Improvement, Integration and Innovation

The current economic crisis is forcing companies to streamline their operations. It means high unemployment rate and the creation of a negative economic climate. The lack of commitment from investors to pour money into the economy helps explain why a financial crisis is also called a depression.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Improvement, Integration and Innovation specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Nevertheless, it is imperative that government and business people must develop strategies to end the economic recession. It is therefore essential for companies to continually think about improvement, integration and innovation. These concepts would enable organisations to counteract the effect of recession. Although it is important to focus on the core issues that plague a company. It is no longer enough to focus on internal problems and develop solutions that are designed to remedy only the challenges faced by the c ompany. In the 21st century it is essential to think globally. A company CEO with limited vision cannot survive in a business climate that is severely affected by outsourcing and price wars as a direct result of competitive forces. Without a doubt the supply chain management strategies have been transformed dramatically in the past few decades. The rapid interconnections brought about by radical changes in telecommunication and transportation technology has increased interconnections between continents. As a result even Third World countries can greatly impact the economic climate of highly industrialised nations. There is now a high level of interdependence never before seen since the advent of the modern era. Companies that were established in the UK, US and Europe can play the outsourcing game. These companies can also build factories in China or. But for companies that do not have the capital required to branch out overseas there is no other course of action except to find a way to improve, integrate and innovate. Continuous Improvement An organisation that has aversion to change will soon find itself irrelevant and obsolete. Consider for instance the companies that sold typewriters, steam engines, beepers, and transistor radios.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More There was a time when these gadgets were indispensable. There are still companies that still manufacture or sell these equipment but unless they have established a relationship with select group of customers then there is no way that they can make a profit. In the age of computers and the Internet it is safe to say that this planet has become obsessed with technological breakthroughs on a regular basis. There is no sign that this trend can be reversed. It is a new way of doing things; an economic phenomenon that has to be understood by all. According to one commentary: Just when managers thi nk they have developed a strategy for future success, a new technology, process, competitor or customer behavioural pattern emerges. While a sharp focus and â€Å"sticking to the knitting† are sometimes the key to success in more stable conditions, the turbulent knowledge-driven markets of today require dynamic new strategic management approaches and tools (Leibold, Probst, Gibbert, 2005, p. 14). In other words it is crucial to embrace change and to seek ways on how to change the old way of doing things. If managers are afraid to take risks or unwilling to learn new things then their respective businesses will fail because these will become irrelevant in the 21st century. Continues improvement must therefore begin with continuous learning. An organisation must improve on the basis of Information Technology. There must be continuous improvement when it comes to storage and retrieval of information. There must be continuous improvement when it comes to communication. An upgrad e must also be expected from the Human Resources Department. Continuous improvement must also focus on resource allocation. Thus, it is crucial for an organisation to learn more about integration. Integration Integration can be understood as combination and amalgamation. This concept is nothing new. In the Industrial Revolution entrepreneurs learned how to build factories where the layout enables workers to be in close proximity with each other. This feature was helpful when it comes to assembling a particular product. It shortens the communication time and therefore problems can be solved much faster as compared to a layout where work units are located in different parts of the building.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Improvement, Integration and Innovation specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More One good example of integration is a concept called Group Technology or GT. A significant feature of GT is the ability to perform similar activities together and â€Å"would result to avoidance of wasteful actions because there is no need to shift from one unrelated activity to the next† (Hyer Wemmerlov, 1984, p.1). It can also be understood as the efficient storage and retrieval of information with regards to a recurring problem in the workplace and as a result it greatly reduces the time wasted in searching for pertinent information and solving the problem over and over again (Hyer Wemmerlov, 1984, p.1). GT can speed up the process of work and at the same time reduce the cost of production. An application of this principle is the creation of the flexible manufacturing system or FMS. According to business leaders who benefited from using FMS it is a system wherein â€Å"different types of raw parts enter the system at discrete points of time and are executed simultaneously, sharing a limited number of resources, such as robot, AGVs, machine tools, and buffers †¦ it can also be computer controlled configuration where different operations can be processed† (Apolloni, 2007, p.656). Managers needed to improve on the weakness of traditional assembly-line method of manufacturing and hence the emergence of GT and FMS. The significance of GT and FMS can be greatly appreciated in the context of complicated manufacturing processes. Managers should analyze the supply chain management aspect of the operation and determine related activities. For example a cellular type of layout can be implemented wherein similar machine-types are placed in proximity to one another and therefore