Fi515

Final Exam Page 1 1. (TCO A) Which of the following does NOT always increase a company's market value? (Points : 5) Increasing the expected growth rate of sales Increasing the expected operating profitability (NOPAT/Sales) Decreasing the capital requirements (Capital/Sales) Decreasing the weighted average cost of capital Increasing the expected rate of return on invested capital| 2. (TCO F) Which of the following statements is correct? (Points : 5) For a project with normal cash flows, any change in the WACC will change both the NPV and the IRR.To find the MIRR, we first compound cash flows at the regular IRR to find the TV, and then we discount the TV at the WACC to find the PV. The NPV and IRR methods both assume that cash flows can be reinvested at the WACC. However, the MIRR method assumes reinvestment at the MIRR itself. If two projects have the same cost, and if their NPV profiles cross in the upper right quadrant, then the project with the higher IRR probably has more of its c ash flows coming in the later years.If two projects have the same cost, and if their NPV profiles cross in the upper right quadrant, then the project with the lower IRR probably has more of its cash flows coming in the later years. | 3. (TCO D) The Ramirez Company's last dividend was $1. 75. Its dividend growth rate is expected to be constant at 25% for 2 years, after which dividends are expected to grow at a rate of 6% forever. Its required return (rs) is 12%. What is the best estimate of the current stock price? a. $41. 58 b. $42. 64 c. $43. 71 d. $44. 80 e. $45. 92(Points : 20) | 4. TCO G) The ABC Corporation's budgeted monthly sales are $4,000. In the first month, 40% of its customers pay and take the 3% discount. The remaining 60% pay in the month following the sale and don't receive a discount. ABC's bad debts are very small and are excluded from this analysis. Purchases for next month's sales are constant each month at $2,000. Other payments for wages, rent, and taxes are con stant at $500 per month. Construct a single month's cash budget with the information given. What is the average cash gain or (loss) during a typical month for the ABC Corporation? (Points : 20) | 5. TCO G) Clayton Industries is planning its operations for next year, and Ronnie Clayton, the CEO, wants you to forecast the firm's additional funds needed (AFN). The firm is operating at full capacity. Data for use in your forecast are shown below. Based on the AFN equation, what is the AFN for the coming year? Dollars are in millions. Last year's sales = S0| $350| | Last year's accounts payable| $40| Sales growth rate = g| 30%| | Last year's notes payable| $50| Last year's total assets = A0*| $500| | Last year's accruals| $30| Last year's profit margin = PM| 5%| | Target payout ratio| 60%| a. $102. b. $108. 2 c. $113. 9 d. $119. 9 e. $125. 9 (Points : 30) | | Final Exam Page 2 1. (TCO H) Desai Inc. has the following data, in thousands. Assuming a 365-day year, what is the firm's cash con version cycle? Annual sales = Annual cost of goods sold = Inventory = Accounts receivable = Accounts payable =| $45,000 $30,000 $4,500 $1,800 $2,500| a. 28 days b. 32 days c. 35 days d. 39 days e. 43 days (Points : 30) | 2. (TCO C) A firm buys on terms of 2/8, net 45 days, it does not take discounts, and it actually pays after 58 days. What is the effective annual percentage cost of its nonfree trade credit? Use a 365-day year. ) a. 14. 34% b. 15. 10% c. 15. 89% d. 16. 69% e. 17. 52%(Points : 30) | 3. (TCO E) Daves Inc. recently hired you as a consultant to estimate the company's WACC. You have obtained the following information. (1) The firm's noncallable bonds mature in 20 years, have an 8. 00% annual coupon, a par value of $1,000, and a market price of $1,050. 00. (2) The company's tax rate is 40%. (3) The risk-free rate is 4. 50%, the market risk premium is 5. 50%, and the stock's beta is 1. 20. (4) The target capital structure consists of 35% debt and the balance is common equi ty.The firm uses the CAPM to estimate the cost of common stock, and it does not expect to issue any new shares. What is its WACC? a. 7. 16% b. 7. 54% c. 7. 93% d. 8. 35% e. 8. 79%(Points : 30) | 4. (TCO B) Leak Inc. forecasts the free cash flows (in millions) shown below. If the weighted average cost of capital is 11% and FCF is expected to grow at a rate of 5% after Year 2, what is the Year 0 value of operations, in millions? Assume that the ROIC is expected to remain constant in Year 2 and beyond (and do not make any half-year adjustments). Year: 1 2 Free cash flow: -$50 $100 a. $1,456 b. 1,529 c. $1,606 d. $1,686 e. $1,770(Points : 35) | 5. (TCO G) Based on the corporate valuation model, Hunsader's value of operations is $300 million. The balance sheet shows $20 million of short-term investments that are unrelated to operations, $50 million of accounts payable, $90 million of notes payable, $30 million of long-term debt, $40 million of preferred stock, and $100 million of common equity. The company has 10 million shares of stock outstanding. What is the best estimate of the stock's price per share? a. $13. 72 b. $14. 44 c. $15. 20 d. $16. 00 e. $16. 80(Points : 35) | |

Grendel’s Mother and Beowulf

Not Just an Ordinary Person In order to establish Beowulf as an epic hero in the piece of literature Beowulf, he must possess all or most of the characteristics of an epic hero. An epic hero is the central figure in an epic who has superior qualities and risks personal danger to pursue a grand quest. There are ten specific characteristics that one must have to be considered an epic hero. One must be significant and glorified, on a quest, and responsible leader. One must also have superior or superhuman strength, intelligence, courage, and ethics.Lastly, one must risk death for glory or for the greater good of society, perform brave deeds, and reflect the ideals of a particular society. To be looked at as an epic hero, the first three characteristics a person must have are to be glorified, on a quest, and a responsible leader. The Geats say of Beowulf â€Å"Now when help was needed. None / Of the wise ones regretted his going, much / As he was loved by the Geats† (lines 116-119 ). The Geats saying such things about Beowulf tells that he is glorified by his people.The people of Herot have chosen Beowulf in lines 149-150 â€Å"My people have said, the wisest, most knowing / And best of them, that my duty was to go to the Danes’ Great king† to go on a quest to Denmark to kill Grendel and help save their warriors. In order to be recognized as a hero, one must be a responsible leader. One must be willing to put themself ahead of others, take action when needed, take the blame when something goes wrong, and take credit when things go right. In Beowulf’s case, one must know when to bring soldiers, and when to go into battle alone.In line 679 of Beowulf â€Å"Wait for me close by, my friends† Beowulf realizes that nobody can defeat the dragon but him, so he tells his men to stand back so no one gets killed when unnecessary. The qualities that just about all people see are one who has superior strength, intelligence, courage, and ethics. Most people define a hero as a person who has superior or superhuman strength. Beowulf is â€Å"the strongest of the Geats- greater / And stronger† than anyone else in the world (lines 110-111). Saying this shows that if Beowulf cannot defeat Grendel then nobody else can.Beowulf shows how intelligent he is in lines 134-137 when â€Å"Beowulf arose with his men / Around him ordering a few to remain / With their weapons†. Beowulf is smart enough to realize that if nobody stays with the weapons somebody will steal them, and they will be left unarmed when a war breaks out. To be considered courageous, a person must face something that would frighten most. Beowulf does just that on numerous occasions in Beowulf. Beowulf faces and conquers Grendel in lines 515-517 â€Å"The victory, for the proof, hanging high / From the rafters where Beowulf had hung it, was the monsters / Arm, claw and shoulder and all†.The mighty water witch, Grendel’s mother, becomes troub led with the loss of her son and wants revenge on Herot. When she attacks Herot, Beowulf takes action and conquers her in lines 643-645 â€Å"Her body fell / To the floor, lifeless, the sword was wet / With her blood, and Beowulf rejoiced at the sight†. Some heroes use special powers, or costumes to help them win the fights against the bad guys. However, Beowulf believes in being ethical. He does not want to be credited for winning a battle if every aspect of the battle is not considered fair.In Beowulf , Grendel is defeated by Beowulf unarmed in lines 669-671 â€Å"Crushed to death / Like Grendel, gripped in my hands and torn / Limb from limb†. Beowulf could have very easily used the weapons in the boat that his men were holding. Instead he did not because that would not be considered a fair fight. The last characteristics that must take place in order to be established as an epic hero is one must risk death, perform brave deeds, and reflect a particular society. If a person does not risk death for their society, they will not be considered a hero; one will be considered as just an ordinary person.However, Beowulf proves that he is not just an ordinary person when he performs brave deeds and is faced with death on numerous accounts for the good of his people. Beowulf faces Grendel, a man-eating monster; Grendel’s mother, a water witch; and the dragon, a hot breath and poisonous creature. When Beowulf faces Grendel’s mother in lines 620-623 â€Å"And in an instant she had him down, held helpless. / Squatting with her weight on his stomach, she drew / A dagger, brown with dried blood and prepared / To avenge her only son† he sees death right before him.He keeps fighting because in lines 683-684 Beowulf says â€Å"No man but me / Could hope to defeat this monster†. When Beowulf faced the dragon in lines 718-722 â€Å"The monster came quickly toward him, / Pouring out fire and smoke, hurrying / To its fate. Flames beat a t the iron / Shield, and for a time it held, protected / Beowulf as he’d planned; then it began to melt† Beowulf’s life flashes before his eyes again when he realizing that the shield is not going to hold up, and he will die from the dragon. Beowulf upholds the ideals of the Anglo-Saxon society; courage, loyalty, and honor throughout the entire literature of Beowulf.An epic hero is the protagonist in an epic who has superior qualities and risks personal danger to pursue a grand quest. In the piece of literature Beowulf, Beowulf must possess all or most of the characteristics of an epic hero in order to be established as one. Throughout the epic, Beowulf possesses the characteristics of glorified, on a quest, responsible leader, superior strength, intelligence, courage, ethical, risk death, perform brave deeds, and reflects ideals of a particular society on multiple occasions. Therefore, at the end of this epic, Beowulf can be confirmed as an epic hero.

