Internal vs External Change Leaders Essay

Introduction Organisation development(OD) is a planned process of change in an organisation’s culture through the utilization of behavioral science technology, research and theory (Warner Burke, 1982). It also refers to a long range effort to improve an organisation’s problem solving capabilities and its ability to cope with changes in its external environment with the help of external or internal behavioral-scientist consultant or change agents (Wandell French, 1969). Organisation transformation(OT) is a term referring collectively to such activities as re-engineering, redesigning and redefining business systems. It is often used when there is existing issue faced by the organisation. Organisation development is the preferred choice that an organisation wants to be in and continually improve their products and service in an incremental manner. In order to achieve OD, organisation need internal or external change agents to aid them. However, after assessing the advantages and disadvantages of the change agents (Appendix 1 & 2), Internal change agent will be better for organisation to achieve OD as compared to external change agent. Internal and External Change Leadership External change agents are consultants who are temporary employed in the organization to remain engaged only for the duration of the change process. An internal change agent is a staff person who has expertise in the behavioural sciences to help in the OD. Various reviewers of change management argue that OD applied by managers, rather than OD professionals has grown rapidly. It has been suggested that the faster pace of change affection organisation today is highlighting the centrality of the manager in the managing change. Therefore, OD must become a general management skill. Many managerial staffs in an organisation are equipped with this relevant skill. Internal Change Leadership in the Action Research Model The Action Research model focuses on planned change as a cyclical process in which initially research about the organisation provides information to guide subsequent action. The model emphasises on data gathering and diagnosis pior to action planning and implementation. The result will be carefully evaluated after action has been taken. Data gathering and preliminary diagnosis: Although Internal change agents are often limited by perceptions and position in the organization, but they have the value of in-depth knowledge of the business, the organisation and the management. This in-depth knowledge makes them particularly valuable on sensitive implementation of strategic change projects or culture transformation initiatives, managing processes or projects, and integrating or leveraging initiatives across the organisation. It can also help to reduce the time spent on data gathering as internal change agents will have intimate knowledge of the organisation and its dynamics, culture and informal practices. Being part of the organisation, internal change agents are able to interact more freely with the fellow employees. This enable the internal change agents to gather a more reliable information as compared to external change agents. Feedback to client: In this step, clients are given the information gathered by the change agent to help them determining the strengths and weakness of the organisation. Internal change agents are employees and they have a better understanding to the organisational structure. Thus, after gathering the relevant information, it will be easier for them to feedback to the client as the client need not afraid that information on the organisation’s weakness will be exposed. Internal change agents have the knowledge of the politics in the organisation, this will enable to effectively establish rapport and trust better than external change agent. Organisation may be also wary of the external change agents as the organisation may fear that confidential information will be exposed. Joint diagnosis of problem: At this point, fellow employees discuss the feedback and diagnosis with the internal change agents whether they want to work on the identified issues. Strong inter-relationship between internal change agents, the fellow employees and clients can help in the understanding of the result gathered in the earlier steps. This is important as the failure to establish a common frame of reference in this relationship will lead to faulty diagnosis or to a communication gap whereby client become unwillingly to believe the diagnosis. By using internal change agents, organisations are more likely to have the trust in the diagnosis as compare to external change agen ts because internal change agents have the more sense of ownership to the OD as compare to external change agents. Joint action planning: At this stage, further action for the OD had been decided. Internal change agents will have the advantage of getting hold of the first hand information. Any immediate follow up action can be access and rectify Action: This stage involves the actual change from one organisation state to another. It may include installing new methods and procedures, reorganising structures and work designs, and reinforcing new behaviour. This stage may also take a long period to reach the ideal outcome. Although external change agents are often viewed as professional and has more credibility, internal change agents have the advantage of the sense of ownership to the change. Internal change agents are viewed as part of the organisation and fellow employee will trust them and will result in a smoother transition period. Data gathering after action: This research action model is a cyclical process. Therefore, internal change agents can more effectively gather the output of the change result and feedback to the client. The result obtained will also most likely be more accurate and timely. This will enhance the effectiveness of the process of rectification and also to stop OD if the result obtained is deem as a failure. This will help the organisation to cut cost if the change is a failure. Circumstances whereby Internal change leadership were preferred Planned change can be contrasted across situations on 2 key dimensions, namely the magnitude of organisational change and the degree to which client system is organised. One of the planned change is magnitude of organisational change. Planned change can be either incremental or quantum. Under incremental change, OD practitioners help to solve specific problems in particulars organisational systems. Example of such problem are poor communication between inter-departments, low productivity and continuous improvement as a quality management process etc. These issues are mostly solved by internal change agents because of the nature of the problems. Most of these issues are smaller problems faced by the organisation. By hiring external change agent for these problems are too expensive and time consuming. Under the quantum change, OD practitioners help to create a vision of a desired future and energise movements in that direction. Examples of quantum change are changing an organization’s structure and culture from the traditional top-down, hierarchical structure to a large amount of self-directing teams. Another example might be Business Process Re-engineering, which tries to take apart the major parts and processes of the organization and then put them back together in a more optimal fashion. These changes are more complex. Therefore, more people are involved in the change. The advantage of using internal change agents in this scenario will be the fact internal change agents have more in-depth knowledge of the structure of the organisation. By hiring external change agent, employee may have ‘fear’ to the outcome of the change. This can affect the morale of the organisation and data obtained from employees of the organisation may be untrue. Although quantum is a complex change, a more professional change agent is needed and more professional change agents should be involved in the process. However, by having different internal change agents from department of the organisation to work together can also have the same result of hiring the external change agents as mentioned earlier that more employees are equipped with the knowledge of OD. By having internal change agents, not only they have the ownership of the change and also it is cheap for the organisation. This could be useful for some smaller organisation. The 2nd dimension of planned change is the degree of organisation of the company. The system of a company can vary between overorganised situations to under-organised manner. In an overorganised system, the structure and leadership style of the company is usually bureaucratic and rigid. Most organisation that are in such organised manner usually have conducted OD before. Thus, having internal change agents should be sufficient for the organisation. Conclusion Internal change agent are preferred to External change agent for various reasons as mentioned as above. Internal change agents are closer to the organisation and have the ownership to the change and organisation. They are most likely to understand what is require and have a clearer picture of the change. However, if the change is drastic, organisations should consider hire a small group of external change agent as consultant for the internal change agent as external change agents are more experienced in OD. Organisations should not depend only on external change agent for OD because it may expose the weakness of the organisation and endanger the competitive edge of the organisation.

Macbeth Apperance vs Reality Essay

The world is governed more by appearances than by realities. Throughout society people are judged based on their appearance. This is unfortunate because appearance can be deceiving. In William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth appearances are not what they seem. Some people may change because they think that their true self does not fit in society while others pretend to be something they are not. In the theme of appearance versus reality Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have an image but as the time passes by their true personalities began to show. Macbeth portrays himself differently from his true inner self. He pretends to be a strong and intelligent person but from inside he is weak and indecisive. When Macbeth first confronts the witches’ prophecies he says, â€Å"Come what may, time and the hour runs through the roughest day† (1. 3. 152-153). Macbeth is leaving his future to ‘chance’. He wants to appear noble and strong but in the end he refutes his statement by killing Duncan and Banquo to get to the throne. Also, when Lady Macbeth explains the plan to Macbeth he asks â€Å"If we should fail? † (1. 7. 59). He is still afraid of the consequences of his actions. His actions look pungent but he does not have any reason to kill Duncan. Macbeth has a debate within himself to murder King Duncan or to spare his life. Macbeth hesitation to kill Duncan proves in realty he is a weak man. Lady Macbeth represents herself as a beautiful and powerful woman in society but she is as weak as her husband Macbeth. To convince Macbeth to follow the plan she says â€Å"I have given suck, and know how tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me. I would, while it was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains out, had I so sworn† (1. 7. 54-58). Macbeth asks for her help, but she responds by being harsh to him to keep up her appearances. Even when Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost, instead of helping him, she tells him to go to bed and stop imagining weird things. Lady Macbeth appears heartless toward others. However, one night a gentlewomen and a doctor see her sleep waking and mumbling â€Å"Out, damned spot! Out, I say! † (5. 1. 25). She appears to be wide awake but she is unconsciously revealing her true self. Her guilty conscious leads to her downfall through suicide. In this scene her appearance crumbles. She seemed powerful and unsympathetic, but in reality her guilt of Duncan’s murder driver her crazy proving she has become weak. In Macbeth the theme of appearance versus reality is shown through the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. They both revealed a fictitious picture of their personality even though on the inside they are different people. Macbeth’s indecisive personality leads to his destruction. The iron lady, Lady Macbeth appears to be a tough woman, who feels no guilt. But in the ending she shatters to pieces because of her guilt-ridden conscious. No matter what one appears to be reality will defeat appearance. People can put disguise on reality for time being but in the end truth reveals itself.

