Sample Paper - Freelansas

Knec Business Plan Sample

A business plan acts as a road-map for a business and thus provides a guide on important elements of the business and the steps that should be taken to start and steer the business to grow. Coming up with a business plan is one of the requirements towards graduating with a certificate, diploma, or bachelor’s degree in many colleges and universities. As a student undertaking a Knec-accredited diploma course in Kenya, you will likely be required to write a business plan based on a pre-determined format. For many students, writing a business plan is a challenge especially given that they do not really understand the concepts being examined. Learning how to write a winning business plan can be made easy with the help of a high quality business plan sample. In case you are looking for a Knec business plan sample, you have landed in the right place.

Knec Business Plan Sample

While a few Knec business plan samples have been posted on the Internet, most of them are clearly of very low quality providing evidence that their authors did not really understand important and relevant business concepts. Here is a Knec business plan example that is of high quality and from which you can learn and develop your own plan, whether for Knec or other examination or for practical use. You can be sure that the Knec diploma business plan example is of high quality as it is based on a past sample that achieved an A-grade. Here is the example business plan for a boutique:

Glamify Boutique Business Plan

Chapter One: Business Description

1.1 Background of the Owner

Stanley Brown, a 25 year old male with a longstanding passion for establishing and managing businesses, will be the sole owner of Glamify Boutique. Currently pursuing a Diploma in Business Management at XYZ University, Stanley has in the past been employed as a sales person in a mtumba (second hand clothes) business. With the three years of experience as a sales person in the mtumba business, Stanley has developed effective entrepreneurship, communication, and social skills. The education and entrepreneurship skills he has acquired from his college education will be instrumental in managing the business and evaluating its financial accounts. Together, the skills and experience from Stanley’s past employment and college education will be valuable in understanding, communicating with, and interacting with potential clients, employees, suppliers and other individuals associated with the business. Stanley’s robust educational foundation, coupled with two years of practical experience working in a boutique as a sales agent, gives him the confidence to navigate the challenges that he may encounter as an entrepreneur.

1.2 Business Name

The yet to be established business will be called Glamify Boutique. This name, which reflects the attraction the business products hopefully will earn users of the products, has been chosen to for its simplicity, uniqueness, and for its capacity to highlight the type of the business. As such, it will be easy for customers to remember the name of the business and possibly associate it with attractive, exciting, and enchanting looks.

Knec Business Plan Example

1.3 Business Location and Address

Glamify Boutique will be located in Awendo Town, Migori County, specifically within the central business district of the town. The chosen location is ideally within one of the buildings along Kisii-Migori road, in close proximity to Shivling Supermarket or within 400 meters from the town’s sole roundabout, which serves as the Arika Boda Boda Stage (Figure 1).

This location has been chosen because it is strategic in that the Kisii-Migori road is a main highway that connects multiple major town and is thus used by many people on a daily basis. Additionally, the site offers ample parking space for both potential customers and delivery vehicles, ensuring safety and security. The business will operate from a rented house. The envisioned business premise will consist of two rooms: a front room with a minimum area of 160m², overlooking Kisii-Migori highway, and a backroom, which will serve as a store, with a minimum area of 50m². Continue reading ....

Copper and Lead Levels in Aberdeen Harbour

Copper Lead Aberdeen Harbour Sediments

Here is a preview of the paper on Copper Lead Aberdeen Harbour Sediments.

Copper and Lead Levels in Aberdeen Harbour

1.0 Introduction

Anthropogenic activities are recognized as a significant contributor to the build-up of heavy metals, such as lead and copper in urban areas and marine settings, posing health risks to people’s lives and the lives or marine organisms (Yan et al., 2018; Briffa et al., 2020). Exposure of humans or marine organisms to these pollutants can result illness, poor health, or even death (Briffa et al., 2020). Lead, a well-known poison for centuries, is a subject of global public health regulations and is linked to miscarriages, brain damage, kidney damage, cancers, and even death in humans (Tchounwou, et al. 2012; WHO, 2024). Although naturally present in soils at low concentrations, studies indicate a gradual increase in environmental lead concentrations due to human activities (WHO, 2024). Copper, essential for enzymatic activity at low concentrations, acts as an enzyme inhibitor at higher levels, causing diarrhoea, vomiting, and liver disease in humans (Tchounwou, et al. 2012; Ashish et al., 2013).

