Stock days or stock turnover- it can be defined as the measure of the amount of time a company needs to convert its stock into sales. The lesser is the stock days or stock turnover, lower is the cost incurred by the company in holding stock. Formula- [stock or inventory/cost of sales] x365 For the Morrison plc stock days or stock turnover ratio is stated below for the years 2007- 2009:- In 2007 (368/11826) x365=11 days In 2008- (442/12151) x365=13 days In 2009- (494/13615) x365=13 days 2007 2008 2009 11 days 13 days 13 days It has gradually increased from the year 2007 to 2008 and then remained constant. Company should work on plans to be able to make it as small as it can to incur the minimum cost for holding the stock. 2 Fixed Asset Turnover- It can be defined as the sales produced from the fixed assets of a company. Formula- sales or turnover/fixed assets For the Morrison plc fixed asset turnover ratio is stated below for the years 2007- 2009:- In 2007 12462/6605=1.8 In 2008- 12969/6726=1.9 In 2009- 14528/7160= 2.02 2007 2008 2009 1.8 1.9 2.02 3 sales/net current assets- this ratio indicates the level of working capital required for a given level of sales while analyzing the financial statements.A reduction in this ratio is a negative sign, signifying that company may have slowed production, lessening the quantity of stock Formula- sales or turnover/net current assets For the Morrison plc sales/net current assets ratio is stated below for the years 2007- 2009:- In 2007 12462/766=16.26 times In 2008- 12969/910=14.25 times In 2009- 14528/1066=13.62 times 2007 2008 2009 16.26 14.25 13.62 From the above data we can see that the sales/net current assets ratio has decreased during the years 2007, 2008, 2009, which is a negative sign. Liquidity Ratios- It can be defined as one of the financial analytical toolthatis usedto determine a companys ability to disburse itsshort-terms debts obligations. Different types of liquidity ratios are as follows- 1 current ratio- it can be defined as the measure of the capability of a company to fulfill its financial obligations that are outstanding. It is also called as â€Å"Liquidity Ratio†, â€Å"current asset ratio† and â€Å"cash ratio†. Higher is the current ratio better it is because it shows that the company has higher degree of ability to fulfill its short-term debt obligation that is falling due. Formula- current assets/current liabilities For the Morrison plc current ratio is stated below for the years 2007- 2009:- In 2007 766/1855=0.41 In 2008- 910/1853=0.49 In 2009- 10 66/2024=0.52 2007 2008 2009 0.41 0.49 0.52 From the above data we can see that the current ratio has shown an increasing trend for the financial years 2007, 2008 and 2009 in Morrison plc which is good as it indicates that the companys ability to fulfill its short term debts and obligations has increased over the years. 2 Quick ratio this ratio can be defined as the measure of the liquidity of a company. It is the capability of a firm to meet its debts, liabilities and obligations. It is also known as â€Å"acid test ratio†. This ratio can be derived by lessening stock from the current assets and then dividing by current liabilities. Quick ratio is an indicator of the financial strength and weakness of a company (more is the value of this ratio means stronger the firm is and lower value signifies that the company is weak). Formula- current assets less stocks/current liabilities For the Morrison plc quick ratio is stated below for the years 2007- 2009:- In 2007 (766-368)/1855=0.21 In 2008- (910 -442)/1853=0.25 In 2009- (1066-494)/2024=0.28 2007 2008 2009 0.21 0.25 0.28 From the above data we can see that the quick ratio has shown a gradual increase over the financial years 2007, 2008 and 2009 which is a good signal as higher is the value if quick ratio indicates that the firm is financially strong. CALCULATIONS FOR THE RATIO ANALYSIS OF SAINSBURY:- ROCE For the Sainsbury plc measure of ROCE ratio is stated below for the years 2007- 2009:- In 2007 (477/3762) x100=12.67 In 2008- (479/3716) x100=12.89 In 2009- (466/3826) x100=12.17 Net profit margin For the Sainsbury plc measure of net profit margin ratio is stated below for the years 2007- 2009:- In 2007 (477/15979) x100=2.98 In 2008- (479/16835) x100=2.84 In 2009- (466/17875) x100=2.60 Net asset turnover For the Sainsbury plc measure of net asset turnover ratio is stated below for the years 2007- 2009:- In 2007 15979/3762=4.24 In 2008- 16835/3716=4.53 In 2009- 17875/3826=4.67 Gross profit margin For the Sainsbury plc measure of gross profit margin ratio is stated below for the years 2007- 2009:- In 2007 (1172/15979) x100=7.33 In 2008- (1002/16835) x100=5.95 In 2009- (1036/17875) x100=5.79 Stock days