Corporate finance Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Corporate finance - Research Paper Example Even though the CLNE is at its early stages of development, the company already owns and operates many natural gas fueling stations and is a global leader in developing the natural gas vehicle market. The company deals with many areas of natural gas business including â€Å"compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueling; construction and operation of natural gas fueling stations; compressor equipment and technology; biomethane production; and vehicle conversion† (qtd in Investorideas.com). The company fuels over 530 fleet customers and 25,000 vehicles every day at over 273 stations across the United States and Canada. In addition, the organization has a strong customer base in transit, trucking, shuttle, taxi, airport, solid waste, and municipal fleet markets (Investorideas.com). Similarly, Apache Corporation is a multinational gas and oil corporation headquartered at Texas in the United States. In addition to US, the company has regional subsidiaries and operations in Canada, UK North Sea, Australia, Argentina, and Egypt. As of 2012, the firm’s market capitalization is estimated at nearly $35 billion. The Apache was founded in 1954 and the organization expanded its business horizons mainly through acquisitions. This paper will critically analyze the investment opportunities in both the firms and suggest which firm offers the best long term value for the investor. Natural gas industry analysis Porter’s five forces model is used here to analyze the natural gas industry in the United States. The five forces in the industry are described below. Degree of rivalry While analyzing the US’ natural gas industry, the degree of competitive rivalry is less as a result of unpopularity of natural gas resources. Currently, there are a few natural gas providers in each states of the US. This favorable business situation increases the scope of investments in the natural gas industry. Threat of new entrants A study conducted by the Navigant Consulting reveals that North America has enough reserves of natural gas to supply for at least 120 years (U.S Department of Energy). Hence, the United States has abundance of natural gas resources and this strength makes the country an attractive place for business investments. As a result, new players are more likely to enter the natural gas market and therefore the threat of new entrants is high. Threat of substitutes There are many substitutes to natural gas including liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and biogas. Today, LPG is widely used in US for transportation proposes due to its easier availability and highly effective performance. In addition, the development of hybrid electric vehicles also appears to be a growth impediment to vehicle fueling natural gas. Hence, the threat of substitutes can be moderate to high in the natural gas industry. Buyer power Since the level of competition intensity is low in the natural gas industry, buyers have limited options to choose the provider. Hence, there are not much alternative to buyers but to choose any of the limited available providers. From other perspective, vehicle fueling natural gas has a number of potential substitutes and hence buyers may switch their demand to those products. In short, buyer power is low in the

Sovereign wealth funds. International Finance Essay

Sovereign wealth funds. International Finance - Essay Example These funds’ management is separated from official management of foreign currency reserve. The aim of SWFs among others is to manage government wealth so that funds do not remain static thus balancing investment with savings. The SWFs as a government-based investment strategy may involve the buying of shares in profit making organization or the taking over of a foreign based company, foreign direct investment, purchase of stakes in financial firms, long-term government bond amongst others. This process has resulted in a well recognized trend in monetary trade, foreign currency policy, and new international finance strategies. But, much debate subsists on the legitimacy of these policies and their ethical parameters. There are considerable economic and social issues associated to fairness of competition and possible political non-commercial hidden agenda, which come to the surface seriously. Various institutions are starting to feel greatly concerned by the issue of SWFs especi ally because these investments are taking considerable proportions. While many countries are facing important turnabouts and recession in their economy others are continuously sustaining their considerable economic rise. Some major states are facing recurrent financial crises due to external parameters which are out of their control for instance the oil crisis, financial globalization which results in accumulation of wealth in term of foreign currencies and financial asset by some countries. While there was the 800 billion U.S dollars deficit in 1996 in the United State’s current account, export-oriented economies of South East Asian countries were enjoying incessant growth. It is universally recognized thus, that the subsequent rise in SWFs is a result of large global macroeconomic impairment and imbalances. These major discrepancies have resulted in some countries possessing high relative ratio of foreign currency reserve which has boosted considerably the event sovereign wealth

Categories of client-server architecture and problems faced by hures

