hurricane essays

tropical storm expositions On July 17, 1966, in Paterson, NJ, Rubin Hurricane Carter was fighting for the heavyweight boxing title, when, one night, he was pulled over and associated with a homicide. There was no proof or observers to demonstrate the Hurricane liable, yet the cops required someone to fault; so they fixed the preliminary, and Rubin got the worst part of the deal. He was taken care of for life for a wrongdoing he didnt submit. This is a genuine story. The melody was composed by Bob Dylan to bring Rubins circumstance to people in general. Rubin Carter was a dark man; such a significant number of individuals, including judges and cops, simply turned their head. The Hurricanes decision was changed following nineteen years in jail. He is presently attempting to carry on with the existence that was taken from him. Dylans tune, The Hurricane clarifies how Rubin Carter was demonstrated honest, however saw as blameworthy. Shots were discharged, and a triple homicide was submitted. Two individuals were at the scene, Patty Valentine and a man, yet there were no observers. The man close to the bodies stated, I was just robbin the register, I trust you comprehend. Some way or another this criminal isn't associated with the homicide. The main contender for the heavyweight title isn't close to the shootings. It says Meanwhile, far away in another piece of town, Rubin and two or three companions are drivn around. In any case, he was pulled over in any case simply like the previously and the time before that. In Paterson, that is only the manner in which things go. In the event that youre dark you should not appear on the road less you wanna draw the warmth. Individuals were supremacist in those days, and accordingly a dark man was constantly suspected before a white man. The police are at the scene gathering data. The robber and his accomplice said they saw two middleweights running, and Patty Valentine concurred with them. A cop sees that the barkeeps not dead, ... <!

history2 essays

history2 articles Africa is the world's second-biggest landmass, the greatest after Asia. It is more than multiple times the size of the U. States. It likewise contains more free countries than some other landmass on Earth-55 on the whole. Africa is midway situated on the Earth's surface. It rides the Equator, reaching out for a large number of miles north and sigh of that line. The landmass remains between two significant seas. Toward the west is the Atlantic Ocean and to the east lies the Indian Ocean. The Mediterranean Sea in the north and the Red Sea in the I have 10 diverse opion on the most well-known generalizations about Africa. For the Atmosphere of Africa they said it is hot and dry, for most vegetation they said green grounds, for most normal creature in Africa individuals said monkeys, African basic skin shading dark, Africans accomplish for living they said grouping and cultivating, sorts of family Africans live in broadened, most regular religion in Africa are catholic, basic language spoken in Africa is English, human progress white individuals, administration of African nations are just, and the most concerning issue in Africa today is hunger. These are the aftereffects of my Atmosphere: Because of its size, pretty much every kind of atmosphere and vegetation can be found in Africa. The biggest atmosphere zone in Africa is the tropical atmosphere with a wet also, dry season. The savanna, a meadow, involved this locale, which covers practically half the mainland. Like the tropical downpour woods, the tropical savanna locale is warm all year. In the late spring, or stormy season, the atmosphere is hot and wet. In winter it is warm, with little Populace: Today the number of inhabitants in Africa is moving toward 680 million and is developing quickly. Populace development has made issues in the drier pieces of the savanna. During times of ample precipitation, individuals looking for land move into these semiarid ... <!

Its just so effortless!

“It’s just so effortless!” Sam already told you about AppleBake, but I figured I could throw in some pictures too. As Sam mentioned, our floor, Conner 2, goes kind of insane about AppleBake. Were so into it that our floor shirt has this cute little AppleBake logo on the back, which Adelaide 09 graciously modeled for me while we sampled some AppleBake treats: Im ashamed to say that I did not really participate in the AppleBake festivities, but wellI probably slept instead. Im not much of a baker, anyway. There was plenty of eating to be done once I woke up, though! Right after hearing the AppleBake results, the Conner 2 freshmen rushed back up to our floor to work on the freshman dinner We had to cook for about 30 people, so we started with a whole lot of food: Teamwork at its finest! April browns the meat, Rick and I put together the cheese mix, and Rob (just visible in the top of the picture) and Rick mixed everything together. Once the ziti was all mixed, it was time to bake it. Hence the name baked ziti. I grabbed a roll of aluminum foil and covered the first pan as Rick stared on in astonishment. I stopped and asked him why on earth he was so captivated by the simple action of me doing this: I envy your aluminum foil technique., he said. Its not even that its so neat. Its just that its soeffortless! I kid you not. His exact words. We sent the guys off to put the dishes in various ovens around the floor. Adelaide took the veggies to her kitchen and started preparing the salad. Meanwhile, Meara prepared the garlic bread (Adelaide found this awesome garlic butter spread stuff on the AppleBake shopping trip that you just spread onto the bread and- presto! Instant garlic bread!) and April baked a few pies. The entire floor was victim to very poor planning that night, and just as the food was ready to come out of the oven, Javier literally dragged me out of the dorm so we could rush over to play IM dodgeball. Luckily, we made plenty of food, so there was still some left when we got back an hour later. Because I was busy being kidnapped, I only got a chance to take a picture of all the food after the rest of the floor had eaten (we actually made 3 trays of ziti): Thats lots of free food for one day! P.S. If you want a cool entry about Halloween, you need to give me a truly awesome costume idea so I can go crazy making it this weekend, take lots of pictures, and tell you amusing stories about it on Tuesday. Just saying.