or stock turnover ratio For the Sainsbury plc measure of stock days or stock turnover ratio is stated below for t he years 2007- 2009:- In 2007 (590/15979) x365=13 days In 2008- (681/16835) x365=15 days In 2009- (689/17875) x365=14 days Effects and Development This is a world of globalization and every business wants to expand its reach outside the territories of its own country in order to explore new markets and customers and earn more money. Global recession is the most talked and topic of major concern for all the businesses worldwide. Global recession has hit the markets world wide adversely affecting the businesses of every trade. It all started in United States due to various reasons such as downfall in the house prices, deficiency or unavailability of finance resulting in credit crunch, inflation causing reduction in incomes earned and disposed etc. Global recession entered the territories of most of the countries worldwide affecting their economies and brought a downturn as we have seen in 2008-2009. The global recession caused a lot of problems such as- Inflation-the prices of the commodities and products and other supplies started rising causing a problem for the buyers. Downfall in the wages and salaries People were thrown out of jobs by the companies in order to cut the cost. Due to downfall in income earned their was a downfall in the disposable incomes of the consumers which resulted in a vicious circle and inturn continued in adversely effecting the growth and stability of economies and markets of the countries. The global recession also affected the markets of UK bringing downturn in the economy of the country as seen from 2008-2009 and the conditions are now improving and expected to improve more in upcoming years. The UK labor market- The changes in the UK labor market were first observed in the second quarter of 2008.it was seen that their was a 3.6% increase in claimant count,5.6% decrease in vacancy levels and 14% increase in redundancy level with respect to the previous quarter. There was a fall of 0.3% in the employment levels and 0.4% fall in workforce jobs in third quarter of 2008. The unemployment rate in UK was recorded as 5.8% for consecutive three months in 2008.it resulted in downfall of disposable income as people tried to cut down their expenses. Disposable income- the increasing unemployment and inflation and due to the fall in the incomes earned, there was a downfall recorded in the amount of disposable income of the consumers by the recessional hit during the years 2008-2009. Inflation-As per the national statistics online, an annual inflation rate of 4.5% was recorded in October 2008.it was observed that the rise in the cost of fuels and lubricants in 2008 which later fell down in 2009 had adversely affected the consumer price index. Interest rate- The interest rate fall from 4.5% in October 2008 to 1.1% in September 2009.it made it easier for people to borrow money due to less interest rate. Savings were reduced due to low interest rate. The weakening of currency made imports costing more for UK. The graph below explains the interest rate in UK Exchange rate-the UK exchange rate decreased from 2008-2009 due to the recessional hit and the weakening of currency. This made the imports more difficult for UK. The currency kept on weakening recording the all time low of 1.0219 GBP in December, 2009. The recession showed hard times to companies. Morrison was able to continue its strong growth rate of 7.8 percent from the year 2007.though the UK market was under recession but the Morrison was able to continue its trend of attracting and indulging large customers to buy they products. The Morrisons product prices were hit by inflation. During duration of 24 months company was able to have 1.1 million customers visiting its stores every week drawn through the customers of all the other strong competitors in the supermarket industry. Morrison thinks that it will be able to carry on its ability to attract more customers to visit their stores in the time to come. The downturn in the economy had adverse effects on the prices which were inflated and customers had to bear this entire problem. Morrison at the same time tried to convince and attract more customers by emphasizing and focusing on the value of their products for its customers. Morrison is a manufacturer and a retailer and this helped the Morrison to compete and survive in the bad times of downturn in the economy. Morrison was able to offer very competitive prices and attractive offers on its products backed up by its strong promotion helped the Morrison to attract the customers. Due to its own manufacturing Morrison was able to provide fresh items to its customers