Using an example of an organisation, identify how the change in legislation was implemented and evaluate the impact of this on the service delivery

Our role as social workers is one of an empowering nature; we are or should be committed to equality and re-establishing equal power bases. Promotion of independence is fundamental to our role, for this reason I have decided to look at the implementation of the Direct Payments scheme, for disabled people; brought in under the Community Care (direct Payments) Act 1996. This was brought in as legislation, because of disabled peoples pressure groups, and in order to give disabled people further ‘independence and choice' (Abbot, D (2003)) further to this the Disabled Children Act 2000 extended the access to Direct Payments to 16 – 17 year old disabled people. Within this paper I will analyse the role of social services departments for disabled people before and after the implementation. In analysis I will identify issues that have arisen from this change in relation to the organisation of social services, the social workers and service users, analysing issues of interpretation, and cultural change. The legislation empowered local authorities to set up ‘Direct Payment' Schemes for disabled people that are entitled to community care services, under the community care act but discretion was given to local authorities on how to implement it. (Community Care, (1999) sept, 8th). Because of this discretion the take up and the manner of take up to the scheme differed which resulted in very little movement for a number of years. Husler (no date given) states ‘this legislation is permissive, which means councils can not ignore it, but they have discretions on how to implement it' (Ibid). This lack of guidance to implementation led to discrepancies in the implementation of the Direct Payments scheme Prior to the implementation of the direct payments scheme, the role of social services was to assess the needs and risks of the disabled person, and through this process of assessment seek to minimise or control risk and elevate need. This was done through the provision of services directly controlled or distributed from central government of local social services departments. We see in this situation the relationship of power was one of retention by the social worker within a culture of ‘Role' and ‘task' rather than person. Although many would argue with this point and state the cultural work base of this time was one of a ‘person' culture as defined by Burnes (2000)p.164), where the service users needs and wishes are prominent with the minimisation of the structural highrachy base. Handy (1986) would disagree with this notion and further argues that western organisations work predominantly from a role or task orientated cultural work base. This is evident in many of the recently published documents on working practices and guidelines on legislation interpretation, such as the ‘Working Together Document 2000 and the Assessment Framework 2000. Further, if look back to the development of the social services and the then Charity Organisation Society (COS) founded in 1869 we see evidence of similar practice in relation to current assessment of needs. This was also done by a COS worker who made judgements based on his of her knowledge, this is clearly an earlier form of means testing (Glasby & Littlechild (2002)). From this assessment a payment was given to the person or which then was referred to as ‘relief.' This was technically abolished in 1834; it continued to be paid in practice well into the twentieth centaury, as a range of complex measures for the support of the poor as unemployment soared (Thane. P (1996). The Poor Law was finally abolished in 1948 putting an end to payments to the poor by social services departments, and replaced by a national scheme for the payment of social security benefits and the provision of welfare services to the elderly and the Disabled. This allowed the practitioner to distance themselves from cash payments and the stigma of poverty, further this led to as Becker (1993) states ‘practitioners having little poverty awareness (p93) and further viewing money problems as being the problem of other agencies (Davies & Wainwright (1997) quoted in Glasby & Littlechild p 61) This desire for the social work profession to distance it self from the nineteenth centaury roots has, resulted in the resistance to the implementation of the Direct Payment Schemes. Although the Direct Payment Scheme is very different from the early payments made by the COS and earlier forms of social services departments. This resistance has been from the shop floor social workers to MPs such as Virgina Bottomly, who wrote to the MP introducing the Private members bill prior to its introduction to legalise direct payments â€Å"Social services legislation is concerned with†¦.services and not with direct payments which is the province of the social security system† (Quoted In Hatchett W, (1991): pp 14 – 15). Governmental ideology for the implementation of the Direct Payments scheme was to reflect the principles of participation, inclusion and equality through offering choice and independence. Because of the lack of clear guidance on interpretation this agenda has been misinterpreted and further resulted in the slow take up of the scheme. Roles and procedures have changed in departments which require operational changes, and a further shift in the approach to the concept of risk and control (Dawson (2000) quoted in Carmichael & Brown (2002) p.804) The involvement in service users lives by social workers has shifted away form one of assessment and the in house provision of services, to one of assessment and the provision of monies to purpose individual care form the quasi market place. This can be tailored to meet the individual needs and life of a person, rather than the one ‘size fits all' attitude of previous service provision (Glasby & Littlechild (2002)) this is in comparison to earlier payments being made by the Independent Living Fund indirectly through third parties (Brindle, D. (2000)) further key points to the misinterpretation and slow take up of the scheme is due to the ambiguous wording of the legislations guidance the ‘willing and able criteria' (Clark & Spafford (2002)) this point argues the service users must be able to ‘choose' direct payments, problems such as ability the to choose have arisen from this guidance as well as to whom the allocation of payment should be made. Who should have control over the money? Is a question the local authorities have struggled with when assessing people with severe disabilities and people with mental incapacitates. Authorities have taken this grey area of the legislation and effectively excluded people with mental incapacities because of the legal implications which resulted in the rejecting of an application. Further to this councils have adopted a top down model in which local disability organisations are not closely enough involved within. This bureaucratic model is arguably necessary because of the complexity of the system, the workforce need clearly structured role, responsibilities and lines of command for effectiveness (Coulshed & Mullender (2001)) this is for the purposes of accountability and stability in the system (Ibid).although this can restrict professional autonomy and offer further resistance to change (Aldridge (1996) quoted in Coulshed & Mullender, p 31) With the implementation of this scheme, there was a shift away from the old system of social worker control to that of user control, which social workers saw as a danger and who have voiced concerns of â€Å"vulnerable people managing their own services and whether it is right to risk such payments' (Snell, J. (2000)). This is clear indication as Cyert & March (1963) state ‘confusion over how political constraints on policy make a rationalist approach to decision making impossible (quoted in Burnes. B (2000)) This has led to social workers becoming uncertain as to what is needed from them, because of the role and responsibility change, as well as the cultural change in the departments, which has further left social workers feeling disempowered. Power and control is reduced from the social worker, and rebalanced with the service user, social workers have seen this as a perceived loss of their identity and status. (Clark & Spafford (2002) p 252) Confusion and lack of participation in the planning stages of the delivery of services has left social workers resenting the direct payments scheme, this has further led to slow take up and slow information distribution to service users. Etienne d'Abouuville (1999) states the schemes are floundering because local authorities are using social workers to advice on direct payments, rather than Disabled peoples organisations which can provide peer support. This is further evidence in the change of role change in the role of the care manager Glasby & Littlecihild (2002) argue workload implications and the low ratio of staff is a strong and potential barrier to the independence of disabled people. Mullins (1993) comments on this and states ‘commitment and cooperation to organisational goals will depend on how these are perceived to be in their own interests'. If we look at this in the context of the social worker who has been giving advice to the service user on, employers' responsibility, obligations and legal ramifications without training and on top of their ‘normal' workload we see why social workers are feeling stressed. Further too this reluctant to work in with the scheme (Hosler (1999)). Social worker having little involvement in the change has led to this resistance; this is perpetuated with the burdening of further responsibility on the worker. Mullender and Coulshed argue ‘where structures are going through change this is adapted to more quickly where there are open lines of communication and decentralised structures. If we analyse the impact of the organisational change to the service user we see a clear recondition of the social model of disability which as Oliver argues ‘It is not people impairments which limit people's ability to participate in society and to exercise their rights, but the organisation of society it self which causes the disability† (Quoted in Stainton, T. (2002) p 752) This social model articulates not how to find a way of compensating for the natural disadvantage, but how society can accommodate a range of differences (Ibid). Service users have stated they have rights and autonomy furthering the ability to be recognised as full citizens (Stainton, T (2002)). Many disabled people prior to the introduction of the Direct Payments Scheme were given little or no choice in relation to who provided the care, and to what extent. This was reflective of the funding structures and mechanisms of the social services departments (Statinton, T (1998)), here the departments or the family would access and commission the service, which resulted on many occasions being put on a waiting list. In this analysis we see little or no choice or control on the part of the service recipient, and further if criteria for service were not met then no service was offered. This coupled with resource constraints and tightly specified service contracts can together restrict the remits and activities of services (Glendininig, C, (2000)) With the new system the service user retains overall control on who to commission to carry out the work and for what period of time, the service user defines what needs are to be met and to what extent. A shift away from the social worker led assessment. With a recondition of the Disabled person's rights the Direct Payments Scheme also brought with it the responsibility of being an employer and with that obligation to contractual agreements. This could be seen as a potential barrier, but many disabled people have commented, â€Å"All the stress is worth having control of your own care† (Clark and Spafford (2002)) In conclusion we see how the change has resulted in a cultural change within the social services departments and further a shift away from the ethos of the social worker as the expert. This is welcomed by Disability groups who have campaigned for the Direct Payments Scheme, but resented by those whose job's it has affected with added workload and change in role. Change is a natural occurrence and some would argue inevitable to human evaluation, it is about recognising where sociality shortfalls are and actively seeking to rectify them. As with a majority of pieces of legislation they are based on social justice principles, but interpretation results in oppression and discrimination

