W.E.B DuBois thoughts on education Essay Example For Students

W.E.B DuBois thoughts on education Essay W. E. B DuBoiss thoughts on educationThe Souls of Black Folk, written by W.E.B DuBois is a collection of autobiographical and historical essays containing many themes. DuBois introduced the notion of twoness, a divided awareness of ones identity. One ever feels his two-ness an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled stirrings: two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keep it from being torn asunder (215). There are many underlying themes in this collection of essays. One of the themes that DuBois speaks on extensively is education. DuBois stresses the importance of education amongst the black race. He believes that African Americans should be educated in order to guide and teach the uneducated blacks. DuBois stresses the fact that there is a need for higher education, the importance of role models, and the concept of self-motivation for the African American race. DuBois wrote an essay in The Souls of Black Folk, which gives his opinion on Booker T. Washingtons views on education. Booker T. Washington stresses individual education as the way for blacks to gain upward mobility. DuBois disagrees with this. He feels as though blacks first have to gain the right to vote, civic equality, and education of youth according to ability (248). Both Washington and DuBois want the same thing for blacks first class citizenship but their methods for obtaining it is different. Because of the Smith 2interest in immediate goals contained in Washingtons economic approach, whites did not realize that he anticipated the complete acceptance and integration of blacks in American life. Washington believes that blacks, starting with so little, would have to begin at the bottom and work up gradually to achieve positions of power and responsibility. DuBois understands Washingtons program, but believes that this is not the solution. DuBois shows opposition to Washington s approach, not his intent. We will write a custom essay on W.E.B DuBois thoughts on education specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now In the fictional story, Of the Coming of John, DuBois rebukes Washingtons ideas of subordination to whites in order to obtain support for black education. The dominant white male of the story speaks the following statement, Now I like the colored people, and sympathize with all this reasonable aspirations; but you and I both know, John, that in this country the Negro must remain subordinate and can never expect to be equal of white men (373). This is a fundamental sentiment that white people in the American society during that time held on to. In this essay W.E.B DuBois shows how this black man, John, was treated in his hometown after returning home with a college education. Both blacks and whites reject his new views. However, to whites the black John represents a devaluing of the college education. If a black person can have a college degree, then having a college degree must not have value. After this reaction from society John started to think, John Jones, youre a natural born fo ol (369). This behavior from society kept the average black person stagnant, and unmotivated. Continuing with the famous debate between Washington and DuBois, DuBois argues in The Training of Black Men that by training blacks for economic usefulness was not Smith 3enough. Using blacks for manual labor without the benefit of education, culture, and ideas belittled them and suggests that they were less than human. Harmonization of race relations could only occur between two self-respecting, cultured, educated races, not between a dominant elite and a forcibly subordinated, resentful minority. The minority would be the black people, and the dominant elite would be the white people. DuBois is adamant on his stance that all black people need an education because he feels as though it is only one way to create equality among the people. DuBois shows that education is also another tool that will help raise the veil for future generations. DuBois feels that the idea of a quality education provides a sense of hope for black people. I cannot hesitate in saying that nowhere have I met m en and women with a broader spirit of helpfulness, with deeper devotion to their life work, or with more consecrated determination to succeed in the face of bitter difficulties than among Negro college bred men (280). The Souls of Black Folk is an attempt to define race relations in psychological and philosophical terms. DuBois sets the stage for future generations to follow his lead. .uad2a51f9da165c85f9ac112167d0dad6 , .uad2a51f9da165c85f9ac112167d0dad6 .postImageUrl , .uad2a51f9da165c85f9ac112167d0dad6 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .uad2a51f9da165c85f9ac112167d0dad6 , .uad2a51f9da165c85f9ac112167d0dad6:hover , .uad2a51f9da165c85f9ac112167d0dad6:visited , .uad2a51f9da165c85f9ac112167d0dad6:active { border:0!important; } .uad2a51f9da165c85f9ac112167d0dad6 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .uad2a51f9da165c85f9ac112167d0dad6 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .uad2a51f9da165c85f9ac112167d0dad6:active , .uad2a51f9da165c85f9ac112167d0dad6:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .uad2a51f9da165c85f9ac112167d0dad6 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .uad2a51f9da165c85f9ac112167d0dad6 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .uad2a51f9da165c85f9ac112167d0dad6 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .uad2a51f9da165c85f9ac112167d0dad6 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .uad2a51f9da165c85f9ac112167d0dad6:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .uad2a51f9da165c85f9ac112167d0dad6 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .uad2a51f9da165c85f9ac112167d0dad6 .uad2a51f9da165c85f9ac112167d0dad6-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .uad2a51f9da165c85f9ac112167d0dad6:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Tennessee Williams's Life Story EssaySmith 4Works CitedDuBois, W.E.B The Souls of Black Folk Three Negro Classics. New York : Harper Collins Publishers, 1965. 213-389.