from its own manufacturing facility which its competitors were lagging in. It was able to enjoy its competence of providing fresh products to its customers but at the same time Morrison also focused on the quality of its products. It got the advantage of being the single giant retailer in UK to provide 100 percent British beef, poultry, lamb and pork. Customers were really convinced with the Morrisons policy which was in favor of and promoting the use of British farming and its focus of providing the fresh products with British standards to its customers. It was observed that Morrison was able to attract more customers as compared to its competitors during the Christmas as said by the chief executive officer of Morrison Marc Bolland. The Morrison was able to sho w a strong growth figure of 9 percents which was recorder to be highest when compared to the other four leading players in the supermarket industry of UK. COMPARISON Morrison Sainsbury Return on capital employed (ROCE) 14.49 12.17 Net profit margin 4.81 2.60 Net asset turnover 3.01 4.67 Gross profit margin 6.70 5.79 Stock days or stock turnover ratio 13 days 14 days Current ratio 0.52 0.66 Quick ratio 0.28 0.31 Ratio analysis carried on Morrison and Sainsbury for the financial year 2009 In the above table we have shown some ratios for Morrison plc and Sainsbury for the financial year 2009.it can be seen that the return on capital invested(ROCE) ratio is high in case of Morrison. So Morrison has good return on the amount of capital employed. This is positive for the performance of Morrison. The net profit margin of Morrison is more than Sainsbury which means that Morrison has made more profits than Sainsbury with respect to their turnovers respectively. The net asset turnover ratio of Sainsbury is more than Morrison, which means Sainsbury has made low investments and the Morrison, have inept management of its resources. Stock turnover ratio of Morrison is less than Sainsbury which is good for its performance as Morrison is taking less time to sell its stock and convert it into capital. The current ratio of Sainsbury is more than Morrison, which means Sainsbury has more abi lity to fulfill its short term debts. The quick ratio of Sainsbury is also higher than Morrison, which means Sainsbury has more financial strength than Morrison. Similarly we can interpret and compare the results of the financial performance of Sainsbury and Morrison for the past two years 2007 and 2008 from the data shown in the tables below. Ratio analysis carried on Morrison and Sainsbury for the financial year 2008 MORRISON SAINSBURY Return on capital employed (ROCE) 13.97 12.89 Net profit margin 5.03 2.84 Net asset turnover 2.77 4.53 Gross profit margin 6.73 5.95 Stock days or stock turnover ratio 13 days 15 days Current ratio 0.49 0.71 Quick ratio 0.25 0.40 Ratio analysis carried on Morrison and Sainsbury for the financial year 2007 MORRISON SAINSBURY Return on capital employed (ROCE) 9.39 12.67 Net profit margin 3.12 2.98 Net asset turnover 3.01 4.24 Gross profit margin 5.37 7.33 Stock days or stock turnover ratio 11 days 13 days Current ratio 0.41 0.80 Quick ratio 0.21 0.50 RECOMMENDATIONS- Morrison should plan to work on adding non food products to their product category instead of just focusing on being food specialist in order to cope up and compete with the other rivals in the supermarket industry in UK such as Tesco, Asda etc. Morrison should focus on how to analyze its financial statements and take necessary steps and changes in order to make optimal use of its finance and other resources and to manage the capital and its liabilities efficiently. this is a digital age and thus digital technology plays an important role in the marketing of products. Thus Morrison should lay emphasis on making use of digital technology such as online shopping and make it user friendly with all the range of its products in order to attract more customers and earn more profit. Morrison should focus on providing best delivery and customer service in order to pace up with the other players in this industry CONCLUSIONS- Morrison is able to manage the entities linked with the business such as creditors and debtors effectively and efficiently Morrison had acquired Safeway limited in 2004.it resulted in merger reserve, which is a reserve in the balance sheet of the firm. The directors of Morrison think that this reserve is not for distribution and rather it will be regarded as capital reserve Morrison had made donations to the charitable institutes and for the charity purpose amounting a total of 1.18 million pounds Morrisons financial statement shows a strong flow of cash

Prediction Of Product Sales Based On Online Customer...