Islamophobia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Islamophobia - Essay Example This has made people be afraid and resent Islam even more. In the past one week, news has been abuzz with the killing of two Islamic gunmen. The two were shot on Sunday 3rd May 7, 2015 at a contest dubbed â€Å"Draw Muhammad†, which was taking place at Garland in Texas. The art exhibit and cartoon contest was being hosted by the American Freedom Defense Initiative, led by Pamela Geller, who is the founder of the group. Their main objective was to sensitize the public about Islam. People were asked to draw â€Å"Muhammad†, a common Muslim name, to depict a Muslim person in their lives. The incident led to the injury of a security guard manning the place. According to International Business Times, 2015, American Muslim activists have strongly come out saying that they are even more resolute on taking on anti-Islam prejudice after the incident. This is because, according to them, such incidences of violence only show how much there is a need for sensitization and creativity on ways to stop the growing Islamophobia in America. The y argue that the condemnation by the leaders in the community is not enough, and more is needed in order to stop the violence and killings of innocent people. The Texas cartoon contest was attended by at least two hundred people when men armed with guns started shooting. The ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks. Reports indicate that it is still unclear how the gunmen are linked to the Islamic state. Activists insist that hate will not help stop hate and violence. They say that with the creation of more peaceful ways of countering the bigotry against Muslims, which have been increasing in the recent years, more will be achieved. It is now a reality that the Islamic state (ISIS) is everywhere, even in the United States. The thought that many citizens are aware of the past violent deeds and the terror attacks experienced all over the world by the infamous group has crippled many

Public health population process Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Public health population process - Case Study Example F. In relation to spread and survivability the graph is showing that the incidence or the new cases have fallen since 1991. There was a minor increase in 1997 but the incidence has remained constant since then. It shows that the spread of AIDS is less than it was in the early years between 1980 and 1990. It also indicates that the survival rates have improved significantly since with more persons with HIV/AIDS living longer. Most of the persons who caught the disease between 1980 and 1990 did not survive and so the rate of growth did not have any substantial increase during that period up to 1996. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2011). HIV surveillance report: Diagnoses of HIV infection and AIDS in the United States and Dependent Areas, 2009 Volume 21. Retrieved from http://www.avert.org/usa-states-cities.htm US Census Bureau. (n.d.). 2005-2005 American Community Survey. Retrieved from:

Gender and contemporary art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Gender and contemporary art - Essay Example The essay "Gender and contemporary art" discovers the gender in the context of contemporary art. If one pays attention to the historical development of art, it is possible to see that gender pays significant role in paintings, sculpture and other kinds of art. For example, in medieval art male and female nude figures had special sense, and our perception of these masterpieces occurs through the gender realization. Male nude figures were associated with heroics, family fathers and often - with real historical characters: â€Å"The idea of the heroic male nude continued well into the 19th century; here Napoleon, who certainly wore a fabulous uniform on the field of battle, is sculpted like a nude Greek god. Perish the thought that his nudity has any sexual resonance†. ). Nude female figures were associated differently in different times and epochs: they were symbols of sexual desire, fertility, motherhood, family and so on . So, gender plays significant role in art of all histor ical periods, and our time is not exception from this point of view. What is the role and context of gender in contemporary art? This paper will explain the answer in the next parts. . There is an idea and opinion that the role of gender in contemporary art is important and significant, and people often behold modern art masterpieces with gender idea realization. This idea is interesting and controversial. It is increasingly important in this age of numerous varieties of contemporary art forms and numerous approaches.... Many people believe that there are no gender differences in contemporary art, and that the gender idea in art is more inherent for ancient and medieval art, but these people overlook the fact that in many modern art masterpieces this idea is rather appreciable, and we as humans cannot ignore the gender idea in such significant kind of our activity as art. Furthermore, there are some art branches today which pay appropriate attention to the gender differences or in contrary the gender similarities, and many artists underline these ideas in their works of art. In this essay, I will argue that the role of gender in contemporary art is important and significant. Gender context of contemporary art, as well as gender differences in contemporary art of some regions will be also discussed. 3. Today the gender context of contemporary art is under influence of feminist approach to art. Modernism in contemporary art assumes that an artist uses freedom in his or her artistic experiments, but female artists today are not inclined to underline their female identity in visual art: "Even though modernism seemed to offer artists more freedom and autonomy, for women artists this meant the denial of their gender identity whereas the whole history of modernist art can be interpreted as the glorification of male creativity and sexuality" (Kivimaa K., 2000). Many artists today assert that there is "male art" and "female art". In other hand, there is a tendency of unisex in contemporary art. In this sort of art gender attributes are mixed, and women and men are demonstrated in unusual roles: "The principle of mimesis could be an effective tool for undermining various kinds of stereotypes, and it is

School Profiler Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

School Profiler - Assignment Example On the other hand, the school performed poorly in the category of English learners with only 15% of students passing CAHSEE in 2011 while 13% passing the exam in 2012 (School profiler, 2013). In 2014 the subgroups that required focus in their Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) was the socioeconomically disadvantaged. They failed to meet their target of the proficient requirements in Language arts. The group also failed to meet their target in three consecutive years- 2011, 2012, and 1013 hence attracted attention. The group also failed to meet its targets in Mathematics in 2011 and 2013 and this was enough reason why the group required attention. Furthermore, socioeconomically disadvantaged groups still failed to meet their target in 2013 in their Academic Performance Index (API). The other sub groups met most of their targets in the three consecutive years. The school did well in Language arts specifically in the areas of RFEP. For instance, the number of students that passed was 90% in 2013, 87% in 2012 and 89% in 2011 (School profiler, 2013). Some grades performed better than others especially in the California English Language Development Test (CELDT). For instance, in advanced level, grade 9 and 11 performed better than grade 10 and 12. In early intermediate level, grade 12 did better in 2012 than other grades by scoring 23%. Performance in CST and CAHSEE exams varied among the grades in school. Between the two exams, it was evident that most students performed better in CST than in CASHEE. For instance, in the Language arts exams of 2013, only 21% of the grade 12 students passed the CAHSEE exam (School profiler, 2013). RFEP program was best-performed category while English learners recorded the least progress in Language arts. The school performed well in Mathematics led by the RFEP students. There are also variations in performance of Mathematics among the grades. For instance, in Algebra I, in 2012 grade 11 recorded the highest performance of 5%. Performanc e in both CST and CAHSEE exams tended to record variations. There were fluctuations in the results over the years and among the various groups of students. Out of the various groups and programs offered, the program that experienced progress was RFEP which recorded high level of students that scored highly. The least program in making progress was the special education students program, which saw only 26% of the students pass the exam. Sciences and social sciences were also part of the subjects done by students and whose result was provided. Sciences are many and included Biology, Chemistry, Earth science and Physics. The school did well in science and social sciences. Performance varied across the grades in different exams. For instance, in 2011, performance in Biology varied between the grades. Grade 9 students scored 76%, grade 10 scored 34% and grade 11 scored 37%. Such scores were replicated in other sciences and social sciences over the years (School profiler, 2013). There was fluctuation in performance in some of the science subjects. The science subject that recorded the most progress was Physics at an average score of 62% while the subject making the least progress was chemistry. Most of the students across the grades record low performance in Chemistry. The school did w

Iegal concept working in restaurant Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Iegal concept working in restaurant - Term Paper Example It will seek to show what is legal under the law, the rights of the employee and the client under the law, and circumstances that can lead to claims from the customer. Basically, the Hospitality law encompasses a wide array of laws including the law of tort, contract law, real estate law, the law of anti-trust, among others (Barth, 2001). The degree to which this law relates to such laws has continuously evolved and changed accordingly to meet the dynamics of the hospitality industry. Nevertheless, this law is used greatly to set standards and guidelines that hospitality operators and employers use in offering goods and services to their customers. Typically, this law covers the history of how hospitality law came into being, the impact that state civil rights and federal laws have on the hospitality industry, and discussion of contract law such as how a customer enters into a contract with the restaurant employees or issues regarding reservations and overbooking (Langford, 2011). With the use of internet to make reservations and orders being on the rise, the Hospitality law has evolved to include such issues, as well. In addition, in the current world both the customers and the employees know their rights and the channels that they can use to launch complaints or make claims. In this regard, the Hospitality law has continually evolved as new and better knowledge keeps on emerging. In the recent past, cases of food poisoning and awareness of food illness have been on the rise with more people being interested in getting information about the restaurant that they eat from. This has brought the Hospitality law in restaurants at the front center of public conscience. In matters related to restaurant and food services, terrorists’ attacks against hotels have raised the importance of having hospitality law that will govern international affairs especially in the quest of protecting

Honda Marketing Communications Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Honda Marketing Communications - Case Study Example Honda focuses on every aspect of marketing, not only on promotion and sales techniques, to persuade customers to buy but also on target market, marketing mix and the effective marketing strategy (Kotler & Armstrong, 2001) because successful marketing results in stronger products, happier customers, and bigger profits. Moreover, customers recognize the importance of knowledge in relation to the product being purchased. Several consumer behavior researches testified to this fact. Wong (2000) argued that a customer evaluates a product or a service. Such action is based on the customer's reaction from the using the product or service, which means that the product or service should leave a good perception to the customer's contentment. Frederick and Salter (1995) explained that it can be ensured that a customer is satisfied by taking into importance the value package, which includes: price, product quality, service quality, innovation, and corporate image. Others also stated the importance of maintaining or establishing a uniqueness of the product, while also understanding customers and what pleases them (Denton 1993). Customers should also understand the product and be allowed to set their own standards in order to be satisfied (Frederick & Salter 1995). Of all the components of a marketing plan, perhaps the most overlooked but most critical element is the definition of the target market. According to Claravall (2000), it is a homogenous group of people or organizations that a company wishes to appeal to. There are two basic targets for a product or service: the user and the non-user segments. Thus, there are also two business and marketing decisions that the company must decide upon in light of the basic targets. The first is to cultivate the present market alone while the second is to go after non-users. The former can inspire consumer loyalty which is an important factor in the survival of any business. In introducing new car models of Honda will categorize its target market into two market segments: (1) the Honda cars users or those who have already tried the product, and (2) the Honda cars non-users. Honda cars users are further classified into (a) males and (b) females in order to differentiate the market appeal and competitiveness of the offered products in terms of sex as well as the specific users of the four specified models in order to determine the competitiveness of each product per se. the Honda car non-users, on the other hand, are further grouped into (a) those who do not use cars in general, and (b) those who use other car brands. These market segmentation schemes according to product use will provide important information regarding the overall competitiveness of the Honda Cars as well as viability and opportunities for encouraging car non-users to not just try any other average cars but to choose Honda Cars among others. Moreover, companies now face the challenge of making its target consumers respond accordingly to their marketing efforts and those who understand its consumers' responses will have a great competitive advantage (Kotler & Armstrong, 2001). In this light, the Honda management as well as the advertisers will keep in mind the differences that are distinct between and among the Honda Cars target market based on