reduce throughput time. An application of FMS on the other hand is the investment in a computer system that provides central control of all the manufacturing activities of the factory. The said computer system can also provide an information database that workers can access without having to contact different personnel for different types of data. In this particular system improvement the flow o f communication has been streamlined. Importance of Innovation Innovation is the key to sustainable growth because every product is prone to obsolescence. A sleek and much improved iPhone of this generation will be viewed as a useless piece of junk 50 years from now. Innovation can spell the difference between bankruptcy and continuous growth. Companies that are unwilling to invest in innovation cannot expect to remain relevant for long. Most of the time corporate leaders in these organisations are not aware that their company are no longer competitive. Sony’s Walkman comes to mind when it comes to the topic of obsolescence. Sony’s amazing colour TV sets of the 1980s and 1990s have to give way to flat screen TVs with LED technology. It was easy for Sony’s previous CEOs to rest on their laurels. It is a challenge to always consider continuous improvement that would lead to innovation.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More After all, the company was reaping huge dividends from these products. But sooner than expected upstart companies are able to develop new products that revolutionised the way people use music and video. The history of business is filled with great companies that used to be influential and profitable but left no trace of their former glory. Today, it is a matter of life and death to incorporate innovation strategies into the corporate mindset and according to experts in this field, â€Å"Put very simply, innovation is a survival imperative† (Seebode Harkin, 2009, p.1). The present success of the company cannot be relied upon to produce future success. A breakthrough product today can easily be copied in a few months or years and soon thereafter the novelty of the product wears off. The present value of the company is also not a security against future challenges especially when confronted with a competitor with better products and services. Thus, managers must realise that ev en if there is enough assets to build structures and hire people, the true asset of the company is in the knowledge on how to deal with the future. It is therefore unwise to play defence all the time and have the mindset of protecting the assets of the company. It is also imperative to invest in the creation of innovative products and services. However, managers must not only be armed with the motivation to succeed but also the needed skills on how to coach employees to work together to develop something significant in order to catapult the organisation to the next level. Nevertheless, the path towards innovation is paved with great intentions but littered with poorly designed products. All business leaders would love to have the benefits of innovation but if they are not willing to pay the price then innovation is impossible. There is a steep price to pay for change. The first thing that has to be done is to develop the correct mindset that in turn would force the managers to take the road less travelled. The next major step towards innovation is the need for a courageous and visionary leader able to enforce a culture of innovation within the company (Tidd Bessant, 2009, p.100). It is also important not to look the impact of an appropriate organisation design, because without it, creativity, learning, and interaction will never happen and these are key ingredients to innovation (Tidd Bessant, 2009, p.100). In addition, corporate leaders and business managers must be able to identify key personnel that can be resource persons or delegate authorities who can rally a team to generate ideas and implement the same (Tidd Bessant, 2009, p.100). Furthermore, the work done towards innovation must not be sporadic, it must be continuous. This mindset can only be achieved if there is an appropriate climate that will support this kind of behaviour (Tidd Bessant, 2009, p.100). Finally, the group must not only focus on the needs of the organisation but more importantly the needs of the customers. If a manager will incorporate all the strategic management principles discussed earlier regarding the need for continuous improvement, integration and innovation, the end result is a system called Concurrent Engineering. In a traditional manufacturing scheme, managers adopt an assembly line approach where the designers are the first to make the first move then they pass on what they have completed to the manufacturing engineers. Designers create a prototype and when it is approved the factory mass-produces the product. The marketing people are then tasked to sell the said product. It is a serial development process wherein â€Å"†¦people from different departments work one after the other on successive phases of development† (Stark, 1998). The finished product reaches the target market and in many instances the product is returned for defects or the product is judge to be of poor design even before it comes out of the factory. In other words i t takes a long time before managers and designers are aware of the problem. Concurrent engineering enables business leaders to see a prototype at the earliest possible date and the designers are able to receive the needed feedback without delay. The customers are not the only people that can spot potential problems. Designers from other departments can provide feedback. Members of the marketing department can inform the designers that there is a problem when it comes to the overall design. Other stakeholders can identify problematic issues when it comes to storage, packaging etc. Therefore, a full production cycle is not wasted from design, to prototype, manufacturing and marketing. Conclusion Companies can react in two different ways when it comes to an economic recession. Business leaders can outsource or build factories where labour is cheap. But for those who cannot afford to move their operations overseas and find it impractical to outsource, then there is no other option but t o adapt continuous improvement strategies that would result in higher levels of integration. In order to succeed in a globalised economy it is also imperative not only to seek improvement and integration, it is also crucial to produce innovative products and services. Combining all of these principles a workable model can be produced such as Concurrent Engineering. References Apolloni, B. (2007). Knowledge-based Intelligent Information and Engineering  Systems. UK: Springer. Hyer, N. U. Wemmberlov. (1984). Group Technology and Productivity. Web. Leibold, M., Probst, G. Gibbert, M. (2005). Strategic Management in the  Knowledge Economy: New Approaches and Business Applications. New York: Publicis Corporate Publishing. Seebode, D. G. Harkin. (2009). Radical Innovations at Philips Lighting. Web. Stark, J. (1998). A few words about Concurrent Engineering. Web. Tidd, J. J. Bessant. (2009). Managing Innovation, Integrating Technological,  Market Organizational. New Jersey: John Wiley Sons. This essay on Improvement, Integration and Innovation was written and submitted by user Caitlyn N. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Income statements are of crucial importance to users of financial statements The WritePass Journal

Income statements are of crucial importance to users of financial statements INTRODUCTION Income statements are of crucial importance to users of financial statements INTRODUCTIONTHE MAIN PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH REVENUE RECOGNITIONVIEWS TAKEN BY THE TWO BOARDSREASONED CRITIQUE OF THEIR THINKINGCONCLUSION Related INTRODUCTION Income statements are of crucial importance to users of financial statements, particularly investors. It is vital that revenues are properly recognized when preparing income statements to give a fair view of profitability of the associated company/firm. Thus investors are not misled while making decisions and undertaking risks involved with the concerned company. The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) joint project tries to remedy such problems, by eliminating inconsistencies and developing coherent conceptual guidance for revenue recognition. Both boards consist of professional accountants that aim to develop high quality/understandable accounting standards and principles to ensure a more accurate and consistent reporting. The IASB deals with the development, promotion and application of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The FASB develops generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) in the interest of the public. Moving on, the main concerns of this report are problems involved in revenue recognition, views taken by the two boards and a reasoned thinking of their critique. THE MAIN PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH REVENUE RECOGNITION When it comes to revenue recognition transactions that begin and are completed in the same time period, cause considerably few problems. Real obstacles arise when customers prefer paying later on than when receiving the product or in cases where supplier might provide the promised good over several reporting periods. This earning process approach has led to problems for financial statements’ users and problems with GAAP and IFRSs. Building on the earnings approach, too many standards evolving revenue recognition has been formed by GAAP. The application of some of those standards by entities can produce inconsistencies for economically similar purposes. This can be a result of lacking a clearly identified earning process as well as people’s disagreements on how it applies in certain occasions. For instance think of a service provider that requires customers to pay an upfront fee plus monthly charges. In accordance with the SEC SAB 104, the provider does not account for the service as a separate earnings process and therefore does not recognize revenue for activation fees when the activation services are rendered. The fact that entities apply different earning process approaches to economically similar transactions reduces the comparability of revenue across entities and industries. In addition by applying revenue recognition standards designed by IFRS one can clearly observe that amounts in the financial statements might not correctly correspond to real economic phenomena. The underlying skepticism of this assumption is that revenue recognition of a product/service sale largely depends on when the rewards as well as risks associated with them are transferred from the owner to the client. Considering the IAS 18, circumstances can get even worse when goods and services are interrelated with the good transaction thus the entity views the transaction as a whole. Such circumstances involve recognizing all the revenue on the delivery of the good before the entity has fulfilled all of its obligations for the services like warranty. As a result revenue does not represent the delivery of all goods and services as stated in the contract. Additionally, IFRS lacks guidance on transactions involving delivery of more than one good or service also known as multiple element arrangement. IAS 18 does not clearly state whether an entity should recognize all the revenue for a multiple element arrangement by the time the first element is distributed or until the last element is distributed. IFRS also lacks guidance on how to measure the elements in a multiple element arrangement. According to IFRS another problem is created with revenue recognition because of the application of different approaches by entities when accounting for goods and services. Without any clear division between goods and services some entities undertaking service contracts were recognizing revenue throughout the service process. Some others though contracting for goods tended to recognize revenue by the time that risks and rewards related to the product were transferred to customer. Such gaps in guidance could be eliminated with the existence of clear principles; but principles of IAS 11 and IAS 18 are inconsistent. The first principle implies that revenue should be recognized while the activity of the contract still takes place and the customer does not have the risks and rewards of owning the product. On the contrary IAS 18 principle states that revenue should be recognized when the customer controls and undertakes risks and rewards of the ownership of the product. VIEWS TAKEN BY THE TWO BOARDS According to the board’s last meeting IASB and FASB discussed about 6 major topics involving revenue recognition. The first one involves