Categories of client-server architecture and problems faced by hures Question One: Do you think the problems faced by Hures, both past and present, are unique? Why or why not? I consider the problem faced by Hures, both past and the present are not unique. I understand the fact that, client server computing had an huge impact on the organization but as with all new technologies, there are many confronts and questions with hard to find answers. To solve this issue, Hures can use the client/server architecture, which is divided into following categories: 1. Client server architecture 2. One-Tier architecture 3. Two-Tier architecture 4. Three-Tier architecture 5. N-Tire architecture Client server architecture: Client-server explains the relationship between two computer programs in one, the client program, makes a service request to another, the server program, explains communication between any end nodes and a shared resource. Servers differ in size and functionality and can be anything from a PC based server, to a midrange computer, to a main frame. Client server architecture is totally flexible to Hures multiple client program. Client server architecture in which the presentation, the application processing, and the data management are logically a separate process, which makes it very flexible and expandable approach to building system software. Unlike typical client/server applications, this architecture services multiple clients, supports client disconnection and provides a flexible framework for adding application. Hures is a leading human resources service provider using TCP/IP. Hures should also consider using a communication protocol such as the shared variable which gives a higher level application programming interface (API) and abstracting the lower level details, such as handling multiple clients. One -Tier Architecture: One tier application is a simple program which no needs to access the network when it is running. This one tier application includes most of the simple desktop applications like word processors or compilers. One tier architecture application runs on a single computer. Web browser is part of a two-tier application (a Web server being the other part). But what happens if that Web browser downloads a Java applet and runs it? If the applet doesnt access the network while running, is it a one-tier or two-tier application? For present purposes, we will say that the self-contained applet is a one-tier application, since it is contained entirely on the client computer. One-tier architecture has a huge advantage, simplicity being one of them. No One-tier applications handle any network protocols, so their code is simple. The users requests dont need to cross the network, wait for their turn at the server. This has the added effect of not weighing down your network with extra traffic, and not weighing down your server with extra work. Two-Tier architecture: Two-tier architecture actually has got three parts which are client, server, and protocol. The protocol links the gap between the client and server tiers. The two-tier design is very effective for network programming as well as for GUI programs, in which you can allocate functionality to the host. GUI code lives on the client host, and the so-called business logic lives on the server host. Two-tier application is a client-server program with a GUI front-end written in a high-level language like Java, C++, or Visual Basic. In the two-tier program, you can see the clear separation between front and back tier. Hures input is given by the HTTP get request, via an HTML form which the user fills out. Its output is one or more HTML files. All the calculation happens on the server. In some cases, you can write a two-tier application without writing a server or designing a protocol. For example, you can write a Web browser that talks to a Web server using the HTTP protocol. However, if you have to write your own server, or design and execute your own protocol, you can spend more time writing your program than you would if you were writing a one-tier application. Three-Tier architecture: A three-tier will need to store data on a server. The information is stored on the file system. However data honesty issues arise when multiple clients ask the server to do tasks. Since file systems have concurrency controls at best common solution is to add a third program or database. Databases specialize in storing, retrieving, and indexing data. Just as two-tier architecture separates GUI and business logic, three-tier architecture lets you to separate business logic and data access. You can also offer highly optimized data indices and retrieval methods, and provide for replication, backup, redundancy, and load-balancing procedures specific to your datas needs. Separating code into client and server code increases the scalability of your application so does placing data on a dedicated process, host, or series of hosts. SQL RDBMS, like those from Oracle and Sybase, other database types. You may have heard the names of some of these other types OODBs, ORDBs. The three tier architecture has the following three tiers: Presentation Tier: This is by far the top upmost level of the application. This tier displays information related to such services as browsing merchandise and shopping cart. Application Tier: Is the logic tier pulled out from the presentation tier. This controls application by performing detailed processing. Data Tier: consist of database server. Here the information is stored and retrieved. N-Tire architecture: N-tier architectures are the best thing to happen to computer since the vacuum tube. Proponents of CORBA, EJB, and DCOM believe that every new application should be written, and every existing