Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Tourism Is, Perhaps, An Impossible Dream Essay Example for Free

Tourism Is, Perhaps, An Impossible Dream Essay Tourism is considered as a very important sector for most developing countries. It has been viewed as a source of both foreign currency and income for the natives. In this essay I will discuss the importance of tourism and whether it can be sustained, by first trying to represent how important tourism is to developing countries and then making a point how sustainable development can be different to sustainable tourism. I will discuss the problems of modern day tourism and will conclude whether sustainable tourism is possible. The tourism industry has shown to be very important to most developing countries as a source of government revenue and therefore a chance to achieve economic growth and development. A successful tourism industry might mean, that the country’s unemployment rate will fall, as now there will be more job opportunities available. Therefore standards of living are likely to increase due to the fact that more jobs are provided, which indicates that the native population will have more disposable income available for spending. Therefore on the second Earth Summit in 1997 â€Å"Earth summit II† tourism was debated as a recognised economic sector (Holden, (2008). Countries such as Jamaica, who continues to derive most of its foreign exchange from tourism, have remittances equivalent to tourism revenues accounting for nearly 20% of GDP (CIA, (2009)). This is an example of how important tourism can be to a developing country, which poses great physical natural beauty. Therefore the aim of its government should be to protect and sustain this habitat in order to keep the tourism industry alive. However, today’s situation of global recession for example threatens the country with an increase in unemployment as a decline in consumer confidence is expected during 2009, which will take its toll on demand for tourism (WTO, (2009)). Therefore the need to attract tourists brings us to the concept of sustainable development. Sustainable development is a term that has been raised accompanying the heightened awareness of environmental problems (Holden, (2008)). Development cannot take place upon a deteriorating environmental resource base and neither can the environment be protected when the development excludes the  costs of its destruction. However, the need for economic growth often does not take in consideration the need for sustainable development. Tourism in developing countries can be viewed as a way of achieving development. Therefore sustainable development and sustainable tourism are linked together but are not the same. Sustainable tourism places the emphasis on the customer and marketing considerations of tourism to sustain the tourism industry and sustainable development emphasises on developing tourism as a means to achieve wider social and environmental goals (Holden, (2008)). â€Å"Since the early 1990s, the sustainable tourism debate has become more holistic to cover not just environmental issues but also socio-cultural, economic and political dimensions† (Holden, (2008), p158). There are some traditions through which sustainability has been injected into tourism. The first one is the resource based tradition, which emphasises conservation and the need to protect the nature and culture of the country from the potential threats of tourism activities (Holden, (2008)). This brings us to the next tradition, which is the â€Å"activity-based† tradition, which accepts that tourism development can contribute to sustainability. â€Å"This is a position that is strongly advocated by the tourism industry in a desire to sustain tourism and its resource base for future development, aiming to sustain the capital investment in tourism† (Holden, (2008), p161). The third â€Å"community based† tradition focuses on the political economy by advocating the wider involvement of stakeholders. The difference between the resource based traditions is that it views sustainability in a physical way, whereas the other two have a bias towards social construction of sustainability, in which decisions are made about acceptable levels of trade-off between economic and social gains against natural resource losses (Holden, (2008)). The key difference between the two is the important relationship between the stakeholders and those parties who hold the absolu te power of decision making (Holden, (2008)). These traditions however are affected by political forces, which determine which stakeholders have access to and management of natural resources. Therefore a huge threat to the country’s tourism is the desire of local government and hotel owners to maximise their profits from the increased foreign interest in their natural country’s beauty, by building more and more hotels. This  leads to the destruction of a big part of the surrounding natural habitat, which will not only harm the country’s nature but also will chase away the tourist, who coming with the idea to escape one metropolis is put into a different one, or as from my own personal experience – a half-ready metropolis, meaning that some of the hotels are still in construction. Therefore it is necessary to realise that sustainable tourism is not merely connected with conservation or preparation of the physical environment but incorporates cultural, economic and political dimensions (Holden, (2008) ). A common definition for sustainable tourism is â€Å"tourism development that avoids damage to the environment, economy and cultures of the locations where it takes