identification of separate performance obligations. Under this topic the boards have decided that an entity should account for a collection of goods and services as one performance obligation in cases where the entity provides a service combining both goods and services into a single item. Conversely an entity should account for goods and services as different performance obligations when: the good or service is sold apart or when the client can use a good/service individually or with existing resources available to the customer and when the pattern of transferring the good or service is diverse from the pattern of transferring other goods and services in the contract. The second one is about combining contracts. The boards decided that two or more contracts that are placed at closely related times with the same customers can be merged and accounted as one when contracts are offered as a package, when the amount of consideration of a contract depends on the other and when the design, technology and function of goods and services are interconnected. The next topic involves contract modifications. The boards concluded that if a contract is modified in such a way that it results to a separate performance obligation with a price matching the obligation, the entity should regard the contract as a separate one. Otherwise, the performance obligation should be reconsidered and the transaction price of each separate performance obligation should be reallocated. Moving on the next topic engages the breakage and prepayments of future goods and services. The boards decided that where it would be reasonable for the entity to estimate the amount of expected breakage, the effects should be recognized as revenue along with the rights exercised by the customer. Another discussed topic is burdensome performance obligations. The boards decided that in order to find out whether the performance obligations are heavy there should be a test, the onerous test which will be defined by the remaining obligations of the contract. Finally the last topic includes revenue recognition for services. The Boards concluded that in order to recognize the revenue of a service the entity must go through two steps; first it must determine that a performance obligation is assured continuously and secondly it must then choose a method of measuring progress in order to completely satisfy that performance obligation. The Boards have furthered their discussions into issues which arise when an entity uses an input method for the measurement progress to complete satisfaction of a performance obligation. The entity, in some instances will only obtain goods which are transferred at another time from related services. In such cases, the Boards decided that the entity should measure the progress for the transfer of such goods should be equal to the costs of the transferred goods. REASONED CRITIQUE OF THEIR THINKING The technical director of Shumate Mechanical, LLC strongly supports that segmented performance obligation approach will increase costs and result in unclear accounting information. This is due to changes of revenue from period to period, violation of costs and revenue matching principles, lack of clear information making it difficult to understand performance to total product and uninformed transfer of revenue to performance obligations. The application of this model of revenue recognition according to the construction industry will lead to more inconsistencies, unreliable financial information as well as difficulties in their preparation. Furthermore under the agreement where a service provider transfers services to a customer, the proposed standard revenue is recognized by the time services are provided, depending on the provider’s estimation on progress of the performance obligation. Thus revenue cost is recognized as it occurs. David P.Bohn, partner of LARSON, LUDWIG and STROKES LLP, correctly mentions that the proposed standard does not set any requirements that the recognized percentage of total revenue matches the recognized percentage of total cost of revenue, which some service providers would prefer to maintain. Recognizing different percentages of revenue would lead to misrepresentation of gross margin. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu finds the principle of combining two or more contracts really useful. But some concerns still exist according to the guidance around price interdependence which seems confusing. As mentioned in FASB and IASB’s exposure draft an entity should combine two or more contracts if the price of goods and services bought in a contract is dependent on the price of goods and services of another contract. Moving on it also states that in cases where a customer can benefit from discount on goods and services due to existing customer relationship mostly arrived from other purchases, then the price of the contract is not said to be interrelated with the price of another contract. These two paragraphs seem to contradict to each other. Therefore entities with similar types of revenue streams will arise. PricewaterhouseCoopers agree with board’s proposal that an entity should identify performance obligations differently in case that goods and services are distinctive. But they mention that it requires judgment and may be difficult to determine. Incomplete guidance is also given on identifying different performance obligations. Moreover they report that the boards omit distinct profit margin. Finally based on the exposure draft all performance obligations are identified first and separated into distinct performance obligations at a later stage making it difficult to reflect the economics of transactions. CONCLUSION Revenue recognition is a great issue and one can say that it might be unsolved. Because of many inconsistencies associated with it, FASB and IASB together have tried through their joint project to eliminate such inconsistencies. All the users of this standard have now come to criticize some of its principles even though they might be satisfied with the majority of other principles stated. There are still others that continue to believe that a lot of inconsistencies and omissions still exist. Some believe if the existing work done by the boards is furthered developed and modified through the publication of a comprehensive standard on revenue recognition, a clear and robust standard on revenue recognition can be formed.

