Voyages Soleil

Voyages Soleil The key decision and the risks facing the company Voyages Soleil, Inc. (VS) The key decision faced by the company (Voyages Soleil, Inc.) is how to embrace international foreign exchange rates against the Canadian dollar despite the looming financial challenges. The value of US$ against the Canadian dollar has been fluctuating considerably. The company might operate at a loss when it books hotels in other countries using US$ as the standard currency for payments. Evidently, international hotels prefer payments in US$ but not Cdn$.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Voyages Soleil specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More According to the case provided, the company (VS) had been hit adversely by the economic downturns and insecurity factors following the incident of September 11, 2001, in US. Issues of insecurity and travel cancellation played credible roles in the company’s decision making provisions. Precisely, the key decision is how to approach the foreign exchange risks following the then economic hitches. The risks facing the company incorporate fluctuating exchange rates between US$ and Canadian dollar. Additionally, economic plunge and decline in the travelling trends following the U.S.’s terrorist attack on 11/9/2001 are other risks faced by VS. Concurrently, hiked competition among the remaining Quebec tour operators and other players in the industry forms a considerable risk. Stakeholders in this situation Stakeholders in this situation incorporate VS Inc. (as a tour operator), suppliers to the company, clients, airline corporations, foreign exchange markets, other tour operators, international hotels, and other significant parties. Precisely, the stakeholders of this situation are numerous. They range from the travel industry players to the government agencies handling security concerns. The future of the Canadian travel industry and the Canadian currency at this stage (case d ate) The future of the Canadian travel industry is stunning. It is evident that the industry has been growing tremendously in the recent past despite the mentioned challenges. From the case study provided, it has restored its stability after the incidence of 9/11/2001, which created instability in the industry due to insecurity concerns. This is a crucial provision when considered critically in regard to the fates of the Canadian travel industry. Internationalisation of various organisational activities and stabilization of foreign exchange provisions have contributed to the recent growth of the industry. Additionally, the Canadian dollar has been stabilising against the US$. This will curb the risks faced when dealing with international exchange rates. Additionally, the Canadian travel operators can easily transact or pay their clients in US$ minus making considerable losses.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your fi rst paper with 15% OFF Learn More Options available to the company and the consequences VS Inc. is considering various options so as to handle the current situation critically. Firstly, it considers waiting until October to exchange the Canadian dollar at the then prevailing rates. This option is risky in case the exchange rates between US$ and Canadian dollar destabilises to the negative. Additionally, it is not possible to predict the situation as evident in the case study provided. The second option is to employ forward contracts for the entire payables. The consequence of this option is unpredictability in the US$ values. The third option is to buy (using borrowed Canadian dollars) US$ as at April 1, 2002 and trade them 6 months later. Consequences of this option incorporate the unpredictability of the situation. The company might gain or lose money in the coming 6 months.. Recommendable actions It is recommendable for the company to borrow Canadian dollars. It c an then buy US dollars and trade them later at the prevailing rates. The borrowing rates will allow the company to regain its capital and remain with some money to cater for the foreign exchange risks experienced in the industry.