Technology Solutions for Human Services Paper Essay

Technology Solutions for Human Services Paper - Essay Example field of Human Services is broadly defined, uniquely approaching the objective of meeting human needs through an interdisciplinary knowledge base, focusing on prevention as well as remediation of problems, and maintaining a commitment to improving the overall quality of life of service populations. (National Organization for Human Services ,2009) Technology, having its roots in the application of science, can be termed as the type of knowledge that involves the implementation and origin of the technical METHODS AND the way these methods correlate with everything surrounding it such as life, society and the environment. The implications of technology have become a norm in present day world. Men and women alike do not see the passing of any of their days without the involvement of technology in it. If it is said that children born today are born having the spoon of technology in their mouths it would not be incorrect. The advent of technology has greatly improved the everyday living standard of every man in our society. The use of technology brings serious and lasting changes in just about anything concerned. The states of some phenomenon with and without implementation of technology are poles apart. Technology brings influence and enhances the usability. It is the current need of the day to incorporate technology in every aspect of life. Technology has been considered as a vital tool for assisting human services. Execution of a number of human services can be made much easier as the implementation of technology has delivered solutions to quite a number of problems that the human services’ departments are facing the world over. An attempt to classify the problems being faced in the human services’ facilitates of an organization has been made below. Furthermore, it is discussed that how can technology be used to address the problems being faced. Community Development is the process whereby social services are provided for the betterment of humanity on the

Obesity in America Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Obesity in America - Research Paper Example 3). In the speech that she made on 20 February 2004, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr. Julie Gerberding referred to obesity as an epidemic in America, â€Å"If you looked at any epidemic -- whether it’s influenza or plague from the middle ages -- they are not as serious as the epidemic of obesity in terms of the health impact on our country and our society† (Gerberding cited in Kvicala, 2003). Hearne et al. (n.d.) record some very alarming statistics with respect to obesity of Americans, some of which are discussed in this and the following paragraph. Obesity is one of the most significant causes of health related problems in America. Obese people are 50 to 100 times more susceptible to premature death than normal weight people. It is estimated that obesity may soon become a more prominent reason of preventable death as compared to tobacco in America. Every year, up to 400000 deaths occur because of physical inactivity and poor di et. Number of diseases caused by obesity exceeds 30. Diseases for which obesity serves as a causal factor include but are not limited to high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, cancer and coronary heart disease. Diabetes may also cause blindness in adults, failure of kidney and the patients may occasionally have to undergo amputations. Number of patients of diabetes has increased above 50 per cent in the last decade and this percentage is expected to increase more by 165 per cent in the coming five decades. Presently, 18 million Americans are patients of diabetes while 41 million people are in the pre-diabetic phase. There has been noticed an increase in the number of children that suffer from type 2 diabetes that was considered as a form of adult-onset diabetes until now. Individuals that acquire type 2 diabetes in childhood or adolescence are at increased risk of suffering from stroke, kidney failure and heart diseases when they grow up. Those kids are getting adult-type diabetes b ecause they're overweight. We're seeing an absolute epidemic of diabetes in the schools in this country because children are just not getting the right exercise †¦ The gap between what they're eating and what they're expending is getting larger on an annual basis. (Gerberding cited in Kcivala, 2003). Cost associated with obesity is another problem that the government of America has to address. According to the estimates made by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the direct and indirect expenses of obesity per year sum up to above $117 billion (Wechsler, 2004). These expenses include but are not limited to loss of productivity and medical expenses. In 2003, medical expenses that could be attributed

Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) Security Essay Example for Free

Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) Security Essay IPv4 is an end-to-end network model that supports the multicast operation. Multicast operations or communications involve information transfer from one node in as single transmission to multiple receivers within the network. Moreover, it facilitates the broadcasting of multimedia information like videos and audio teleconferences. IPv4 utilizes MAC addresses and IP addresses to send data packets within and outside the Local Area Network respectively. For security purposes, routers are used in the interconnection of multiple networks to map the IP addresses to related MAC addresses. IPv4 uses 32-bit addresses that are divided into octets, each octet separated by a period. This gives different address ranges that are used for different purposes. This protocol establishes the use of group access controls, router trusts and group center trusts. However, since information is being sent to group users sharing the same address, it becomes challenging to implement encryption standards and authentication infrastructures. Although sharing a public key may remedy the situation, it is only successful if the number of receivers is limited (Bachert, 2002). As a result, while some receivers get error-free transmissions other may not even see the data that has been transmitted. Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) provides a homogeneous security mechanism framework within the IP suite. IPsec offers a security protocols that operate independently from data origin authentication, cryptographic, replay protection and key exchange mechanisms used in protecting explicit applications. To be put into consideration, IPsec depends on the founding of Security Associations (SAs) between the individual hosts involved in sheltered communications. The SAs agree with clear-cut authentication algorithms, security and cryptographic features that the host uses to securely communicate with another host.

Structural functionalism from a post modern perspective

Structural functionalism from a post modern perspective Jay, Lara and their children would be considered as a family. It is in examining the institution like the urban family and its wide range of issues and other intricate social arrangements where sociologists do most of their theorising. In sociology there are three broad areas of sociological study structural functionalism, symbolic interactionism and conflict theories (including feminism and postmodernism) but for the purpose of this paper structural functionalism will be looked at and critiqued by a post modern perspective in terms of the context of Jay and Laras family. Structural Functionists would observe the role the family provides and the purpose that they perform. In investigating the different parts of societys structure in relation to others, functionalists look at how different institutions contribute to the continuation and survival of the social system as a whole. The family operates in a society characterised by rules and these rules are ordered and reoccurring and these relationships occur throughout societies and can therefore be put under scientific rigor and testing in terms of a positivist quantitative outlook and this can be considered almost universal in application. So in simple terms the institution of the family contributes to socialisation of new members of society as this is the rule or function the family provides to society. Parsons (1951) argued the family plays a number of roles in socialisation of individuals. Two roles being key in Jay and Laras case are the socialisation of children into suitable values and norms. The other key point Parsons makes is the stabilisation of the adult personality through marriage which helps to cushion parents from the stresses and strains of day to day life. (These ideas will be discussed further later in terms of criminological theory). Jay and Lara are therefore the primary socialisers of their children. They are (perhaps unwittingly) passing along a belief that crime does pay if Jay is to continue to offend and move back into selling drugs, also that it is usual to carry a knife to protect yourself in their neighbourhood. It would also suggest that the family as a buffer to stresses and strains is perhaps one more characterised by conflict than harmony as originally suggested by Parsons. Parsons theory has very little argument as to what makes a family dysfunctional and other family pathologies or to recognise a family different from the nuclear American dream family of the 1950s era. Norms of family structure have changed overtime, and these changes in families can be thought of as the move toward a newer post-modern idea of family. For example, Weston(1991: 3) argues that Familial ties between persons of the same sex that may be erotic but are not grounded in biology or procreation do not fit any tidy division of kinship into relations of blood and marriage. There is increasing variation in family types. It is not that the nuclear family has been replaced it is more so a case that individuals move in and out of different family types throughout the course of their lifetime. Coontz (1992) has suggested central to these different types of families are the decline of child rearing and marriage as central defining characteristics. These define less of a persons identity and have less influence over the life course decisions and are no longer socially universal. The family is now, she suggests, characterised by greater freedoms to choose your own style of life. Leading individuals in either positive or negative directions as the family now presents less constraints to those who are a part of it. Post-modernism has tried to suggest that rather than a family serving a function in society it is more characterised by multiplicity, difference, particularity, locality, temporality, and the scattered and shifting character of contemporary social processes (Outhwaite 2002). This can account for Jays change in behaviour from a family centric one with the success of the job, which could be argued by functionalists as a success of the family socialisation to buffer Jay from stresses and strains of his local community to one where his individuality has been expressed by losing his job, and heading out for himself with no regard for his family and the outcome of his actions would have had on them which holds to be a very post modern dilemma. (put something here about the ramifications for social work from these two perspectives.) Writers and theorists with sociology disagree to the way actions of the state interfere with the family. Mclennan et al (2000) have noticed that modern families have come under state intervention more so than other periods in time. Some policy outcomes, such as the welfare state, have been seen as something that should be a function of the family rather than a function delivered by the government. Sociologists, however, do recognise that social policy can be an area which provides social change by changing individual behaviour (Wallerstein 1989). Jay and Lara and their family are affected directly by these policies but this paper shall look at family and child policies and how they affect social work and the family unit. During the past 10 years there have been a lot of changes in government policy regarding children and families. With the introduction of every child matters (HM Treasury 2003) which outlines how this agenda will restructure current services with multidisciplinary working and better information sharing, it also details how early intervention should be concentrated on. The ideas set out in every child matters suggests that early intervention is more cost effective and early prevention is possible because of the vast knowledge about risk factors and the negative impact these can have and that parenting is vital. The report also suggests that services such as social work fail to intervene in a positive way because they lack accountability and have not been sharing information well. The states policy is therefore one of a more active interventionist role in relation to children and their development. The sure start programme being an example of this and has been directly mentioned in the Conservative party Manifesto paying for more than 4500 new sure start workers and refocusing onto early intervention once more (Conservative Party website 2010). A further focus of Policy over the past 10 years has been to look at the role of parents. Parents have been suggested as the background for changes in anti-social behaviour and social exclusion. The state has also increased its role in parenting support asking local authorities to develop a parental support strategy and employ a single commissioner of parenting support services (family and Parenting Institute 2009). Further to this the Government committed itself to getting rid of child poverty by 2020 and halving it by 2010 (Conservative Party website 2010). This is due to the evidence from studies such as the millennium cohort study which followed 16 000 children and noted a difference in child performance based on socio economic status. Parents have also been called to be more involved with their Childs education including the hard to reach (Reynolds, 2006). This message is echoed in the Childrens Plan (2007) which states, Parents support for their childs learning is an essential foundation for achievement. Parents told us they want to be more involved in their childrens education, and schools see the benefits of greater engagement with parents (Department for Children, Schools and Families, 2007a, p53). To achieve this, direct transfers to families through benefits and tax credits have increased, focusing particularly on low-income families in employment. These have been accompanied by measures aiming to raise the employment rate among parents. Lone parents have been singled out as a target group for welfare reform, alongside measures to improve childcare availability and affordability. There has also been a major expansion in maternity leave provision, along with the introduction of the right for parents to request flexible working, in an attempt to make it easier for parents to balance work and family responsibilities. The final section of this report focuses on shifting family forms and family relationships, and the states role in helping couples to stay together and to parent their children after separation. Many challenges still remain in family policy, such as: integrating adult and childrens services to meet families needs; ensuring families have access to both good universal services and specialist ones; achieving child poverty targets; and creating real choice for parents in how they balance paid work and family responsibilities. The changes of the past 10 years have taken place against a background of national economic prosperity. The current recession is imposing new challenges on both families and public services, and even if the recovery is quick, the context for the next decade will be one of high public debt. It can be seen that the current conservative government hold that the family function is on that needs to be upheld. The previous labour government taking a more liberal (postmodern) view and less moral overtone to the ideas of family as can be seen with the policies introduced pre conservative government such as a focus on tax breaks and increasing resources being moved to low income families regardless of their married or unmarried status. With the new administration it may be argued that a more functional view of the family situation will be adopted where the ideal of the nuclear family as suggested by Parsons (1951) will be supported. The role of the social work will be therefore to protect these family institutions. Interestingly in light of the recent review of child protection after the Baby p case Henricson (2007) pointed out there was too much focus on structures and procedures and less emphasis on well trained social workers and other professionals with appropriate caseload s. Allowing them to fully understand the family situation and use their professional judgement in a more appropriate way. In reality practice is however fraught with resource limitations and need to provide help to those already in crisis rather than early intervention. In Building Britains Future the Prime minister promises a move from a system based primarily on targets and central direction to one where individuals have enforceable entitlements over the service they receive (Prime minister 2009, p18). This could have a great impact on Social Work services and service provision