Gun Control In The U.S. Essays - Gun Politics, Firearms, Gun Control

Gun Control In The U.S. Essays - Gun Politics, Firearms, Gun Control Gun Control in the U.S. Gun control, as we know it, consists of the government restricting the ability of individual citizens to purchase weapons. The different types of gun control vary from waiting periods between when you purchase the gun and when you actually get it, background checks so that high-risk people can't purchase guns through legal channels, and completely banning certain types of guns. There are countless ways for criminals to avoid these government regulations, causing them to only render the ability of innocent citizens protecting their home and family's ability to purchase guns. The "waiting period" method of gun control is basically a two-step process. The first step in the procedure is that the person wanting a gun goes to his local shop (or calls a reputable mail order outlet) to place the initial order. Then, he must wait one to two weeks while the government performs a small background check for past criminal activities, disorderly conduct, or lack of mental/emotional stability. During this time, if the purchaser of the gun wanted the gun for impulse reasons (out of rage), it is hoped that they will not still want to cause bodily harm after a couple weeks. The problem with this method of gun control is that it stops the ordinary citizen from purchasing a gun on the whim, but it actually protects the common criminal. Underage buyers and other delinquents can purchase mass quantities of weapons through "dummy buyers" that have clean backgrounds. So if a burglar enters a house with full intention to maim or kill, the innocent victim (who can't get a gun to protect his family because he was arrested for drunk driving seven years ago) is simply a victim of a law that supports black market trade. There are over 200 million registered guns in circulation (Larson), and they are the ones that will not be killing our children. The unregistered ones are owned by murderers, rapists, and thieves. Another practiced technique of preventing dangerous firearms from killing honest people is to ban an entire type of weapon. The AK-47 is a commonly-used example of that. Again, the criminals still have limited access to the weapon through underground channels, but these banned weapons are so powerful that there is really is not practical purpose for them in the home (or in hunting). This can easily be adverted by the common criminal who knows anything about the way guns are assembled. A semi-automatic machine gun can be converted into a fully-automatic gun with a little handcraft. A shotgun can become a bloody powerful weapon by sawing-off the tip of it. Obviously, new methods of gun control are needed to produce desired results. In the first half of 1991, fifty children under the age of seventeen had been shot to death. If we continue to monitor the sale of firearms, there must be new techniques that can watch where the guns end up. And if we decide that we can/will not go down that track, we must make that judgement earnestly, and without haste, because it will decide the future of The United State of America as we know it. - Bibliography Larson, Erik. "The Story of a Gun", The Atlantic Monthly. January 1993 Pooley, Eric. "Kids with Guns." , New York. August 5, 1991.

