BMG Inc Essay -- Music Industry Essays

BMG Inc The music industry has experienced dramatic shocks that will ultimately transform its structure. The transformations have been sparked by new technologies and Internet use distributing music as a digital good. The MP3 audio format and the wide distribution network that has become available via the Internet are driving changes in the recorded music market structure and, thus, are simultaneously having significant impacts on the players in the traditional recorded music value chain. Global retail sales of recorded music dropped from $39.8Bn in 1996 to $38.5Bn in 1999 while the popularity of digital music has grown. This reflects digital music’s new role as a â€Å"strategic necessity† of the music industry. It is obvious that the digital music format is here to stay and, indeed, is quickly becoming the preferred product choice of music customers. Our group will examine the internal and external factors responsible for shaping this new marketplace and analyze BMG’s roles in the move to distribution of digital music. Financial Analysis BMG Entertainment, a subsidiary of Bertelsmann media, is a privately held company; therefore we can not study its market performance. However they do release financial statements to the public allowing industry performance to be measured (See Figure 1). To measure BMG’s financial health and profitability three tests were performed. These tests were also applied to the other major players in the music industry. An excellent way to determine BMG’s financial health is a quick ratio, also known as the acid test ratio which was calculated and compared to it rivals. The quick ratio is calculated by taking a firm’s current assets minus inventory divided by current liabilities; this allows you see how well the firm can pay back its debts in a timely matter. BMG, with a ratio of 2.39, only trails Sony, and along with Sony they are the only ones to have a ratio over one, meaning the other three firms have more debt than cash and cash equivalents. This is good sign of finan cial health because BMG has more than twice the amount of liquid assets to cover its immediate debts; unlike its competitors who find themselves quite short. The final two tests net profit margin (net profits over sales) and return on assets (net profit before taxes over sales), measure firms profitability. Net profit margin measures how much profit is generat... ...68 DEM 8,652  £1,143  £1,013 JPY 210,516 JPY 176,191 $6,971 $8,881 $8,769 $9,861 Inventory DEM 1,278 DEM 1,569 JPY 16,274 JPY 12,918 $2,627 $2,555 $2,258 $2,182 Current Liabilities DEM 2,317 DEM 3,100  £2,255  £2,098 JPY 56,749 JPY 54,361 $4,709 $8,146 $9,070 $9,670 Net Profit DEM 1,122 DEM 910  £210  £132 JPY 36,264 JPY 31,863 $946 $686 $168 $1,960 Taxes DEM 520 DEM 845  £97  £72 JPY 9,038 JPY 3,929 $702 $343 $418 $1,540 Sales DEM 22,985 DEM 25,991  £3,309  £2,374 JPY 226,575 JPY 226,656 $9,474 $12,312 $26,244 $27,333 *note: Inventory level not available for EMI due to differences in British accounting practices. All figures obtained from the consolidated financial reports contained inside the parents annual report. Table 1: Financial Results for BMG BMG Inc Essay -- Music Industry Essays BMG Inc The music industry has experienced dramatic shocks that will ultimately transform its structure. The transformations have been sparked by new technologies and Internet use distributing music as a digital good. The MP3 audio format and the wide distribution network that has become available via the Internet are driving changes in the recorded music market structure and, thus, are simultaneously having significant impacts on the players in the traditional recorded music value chain. Global retail sales of recorded music dropped from $39.8Bn in 1996 to $38.5Bn in 1999 while the popularity of digital music has grown. This reflects digital music’s new role as a â€Å"strategic necessity† of the music industry. It is obvious that the digital music format is here to stay and, indeed, is quickly becoming the preferred product choice of music customers. Our group will examine the internal and external factors responsible for shaping this new marketplace and analyze BMG’s roles in the move to distribution of digital music. Financial Analysis BMG Entertainment, a subsidiary of Bertelsmann media, is a privately held company; therefore we can not study its market performance. However they do release financial statements to the public allowing industry performance to be measured (See Figure 1). To measure BMG’s financial health and profitability three tests were performed. These tests were also applied to the other major players in the music industry. An excellent way to determine BMG’s financial health is a quick ratio, also known as the acid test ratio which was calculated and compared to it rivals. The quick ratio is calculated by taking a firm’s current assets minus inventory divided by current liabilities; this allows you see how well the firm can pay back its debts in a timely matter. BMG, with a ratio of 2.39, only trails Sony, and along with Sony they are the only ones to have a ratio over one, meaning the other three firms have more debt than cash and cash equivalents. This is good sign of finan cial health because BMG has more than twice the amount of liquid assets to cover its immediate debts; unlike its competitors who find themselves quite short. The final two tests net profit margin (net profits over sales) and return on assets (net profit before taxes over sales), measure firms profitability. Net profit margin measures how much profit is generat... ...68 DEM 8,652  £1,143  £1,013 JPY 210,516 JPY 176,191 $6,971 $8,881 $8,769 $9,861 Inventory DEM 1,278 DEM 1,569 JPY 16,274 JPY 12,918 $2,627 $2,555 $2,258 $2,182 Current Liabilities DEM 2,317 DEM 3,100  £2,255  £2,098 JPY 56,749 JPY 54,361 $4,709 $8,146 $9,070 $9,670 Net Profit DEM 1,122 DEM 910  £210  £132 JPY 36,264 JPY 31,863 $946 $686 $168 $1,960 Taxes DEM 520 DEM 845  £97  £72 JPY 9,038 JPY 3,929 $702 $343 $418 $1,540 Sales DEM 22,985 DEM 25,991  £3,309  £2,374 JPY 226,575 JPY 226,656 $9,474 $12,312 $26,244 $27,333 *note: Inventory level not available for EMI due to differences in British accounting practices. All figures obtained from the consolidated financial reports contained inside the parents annual report. Table 1: Financial Results for BMG