Literacy Is A Fundamental Basis Of A Student s Academic...

Literacy is a fundamental basis of a student’s academic success. Without the skills of language, reading, and writing, children will have limited academic, economic, social, and emotional success in school and later in life (Maddox Fung, 2013, p.3). According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, 33% of U.S. students in elementary schools read below the basic reading level (NAEP, 2009). During this time, the Common Core initiative was in works to ensure that all students across America were graduating high school ready for college, career, and life. In 2010, a majority of the United States adopted the Common Core State Standards [CCSS]. Within these expectations the language, reading, and writing strands were developed for all grade levels. These three strands were developed to prepare children to become literate. The CCSS are the most effective way to implement goals for literacy education, for American students to succeed not only in school, but in the future. First, it is important to understand what it means to be literate and why being literate is important in today’s society. To be literate today means much more than being able to read and write. For a child today, it means that they are better able to create, critique, and analyze material. It is important to obtain these skills due to the rise in technology. Children need to be able to read, analyze, and evaluate what they find online in order to succeed in school. Building upon these skillsShow MoreRelatedRoles And Impact Of Of Academic Listening Skills1290 Words   |  6 PagesThe roles and impacts of Academic listening skills on EAL international students in New Zealand Colleges and Universities (B) The continuous increase in the number of international students mostly from non-native English speaking countries such as China, Iran, Malaysia and India, travelling to study in New Zealand is alarming. There is a growing concern on which components of academic language skills English as an additional language (EAL) international students will require for studies, as the mediumRead MoreA Collective Effort Should Be Made From The Educative Staff1289 Words   |  6 Pagesstaff in order to make the class easier to relate to from the student s perspective. This could be done by both making courses more interactive, and addressing real life problems instead of purely theoretical ones. It is very important for students to feel not only identified with the other members of the school, but to be able to participate and be part of an experience that will give them a better emotional and academic life. Students tend to be subjected to too much familiarity and not enough experimentationRead Mo rePeer Review : Draft Of Literature1485 Words   |  6 PagesReview: Draft of Literature Research shows that students are lacking critical writing skills that are fundamental for the 21st century. This may be due to technology, some may be due to the lack of laziness or both. This failure in learner’s writing is one of the main reasons for implementing the Common Core standards. It is obvious that student’s writing skills are important in this day and time. Standardized test scores provide much evidence that students do not have acceptable writing skills. TodayRead MoreImpact of Socioeconomic Status on Academic Performance4432 Words   |  18 PagesEffects of Socioeconomic Status on Academic Performance Name Instructor Introduction Problem statement America today faces an issue of epic proportion that is critically essential. An issue that continues to affect her economy, challenge her highest ideals as well as reducing the competitiveness of her workforce, an issue that is deeply rooted her history, her society as well as her culture. The issue in question here is education inequality. This project explores the belief thatRead MoreResolution Of Speech Therapy And Lip Reading1621 Words   |  7 Pageswithout knowing what they need. Not only that but, they will also feel closer to their child as they will be communicating with them before they normally could. Access: It wasn t long ago when the deaf were harshly oppressed and denied even their fundamental rights. Abbe Charles Michel de L Epee established the first public free deaf school in 1771. Sign Language access is becoming easier and easier to get a hold of.  ¨Sign language interpreters are often used in the classroom, for medical appointmentsRead MoreResearch-Based Best Practices in L2 Literacy Developing Reading Comprehension Skills for English Language Learners5405 Words   |  22 PagesResearch-Based Best Practices in L2 Literacy Developing Reading Comprehension Skills for English Language Learners Infiernito Finca Escuela Honduras (2009) EDUC 5465 Introduction to ESL/Bilingual and Special Education Written by: Mia Ariela Allen May 2010 Research-Based Best Practices in L2 Literacy Developing Reading Comprehension Skills for English Language Learners Research guiding questions: * How should classroom reading instruction practices best meet the needs ofRead MoreThe Early Childhood Education Of Literacy And Numeracy3635 Words   |  15 PagesIntroduction Literacy and numeracy are the most vital skills for any individual in modern society. The early childhood education of literacy and numeracy is of great importance to not only intellectual growth but also to emotional and social development in later years. Literacy is one of the fundamental ability for one to be able to make sense of text, signs, books, and modern technologies. Numeracy includes aspects such as number sense, computation, measurement, and geometry, which are all vitalRead MoreThe Growth Of Literacy Skills2155 Words   |  9 PagesLiteracy can be defined as the ability to read and write. It can also be defined as the capacity to identify, understand, create, interpret, communicate and compute, using written and printed materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy includes the capability to read, comprehend, and critically appreciate various forms of communication, including spoken language, written text, broadcast media, and digital media. The contemporary mea ning has been expanded to include the knowledge to use languageRead MoreRole of Education in 21st Century2997 Words   |  12 Pagespebbles at sea-shore while the great ocean of knowledge lies before me’. Since then, knowledge has grown enormously at  a much faster speed than human ability to cope with it.   Technological advancements of twentieth century, especially during post 1970†²s due to revolution in the field of information technology, have changed the whole scenario. Entering into world of knowledge is like going into a dense forest. Only way out is to develop clarity of thought/mind, as to what one wants to know  and make sincereRead MoreEarly Childhood Literacy Proposal3552 Words   |  15 PagesEarly Childhood Literacy LaTonya Grady EDU 626 Introductions to Research and Methodology Dr. Paula Zobisch July 30, 2012 Abstract Research on early childhood literacy pinpoints the early childhood years as the foundational base period for developing the language and literacy skills that are fundamental to a young child’s long term developmental success in reading and writing. This study places theoretical attention on the essential components of literacy that promote and predict the essential emergent