Management of Human Resource individual Work wk1 Essay

Management of Human Resource individual Work wk1 - Essay Example Regard to the significance of employing the employees on as broad a geographical ground as feasible (Storey, 1999). Moreover, and to the equal partaking of males and females in the duties if the firms. The superseding apprehension of human resources managers in the organizations is to connect human resources management with managerial aims, to put into consideration the outside and inside forces applicable to human resources management. The Framework includes a meaning of organizational plan and its influence on the human resources management atmosphere. It identifies the dissimilar yet interconnected elements that constitute human resources management in the organization. Google is one of the organizations that give great concern to the framework. Mainly, Google motivates its employees. Being a decentralized company having more than forty head offices, it uses the motivational structure. It does it by allowing its employees to use the innovation time off policy. The employees are free to utilize twenty percent of their time in fields of their interest. Through the policy, very many new services have come into existence. Such services include Gmail. Moreover, it has six most essentials, some of which contains other sub-components. Definition, Recognition of central part/non-central elements, fundamental values and the connections between elements and sub-elements. The Framework gives the organizations with a holistic conceptual ground from which to make use of one or more fields of human resources management modification. Therefore, organizations can use it to speculate future work, policies, and measures. In addition to that, other activities are essential elements that mainly motivate the staff. These activities will boost the morale of staff members. An increase in morale among staff increases their output in general. Furthermore, use of human triad is a performance measuring

Ethnographic Comparison Account Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ethnographic Comparison Account - Essay Example This paper highlights policy issues in religious practices and problems the mentioned societies face while practicing their religious beliefs. Classic and contemporary ethnographical accounts are used in this analysis. African Americans are citizens of United States of America and they have their ancestry in Sub-Saharan Africa. They are the single largest minority group in United States of America and most of them are offspring’s of Africans brought in America during the slave period. The Chinese are citizens of the People’s Republic of China.There are 56 ethnic groups in China, and Han is the largest, constituting 91.5% (Berlatsky, 2010). The Han are the world’s largest single ethnic group and play a dominant role in Chinese politics and economic spheres.Lack of official data makes it difficult to know the accurate number of religious practices among the Chinese; however, Religion gained prominence among the Chinese in the late 1980s with the latest survey condu cted in 2007, depicting 23% of the Chinese population being religious (Berlatsky, 2010). The most dominant religious beliefs in China are the Chinese folk religion, Taoism and Buddhism. 50% of the Chinese population are Buddhists, while Taoist account for 30% of the population. These figures are estimations since it is difficult to get the exact number of Buddhists, Taoist and those practicing Chinese folk religion because they overlap with one another, and there is no public participation and congregational membership. Christianity is a minor religion among the Chinese and was introduced during the Tang dynasty, in 635 AD. Many Christians in China belong to un-authorized house churches and therefore it is difficult to know the exact percentage of Chinese Christian (Cavali, 2002). The Government of China estimates the number of Chinese Christians to be around 25 million, an estimated 3% of the total population. The Chinese, practice Islam, though it is a minority and was introduced in the period 651 AD. Other religions such as Bon and Hinduism are also practiced in China although under regulation by the Chinese Government (Cavali, 2002). Among the African Americans majority of them are Protestant Christians who follow the historical churches formed by fellow blacks, according to the 2007 Religious survey conducted in America. The largest Protestant group is the Baptists and is divided into four denominations (Gates et al, 1996). The second largest protestant group is the Methodists, whose largest church is Methodist Episcopal Church. African Americans are also members of white Pentecostal movement, and an estimated 16% of African Americans are believed to attend such denominations. The Roman Catholic faith is also practiced among the African Americans, but it is a minority religion (Bankston, 2006). Islam is a religion among this group though in minority, and they constitute 20% of Muslims in United States of America, majority being Sunni Muslims. Religion amo ng the Chinese and the African American is different. One difference emanates from the nature of the religious practice. The most dominant religion in China is Buddhism, while the most dominant religion among the African Americans is Christianity. Buddhists worship Buddha as god, while Christians believe in Jesus Christ as the son of God, and redeemer of mankind from sin. A significant difference arises in the membership of