Africas FDI Inflow 1980-2003 Analysis

Africas FDI Inflow 1980-2003 Analysis CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 INTRODUCTION Foreign Direct Investment (henceforth FDI) is one of the most important integral parts of todays highly talked about global economy. The enormous growth of FDI towards developing countries over the past few decades has ignited a huge interest from researchers in both economics and finance fields. A number of studies have been undertaken with the aim to empirically examine what motivates firms to be involved in cross-border investments and what motivates countries to undertake different policy reforms and other measures in pursuit of attracting FDI. There is a consensus among FDI researchers that FDI can improve the recipient countrys development in various ways even when foreign firms do not provide externalities. The benefits of FDI to recipient countries are not ambiguous. FDI is seen as a solution to a countrys economic woes by providing the most needed foreign capital that boosts the economic activities of a host country. According to Goldberg (2000), FDI leads to transfer of tec hnology and other skills from foreign firms to local firms. It is through FDI that supplementary resources such as capital, management, technology and personnel become available to host countries. These resources may stimulate existing economic activities in a host country, encourage internal competition, and raise the level of national output. The presence of foreign producers is primarily believed to benefit the host countrys citizens by introducing a variety of new products into the domestic market, which are of superior quality and lower prices. Most importantly, FDI is a channel through which recipient countries gain access to international financial markets and earn foreign exchange. FDI creates a number of employment opportunities as foreign entities establish business units in various locations throughout the host country and relatively higher wage rates are offered. Backward linkages and spillovers are secondary benefits of FDI enjoyed by the recipient countries. Spillovers spur strong growth in industries into which FDI flows, especially when the competition between domestic and foreign firms is efficient. Foreign firms also go into joint ventures with domestic firms and a large percentage of profits generated through such collaborations are ploughed back into the domestic market, thereby contributing to the host countrys macroeconomic growth and development without necessarily providing externalities. Externalities provide another form of benefits that FDI recipient countries enjoy. The existence of foreign direct investors spawns the seepage of managerial, personnel, and technological expertise from the foreign to domestic companies. For instance, Old Mutual plc training programme in South Africa may benefit the South African insurance and financial sectors as a whole. It is because of the above-mentioned benefits that developing countries are actively embarking on measures involving macroeconomic as well as socio-political reforms with clear intentions of advancing their investment climate to attract FDI on a large scale and achieving sustained economic growth. Developing countries have formerly depended on loans and official development assistance as a source of foreign capital, principally provided by international agencies such as the World Bank and OECD countries. However, the flow of such funds from these institutions has been declining. For instance, Asiedu (2002) reports that financial assistance to Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) fell from 6% in 1990 to just 3.8% in 1998 and foreign aid per capita fell from an average of $35 for the period 1989-92 to $2 for the period 1993-97. It is in situations like this, that FDI plays a pivotal role as an alternative source of foreign capital for the developing world. For developing and the least developed countries that are making efforts to attract FDI as a way to enhance their economic growth and hence their sustained development, it is particularly essential to identify and comprehend the prime factors that shape FDI inflows as they apply to each country in particular. Since FDI plays a pivotal role in the growth dynamics of a country, a number of factors that are believed to influence FDI inflows towards developing countries have been intensely investigated. Among these factors the following have been most frequently considered: exchange rate volatility, market size, GDP growth, trade openness, infrastructure development, country size (also size of economy), per capita GDP, quality of the labour force, labour cost, inflation, return on capital, export orientation, political stability. Such analysis has immediate policy relevance as it identifies areas of comparative advantage that these countries should favour in terms of resource allocation . 1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The main aim of this study is to carry out an empirical investigation of the factors explaining FDI inflows to South Africa over the period 1980-2003. The review of previous theoretical research and the review of previous empirical evidence are means to this end. 1.3 THE STRUCTURE OF A PAPER The structure of this paper is as follows: Chapter 2 provides a review of both the theoretical and empirical literature on factors believed to be the major driving force behind inward FDI activities for host countries. In Chapter 3, the paper provides an overview of the South Africas macroeconomic performance, FDI regulatory framework currently in place and incentives provided by the government to foreign investors. Chapter 4 discusses the data set and econometric methods used to carry out time series analysis for the study. The data and variable specifications are also described and clarified in this chapter. Chapter 5 reports and discusses the econometric results. A summary of findings, conclusions and policy implications are presented in Chapter 6. CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF FDI LITERATURE 2.1 INTRODUCTION The main aim of this chapter is to present theories of FDI as developed by previous research and review the empirical evidence on the determinants of FDI. Before these are considered in more details, a brief overview of the definition of FDI and related concepts is provided. Given that FDI has direct effects on the economic growth of the host country, a specific section provides a brief exploration of the relationship between FDI and growth. 2.2 FDI: DEFINITION AND CONCEPTS In its archetypal form, FDI is conventionally defined as the physical investment made by acquiring foreign assets such as land and factory buildings with operational control residing with the parent company (Buckley, 2004). The definition can be extended to include such investments that seek to exercise considerable influence on the management of the foreign entity. A parent company is required to hold at least 10% of the ordinary shares or voting rights in order to exercise control over an incorporated foreign company. An ownership stake of less than the stated 10% is regarded as foreign portfolio investment and does not qualify as FDI. FDI made by transnational companies (TNCs) is an indication of internal growth and it can be made in the form of greenfield investment or mergers and acquisitions. Greenfield FDI refers to an investment where a new entity is established in a foreign location. It entails formation of completely new production facilities in the recipient country (Eun and Resnick, 2007). Cross-border mergers and acquisitions are twofold. On one hand, they involve merging both domestic and foreign companies into one bigger company. On the other hand, they involve an acquisition of a domestic company by a foreign company. FDI is beneficial for the host country as it is a channel through which foreign capital and new technology are provided. FDI is regarded as a stimulus for economic activities and accelerated growth. The OECD (2002) describes FDI as a catalyst for speeding up the development process. Nevertheless, a recipient country must display a certain standard of development before it attracts FDI. Dunning (1977, 1979) identifies fundamental factors including firm specific and host country specific advantages that must be met before FDI occurs. These advantages are discussed in detail below. 2.3 FDI AND ECONOMIC GROWTH A number of empirical studies have analysed the relationship between FDI and the economic growth of a host country. Lipsey (2000) finds that FDI and economic growth are positively correlated. Abwona (2001) urges that the effects of FDI on growth may vary between countries, as not all countries are at the same level of development. Lim (2001) points out that FDI positively affects economic growth of a host country by transferring advanced technology from the industrialized to developing economies (Lim, 2001, p.3). Conceptually, FDI increases GDP growth because it increases the amount of goods and services produced in a host country. Benefits of FDI are only evident in increased level of output because of the host countrys ability to absorb technological spillovers from foreign firms. This, therefore, suggests that the positive contribution of FDI on growth is conditional upon the recipient countrys absorptive capacity of all the benefits that FDI brings. Much as there is general awareness that FDI influences economic growth, there is no general agreement on the causal relation between FDI and economic growth. De Mello (1997) argues that the relationship could run either way, as the prospects of economic growth make the host country more attractive to FDI. Once operational in a host country, FDI enhances growth by allowing the host country to integrate new inputs and technology to expand production. 2.4 THEORIES OF FDI In a study of TNCs, Hymer (1976) explains that because foreign TNCs have offsetting monopolistic advantages over domestic companies, they are able to compete with domestic companies that are in a better position with regard to knowledge and understanding of the domestic market. Kindleberger (1969) who suggests that these advantages should be adequate to tower over limitations and must be company specific reiterates this. According to Hymer (1976) and Kindleberger (1969), these advantages can be in the form of access to ownership patents, technological expertise, managerial expertise, marketing skills, etc. These skills should be scarce or completely unavailable to domestic companies. The basis of the argument here is on the theory of market imperfections in factor markets and product differentiation. In circumstances where market imperfections exist, firms find it rewarding to engage in cross-border direct investment instead of exporting to foreign markets or licensing. In this way, they can fully utilize their monopolistic market supremacy (Assefa and Haile, 2006). In the same year as Hymer (1976), Buckley and Casson (1976) developed the internalization theory. This theory stipulates that in some instances it is desirable for TNCs to refrain from licensing and to choose cross-border direct engagement over exporting. FDI occurs when TNCs undertake an internal operation rather than a market operation. TNCs internalize their activities to circumvent impediments presented to them by the external market. These impediments arise because of market flaws such as lack of managerial expertise, human capital, etc. The benefits of internalization include both time and cost savings. According to Moosa (2002), the rationale behind internalization is the persistence of externalities in both goods and factor markets. However, Rugman (1980) disapprove of the internalization theory by contesting that it cannot be empirically analysed. Twelve years after introducing internalization theory, Buckley (1988) came back to warn that the theory cannot be directly analy sed, claiming that the theory needs to be modified in order to allow rigorous analysis. He urges that there is still a room to develop advanced theories that can be empirically tested. Another line of study dealing with factors influencing FDI is based on Vernons (1979) product life cycle hypothesis. Assefa and Haile (2006) and Udo and Obiora (2006) relate their studies to Vernons product life cycle to explain that FDI is a stage in the life cycle of a new product from innovation to maturity. Home production is unique and strategic for some time, after which the new product reaches maturity and looses uniqueness. New similar products also enter the market and intensify competition. At this stage, the firms would then replicate the home production in lower cost foreign locations that offer cost benefits to the firm. The lower cost that can be achieved by producing in foreign locations can be due to cheaper factors of production and complementary government policies. Dunning (1993) develops an eclectic theory which is referred to as OLI framework. OLI is the short name for ownership, location and internalization advantages. In his theory, Dunning identifies three sets of advantages that must be met for a firm to get involved in foreign direct investment. The first set is ownership advantages, which entail technological expertise, patents, marketing skills, managerial capabilities and the brand name. A TNC must have these firm specific advantages over its rivals in a foreign location. In the absence of these advantages, the firm will be exposed to fierce competition from its rivals in the market it serves. The second set of advantages that must be met is the location advantages, which Dunning (1993) explains as the degree to which the foreign location is more favourable to invest in. Examples of these advantages are an abundance of natural resources, exceptional infrastructure development, political and macroeconomic stability. These advantages s hould be adequate to validate investment in a preferred foreign location. The third set of advantages is internalization benefits. The ability of a TNC to internalize its operations is the manner in which it enters foreign location. According to Dunning (1993), this could be by a greenfield project, product licensing or acquisition of foreign assets as long as it fits the management strategy, the nature of the firms business and the firms long-term strategic plan. Another rationale for FDI to occur is embodied in the in the industrial organization hypothesis (IOH) (Tirole, 1988). This hypothesis presupposes that there are various potential uncertainties that a TNC faces in foreign markets. The uncertainties may be political, religious, social, cultural and so on. If the firm decides to establish a subsidiary in a foreign location despite these uncertainties then the benefits accrued should be adequate to outweigh these obvious risks and restrictions. Lall and Streeten (1977) emphasize the importance of marketing and managerial skills, availability and ownership of capital, production technologies, scale economies and access to raw materials. They also put forward that FDI occurs because of the complexity of trading intangible assets abroad. Examples of these untradeable intangible assets include a TNCs organizational ability, executive skills, position in foreign financial markets and a well-established network with different government burea ucrats. 