Harbours, due to shipping activities, often experience severe marine pollution (Onwuegbuchunam et al., 2017; Zhang, 2020; Shahzad, 2023), leading to a rapid decline in water and sediment quality, impacting fish and marine life significantly. Unlike some pollutants, heavy metals cannot undergo biodegradation and may accumulate in sediments to toxic levels over time (Tchounwou, et al. 2012). According to the Marine Management Organisation (2015), marine sediment concentrations below 50mg/kg (dry weight) for lead and below 40mg/kg for copper fall under Action Level 1 (AL1), indicating safe levels (Appendix 1).

Situated in Aberdeen City, Aberdeen Harbour, is recognized as one of the oldest and busiest ports in the United Kingdom (Ship Technology, 2018). Handling approximately 8,000 vessels annually, the harbour contributes over £1.5 billion to the national economy by managing nearly five million tonnes of cargo (Ship Technology, 2018). The cargo, including industrial chemicals, pesticides, oil, and liquefied gas, poses a potential risk of pollution. Additionally, other sources of heavy metals entering the harbour include construction, domestic, industrial, and agricultural activities, as well as chemicals and wastes. Continue Reading (Alternative 2) …

Here are some words that can be used to describe the paper:

Aberdeen harbour baseline study example
Aberdeen harbour sediments study
Aberdeen Harbour Baseline Survey
Aberdeen Harbour Baseline Survey for Environmental Status
Copper and Lead Levels in Aberdeen Harbour Sediments
Copper Lead Aberdeen Harbour Sediments

Sample data

Copper and Lead Levels in Aberdeen Harbour Sediments

Question/Prompt/Instructions can be found here … or here …

Statistical Process Control Case Study

Prompt:

Present literature review on statistical process control highlighting the development of the concept from the time it was developed to-date. You have been provided with historic data relating to temperature of combined effluence discharged by company ABCD. The data provides temperatures recorded four times a day during the month of September 2022. The company’s effluent discharges are usually controlled within the 25⁰C to 35⁰C range. The company (a brewery) usually performs weekly maintenance on the balancing system, whose effect is to neutralise the pH of the effluent and in the process heats up the discharge. The maximum temperature allowed for the discharge is 40⁰C. Using the data, visualise the performance of the company’s effluent control process. Ensure that you describe the analytical approach you have applied and include any graphs you have produced. Based on your analysis/visualisation, how well has the effluent control process performed? What priorities should the company adopt for quality improvements? – This is a statistical process control case study.

Data Sample: 27.508, 33.19, 30.06, 30.01 … (120 data points in total).

Statistical Process Control Case Study

Statistical Process Control Case Study

Introduction

Statistical process control (SPC) is the application of statistical methods to monitor, control, maintain, and improve the performance of a process (Jiju & Mehmet, 2003; Jamadar (2020). SPC is also a tool that applies time series plots, for checking whether products or processes confirm to their design requirements (Qiu, 2014). SPC, a brainchild of Dr. Walter Shewhart, was first developed in the 1920s as a tool for monitoring and controlling manufacturing processes (Best & Neuhauser, 2006). The tool’s versatility was recognized by Shewhart and Dr. Edwards Deming, who acknowledged that repeated measurements would exhibit some variation. Shewhart later realized that the tool had the potential for use in other types of processes in addition to manufacturing (Best & Neuhauser, 2006; Niavand & Tajeri, 2014). True to this finding, in contemporary times, SPC extends its application to diverse contexts such as management, health quality assurance and improvement, survey, among countless other settings (Jin et al., 2019; Qiu, 2019).

Common Cause Variation and Special Cause Variation

In statistical process control, common cause variation and special cause variation are crucial concepts (Montgomery, 2009; Qiu, 2014). Common cause variation refers to the observed variation that come into being as a result of random fluctuations, representing the natural variability or “background noise” inherent in a process (Montgomery, 2009). This variation is anticipated based on the underlying distribution, assuming variables remain constant with the passage of time. When common cause variation is present, the process is considered to be naturally stable and predictable, and the process is considered to be in “in statistical control” or simply, “in control” (Qiu, 2014). A stable process exhibits predictable variation described by a statistical distribution, such as normal, Poisson, geometric, or binomial distributions. In a process that follows the normal distribution, normally about 95% of future measurements are expected to fall within +/- 2 standard deviations of the mean. Furthermore, regardless of the statistical distribution, almost all measurements are expected to fall within +/- 3 standard deviations about the mean, when the process is in control (Benneyan et al., 2003; Goedhart & Woodall, 2022).

