Finding the Right Apartment Essay Example for Free

Finding the Right Apartment Essay So you are ready to take a leap of faith and branch out on your own, into the world and embrace your new found freedom by renting an apartment. That is fantastic, but first you may need help with choosing the apartment that best suits you, your lifestyle and most importantly, your budget. This is all a fairly easy project to accomplish if you know what you are doing, but it can also be very time consuming and stressful if you do not know what you are doing while also juggling a full time job. First, you have to locate a few different apartments to be able to choose the one you love. Start by doing some research on the internet. Also, ask around your community if you plan on staying in the current area you are in now. Make sure to read the local newspapers as well. If you have children, research apartment communities closet to their school. If you have pets, find apartments that will accommodate them. Research the area to see if you are near a bus line, a taxi service or within close proximity to your family and friends, should you ever need a ride to and from work due to car troubles. After that, try your best to narrow your list down to three or four apartments. Next, meet with the leasing agents for each of the apartments you want to view. Make sure you take a good look around and see everything they have to offer. Ask what type of amenities the complex has to offer. For example, do they have a gated entrance, 24 hour gym, a pool, a spa or sauna, playground area, garages for rent and/or laundry mat services on site? When inside the actual apartment, check to make sure how many bedrooms will be beneficial to you. Make sure there is enough closet and cabinet space for all of your belongings. Ask any and all questions. Be sure to ask about alarm services if you notice an alarm system built in. Ask if everything is gas or electric powered and if it has central heating and air. Ask what utility companies they use. You may be able to transfer over your previous services if they use the same ones. If you do not like the current color of the walls, ask if you can paint over them, as long as you paint them back or prime them upon move out. Also, decide if you want a bottom or top floor and ask if your preference is available. Of course, problems and hurdles may arise, but with honesty and careful consideration of the initial problem, you can overcome the problems. Some problems that may arise are bad information on your background check that will stall the rental process. Be honest with them and they may be willing to work with you under the circumstances. Another hurdle could be unexpected problems with your finances. In this case, you will need to sit down. Go over your finances and make cuts on what you do not need and factor in what you do need. Play around with the numbers until you have comfortably figured out your living expenses. You may end up being one of the lucky ones and have a â€Å"smooth sailing† through the entire rental process, but if you do not, take it one step at a time until you have overcome any and all obstacles. Once you have decided upon the right apartment complex for you, you will need to sign a lease. Before your sign the lease and pay all your deposit and application fees, ask if your deposit is refundable. Also ask if they give application fee discounts if you are a college student. Decide the lease length you need and ask if they offer month to month, a 3 month, 6 month, 12 month or 18 month lease. Ask if the lease is a done locked deal or if you can break the lease say you should have to move away. Remember that no question is a wrong question, so ask anything that comes to mind. After you sign that lease, congratulations, you are now an adult with your very own place. Living on your own can be difficult at times but it is very rewarding and empowering and it helps to boost your confidence and self esteem. Knowing you have truly stepped into your own skin and into true adulthood is one of the greatest satisfactions you may experience in your young life. Taste it, savor it and enjoy it. You deserve it!