Guillermo Furniture Store Recommendation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Guillermo Furniture Store Recommendation - Essay Example High tech solution is already a part of the production process of Guillermo competitor. This technology has high level of automation that reduces the labor requirement from production process and even from movement of products across assembly line. High tech solution also has computer controlled laser lathe that gives exactly the required cut on the product, thus reducing wastage. JUSTIFICATION FOR RECOMMENDATIONÂ   Cost Benefit Adoption of high tech solution would benefit Guillermo in many areas. First, Guillermo would be able to reduce price of its products. Reduction in price is the most effective tool in meeting competition. Investment in this high tech solution will increase its production by considerable size of almost 50 percent in the first year to enhance its capacity of meeting market demand and compete with foreign competitor with increase in its supply at reduced cost and prices.. Increase in production would spread the cost over greater number of units. The overall labo r cost of the business would increase as labor with high technical skills will be required. However, the production time or labor time for both mid grade and high end products will decline from 20 to 4 units for mid grade and 30 to 4 units for high end products. This decrease in per unit means that almost 5 additional units of high end product (4 X 5 = 20) and 7 additional units of mid grade (4 X 7 = 28) can be produced in time that would have required preparing single unit of both categories under current production process. With adaptation of new technology, the firm will be able to make gross profit of $.891, 543 as compared to $.265, and 282 with current process. Increased Net Profit Adoption of high tech process would increase overhead cost from $222,705 to $. 696,979. This increase in overhead cost is due to increase in cost of salaries, insurance, property tax and depreciation. However, even with accelerated increase in overhead, firm will be able to make net profit (before t axes) of $.195, 564 from $.42, 577. This is the most attractive benefit that Guillermo is expected to gain from changing its business model to high tech solution. Investment Appraisal Technique With these benefits, high tech solution for business is highly capital intensive. Guillermo would require considerable amount to finance this new tech solution for its business. Guillermo Balance sheet for 2010 and 2011 provides information regarding its financial position. Among two modes of financing which are debt and equity, it is suggested that Guillermo shall opt for equity mode of financing. WACC for 2010 and 2011 has been 5.54% and 5.57% respectively with debt contributing 84.3% and 82.4% respectively for two years. Hence, the share of equity is only 15.7% and 17.5% for two years in line. In case, Guillermo adopts debt mode of financing it will then further increase the debt component of WACC which is already too high. WACC is the weighted average cost of capital and it shows the aver age capital cost of the company (Brigham, & Houston, 2004). Hence, it shall raise funds through equity. Cost of capital reduces if the company has too much debt in its capital structure and then it reduces its debt by increasing the equity (Emery, Finnerty, & Stowe, 2007). Therefore

Knowledge Management Enablers Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 7500 words