application should be retrofitted, to support their favorite spec. In the universe of distributed objects thus imagined, writing a new application is as simple as choosing objects and sending messages to them in high-level code. The distributed object protocol handles the wicked, low-level details of parameter marshaling, networking, locating the remote objects, transaction management, and so forth. A good example of N tier application is a stock trading system. In this system, we have multiple data feeds arrive from different sources, multiple databases are accessed and multiple clients run specialized applications. It makes sense to merge together the disparate patches in this quilt with the thread of common distributed object architecture, like CORBA or EJB CORBA is a mechanism in software for normalizing the method-call semantics between application objects that live in either in the same address space (application) or remote address space (same host, or remote host on a network). CORBA uses an interface definition language (IDL) to specify the interfaces that objects will present to the outside world. In addition to giving users with a language and a platform-neutral remote procedure call specification, CORBA defines commonly needed services such as transactions and security, events, time, and other domain-specific interface mod A CORBA implementation comes with a tool called an IDL compiler which converts the users IDL code into some language-specific generated code. A traditional compiler then compiles the generated code to create the linkable-object files for the application. Key: ORB vendor supplied code ORB vendor tool generated code User defined application code Advantages: 1. Client- server architecture enables the roles and responsibilities of a computing system to be distributed among several independent computers. Which are known to each other only through network Advantages of this would be greater ease of maintenance I.e. it is possible to replace, repair, upgrade or even relocate 2. All the data are stored on the server, has a far greater security and protection. Severs can better control access and resources, to guarantee that only those clients with the appropriate permission may access and change data. 3. Data storage is centralised, which makes it very easier to update. Disadvantages: 1. Traffic congestion on the network will be an issue. As the number of simultaneous client request to a given server increases, the server can become over loaded. Where with P2P network, its bandwidth actually increases as more nodes are added. 2. The client-server paradigm lacks the robustness of a good P2P network. Under client-server, should a critical server fail, clients requests cannot be fulfilled. In P2P networks, resources are usually distributed among many nodes. Even if one or more nodes depart and abandon a downloading file, for example, the remaining nodes should still have the data needed to complete the download. Question Two: Suggest alternative architectures that could be used to overcome the problems faced by Hures current Client/Server technology The alternative architecture that could be used to overcome this issue, would be the common object request broker architecture (CORBA). This is the most successful representative of an object-based distributed computing architecture. CORBAs service context gives an efficient and stylish design and implementation approach for building distributed systems. Java RMI (Remote Method Invocation) cant easily support transparent service-context propagation without incrementing the underlying protocol. This article describes a generic lightweight solution for supporting transparent and protocol-independent service-context propagation over RMI. Reflection-based techniques are used to emulate whats normally seen in protocol-specific service-context implementations. This article introduces you to a real-world solution and the related distributed-computing design concept, as well as Java reflection techniques. We start with an overview of the CORBA object request broker (ORB) interceptor and the service-context design architecture. Then a concrete implementation example describes the actual solution and demonstrates how RMI invocation is actually massaged to propagate service-context data, such as transaction context, which is usually offered through the IIOP (Internet Inter-ORB Protocol) layer. Lastly, performance considerations are discussed. Interceptor and service context in CORBA In the CORBA architecture, the invocation interceptor plays an important role in the function provided by the ORB runtime. Generally speaking, four interception points are available through the ORB runtime. As shown in Figure 1, these interception points are for: 1. Out bound request message from the client process 2. In bound request messages to the server process 3. Out bound response messages from the server process 4. In bound response messages to the client process Question Three: One of the suggestions proposed by Hures IS department is the use of intranet web technology. Examine the pros and cons of such an idea. An intranet is a personal computer network that uses internet technologies to securely share any part of an organisations information or operational system with its employees. Intranet shares most of the characteristics of the Internet, but in at least one way, its fundamentally different. And just as the Internet has had profound effect on how we communicate, intranets have transformed the business world as well. HURES has small businesses have implemented this network infrastructure, improving productivity while