Business Social Responsibility

According to Riahi (2009), an organization (such as FirstGroup plc) can actually be regarded as a deliberately constructed social unit to pursue a specific goal. In this respect, it also evoked an empathy with a pessimistic dialogue: Milton Friedman pointed out that in 1970's New York Times magazine article, the only commercial social responsibility was increased profit. In his book Capitalism Freedom he wrote that company is a tool to own shareholders and will prevent individual shareholders from deciding how to dispose of their own funds if the company contributes . (M. Initially, the three authors argue against other companies by expressing their beliefs on what company social responsibility should be, then further promoting their ideas. For example, TJ Rodgers believes that company social responsibility is to maximize profits by raising efficiency and lowering prices. This is more logical than John Mackey's approach and enhances social efficiency. However, John Mackey believes t hat corporate social responsibility should bring value to customers and businesses in the long term, and TJ Rodgers and Milton Friedman are considering narrowing the scope I suggest that. be concerned about. However, Milton Friedman believes that social responsibility of the company is to act for the owners 'own interests and that this kind of interest is to maximize shareholders' interests. Everyone is not thinking that a company should have a social conscience. Economist Milton Friedman said, Because of its loose analysis and lack of rigor, commercial social responsibility is convincing. Friedman believes that only individuals can have a sense of social responsibility. Because of its nature, business is impossible. Some experts believe that social responsibility ignores the essence of business. Business Social Responsibility According to Riahi (2009), an organization (such as FirstGroup plc) can actually be regarded as a deliberately constructed social unit to pursue a specific goal. In this respect, it also evoked an empathy with a pessimistic dialogue: Milton Friedman pointed out that in 1970's New York Times magazine article, the only commercial social responsibility was increased profit. In his book Capitalism Freedom he wrote that company is a tool to own shareholders and will prevent individual shareholders from deciding how to dispose of their own funds if the company contributes . (M. Initially, the three authors argue against other companies by expressing their beliefs on what company social responsibility should be, then further promoting their ideas. For example, TJ Rodgers believes that company social responsibility is to maximize profits by raising efficiency and lowering prices. This is more logical than John Mackey's approach and enhances social efficiency. However, John Mackey believes t hat corporate social responsibility should bring value to customers and businesses in the long term, and TJ Rodgers and Milton Friedman are considering narrowing the scope I suggest that. be concerned about. However, Milton Friedman believes that social responsibility of the company is to act for the owners 'own interests and that this kind of interest is to maximize shareholders' interests. Everyone is not thinking that a company should have a social conscience. Economist Milton Friedman said, Because of its loose analysis and lack of rigor, commercial social responsibility is convincing. Friedman believes that only individuals can have a sense of social responsibility. Because of its nature, business is impossible. Some experts believe that social responsibility ignores the essence of business. Business Social Responsibility According to Riahi (2009), an organization (such as FirstGroup plc) can actually be regarded as a deliberately constructed social unit to pursue a specific goal. In this respect, it also evoked an empathy with a pessimistic dialogue: Milton Friedman pointed out that in 1970's New York Times magazine article, the only commercial social responsibility was increased profit. In his book Capitalism Freedom he wrote that company is a tool to own shareholders and will prevent individual shareholders from deciding how to dispose of their own funds if the company contributes . (M. Initially, the three authors argue against other companies by expressing their beliefs on what company social responsibility should be, then further promoting their ideas. For example, TJ Rodgers believes that company social responsibility is to maximize profits by raising efficiency and lowering prices. This is more logical than John Mackey's approach and enhances social efficiency. However, John Mackey believes t hat corporate social responsibility should bring value to customers and businesses in the long term, and TJ Rodgers and Milton Friedman are considering narrowing the scope I suggest that. be concerned about. However, Milton Friedman believes that social responsibility of the company is to act for the owners 'own interests and that this kind of interest is to maximize shareholders' interests. Everyone is not thinking that a company should have a social conscience. Economist Milton Friedman said, Because of its loose analysis and lack of rigor, commercial social responsibility is convincing. Friedman believes that only individuals can have a sense of social responsibility. Because of its nature, business is impossible. Some experts believe that social responsibility ignores the essence of business.

Strategic Business Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Strategic Business Leadership - Essay Example This paper chronicles the formulation and development of my views on the subject of the strategic business leadership. Stages in learning Strategic Business Leadership Throughout my academic and professional career, I have experienced numerous touch points and theories which have helped me shape my perspectives and broaden my horizons on the subject of strategic business leadership. On a fundamental level, during the learning of this course, I have visualized myself as a leader who is lucid and depicts a practical view of an inspirational future which motivates others to join in too. Since, I have struggled hard to formulate my thinking and perspectives on the basis of leading capabilities, my vision of becoming a strategic leader has influenced me in shaping up my focus. After studying the subject on leadership, I have begun to see the concept of leadership as a process which is dynamically distributed amongst the actors. Besides this, some fundamental principles have been formed in my minds which have transformed my beliefs about leadership from a mere activity and role to an entire process of goal achievement by inspiring others. More often, I have discovered that additional learning of this subject has facilitated me with the supplementing of the theorizing process which is consistent with the methodology of grounded theory. During the learning, there have been the climax points which have shaped my perspectives on becoming a future leader. I recall studying the charismatic traits of a transformational leader and getting the work done through others, and this has already aroused great determination and enthusiasm in me. The theories of leadership have actually facilitated me with various ways in which one can act and influence the people to make them work. My understanding of the Subject Since, I am largely used to additional readings in order to reference my current learning, I read various authors on the subject of leadership and strategies related to it. Amongst those, my favorite is Sun Tzu in the Art of War. According to him, â€Å"The way [of leadership] means inducing the people to have the same aim as the leadership, so that they will share death and share life, without fear of danger† (Sun Tzu, 2005, p.43). I interpreted from this statement, that for Sun Tzu, the idea behind leadership was such relationships, strategies, and the dynamism which assists in aligning a vision which is shared by the people and might also demand those aligned to act in such a way which may go beyond their personal self interest. The definition provided in the book also realizes the mutual vibrancy that the followers and leader share in understanding the mutual vision and goal. Both have equal participation and thus, equal share in the risks and benefits in its pursuit. Thus, in my view, strategic business leadership is the management of people with a view which corresponds with providing a direction to the followers which is exactly aligned to the organizational goals and objectives. Simply put, leadership, according to my learning, is largely about exercising authority in such a way which supports other fellows to follow the mutual goals and obtain desired results. I think that leadership is generally about three factors which include problems and solution,

Designing Interventions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Designing Interventions - Essay Example Short term strategies should be dependent on management in its implementation whereas long term strategies should be dependant on external experts for implementation. Finally, it was realized that the intervention might in the short while bring some hardship on the economic fortunes of the company but in the long term there shall be productive benefits to be enjoyed by the company. The search for development in the midst of problems and challenges such as the one described faced by the organization is a whole system that demands carefully delivered models and processes to overturn. It is in this direction that the application of organizational development process skills by the executives of the organization becomes very necessary. As noted by the Office of State Personnel, North Carolina (2008), â€Å"the organizational development process is based on the action research model which begins with an identified problem or need for change.† This means a variety of skills that includes, assessment, planning, implementing the intervention, gathering data to evaluate the intervention, and determining if satisfactory progress has been made or if there is need for further intervention must all be used (Office of State Personnel, North Carolina, 2008 ). In brief, the executives of the organization must be on a search for a suitable intervention that addresses all aspects of the identified problem without leaving marginalized implications to the organization. The various stages and skills that need to be exhibited in this quest have been illustrated below. The intervention, or otherwise referred to as change strategy to be developed through the stages and skills discussed above need to be executed through short-term and long-term approaches. These long term and short term approaches can be summed up in two major forms of change strategies namely

Film Review - The Young and Restless in China Movie

Film - The Young and Restless in China - Movie Review Example The film touches on social issues that form the basis of this study aiming at reviewing the social issues represented in the film. Cultural beliefs and the need for personal independence is one of the social issues depicted in the film, Young and the Restless in China. Changes in the economic conditions in China from Maoism and socialism that advocated the respect of the Communist Party, serve people, and the country. However, these conditions resulted in the dissolution resulting in changes at a very fast rate affecting the young Chinese. Miranda Hong finds herself at crossroads between living in the reformed country and the guidelines from her parents from the Maoist period. She is forced to apply for college outside Beijing owing to the oppressive environment at her home since her parents were very strict. She is tone between following cultural guidelines on how to live her life, meet her husband’s demands, and be herself in the face of changes in the economic system. The other change evident in the social and cultural condition of China is the cutthroat competition of businesses resulting in widespre ad corruption by government officials for success. There is a large contrast between the situation and the Maoist system that existed before as explained through the life of Ben Wu in the course of his setting up his business and the need for trust and knowing people to be successful in China. Divorce and changing the belief system represent the culture changes in China since they were no divorce in earlier times but through the lives of Lu Dong. The other cultural changes in China are related to family and the need for education of the girl child that is slowly catching up. Marriage for a girl child was the norm with responsibilities including caring for the in-laws and field labour. However, through Yang Haiyan a number of changes including working away from her family and earning money to assist herself and not married her by her parents. Wei Zhanyan