China - 2063 Words

How far can the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 be considered the key turning point in the development of China in the years 1900-2000? During the years 1900-2000 there were many turning points in Chinas history. We saw such things as The fall of the Qing Dynasty and imperialism February 1912, The warlord era 1915, The rise of the nationalists 1928, The formation of the PRC in 1949, The Korean and Vietnam wars 1950 and 1964, Nixons visit in 1972 and Deng Xiaopings Third Plenum. The key Turing point in Chinas history would have to be the rise of Deng Xiaoping in 1976. The reason behind this is by looking at social political, economic and international development Deng achieved greater positive development†¦show more content†¦The formation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 started extensive development in China. This was all or-castrated by Chinas communist leader Mao Zedong. There were many positive developments socially in China. For example, due to the great support from the peasants Mao decided to reward them by giving them land that was once leased to them by the landlords. This lead to ab out 500000 landlords being prosecuted and sentenced to death or forced labor camps. These reforms in 1951 were a big development in china as it was the first time the peasants seemed to be represented let alone a stake in China. Along with this development of Chinese peasants owning their own land there was a 22% increase in grain yield the following year after their reforms however, this is limited in that during the great leap forward in 1958-62, Mao brought in new legislation that all farms would be made into large communes under state control, run by the PLA (Peoples liberation army). The limitation showed in this point is that Mao was reversing his decision to give the land to the peasants but also this lead to the great famine where 30,000,000 people died as a result due to production of food falling by 63% andShow MoreRelatedThe Between China And China980 Words   |  4 Pagesfairness and impartiality in the justice system, which along with its capitalist economy, further di fferentiated itself from China. This concept of â€Å"one country, two systems† is an important element of Hong Kong governance, and by extension, its people. This represents a time when Hong Kong is slowly pulling its influence away from China. Due to its insulation from China that ran a communist government, Hong Kong was able to flourish as an international financial center under a free market economyRead MoreChina s Impact On China1181 Words   |  5 Pagesmany decades, China has always been technologically and economically ahead of Europe. The invention of gunpowder, printing, and the compass started in China and was later dispersed throughout Europe. These inventions changed China as much as they changed Europe. These inventions also caused a gap between China and Europe. By the late eighteenth century, industrial revolution first started its spread from Europe.The transformations within Europe began to further accelerate while China was falling behindRead MoreChina677 Words   |  3 PagesSui Dynasty (589 – 618 CE) was a short lived Imperial Chinese dynasty, preceded by the Southern and Northern Dynasties. It unified China for the first time after nearly four centuries of north-south division. It was followe d by the Tang Dynasty. Founded by Emperor Wen of Sui, the capital was Chang’an. His reign saw the reunification of Southern and Northern China and the construction of the Grand Canal, connecting the Yellow and Yangtze River for easy trading. The canal was used to carry riceRead MoreRural Life Of China And China1122 Words   |  5 PagesMaria Elena Granera Ms. Lopez AP Economics 7 November 2014 Rural Life in China â€Å"In China’s rural hinterland, where half the nation’s 1.3 billion people live, incomes are, on average, less than a third of those in cities† (The New York Times). Economically, rural China depends mainly on agriculture, but socially, sex inequality and diseases prevail in this part of the country. Villages, mostly populated by the country’s ocean of elders, are getting poorer while the cities are getting richer evenRead MoreMoney Frauds : China And China994 Words   |  4 PagesAgainst Money Frauds China is one of the countries that have the highest yearly rate of frauds. Although the China governments have uploaded many promotional videos on preventing the crooks, but can we really get away from the fraud base on those videos? The risk of fraudulent activity is increases every year in China. The China government should establish a special department to help people to prevent from the money frauds, because frauds are the problem that affects people a lot and also becauseRead MoreThe Guanxi Between China And China1741 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction The Guanxi phenomena is exclusive to China and is very apparent in everyday life, it can be used in the personal dealings or at the business level. Guanxi concept is not completely alien to the rest of the world, it is apparent in a slightly different, more modest form. Most of people would be aware of bribery (it is an act of giving money or gifts that alters the behavior of the recipient), which would be someway linked to guanxi concept. The main difference is that bribery recognisedRead MoreChina s Rural Crisis : China1403 Words   |  6 Pagesexternal pressures that caused the eventual collapse of Qing society. Foreign imperialism highlighted China’s backwardness to its own citizens and, and also heightened the already existing conflicts within China itself. It directly challenged the cultural nexus of power, which held China together for hundreds of years. This system combined the imperial examination system, standard marketing community, language of lineage, and popular religions to promote the cultural form of governance. TheseRead MoreTrade Imbalance Between China And China1365 Words   |  6 Pagesnations in the eastern hemisphere. China was one of those nations. China was a nation known for isolating itself from outside influen ce, especially from the Europeans. Soon the Europeans began to grow jealous of China s bounty of enticing goods and resources such as porcelain, tea and silk. China on the other hand did not have any need for European goods. In pursuit to put a halt to the trade imbalance between the two nations, Britain started to smuggle opium into China. The reason behind this was becauseRead MoreTrade Imbalance Between China And China1674 Words   |  7 Pagesporcelain were much desired by European and had a huge demand in the Western market. In England, tea was the most desired Chinese good and trade in tea was very lucrative. However, this created a trade imbalance because Western goods had no market in China. China was a self-sustaining country and that make it harder for Western merchant to trade with them. Apart from that, the merchants had a hard time getting into Chinese market and had to deal through Chinese middlemen in Canton. At this point, the BritishRead MorePoverty in China1079 Wo rds   |  5 Pages12/3/14 Poverty in China FRIDAY October seventeenth was Chinas first official â€Å"Poverty Alleviation Day†, a yearly assembly of discussions and pledge drives, intended to rally deliberations to battle hardship. Obviously, because of Chinas quick financial advancement, the nation as of now assuages a great deal of destitution every day: a year ago the quantity of rustic poor fell by 16.5m or in excess of 45,000 individuals every day. However that still left 82.49m individuals stuck in country