reducing costs. As I mentioned earlier, the intranet has very similar characteristics to internet, this also backed by the fact that, intranet is built from the same concepts and technologies used for the internet, such as client-server computing and the internet protocol (TCP/IP). All the well known internet protocol such as HTTP (web services), SMTP (e-mail) and FTP (file transfer) are also found in intranet. Intranet is designed to use within small business, university or organisation. What makes them different from the internet is that, internet are freely accessible, where as intranet is a private network by using off-the-shelf Internet technology, intranets solve this problem, making internal communication and collaboration. Traditionally, corporations relied on proprietary hardware and software systems to network its computers, a costly and time-consuming process made more difficult when offices are scattered around the world. Even hardware platforms, file formats and software are not an easy task. Much easier Intranets use HTML to create documents and TCP/IP to transmit information across the network. Information is stored on one or more company servers and accessed by using a web browser, this self-contained, miniature Internet can have all the same featuresindividual home pages, newsgroups, e-mailbut access is restricted to employees and contractors. For Hures employees they already familiar with surfing the Web, learning how to navigate the company intranet requires little training. Intranet web pages have the same point-and-click interface. While its useful for an intranet to connect to the Internet, its certainly not essential. Even if they do connect externally, companies restrict access to their intranet from the Internet by building a firewall. With so much corporate information available on internal servers, security is essential. At the beginning life was simple. Computers were separate individual devices. Programs had access to all the computers input and output through computer-connected devices. The life became complicated with invention of networks. We now have to write programs that depend on other programs running on far away computers. A brief definition: A distributed application is a system comprised of programs running on multiple host computers. The architecture of this distributed application is a sketch of the different programs, describing which programs are running on which hosts, what their responsibilities are, and what protocols determine the ways in which different parts of the system talk to one another. Three-tier application adds a third program to the mix, usually a database, in which the server stores its data. The three-tier application is an incremental improvement to the two-tier architecture. The flow of information is still essentially linear: a request comes from the client to the server; the server requests or stores data in the database; the database returns information to the server; the server returns information back to the client. N-tier architecture, on the other hand, allows an unlimited number of programs to run simultaneously, send information to one another, use different protocols to communicate, and interact concurrently. This allows for a much more powerful application, providing many different services to many different clients. However, the leap from three-tier to n-tier or the leap from one- to two-tier, or from two- to three-tier, for that matter must not be taken lightly. Its easy to open a can of worms, but you always need a bigger can to put them back in. The proponents of these technologies are infatuated with their advantages, and often fail to mention the disadvantages of jumping to a more complicated architecture. In this article, I will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each style of architecture, and give you some information that will help you choose the right architecture for your application. Consider these reasons before choosing a product because its fact sheet promises to make your life easier. Here is the table summarizing the advantages and disadvantages of using Intranets: Advantages Disadvantages Fast, easy, low cost to implement Management fears loss of control Connectivity with other system Hidden costs Many Tools available Potential for chaos Access to internal and external information Unauthorized access Improves communication Information overload lowers productivity Can capture and share knowledge Increase collaboration and coordination Supports links with customers and partners Question Four: Do you think the popularity of intranets and the Internet pose threats to traditional Client/Server systems? Intranet and your public website on the open Internet are two dissimilar information spaces and should have two different user interface designs. It is alluring to try to save design resources by reusing a single design, but it is a bad idea to do so because the two types of site vary along several dimensions. Intranet users are your own employees who know a lot about the company, its organizational structure, and special terminology and circumstances. Your Internet site is used by customers who will know much less about your company and also care less about it. The intranet is used for everyday work inside the company, including some quite complex applications; the Internet site is mainly used to find out information about your products. The amount of information varies. An intranet has between ten and a hundred times as many pages as the same companys public website. The difference is due to the general amount of work-in-progress that is documented on the intranet