The Responsibilities of Nurse managers Assignment

The Responsibilities of Nurse managers - Assignment Example Nurse empowerment also minimizes chances of employee burnout, being strained by work and, experiencing feelings of frustration and failure. Empowered nurses are not only motivated but also motivate other healthcare professionals by sharing the power tools and nurse managers should encourage this. Nurse empowerment can be used to build respect and trust in the workplace. The enhanced workplace aspects positively influence the behaviors and attitudes of nurses to a great extent because empowering workplaces increase feelings of organizational respect, justice and trust in management. This also encourages positive relationships with superiors, subordinates and peers within the workplace leading to the establishment of effective alliances. Nurse managers should, therefore, ensure the administration organizational justice through fair organizational processes and making of rational decisions, interpersonal justice through treatment of individuals with respect and dignity and, informationa l justice through the provision of quality and timely information. Nurse empowerment also increases autonomy among nurses which encourages them to bring out their special talents and apply them to improve the ways of accomplishing tasks in the workplace. Nurse managers should encourage and allow the expression of talents among nurses. Evaluation of staff retention tactics Good pay is a nice staff retention tactic. However, employees are not just concerned with salary. Instead, they seek for continual career advancement and learning opportunities. Nurse managers should, therefore, focus on paths to nurse advancement by understanding what is important for them in terms of their professional lives, and help them design their work and learning around that. They should also develop clear career paths for each nurse and help them set career goals frequently. Organizational credibility, employee treatment and work conditions are also very critical. Nurse managers should, therefore, ensure the provision of good work conditions, treat nurses as individuals, and advocate for the fulfillment of organizational pledges to employees. The ability to adjust to an organization is important thus nurse managers should ensure a smooth on board experience to assist new nurses adjust to the organization and become productive more quickly. Judgment of the importance of communication Effective and sufficient communication in nursing is important. It facilitates timely two way delivery of information between nurses, their superiors, patients and co-workers. It also allows nurses to obtain information from the patients, give them information and act as an effective liaison between the patient and the doctor. Nurse managers should, therefore, ensure the development of and assess communication skills among all nurses to ensure nurses are competent in giving and receiving information. This encompasses spoken language, proximity, eye-contact and therapeutic relationship and spatial awarene ss. Nurse managers should also note the things that can cause communication breakdown and plan to counter them, for example improper shift change among nurses, lack of trust, and conflict among nurses among others. They should also create an environment of confidence. Comparing challenges in the management of generational issues Today’

Nuclear tension between the US and North korea ( past, and present) Essay

Nuclear tension between the US and North korea ( past, and present) - Essay Example Having a background of unhappy interactions dating as early as the mid-nineteenth century, when the first diplomatic expeditions from America venturing to Korea and Japan for the sake of trade ended up killing 200 Korean troops, the history of negotiations between the two countries has been colored by high levels of distrust on either side. So far the course of events has made it evident what the policies of either country is aimed at. America, with friends in the neighborhood is seeking to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and North Korea seems to be using Nuclear weapons as both ‘military deterrents’ and as a source of ‘diplomatic leverage’ to get what it wants from the international community. With the successful nuclear tests of 2010 and the undeterminable intentions of satellite launch in 2012, North Korea’s doctrine on the nuclear program is gradually coming out into the open, striving for the same status as New Dehli i.e. the international acknowledgement of North Korea as a Nuclear Power along with the normalization of relations with the U.S. This may not exactly be acceptable to the U.S with its own concerns. However the cooperation of North Korea can only be achieved if its concerns regarding security are adequately addressed. Although this process may require patience and time, it is far better than the imposition of sanctions which further deters any developments.

Developing a Teaching Plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Developing a Teaching Plan - Assignment Example [3] The obvious outcome expected are the following: Information is supplied {b} Doubts are clarified {c} Questions are answered {d} Need is highlighted {e} Motivate the reader {f} Action is advocated {g} Decision is aided {h} Prompt action is encouraged. {c} If the student is not immunized then the Booklet must be provided and the student should be told to read and come back to the college office again when a more detailed information could be gathered. [5] The methods of instruction to be used can be varied and it becomes subject to the budget allocation for such an ongoing program. The following can be considered: {a} Print material in booklet form in text and graphics, the size that fits into a purse or pocket. {b} An audio-visual, in the form of a VCD. {c} Fliers & Mind Joggers & Posters & Banners in the college campus. {d} Inserts in the college prospectus. {e} Class room sessions. Disease Invasive meningococcal disease occurs in three common clinical forms: meningitis (49% of cases), blood infection (33%) and pneumonia (9%); other forms account for the remainder (9%) of the cases. Onset can be abrupt and course of disease rapid. Epidemiology # Annually, 1,400-2,800 cases of invasive meningococcal disease occur in the US. 20% of cases occurs among adolescents and young adults ages 14-24. 16% of cases occurs among infants under 1 year of age. ... [5] The methods of instruction to be used can be varied and it becomes subject to the budget allocation for such an ongoing program. The following can be considered: {a} Print material in booklet form in text and graphics, the size that fits into a purse or pocket. {b} An audio-visual, in the form of a VCD. {c} Fliers & Mind Joggers & Posters & Banners in the college campus. {d} Inserts in the college prospectus. {e} Class room sessions. [6] The content will have to be very carefully designed and it has to be sensitive to the student group it continually addresses. True and correct information Teaching Plan 3 should be passed on about Meningococcal Diseases and Meningococcal Vaccines. The following brief format is excellent { to develop it please go to its website3}: Overview This document seeks to familiarize vaccination providers, partners, and the public with the epidemiology and clinical features of meningococcal disease Disease Invasive meningococcal disease occurs in three common clinical forms: meningitis (49% of cases), blood infection (33%) and pneumonia (9%); other forms account for the remainder (9%) of the cases. Onset can be abrupt and course of disease rapid. Epidemiology # Annually, 1,400-2,800 cases of invasive meningococcal disease occur in the US. 20% of cases occurs among adolescents and young adults ages 14-24. 16% of cases occurs among infants under 1 year of age. # College freshmen living in dormitories are at higher risk than general population of similar age. Causative Bacteria Meningococci are carried only by humans in the nasopharynx-their only reservoir. Overall 5%-10% of the population carries the bacteria. Adolescents and young adults have the highest carriage rates. The Vaccines Here detailed information has to be provided

Feminine and Ethics of Care and Virtue Ethics Assignment

Feminine and Ethics of Care and Virtue Ethics - Assignment Example One of the main differences between ethics of care and virtue ethics is that they have a distinct assumption on what makes a right from an individual. This implies that their judgment of the moral character varies.   Virtue ethics theories assume that the roles of character and virtue in moral philosophy is important than doing one's duty to bring a positive impact.   These theorists also believe in virtues such as courage, self-control, generosity, honesty that keeps them going and overcoming daily challenges. On the other hand, ethics of care theorists are concerned with what makes an action right or wrong they do not only apply just and autonomy . They emphasize the importance of response as opposed to what is just argued by other theories.There are many advantages of determining and selecting moral action as virtue ethics provide. For example, the proponents of virtue ethics believe that a virtuous person has the ideal character traits that they apply in every situation and d rive their natural internal tendencies ones they are nurtured. It is because of this that people, families care for their loved ones by socializing them to the expectation of the society. Similarly, those who select virtue ethics have a good reasoning and have good plans. They also apply their common sense intuition that others admire o they apply them. Moreover, they do not only apply just and autonomy but to encompass traits that may include caring and nurturing others to walk the path that leads to prosperity.