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A Look At Muslim Empires Free Essays

The Muslim community is known to have been under the influence of three major empires: the Ottoman Empire, The Safavids and the Grandeur of the Mughals. Let us take a close look at these three empires and try to identify in which areas are they the same and how they specifically support the Muslim’s view of the world. First of is the Ottoman Empire. We will write a custom essay sample on A Look At Muslim Empires or any similar topic only for you Order Now The Ottoman Empire also known in the West as the Turkish Empire, existed from 1299 to 1923. Osman I is regarded as the founder of the Ottoman Empire. He gave the name â€Å"Ottoman† to the Ottoman State and declared its independence, becoming the first Bey. He extended the frontiers of Ottoman settlement towards the Byzantine Empire, while other Turkish beyliks suffered from internal fighting. Under Osman I, the Ottoman capital moved to Bursa. It was in this period that a formal Ottoman government was created; its institutions would remain for nearly four centuries before being reformed. In contrast to many contemporary states, the Ottoman bureaucracy tried to avoid military rule, (see: millet). Although the Empire was primarily a military state, its civics and economy did not reflect a policy of aggression. The expansionist policies of the Ottoman Empire were not undertaken with the aim of destruction, but with the goal of Ottoman settlement in the area. The strategic conquest of Constantinople became a crucial objective for Ottoman rule to extend over the Eastern Mediterranean and Balkans. In 1389, the Ottoman victory at the Battle of Kosovo effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, and paved the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe. The Mughal Empire, on the other hand, was an empire that at its greatest territorial extent ruled most of the Indian subcontinent, then known as Hindustan, and parts of what is now Afghanistan and the Balochistan region. It was established in 1526, enjoyed expansion and consolidation until about 1707 and survived, even if in drastically attenuated form, until 1857. The empire was founded by the Timurid leader Babur in 1526, when he defeated Ibrahim Lodi, the last of the Delhi Sultans at the First Battle of Panipat. Mughal is the Persian word for Mongol. The Mughal rulers were adherents of Islam. The Mughal ruling class was Muslims, although most of the subjects of the Empire were Hindu. Although Babur founded the Empire, the dynasty remained unstable (and was even exiled) until the reign of Akbar, who was not only of liberal disposition but also intimately acquainted, since birth, with the mores and traditions of India. Under Akbar’s rule, the court abolished the jizya (the poll-tax on non-Muslims) and abandoned use of the lunar Muslim calendar in favor of a solar calendar more useful for agriculture. One of Akbar’s most unusual ideas regarding religion was Din-i-Ilahi (â€Å"Faith-of-God† in English), which was an eclectic mix of Hinduism, versions of Sufi Islam, Zoroastrianism and Christianity. It was proclaimed the state religion until his death. These actions however met with stiff opposition from the Muslim clergy. The Safavids were a native Iranian dynasty from Iranian Azarbaijan that ruled from 1501 to 1736, and which established Shi’a Islam as Iran’s official religion and united its provinces under a single Iranian sovereignty, thereby reigniting the Persian identity and acting as a bridge to modern Iran. Even though Safavids were not the first Shia rulers in Iran they were played most crucial role in making the Shia official religion in the whole of Iran. There were large Shia communities in some cities like Qom and Sabzevar as early as 8th century. In the 10th and 11th centuries the Buwayhids who were of Zeydi a branch of Shi’ism ruled in Fars, Isfahan and Baghdad. As a result of Mongol conquest, and relative religious tolerance of Ilhanids, Shia dynasties were re-established in Iran – Sarbedaran in Khorasan being the most important. ShahOljeitu – the sultan of Ilkhanate converted to Twelver Shiism in 13th century, however the population of Iran stayed largely Sunni until Safavid period. These three empires dominated the Middle East during early 16th to 17th century and all of them played a crucial role in establishing the religion for each of their occupied areas. The leaders of these empires are said to have been chosen by Divine intervention and claimed to have been sent by God or Allah to rule over the land. In addition, the growth of these three empires was interrupted with wars from one another or other empires in the region. In terms of influence on the rest of the world, the main mughal contribution to the south Asia was their unique architecture. Many monuments were built during the mughal era including the Taj Mahal. Meantime, examples of Ottoman architecture of the classical period, aside from Istanbul and Edirne, can also be seen in Egypt, Eritrea, Tunisia, A On the other hand, handicrafts such as tilemaking, pottery and textiles developed during the Safavid dynasty and great advances were made in miniature painting, bookbinding, decoration and calligraphy – which still can be seen in Modern European art circles. As for promoting Muslim views, it must be said that the Ottoman Empire was, in a broad sense, tolerant towards its non-Muslim subjects; it did not, for instance, forcibly convert all of them to Islam. The sultans took their primary duty to be service to the interests of the state, which could not survive without taxes and a strong administrative system. The state’s relationship with the Greek Orthodox Church, for example, was