Knowledge Management Enablers - Article Example This cost them their exile out of the Garden of Eden and onto a life of suffering. Such is the value of knowledge that in its pursuit, it wields its power to drive people to do things unexpected of them. Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) make the distinction between two types of knowledge: explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge. Discussions of this concept are abundant in the KM literature (Bollinger and Smith, 2001). Explicit knowledge is defined as structured and codified knowledge. It is formal and systematic and is easily expressed in the production specifications, scientific formulae or computer programs (Nonaka and Konno, 1998), thus it can be easily communicated and shared. Tacit knowledge, in contrast, is unconsciously understood and applied, difficult to articulate, and developed directly from experience, and action (Zack, 1999). Tacit knowledge is highly personal, hard to formalize, difficult to communicate or share with others. The adage that â€Å"Knowledge is Power† has been adhered to by many people as a rule of strategy in achieving personal or professional empowerment and advantage, or as a protective measure against the uncertainties and unstable conditions of life’s situations. ... It is as arbitrary and shallow as its premises imply. So, like money and time, knowledge needs to be managed well so it is used for the best outcomes. Knowledge management has been getting much attention due to its accorded importance in organizations. O’Dell and Grayson (1998) defines it as â€Å"a conscious strategy of getting the right knowledge to the right people at the right time and helping people share and put information into action in ways that strive to improve organizational performance† (p.6) In addition, Nakra (2000) contends, â€Å"Knowledge management refers to the ability to develop, share, deposit, extract, and deliver knowledge such that it may be retrieved and used to make decisions or to support the processes† (p. 54). Magnier-Watanabe and Senoo (2008) defines it as â€Å"the process for acquiring, storing/sharing, diffusing and implementing both tacit and explicit knowledge inside and outside the organization’s boundaries with the pu rpose of achieving corporate objectives in the most efficient manner† (cited in Magnier-Watanabe & Senoo, 2010, p. 216). It should be noted that the common characteristics of knowledge management in the definitions is that it is something that is movable from one person to another for the purpose of achieving organizational goals. However, it is not as simple as it seems as there are several considerations in order for knowledge management to be successful in working for the whole organization and not just for a few individuals. Dissecting Magnier-Watanabe & Senoo’s definition further, the processes involved in knowledge management are likewise described. Knowledge acquisition is gaining new knowledge from whatever source and although knowledge already

Law Questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Law Questions - Assignment Example Law Questions On realization that Fred had a criminal record, the police officers should obtain a search warrant to search Fred’s room and before Fred is charged with possession of cocaine. The rule of law demands that plausible cause exists if the circumstances and facts of the case would cause a person to believe and consider that a felony had been committed or was going to be committed. Yes, the drugs are admissible in Court against Mike because the report evaluation of the controlled substances such as Marijuana that was found in Mike house is admissible in the court because it acts as a prima facie evidence of the quantity, nature, and identity of the issue evaluated. In this case, the police officers do not require the utilization of laboratory tests or reports because Mike and Larry were found in possession of the drugs. Admissibility will also apply to Larry because he was found in possession of Marijuana in his trunk. The police officers had the right to search Mike’s house since they had a valid search warrant. Police officers were investigating a car crime had particular details regarding the car that had committed the crime. When the details matched with the defendant’s behaviors, police discovered the car had similar characteristics as the one they had. The police had the right to use the information they had and match it with what they saw. The police officers need to use the totality of circumstances method to get a credible or probable cause.