Budgetary control Essay Example for Free

Budgetary control Essay Nowadays management’s philosophy revolves around the idea of planning. According to McKinsey (1922), chief executives have come to the realization that today’s task can only be properly fulfilled thanks to the meticulous planning of yesterday. The budgetary control framework has been openly accepted and widespread as a tool for management and overall organisation control. Nonetheless, recent evolutions in the managerial sciences have come to jeopardise the reliability of budgeting as an effective method for the control of performance and organisation. The concern of whether budgeting is in fact an apt tool has created mixed views and debate amongst scholars. This essay will aim to evaluate whether budgetary control is concerned primarily with the control of performance, or if it has of late taken on greater importance especially as a more integrative control mechanism for the organisation. In order to do so it will firstly define the meaning of two fundamental concepts such as budget and budgetary control. Secondly it will evaluate the use of budgetary control as a tool for today’s organization. Thirdly it will follow debates and criticisms on its the effectiveness and use and Lastly it will conclude by assessing to what extent budgetary control has become a more integrative control mechanism for organisations. The work of key specialists in management such as Bhimani, Otley, Van der Stede and McWatters, will be drawn on in order to cover the key issues of the discussion. Before commencing on a discussion of budgetary control, it is immanent to clarify and define the two key terms that will be used in this essay: ‘budget’ and ‘budgetary control’. On the one hand, as defined by Bhimani et al. (2008) â€Å"a budget is a quantitative expression of a proposed plan of action by management for future time period and it is an aid to coordination and implementation of the plan†. On the same line McWatters et al. (2008) highlights the importance of budgets as a planning control system for a company, which ‘translate’ organisational objectives into financial terms. Drury (2009) exemplifies the many different purposes that budgets serve, such as: coordinating activities, conveying various arrangements to different responsibility centres, arranging and controlling operations, motivating employees to attain organisational objectives and assessing the execution of managers. According to Johnson (1996), it was in the 1960s that associations started to highly regard the utilization of budgets as tools for performance measurement and the control of managerial objectives. On the other hand, budgetary control is described by Periasamy (2010) as â€Å"a system of controlling costs which includes the preparation of budgets, coordinating the department and establishing responsibilities, comparing actual performance with the budgeted and acting upon results to achieve maximum profitability†. A similar, yet more formal, definition of budgetary control is given by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants of England and Wales (CIMA): â€Å"the establishment of budgets relating to the responsibilities of executives to the requirement of a policy and the continuous comparison of actual with the budgeted results, either to secure by individual actions the objectives of policy or to provide a basis for its revision†. There are two main purposes of budgets which scholars have identified: planning and controlling. The first purpose, which McWatters et al. (2008) discusses, is that budgets have a fundamental role in undertaking planning decisions. In fact, the integration of budgets into a strategic planning of long term and short-term objectives is crucial to the harmony of the project itself. This claim can be explained by Bhimani et al. (2008) who proposes that, budgets provide a more realistic view on the possible outcomes of investments, which consequently leads managers to adjust their strategic goals accordingly. To put it another way, when a company wants to match its potentials suitably with the prospects of the marketplace, it undertakes a strategic analysis to then set several long-run and short-run goals. On this basis a budget is formulated. However, as stated before, once the budget that has been formulated projects a more realistic view on the strategic objectives, these strategic objectives are then readjusted once again. The second purpose that Emmanuel et al. (1990) discusses is to do with budgets as a form of control and a tool for monitoring a company’s performance. McWatters et al. (2008) describe this function by outlining the idea that budgets are frequently used to assign responsibilities by allocating resources to different managers. A budget may be given with more or less flexibility, for example by assigning a large sum of money for ‘advertising’ to be used at the managers discretion, or by highlighting the different ways that this money should be used. The optional flexibility of budgets allows for a company to give the adequate level of responsibility to its employees and thus the organisation is able to maintain a level of control. McWatters et al. (2008) further elaborates on the function of budgeting for control by suggesting that â€Å"the numbers in a budget are also used as goals to motivate organisational members†. This motivational aspect of budgeting can be explained by Bhimani et al (2008) who states that â€Å"the manner in which a budget is administered can adversely impact on the managers’ behaviour†. A manager must believe that the budget is achievable in order to actively attempt to pursue it, Bhimani et al (2008) adds that through the constraints and goals set by budgeting targets, managers are often motivated to â€Å"effect changes in a forceful way†. The way that a budget is formulated, and the demands and pressures that it targets are key in encouraging the right degree of motivation, â€Å"an enterprise can set a difficult to attain budget in an attempt to motivate good performance. This is because, in practice, budgets that are set up to a certain degree of tightness often become stronger motivators† (Bhimani et al. , 2008). A final point to consider with the role of budgetary control is the function that it plays in enhancing communication within a company. Internal coordination between the steps of production , as well as communication among departments are key aspects for a company’s performance. Dury (2009) states that â€Å"the budget serves as a vehicle through which the actions of the different parts of an organisation can be brought together and reconciled into one common plan†. Hence, hierarchical and inter-departmental communication within the organisation is extremely facilitated thanks to the use of budgets. For instance, considering a multinational corporation that, due to its size, has difficulties in communicating between the production department and the sales department, budgets could in this circumstance be the most operational manner of communicating, as they set common goals between different departments. As it is clear form the paragraphs above, the controlling side of budgets play a stronger role than the planning aspect. An example that instead criticise this view can be found in the strategic planning of investments. Maximising performance of a company can be synonymous for maximising the shareholders value. Akintoye (2008) argues that equality in investment decisions are fairly dependent on the solidity of the budgetary control system, which in turn is key to maximise the company’s shareholders value. Therefore, it is arguable that a weak budgetary control system may be the cause of unprofitable investments and consequently may trigger the loss of shareholders value (Akintoye, 2008). There are many examples that reflect this issue, such as one reported by the European Journal of Economics Finance and Administrative Science where the Coca-Cola Company, with the purpose of differentiating production, failed miserably in their investment on food and wine in that the investment rate of return resulted to be beneath their cost of capital. The tremendous loss of money caused by this investment and other failures of this type grab the attention of scholars, raising questions on the salience of the budgetary control system, as well as whether budgets are mainly used to control or plan organisations. Other criticisms towards budgetary control as a main form of performance control, argue instead that the use of budgetary control in performance management has of late taken on greater importance especially as a more integrative control mechanism for the organisation. This stands on the basis of different points of view of the role that motivation and communication play within a company. Bhimani et al. (2008) argues that current speculation concerning budgetary control systems prescribes two inverse perspectives. From one perspective, there is the view that upholds incremental change to budgetary process in terms of interfacing such forms more closely to operational prerequisites, arranging frameworks, expanding the recurrence of plan amendment and the arrangement of rolling budgets. A second perspective supports the abandoning of the budgetary control system as a method of organisational control, and supplanting it with elective systems to empower firms on their adaptability and adjustability. The second perspective arose because of the consequences caused by the conflictual role of budgets between planning and controlling. To summarize; in planning and settling choices, budgets convey specialised information between different departments and hierarchy of the organisation, whereas for control, budgets serve as benchmarks for performance measurement (Otley, 1978). According to McWatters et al. (2008) if too many boundaries are placed into performance targets, then specialised executives will settle down and stop disclosing accurate predictions of prospected occurrences, and instead rely more on budgeted figures, which ease the achievement of the targets. A clear example of this conflict is given by the marketing sector. Salespeople according to McWatters et al. (2008) are usually very specialised and can very well forecast future sales. Their predictions are very important to settle the amount of goods to be produced. Inasmuch budgetary control of sales takes place at the end of the year, and it is used as a tool to evaluate performance. Salespeople are reasonably incentivised to under-forecast future sales in order to assure a positive evaluation of their performance. Nevertheless this behaviour induces the company to have higher production costs, creating counterproductive results. However, this behavioural theory is contrasted by Van der Stede (2000) in his study on the relationship between two consequences of budgetary control: slack creation and managerial short-term orientation. In his experiment he attempts to find the relationship between rigid budgetary control and slack creation, where he defines slack as the action by business unit managers that leads them to â€Å"†¦ exploit their position of superior knowledge about business possibilities vis-a-vis corporate management to get performance targets that are deliberately lower than their best guess forecast about the future† (lukka, 1988). Van der Stede’s (2008) statistical correlation showed in fact that rigid budget control reduced slack. To strengthen his view, Bhimani et al. (2008) states that â€Å"budgeted performance measures can overcome two keys limitations of using past performance as basis for judging actual result†, meaning that, not only budgetary control is a good â€Å"judge† of performance, but it also develops better aspects in comparison to other evaluation techniques. In conclusion, this essay has highlighted the role of budgetary control and it’s functions in terms of planning the organisational control of a company, as well as its role in performance management. Motivation and communication are both key aspects in the management of performance, and both of these functions are met through the system of budgetary control, either by setting achievable incentives, or by providing the necessary requirements to improve communications within a company. Having underlined the role of budgetary control as an enhancer of performance management, it is clear to see how it has become a key mechanism for the integrative control of an organisation. Nonetheless, this essay has outlined some of the key disputes of the reliability and effectiveness of budgetary control as an adequate method of performance management. An example of this is highlighted by the fact that when managers are given strict budgeting figures, they sometimes deem the goals to be too easily achieved, and hence give a lesser input of motivation. Despite the many critics of budgetary control as a tool for the organisation of a company, scholars such as Van der Stede (2000) and Bhimani et al. (2008) have confidently stated that when a budget is set correctly, it can significantly improve an organisations performance, including the integrative function within a company; and is in fact a more effective tool than other existing methods of control.

Traditional marketing campaigns Essay Example for Free

Traditional marketing campaigns Essay With the apparition of the Internet, what was generally a cumbersome, costly marketing campaign, with a limited audience (and we are referring here to the traditional marketing campaigns, via the usual channels of communication: newspapers, media, fliers etc. ) became a far-reaching method of promoting your business, at virtually no cost other than that imposed by the necessity to have a functional Internet connection, to pay salaries to people promoting the business online and to building up a presentation website. Easy to commit to, Internet marketing has become a favored tool by many economic agents. First of all, the advantages of Internet marketing are numerous. The first one to be mentioned is the low costs involved. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, the first thing that a small business like this needs is a website. The website virtually plays the role of an online store, with two main functions: presentation and, if the owner wishes it, online sale. The case of the order clothing retail business specializing in children specialty items is reflective in this sense. First of all, the website will present not only the actual product (in terms of sizes available, coloring etc. ), but also the company itself, the people involved in the business etc. It always helps, as a online promotional mean, to have the figures and, perhaps, a short biography of the owners on site, because, this way, the potential clients will tend to gain more trust in online ordering. There are several online marketing tips that can make the site and, subsequently, the business, more successful. Testimonies are always important in businesses. As this is an online business, it may be that some of the testimonies are not necessarily those of real customers, but they will help induce a sense of security to the potential client. The testimonies can in fact be a successful mean of further presenting the mechanism and the way business is concluded. Something like â€Å"I couldn’t believe how easy it was: I just placed the order on the website and I had the item in less than 24 hours† will be a line that will let the potential client know that he is likely to receive a product very fast and with almost no time spent in the process. It is also important to have a page within the website clearly explaining the entire shopping mechanism, in clear terms, so that the client will know the hows and the whens. It is not sufficient to simply point out to the location where he has to place his order. A separate page entitled Process, for example, will let him understood the entire mechanism: the fact that he places his order, his order is received and he receives a confirmation of the fact, he can then pay for the order and this is delivered to him in a certain period of time. This type of exact information will likely improve communication and the business process with the clients. Given the specific of the business, that of a mail order clothing retail business specializing in children specialty items, it is also important to have pictures and presentation pages for the products that are commercialized. This will give potential clients an imagistic presentation of the products they will be buying. As previously mentioned, the website needs to act exactly like a store (albeit an online one, in a virtual environment) in which the client will need to be able to see, compare, analyze products. Second of all, the website will be able to register users and take their orders automatically, without any individuals involved, which obviously lowers costs significantly, since you are not going to have someone paid to look after the clients who place the orders. There are however some technological costs involved, for example the cost of IT maintenance and web-related issues (web designing, web maintenance etc. ) that will increase fixed costs for this form of marketing. The simple creation of a website is insufficient for the marketing of the small business we are referring to. The website needs to be, in its turn, promoted over the Internet, so that a larger number of visitors will take note of the services offered. There are several ways to do this. First of all, search engine optimization (SEO) is important, because it will place the site within the first option when a search operation is made, for certain key words. Taking the specific of our mail order clothing retail business, we may decide, for example, as the main key words to be children, clothing, items and some particular children items (toys etc. ). For these, we will try both to make the text on our website reflective of these key words and to promote them on search engines.