On the other hand, special cause variation represents observed variation beyond what can be attributed to chance alone. This kind of variation results from external factors or special causes, constituting unnatural variation due to circumstances, changes, or events that are not naturally part of the regular process (Carroll & Johnson, 2020). In contrast to traditional hypothesis testing, where special cause variation is analogous to statistically significant differences, SPC identifies changes graphically over time and often involves the collection of a (relatively) few samples (Benneyan et al., 2003; Montgomery, 2009). Continue reading …

Common Resources and Capabilities Virgin Companies

Virgin companies – Strategy

Revision questions

1. What are the shared resources and capabilities shared by the separate Virgin companies? – common resources and capabilities Virgin companies.
2. Which business(es) should Branson divest from? What criteria should he apply in deciding the new diversification strategy to apply?
3. What changes do you recommend to the Virgin Group with respect to its its organisational structure and management systems?

Contents

Introduction
Resources and capabilities
Virgin companies shared resources and capabilities
Divesting criteria and businesses to divest
New diversification strategy and decision criteria
Organisational structure change recommendations
Management systems change recommendations

Richard Branson and the Virgin Group Case Study

Introduction

The Virgin Group was established by renowned entrepreneur, Richard Branson. The history of the group can be traced back to 1968 when Branson formed the Student magazine after dropping out of school. Over the years, The Virgin Group has grown to become a highly diversified organisation with operations in several industry segments and countries. The group so far operates in the UK, the United States, Australia, Russia, South Africa, and Canada among several others. Some of the areas the group mainly focuses on are Telecoms and Media, Music and Entertainment, Financial Services, Travel and Leisure, and Health & Wellness (Virgin Group 2017).

The Group boasts of owning hundreds of companies directly or through its subsidiaries. It also boasts of having holding companies in seven main business categories. In addition, it has a stake in several companies, such stake acquired through the formation of joint ventures with other corporations.

Virgin Group has a strong asset base and its success has partly been attributed to the reputation and celebrity status of its founder, Richard Branson. Some of the Group’s notable assets include its fleets of airplanes, trains, and megastores. In addition to these, it has several resources including a strong brand name, a good reputation, talented human resources, and finances. In combination, these resources have helped the group develop capabilities and competencies in different areas.

One of the resources shared by the Virgin companies is the Virgin brand… Read more…

Recovery of Forest Soils Following Wildfire

Tedim and Leone (2020) define wildfire as any unplanned and uncontrolled fire started on shrubs or forest. National Geographic has defined the term as an uncontrolled fire that that burns in the wildland vegetation, often in rural areas. The term has also been defined by Belcher et al. (2021) as any non-structure fire other than prescribed fire that occurs in a wildland. Also called vegetation, bush, or forest fire, wildfire has been part and parcel of the earth’s history over the past 400 million years, and is thus not a new phenomenon (Belcher et al., 2021). A wildfire may ignite spontaneously as a result of natural causes such as a lightning strike or may be caused by human activities. Whatever their cause, they can greatly disturb forest soil and ecosystems especially given that fire can have a significant impact on the structural, physical, chemical, mineralogical, and biological properties of soil (Certini, 2005; Shrestha, 2009) through mechanisms such as vitalisation, erosion, oxidation, leaching, and ash transfer (Xiang et al., 2014). The recovery of soil after a forest fire is an issue of great importance to conservationists, environmentalists, governments and other players. This paper seeks to answer the question: can forest soils recover from wildfire? The paper begins by discussing the impact of fire severity on soil properties before focusing on the recovery of forest soils following a wildfire.

Impact of Fire Severity on Soil Properties

Several properties of forest soil can change as a result of exposure to a wild fire. Some of these properties include level of organic carbon, nutrients, water holding capacity, aggregate stability, and hydrophobicity (Agbeshie et al., 2022; DeBano, 1990; Santín & Doerr, 2016). The level of which these properties can be affected depend on the duration, frequency, timing, type, and intensity of fire (Certini 2005; Xiang et al., 2014). Most analysts agree that out of the three factors, fire intensity has the greatest influence on the properties of forest soil during or following a wildfire (Certini, 2005; Santín & Doerr, 2016). Recovery of forest soils following wildfire … Continue reading ...