Mortgage Crisis in the U.S Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Mortgage Crisis in the U.S - Essay Example This led to an immediate and intense disorientation of the financial markets. During its semiannual worldwide financial report released on 8th April 2008, the paramount statue of international finance analysis (that is IMR) stated that the collapsing house prices and rising queries in the residential mortgage market or arena losses of approximately five hundred and sixty five billion US dollars. When these factors are combined with other declines from other areas of loans originated and provision of security in the United States of America that relates to commercial real estate is indicated by the International Monetary Fund to gather a loss of about nine hundred and forty five billion US dollars. This was shocking as it was the first time that the International Monetary Fund was approximating the extreme losses incurred by banks and other financial institutions in the United States. As indicated earlier, this credit crunch started in the year 2007 and led to the increasing number of defects on the subprime home loans. The main mission of the International Monetary Fund is to facilitate and promote international financial stability. Since it had easy money policies, the Federal Reserve allowed the housing prices to increase up to unsustainable levels. The bubble bursting led to this unfavorable condition. The current mortgage crisis began with the bursting of the bubble house in 2001 and reached its optimal point in 2005. Housing bubble refers to an economic bubble that occurs in local and international real estate markets. Occurs when there is a rapid rise in the valuation of real property to levels that are unsustainable in relation to income and other sources of affordability. When there are such rapid increases there is a subsequent decline in home prices and mortgage debt that is greater than the actual value of

Full-Scale Fatigue Testing using the Resonance Method

Full-Scale Fatigue Testing using the Resonance Method Welding: Welding is a process that is employed to join two distinct pieces of the same metal or remove any unwanted material from metals. In other words, the welding can be broadly discussed as the forging of two heated metals by employing electrode which acts as a slag and prevents the atmospheric contamination. The art of welding began when man started forging tools from metals. The first form of welding that was available to mankind was metal forging by pounding a metal until they are fused together. [1] Types of Welding: We live in a world where we can fuse a metal and separate a single metal into many components. There are many available methods of welding to achieve this objective. They have all been evolved from the idea of forging and have a high influence in the human survival. Some of the different types of welding that are been used are: Â   Â   Oxy-Acetylene gas welding Shielded metal arc welding (SMAW) Gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) Electroslag welding (ESW) Gas metal arc welding (GMAW) Submerged arc welding (SAW) magnetic pulse welding (MPW) Electric resistance welding (ERW) Flux-cored arc welding (FCAW) laser beam welding and electron beam welding [2] Weld Geometry: Welding two metals depends on a numerous factor such as type of joints, type of welds, groove face, root face, root edge, bevel angle, depth of bevel, groove angle, groove face, groove radius, and root opening. Based on all these factors there are nine categories of welds. They are Groove Welds Plug or Slot Welds Spot or Projection Welds Back or Backing Welds Flanged Welds Fillet Welds Stud Welds Seam Welds Surfacing Welds [3] Figure 2: Type of Weld Figure 1: Type of joint Figure 3: Process of a) Spot Welding b) Seam welding c) Projection Welding Types of Failure: A metal component is always subjected to stresses and strain. They have an impact on the total life of the component. A flaw that can cause disruption in the performance of a metal gives us an idea on the integrity of the metal. In case of welding the defect can occur in the area that has been welded. Based on the study, it is identified that most of the failure in the welds occur due to wrong technique, process conditions, bad weld groves, incorrect consumables and operator error. The common types of failures that occurs in welding are due to hydrogen embrittlement and residual stresses. So, the type of welding failure that can affect the life of the metal component are: Arc strike cracking Undercut Cold cracking Hot cracking Crater crack Root and toe cracks Hat crack Underbead crack Lamellar tearing Longitudinal crack Gas inclusion Reheat cracking Distortion Inclusions Transverse crack Lack of fusion and incomplete penetration [4] Fatigue: Fatigue may be characterized as the weakening of metal caused by the frequent application of cyclic loading and unloading. It causes progressive structural damage to the material. The fatigue strength is defined as the maximum strength a material can exhibit without breaking is an important dimension that is employed to study the life cycle of the metal or the welded structure. The BS 7608 or DNV-RP-C203 gives us an idea about the fatigue strength to the applied load for different weld geometry. Principle of Fatigue Testing: Resonance Method Testing is employed for the analysis of fatigue in welds. The