You Are What You Wear Free Essays

Whoever said â€Å"clothes make a man† had the right idea about people perceive each other on the first look. Whether you like it or not, a big part of the first impression that we make when you meet someone depends on how you look – which is basically how you’re dressed. Looking good is an obsession with people these days. We will write a custom essay sample on You Are What You Wear or any similar topic only for you Order Now We love to keep up on the latest trends and make sure we’re sporting the latest fashion. Just take a look around you. Bangalis seem to be really catching up with the rest of the globe when it comes to fashion trends these days.The fashion industry is rapidly carving itself a sizable niche here. Compared to even a few years back, boutiques and fashion houses are popping up everywhere. There’s more opportunities opening up for the fashion junkies with school offering degrees in fashion designing to help people unleash their creativity when it comes to showcasing their sense of style. In our frenzy to become more fashion forward, there’s always a little collateral damage that comes with the territory whenever you try to keep the pace. In a society that’s undergoing a major transition, we seem to have missed the mark on a few trends that we adopted from our neighbors. Trying to adjust them into our own way of doing things, some The other day I was sitting at the cafeteria of my university campus and realized that there’s a lot of people who just put things on because it’s in fashion. Not to sound completely judgmental, but if you show up to school with a 80’s style bouffant ending in a long braid, wearing a highly embroidered shalwar kameez with very dressy jewelry, people will wonder about the occasion.It’s fun to browse through people’s varying tastes, but some ensembles make you really wonder what brought it on. When asked what the occasion was, my very dressed up classmate replied, â€Å"the 80’s are in†¦ don’t you watch movies and soaps?! † I got a similar reply from another person when asked about the new style of kameez that look a lot like frocks. These frock-dresses worn with churidar shalwars are tagged the â€Å"Anarkali Kameez†, and are rather popular amongst people. How appropriate they are for day at the university, or at work even is a question I want to ask but really can’t. The most ridiculous of all modified desi fashion trends, in my opinion, is however the â€Å"short† trend. There are some that take the ankle length shalwar trend so seriously that they gave birth to a new phenomenon. Lo and behold, it is the â€Å"three quarter† shalwar which ends an inch or two inch above your ankle. It looks nice in summer when short fashions are in. Personally I think it’s a great way to incorporate the cropped look into desi clothes.On the downside though when you’re all wrapped up in warm shawls in winter, cropped shalwars really don’t make a very good fashion statement. Incidentally, if you really want to wear a short kameez, make sure it’s a kameez and not a kurta or a fatua you’re sporting over a shalwar. Put on an actual fatua with a traditional shalwar and try on the look. It kind of looks odd. Then there are the western trends that we try to emulate and sometimes end up looking rather odd. Come winter, everyone brings out the jackets and jeans. It’s the one season in the whole year when you can sport western fashions without being called â€Å"inappropriately dressed†. Then again, if you decide on a jacket with a fur lined hood for a day out in the Bangali winter, I would like to ask why. I mean, when it’s still sunny all day in the middle of November do you really need a fur lined hooded coat? I’m sure Beyonce wore something similar in a video last week, but she lives in Northern America where it snows. Also, boots in Bangladesh are a little ridiculous if you ask me. They are cute, but honestly†¦ what occasion could possibly call for boots, even in winter?The closest thing to boots one might even want in this country are probably rubber boots in monsoon when the streets are water logged and you have to wade through muck anytime you decide to walk. Sadly enough though, the thing that really brings out the worst in people is when you put on clothes regardless of whether they look good on you. Like my afore-mentioned classmate, there are way too many people who wear clothes just because they are in fashion. One of my closest friends showed up to class the other day wearing super tight skinny jeans with a short shirt.Catch was, she’s on the heavier end of the scales. Her excuse, â€Å"everyone wears them†. Yet, upon a good look in a full length mirror she admitted it did nothing for the extra pounds she added on during the last eid holidays. Recently though, besides bollywood trends and soap opera fashions, a lot of people seem to be picking up on western fashion trends. The â€Å"emo† trends seem to have really made a mark on the younger crowd in Dhaka. Everywhere you look, there’s a kid with the side swept bangs and dark clothes with a brooding attitude.But, here too are those that get the look right and the ones who couldn’t decide halfway between Emo, Hannah Montana and Beyonce. The effect I must say is rather alarming when you mix the three. Needless to say, thank god they haven’t discovered Lady Gaga. What you wear, really does define who you are the first time someone looks at you. The best way to make a good impression is to make sure you look well-dressed – which means you are appropriately dressed for the occasion and look good in what you wear. Showing up at a job interview looking like you’re on your way to a wedding is hardly the best way to present yourself.While a lot of people would write off fashion as something fickle and not worth wasting too much time on, I personally think it’s important to put a bit of effort on how you look. Although, while keeping up on the latest fashions and looking good is important, it’s also good to know what look works for you. If you cannot pull it off, don’t put it on. Nine out of ten time’s you will end up looking rather out of character. It’s good to experiment and have a look that sets you apart from the rest. On the other, it’s good to bear in mind – not everyone is Lady Gaga. How to cite You Are What You Wear, Papers