place† (Forsyth, (2000)). It aims to ensure that the development is a positive experience for local people and tourists themselves. Despite this, sustainable tourism is not widely understood, as it is sometimes compared to ecotourism. Ecotourism is â€Å"a form of tourism that focuses exclusively on wildlife, nature, or exotic cultures† (Forsyth, (2000)). Such tourism has been show not to be good for environment, or for the people who experience this attention. Therefore, sustainable tourism is â€Å"an attempt to improve the impacts of all types of tourism, and this implies seeking ways to build partnerships between tourism companies and local governments or managers of resorts† (Forsyth, (2000)). However to what extent is sustainable tourism achievable? Sustainable tourism requires co-operation between companies and the managers of destinations. It does not, however, require a marked interest from consumers as it is believed. Sustainable tourism does not have to be advertised as environmentally or culturally sensitive in order to succeed, rather:†profits may be increased simply by adopting some general environmental principles, such as recycling waste, planning for long-term sustainability, and seeking local partnerships for resort management. If these actions result in cleaner, less crowded, holiday resorts, then they are in effect sustainable tourism without being labelled so.† (Forsyth, (2000)). One way of achieving this is to increase the vertical integration of tourism companies, so that individual companies have greater control over the marketing of holidays, transportation of tourists, and then management  of resorts (Forsyth, (2000)). Another way of achieving sustainable tourism is by reducing competition from smaller companies, which may result in reducing the pressure for lower prices of holidays, as presence of competition leads to the rapid over-development of resorts and the reluctance of large companies to increase their costs by attending to the long-term sustainability of locations (Forsyth, (2000)). However there are some aspects of tourism that might inhibit it to be sustainable. The first one is that the primary product of tourism is heritage, wealth, and expected legacy of the community that serves as the tourist destination, not something produced by the industry. If these business activities, promoting the â€Å"saleable† or appealing aspects, degrade the community’s heritage and wealth, then the community suffers more directly than the consumer, who can return to his or her own country without responsibility for or awareness of the impacts of his tourist activities (ICLEI, (1999)). This unfortunately is the situation for mass tourism. Mass tourism holds the threat of bringing large numbers of uninformed foreigners into local social systems that with their tourism activities can undermine and degrade pre-existing social relationships and values, as well as destroying the sights by leaving their mark or taking a â€Å"souvenir† (ICLEI, (1999)). Also the intrusion of large numbers of foreigners with high consumption into natural areas can produce severe changes in those areas. This is going to be inevitable in the future, as the world population has been predicted to increase by 47% by the year 2050 (ICLEI, (1999)). Therefore the future of sustainable tourism might be in danger due to the high amount of resources that will have to be used in order to support the population and satisfy the needs of the tourists. More and more resorts are likely to become overcrowded and will lose their credibility as an attractive destination. Solutions to most tourism impacts are found in the shared interest of local communities, tourism businesses, and tourism consumers to maintain the natural wealth and social heritage of the tourist destination (ICLEI, (1999)). Therefore to achieve sustainable tourism over the short-run,  companies and resort managers must be provided with the right incentives to influence them to reduce the negative impacts of tourism. However over the long-run tourists and companies have to think more about how tourism can impact other people. Marcel Proust once stated that most tourists seem to want to travel through one hundred countries with one pair of eyes, whereas the best journey would be to travel through one country with a hundred pair of eyes (Forsyth, (2000)). Providing more diversity of holiday destinations may help avoid some of the negative impacts and will assure a better experience. However, tourism will never be completely sustainable as every industry has impacts, but it can work towards becoming more sustainable. References Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) (2009) â€Å"The World Factbook: Jamaica† available at: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/jm.html as at 21st April 2009 Forsyth T. (2000) â€Å"What is Sustainable Tourism?†, available at: http://www.fathom.com/course/21701788/session1.html as at 21st April 2009 Holden A. (2008) Environment and tourism, Second edition, Abingdon, Routledge, p150-162 Department of Economic and Social Affairs: International Council on Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) (1999) â€Å"Tourism and sustainable development: sustainable tourism: a local authority perspective†, available at: http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/csd/iclei.pdf as at 21st April 2009 Sustainabletourism (2009) â€Å"Sustainable tourism† available at: http://www.sustainabletourism.net/ as at 21st April 2009 World Tourism Organization (WTO) (2009) â€Å"World tourism barometer†, available at: http://www.unwto.org/facts/eng/pdf/barometer/UNWTO_Barom09_1_en_excerpt.pdf as at 21st April 2009