Biography of Thomas Adams, American Inventor

Biography of Thomas Adams, American Inventor Thomas Adams (May 4, 1818–February 7, 1905) was an American inventor. In 1871, he patented a machine that could mass produce chewing gum from chicle. Adams later worked with businessman William Wrigley, Jr. to establish the American Chicle Company, which experienced great success in the chewing gum industry. Fast Facts: Thomas Adams Known For: Adams was an American inventor who founded the chewing gum industry.Born: May 4, 1818 in New York CityDied: February 7, 1905 in New York City Early Life Thomas Adams was born on May 4, 1818, in New York City. There is little recorded information about his early life; however, it is known that he dabbled in various trades- including glassmaking- before eventually becoming a photographer. Experiments With Chicle During the 1850s, Adams was living in New York and working as a secretary for Antonio de Santa Anna. The Mexican general was in exile, living with Adams in his Staten Island home. Adams noticed that Santa Anna liked to chew the gum of the Manilkara tree, which was known as chicle. Such natural products had been used as chewing gum for thousands of years by groups such as the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Aztecs. In North America, chewing gum had long been used by Native Americans, from whom British settlers eventually adopted the practice. Later, businessman and inventor John B. Curtis became the first person to sell gum commercially. His gum was made from sweetened paraffin wax. It was Santa Anna who suggested that the unsuccessful but inventive photographer Adams experiment with chicle from Mexico. Santa Anna felt that chicle could be used to make a synthetic rubber tire. Santa Anna had friends in Mexico who would be able to supply the product cheaply to Adams. Before making chewing gum, Thomas Adams first tried to turn chicle into synthetic rubber products. At the time, natural rubber was expensive; a synthetic alternative would have been extremely useful to many manufacturers and would have guaranteed its inventor great wealth. Adams attempted to make toys, masks, rain boots, and bicycle tires out of the chicle from Mexican sapodilla trees, but every experiment failed. Adams became disheartened by his failure to use chicle as a rubber substitute. He felt he had wasted about a years worth of work. One day, Adams noticed a girl buying White Mountain paraffin wax chewing gum for a penny at the corner drugstore. He recalled that chicle was used as chewing gum in Mexico and thought this would be a way to use his surplus chicle. According to a 1944 speech given by Adams grandson Horatio at a banquet for the American Chicle Company, Adams proposed to prepare an experimental batch, which the pharmacist at the drugstore agreed to sample. Adams came home from the meeting and told his son Thomas Jr. about his idea. His son, excited by the proposition, suggested that the two manufacture several boxes of chicle chewing gum and give the product a name and a label. Thomas Jr. was a salesman (he sold tailoring supplies and sometimes traveled as far west as the Mississippi River), and he offered to take the chewing gum on his next trip to see if he could sell it. Chewing Gum In 1869, Adams was inspired to turn his surplus stock into chewing gum by adding flavoring to the chicle. Shortly after, he opened the worlds first chewing gum factory. In February 1871, Adams New York Gum went on sale in drug stores for a penny a piece. The gumballs came in wrappers of different colors in a box with a picture of New Yorks City Hall on the cover. The venture was such a success that Adams was driven to design a machine that could mass-produce the gum, allowing him to fill larger orders. He received a patent for this device in 1871. According to The Encyclopedia of New York City, Adams sold his original gum  with the slogan Adams New York Gum No. 1 - Snapping and Stretching.  In 1888, a new Adams chewing gum called Tutti-Frutti became the first gum to be sold in a  vending machine. The machines were located in New York City subway stations and also sold other varieties of Adams gum.  Adams products proved to be very popular, much more so than the existing gum products on the market, and he quickly dominated his competitors. His company debuted Black Jack (a licorice-flavored gum) in 1884 and Chiclets (named after chicle) in 1899. Adams merged his company with other gum manufacturers from the United States and Canada in 1899 to form the American Chicle Company, of which he was the first chairman. Other companies that merged into it included W.J. White and Son, Beeman Chemical Company, Kisme Gum, and S.T. Briton. The rising popularity of chewing gum in the decades that followed led scientists to develop new synthetic versions; nevertheless, some old-fashioned chicle varieties are still manufactured and sold today. Death Adams eventually stepped down from his leadership position at the American Chicle Company, though he remained on the board of directors into his late 80s. He died on February 7, 1905, in New York. Legacy Adams was not the inventor of chewing gum. Nevertheless, his invention of a device for mass producing chewing gum, along with his efforts to promote it, gave birth to the chewing gum industry in the United States. One of his products- Chiclets, first introduced in 1900- is still sold around the world today. In 2018, chewing gum sales totaled about $4 billion in the United States. The American Chicle Company was purchased by a pharmaceutical company in 1962. In 1997, the company was renamed Adams in honor of its founder; it is currently owned by the confectionery conglomerate Cadbury, which is based in England. Sources Dulken, Stephen Van.  American Inventions: a History of Curious, Extraordinary, and Just Plain Useful Patents. New York University Press, 2004.McCarthy, Meghan.  Pop!: The Invention of Bubble Gum. Simon Schuster, 2010.Segrave, Kerry.  Chewing Gum in America, 1850-1920: the Rise of an Industry. McFarland Co., 2015.