Next article: Aberdeen Harbour Baseline Survey.

The Role of Cost Information in the Pricing Decision

Pricing Decisions: The Role of Cost Information In the Pricing Decision

Prompt:

The Role of Cost Information in the Pricing Decision You are working in the management accounting department of ABC which manufactures a range of consumer electronics products. The current range comprises 50 different products and the company launches around 10 new products every year.

Your manager has asked you to write a paper which addresses issues relating to pricing decisions for all the company’s products, with a particular focus on the prices set for new products.

The current approach used by the company is a cost based approach by which a predetermined percentage is added to the estimated full cost of the product. However the directors of the company have recently questioned this approach.

You are required to discuss the following in your paper:

The role of cost information in the pricing decision.
The advantages and limitations of the company’s current approach.
A range of alternative strategies for pricing products which could be adopted by the company, including a discussion of the circumstances for which the different strategies would be appropriate.

Discussions have been taking place within the company concerning the pricing of one of the products to be launched within the next three months. The current planned selling price is £60 per unit and at this price it is expected that 5,000 units will be sold over the next year. However the marketing director has suggested that the sales quantity and profits from this product could be increased by reducing the unit selling price. The production director disagrees and believes that the selling price would have to be increased to improve the level of the profit.

You are required to:

Analyse the relationship between selling price and the level of profit for this product based on the information provided in this briefing.
Within your paper, present your analysis in an appropriate format. This analysis should include an appropriate chart or charts as an integral part of your paper.
Provide a full commentary on your analysis. This discussion should include the assumptions in and the limitations of your approach, a discussion of the views of the two directors related to the conclusions of your analysis and an assessment of the relevance to the organisation’s pricing decisions in the light of your answer to part a).

Note: you should use a spreadsheet for the calculations which underpin the analysis presented in the paper. Your spreadsheet must be submitted to support your paper.

Additional information:

The company estimates product costs based on apportionment of overheads to products using labour hours. Prices set are based on full cost plus a 25% profit mark-up.

The following information relates to this product:

The manufacture of each unit of the product requires materials costing £24 and 30 minutes of direct labour at a rate of £25 per hour.
The variable overhead costs per unit are £5.50 per unit.
Fixed costs for the year to be apportioned to this product are expected to be:
Production costs: £24,000
Administration and management costs: £5,000
Selling costs: £1,000
Some market research has recently been carried out to try and determine the effect on the level of sales demand if changes were made to the selling price of the product. This market research has suggested that reducing the selling price to £57 would increase the sales volume to 5,250 units for the year whereas increasing the selling price to £63 would result in a fall in sales to 4,750 units during the same period.

Assessment criteria
(10%) Discussion of the importance of cost information for pricing
(10%) Discussion of the advantages and limitations of the company’s current approach.
(25%) Review of alternative strategies for pricing products.
(10%) Analysis of scenario
(25%) Commentary on spreadsheet analysis and presentation of results.
(10%) Effective communication and appropriate style of presentation.
(10%) Use and presentation of academic research to support arguments.

Pricing Decisions

The role of cost information in the pricing decision

Cost is one of the factors that affect pricing decisions, hence cost information is an important factor in coming up with pricing decisions (University of Minnesota, 2015). Costs can influence prices through its effect on supply. In this regard, a company will be willing to supply more products the more the cost is lower relative to the price. It is often the case that as the firm increases supply of a product, the cost of producing an additional unit initially decreases. However, a point is reached where the cost of producing an additional unit begins to rise. The company will be willing to continue to supply its products for as long as the profit it makes from selling extra units exceeds the cost of producing them (the extra units). Another way that costs influence pricing is that all the costs incurred by the firm should be recouped through its product sales (Meehan et al., 2011; Smith, 2011). This means that the higher the units of a product that a firm sells, the less each unit is required to contribute towards covering the fixed costs. This in turn implies that the firm can afford to set a lower price for its products if it applies a cost-based approach to pricing or can make higher profits if applies value-based pricing (Leijon, 2017). It is by understanding the cost of producing the products that companies can set product prices so that they (the prices) appeal to consumers and at the same time serve to maximize operating income (Tarjomefa, 2015). Continue reading …

Nitrogen Balance Experiment Urine

Nitrogen Balance Experiment Using Simulated Urine Samples. Lab report results.
Attempted solutions for the following questions:
For this assay, you were asked to dilute your samples. Please explain in your own words why you think you were asked to do this.
Nitrogen Balance Experiment Urine

You were also asked to make your own standards from a stock solution of 1mg/ml. Please indicate the amounts of stock solution and water you added to make 10mls of each of your own standards.