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Behind the Scenes of the County Jail :: Journalism Essays

Behind the Scenes of the County Jail Someone, suspected of a crime, is arrested by police. Later on, the suspect goes to court to face their charges. A classic episode of Law & Order. But, where do these suspects go in between the two events. They are held in their local jail of course. While people are familiar with the arrest and courtroom scenes from TV, many are unfamiliar with the jail scene, which becomes home to the suspects who cannot make bail until a court rules a verdict for their case. So, let’s expand a Law & Order episode, and place the scene at the County Jail, located at 100 W. Washington St., Muncie. A suspect has been arrested, and is taken to jail. Upon arrival, the suspect will be given an orange jumpsuit, underwear, t-shirt, socks, and shoes without laces to wear, and a mattress pad for their bed, all jail issued. The suspect will be handcuffed and shackled for any movement he will make within the facility before he is placed in his cell. The suspect receives an arm bracelet with a picture of himself to be worn at all times as identification. They can make a call for bail, and if they cannot get the money, the jail becomes their new home. The process listed is standard for many booking procedures. It is not very exciting, which is probably why the process is left out of TV dramas. However, there is a lot of important work done behind-the-scenes to keep inmates in their place, and keep officers safe. Captain Earl Davis of the County Police Department is in charge of the county jail. Davis said that the jail has an elaborate locked door system. When one door in a hallway of two or more doors is opened, all of the other doors are locked until the open door is shut. The system, Davis said, is to prevent any prisoner from escaping. Each door is opened by a person in an operating room, and each officer who enters through a door must receive clearance from that operator. County Jail is equipped to hold 221 prisoners, each who must eat three times a day, and have an hour outside for recreation.

Sunday, January 12, 2020

Increasing Movie Ticket Prices Essay

  Increasing Movie Ticket Prices To conduct an experiment, AMC increased movie ticket prices from $9.00 to $10.00 and measured the change in ticket sales. Using the data over the following month, they have concluded that the increase was profitable. However, over the subsequent months, they changed their minds and discontinued the experiment. How did the timing affect their conclusion about the profitability of increasing prices? The timing affected the conclusion because the demand curve at the time was showing AMC that the consumer demand was allowing consumers to be willing to pay $10 per movie ticket at the time of the increase. Now over time the demand of going to the movie has decreased. Consumers will buy more if the price is less compared to buying less if the price is higher. So in the instance with AMC they profited from the increase for the first month but consumers stopped attending the theaters based on the higher costs. Learning Curve Suppose you have a production technology that can be characterized by a learning curve. Every time you increase production by one unit, your cost decreases by $6. The first unit costs you $64 to produce. If you receive a request for proposal (RFP) on a project four units, what is your breakeven price? Suppose that if you get the contract, you estimate that you can win another project for two more units. Now what is you break even price for those two units? Basically to find the breakeven price for the units we would have to take the initial cost of $64 it takes to produce one unit and subtract $6 from each unit that is produced after the first unit in order to find the breakeven cost. Unit 1: $64, Unit 2: $58, Unit 3: 52, Unit 4: $46 = $220 (total price cost); divide the total cost by 4 units which will equal a breakeven price of $55. We would have to sell each unit for the $55 to breakeven. If we added two more units the cost for unit 5: $40 and unit 6: 34. This would give a total cost of $74. Divide $74/2 = $37 which would be  the breakeven price for the additional 2 units.   Multiconcept Restaurants are a growing Trend A multiconcept restaurant incorporates two or more restaurants, typically chains, under one roof. Sharing facilities reduces costs of both real estate and labor. The multiconcept restaurants typically offer a limited menu, compared with full sized, stand alone restaurants. For example, KMAC operates a combination Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)/Taco Bell. The food preparation areas are separate, but orders are taken at shared point of sale (POS) stations. If Taco Bell and KFC share facilities, they reduce fixed cost by 30%; however, sales in joint facilities are 20% lower than sales in two separate facilities. What do numbers imply for the decision of when to open a shared facility vs. two separate facilities? The numbers will imply to sharing facilities when it allows the businesses to be able to reduce overhead costs in regards to economic cost or the economies of scope in regards to costs. A business will also use the marginal analysis theory into consideration of when they should ta ke any action that would help in the businesses increasing its profits. So in sharing facilities if both businesses are able to keep costs decreased or continue decreasing over time and sales stay the same or increase, both businesses would profit on switching to a shared facility concept.