process involves the excitation of the welded metal to be tested to its first mode of vibration by applying rotational radial force at one end. The rotational force causes a bending moment in its longitudinal axis of the welded metal with two nodal points without any deflection. The welded metal is supported at these points. Figure 4: Principle of resonance fatigue testing (in two dimensions). Figure 5: Bending-stress-profile-in-a-resonance-fatigue-test-specimen-with-a-circular-cross-section This method is employed to calculate the bending stress in a metal. The resonant frequency depends on the mass and stiffness of the material. Usually the tests are conducted below the resonant frequency to control the stress and thereby regulating the strain and deflection. [5] Figure 6: Resonant-response-of-specimen-deflection-controlled-by-changing-the-speed-of-rotation-of-the-excitation-force. Industrial Application: Resonant Testing Machines is the commonly employed fatigue testing machine when compared to its counterpart Servo-hydraulic testing machines due to its advantages such as better efficiency, high frequency, low maintenance and cost. They are used for the fatigue analysis of aerospace and automotive fasteners, engine components, turbine blades, chains etc. Aerospace Industry: Resonant test is employed in aerospace industry to study the fatigue strength of the composite materials such as Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP). They are employed to study the fatigue strength of aerospace fasteners such as bolts, screw, studs and rivets. An aircraft uses an utmost 3 million fasteners with bolts taking 25% and the rivets taking the rest. So, fatigue test is done to analyze the reliability of the fasteners to the repeated pressure and temperature cycles, variations in dynamic loads, and high vibration levels. [6] Figure 7: Fatigue Toughness Testing with resistance heating tester. Automotive Industry: Resonant tests are being implemented in structural dynamics lab in order to study the fatigue strength of high stiffness components such as the automotive components such as connecting rods, crankshafts, bolts, brackets, gear teeth, knuckle etc. The test duration is controlled by the stiffness of the material and the frequency can go high as up to 100 Hz. [7] Reference: The_Procedure_Handbook_Of_Arc_Welding_742pages_1973.pdf Online: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welding Online: http://nearyou.imeche.org/docs/default-source/hong-kong-branch/1- 20.pd Online: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welding_defect Online: http://www.twi-global.com/technical-knowledge/job-knowledge/full-scale-fatigue-testing-using-the-resonance-method-141/ Online: http://www.fastenerandfixing.com/news/high-cycle-fatigue-evaluation-of-aerospace-fasteners Online:https://www.araiindia.com/services_RnD_services_structural_dynamics_engineering_services.asp

Has The De Beer Diamond Lost I :: essays research papers

"And while the law [of competition] may be sometimes hard for the individual, it is best for the race, because it ensures the survival of the fittest in every department." -Andrew Carnegie Since the 1930’s when Sir Ernest Oppenheimer established the Central Selling Organisation, De Beers Consolidated Mines have controlled the selling and marketing of approximately 80% of the world’s rough diamond production (Capon, 1998). However, in 1996, Australian company, Argyle, stunned the world by announcing that they would no longer market diamonds through De Beers C.S.O. Many economists predicted that Argyle wouldn’t be able to compete against the mammoth De Beers. Yet in the year to December 31, Argyle recorded a profit of $142.5 million, an increase of 76% (Treadgold, 1999). De Beers is currently looking like losing the monopoly it has had on the diamond industry for almost seventy years. A monopoly is an industry in which there is only one organisation that supplies a particular good, service or resource which has no other similar alternatives. Monopolies are created by barriers which restrict the entry of new organisations (McTaggart et al, 1999). In a perfect monopoly, the seller has total control over the quantity of goods or services available for sale and the price at which the items are sold (Butterworths Business .. Dictionary, 1997). De Beers Consolidated Mines Central Selling Organisation has had a monopoly on the selling of rough diamonds since the 1930’s. A monopoly industry is characterised by having no close substitutes. Although there are substitutes for diamonds such as rubies, emeralds and cubic zirconias, many believe that there are no other gems that exhibit the same beauty of the diamond. Perhaps this belief was created out of De Beers advertising campaign, â€Å"A Diamond is Forever† (Capon, 1998, pg 6) which began in 1947. Whatever the reason that consumers want diamonds, and diamonds only, doesn’t matter. Consumers demand the real thing and will pay for the luxury. The second factor which creates a monopoly market are barriers to enter the market. Common barriers to entry include licenses, patents, entry lags, economics of scale and control of inputs (Browning & Browning, 1989). Control of inputs is the factor that constricts entry into the diamond industry. â€Å"De Beers Consolidated Mines of South Africa, through its ownership of mines and its central sales organisation, controls 85 percent of the world’s diamond output† (Browning & Browning, 1989, pg 330).