A Report On Shirdi Tourism Essay

A Report On Shirdi Tourism Essay Shirdi Shirdi is a small town located in the Ahmednagar district in the western Indian state of Maharashta and is a religious destination of universal appeal Shirdi is perhaps one of those revered destinations that attracts devouts across all religions. Significance Unlike other holy cities in India that can trace their origins to thousands of years back, some cities were known places of religious importance as early as the pre Christian era, Shirdis rise to reverence and as a religious destination is quite recent. Shirdi has been home to Shri Sai Baba, one of Indias most revered saints. It is believed that Shri Sai Baba lived and gained spiritual awakening in Shirdi. Some devotees believe that he was an incarnation of Lord Shiva or Lord Dattatreya. His teachings combined the religious teachings of Hinduism and Islam and thousands of devouts converge on Shirdi each year to seek his blessings. Attractions The Sai Baba Temple: The Sai Baba temple is the principal attraction in Shirdi and is thronged by thousands of devotees each year, irrespective of religion, caste and creed. The temple, built to commemorate Sai Baba, is built at the spot where Sai Baba is said to have taken his Samadhi. The temple is professionally managed by the Shri Sai Baba Sansthan and devotees can offer puja services throughout the day and can also see the aarti ritual which happens five times every day. The most calming and spiritually awakening ritual is the Kakad Aarti that happens every morning with the opening of the temple. The penultimate aarti ritual is called the Shej Aarti and signals the end of the day. The temple remains open overnight only on Gurupoornima, Dassera and Ramnavami. The temple also has a massive hall that cam accommodate around 600 visitors. Within the mandir one can also find a personal museum of Sai Baba that showcases the things that Sai Baba used in his lifetime. Samadhi Mandir: This is another, smaller shrine that marks the exact spot of Sai Babas Samadhi that is built with while marble. The Samadhi is enclosed with decorated marble railings and is watched over by a statue of Sai Baba carved from white Italian marble. Dwarkamai: History records that Sai Baba left Shirdi for some years but eventually returned to Shirdi with a marriage procession and stayed at Dwarkamai, a mosque situated on the right of the entrance to the Samadhi mandir. The main attraction of Dwarkamai is the oil painting of Sai Baba sitting in a carved wooden shrine. How to Reach Shirdi is well connected by rail and road to the rest of India. The nearest airport is at Nasik, 75 km away. Shirdi is also slated to have its own airport by 2012. Shirdi also has a rail station and is connected by rail to other cities in India. A dedicated train service is available from Mumbai. Shirdi, given its religious importance, is also well connected by road with the other cities in India.

My First Love Essay -- essays papers

My First Love When I was ten years old, I fell in love. It was more romantic and emotionally uplifting than any other experience I had ever been through. The object of my affection reciprocated that love instantly, and since that day, we have never fought, never been apart, and never been unfaithful. It started one brilliant October day. The bright New England foliage fell like large, fluttery raindrops as I coasted down the road that lead to the elementary school, and the gravel crunched beneath my bike tires as I rounded the corners. I sighed. Today had been just another day at school for me. Another day with the rest of the country-grown kids who lived in the hills of this straight-laced town. Another day in which I said hello to everyone I saw, calling them by name. Just another normal day with normal events. Except for the fact that this was the day that the cast list for Bakersfield Elementary School's production of "Oliver Twist" had been posted. Big deal. I had auditioned, but mainly because Cathy, a good friend of mine, had no one to audition with, and had whined so much, I did it to make her shut up. It was the most dull and uneventful process I had been through since my last doctor's checkup. The audition process consisted of the 2 directors (who actually were the school's music teacher and the secretary) saying the following: "Read these lines." "Okay, now read these ones." "Try that again, please." "Right, now sing this... And this." Then they muttered for a bit amongst themselves, and then said, "okay, then, thanks for auditioning!" Cathy had obsessed and worked herself into such a frenzy by the end of the day that the list was going to be posted. She was worried about if she was going to be cast or not. Her incessant fidgeting and one-way conversation irritated me so much, I had headed home early, not even stopping to see if I was in the play or not. I know that it's bad when you avoid friends, but I think maybe I was just in a bad mood or something. I now found myself riding back to school, compelled to see if I had actually gotten a part. As I walked into the school, I saw a small group of kids loitering around a piece of paper by the door that led to the gymnasium. This was it. I stepped toward it, muttering "excuse me to a pair of burly eighth-grade girls who looked quite disgusted. I scanned do... ...lfway across the gymnasium, which had been completely rearranged and decorated in black for this play. I walked up the three steps to the stage. I turned to face the audience. And I saw them. The whole town, sitting there, watching me. I swear a sweat drop rolled down my jaw line, and all of the lines that I had worked so hard to remember flew right out the window. I didn't know what to say. It was if the weight of the world had been placed squarely on my head. In that split second that I lost all of my composure, just as fast, I regained it. I shook it off. The lines came flooding back, and I resumed my character. I threw my whole heart and soul into my performance. Adrenaline was rushing through my blood, and I acted better than I had ever had in rehearsal. I even earned quite a few laughs for the "kiss" with Mr. Bumble. The curtain call came, and as I stood onstage with the rest of the cast, I smiled on the inside as well as on the outside, and I felt as though I would burst with the feelings that were bouncing around in my head. I was happier than I had ever been in my whole life (at least that I could remember). When I was ten years old, I fell in love with Theatre.