Saturday, January 4, 2020

Comparative Analysis John Lewis Example For Free - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2231 Downloads: 3 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? We have taken the company Debenhams for our analysis. The methodology adopted for the analysis includes ratio analysis and a comparative study with Lewis, a leading apparel company in U.K Company profile: Debenhams Debenhams plc engages in the operation of department stores. The companys stores provide a range of products, including womens wear, mens wear, childrens wear, lingerie, health and beauty, and home ware products, as well as gifts and accessories. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Comparative Analysis John Lewis Example For Free" essay for you Create order It offers its products under its own brands comprising Red Herring, Mantaray, Maine New England, Debut, and Bluezoo. The company also provides its products under the international brands, such as Chanel, Clarins, Denby, Levi Strauss, Radley, and Ben Sherman; and concession brands consisting of Coast, Jacques Vert, Oasis, Phase Eight, Wallis, and Warehouse. It operates approximately 166 stores in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, and Denmark, as well as operates approximately 60 international franchise stores in 23 countries. In addition, the company offers its products through an online store, debenhams.com. Debenhams plc was founded in 1778 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. (Debenhams plc (DBHMY.PK), 2009). Ratio Analysis of Debenhams Ratio analysis is considered to be a powerful method for analyzing the financial health of a company. We are analyzing Debenhams with the help of some key ratios in the below section. Sales (top line) growth: Growth of Debenhams  1 yr 3 yr 5 yrs Sales 10.67 6.11 5.67 EPS -24.67 -5.98 -21.67 (Financials: Debenhams Plc. (DBHMY.PK), 2010). Description: the data given above shows that companys last one year sales is higher than the average of last five years. The EPS is showing a negative growth. The sales growth of the company in the last one year gives an indication of the better growth of the firm. Profit margins  2010 2009 2008 2007 Gross Profit 281 264.9 267.6 266 Gross Profit margins 13.25534 13.82857 14.5498 14.99098 Operating Profit 189.7 182.2 176.1 179.8 Operating Profit margins 8.948535 9.51138 9.574815 10.133 Description: companys gross profit margin ratio is 13% in 2010 and showing a decreasing trend compared to previous year. Also the operating margin shows a consistency and the ratio stand between 8% to 13% for the last 5 years. Gearing Ratios: Operating leverage is a tool in finance to estimate the percentage change in operating income for a one percent change in revenue. Financial leverage is used to estimate the percentage change in net income for a one percent change in operating income. We can see variations in the computation of these ratios from industry to industry. Gearing Ratios of Debenhams  2010 2009 2008 2007 Operating leverage= (Revenue- Variable cost)/Operating income  1.486031 1.457739 1.522998 1.481646 Financial Leverage= Operating Income/ Net Income  1.95567 1.917895 2.287013 2.275949 Description: operating leverage of the company is showing a consistent trend for the last four years. In 2010, the operating leverage shows a number of 1.48, i.e., 1% change in the revenue leads to 1.49% change in operating profit. It is definitely a good sign of companys growth. Also the Financial leverage also shows a companys financial strength. In 2010, it is standing at 1.96%. Interest coverage ratio: Times interest earned (TIE) or interest coverage ratio is a measure of a companys ability to repay its debt obligations. Times Interest Earned or Interest Coverage is a great tool when measuring a companys ability to meet its debt obligations. If the interest coverage ratio is less than 1, it indicates that the company is not generating enough cash from its operations to meet its interest obligations. If this is the case, then the Company would then have to either use cash on hand to finance for repayment of debt. It is considered t be a warning signal, when interest coverage falls below 2.5 xs. The formula for calculating the ratio is: Interest Coverage Ratio= EBIT / Interest Charges Interest Coverage Ratio of Debenhams  2010 2009 2008 2007 Interest Coverage Ratio 3.809237 2.967427 2.508547 2.6997 Description: company is generating enough profit to cover its interest obligations. The ratio in 2010 stood at 3.80 shows a good number. Dividend per share: Dividends are payments made by a company to its shareholders during a specified time intervals, say, quarterly or yearly. It is the portion of corporate profits paid out to stockholders. When a company earns money out of the business, that money can be put to two uses: it can either be re-invested in the business or it can be paid to the shareholders. This payment is called dividend. 