Bidding on the Yell Group Essay

1. Introduction Yell Group consists of two businesses that are operating across countries. Yellow Page is a classified directory business in the UK, while Yellow Book is an independent directory business in the USA. These businesses are currently owned by British Telecom which is under pressure to reduce its heavy debt load and had been wavering for months about the future of these two Yellow Pages divisions. Apax Partner and Hick Muse are two private equity firms that are interested in the acquisition of the Yell Group by using debt for a majority of the purchase price and equity for the remainder. The deal is crucially important to both Apax and Hicks Muse because of its high visibility — simply by virtue of its size and complexity, it will leave its mark on the reputations of both PE firms. But the team faces a challenge when valuing a cross border business involved in the LBO. Not only are those business located in different markets, but they also are characterized by different growth rat es and cash flow characteristics. Furthermore, each business unit faces an immediate uncertainty. 2. Overview of LBO The Equity Sponsor borrows the debt portion of the purchase price, typically through public or private bonds and bank loans issued by the company and contribute the equity portion typically through a private fund. Debt is serviced and repaid with the company’s operating cash flows. The buyer later sells all or a portion of the company and realizes a return on its initial equity investment — Sale of Sponsor equity typically through an initial public offering or a sale to a strategic buyer or another LBO firm. The LBO transaction focuses on cash flows generated by operations and the use of the cash to pay down debt, thereby increasing equity value. Additionally, improvements in operating performance can increase value. Assuming the enterprise value remains unchanged, as debt is repaid, value reverts to the equity holders, thereby generating equity returns. Through this cross-border LBO, our team wants to achieve three fundamental goals: a) Determining the enterprise value of Yell Group by measuring its ability to generate sufficient cash flows to meet required equity returns while complying with leverage parameters. b) Calculating financial ratios and other measurements to determine the balance sheet and credit impact of the LBO c) To justify whether they can get reasonable returns given financial projections and leverage assumption in the model. Our team is aim to use as much leverage as possible to minimize initial equity check and create an aggressive financing structure that can be eff ectively syndicated to the market. 3. Yell Operations When valuing Yell, we find that Yell currently has two well-established business lines in two different markets. While the environment is different in each market, Yell’s business lines achieve somewhat steady cash flows that are on pace with market growth, even the OFT is expected to recommend the imposition of a limit on the annual increase in rates for advertising in the U.K. market. The projected EBITDA for both BT Yellow Pages in the U.K. and Yellow Pages USA combined are more than enough to cover the considerable interest expense. Furthermore, with the ambitious growth plan, Yellow Book hopes to capture much of the predicted market share gains. A good LBO candidate should have some characteristics on its business specific and industry specifics. That means, the underlying Yell fundamentals and competitive advantage should be much more scrutinized by the team. Indeed, BT Yellow Pages as a market-leader in the classified directory business and Yellow Pages USA as a market leader in the independent publisher of business directories. Finally, shortly before Apax and Hicks Muse had initiated talks with BT executives about the future of Yell, the telecom giant had announced plans to pay down its debt, so this deal should be a fire-sale transaction, the sale of Yell is good for BT and its shareholders. However, BT Yellow Pages and Yellow Book USA represent two very different businesses. The U.K. business is subject to heavy regulation which will restrict the price. Thus the only way to expand profits is through the advertisement volume. Unfortunately, the growth in the classified directories advertising market has been declining over the last few decades and will probably continue in this tendency even though the total advertising market has seen increasing growth. The potential good opportunities for this business could be the additional divisions that BT Yellow Pages owned. Prospective investment indicated these businesses are in the early stages. The U.S. market is an important source of new business for SMEs throughout the country and the independents are projected to increase their market share from 11% to 30% over the 2000 — 2005 period. For Yellow Book, this growth is to be fueled by expansion efforts as launching new directories into contiguous markets and launching wide area books into cities without an independent presence. In terms of the industry life cycle, BT Yellow Pages is most likely in the late maturity / early decline stage while