2.5 MOTIVES FOR FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT Assefa and Haile (2006) assert that the ownership and internalization advantages as developed in Dunning (1993) eclectic theory are firm specific advantages, while location advantages are regarded as host country qualities. Firms choose locations where all these advantages can be combined together to advance the firms long-term profitability. Asiedu (2002) and Dunning (1993) distinguish the motives of FDI as either market seeking or non-market seeking (efficiency and resource seeking). According to Dunning (1993), a market seeking FDI is that which aims at serving the domestic and regional markets. This means that goods and services are produced in the host country, sold and distributed in the domestic or regional market (Asiedu, 2002). This kind of FDI is therefore, driven by host country characteristics such as market size, income levels and growth potential of the host market and so on. A non-market seeking FDI can either be classified as resource/asset seeking and/or efficiency s eeking. Resource seeking FDI aims at acquiring resources that may not be available in the country of origin. Such resources may comprise natural resources, availability and productivity of both skilled and unskilled labour forces as well as availability of raw materials. Efficiency seeking FDI aims at reducing the overall cost of factors of production especially when the firms activities are geographically scattered (Dunning, 1993). This allows the firm to exploit scale and scope economies as well as diversify risks. Apart from the economic factors that are believed to be the major motivation for FDI, the host countrys FDI policy also plays a major role in attracting or deterring FDI. This therefore, suggests a need for the host country to develop policies that provide a conducive environment for business if the authorities believe in the benefits of FDI. This necessitates a regular monitoring of the activities of TNCs and an acceptance by the host government that, if FDI is to make its best contribution, policies that were appropriate in the absence of FDI may require amendments in its pr esence. For example, macroeconomic policies may need to be altered in order to provide a favourable climate for FDI. Stronger competition as a result of FDI may also induce a host government to operate an effective and efficient competition policy. 2.6 EMPIRICAL LITERATURE There is an extensive empirical literature on the determinants of FDI. A large share of this literature focuses on the pull factors or, equivalently, on the host countrys location advantages. Given the increasing flows of FDI towards developing countries, especially in Asia, most academic researchers have been poised to investigate what factors influence flows of FDI into those countries. The African continent instead remains under researched, especially a country such as South Africa, which is regarded by many as one of the economic giants of the continent. The following studies have attempted to examine the link between FDI and predictor variables such as market size, GDP growth, inflation, exchange rate, political stability and many more. Goldar and Ishigami (1999) use panel data techniques to empirically analyse the determinants of FDI for 11 developing countries of East, Southeast and South Asia for the years 1985-1994. The authors estimate two separate models, one for Japanese FDI and the other for total FDI flowing towards these countries. They report a strong positive relationship between the size of the economy and FDI inflows for the two models. They also find a positive relationship between FDI inflows and the exchange rate. Intuitively, this suggests that lower exchange rates should make the host countrys exports more competitive in foreign markets and therefore act as an important factor for attracting FDI. Interestingly, Goldar and Ishigami (1999) report contrasting results for the relationship between FDI inflows, domestic investment and trade openness for the two models. They find both domestic investment and trade openness to be significant determinants for the Japanese FDI model but the authors fail to find support for the two variables for the total FDI model. Market size has generally been accepted as an important factor influencing FDI by many empirical studies. In a cross-country empirical study, Chakrabarti (2001) finds strong support for market size as an important determinant of FDI. He further reports that the relationship between FDI and other explanatory variables, such as trade openness, tax, wages, the exchange rate, the GDP growth rate and the trade balance is highly sensitive to small changes in these variables. That is, a small change in these variables is likely to deter or increase FDI inflows with a large magnitude. Campos and Kinoshita (2003) use two trade related variables to examine the extent to which trade openness influences FDI inflows for 25 countries in transition between 1990 and1998. The authors employ an external liberalization index and trade dependence as proxies for trade openness. They argue that, the greater degree of trade openness does not only increase international trade, but also increases FDI inflows. Chang et al. (2009) also study the importance of trade openness in the economic growth of a country. They use a sample of 82 countries from all over the world for the period 1960-2000. They conclude that trade openness, used in conjunction with complementary trade policies, enhances economic growth through increased FDI inflows into a country. Their finding further bolsters the position of trade openness as an important determinant of FDI. Root and Ahmed (1979) seek to analyse the determinants of manufacturing FDI in 58 developing countries for the period 1966-1970. They classify these determinants under three categories: economic, social and political. Among the four important economic variables they study, infrastructure, per capita GDP and GDP growth rate appear to be important predictor variables while the absolute of size of GDP does not help to predict FDI. They also put forward that foreign investors view long-term political stability and the extent of urbanization as important factors when choosing the location for their investments. Nunnenkamp (2002) adopts Spearman correlations to study the relationship between FDI and its determinants for 28 developing countries between 1987 and 2000. His findings show that variables such as GDP growth rate, entry restrictions, post-entry restrictions, market size, infrastructure and quality of the labour force, as measured by the years of schooling, have no effect on FDI inflows. However, he also reports positive effects on FDI of non-traditional factors such as factor costs. That is, the cheaper costs of factors of production, like lower costs of raw materials and lower costs of labour, are essential for attracting efficiency-seeking FDI. Tsai (1991) presents an opposing view by arguing that in Taiwan FDI inflows have increased with increasing labour costs. His findings suggest that in Taiwan, there are far more important determinants of FDI than cheaper costs of factors. Indeed Tsai (1991) observes that for the years 1965-1985, Taiwans economic performance was spectacular, with an expanding domestic market and purchasing power of the economy as measured by rising GDP per capita. Singh and Jun (1995) look into three determinants of FDI in developing countries. They pay particular attention to socio-political stability, favourable business operating conditions and export orientation. They employ other macroeconomic variables as control factors. The authors use a political risk index (PRI) developed by Business Environment Risk Intelligence, S.A (BERI, 2009), as a measure of socio-political instability. When used in conjunction with traditional determinants of FDI such as GDP growth rate and per capita GDP, PRI appears to be highly associated with FDI for 31 developing countries for the period 1970-1993. Schneider and Frey (1995) also find political instability to be a significant deterrent of FDI for 54 less developed countries, considered over three different years 1976, 1979 and 1980. Furthermore, Singh and Jun (1995) employ an operation risk index (ORI) also developed by BERI, S.A, and taxes on international trade and transactions (ITAX). They further find that ORI is highly associated with FDI flows and has a positive sign. ITAX is also reported as an important determinant of FDI. They also find export orientation to be highly related to FDI flows, especially manufacturing exports. Asiedus (2002) investigation on the determinants of FDI in 71 developing countries provides further evidence of the importance of these extensively studied FDI determinants. Asiedu goes a little further to assess whether the same determinants of FDI have a similar impact on FDI flowing towards Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) between 1980 and 1998. After a detailed analysis, she concludes that factors influencing FDI in other developing countries do not necessarily have a similar impact on FDI flows to SSA. She notes that infrastructure development and a high return on capital influence FDI flows towards developing countries in other continents, but the same factors have no influence on FDI flows towards SSA. Bende-Nabende (2002) also undertakes a study probing into the determinants of FDI flows towards 19 SSA countries for the period 1970-2000. In this study, market growth, trade liberalization and export orientation turn out to be important factors explaining why countries are able to attract foreign investors. Obwona (2001) argues that the Ugandan market size has been one of the driving forces behind FDI flows into the Ugandan economy between 1975 and 1991. Yasin (2005) uses panel data from a sample of 11 SSA countries for the period 1990-2003. His findings lead to the conclusion that official development assistance (ODA), trade openness, growth of the labour force and the exchange rate are important determinants of FDI, while his findings do not suggest that the growth rate of per capita GDP, a political repression index and a composite risk index have explanatory power. Ahmed et al. (2005) examine the composition of capital flows between 1975 and 2002, to assess if South Africa is different from 81 other emerging markets. They classify relevant factors into macroeconomic performance, investment environment, infrastructure and resources, quality of institutions, financial development and global factors. The authors argue that some factors influencing capital flows are limited to particular forms of capital, while other factors have comparable effects on FDI, bond and equity flows. They further assert that the more open the economy is to international trade, the richer it is in natural resources, and the fewer barriers to profit repatriation it has, the more likely it is to attract FDI on a large scale. The implication of this study is that South Africa should ease its capital controls in order to avoid deterring FDI. South Africa is currently allowing repatriation of profits only within six months (Ahmed et al., 2005). The agglomeration effect is another important factor that can be used to explain why countries that have attracted FDI in the past still receive a large share of it. Notable magnitudes of existing FDI stocks in recipient countries tend to attract more FDI inflows (Lim, 2001). Foreign investors incorporate the size of the existing FDI stocks in their decisions as they seek locations where to expand their operations. Campos and Kinoshita (2003) also confirm that for 25 countries in transition between 1990 and1998, foreign investors tend to locate where others are investing, as the decision by other firms implies a favourable atmosphere for investment offered by counties in which they locate. Asiedu (2003), Loree and Guisinger (1995) and Lee (2005) consider effective government policies, especially the monetary and fiscal policies, as important factors that can be used to effectively attract or deter FDI inflows. Loree and Guisinger (1995) use effective tax rates for 48 countries (classified into developed and developing countries) in 1977 and 1982. After finding the effective tax policy variable to be significant, they conclude that government policies are important and that policy reforms are likely to attract more FDI. Lee (2005) investigates some evidence on the effectiveness of policy barriers to FDI for 153 developing and developed countries between 1995 and 2001. He finds strong support for the proposition that restrictive public policies deter FDI inflows. Asiedu (2003) studies the effects of investment policy on FDI for 22 SSA countries over the period 1984-2000. Her findings show that governments can increase FDI flows by developing and implementing policies th at provide investor friendly environment.s CHAPTER 3: SOUTH AFRICAS MACROECONOMIC OVERVIEW, FDI REGULATORY FRAMEWORK AND INCENTIVES. INTRODUCTION The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of the South African macroeconomic performance over the period of study (1980-2003). This has been based on two regimes – the apartheid regime and the democratic regime. Other sections of the chapter are dedicated to the regulatory framework for FDI and the incentives offered to foreign investors by the South African government. 3.2 THE APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA According to Lester et al.(2000), the pre-1994 period was one during which South Africa was politically unstable as a result of the racial discrimination philosophy (apartheid) that was adopted by the Nationalist government then in power. This created internal resistance by black South Africans, who protested against the racial discrimination practices. In 1960, the Nationalist government banned organizations such as the African National Congress (ANC) that represented black South Africans and this intensified demonstrations against the government. In response to the protests, the Nationalist government using armed forces, killed and arrested many black South Africans activists. These incidents drew attention from the international community, who condemned the repression against black South Africans by a Nationalist government that predominantly looked after the interests of white South Africans. These events also caused distress among foreign investors, who became sceptical of the p rospects of South Africas economic stability and the protection of their investments. This led to capital outflow, a mounting pressure on the South African rand in foreign exchange markets, effective economic sanctions and the isolation of South Africa from the rest of the world. Despite being blessed with an abundance of natural resources, especially gold, diamonds, platinum and other minerals, South Africa was not a favoured location for investment during this period. Political instability, investment insecurity and violation of human rights severely inhibited FDI. Realizing the challenges that came with economic isolation, the Nationalist government, in an attempt to uphold domestic capital growth, introduced incentives for import substitution industries such as car manufacturers and military equipment (Lester et al., 2000, p.187). Despite these attempts, this period saw South Africa undergoing falling investment, diminishing international reserves, sinking economic growth, soaring rates of inflation and lofty interest rates (Nowak, 2005). During this period, the economic performance was notably disappointing as investors left South Africa in search of other locations that offered better conditions for their investments. As shown in Table 3.1, the GDP growth rate was declining in some years with an average annual growth estimated at 1.44% per annum for the years 1980-1990. In addition, inflation and interest rates were continuously increasing with no signs of stabilising. All these were signals of loss of effective control of macroeconomic policies. Table 3.1: GDP growth, inflation and interest rates in South Africa for the period 1980-1990 Year 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 GDP annual % change 5.4 -0.4 -1.9 5