	Blank	0.25mg/ml	0.5mg/ml	0.75 mg/ml	1 mg/ml
Stock soln (ml)	Provided
Water (ml)	Provided

Calculate the average reading for each duplicate pair. You may find that one of the duplicate pair is not a good reading and may decide to leave that reading out. Discuss this with a demonstrator and outline in the tables below which sample you excluded and why.

Nitrogen Balance Experiment Urine

From the absorbance you measured from your standards, graph using a scatter plot.

Once you have done so, attempt to fit a straight line through the standards. Are there any values skewing the line? Is the trendline showing a good fit with your experimental data?

Now using the result for the trendline from MS excel, report the equation and the R² value

Once you have made the graph, determine the concentrations of the samples in the following 2 ways.

Use the equation given on your graphs (y = mx + c) calculate the concentrations of the unknowns.

** At this point – remember that you diluted your samples 1:20, so this means to get the ‘correct’ concentration you will need to multiply the concentration from the graph x 20.

	Sample A	Sample B	Sample C
Equation from graph
Equation from graph x 20

The samples you used for these assays came from a simulated 24 hour urine sample.

You have determined the concentration of urea in mg/ml. You will now need to convert that to total amount in the 24 hour urine, which was 2L.

So the total amount loss per day is amount calculated as x/ml × 2000 (i.e. 2000ml per 2L 24h urine sample)

	Sample A	Sample B	Sample C
Equation from graph (mg/ml)
Equation from graph x 20 (mg/ml)
Total amount loss per day (mg/day)
Total amount loss per day (g/day)

Once you have calculated the concentration of each sample, think about which sample may apply to which of the following subjects.

What do abnormal results mean?

Complete the table and give your reasons below:

	Description	24h urine vol	Subject weight kg	Which Sample?
Subject A	Healthy vegetarian subject consuming 35g dietary protein per day	2000 ml	65
Subject B	Obese subject undergoing therapeutic fast. 24 h urine sample from day 5 of fast	2000 ml	90
Subject C	Healthy football player, consuming 75 g protein per day	2000 ml	80

Explain your choices:

Find attempted solution….

Central Traits Primacy Effect and Recency Effect

Assignment prompt:

Explain the concepts of central traits, primacy effect and recency effect and their importance in the formation of attitudes.
Define stereotyping and explain the possible cognitive and social functions of stereotyping.
Outline theories of attitude formation and stereotyping.
What is the difference between prejudice and discrimination and how is stereotyping involved in their development?
Outline and critically evaluate two theories of the causes of prejudice and discrimination.

Explain the concepts of ‘central traits, primacy effect and recency effect’ and their importance in the formation of attitudes.

Based on the results of his study on personality, Gordon Allport grouped personality traits into three main categories; cardinal traits, central traits and secondary traits (Harvard University, 2021). Allport believed that traits make up the basic unit of the person’s personality and defined traits as the predisposition to respond and react in the same way to stimuli in the environment (Niwlikar, 2022). According to Allport’s theory of personality, cardinal traits are those traits that dominate an individual’s personality. These traits are at the top of the traits hierarchy and are the main controller of a person’s personality such that a person may be known for those traits only. As an example, Mahatma Gandhi is known for his honesty, Mother Theresa for altruism or kindness, and Adolf Hitler for being a ruthless dictator.

Secondary traits, which are at the base of Allport’s traits hierarchy, are present in all people and can influence behaviour. However, these traits are only expressed in certain situations or circumstances and are dependent upon immediate context (Niwlikar, 2022). On their part, central traits, which are in the middle of the hierarchy are general characteristics based on which personalities are formed. While they are not as dominating as the cardinal traits, they are the main characteristics that are used by people to describe other people. All people have varying levels of central traits and these traits influence but do not determine a person’s behaviour.

