Personal savings and insurance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Personal savings and insurance - Essay Example me of the actions that necessitate precautionary savings include business risk, health risk, risk of labour income change, unavoidable expenditures, children’s educations, and savings for retirement (Carroll and Kimball, 2001). Life-cycle motive involves anticipation of the disparity between expenditure and income. This theory provides that consumers save a proportion of their income so they can have something to turn to in their elderly ages, when they are not able to raise income. In this view, individuals are chiefly motivated to save so they can accumulate for their retirement (Modigliani and Brumberg,1954). Some consumers are motivated to save so they may enjoy interests or dividends that those savings may attract in the future. The group of people who save to enjoy interest, therefore, prefers saving where their savings can grow, such as in the stock exchange and banks. Independence motive is whereby consumers save so they can use their savings as a source of power to do their thing independently. They believe that their savings is fully theirs and hence they will not ask for approval from anybody when deciding what to do with it. Furthermore, consumers are motivated by the fact that, when they have savings, they will not borrow from anybody or ask help from anybody each time they want money for consumption or investment. Enterprise motive is whereby the savings give investors freedom to spend the funds if and when necessary. As such, consumers find saving money as a way of empowering them economically since they can have capital to invest in viable projects whenever the need arises. Bequest motive is whereby savers put aside money so they can have adequate to inherit to their heirs. The reason for this motive is to safeguard the welfare of their beneficiaries when the savers pass on. This motive, therefore, goes beyond personal interest as individuals think of how those who are close to them live after they dies. A good example is where a parent

Strategic Management Process Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Strategic Management Process - Essay Example Origin Energy Limited is a company that sees her self-be more than an energy retailer. Rather, the company claims to â€Å"find and produce gas, generate electricity and invest in renewable energy opportunities including wind, hydro, solar and geothermal†. As a fast-growing company in the energy industry (Australian Security Exchange, 2011), Origin Energy is endowed with a number of distinctive competencies that have been the reason behind the company’s performance and growth on the Australian Stock Exchange over the past years. Quoting Bianco from Kenneth R. Andrews’ 1971 definition of distinctive competencies, it can be said that distinctive competencies refer to â€Å"the set of activities that an organization could perform especially well in relation to its competitors.† This definition was given as an elaboration of the original theory of distinctive competencies developed by Philip Selznick in 1957 after he studied â€Å"vastly differing organizatio ns, from the Communist Party to the Tennessee Valley Authority†. Judging from the definition, it can be pointed out that Origin Energy’s foremost distinctive competencies are in the areas of diversity of business orientation.Origin Energy operates in several sectors of the energy industry. Among these sectors are oil and gas exploration and production, of which the company has several oil and gas reserves across Australia. This is, of course, a competitive advantage for crisis moments when oil and gas may be in adverse shortage. The fact that the reserves are spread across Australia in regions such as the Cooper Basin of South Australia, the Bass Strait, Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania means the company is assured of nationwide constant supply. This is because there is reduced need for transporting oil over long distances to get various parts of their oil stations with oil and gas supply. Still on oil and gas, the company has a gas field in Australia (Sustainability R eport, 2009). This makes Origin an International company that enjoys the benefits of foreign exchange. Apart from oil and gas exploration and production, Origin Energy is into wholesale and retail of gas and electricity (Silo Breaker, 2011). Silva (2011) observes that retail marketing especially â€Å"helps increase the revenues of stores and aims to improve the experience consumers get when they visit their favorite shops.† This is of course a benefit that Origin Energy is not exempted from. By wholesale and ret