Abraham Lincoln :: History

Abraham Lincoln Of the many presidents who could be mindlessly passed off as heroes, there are a few truly heroic presidents. Among them, Abraham Lincoln stands tall. In 1861, when Lincoln was elected to office, the situations of the time called for a hero, and Lincoln stepped up. All throughout his childhood, Lincoln had to struggle to make a living and learn as well. His mother died when he was only ten years old. He lived as a farmer, working largely what would be considered â€Å"minimum wage† jobs today. All this while Lincoln struggled to gain knowledge, especially of law. He was always determined to accomplish his goals, and was willing to work as much as it might take to do so. After gaining presidency, Lincoln was faced with a dilemma. The secession of the South, though never officially realized by Lincoln, called for some sort of action. Throughout the Civil War, and even after, Lincoln was very kind and forgiving to southerners. He kept in mind the greater good and strived for the reunion of the nation, rather than becoming angry toward the South. As he stated in a speech at the Gettysburg military cemetery, Lincoln wanted a â€Å"government of the people, by the people, for the people, (that) shall not perish from the earth.† After the Civil War, Lincoln urged the South to put away their weapons, and rejoin the Union. One of Abraham Lincoln’s truly noble and well-known actions was the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. This would proclaim all the slaves in the United States free from slavery. Though this meant little to the South at the time, it means everything today. Any American resident, and hopefully anyone in the world can appreciate Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Without it, our country wouldn’t demonstrate the same sense of freedom and equality it currently does. All people of minorities especially would regard Lincoln’s proclamation heroic. It freed them from possibly being born into slavery, and was the first national-scale step towards racial equality. I personally consider this act heroic. For one, I am not a racist, nor do I support or participate in racial discrimination. In addition, we would live in a completely different world than we live in now if slavery were still allowed. Lincoln committed much of his time into abolishing slavery, earning a great deal of respect from many.