2010 2009 2008 2007 Dividend per share 4.3 No dividend paid 3 3.8 Description: the data shows that, company is paying a dividend in the last three years and for 2010 dividend is 4.3 per share. Earnings per share: EPS is the amount of earnings per each outstanding share of a companys stock. The EPS formula does not include preferred dividend for categories outside of continued operations and net income. Earnings per share for continuing operations and net income are more complicated in that any preferred dividends are removed from net income before calculating EPS. (I.M. Pandey, n.d). Earnings per share = Net Income/ Weighted Average Common shares EPS of Debenhams  2010 2009 2008 2007 Earnings per share 7.5 10 9 9.3 Description: companys Earning Per Share is ranging between 7 to 9 for the last four years. In 2010 EPS is 7.5. Dividend coverage Ratio: It is the ratio of companys over the dividend paid to shareholders. The ratio is calculated as EPS divided by the dividend per share. Generally if the DC is 2 or higher, it is considered to be safe, but anything below 1.5 is risky. Formula is: Dividend cover Ratio = EPS/DPS Dividend cover Ratio of Debenhams Earnings per share 7.5 10 9 9.3 Dividend per share 4.3 No dividend paid 3 3.8 Dividend cover Ratio 1.744186 #VALUE! 3 2.447368 Descriptions; the above figures shows that, the company is generating good EPS which adequately cover the dividends. This means that, company could pay dividend to the shareholders without being effect its financial operations. Return on Capital Employed (ROCE): ROCE compares earnings with capital invested in the company. ROCE is used to prove the value the business gains from its assets and liabilities, a business which owns lots of land but has little profit will have a smaller ROCE to a business which owns little land but makes the same profit. It basically can be used to show how much a business is gaining for its assets, or how much it is losing for its liabilities. (Panday n.d). ROCE= EBIT/ Capital employed: ROCE of Debenhams  2010 2009 2008 2007  1897 1822 1761 1798 Description: company is employing 0.6 mln capital for the operation of the business. So the above data shows that business is generating enough profit from the invested capital. ROE: ROE is a tool to measures the rate of return on the ownership interest of the common stock owners. It measures a firms efficiency at generating profits from every unit of shareholders equity (also known as net assets or assets minus liabilities). ROE shows how well a company uses investment funds to generate earnings growth. ROEs between 15% and 20% are considered desirable. ROE= Net Income/Shareholders equity ROE of Debenhams  2010 2009 2008 2007 ROE 970 950 770 790 Description: the above data shows that, companys ROE is showing an increasing trend for the last four years. In 2010, ROE is 970. Total shareholders return (TSR) Total Shareholder Return (TSR) is a concept used to compare the performance of different companies stocks and shares over time. It combines share price appreciation and dividends paid to show the total return to the shareholder. The absolute size of the TSR will vary with stock markets, but the relative position reflects the market perception of overall performance relative to a reference group. TSR is computed as: TSR = (Price end Price begin + Dividends) / Price begin (Panday, n.d). TSR of Debenhams TSR 2010 2009 2008 0.020785 1.89881 -0.7704 Description: The above table shows TSR figure for the last three years. It shows an improving signal from negative figure if -0.8 to 0.02 in 2010. Total Shareholder Return benchmarked against Dow Jones The above chart shows, companys share performance for the last one year in comparison with Dow index. In the beginning of the year company was showing a declining trend and fall is high in the month of May, Jun and July. After that the companys stock performance was showing an increasing trend. So the expectation that it stock price will cross the zero percentage mark in the beginning of the next year, as the combined index also in the rising trend for the period. Total Shareholder Return (TSR) benchmarked against Lewis (JOHN) Partnership The John Lewis Partnerships 70,000 Partners own the leading UK retail businesses John Lewis and Waitrose. Our founders vision of a successful business powered by its people and i ts principles defines our unique company today. The profits and benefits created by our success are shared by all our Partners. The company is considered to a leading brand in U.K retail business. (Gandhi Lewis n.d). In the above chart,compared to Lewis, Debenhams showing a rising trend after September. From Jun to December it is showing a 20% improvement in the share price. On the other hand, Lewis is in a decreasing trend November onwards, or it is showing a stabilizing movement over all. Performance comparison of Debenhams against Lewis Here we are analyzing the performance of Debenhams in comparison with Lewis to make a final decision on the subject matter. First, we are showing the key ratios of Lewis and then drew chart for a comparative study. The flowing table describes the performance of Lewis for the last four years.   