largely peaceful, and the church’s structure was kept intact and largely left alone but under close control and scrutiny until the Greek War of Independence of 1821–1831 and, later in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the rise of the Ottoman constitutional monarchy, which was driven to some extent by nationalistic currents. Other churches, like the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, were dissolved and placed under the jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Church. On the other hand, the empire often served as a refuge for the persecuted and exiled Jews of Europe; for example, following the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, Sultan Beyazid II welcomed them into Ottoman lands. Shia is the ruling religion during the Safavid dynasty and there was no written record of their support to the Muslim community. On the other hand, the Mughal ruling class were Muslims, although most of the subjects of the Empire were Hindu. Although Babur founded the Empire, the dynasty remained unstable (and was even exiled) until the reign of Akbar, who was not only of liberal disposition but also intimately acquainted, since birth, with the mores and traditions of India. Under Akbar’s rule, the court abolished the jizya (the poll-tax on non-Muslims) and abandoned use of the lunar Muslim calendar in favor of a solar calendar more useful for agriculture. One of Akbar’s most unusual ideas regarding religion was Din-i-Ilahi (â€Å"Faith-of-God† in English), which was an eclectic mix of Hinduism, versions of Sufi Islam, Zoroastrianism and Christianity. It was proclaimed the state religion until his death. Sources: Wikipedia, 2006: Ottoman Empire Available at: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Ottoman_Empire (cited on October 16, 2006) Wikipedia, 2006: The Safavids Available at: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Safavids (cited on October 16, 2006) Wikipedia, 2006: The Grandeur of the Mughals Available at: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Mughals (cited on October 16, 2006) How to cite A Look At Muslim Empires, Papers

MUsic and its violence free essay sample

Discussion centers on the potential role of lyric content on aggression in short-term settings, relation to catharsis and other media violence domains, development of aggressive personality, differences between long-term and short-term effects, and possible dictating factors. As by behaving in symbolically aggressive ways. Though the aggression catharsis hypothesis has been thoroughly explored and debunked in several entertainment media domains, there has been relatively little work on the effects of songs with violent lyrics on aggression-related variables such as aggressive thoughts and feelings.Someone told me once that theres a right and wrong. Punishment was cure for those who dare cross the line. But it must not be true for jerk-offs just like you. And maybe its just bullwhip. Should play god and shoot you myself. ?Tool, Jerk-Off (1992) As evidenced by the creation of the Parents Music Resource Center and the policy of labeling music products containing violent lyrics, many people are concerned with potential deleterious effects of listening to songs with violent lyrics. An accumulating body of scientific research spanning 4 decades supports the hypothesis that exposure to violent media is causally related to subsequent expression of aggression in both short- and long-term time frames (e. G. , Anderson Bushman, AAA; Borrowing, 1 993; Bushman Anderson, 2001 The vast majority of this research has focused on violent elevation and movies (Houseman Miller, 1994).Recently, a small but relatively consistent research literature has shown that short-term exposure to violent video games causes increases in aggression and aggression-related variables (Anderson Bushman, 2001 Nonetheless, there remains among the general population and many practitioners a very strong belief in the age-old catharsis hypothesis?the belief that experiencing and expressing aggressive emotions and thoughts will decrease subsequent aggressive thoughts, feelings, and emotions (Bushman, 2002; Bushman, Bandmaster, Stack, 1999). This ancient Greek idea, later popularized by Brewer and Freud (1893-1895/1955) and now usually labeled venting, states that aggressive impulses can be reduced by watching, reading, or singing about anger and aggression as well Media Differences There are numerous differences between watching violent television, playing violent video games, and listening to popular music. One is the lack of a video component to audio-only music.Another is that aggressive lyrical content of popular music is often discernible only to the most attentive of listeners, whereas videotaped media (including music videos) make their violent intent abundantly and graphically clear. Some rock music songs have such garbled lyrics that they have given rise to debates about what the lyrics are (e. G. , Lieu, Lieu; Nina-Gouda-Dad-Vida; see Marsh, 1993). A third difference concerns attention. A large proportion of time spent listening to music involves paying attention to the music (not the lyrics) or to other tasks.Thus, effects of violent lyrics may generally be attenuated (relative to video- based media violence) simply because the lyrics are not processed by the listeners. Nonetheless, there are valid reasons to worry about potentially harmful effects of violent music lyrics. Numerous studies have shown that aggressive words can prime aggressive thoughts, perceptions, and behavior (e. G. , Anderson, Benjamin, Bartholomew, 1 998; Barge, Chem., Barrows, 1996; Berg Potentiometer, 1982). Indeed, such effects can occur even when the stimulus has not been consciously recognized (e. G. Barge et al. , 1996, Experiment 3). Furthermore, listeners are capable of recognizing themes Of music (I. E. , violence, sex, suicide, and Satanism) even when it is difficult to comprehend specific lyric content (Hansen Hansen, 1991). Additionally, music stimuli are played pedaled, both by radio stations as well as by listeners themselves. Craig A. Anderson and Nicholas L. Carnage, Department of Psychology, Iowa State University; Jeanie Banks, Texas Department of Human Services, Austin, Texas. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Craig A.When Ones video antagonists are similar to Ones real antagonists, violent solutions modeled in the video world are more likely to be attempted in the real world than when the video antagonists are dissimilar (Bandeau, 1 986; Borrowing, 1993; Gene, 1990). The lack of concrete images in violent music may well allow listeners to imagine audio antagonists similar to real-world antagonists. Thus, there are reasons to expect violent-lyric songs to be either more or less influential than violent video materials.The present article reports five experiments testing the hypothesis that brief exposure to songs with violent lyrics can increase two variables that are key mediators of situational influences on aggression: aggressive cognitions and aggressive affect. In the next section, we briefly review the existing research literature. Then we show why the general aggression model (GAME; Anderson Bushman, 2001 ; Anderson Houseman, in press) suggests a focus on aggressive cognitions and affect. 961 Han students who preferred other genres of music, such as alternative, adult contemporary, dance?soul, or country.Listeners to heavy metal music held more negative attitudes toward women. Rap music fans were more distrustful. Similarly, Took and Weiss (1994) found a correlation between preference for rap and heavy metal music and below-average academic performance, school behavior problems, drug use, arrests, and sexual activity. Still other studies have found correlations between music type preferences and a variety of maladaptive behaviors but have not specifically linked lyric preferences to those behaviors.For a recent review, see Roberts, Christenson, Gentile, in press. ) Experimental Studies of Music Without Video Music Without Lyrics McFarland (1984) looked at the effects of exposure to tense, calm, or no- background music (without lyrics) on the emotional content of stories written for the Thematic Apperception Test. Participants who heard tense music wrote the most unpleasant stories. Like the music video studies, these results tell us little about lyric effects. However, they indicate that research on lyrics must control for effects of type of music. Past Music Research Music With Lyrics Experimental Studies of Music Videos Several field and laboratory experiments have examined effects of aggressive music videos. Waite, Hildebrand, and Foster (1992) observed a significant decrease in aggressive behavior on a forensic inpatient ward after removal of Music Television (MAT). Peterson and Post (1989) found that exposing males to neurotic violent music videos led to a significant increase in adversarial sexual beliefs and negative affect.Johnson, Jackson, and Agate (1995) found that males who had been randomly assigned to view violent rap music videos became more accepting of the use of violence in dealing with interpersonal robbers. Related research found that males and females exposed to violent rap music videos became more accepting of teen dating violence (Johnson, Adams, Suborn, Reed, 1995). College students exposed to rock music videos with antisocial themes produced a greater acceptance of antisocial behavior (Hansen Hansen, 1990).Students were also more likely to accept stereotypic sex-role behavior after being exposed to music videos that displayed similar behavior (Hansen, 1 989; Hansen Hansen, 1988). Music video studies are valuable in their own right, but they do not provide information about the effects of exposure to violent lyrics without video. Music videos are much more like other video media (TV, movies) in that they can tell a story with graphically violent images; the finding that they produce similar effects is not surprising.Correlation Studies of Music Preference and Behavior Correlation studies have suggested a connection been the kind of music youth listen to and various maladaptive behaviors and attitudes, though the direction of causality is not clear. Rubin, West, and Mitchell (2001) found that college students who preferred rap and heavy metal music reported more stile attitudes Only a few studies have specifically examined the influence of violent songs on aggression-related variables. Interestingly, most have found no effects of lyrical content (e. G. , Ballard Coates, 1 995; SST. Lawrence Joiner, 1991; Winemaker Recognize, 1989). For example, participants in Ballard and Coasters (1995) study heard one of six songs varying in genre (rap vs.. Heavy metal) and lyric (homicidal, suicidal, neutral). Lyric content had no impact on mood measures, including anger. In other studies showing no effect, the genre of the songs (heavy teal) made the lyrics nearly incomprehensible, a problem noted by the researchers themselves. Barongs and Hall (1995) reported a study suggesting that antisocial lyrics can affect behavior, but the target behavior was not clearly aggressive; thus, its relevance to our work is unclear. Male college students listened to misogynous or neutral rap music, viewed three vignettes (neutral, sexual-violent, auscultative), and then chose one of the three vignettes to be shown to a female confederate. Those who had listened to the misogynous music were significantly