The National Development Policies Of Ethiopia Economics Essay

The National Development Policies Of Ethiopia Economics Essay The main purpose of this paper is to review the national agricultural development policies of Ethiopia during the reign of the Imperial, Derg and EPRDF led government and the predominant trends of international field of development thinking pursued (similarities and differences among) in the period of post 1974 to 2004. Ethiopia is one of the poorest nations on earth. From its 77 million people over 80 percent depend on subsistence agriculture and more than 40% live below the absolute poverty line, (CSA, 2007). The country has remained to be one of the tragic places where the worst cases of famine and drought and man made problems such as extended civil war and degradations of natural resources have been observed (EC project proposal 1998). However, the country has a good resource potential for economic development. In response to these socio- economic situations, various development policies and strategies have been brought in to practice by the successive governments that ruled the country which had in most of the cases ended up with bare minimum impacts in reversing the prevailed development bottlenecks of the country. Thus a good part of the poor performance is explained by policy failures of the past regimes generally and the derg regime in particular (EEA, 1999/2000) as sited by (Alemayehu, G.2007). Thus, after the collapse of the military regime in May 1991, the EPRDF led government adopted various development policy reforms and structural adjustments that included liberalization of markets, decentralization of central government authorities to regions, woredas and designed agriculture development led industrialization strategies. Similarly, at the later stages of the period (2002), the government pinpointed poverty reduction as its crucial development objective which is in consonance wit h international directions and commitments. In what follows this paper tries to review development policies of the up to the current regime in Ethiopia.2. Trends and Development Policy Environment Before and after 1991Â  [1]Â   2.1 Development Policies up to 1974 The imperial government of Haileselasie, was the first government to exercise different development policies as Ethiopia is first African state to attempt economic development planning (Georgi. G. 1981). But the plans determined only general trends and likely development rates as they gave an extremely generalized allocation to particular sectors of the economy as of 1960s (Haile H., 1995). During this time three five-year plans were prepared for the development of the economy with different targets and area of priorities. They were: The first five year plan (1957-62) The second five year plan (1963-67) The Third five year plan (1968-73) 2.1.1. First five year plan (1957-62)Â  [2]Â   This plan had some targets on the agricultural sector. According to the evaluations of the plan targets that was made in the second five year plan, its impact on the agricultural sector was negligible since emphasis during this plan period was on infrastructure and social transformation (raising the level of education and the training of technical personnel) for the implementation of the five year program. No need to bring about fundamental changes in present methods of (peasant) production and stuck to the kind of tools now used(Dejene (IEG 1957),pg 45 Donors policy of this period was biased in favour of urbanization vis-Ã  -vis rural development. the world bank for example, by far the largest single source of development assistance to Ethiopia in recent years, allocated 85% of its total loans to modern roads during the 1950-59 period, and nothing to the agricultural sector(world Bank 1985). 2.1.2. Second five-year plan (1963-67)Â  [3]Â   Mainly the priority focus was given to industry (manufacturing), minerals and electric power development, but, unlike the first five year plan, some attention was given to agriculture. In this plan, quantitative targets for the production of agricultural marketable products like cereals, cotton, cattle, and coffee; and for the rate of growth of agriculture were set. To achieve the production targets set in the plan three main approaches were outlined: Execution of land reform, introduction of tools implements and machinery as well as elementary training of the producers so as to raise productivity, per capita income and consumption so as to transform the subsistence economy into a monetized economy. The organization of farmers cooperatives The organization of commercial farms based on mechanization IEG (1962). However, in the second five-year plan agriculture was anticipated to grow at a rate of 2.4 percent, but it was said to have grown at a rate of 1.9 only, It was only 42.2 percent of the investment target that was actually full filled because of which much of the development programs were not achieved, The land reform policy was completely ignored, a fact which basically accounted for the failure and above all, there was lack of progress in policy measures and organizational programs, which were essential for the success of the plan. Because of all these, the agricultural sector could not develop as much as it was anticipated in the plan. 2.1.3. The third five-year plan (1968 -73)Â  [4]Â   This time exhibited a marked departure from the previous plans. It recognized the importance of the agricultural sector and charted out a relatively clear and well articulated agricultural development strategy. The plan argued that modernization of peasant subsistence agriculture in all areas of the country simultaneously is hardly possible, but no time should be lost in making a start in strategically selected areas in which good results can soon be seen. This being the strategy, two main approaches for the development of Ethiopia agriculture were indicated in the third five-year plan. These were the package program and the development of large-scale commercial farms: The Package Program The package program followed the policy of concentrating development efforts in a given area so as to bring the required changes in agriculture. The practice was to be limited to specific areas since the modernization of peasant subsistence farms in all areas of the country simultaneously was assumed that it would lead to the dilution of efforts and scarce resources. In accordance with this, the implementation of the program was started in strategically selected areas where good results were expected in a relatively short period of time. At first the package program took the form of a Comprehensive Package Program (CPP), and later the Minimum Package Program followed. The CPP aimed at achieving maximum result by focusing on specific high potential areas such as Chilalo, Wollaita, Ada District, Tahtay Adyabo, Hadegti and Humera and established agricultural development units for each of them. This program had the following objectives (Tesfai 1975:41) To increase the income of low income small holder farmers and tenants and narrow the prevailing income disparities in the rural areas; To achieve economic and social development; To enhance local participation in development; To increase employment opportunities; and To stress on research, training, and transferability. The objectives were supposed to be achieved through The provision of extension services; i.e., spreading innovations and organizing demonstration fields to farmers; The establishment of marketing organizations aiming at selling production fairly in comparison to the cost of production; Sale of inputs through marketing organizations which would make high yielding seeds and fertilizers available to the farmers; The provision of credit facilities at a reasonable rate of interest so that the farmers could be able to purchase the new supplies; and Promoting improved water supply system and expansion of education. Health and nutritional studies were to be established In general, the CPP has resulted in the increase of incomes of peasants and tenants in the project areas. The increases in incomes were, however, directly related to the size of the land holdings and thus it resulted in growing differentiation among the peasantry. This and its huge resource requirements led to the reevaluation of it adoption of what is known as the minimum package program. The Minimum Package Program (MPP) The comprehensive package projects were found too costly to be duplicated in other parts of the country. It was thus decided to launch a scheme which was thought to be less costly per farmer. Thus, in 1972 the minimum package program (MPP) involving only those minimum services considered critical for rural development (mainly fertilizer and credit) started to be implemented along all-weather roads. The MPP was envisaged to reduce the cost of developing the agricultural sector that in comparison to the CPP a much wider coverage could be attained. Tentative programs were made for the establishment of about ten projects in selected high response areas each year for thirteen year. According to the program; By 1985 it was estimated that one million families or about 20 percent of the total would be reached The MPP was designed to cover 440 woredas out of the 550 woredas of the country and this was to cover about 70 pre cent of the agricultural population For the implementation of MPP, the Extension and Project Implementation Department (EPID) was established To achieve the objectives, the diffusion of a few proved methods and innovations including improved seeds, fertilizers and farm implements as widely as possible was envisaged to reach the small farmers in various parts of the country. However, due to shortages of manpower, improved seeds and fertilizers, the MPP was not able to achieve its objective of coverage of wider areas and the cost of the MPP was not as low as it was envisaged. landless and semi-landless rural population. As a result of these, agricultural production did not increase as much as anticipated was not increased and the standard of living of the majority did not improve. In fact the programs demonstrated that rural development policy based on feudal land holding arrangements would tend to worsen the conditions of the low-income target population. The Development of Large Scale Commercial Farms The objectives in establishing large-scale commercial farms were to achieve rapid gains in output both to domestic consumption and the availability of surpluses for investment, to get an increase in agricultural exports or substitution for imports, to create new employment opportunities this is because of the fact that such farms require big investment which was not available from internal sources, the implementation of the strategy necessitated a heavy dependence on foreign capital. To attract foreign investment a number of incentives were provided including: Exemption from income tax (tax holiday) for five years for investments of Br. 200,000 and above; Exemption from customs duty; and Remittance of profits and salaries in hard currency. As a result, a number of large-scale commercial farms, mainly owned by foreigners, such as the Wonji Sugar Enterprise, the Setit Humera Plantation, and the Tendaho Plantation were quickly established. But due to misguided incentives, capital dependent operations and outflow capital the large farms did not live up to the expectations of the country. At the end of the second five years plan the industry First argument of the 1950s was being challenged theoretically as post independent Africas aspiration for a rapid industrialization process become increasingly frustrated (Johnston,M et.al 1961) and the major donors made a significant shift in their aid policies in favor of rural development vis-Ã  -vis urbanization and construction of infrastructure. In an attempt to realize this change of policy, donors subjected to Ethiopian government to strong pressure foreign assistance agencies, particularly the World Bank (IBRD) and American organizations, advised Ethiopia to give high priority to the agricultural sector and recommended the package approach concentrating on the more promising regions. This idea also supported by FAO (Nekby 1971:9) The third five-year plan largely followed and coincided with the strategy of what has been known as the Green Revolution (1960s-70s) and which had its own success story in raising agricultural production tremendously in (e.g., India, Pakistan, and other Asian countries).However, it could not minimize the income gap (in fact it is believed to have increased it) and benefits were not fairly distributed (many areas were not included in the program). 2.2 Development Policies during the Derg Regime (1974-1991) It is generally acknowledged that the pre-1975 land tenure system in Ethiopia was one of the most complex in the world and had not been thoroughly studied (Cohen and Weintraub, 1975; Gilkes, 1975; Dessalegn, 1984; Dejene, 1999) as sited by (FAO, 2003). After the 1975 land reform by the Derge has been considered by many as a radical measure that has abolished tenant landlord relationships in Ethiopia. In order to implement the Proclamation, peasant associations were established at various levels. Following the land reform proclamation, another decree that was knows as Peasant Associations Organization and Consolidation Proclamation No. 71/1975 was made. This was followed by the All Ethiopia peasant Association Proclamation No 130/1977. University and high school students were dispatched to rural areas to help the implementation of the land reform. 