According to Troyer (2011), the primacy effect is the tendency for individuals to recall information presented first (or at the beginning of a list) compared to information received earlier on (or in the middle of the list). On its part, the recency effect is the tendency by people to recall more clearly the information received most recently (Morrison et al., 2014). The primacy effect explains why people tend to be able to recall information that they received first. Experts believe that the information people receive first is given pre-eminence over that received subsequently. Continue reading …

Nationalism and the Modern State

Nationalism has been defined by Breuilly (2001) as political movements that seek or exercise state power and justify their actions based on nationalist arguments. It has also been defined by Hutchinson and Smith (1994) as an ideology based on the premise that a person’s commitment and loyalty to the nation state supersedes other personal or group interests. According to Breuilly (2001), three main assertions are ascribed to nationalism. The first claim is that a nation exists if it has a well-defined and distinctive personality. The second assumption is that the nation’s interests and values take precedence above those of the individual and organizations. The final assertion is that the nation must be as free as possible from the domination of other nations, governments, or entities.

Many scholars agree that there is a strong link between nationalism and the modern state (Conversi, 2012; Vincent 2010). The concept of “modern state” is fraught with dispute. Critics have condemned as insufficient the usual definition of the modern state as a human society that only claims the legal use of force inside a specified territory (Morris n.d.). Critics point out that if this definition is adopted holistically, then criminal organizations, the Roman civitas, and the Greek poleis would qualify as modern states, which is obviously absurd. Morris (n.d., p.200) defines a modern state as a political organization occupying a distinctively shaped region that asserts sovereignty over its domains and independence from other states. Scholars do not generally agree on whether the modern state is a product of nationalism or nationalism is a product of the modern state. This paper seeks to answer the question: Is nationalism a product of the modern state, or was the modern state produced by nationalism?

Many historians observe that the modern state emerged in Europe between the 15th and 18th centuries and extended to other regions of the world through colonialism and conquest (CQ Press 2015). Continue reading …

Challenges Facing Psychiatric, Toxicological Expertise

Prompt: Compare and contrast the challenges facing psychiatric & toxicological expertise in the nineteenth century “Adversarial Courtroom”, and the strategies they adopted to legitimate their knowledge.

Challenges Facing Psychiatric Toxicological Expertise The involvement of experts in courts to provide expert testimony is not a new practice. As far back as the Middle Ages, physicians, sea captains, and other experts have been called on to help or testify in English courts when the facts of the case were so complicated that the judge or jury did not have adequate knowledge to make a decision (Essig 2002). Before the 18th century, judges and juries actively took part in gathering and presenting evidence, and experts often served as official advisors to courts or juries. When the legal system underwent the adversarial revolution in the 18^th century, however, this situation changed as judges and juries took on more passive and neutral roles in the collection and presentation of evidence. Consequently, litigants took active charge of gathering and presenting evidence in a structured forensic setting (Essig 2002). This change saw the role of experts in courts change from being (impartial) court advisors or members of the jury to being partisan witnesses (Eigen 1995; Watson, 2006). In their roles as partisan witnesses, the experts faced a myriad of challenges which they sought to overcome through different means. This paper seeks to compare and contrast the challenges facing psychiatric and toxicological expertise in the nineteenth century “Adversarial Courtroom”, and the strategies they adopted to legitimate their knowledge.

One of the challenges faced by toxicological expertise in the adversarial court in the 1800s was to do with the transfer of knowledge from the laboratory to the courtroom. In an adversarial system, it was the norm that all expert testimony would be met with contradictions that had the potential to damaged the image of the professions that the expert witnesses represented. On the witness stand, toxicologists, psychiatrists and indeed other experts presented evidence that (scientifically) contradicted those presented by the opposing side. The effect of this was that the public developed serious doubts about the integrity of the expert witnesses and the science they professed. In some cases, the toxicologists, physicians, and psychiatrists, in their positions as expert witnesses, were accused of being incompetent or corrupt. In response to these accusations, the expert witnesses often cited their credibility.

In Mary Fleming’s murder trial that took place in 1896, for example, her lawyers questioned the reputation of a German chemist by the name Walter Scheele (Essig 2002). continue reading …

Challenges Facing Psychiatric & Toxicological Expertise …