and the fact that many projects and departments never publish anything publicly even though they have many internal documents. Bandwidth and cross-platform needs vary. Intranets often run between a hundred and a thousand times faster than most Internet users Web access which is stuck at low-band or mid-band, so it is possible to use rich graphics and even multimedia and other advanced content on intranet pages. Also, it is sometimes possible to control what computers and software versions are supported on an intranet. Intranet and your website are two different information spaces. They should look different in order to let employees know when they are on the internal net and when they have ventured out to the public site. Different looks will highlight the sense of place and thus make easy navigation. Also, making the two information spaces feel different will make easy an understanding of when an employee is seeing information that can be freely shared with the outside and when the information is internal and confidential. An intranet design should be much more task-oriented and less promotional than an Internet design. A company should only have a single intranet design, so users only have to learn it once. Therefore it is acceptable to use a much larger number of options and features on an intranet since users will not feel scared and overwhelmed as they would on the open Internet where people move rapidly between sites. An intranet will need a much stronger navigational system than an Internet site because it has to encompass a larger amount of information. In particular, the intranet will need a navigation system to facilitate movement between servers, whereas a public website only needs to support within-site navigation. The extranet is a blend of the public Internet and the closed intranet and needs to be designed as such. Fundamentally, an extranet is a part of the Internet since it is accessed by people in many different companies who will be using your public website but will not have access to the truly internal parts of your intranet. Therefore, the visual style and main navigation options of the extranet should be visibly similar to the design of your Internet site your business partners should feel that the two sites come from the same company. A subtle difference in the two styles (e.g., complimentary colour tones) will help emphasize the closed and confidential nature of the extranet. REFERENCES: 1. Gallaugher, J. Ramanathan, S. Choosing a Client/Server Architecture. A Comparison of Two-Tier and Three-Tier Systems. Information Systems Management Magazine 13, 2 (Spring 1996): 7-13. Author: Berson, Alex Title: Client-server architecture / Alex Berson. Published: New York : McGraw-Hill, c1992. Series: J. Ranade series on computer communications 2. Client Server survival guide 3rd edition, by: Robort orfali, dan harkey,jeri Edwards, 1999 john wiley sons Canada 3. Adler, R. M. Distributed Coordination Models for Client/Sever Computing. Computer 28, 4 (April 1995): 14-22. 4. http://www.greatconnect.com/interapps.htm 5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CORBA#Overview 6. http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-01-2000/jw-01-ssj-tiers.html?page=1

Story of Saint Hilarion Castle and Queen Regaena :: Byzantine Cyprus

Story of St. Hilarion Castle and Queen Regaena â€Å"Welcome to St. Hilarion, step forward into Queen Regaena’s chamber to receive your pay for your hard work and dedication!† As I step through the doorway, there is the alluring Queen Regaena just inside the open window of her chamber. I cross the room, and I unexpectedly feel the guards’ presence close in behind me. Suddenly, they grab me and force me through the open window. As the guards push me from the precipice outside the window, â€Å"Thank you again,† are the last words I hear, as I fall to my death in the valley below. The fairy tale-looking castle of St. Hilarion was built by the Byzantine queen, Regaena, the end of the 11th century. Queen Regaena was the most beautiful lady in the land of Cyprus, alas; she was also the most heartless and cruel. She was a greedy woman and desired to have the most beautiful and elaborate castle in all of Cyprus. Queen Regaena insisted on overseeing the construction of the castle herself. No detail was to be overlooked. In planning such a large and magnificent castle, Queen Regaena knew that she would need a large workforce. She gathered a large number of sturdy men from near and far and forced them to build her castle. She required the men to form lines, standing side by side, and pass the materials from man to man until they reached their assigned destination. This was difficult work since most of the materials had to be transported from the valley to the summit of the mountain. But goal was to complete the castle in Regaena’s lifetime so she could enjoy it. Finally, the glorious castle was completed and she named it St. Hilarion Castle. Its unsurpassed grandeur impressed all who beheld it. Queen Regaena should have been joyful at the completion of St. Hilarion, however, she was worried. Over the years, Queen Regaena had amassed a large fortune of gold and wealth in her family treasury. Her greatest fear was that the workers who constructed the castle would remember the hidden location of the royal treasure room. She sat in a chamber in the western wing of the castle and thought of a plan to prevent possible robbery. This particular chamber had a window which opened onto an enormous precipice and had a breathtaking view of the valley far below. Sitting at this window, she devised an evil plan to protect her treasure.