2.2.1. Agricultural Development Strategy Proclamation No. 31/1005 was not about agricultural production. It was about radically changing the tenure system that existed in the country. The agricultural development strategy of the Derg period was what was known as socialist transformation of agriculture; that of transforming agriculture along socialist lines. This was to be implemented through the establishment and consolidation of state farms and producers cooperatives. Thus producers cooperatives and state farms became the overwhelming priority of the government and its implementation was supported by various proclamations and decrees. Implementation of this policy resulted in the existence of two main types of economic structures in agriculture; namely, The small peasant sub sector represented by the overwhelmingly large number of small farmers; and The socialist sub sector represented by the producers cooperatives and state farms. The small peasant Farms In countries like Ethiopia peasant farms have a relatively good productivity record. Although they employ traditional technology and hardly use modern inputs, their crop-yields are often comparatively high, as they make more efficient use of productive resources than cooperatives or state farms. However small scale agriculture is often considered an obstacle to long-term industrial development and the creation of more mechanized frames. Faced with the choice between a smallholder strategy and a socialist approach, based on collective ownership, group and state farming and governmental control of the rural economy, the government chose the latter. The peasant farms continued to be dominant in Ethiopia even at the height of collectivization year in 1987 by cultivating 94% of the total farmland in Ethiopia. Nevertheless, government policy towards small farmers was discriminatory in that it favored the socialist sub sector. Government policy pertaining tax, modern inputs, credit, pricing policies, and extension services almost completely ignored the small peasants in favour of cooperatives. Quota have been set for every peasant association to sell a given amount of their produce to the Agricultural Marketing Corporation (AMC) at prices fixed by the AMC which were substantially lower than the open market prices and even lower than the prices fixed for cooperatives and state farms. In situation where peasants could not meet the quota, there were incidences where farmers had to buy from the market at higher prices and sell to the AMC at extremely low prices. In spite of all these, however, the smallholders were more successful at absorbing labour, raising yield and increasing income than producer cooperatives and state farms were. Small farmers were resistant to be collectivized, but the government adamantly pushed forward to strengthen cooperatives unsuccessfully. Apart from other concomitant factors, the disappointing performance of the agricultural sector during the Derg period can be attributed to agricultural policies favoring the socialist strategy as opposed to a smallholder approach. The Socialist Sub Sector Producers Cooperatives The Directive for the establishment of producers cooperatives was issued in June 1979. Accordingly, an agricultural producers cooperative was defined as an economic organization of farmers which is established through the gradual transformation of individually owned means of production in to common ownership based on the will and common interest of the farmers. The Directive for the establishment of cooperatives was based on the following principles: The principle of voluntarism. This principle indicates that cooperatives shall be established on the free will of those to be cooperativezed. The principle of gradualism. According to this, the development of cooperatives shall proceed from the simpler type to the more advanced types of cooperatives. The principle of all round state assistance. The government is expected to provide all embracing assistance to the establishment and consolidation of cooperatives. In practice, the principle of voluntarism was violated. In many cases the establishment of cooperatives was conducted by force as opposed to the principle of voluntary entry. As for the gradualism, the directives provided for a gradual progress of cooperatives from simple to advanced types. Cooperatives would start in the form of malba, a type of cooperative where members pool their land together (except their backyard) but keep their production implements and animals privately; they would then proceed to welba, where land, production implements and animals become communal property and a small plot is kept as a backyard. Weland was a kind of higher cooperative made by a number of malbas and/or welbas. With regard to all round state assistance, the government gave priority to cooperatives at the expense of smallholder peasants. Once they were established, Privileges not offered to peasant cultivators, or even to state farms were given to cooperatives. They paid less per tax head than individual peasants and modern inputs like fertilizer, pesticides, etc. were provided to them at subsidized prices and bank interest rates were comparatively lower. They were also given priority on extension services and had access to additional labor from peasant and youth association members. With all these however, the process of collectivization was still very much at an embryonic stage and in the eve of total collapse. Producers cooperatives were tilling 2 percent of the total farmland in 1987. The marketed surplus of cooperatives and individual farms were also about equal in that the average that both were selling was about 20 percent of their harvest, and the rest was consumed at home (68 per cent) while 12 percent was reserved as next seasons seed. However, the cooperativization drive ended in complete collapse largely because of the lack of farmers willingness. Good evidence is what happened when the government was forced by circumstances to issue the Mixed Economic Policy Reform of March 1990. Although the government intended to reorganize and strengthen them, over 95 percent of the producers cooperatives disintegrated with in three months after the declaration of the policy reform. State Farms State farms are farming enterprise that are owned, managed and undertaken by the government. Most state farms were privately owned commercial operations before 1975. According to the March 1975 land reform proclamation all large-scale farms shall be organized, as state farms, and the government shall administer these farms in any manner found it fit. In addition to these, many state farms were also established during the Derg period. The chief aims of state farms were to help alleviate the countries food problems, Contribute to export earning and employment generation. However their performance had been very disappointing due to the following main reasons. Management inefficiency: Lack of appropriate management in the sate farms resulted in misutilization of resources. Highly centralized management system curtailed the exercise of managerial autonomy at farm levels. Problems of Planning and Implementation: Farms were not given the right of preparing their own plans. Plans were prepared at enterprise or corporation level, and each farm was ordered to implement the plan, which may not reflect the objective conditions in the farm. The establishment of state farms was not conducted on the basis of proper study and analysis. Inadequate Controlling Systems: State farms, as in other public firms, had little managerial freedom to plan and to control. Even the cost-benefit analysis was worked at higher levels and each farm is evaluated base on the grand balance sheet of the enterprise or corporation. Disguised Unemployment: Every farm was over populated. There exist unnecessary labour imposing additional costs to the farms. Unnecessary structures were formulated deliberately to absorb more employees. Resettlement and Villagaization Resettlement Prior to the 1974 revolution, resettlement was started out on a small scale as a result of individual initiatives by local governors and aid agencies with a variety of motives and objectives. By the time of the revolution a mere 7,000 household heads had been established in 20 settlement sites at a cost of 8 million US dollars. Resettlement was seen as a means of addressing a range of issues. From an ecological perspective it reduced population pressure in the highlands; from an economic standpoint it was believed that resettlement could help to increase productivity and make use of under-utilized fertile lands; and from a social point of view resettlement was seen as a way of providing land to those with out it, to settle paternalists, and remove unwanted urban unemployment. Resettlement continued at a small scale in the first decade of the military rule so that in total some 46,000 households, comprising 150,000 people had been resettled on 88 sites in 11 regions. Villagization Villagization is a process by which rural households were moved from scattered dwellings into nucleated villages as part of a governmental attempt to modernize rural life and agricultural production patterns. Villagization in Ethiopia began as a regional operation in Bale during the Ethio-somalia war in 1977/78. One of the main objectives of the program at that time was to guarantee the safety of the local inhabitants from invading Somali troops during the war with Somalia. Six years later in December 1984, the prorgamme was extended to the adjusting region of Hararghe, again chiefly for security reasons. In June 1986, a National Villagization Coordination Committee was set up to undertake villagization work as an economic policy to improve rural life. By mid-1987, the government claimed that 12 million people (about one third of the rural population) were villagized. The highest number of newly established villages were built in Shewa and Hararghe. The objectives of this program were the creation of a conducive situation that would facilitate the dissemination of improved agricultural inputs and services. However, this program, like the other programs, was not successful because it was not done on the basis of the participation of the people to be villagized and they were largely unwilling to be villagized. Moreover, it was poorly planned and implemented. The above development policy reforms of the Dergs Military government was a result of the ties made with the East Socialist states such as Russia and other east European countries that had an ideology of command economy system. 2.3. Policy reform during the early transitional government (1991-1994) The EPRDF overthrew the Derg regime in May 1991 after a 17-year prolonged civil war in all parts of the country, leading to the formation of Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE). The 1991 economic policy document of the TGE declared collectivization and villagization as undesirable and liberalized both agricultural markets. The overriding objective of the government was given as attaining fast broad based economic development. an economic reform program was initated, which took the form of structural adjustment program(SAP) nder the auspices of the world bank and IMF. the reform included the removal of substantial taxation of agriculture, market liberalization and devaluation. The fertilizer market was liberalized, creating a multi channel distribution system. (Alemayehu and Berhanu (1999),pg.52). The TGE which was replaced by the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) in August 1995 through public election. Since 1992 the TGE was successful to favor market driven development policy by undergoing important structural adjustments and reforms (European Union, 2002). These included; the abolishment of all price controls to agricultural products, the reduction and harmonization of trade tariffs, privatization of state owned enterprises. The government has also made decentralization of power from the Addis based central government to the autonomous regions and nationalities that were believed to accelerate the policy shift from the previous ones to agricultural development, which was not actually endorsed during this period. But the period TGE was characterized by unstable political environments full of suspicion and mistrust over the EPRDF led ruling (Daniel Ayalew, and et.al, 1999). It can therefore be said that main agenda was the rehabilitation type of development thinking and that the development policy in this period was not just fully materialized for the fact that the government was confronted with complexity of challenges from the internal environments that were discussed above. The external policy environment during this period can be generally regarded as cool in response to the structural and policy adjustments made by the country until the constitution of Ethiopia was fully endorsed in 1994. This was a remarkable condition for the endorsement of the Agricultural Development Led Industrialization (ADLI) strategy. (EPRDF,1995) 2.4. The National Development Policy and the Five-Year Development Plan (1995-1999) In the fiscal year of 1995 the establishment of the first federal government structure in the country, it was then possible to attract the attention of the western developed nations. The development policy was well recognized in this period and it was successful enough to become one of the African nations which were nominated for the Sasakawa Global 2000 Agricultural Extension Intervention. Although this extension model was introduced to the country at a pilot level in late 1993, it was widely adopted in all the regions. Significant production increments were registered as a result of this extension system through the supply of inputs such as improved seed, fertilizer, pesticides etc. The approach was heavily criticized for its blanket approach with out giving due consideration to variability in biophysical conditions such as ecology, soils, moisture condition, fertility, topography, altitude, etc. and socioeconomic conditions such as wealth, labor, social setting, food habit, cultur e, etc. More over it was recognized by some scholars and research institutions that landraces, that have been suitable for erratic and unpredictable areas, were endangered by the replacement of single varieties introduced by the SG2000 extension system (MUC, 1996). The way the development policies during this period relate or differ from the international development thinking can be seen from the discussion made by the odi published Rethinking Rural Development (odi Briefing Paper, 2002). Accordingly the development policies during the TGE remarkably relate to the policy environments in the developed world back to the 1950s, where a model based on small farm development has been dominate. On the other hand the attempt to address rural development policy differs from the then international development context in that the budget priorities given to maintain the balance between productive sectors (agriculture manufacturing, etc) and social sectors (road infrastructure, health, education, etc.) was not compromised. The development policy emphasized the SG2000 extension system through the adoption of new technology including improve seeds and fertilizer. Towards the end of this period the macroeconomic policy of ADLI was supplemented by new policies for the sector development programs (SDP) that include education, health, HIV/AIDS and other important sectors (EU Country Strategy Paper, 2002). The other development strategy adopted with in the context of ADLI by the government of Ethiopia in 1996 was the National Food Security Strategy. Following to the adoption of this strategy the National food security Program was established in 1998 by targeting food insecurity in four regions. The implementation of these programs was interrupted by the boarder conflict that occurred with Eritrea in the same year. 2.5. The Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) and the Second Five Year Development Plan (2000-2004) The overall objective of this strategy was to encourage the external resource/capital inflow and to increase aggregate output level (IPRSP, 2000). It can be said that the Ethiopian government have took an initiative to prepare the IPRSP soon after the end of the Ethio-Eriteria border war look like to the Marshall plan prepared for the period of 1948-1952 as discussed in Singer (singer, 1989). This is meant for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the European countries that were heavily destructed by e World War II. On the other hand the government has adopted poverty reduction as the core objective for development by arguing that economic growth as the principal, but not the only means to the development of Ethiopian economy. This thinking is quite similar to the combination of the Neo-Classical Economic Theory that existed in the 1980s and the New Development Theory (Todaro, 1987) in that it tries to address four important issues: the sources of economic growth and the potential for growth in the future, the mechanisms and conditions by which economic growth translates into poverty reduction, the initial effect of poverty and inequality on the sustained and rapid economic growth, and the links among economic growth, income distribution and pover