Yellow Pages USA was still in the growth phase. These factors combined with the buyers’ investment horizon will influence their exit strategy. Yell Group Ltd. provided Apax and Hicks Muse team with projections for both BT Yellow Pages and Yellow Book USA based on what a potential growth in the upcoming years. Since Yell is trying to sell their business, we have to be careful about the assumptions used to come up with these projections. As a financial buyer, we tend to leave the day-to-day operations with management and thus would hope that they can meet their projections. These numbers should be viewed conservatively, as Yell would want to make the company look as attractive as possible to potential buyers. For BT Yellow Pages, their growth is dependent on the number of advertisements sold in a given year and the advertisements’ prices. Thus, as a potential buyer, these areas need to be scrutinized to come up with a reasonable projection. The growth rate (nominal) of advertisement volume from 2001 to 2007 may be as high as the rate of past years at 6.6%, and for SMEs, BT Yellow Pages were considered a â€Å"must buy†, since the yellow pages are their principal means of reaching customers in UK. Yellow pages advertising expenditures tends to be more stable than other forms of media advertising and do not fluctuate widely with economic cycles. For advertisement prices, the trend is slightly increasing from 2001 to 2003 and flat thereafter. Yell’s management seems to be too optimistic here as the OFT is expected to announce its new recommendation for the following years soon. Since the cap is 6% below the inflation rate and the projections for inflation is 2.4% in 2002, 2.3% in 2003, and 2.0% thereafter, the advertising prices should be expected to show a decreasing trend. For example, the Weighted Average Advertisement Fee in 2002 should be 621.78 = 645 x (1 + 2.4% – 6%). The year-over-year revenue growth for Yellow Book USA ranges from 10.0% to 15.0% with an average of 12.5% and a compound average growth rate of 12.4%. Organic growth in the US market is 4-5% and so the additional growth for Yellow Book USA must be coming from new market launches as well as increasing market share as an independent publisher. The growth rates seem quite aggressive and so additional new market launches may be required in years 2005 and 2006, currently not projected, to ensure that there is a buffer to hit revenue projections. It may make sense to also decrease the revenue growth rate to be more realistic and use yell’s projection as an upper limit case. We think it important to segregate organic revenues from new launch revenues and only apply an EBITDA margin to organic sales while separately adding in the impact of new launches in order to roll the two very different types of markets together. This approach also affords an opportunity to give a more sophisticated treatment to operating income from new launches. We believe that a 17% EBITDA margin on organic sales is a more realistic target for 2002, improving at a 2% increase per year as business goes up until the 25% target rate is hit in 2005 and maintained thereafter. Capital Expenditure and depreciation also need to be reviewed as they are somewhat positively related, which means an increase in Capital Expenditure usually results an increase in depreciation and vice versa. Overall, the numbers for both markets should be viewed with skepticism as these are Yell’s projections and may not reflect the buyer’s expectations in terms of the growth in the market. 4. Transaction Assumption The following transaction assumptions must be considered at the beginning of LBO analysis: a) BT Yellow Pages has its price adjusted for inflation as stated by the OFT. b) The U.K. discount rate is calculated using the comps Telefonica Publicidad e Informacion and Enriro. c) The U.S. discount rate is calculated using McLeod USA and World Pages. d) The model assumes the debt is held in the U.K. and the U.S. business line will have its cash flows converted to U.K. denominated pounds at the spot rate- For the base case, the terminal value growth rate of BT Yellow Pages is 3.47% which is a forecast of the compound average growth rate of FCF from 2002 to 2007 based on our projection. Sensitivity analysis should be applied to see how the growth rate of terminal value would affect the overall valuation. e) For the base case, the terminal value growth rate of Yellow Book USA is 4.3% which is the historical growth of the RBOCs. Sensitivity analysis should be applied to see how the growth rate of terminal value would affect the overall valuation. f) New launches in the U.S. are fore casted to return 5% EBITDA to Sales in the first year. This is a conservative estimate and sensitivity analysis should be applied to see how the EBITDA margin of new launches would affect the overall valuation. g) Once launched, the new markets are assumed to reach organic EBITDA margins in the following year. h) The risk premium of both markets is set as 6.5% and sensitivity analysis should be applied to see how the risk premium would affect the overall valuation. 