God Is love Essay

Love is the air. We breathe this air and so it is in us to love. Just like the involuntary need to breath in oxygen and breath out carbon dioxide we need to love and be loved. It is near impossible to ignore that the presence or absence of love in someone’s life as it plays a magnificent role in all things regarding that person. God has created us diligently and therefore he has by default bestowed upon us his greatness – his loving nature. We are born with the ability to receive love, reciprocate it and the true deep desire to do both. God made us to love and I mean two things when I say that. Firstly, we were made to comprehend the love God has for us. He wants us to feel the love he feels towards each and every one of us which explains our senses. We can see the darkness, hear the depression, feel the disconnect, smell the rotting and taste the bitterness of a love deprived place. God made us to love us and so it only makes sense we try to serve our purpose. We are not here on earth to serve him as he does not require anything to continue to be himself. The beautiful construction of humans the way our minds work with our hearts allows us to receive love and understand it. For example; your mom wakes up early every morning to give you a kiss before you go to school and you take that kiss as her love. In the same way, everything you have been blessed with you can see and understand that it is God’s love. When we understand that we are truly loved, reciprocating becomes easy. Secondly, it is in our nature to reciprocate love. A simple example of how I believe reciprocation is nature; someone helps us with your homework we will most likely help them with theirs if they ask. Couples consist of two people the love each other, meaning reciprocation is happening and that is the case for almost all couples. Now in regards to the Almighty, he made us to bless us, to love us. We often assume that we were created to serve, love, and worship him. These are good and holy actions, but they are just the responses to God’s initiating act of love. He does not need anything we have to offer. A lot of us do feel this strong desire to love God back. It is evident in a lot of the things we do; religion class, going to church, being grateful, understanding the emphasis put on helping others and abiding by his rules even though we may not understand the reasons behind each. When we are aware someone loves us we cannot help but feel the need to love them back. Finally, beyond the fact that love is such a natural thing and the fact that it is something we do without much thought it is something we personally desire to do. The importance of love in life is beyond the logic of give and take. I can say everyone I have come across is on the pursuit of happiness; everyone desires to feel good regardless. Something we know, even if it is knowledge buried deep inside, is that love is blissful. We meet that bliss in our mothers’ arms, in our fathers’ words and in our lovers touch. The feeling of loneliness bugs each and every one of us at some point and we realize it is not a way we enjoy feeling. Loneliness sometimes does not leave us alone even while we are with others, however love is something that keeps us company even when we are alone. A lot of us have this void within we spend our lives trying to fill. Quite like the Prince who ran around with Cinderella’s glass slipper searching for the one who fits it perfect. Love fills our voids perfectly. We can take love, we can give it back and the essence of life is the craving to do so. God is everywhere, God is love and so love is the air. If you can breathe you can love and if you need to breathe you need to love.