Euthanasia and Christian Beliefs Essay -- Euthanasia Mercy Death Healt

Euthanasia Euthanasia is defined in the Chamber’s English Dictionary as â€Å" the act or practice of putting someone painlessly, or as gently as possible, to death†. There are various forms of Euthanasia, which I must explain before referring to the teachings of the different Christian denominations. The most common of them is Voluntary Euthanasia, where the patient decides for themselves, that they would prefer to be dead. They might decide at the time, or perhaps they might have written a ‘living will’ instructing doctors to kill them if they are ever in a situation where they will never be conscious again. There is also In-voluntary Euthanasia, were someone else decides against the patient’s wishes that would be better off dead, and enforces it in the act of killing them. Therefore it is often out-classed as Euthanasia, because it is not ‘gentle’. Non-voluntary Euthanasia takes place in a situation where the patient cannot be asked, or more correctly, cannot answer. This may be because the victim is a baby and can’t speak yet, or perhaps the victim is in a coma and is unable to respond to people around h im, but in this case a relative or doctor will decide for the person. It is also important to distinguish the difference between killing someone (Active), and letting them die (Passive). Killing a person is expressed in an action. An example of this, would be a doctor injecting his patient with a poison. Whereas letting someone die, is expressed in not performing an action. An example of this would be a doctor not supplying his patient with drugs that would save his life, and as a result the patient’s life is shortened. I will set, discuss, and finally evaluate a debate about Voluntary Euthanasia using contexts from both the Roman Catholic Church, and the Church of England. Some of the key influences I will refer to are Natural Law, Situation Ethics, Doctrine of Double Effect, The Golden Rule, Church documents, and the Bible. Ignoring all religious views, an argument for Voluntary Euthanasia performed by someone other than the patient, is that it is simply ‘mercy killing’. This would, under general Christian views, be just because it was an act of love, and after all that is what Christianity revolves around. One question, that must be answered is, ‘Is there a difference between killing and letting someone die, when it comes to an argu... ...f the family would suffer as a result of his death, then he should not die in an unnatural way. But, it is more likely that they will be suffering with him, and will feel the relief if he does not, and they do not have to watch him, live any longer in his painful condition. If this is the case, then they should back his feelings, and give him their support. It has been said that although the earth does not belong to the people, God did create humans to make their own decisions on it. Therefore in the case of voluntary euthanasia, there is no doubt that the end decision must be made by the patient, and not the doctor. If the patient is in a persistent vegetative state, then the appeal for his death, falls into the non-voluntary category, and is of no complication to my conclusion. As I have said already, the fifth commandment is addressing the point of murdering innocent people. Murder is when one person intentionally kills another without legal justification or excuse. If euthanasia was legalised, then it would not officially be murder. In such a case, a Christian would not be violating the fifth commandment, and there would be no reason why he could not be a supporter.

Gender and Transcendence: Sexing Melvilles Whale :: essays papers

Gender and Transcendence: Sexing Melville's Whale Mention Moby-Dick to most undergraduates and their response is either a yawn or a groan.Of course, few of them have actually read the novel; rather, their trepidation is usually based on hearing over and over again that it's a Great Book.If it's been a Great Book for over 150 years, they ask, what could it possibly teach us now, on the brink of the 21st Century? Such thinking seems to have created a rather large hole in what most undergraduates know about 19th century American literature--a hole large enough to swallow not only Melville's whale but all of R. W. Emerson and most of Emily Dickinson, as well.Without such foundational works, most undergraduates--even those interested in a serious study of American literature--miss out on a great deal in 20th Century American texts which builds on the philosophical themes present in those Great (Old) Books. For instance, Transcendentalism was one of the major intellectual centers to much 19th century American writing; and of course thousands of pages have been written about transcendentalism as a theme in Emerson and Dickinson, and an anti-theme in Melville.But most undergraduates are for the most part unaware of this deep vein of transcendentalism running through American thought and letters, and thus portions of modern prose and poetry that respond to it are largely unintelligible to them.If they've studied Emerson at all, it is as the high priest of American individualism, a sort of early American "self help" guru. On the other hand, most of today's undergraduates considergender criticism supremely relevant; many are even somewhat familiar with its terms and principles.Examining literary and cultural texts in terms of what they have to say about gender is a practice with which they are relatively familiar, and one about which they usually already have opinions.It is, in short, a vocabulary in which they are far more conversant than that of transcendentalism specifically and 19th Century American literature generally. As I began thinking about a class which might bring these two topics together, some questions immediately occurred to me: Are examinations of transcendence at all gendered?Is transcendence figured as possessing gender, requiring gender, confounding gender?If the new gender criticism seeks to go "beyond" the boundaries of our traditional concepts of gender and sexuality, then shouldn't one expect to find some connections with works which examine the very philosophy of going beyond common boundaries of self and other? Gender and Transcendence: Sexing Melville's Whale :: essays papers Gender and Transcendence: Sexing Melville's Whale Mention Moby-Dick to most undergraduates and their response is either a yawn or a groan.Of course, few of them have actually read the novel; rather, their trepidation is usually based on hearing over and over again that it's a Great Book.If it's been a Great Book for over 150 years, they ask, what could it possibly teach us now, on the brink of the 21st Century? Such thinking seems to have created a rather large hole in what most undergraduates know about 19th century American literature--a hole large enough to swallow not only Melville's whale but all of R. W. Emerson and most of Emily Dickinson, as well.Without such foundational works, most undergraduates--even those interested in a serious study of American literature--miss out on a great deal in 20th Century American texts which builds on the philosophical themes present in those Great (Old) Books. For instance, Transcendentalism was one of the major intellectual centers to much 19th century American writing; and of course thousands of pages have been written about transcendentalism as a theme in Emerson and Dickinson, and an anti-theme in Melville.But most undergraduates are for the most part unaware of this deep vein of transcendentalism running through American thought and letters, and thus portions of modern prose and poetry that respond to it are largely unintelligible to them.If they've studied Emerson at all, it is as the high priest of American individualism, a sort of early American "self help" guru. On the other hand, most of today's undergraduates considergender criticism supremely relevant; many are even somewhat familiar with its terms and principles.Examining literary and cultural texts in terms of what they have to say about gender is a practice with which they are relatively familiar, and one about which they usually already have opinions.It is, in short, a vocabulary in which they are far more conversant than that of transcendentalism specifically and 19th Century American literature generally. As I began thinking about a class which might bring these two topics together, some questions immediately occurred to me: Are examinations of transcendence at all gendered?Is transcendence figured as possessing gender, requiring gender, confounding gender?If the new gender criticism seeks to go "beyond" the boundaries of our traditional concepts of gender and sexuality, then shouldn't one expect to find some connections with works which examine the very philosophy of going beyond common boundaries of self and other?

New Religious Movements and the Biased Media Essay -- Religion Media E

New Religious Movements and the Biased Media What happened in Jonestown? How could â€Å"sensible people† follow the â€Å"rantings of a crazed lunatic?† The questions and the simplified answers that are provided by the media coverage of Jonestown and Heaven’s Gate perhaps contributed to their downfall. The feeling of public persecution is a central theme of many new religious movements, and the negative publicity of suicide cults only fuels the fear of other like-minded religious groups. The misleading definitions the media provided for the how, what and why of these new religious movements were symptomatic of the media bias against all such movements. Through examination of the print media response immediately following both mass suicides, I will expose the hollow definitions and explanations provided for tragedies that were much more complex. Moreover, although the Jonestown Suicide occurred twenty years before the Heaven’s Gate suicides in March of 1997, coverage remained ignorant and simplistic of the critical differences between movements, and perhaps exacerbated their cultural alienation. My research of the media response to the Jonestown suicides concentrates on the coverage of the tragedy in the New York Times because the newspaper is one of the most widely read American newspapers, replete with religion â€Å"experts.† Through the coverage in the Times alone, the common response followed a path of initial confusion that eventually led to unoriginal and uncomplicated answers for the how and why these people followed Jim Jones to their death. The initial coverage in the New York Times exemplifies how the facts of the suicide trickled slowly out of the jungle of Jonestown, Guyana. The day after the suicides, Sunday, November... ...east 900 by U.S., with 260 Children Among Victims at Colony† The New York Times, 26 November 1978, Sec A1. [6] Elizabeth Gleick, â€Å"Inside the Web of Death† Time (April 7, 1997):28-40 [7] Howard Chua-Eoan, â€Å"Imprisoned by his Own Passions.† Time (April 7, 1997): 40-42. [8] Richard Lacayo, â€Å"The Lure of the Cult† Time (April 7, 1997): 45-46. [9] Harvey Hill and John Hickman and Joel McLendon, â€Å"On Religious Outsiders- Cults and Sects and Doomsday Groups, Oh My: Media and Treatment of Religion on the Eve of the Millennium,† Review of Religious Research. 43, no. 1, (2001): 24 (15 pages), 26. [10] Stephen J Hedges, â€Å"Mass Suicide in California.† U.S. News World Report. 122, no. 13, (April 07, 1997). Life After Death for Heaven’s Gate.† U.S. News and World Report. 124, no. 12, (March 30,1998). [11] Hill, 24. [12]Hill, 32, 24. [13] Hill, 35.