Poetic Devices and Examples Essay Example For Students

Poetic Devices and Examples Essay Similes: figures of speech that compares two unlike things, using the words Like or as. His feet were as big as boats. Alliteration: the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Metaphor: a figure of speech that compares two unlike things directly, without the use of like or as. Her hair Is silk. Personification: assigning human qualities to non-human things. The tropical storm slept for two days. Onomatopoeia: words that imitate sounds. Boom. Gurgle. Plink. Hyperbole: an expression of exaggeration. l nearly died laughing. Symbolism: using an object to represent an Idea. A symbol means what It Is and also something more. Lions often symbolize royalty. Puns: words with a humorous double meaning, a play on words. A dog not only has a fur coat but also pants. Idioms: expressions that have a meaning apart from the meanings of the individual words. Its raining cats and dogs. Foot: the time period into which the beat of the poetic line is divided. A foot is made p of several syllables, some long and some short. Meter: refers to how the feet are put together to form lines of poetry. The combinations of long and short syllables give poetry a musical feel. Rhythm: the pattern of long and short syllables in a poetic line. In modern poetry, some words receive greater vocal emphasis than others. Lyrics: what poets write, the actual words used to form the framework of rhythm and meter. Mood: the overall feeling the poem creates. Mood, or tone, for example, can be playful, sad, lonely, angry or Joyful.