Alcohol: A Growing Problem In The World? Essay examples -- essays rese

Alcoholism, as defined by the Random House Dictionary of the English Language, is â€Å"a chronic disorder characterized by dependence on alcohol, repeated excessive use of alcoholic beverages. The development of withdrawal symptoms on reducing or ceasing intake, morbidity that may include cirrhosis of the liver, and decreased ability to function socially and vocationally.† As you can see my report is on alcohol and alcoholism. The report will show statistics, the different types of alcohol and alcoholics, both the positive and negative health consequences and effects of alcohol, and other interesting facts and details. Here are some questions to ask yourself before you begin to read the rest of my term paper; â€Å" Am I an alcoholic?† â€Å"Do I know an alcoholic?† â€Å"Does my family of a history of alcohol problems?† If you answered yes to any of these you definitely may want to read this research paper. Alcohol dates as far back as the early Stone Age. Alcoholic beverages were first fermented in the year 4200 BC. In 1640 the first distillery in the United States was established in what is now known as New York City. In 1769 the first Canadian distillery was established for the production of rum. In the early 1800’s Rum became the most popular alcoholic beverage. In 1789 the first bourbon was produced in Georgetown, Kentucky. During the mid 1800’s a movement of prohibition began. The prohibition went into a Constitutional Amendment in 1920, but by 1933 repealed it. Today the most popular spirit is whiskey. It has accounted for 38 percent of all spirits consumed. Even so, the sales of beer and wine have greatly increased since the late 1940’s.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The drinking habits of the European differ from the drinking habits of Americans. Since Europe has many different climates and geographical features it is ideally suited for the wide variety in the production and drinking of alcohol. In Southern Europe the people mainly drink wine. Such countries are Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland, and Greece. The people of Ireland, England, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Austria, and Czechoslovakia are known as beer drinkers. The Northern countries, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, and Poland are basically spirit drinkers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are many different types of alcoholic bevera... ...th among teens is car crashes; drunk drivers cause more than half of these accidents. There are many groups who help people overcome their alcoholism. I will talk about one of the most famous, Alcoholics Anonymous. AA has organizations through out the world consisting of men and women who want to help each other overcome their problem. Some of these people share their success stories with those who need incentive to become sober. Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in 1935. It has 63,000 groups in the Unites States, Canada, and over 110 other countries. Anyone who joins must realize that it isn’t a medical or religious organization. The mailing address is P.O. box 459 Grandcentral Station, New York, New York 10017. To terminate my term paper, I feel alcohol has its ups and downs. While it has certain positives, it also has many negatives. I’d also like to say I enjoyed doing my research paper because I learned many things about alcohol and alcoholism that I didn’t know before I did my research. In the next couple of pages I have a table showing the alcohol involvement for drivers in fatal crashes and a chart of different drugs and the interactions they have when taken with alcohol.