Investment Patterns in India

Changing Trend of Investment Pattern in India and Emergence of Mutual Fund Industry ABSTRACT: This project is about how the Investor's Behavior is changing and they are now leaving behind the sacred investment options like the fixed deposits, company deposits, gold etc. Investors are now looking towards equity linked investment options. Like most developed and developing countries the mutual fund cult has been catching on in India. There are various reasons for this. Mutual Fund makes it easy and less costly for investors to satisfy their need for capital growth, income preservation. And in addition to this a mutual fund brings the benefit of diversification and money management to the individual investor, providing an opportunity for financial success that was once available only to a select few. In this project I have given a brief about economy, inflation, and equity and debt market. Then it is explained how to cope with the inflation and how mutual fund is one of the best investment options today. A brief about mutual fund industry and the some information about HDFC Mutual Fund and its various products are given INTRODUCTION: Many individuals find investments to be fascinating because they can participate in the decision making process and see the results of their choices. Not all investments will be profitable, as investor wills not always make the correct investment decisions over the period of years; however, you should earn a positive return on a diversified portfolio. In addition, there is a thrill from the major success, along with the agony associated with the stock that dramatically rose after you sold or did not buy. Both the big fish you catch and the fish that get away can make wonderful stories. Investing is not a game but a serious subject that can have a major impact on investor's future well being. Virtually everyone makes investments. Even if the individual does not select specific assets such as stock, investments are still made through participation in pension plan, and employee saving programme or through purchase of life insurance or a home. Each of this investment has common characteristics such as potential return and the risk you must bear. The future is uncertain, and you must determine how much risk you are willing to bear since higher return is associated with accepting more risk. In 1986, Microsoft Corporation first offered its stock to the public. Nine years later, the stock's value had increased over 5,000 percent- a $ 10,000 investment was worth over $ 5,00,000 in the same year, worlds of wonder also offered its stocks to the public. Nine years later the company was defunct- a $ 10,000 was worth nothing. These are two examples of emerging firms that could do exceedingly well or fail. Would investing in large, well establish firms generate more consistent returns? The answer depends, of course, on which firms were invested in. Over the years some investments have generated extraordinary gains, while others have produced only mediocre returns, and still others have resulted in substantial losses. The individual should start by specifying investment goals. Once these goals are established, the individual should be aware of the mechanics of investing and the environment in which investment decisions are made. These include the process by which securities are issued and subsequently bought and sold, the regulations and tax laws that have been enacted by various levels of government, and the sources of information concerning investment that are available to the individual. An understanding if this financial background leads to three important general financial concepts that apply to investing. Toady the field of investment is even more dynamic than it was only a decade ago. World event rapidly-events that alter the values of specific assets the individual has so many assets to choose from, and the amount of information available to the investors is staggering and continually growing. Furthermore, inflation has served to increased awareness of the importance of financial planning and wise investing. In this project I will first talk about economy, inflation, equity markets and debt markets to understand investments behavior. INFLATION: Inflation is a situation where there is ‘ too much money chasing too few goods'. In such times buyers bid up prices of scarce products/services The scarcity could be caused by supply issues or a faster than expected rise in demand. Irrespective of what causes inflation, the impact is the same. The value of the currency you are holding declines. Let's explain this with the help of an example. Suppose the Indian Rupee was freely exchangeable with only one commodity- crude oil. Let's assume the conversion rate is Re 1= 1 barrel of crude (wish it were true! ). Now there is tension in the Gulf region resulting in reduced supply. Due to the subsequent rise in price of crude oil in international markets, we would now have to pay more Rupees for every barrel of oil. Suppose crude prices rise by 10%. The new exchange rate will be Rs. 1. 1 = 1 barrel of declined from 1 barrel of crude per Rupee to only 0. 91 barrel of crude per Rupee this is the erosion in the value of the currency that we are talking about. Also note that while the Indian Rupee may be appreciating vis-a-vis other currencies, in the ‘ real sense' there is erosion in value. Another important fallout one can expect due to rising inflation is higher interest rates. The central banks aim to reduce demand in the economy by rising the cost of money. When making fresh investments or evaluating your existing holdings in potentially inflationary times you need to keep two things in mind: The possibility of higher interest rates The erosion in the value of the currency CONCEPT OF MUTUAL FUND: A mutual fund is a pool of money, collected from investors, and is invested according to certain investment objectives. A mutual fund is created when investors put their money tighter. It is therefore a pool of the investor's funds The most important characteristic of a mutual fund is that the contributors and the beneficiaries of the fund are the same class of people, namely the investors. The term mutual means that investors contribute to the pool, and also benefit from the pool. There are no other claimants to the funds. The pool of fund mutually by investors is the mutual fund. A mutual fund's business is to invest the funds thus collected, according to the wishes of the investors who created the pool. In many markets these wishes are articulated as  Ã‚   â€Å"investment mandates†. Usually, the investors appoint professional investment managers, to manage their â€Å"product†, and offer it for investment to the investor. This product represents a share in the pool, and pre-states investment objectives. For example, a mutual fund, which sells a † money market mutual fund â€Å", is actually seeking investors willing to invest in a pool that would invest predominantly in money market instruments. IMPORTANT CHARACTERSTICS: A Mutual fund belongs to the investors who have pooled their funds. The ownership of the mutual fund in the hands of the investors Investment professional and other service providers, who earn a fee for their services, from the fund, manage the mutual fund. The pool of funds is invested in a portfolio of marketable investments. The value of the portfolio is updated every day. The investor's share in the fund is denominated by â€Å"units†. The value of the units changes with change in the portfolio's value, every day. The value of one unit of investors is called as the Net Asset Value or NAV. The investment portfolio of the mutual fund is created according to the stated investment objectives of the fund. PHASES IN THE HISTORY OF MUTUAL FUND: The history of mutual fund in India can be divided into 5 important phases: A 1963-1987: The Unit Trust of India was the sole player in the industry. Created by an Act of Parliament in 1963, UTI launched its first product, the unit scheme 1964, which is even today the single largest mutual fund scheme. UTI created a number products such as monthly income plans, children's plans, equity-Oriented schemes and offshore funds during this period. UTI managed assets of Rs 6700 crore at the end of this phase. B 1987-1993: In 1987 public sector banks and financial institutions entered the mutual fund industry. SBI mutual fund was the first non-UTI fund to be set up in 1987. Significant shift of investors from deposits to mutual fund industry happened during this period. Most funds were growth oriented closed ended funds. By the end of this period, assets under UTI's management grew to Rs 38247 crore and public sector funds managed Rs 8750 crore. C 1993-1996: In 1993, the mutual fund industry was open to private sector players, both Indian and foreign. SEBI's first set of regulations for the industry was formulated in 1993 and, substantially revised in 1996. Significant innovations in servicing, product design and information disclosure happened in the phase, mostly initiated by private sector players. D 1996-1999: The implementation of the new SEBI regulation and the restructuring of the mutual fund industry led to rapid asset growth. Bank mutual fund was re-cast according to the SEBI recommended structure, and UTI came under voluntary SEBI supervision. E 1999-2003: very rapid growth in the industry and significant increase in market shares of private sector player marked this phase. Assets crossed Rs. 100,0000 crore. The tax break offered to mutual funds in 1999 created arbitrage opportunities for a number of institutional players. Bond funds and liquid funds registered the highest growth in this period, accounting for nearly 60% of the assets. UTI's share of the industry dropped below 50%. 2. 3 ADVANTAGES OF MUTUAL FUND: The following are the important advantages of mutual funds to investors: Portfolio diversification Professional management Reduction in risk Reduction of transaction costs Liquidity Convenience and flexibility DISADVANTAGES OF MUTUAL FUND, The following are important disadvantages of investing through mutual fund: No control over costs: Since investors do not directly monitor the fund's operations they cannot control the costs effectively. Regulators therefore usually limit the expenses of mutual funds. No tailor- made portfolio: Mutual fund portfolio is created and marketed by AMCs, into which investors invest. They cannot create tailor made portfolios. Managing a portfolio of funds: As the number of mutual funds increase, in order to tailor a portfolio for himself, an investors may be holding a portfolio of funds, with the costs Of monitoring them and using them, being incurred by him. NEED FOR INVESTMENT: Increasing household expense. Creation of wealth Increasing cost of living. Financial needs according to life stages. Regular income Combination of all above INVESTMENT OPTION AVAILABLE: Physical and Financial assets. Equity and Debt Govt. securities and non-govt. securities Other option Public provident fund RBI Relief Fund. Mutual Fund Others like Indira Vikas Patra, Kisan Vikas Patra CP FD, and Debenture.    |FDs |FI BONDS |Mutual Fund | |Accessibility |Low |Low |Low | |Tenor |Fixed (medium) |Fixed (Long) |No lock in period | |Tax Benefit |None  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   |Under section 80C |None | |Liquidity |Low |Very Low |none | |Convince |Medium |Tedious |Very high | |Transparency |None |None |Very high | CONCLUSION: The unique investment strategy of letting the maturity of the debt investment run down with time and targeting equity investments to capture dividends is targeted to deliver positive returns over medium time frame. The investment strategy of the fixed income portfolio is designed to remove the impact of interest rate movements over the medium term. The strategy of targeting dividends in equities over a period is expected to improve the yield of the fund. The above investment strategy expects to minimize capital loss in adverse market condition and deliver moderate returns in stable/positive market conditions. So, if you are looking for an investment product that offers you low risk of capital loss and the potential to earn reasonable returns in the uncertain environment of today, HDFC Multiple Yield Fund might be the right fund for you.