Economic Depression in USA

Introduction Economic depression is defined as the sustained and prolonged down-turn in the economy of a country. Depression is considered more extreme and severe than economic recession. Though depression is considered a form of recession only that depression is characterized by its length, the abnormality of economic factors like rising cases of unemployment, decline in credit availability and also shrinking output and highly volatile monetary value.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Economic Depression in USA specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Depression is linked to the following two indicators; decline in the Gross Domestic Product by a margin of more than 10% and secondly a recession period exceeding 2 years. According to Foldvary, recession is derived from the word recede that implies falling back and it lasts for a very short time and depression is understood based on the degree of output fall and the extend of the down-turn (Foldvary 3). An economic depression happens when there is fall in output below the long-run trend. The Depression of 1873-1879 This depression was as a result of the bankruptcy of the railroad investment firm of Jay Cooke and company and particularly the restrictive monetary policy of the federal government; this is whereby the gold standard increment could not maintain the pressure for money demands that could enhance the growth of the economy. Deflation is also a factor that led to this depression (Watkins and Allay 1) The Depression of 1893-1898 This was considered to be the worst form of depression ever witnessed in the US before the 1930. It first emanated from the agricultural crises that affected the southern cotton belt and the Great Plains in 1880s and it later hit the Wall Street and the urban areas in 1893. This from of depression led to a massive unemployment which is still considered the highest in the US history at 20-25%, the depression resulted in widespread poverty among the Americans of various income levels. The magnitude of the depression was so acute that by 12896, it was made a popular subject of political campaigns (Edwards 1) The Great Depression of 1929-1933 The United States of America experienced the worst, the longest and the most severe economic depression in the year 1929. This depression led to an acute decline in output, extreme unemployment and drastic deflation in the USA and it has been ranked the second calamity to the civil war.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This depression was largely associated to several factors like the reduced consumer demand, great financial panic and misplaced government spending that forced a fall in economic output. This depression led to the reduction in industrial production by 47% and the subsequent reduction of the Gross Domestic product (GDP) by 30%, it also resul ted in the decline in the wholesale price index or otherwise referred as deflation by 33%; also the unemployment rate reached 20% which was considered the highest point at that time (Romer 1). This depression is just considered severe when compared to the next depression to hit America in the year 1981-82 that resulted in the decline of GDP by 2%. The USA recovery from this depression began in 1933 when the GDP began to improve at 95 per annum (Romer 3). The 1930 depression saw the increased level of unemployment characterized by a lot of labor force but no work to do and the worst part of depression was in 1933 when the unemployment rate fall below 10%. Recession appeared twice during the great depression, in the august of 1929 and March of 1933 between as indicated by the following graph; Concerning unemployment, the high rate of unemployment is demonstrated by the following graph; Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Economic Depression in USA specifically fo r you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Another main indicator of the great depression is the GDP which was greatly affected as seen in the following graph; During the great depression, the most hit sector was the banking sector. The following table is an indication of how banks were affected including the number of suspended banks and also indicates the decrease in the number of banks as a result of merger, failure or collapse and voluntary liquidation. Number of banks and bank suspension Year Number as of 12-31 Suspensions 1929 24,633 659 1930 22,773 1350 1931 19970 2293 1932 18,397 1453 1933 15,015 4000 1934 16,096 57 Causes of the Great Depression The most critical cause of the great depression in the USA was the reduction in spending or otherwise referred as the reduced aggregate demand; this resulted in decline in production since manufacturer noticed an anticipated rise in inventories. This was reflected in other countries due to the factor of gold standard. Other factors that necessitated the great depression are: The stock market crash: the great depression is associated with the tight US monetary policy that targeted the limitation of stock market speculation; this was due to the mild recession that had been witnessed between 1924 and 1927 that had witnessed the massive rise in the stock prices in 1920 and reached the optimum in 1929 and as an immediate measure, the federal reserve had raised the interest rates in order to stop this spiraling stock prices and this largely affected the construction and the auto mobile industries. The fall in the stock prices in 1929 to extend that could not be justified by the anticipation rate resulted to the loss of investor confidence and subsequent bubble burst in the stock market.