John Levis Partnership      2010 2009 2008 2007 Sales Growth 6734 6267 6052 5686 % growth 7.451731 3.552545 6.436862 110.4292   Gross Profit 2274 2071 2044 1901 Gross Profit margins 33.76893 33.04611 33.77396 33.43299 Operating Profit 389 323 391 339 Operating Profit margins 5.776656 5.153981 6.460674 5.962012   Gearing  Operating leverage= (revenue- Variable cost)/Operating income  5.845758 6.414861 5.230179 5.60767 Financial Leverage= Operating Income/ Net Income  1.513619 0.902235 1.221875 1.059375   Interest Coverage Ratio= EBIT/Interest Charges   4.370787 5.872727 9.775 7.902098   Dividend per share 3.05 3.05 2.74   Earnings per share = Net Income/ Weighted Average Common shares   ROCE= EBIT/ Capital employed 7.7* 6.8* 8.5** 7.9**   ROE= Net Income/Shareholders equity 151.4286 388.3333 216.6667 180 source: *Lewis 2010 financial report **Lewis 2008 financial report Sales Chart Here, sales of Lewis and Debenhams showing a increasing trend. In 2007, Debenhams sales was below 2000 million and at the same time, the sales of Lewis is below 6000 millions. If you consider the rate of growth, Debenhams overcome Lewis, as its sales growth is more steeper than Lewis after 2009. Comparison of Key performance Measures: Here, the chart indicates a rising trend in key performance measures. If we observe it closely, it would be clear that he percentage growth of Interest coverage, Operating profit and gross profit ratios are higher in Debenhams against Lewis. Limitations of Financial Ratio Analysis Ratio analysis is a powerful tool for companys analysis. But as much as ratio analysis can help you, it can also mislead, so I thought it would be good to delve into the limitations of financial ratio analysis today. Ratio analysis cannot be a substitute of other analysis methods: Ratios are wonderful tools which boil down a complex set of nu mbers and relationships to a simple, 1 or 2 digit numbers which tells volumes. But we should be check whether those numbers are accurate or not. In the small business environment things like reconciled trial balance and monthly, reviewed financial statements cannot be fully believed upon. The main reason for making errors in the preparation of final accounts because of the lack of adequate accounting systems in neither place nor do they all have competent accounting personnel making sure the monthly financial results are not only available, but actually accurate. So calculating any ratios based on questionable data and an unrecognized set of books can be very dangerous for investment decisions. So, before any analysis is even attempted, the accounting records must be brought up to par. 2. Ratio comparisons against companies can be meaningful only, if data is truly comparable: The ratio analysis should be made with companies in the same industry. There are ratios, which are uni que to some industry. For e.g.: Average selling price per sqft or operating profit per selling sqft specifically used for retail industries. Also different depreciation methods, different inventory valuation methods used, different policy regarding capitalization of certain expenditures make it very hard to arrive at financial statements which can be compared meaningfully. 3. Ratio analysis shows only what given in financial statements: Ratios are calculated on the basis of past data. Therefore, they do not provide complete information for future forecasting. And, it does not capture many factors which can have a profound impact on the business and yet cannot be expressed in accounting terms. Now let us go to the conclusion section. Conclusion: We have analyzed the company Debenhams with a powerful tool used in the finance world. He performance chart shows that company is has healthy key financial ratios and the stock market performance of the firm indicates a booming performance in the coming year. Also the work environment and employee compensation policy of the company also looks better, In 2010 financial report shows that, the company is employing around 1,60,000 employees. It is an increase from the 2006 number of 50,000. Also an attractive compensation package provided by the company ensures maximum employee satisfaction. The comparison with a leading competitor Lewis shows a promising future of the company in the retail world. So it is the right time for the investment in the company. An investment looks brighter in Debenhams for the long-term. Bibliography Debenhams plc. (DBHMY.PK), 2009. [Online] Yahoo. Finance. Available at: https://in.finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=DBHMY.PK[Accessed 1 January 2011]. Financials: Debenhams Plc (DBHMY.PK), 2010. [Online] REUTERS. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/financialHighlights?symbol=DBHMY.PK[Accessed 1 January 2011]. Gandhi, PLewis. J. n.d., [Online] JOHN LEWIS ARTNERDHIP. Available at: https://www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk/Display.aspx?MasterId=482b4fe9-6f2b-4061-a418-164535098742NavigationId=542[Accessed 1 January 2011]. India heads for 9 per cent growth in 2011, 2009. [Online] yahoo. Finance. Available at: https://in.finance.yahoo.com[Accessed 1 January 2011]. Panday, I.M., n.d. Financial Management. Himalaya Publications, P. 254, 1st Edition