5. Valuation Method It is accepted that CCF valuation is widely used for LBO. WACC is not applicable here because the calculation of WACC assumes constant D/E ratio. Based on the debt repayment schedule, it is unlikely that the firm will be able to maintain a constant ratio. CCF is ideal for this transaction because the debt repayment schedule is known in advance. CCF separates the calculation into two parts: unlevered cash flow using unlevered cost of equity and tax shield using the unlevered cost of equity. For our calculation, CCF is more suitable due to the known debt repayment schedule and the more conservative valuation. Coming up with an accurate valuation becomes more complex when dealing with different currency of cash flows from cross border assets. Yell’s two business line, BT Yellow Pages and Yellow Book USA, operates and generates revenue from their respective countries; therefore, we must look each asset as a separate part. We could do a separate valuation on each asset based on the home country’s currency and financial projections. To determine a representative discount rate, we used betas and Debt/EV ratios of comparable listed companies in Exhibit 10 from each region. For example, for Yellow Book USA, we only used betas and Debt/EV of comparable American firms and not European firms and we assume the risk premium is 6.5%. We also had to take into account difference in risk-free rates by looking at country-specific yield on 30 years Treasury Bills when calculating the cost of equity for each asset. Depending on the capital structure, each asset may have tax benefit from tax-deductible interest payments. The interest tax shield must be calculated using the local country’s corporate tax rate; therefore, each business line may have different cost of debt. At Yell, we used the U.K. tax rate of 30% because the acquired company is incorporated in the U.K. thus everything is consolidated in pound. When building a valuation model, we also consider the growth potential of each asset separately as well. We take into account the firm’s local business strategy, competitors, and overall market potential to develop a representative perpetuity growth rate. Once we get the enterprise values for both assets, we can then use the spot rate to convert the enterprise values into pound for comparison. All these factors play a vital role when forecasting revenue growth / free cash flows, determining the discount rate and eventually calculating a fair enterprise value for the firm. Using our pro forma assumptions and CCF valuation, the total acquisition fee is  £2.09 billion (shown in excel). The U.S. business is valued and converted to the pound to reach a total valuation. These values include the 5% in transaction fees. 6. Sensitivity Analysis Sensitivity is done on five major variables. The first variable is the terminal growth rate of the U.K. business since BT Yellow Pages represents a huge part of the total valuation (see excel file for the sensitivity of growth rate on BT Yellow Pages valuation). If the terminal growth rate is 5%, the total acquisition price with fees is  £2.28 billion, compared to the  £2.09 billion with the base case of 3.47% growth rate. The second variable is the terminal growth rate of Yellow Book USA. This scenario analysis doesn’t affect the overall valuation much as the Yellow Book USA only accounts for a small fraction of the overall valuation. For the third variable, the analysis performed is the change in regulatory imposition when keeping the terminal growth rate of UK business at 3.47%. Currently the base case is that revenue decreases by the inflation subtracting 6% annually. The results are shown in Sheet ‘Sensitivity Tables’. When there is no regulatory imposition applied and the price grows with inflation, the acquisition price with fees is 3.01 billion. If they can negotiate with the UK government to reduce the rate to 5%, instead of 6%, the acquisition price with fees is 2.30 billion. It is highly sensitive to the change in regulatory imposition. This implies there is significant upside if the regulatory imposition is lower than 6%. For the fourth variable, we change the projections of Yellow Book USA’s EBITDA margin of new launches in order to create a range where revenue projections are uncertainty. But there is not much of a difference among those valuations. The last scenario analysis performed is the risk premium for both markets, at the very beginning we assumed a 6.5% risk premium, but we also want to get a range of the valuation as the numbers changes. The results are from 2.4 billion to 1.85 billion. Overall, we are confident that the bid would be somewhere between  £1.85 billion to  £2.3 billion. 7. Conclusion For this financial acquisition, we are more opportunistic and thereby looking for value creation based on the assets itself in order not to overvalue the target firm and thus overbidding for the company. In addition, we are looking to expand its presence on the European LBO market. We viewed Yell as a compelling investment opportunity, particularly in light of the company’s growth potential, low valuation and leverage capacity. This deal will leave its mark on the reputations of both PE firms.

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