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This led to the panic selling on black ‘Thursday’ on October 24, 1929. The previous rise on stock prices had triggered a massive purchase of stock by the investors using loans and hence this price decline forced some investors to liquidate their holdings thus worsening the fall in prices. This crash in the stock market led to the considerable reduction in the consumer aggregate demand especially in the area of durable goods and investments and great fall in output. Banking panic and monetary contraction: this was experienced in the year 1930; banking panic occurs when â€Å"many depositors lose confidence in the solvency of banks and simultaneously demand their deposits be paid to them in cash† (Romer 8); this can lead to those banks that hold deposits as cash reserves to liquidate loans so that they be in position to pay the cash demands. This process of immediate liquidation can force any solvent bank to collapse. This continued till 1933 when President Frankli n Roosevelt proclaimed the ‘bank holiday’ in 1933 that involved the closing of all banks and could only re-open upon being considered solvent by the government inspectors. Economists largely associate this bank panic to the â€Å"increased farm debt in 1920† (Romer 8) and government policy that encouraged â€Å"small and undiversified banks† (Romer 8). The gold standard: economists largely associate the 1929-1933 great depression to the Federal Reserve; they accused the federal reserve of causing a big decline in the American money as a measure to preserve the gold standard. The gold standard implied that each country should fix the value of its currency based on the standard of gold. International lending and trade: the USA had expanded its foreign lending to Germany and the Latin America, this declined in the 1928 and 1929 due to the high interest rates and the flourishing stock market; â€Å"this reduction in foreign lending resulted in credit contract ion and the reduction in the output of borrower countries† (Romer 8). Economic impact of the Great War: when the first broke, no one expected that it would be of the magnitude witnessed; no one predicted the length of the war, the economic expenses of the war and the degree of destruction. The war caused a lot of infrastructural destruction, loss of lives and monetary value in the countries of Europe; this on the other hand precipitated a period of economic boom in the countries of Canada, USA and Latin America since the countries of Europe exhausted their gold reserves to borrow money, other countries also printed extra money. This war interrupted with patterns of domestic and international trade which preceded the economic depression. Sources of Recovery The two main ways of curbing the inflation were indentified as the currency devaluation and monetary expansion. Devaluation â€Å"allowed countries to expand their money supplies without concern about gold movements and exc hange rates† (Romer 8). Another way of curbing the crises was through the imposition of protectionism measure; this led to the launch of various tariffs, the 1988 US presidential seat was won through protectionist ticket. Economic Impact of Depression The depression influenced the US economy in a great way; some of them include the following: Human suffering: for the very short time of the depression, there was drastic increase in the output and the standard of living also a substantial fraction of the labor force could not find employment. Change on world economy: the great depression brought to the end the international gold standard era. Increased government involvement in the economy: after the depression, there was an increased government participation in the economy particularly in the financial market; evidence was the establishment of the Securities and Exchange Commission by the USA. Development of macro-economic policies: most of these policies were aimed at curbing the downturns and the upturns. Conclusion Depression is considered one of the worst macroeconomic aspects that can befall a country; the effects of economy are so devastating since its impact can be felt across the world. The US have experienced a lot five depressions of different magnitude and that has equipped it with experience on the various macroeconomic issues that are required to tame any further depression. The US has on the recent past experienced only recessions which are considered mild form of depression. It is worth mentioning that from the five economic depressions to have hit the US, all the possible remedies have been tried and applied, despite all the efforts it is not clear whether the business cycle that lead to depressions has been removed. Depression an also be considered a natural economic aspect that can be beyond government intervention. This is exemplified by the economic depression of 1907 and 1920 which was eliminated within a year without the government i ntervening. Works Cited Edwards, Rebecca. The depression of 1893. Projects, 2000. Web. Foldvary, Fred. The Depression of 2008 2nd edition. The Gutenberg Press, 2008. Web. Romer, Christina. Encyclopedia Britannica. Berkeley, 2003. Web. Watkins, Thayer and Allay, Tornado. The depression of 1873-1879. University of San Jose State, 2011. Web. This report on Economic Depression in USA was written and submitted by user Cadence Short to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Culture Specific Syndrome Essays