The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation

They are amazing, they are unique and innocent. However, because of the devastating demoralization happening in the society today, they are the ones becoming the victims of the situation of the society today. Certainly, children are the ones who are becoming the main victims of the social changes occurring today. It is undeniable that the situation plaguing the young ones today is indeed alarming, thus requiring attention from the authorities involved in the process of facing the said changes. The youth are the hope of today’s society.This line has long been recognized by many industrialized as well as developing countries worldwide. This is the primary reason why it is evident that government organizations are trying to invest their best possible available assets to the development of the young generation. However, not all of the members of the young generation actually get to have an access on the said programs. Most of them, who belong to the minority groups of the society, are the ones who are in need of these programs. Yet, they are the ones who have lesser access on the said governmental set-ups.As a result, young people who get charged with juvenile delinquency cases are increasing every year. The fact that they have nothing better to do than to simply stay at home or wander around in the stets, they become the target of numerous gangs that are encouraging youths to join them in their unlawful acts If not, many of these youths bring forth several chaotic movements that particularly disturb the entire community. These youths certainly need help. However, one tragic problem is being confronted by the present generation of children and youths.The personal development in general aspect of humanity is being hindered by the challenges of juvenile delinquency. Most of the youths are being misled by outside and detrimental influences such as vices manifesting in gambling, illegal drugs, and bad companies. Most of the youths nowadays are falling into the p itfalls of becoming addictive to drug intoxication, alcoholism, and smoking. Others are sacrificing their educational pursuit for personal development to influences of bad companies such as gangs and groupies resulting to violence and social aggression.In addition, most parts of the generations of youths and children nowadays are falling as victims of social violence such as bullying, gang aggression, rape, harassment, and other abuses. Thus, the children and youths of the present generations are being misled to the adversities of the juvenile delinquency. In a relative context of story-narration entitled Amazing Grace, as written by Jonathan Kozov, the situation of the society today that addresses the problems with the youth and the ways by which they are involved in the different issues of social downfall of morale.The story of Kozol, he portrayed the situation in a more actual picture that related the present problems with the problems of the children on one particular community that he visited for observation. Through this story, the author made it clear that even though children are innocent, it is undeniable that with the considerable influences that they receive from the society that they live in at present affects the behavior that they have towards the life that they are facing in the future.The worse case to consider is that most of the children who are negatively influenced by the social systems are becoming juvenile delinquents; true, with regards this factor of the truth, the rate of those individuals becoming involved in juvenile delinquency issues continue to increase every year. Nevertheless, society has already started moving to address this alarming social problem of juvenile delinquency with the youths and children.Concerned citizens and community groups have already established non-profit organization to aid recovering victims and ex-delinquent in the search for the proper way of developing themselves. These organizations have helped many y ouths and children of this present generation in the recuperation from the horror and adversities of the former delinquent life in the aim of realizing the full potential as significant and relevant individuals within the society aiming for their personal and humanities development in the future.Peer Pressure and the Youth Influences Seeing the sample narration that Jonathan Kozol presented through the context of the story on the â€Å"Amazing Grace†, it could be observed that he pointed out that there are several points of consideration needing attention with regards the capability of the entire society to influence the young minds of the younger generation trying to make the best out of their future does yet. (Kozol, 13) THE researchers felt that they had it all figured out. They had intently examined 200 children from their infancy through adolescence.They analyzed the parents, the home environment and the disposition of each child. Then they predicted which of these child ren would become happy adults. It seemed simple—a happy childhood under a pleasant family environment would produce a happy adult. After waiting till the children became 30 years of age, they re-interviewed them. Furthermore, as the children grow up, the young adults become more prone to different influences from the environment. The people that they deal with everyday become the source of the different values that they take in for themselves as they personally grow up.There are at least four major reasons why young people develop in the behavior that they grow up with. These four major dimensions of development could be noted as follows: †¢ The family and the parents: usually, the young children get the examples of acts from their parents which in turn they carry in themselves as they grow up. It is through this particular process that the young ones are able to comprehend with the impact that their parents are making on them as young adults.†¢ The Environment and the Society: As the young children grow older, the impact of the people living around them aside from their family members begins to leave an impact on their personality. True, the situation has been much more proved by the psychologists that the effect of the family and the society differ from each other. As for a fact, the percentage of effect that the society makes on the individual is far much higher than that of the effect of the family with development of the youngsters. †¢ The psychological need for acceptance: young ones aim to be accepted especially if they have the capacity of being recognized.This is the reason why they usually take sides on those who they seem are able to recognize their capabilities. †¢ The decision making system of the youngsters: They are usually deciding in different ways, most of the time, confusion gets in the way. This is the reason why it is very important that they are given fine attention as they are being assisted with the personal d evelopment difficulties that they are dealing with at present. To understand the four dimensions better, the diagram shall show the necessary illustration to explain better:

Senior Synthesis My Belief or Disbelief in God Must be...

My belief (or disbelief) in God must be understood backwards, so I shall start from the beginning. From birth, my relationship with God was set in stone. Being raised in a moderately strong, Catholic family, and going to a Catholic pre-school and middle school, I had basically inherited my love for God from my parents, and they from theirs. I was taught in school and by my family that God should be at the center of everything. That God loves us more than us mere mortals can ever imagine, and that it is our sole duty to love him the best we can in return. This was so easy for me at a young age because my relationship with God was so unspoiled. It was not hard for me to love God when He had not thrown any real hardships my way. I had been brought up believing in a perfect God. One who was â€Å"all loving†, â€Å"all knowing†, and â€Å"ever-present†, and because of this, I believed my relationship with Him to be invincible. But I was wrong. The day my parents divo rced, was the day my inherently perfect relationship with God was ruined. The first traumatic experience in my life sent me on a whirlwind that caused me to doubt all the love that God had supposedly had for me; the love that I so foolishly believed in. In the weeks following the divorce, my mom quit going to church because she was afraid that the people there would judge her decision to leave my dad. Sadly, she could not have been more right. People, not even involved in the private matter, quickly made our business into theirShow MoreRelatedProject Managment Case Studies214937 Words   |  860 Pagesredesigning a methodology that has proven to be successful? 4. What if the customers want the existing methodologies left intact? 5. What if the customers are unhappy with the new combined methodology? Ferris Healthcare, Inc. In July of 1999, senior management at Fems recognized that its future growth could very well be determined by how quickly and how well it implemented project management. For the past several years, line managers had been functioning as project managers while still managingRead MoreDeveloping Management Skills404131 Words   |  1617 PagesAcquisitions Editor: Kim Norbuta Editorial Project Manager: Claudia Fernandes Director of Marketing: Patrice Lumumba Jones Marketing Manager: Nikki Ayana Jones Senior Marketing Assistant: Ian Gold Senior Managing Editor: Judy Leale Senior Production Project Manager: Kelly Warsak Senior Operations Supervisor: Arnold Vila Operations Specialist: Ilene Kahn Senior Art Director: Janet Slowik Interior Design: Suzanne Duda and Michael Fruhbeis Permissions Project Manager: Shannon Barbe Manager, Cover Visual ResearchRead MoreLibrary Management204752 Words   |  820 Pages57 . . . . . . 88 . . . . . . 97 . . . . . 101 . . . . . 103 . . . . . 104 xvii xviii Illustrations Figure 5.5. Political, Economic, Social, and Technological (PEST) Factors Impact Planning. . . . . . . . . Figure 5.6. Several Factors Must Be Considered in Initial Strategic Planning Steps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Figure 5.7. University of California–Berkeley Library’s Value Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Figure 5.8. Components of a Mission Statement