Case Study for Samsung Electronics

Case Analysis for Samsung Electronics 1. What is SMIC’s strategy? Should Samsung be concerned about SMIC? SMIC seems to execute the same kind of strategy Samsung used before to succeed. The strategy is selling their products at low prices and growing their market share at the expense of profitability. SMIC may threaten Samsung’s business in the future, but not too much. Although SMIC can get many resources, such as cheap funds and lands from Chinese government and foreign investors, SMIC only focuses on producing chips, not designing chips.Samsung Distribution ChannelThe cost of the application of a new tap today is 3 billion and it is difficult for SMIC with sales revenue of 365. 8 million in 2003. Samsung’s success depends on its constant technology innovation, leading to high quality products and efficient manufacturing process which will benefit Samsung with high retail prices and low cost. SMIC seems hard to get core technology from their partners unless for ming a joint venture. However, cooperating with chip manufacturers in Taiwan seems more attractive for the leading technology owners.Except the technology, Samsung still enjoy unit cost advantage in raw materials, R&D and depreciation. SMIC may threaten Samsung’s old generation products. However, memory chip industry is a tech-oriented industry, Samsung can still maintain its leading position because its advantage in innovation. What Samsung should concern is that the fast growing Chinese market (estimated to be the second-largest semi-conduct buyer in 2010), their global competitors may get market-entry advantages through cooperating with SMIC. 2. The low cost position.Samsung operating profit advantage over the industry composite is $2. 11 per unit, 34% from selling price and 66% from cost advantage. To SMIC, it is 1. 78 per unit, 70% from selling price and 30% from cost advantage (Exhibit 1). For the comparative cost analysis, Samsung have unit advantage over the industry composite in all the five elements. They are raw materials 36%, labor 27%, depreciation 18%, R&D 3%, SG&A 25. 29%. Compared to SMIC, Samsung has advantages in raw material 36%, depreciation 17% and R&D 25%, but has disadvantages among labor 57% and SG&A 48% (Exhibit 2). . 1 Analysis Samsung VS Industry Composite a. Samsung’s unit selling price advantage comes from two aspects. First, PC OEM manufacturers would pay 1% price premium to reliable suppliers. Second, Samsung can customize its products for some special use because its diverse products line to get premium. Third, Samsung has the most advanced products which can enjoy high selling price during the first several-month launching time. b. Samsung’s unit raw material cost advantage come from three aspects. First, the material suppliers will give maximum 5% discount to large volume buying.Second, the usage of 12-inch wafer (reduce 10% cost per chip) and 0. 11? m processing technology(80%, the highest yield rate) mak es Samsung get more chips with same amount of materials. Assuming the weighted average raw material cost per chip of Samsung is 100%, the Mircon will be 134%, Indineon 116% and the Hynix 161% (Exhibit 3). c. Samsung’s unit labor’s cost may be explained by the salary differences between Samsung ($44000 per year) and the industry ($49312 per year, weighted average by production volume). Also, there are some invisible issues.Samsung provides equal and competitive corporation value, unique evaluation and promotion system and humanity warfare for their employees. These elements make Samsung more productive, so the labor cost per unit is lower. d. The reason for Samsung’s unit depreciation cost advantage per unit is similar to that of raw materials. With high processing technology (0. 11? m) to control yield rate (Samsung 80% vs Industry weighted average 59%), Samsung can produce more efficiently. So the depreciation per unit is lower. The production efficiency advant age (25%) is higher than the cost depreciation advantages (17%).That may because Samsung uses more advanced and expensive machine. e. Samsung’s advantage in unit R&D cost may come from three ways. First, the competitive corporation culture drive employees to devote themselves in innovation. And the technical person works together with the manufacturing one, making the innovation process more efficient. Second, the innovation method is effective. The can use same core technology to develop different products types, such as the DDR and Rambus. Third, centralization of the R&D facilities saves an average 12% fab construction costs. . Samsung’s unit SG&A cost advantage comes from the efficient management structure of the country reducing the general administration cost and good reputation of products reducing the sales expenses. 3. 2 Analysis Samsung VS SMIC a. Compared to the industry composite, Samsung’s profit advantage over SMIC mainly from the price realization (70%), and the cost advantage only stands for 30%. The huge price gap results from several aspects. First, the quality and reputation for SMIC is lower. Second, the technology SMIC used was one or two generation older than Samsung.Third, use the low price strategy to get the market share. Finally, SMIC using purchasing rights exchanging for technology partners, the price of product selling to their partner may be lower than the marketing price. b. The reason for Samsung’s unit material cost advantage seems similar to the one over industry composite. c. The disadvantage of labor cost is because the average salary of SMIC is only a quarter of Samsung. d. The reason for Samsung’s unit depreciation cost seems similar to the one over industry composite. The gap should be larger.However, the SMIC gets cheap loans and government support, and buy old product line from Motorola. These issues may help SMIC reduce the gap. e. Samsung’s unit R&D cost advantages may be expl ained with SMIC’s start-up status. It usually spends a lot at the early age of innovation. To build a new fab for SMIC is more expensive than Samsung. f. The disadvantage of Samsung in unit SG&A may be explained by SMIC’s strategy. Now, SMIC has to manufacture the products for their technology partners. SMIC seem to focus less on marketing their brands and become an OEM factory. 3. Can Samsung retain its cost advantage?If lose, what would happen at Samsung and SMIC? In my opinion, the main drive for Samsung’s profit is its innovation, which can lead to high selling price and low manufacturing cost. The raw materials advantages may be decreased with increasing SMIC production volume and advanced manufacturing technology. The labor disadvantage is hard to say because Chinese labor cost is also rising. The depreciation advantage may be decreased by the efficiency improvement of SMIC. The R&D gap may also be decreased by the development of SMIC. SA&G depend on to wh at degree SMIC want to promote their own brand.So the Samsung’s cost advantages over SMIC will be decreased in the future and even lose. However, assuming that someday Samsung loses its cost advantages, it is still very likely that Samsung is ahead of SMIC by one or two generation. Samsung still can make more profit by with higher selling prices. Even though SMIC can get government support and cheap funds, it cannot acquire the same kind of corporate culture and the centralized R&D facility. By the way, SMIC cannot tolerant long time profit loses as a public company and the national security concerns may put more resource on logic chip. 4. Options and recommendations. a.Joint venture: Corporate with SMIC or other chip manufacturers in China to produce low end DRAM. Even the low end technology is attractive to China and get government support. Open the potential Chinese market and reduce cost. But it is hard to maintain the relationship with the constant requirement of technol ogy transfer. b. OEM: License SMIC and make it as an OEM manufacture for Samsung. Transfer our low end technology to SMIC. The longer SMIC keeping the contract, the less threat. However, SMIC seems unwilling to accept this contract unless it faces profit pressure. SMIC’s ability may not reach the Samsung products requirement. . Focusing on our own business: Samsung’s core competency is constant and efficient innovation. Memory chip industry is technology-oriented and the advantage cannot be achieved in few years (Unless competitor gets breakthrough such as total substitute, which is little probability). The corporate value cannot be copied in a short time. Samsung may reallocate its resources of DRAM (profit, manufacturing capacity of old chips and R&D) towards more promising flash memory business. By doing that it can still keep its leading position in memory chip industry. I recommend this option.

Todd Johnson - ThoughtCo