Transit Oriented Development Essay -- Urban Trasportation Essays

Transit Oriented Development Introduction Policy makers across the country are focusing on numerous ways to combat sprawl throughout the United States. New movements, such as new urbanism, have come to the forefront in this fight. This review is looking into a new concept in the fight on sprawl, called Transit-oriented development or TOD. Although this new tool to fight sprawl is rapidly becoming a popular method, it is still a new concept and needs to be studied further. This review will provide insight into the historical background of this developing idea, look at case studies of how this new strategy has worked and failed so far, and provide a glimpse into what the future holds for this novel concept. Transit-oriented Design Objectives Transit-oriented development is defined as the creation of compact, walkable communities centered around train systems. TODs mix residential, retail, office, open space, and public uses in a walkable environment, making it convenient for residents and employees to travel by transit, bicycle, foot, or car† (2). Like conventional development around transit stations, TOD aims to increase transit ridership. However, unlike conventional development around a transit station, TOD plans are based on goals of improving transportation options, creating walkable communities, as well as improving â€Å"neighborhood cohesion, social diversity, conservation, public safety, and community revitalization† (3). TOD design principles contain elements that are intended to achieve these social, neighborhoods, regional, and transportation goals. If all of these goals are met development will become focused on high-density areas instead of a centrifugal developmental process. Transit-orie nted develop... ...ng our natural and cultural landscapes from uncontrolled development. Works Cited 1. Barton, Michael and Charles, John A. The Mythical World of Transit-Oriented Development: Light Rail and the Orenco Neighborhood, Hillsboro, Oregon. Cascade Policy Institute (2003). 2. Calthorpe, Peter. The Next American Metropolis: Ecology, Community, and the American Dream. New York: Princeton Architectural Press (1993). 3. Cervero, Robert. Rail Transit and Joint Development: Land Market Impacts in Washington, D.C. and Atlanta. APA Journal 60 (Winter 1994): 83-94. 4. Cort, Cheryl and Mary Gute. Building Healthier Neighborhoods with Metrorail: Improving Joint Development Opportunities. A Chesapeake Bay Foundation Report (2001). 5. Menotti, Val Joseph. The New Transit Town: Best Practices in Transit-Oriented Development. APA 71 (Winter 2005) pg. 111 Transit Oriented Development Essay -- Urban Trasportation Essays Transit Oriented Development Introduction Policy makers across the country are focusing on numerous ways to combat sprawl throughout the United States. New movements, such as new urbanism, have come to the forefront in this fight. This review is looking into a new concept in the fight on sprawl, called Transit-oriented development or TOD. Although this new tool to fight sprawl is rapidly becoming a popular method, it is still a new concept and needs to be studied further. This review will provide insight into the historical background of this developing idea, look at case studies of how this new strategy has worked and failed so far, and provide a glimpse into what the future holds for this novel concept. Transit-oriented Design Objectives Transit-oriented development is defined as the creation of compact, walkable communities centered around train systems. TODs mix residential, retail, office, open space, and public uses in a walkable environment, making it convenient for residents and employees to travel by transit, bicycle, foot, or car† (2). Like conventional development around transit stations, TOD aims to increase transit ridership. However, unlike conventional development around a transit station, TOD plans are based on goals of improving transportation options, creating walkable communities, as well as improving â€Å"neighborhood cohesion, social diversity, conservation, public safety, and community revitalization† (3). TOD design principles contain elements that are intended to achieve these social, neighborhoods, regional, and transportation goals. If all of these goals are met development will become focused on high-density areas instead of a centrifugal developmental process. Transit-orie nted develop... ...ng our natural and cultural landscapes from uncontrolled development. Works Cited 1. Barton, Michael and Charles, John A. The Mythical World of Transit-Oriented Development: Light Rail and the Orenco Neighborhood, Hillsboro, Oregon. Cascade Policy Institute (2003). 2. Calthorpe, Peter. The Next American Metropolis: Ecology, Community, and the American Dream. New York: Princeton Architectural Press (1993). 3. Cervero, Robert. Rail Transit and Joint Development: Land Market Impacts in Washington, D.C. and Atlanta. APA Journal 60 (Winter 1994): 83-94. 4. Cort, Cheryl and Mary Gute. Building Healthier Neighborhoods with Metrorail: Improving Joint Development Opportunities. A Chesapeake Bay Foundation Report (2001). 5. Menotti, Val Joseph. The New Transit Town: Best Practices in Transit-Oriented Development. APA 71 (Winter 2005) pg. 111

Accounting for Employee Benefits (Pas 19)

REACTION PAPER The Seminar about â€Å"Accounting for Employee Benefits (PAS 19)† was held at Multi-Purpose Hall of Engineering Building last July 20, 2012. The speaker for this event was Mr. Ysmael Acosta. At first I was really curious about that seminar of what topic does the speaker would discuss. When the seminar goes on, there are some topic that are really interesting and some are not quite clear for me.Sometimes it makes me feel bored when listening to him because he really speak very fast, that’s why I can’t understand him very well. For now, I would like to discuss those topics that makes me interested. Employee Benefits outlines the accounting requirements for employee benefits, including short-term benefits (like wages and salaries, annual leave), post-employment benefits such as retirement benefits, other long-term benefits (like long service leave) and termination benefits.The standard establishes the principle that the cost of providing employee ben efits should be recognised in the period in which the benefit is earned by the employee, rather than when it is paid or payable, and outlines how each category of employee benefits are measured, providing detailed guidance in particular about post-employment benefits. The basic principle of PAS 19 is the cost of providing employee benefits should be recognised in the period in which the benefit is earned by the employee, rather than when it is paid or payable.The objective of â€Å"PAS 19† as I remembered correctly, is to prescribe the accounting and disclosure for employee benefits (that is, all forms of consideration given by an entity in exchange for service rendered by employees). The principle underlying all of the detailed requirements of the Standard is that the cost of providing employee benefits should be recognised in the period in which the benefit is earned by the employee, rather than when it is paid or payable. The scope of PAS 19 applies to wages and salaries; compensated absences (paid vacation and sick leave); profit sharing plans; bonuses; medical and ife insurance benefits during employment; housing benefits; free or subsidised goods or services given to employees; pension benefits; post-employment medical and life insurance benefits; long-service or sabbatical leave; ‘jubilee' benefits; deferred compensation programmes; and termination benefits. As time goes by, there are changes and ammendments on the PAS 19. From the simple Exposure Draft E16 Accounting for Retirement Benefits in Financial Statements of Employers (April 1980) to The Limit on a Defined Benefit Asset, Minimum Funding Requirements and their Interaction last June 16, 2011.This issue tells that the accounting for employee benefits, particularly pensions and other post-retirement benefits, has long been a complex and difficult area and initial plans for a full review of pension accounting had to be deferred in light of competing priorities, ultimately leaving the I ASB to proceed alone on improving specific aspects of the existing requirements of IAS 19. Prior to the amendment, IAS 19 permitted choices on how to account for actuarial gains and losses on pensions and similar items, including the so-called ‘corridor approach' which resulted the deferral of gains and losses.The Exposure Draft proposed eliminating the use of the ‘corridor' approach and instead mandating all remeasurement impacts be recognised in OCI (with the remainder in profit or loss) – and in fact had proposed extending these requirements to all long-term employee benefits (e. g. certain long service leave schemes). The final amendments make the OCI presentation changes in respect of pensions (and similar items) only, but all other long term benefits are required to be measured in the same way even though changes in the recognised amount are fully reflected in profit or loss.Also changed in PAS 19 is the treatment for termination benefits, specifically the p oint in time when an entity would recognise a liability for termination benefits. The final amendments do not adopt the equivalent US-GAAP requirements verbatim (which requires individual employees to be notified), but the recognition timeframe may be extended in some cases. Finally, various other amendments to IAS 19 may have impacts in particular areas.For instance, employee benefits not settled wholly before twelve months after the end of the annual reporting period would be captured as an ‘other long term benefit' rather than a ‘short term benefit', and whilst presented as a current item in the statement of financial position, would be measured differently under the amendments. PAS 19 requires an entity to determine the rate used to discount employee benefits with reference to market yields on high quality corporate bonds. However, when there is no deep market in corporate bonds, an entity is required to use market yields on government bonds instead.The global financ ial crisis has led to a widening of the spread between yields on corporate bonds and yields on government bonds. As a result, entities with similar employee benefit obligations may report them at very different amounts. If adopted, the amendments would ensure that the comparability of financial statements is maintained across jurisdictions, regardless of whether there is a deep market for high quality corporate bonds. Time flew very fast. This seminar taught us so many things that we can use in the near future. Though there is not enough time to discuss everything, we still accomplished a lot.