The Financial Performance of Microsoft

In 2009, Microsoft felt the impact of the recession and the difficulties that all businesses faced in responding to one of the most challenging economic environments in the past 100 years. The fiscal 2010 was a year of remarkable accomplishments with record revenue earnings per share reported. Outstanding determination across all businesses, maintained a disciplined approach to controlling costs, and proved deep commitment to smart investments in technology innovation. Since the company was created in 1975, Microsoft has created technology that transformed the way people worked, played, and even communicated all over the world. Their services and developments in hardware, and other solutions has opened new opportunities, greater convenience, and enhanced value to people’s lives. Microsoft profits from software licenses, and web based services like Bing, Windows Live, and Xbox Live services. In reviewing the year performance from 2009 and 2010 it is clear that revenue increased. Microsoft had much success in 2010 with the release of Windows 7, as well as PC market improvements. Operating income increased reflecting the change in revenue, offset in part by higher operating expenses. Sales and marketing expenses increased $335 million. This could be expected because of the increased advertising and marketing of Bing and Windows 7. General and administrative expenses increased $304 million and cost of revenue increased $240 million, primarily reflecting increased online costs and charges resulting from the discontinuation of the KIN phone, offset in part by decreased Xbox 360 console costs and reductions in other costs due to resource management efforts. Research and development expenses decreased $296 million, because of a decrease in third-party development and programming costs and increased capitalization of certain software development costs. Microsoft year ending 2010 reflects 380 million shares repurchased, an increase in earnings per share and an increase of net income. When viewing the performance of 2008 compared to 2009 it is clear that revenue declined across most segments due to the weak economic environment, which directly affected all markets. Many business experienced cut backs and layoffs, which caused a decline in demand for PC. According to Microsoft financial results the company had an increased server and server application revenue, reflecting recognition of deferred revenue from previously signed agreements and continued adoption of the Windows Server Platform and applications through SQL Server, Enterprise CAL Suites, and System Center products. Foreign currency exchange rates had a favorable impact of $486 million on revenue. In reference to the decreased operating income, it reflected decreased revenue. Operating expenses were flat with decreased general and administrative and sales and marketing expenses offset by increased headcount-related expenses, cost of revenue and employee severance charges. According to Microsoft’s calendar for first quarter results ending March 2011, financial performance dropped from the record-setting calendar fourth quarter results 2010. Earnings per share of $0. 61 were a 3-quarter low. First quarter has been an annual cyclical low for Microsoft for 3 years. Gross margin increased slightly but net margin decreased. Financial position continues strong, very liquid, and total assets are now just below $100 billion. Microsoft’s website has financial reports stating total revenues of $16. 43B, net income of $5. 71B, and earnings per share of $0. 61. From 2010 the fourth quarter total revenues were down -17. 67%, net income down -21. 13%, and earnings per share down -20. 78%. These results are shocking when compared to that same year’s fourth quarter, which these were up +13. 27%, +30. 60%, and +35. 56%, respectively. Financial reports state that first quarter of 2011, gross margin increased quarter over quarter to 76. 28%, but is still below historical 80+% range. Operating margin dropped quarter over quarter to 34. 75%, which is a 6-quarter low. Net margin dipped to 31. 85%, but is the 3rd consecutive quarter above 30%. Cash flow from operations per share increased dramatically to $1. 02 from the prior year’s fourth quarter (2010) of $0. 49. Most of the increase in cash flow was attributable to a decrease in accounts receivable. Total assets increased quarter over quarter +8. 4% to a record $99. 7B from the prior quarter of $92. 3B. The capital to assets ratio increased quarter over quarter to 53. 60%. The current ratio is a very liquid 66. 44%, which is a multi-year high. Microsoft reaffirmed operating expense guidance of $26. 9 billion to $27. 3 billion for the full year ending June 30, 2011. Microsoft also offered preliminary operating expense guidance of $28. 0 billion to $28. 6 billion for the full fiscal year ending June 30, 2012. Microsoft’s growth rates for total revenues show a decrease of -17. 7% in March 2011 first quarter results, after increasing for 3 consecutive quarters, by +10. 59%, +0. 97%, and now +23. 20%. Earnings per Share decreased -20. 78% in March 2011 first quarter, after increasing for 3 consecutive quarters, by +13. 33%, +21. 57%, and now +24. 19%. This first quarter has started Microsoft is starting out 2011 with a weak quarter, especially after the 2010 fourth quarter peak. It is important for Microsoft to direct the business focus towards the continuation of technological advancements and high-quality products and services to customers. Peter Klein said, â€Å"We delivered strong financial results despite a mixed PC environment, which demonstrates the strength and breadth of our businesses,† as chief financial officer at Microsoft he continues by saying, â€Å"Consumers are purchasing Office 2010, Xbox and Kinect at tremendous rates, and businesses of all sizes are purchasing Microsoft platforms and applications†. Microsoft must continue 2011 with their trend of developing innovative software applications and solutions to enhance and improve communication and aid business intelligence, with special attention to innovations for small businesses.