Companies Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Companies Research - Essay Example Total Asset Turnover has been on the high for Kroger and Wall-Mart with 3.487 and 2.335 respectively. Eaton has failed to maintain a high ratio; its turnover ratio stands at 0.795. Eaton Corporation has struggled in this regard as well, which is evident by its last position in the industry with respect to earnings produced with each dollar spent on an asset. Total Debt to equity ratio has been high for all four organizations but Kroger Co. crosses all boundaries with a ratio of 141.81:1. Wall-Mart stands second with 81.39, and Eaton is third with a ratio of 46. Chevron is a relatively low leveraged firm, which is indicated by the minimal interest payments it has to make. Chevron, being the most profitable company, leads the chart in terms of times interest earned with a ratio multiple of 381. For the current year, Chevron had interest payments of only $50,000. Wall-Mart is the second company to make substantially high returns out of the debt it takes with a multiple of 8.43. Kroger C o. is not surprisingly at the bottom of the chart with only 3.49. Return on Sales/Net profit margin has been impressive for Chevron with 9.55%. Eaton Co. also practices a higher return on the sale with 6.77%. The Kroger Co. again is at the bottom of the chart with 1.38% return on Sales. Return on Assets is the earnings made with each dollar spent on an asset. With the highest net income Chevron Co. again tops the list with a return of 10.94%. Wall-Mart takes the second spot with 8.91% and Eaton Co. being the last of the four with 5.46%. Moreover, the return earned on every dollar of equity is the highest for Wall-Mart. This means that Wall-Mart provides the highest return to a shareholder, which is the objective of a corporation. Kroger Co. takes the second spot with 22.87%. In addition to it, Chevron has an equity centric structure hence it takes the third spot out of the four with 21.33% while Eaton creates the lowest return for their shareholders with a return of 15.9% rests at t he bottom. By comparing P/E ratio, one can analyze the market’s stock evaluation for a company. P/E is directly proportional to forecasted earnings hence a rise in P/E is a resultant of increased expectation for earnings (Besley and Brigham, 2000). The Kroger Co. tops the list with a P/E multiple of 12.64. It could be inferred that investors expect higher returns in the future for Kroger Co. Eaton Corporation follows with 12.17 and Chevron being the last with 8.53. Lastly, Market to Book Value ratio is used to compare company’s market worth to its book value. It gives an idea of whether an investor is paying adequate money for his investment or more (Levinson 2006). It is calculated by the company’s market capitalization divided by the value in company’s books. Wall-Mart tops the list with 2.76, followed by Kroger Co. with 2.69 and Chevron taking the last position. 1. Chevron is an oil and gas manufacturing and exploration company, Eaton Co. is a transpor t/truck manufacturer, whereas Kroger Co. and Wall-Mart are in the retail industry. I would rank Chevron as the leader of the

Business Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words - 5

Business Ethics - Essay Example However, the fact is that when she received a harassing message from a prospective employer on a professional networking site, she finally reached her tipping about online sexual harassment. A portion of the message read that â€Å"I think you are beautiful and I and interested to hear more about your modelling experience. Have you ever thought about being an executive assistant? I make a lot of money and travel to some amazing places. I would take good care of you. One question though, are you single?† Quite clearly, for a professional networking, which people used to build business connections, this message did not only cross the limit of acceptability but also creepiness. There are no doubts about the fact that sexual harassment (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2012, pg. 74) is a serious issue and that even before the advent and mass proliferation of social media, employers and managers had always been facing a difficult time in combating with ever increasing sexual harassme nt at workplace. Now that social networking sites have become an imperative aspect of the lives of people, it appears that they have provided a new medium and breeding ground for harassers (Trevino & Nelson, 2010, p. 42; Ferrell, et al., 2012, p. 74). This paper makes an attempt to understand the issue of sexual harassment as discussed in the article Casserly (2013) from the perspective of business ethics, provide recommendations for combating with this problem and identify its impact on the stakeholders. Discussion Dynamics of Sexual Harassment and Online Sexual Harassment Much of the online sexual harassment on is â€Å"quid pro-quo† in nature (Devettere, 2002, p. 467). Quid Pro-Quo refers to an arrangement of giving something in return for something else. In most cases, the victims are likely to receive a message from someone with a higher position, authority and influence with a dreamy but conditional offer; the condition being their willingness to provide sexual favours or entering into a sexual relationship with that person. The immorality of these messages is massively apparent as it coerces the subject into doing something that he or she would not have done in normal circumstances (Trevino & Nelson, 2010, p. 42; Ferrell, et al., 2012, p. 74). As mentioned earlier that the business ethics issue highlighted in this article is that of online sexual harassment as faced by Hatcher, the case in focus, and several other women highlighted in the article from LinkedIn, specifically and several other online networking sites as well. There are several definitions of sexual harassments. In fact, legislators, experts, researchers and policymakers from different parts of the world have taken different approaches to define sexual harassment. Furthermore, sexual harassment might take different forms but one singular, common and defining element of sexual harassment is when the victim feeling being excessively â€Å"uncomfortable†. This is exactly what ha ppened in the case of Hatcher, as argued in this article, that this invitation or message from Marcus was so disturbing and stressful for her that she no longer felt safe and comfortable regarding the same. Although, the data about the victims of sexual harassment (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2012, pg. 74) reveals that both the genders have been