more likely to choose the auscultative vignette. Western, Crown, Stuntman, and Hackers (1997) reported mixed results. Male undergraduates were exposed to either (a) sexually violent music and lyrics, (b) the same music without lyrics, (c) sexually violent lyrics without music, or (d) no music or lyrics.Results yielded no differences in negative attitudes toward women among the four groups. However, participants exposed to violent lyrics viewed their relationships with women as more adversarial. Overall, the few published studies on the effects of exposure to songs with violent lyrics have produced mixed results, perhaps because of methodological problems involving confounds with arousal or lyrics that were indeci pherable. We build on prior work by using a social- cognitive theoretical perspective that has emerged from aggression research in several different domains, including media violence.ANDERSON, CARNAGE, AND BANKS 962 Theoretical Perspective The theoretical basis for the present experiments comes from our earlier work on GAME (Anderson, 1997; Anderson, Anderson, Douser, 1 996; Anderson Bushman, Bibb; Anderson, Douser, Denned, 1995; Anderson Dill, 2000; Anderson Houseman, in press). This model draws on empirical and theoretical contributions from overall research groups, most notably the social- cognitive work of Bandeau (1986), Borrowing (1 993), crick and Dodge (1994), Gene (1990), Wassermann (1988), and Michel (1973).Figure 1 presents the single-episode portion of this model. Effects of situational (e. G. , violent media) and personality (e. G. , trait hostility) input variables combine (sometimes interactively) to influence aggressive behavior by influencing the present internal state (cognition, affect, and arousal) and subsequent appraisal and decision processes. These main pathways are linked in Figure 1 by the bold lines with arrows. The dashed lines within the Present Internal State box indicate that these components affect each other.Because of potential arousal effects on other variables, it is important to control induced arousal when examining effects on cognition and affect. The focus of this article is lyric effects on current cognition and affect, so we do not discuss appraisal and action aspects of GAME. According to GAME, long-term effects accrue via the development of highly accessible knowledge structures and emotional desensitizing to violence by well-established social- cognitive learning and systematic desensitizing recesses. In brief, each media violence episode constitutes a learning trial in which one rehearses aggressive thoughts and primes aggression-related affects, creating and making chronically accessible hostile attitudes, beliefs, expectations, and scripts (Anderson Bushman, Bibb; Anderson Houseman, in press. ) Overview theoretical and empirical reasons. GAME explicitly incorporates individual differences as factors important in each individual life episode and as something that develops from life experiences. Past research has demonstrated the importance of trait hostility in a variety of aggression intents.For instance, the effects of exposure to violent movies sometimes (but not always) differ for people who score low versus high on measures of trait aggressiveness (Anderson, 1997; Bushman, 1 995; Bushman Gene, 1990). Similarly, aggressive personality has been linked to n. Wow aggressiveness biases. Dill, Anderson, Anderson, and Douser (1997) found that aggressive people are more likely to expect others to solve problems by use of aggressive behaviors (hostile expectation bias) and are more likely to see interpersonal interactions as aggressive encounters (hostile perception bias).Humorous content was included both to test the generalization of violent song effects and because past research suggests that humor might mitigate effects of aggression-stimulating variables (Baron, 1 978; Borrowing, 1970; Mueller Downtrodden, 1977). Humorous (vs.. Numerous) content may combine additively or interactively with violent (vs.. Nonviolent) content in their effects on subsequent aggressive thoughts and feelings. If they combine additively, then violent humorous songs should yield higher levels of aggressive affect and thought than nonviolent humorous songs but should be fairly comparable with no-song control conditions.If they combine interactively, then humorous songs should yield relatively low levels of aggressive thought and affect regardless of whether they are also violent or nonviolent. Experiments 1 and 2 assessed effects of violent lyrics on state hostility and aggressive cognitions, respectively. Experiment 3 assessed effects of violent lyrics and trait hostility on state hostility and aggressive cognitions using a broader set of songs and a different measure of aggressive cognition.Experiments 4 and 5 examined the combined effects of violent humorous song lyrics on aggressive thought and affect and included trait hostility. The present studies investigated effects of violent songs on aggressive thought and affect, controlling for arousal effects by song selection and by measuring perceived arousal. We also investigated potential moderating effects Of two variables: trait hostility and humorous content. Trait hostility was included for both Experiment 1 Method Participants Twenty-nine female and 30 male students from a large Midwestern university participated.About half were recruited by members of a senior psychology class as part of a class project The rest were from the psychology participant pool in a later semester, and participated for extra credit. This experiment used a 2 (song) D 2 (sex) 0 2 (participant pool) factorial design. The participant pool factor was included in the statistical analysis but had no reliable effects. Songs Figure 1 . The general aggression model. Main pathways are linked by bold lines with arrows. Dashed lines within the Present Internal State box indicate that these components affect each other.From Human Aggression, by C. A. Anderson B. J. Bushman, 2002, Annual Review of Psychology, 53, p. 34. Copyright 2002 by Annual Reviews. Reprinted with permission. We solicited suggestions from students from the same undergraduate population for pairs of contemporary rock songs that had the following characteristics. One song had to have clearly violent content, whereas the other had to have no (or minimal) violent content. Both had to be understandable, the same type (e. G. , both hard rock or both soft rock), and about the same length. Finally, we wanted both songs to be by the same group. We used two songs, each about 5 min long, by the group Tool: Jerk Off (violent; Tool, 1992, from the album Opiate) and Four Degrees (nonviolent; Tool, 1 993, from the album Undertow). Procedure After reading and signing a consent form, participants learned that the experiment involved how different songs affect performance on various tasks. They were to listen to a contemporary song, complete a couple of psychological tasks, and then answer a few questions about the song.Participants then listened to the assigned song, completed the State Hostility Scale (SSH; Anderson et al. , 1995), completed a longer unrelated task, and were debriefed. The SSH contains 35 sentences describing current feelings (either hostile or friendly). For example, two hostile items read, l feel like yelling at somebody and l feel furious. Respondents rate each Sentence on a 5-point Liker-type call (1 D strongly disagree, 3 L] neither agree nor disagree, 5 D strongly agree). The friendly items are reverse scored. The scale typically produces internal reliability estimates in the . 0 -. 95 range, but three items (l feel willful, l feel tender, I feel vexed) often show poor item-total correlations. Willful displayed a low item-total correlation in the present study, so we dropped it. Coefficient alpha was . 96. Rest Its and Discussion Sex was included in the analyses as a covariate rather than as another two- level factor. 1 The 2 (song: violent vs.. Nonviolent) 0 2 (participant pool: volunteer vs.. Psychology) ANCHOVY yielded two statistically reliable effects. As predicted, the violent song produced higher levels of state hostility than did the nonviolent song (Ms 0 2. 0 and 2. 19, respectively), HI, 54) 5. 97, MUSE C 0. 426, p 0 . 02. In addition, females reported higher levels of state hostility than males (MS 2. 62 and 2. 17, respectively), F(l, 54) 6. 71, MUSE 0. 426, p D . 02. 2 This somewhat unusual finding is probably due to the fact that in our participant pool, females typically do not like hard rock music to the same extent as males. These results indicate that the violent content of rock songs can increase linings of hostility when compared with similar but nonviolent rock music.It is important to note that this violoncellists effect occurred in the absence of any provocation. The low absolute level of the SSH means reflect this lack of provocation. Experiment 2 Experiment 2 was identical to Experiment 1 in all respects except that the dependent variable was a measure of aggressive cognition. Sixty-one undergraduates (30 females, 31 males) participated either as volunteers or as a part of their introductory psychology class. The dependent variable was based on participants ratings of a large number of word pairs from Bushman (1996).Bushman identified 10 words as clearly aggressive in meaning (blood, butcher, choke, fight, gun, hatchet, hurt, kill, knife, and wound) and 10 words as ambiguous in meaning, having both aggressive and nonaggression meanings (alley, animal, bottle, drugs, movie, night, police, red, ro ck, and stick). Bushman showed that people who score high on trait hostility tended to perceive relatively greater similarity of meaning between pairs of aggressive and ambiguous words (from these two lists) than do people who score low on trait hostility.We adapted Bushmans (1996) task in the following way. All possible pairs of Hess 20 words were presented to participants with instructions to rate each pair on how similar, associated, Or related the paired words seemed to be. Ratings were made on 7-point scales anchored at 1 (not at all similar, associated, or related) and 7 (extreme- 963 lay similar, associated, or related). We calculated three average similarity scores for each participant: aggressive-aggressive word pairs (45), aggressive-ambiguous word pairs (100), and ambiguous? ambiguous word pairs (45).Our reasoning and predictions were quite simple. If listening to violent lyrics increases the accessibility of aggressive thoughts in semantic Emory, then ambiguous words will tend to be int erpreted in a relatively more aggressive way, leading to relatively higher similarity ratings of aggressive-ambiguous pairs. This same semantic priming process might also increase the perceived similarity of aggressive-aggressive pairs and of ambiguous-ambiguous pairs, but these increases should be small relative to the violent song effect on aggressive-ambiguous pairs.We used the other two word-pair types as within-subject controls. Thus, we predicted violent (vs.. Nonviolent) song participants to give larger similarity ratings of aggressive- ambiguous word pairs relative to their ratings of ambiguous?ambiguous and aggressive-aggressive word pairs. We computed a contrast score reflecting the main prediction. We averaged each participants aggressive-aggressive and ambiguous?ambiguous scores. From this control rating we then subtracted each persons aggressive-ambiguous score.