Culture Specific Syndrome Essays Culture Specific Syndrome Paper Culture Specific Syndrome Paper ultural Bound Syndromes Culture-bound syndrome The term culture-bound syndrome was included in the fourth version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 2000) which also includes a list of the most common culture-bound conditions (DSM-IV: Appendix I). Included in DSM-IV-TR (4th. ed) the term cultural-bound syndrome denotes recurrent, locality-specific patterns of abnormal behavior and troubling experience that may or may not be linked to a particular DSM-IV-TR diagnostic category. Many of these patterns are naturally considered to be illnesses, or at least afflictions, and most have local names. Although presentations conforming to the major DSM-IV-TR categories can be found throughout the world, the particular symptoms, course, and social response are very often influenced by local cultural factors. In contrast, cultural-bound syndromes are generally limited to specific societies or culture areas and are localized, folk, diagnostic categories that frame coherent meanings for certain repetitive, patterned, and troubling sets of experiences and observations. In medicine, a culture-specific syndrome or culture-bound syndrome is a combination of psychiatric and somatic symptoms that are considered to be a recognizable disease only within a specific society or culture. There are no objective biochemical or structural alterations of body organs or functions, and the disease is not recognized in other cultures. While a substantial portion of mental disorders, in the way they are manifested and experienced, are at least partially conditioned by the culture in which they are found, some disorders are more culture-specific than others. The concept of culture-bound syndromes is very controversial and many psychologists, medical doctors, and anthropologists reject the concept. The identification of culture-specific syndromes: A culture-specific syndrome is characterized by: categorization as a disease in the culture (i. e. , not a voluntary behavior or false claim); widespread familiarity in the culture; complete lack of familiarity of the condition to people in other cultures; no objectively demonstrable biochemical or tissue abnormalities (symptoms); the condition is usually recognized and treated by the folk medicine of the culture. Some culture-specific syndromes involve somatic symptoms (pain or disturbed function of a body part), while others are purely behavioral. Some culture-bound syndromes appear with similar features in several cultures, but with locally-specific traits, such as penis panics. A culture-specific syndrome is not the same as a geographically localized disease with specific, identifiable, causal tissue abnormalities, such as kuru or sleeping sickness, or genetic conditions limited to certain populations. It is possible that a condition originally assumed to be a culture-bound behavioral syndrome is found to have a biological cause; from a medical perspective it would then be redefined into another nosological category. Western medical perspectives: An interesting aspect of culture-specific syndromes is the extent to which they are â€Å"real†. Characterizing them as â€Å"imaginary† is as inaccurate as characterizing them as â€Å"malingering†, but there is no clear way to understand them from a Western scientific perspective. Culture-specific syndromes shed light on how our mind decides that symptoms are connected and how a society defines a known â€Å"disease†. In contrast, culture-bound syndromes are generally limited to specific societies or culture areas and are localized, folk, diagnostic [comma sic] categories that frame coherent meanings for certain repetitive, patterned, and troubling sets of experiences and observations. Medical care of the condition is challenging and illustrates a truly fundamental but rarely discussed aspect of the physician-patient relationship: the need to negotiate a diagnosis that fits the way of looking at the body and its diseases of both parties. The physician may do any of the following: Share the way the patient sees the disorder, and offer the folk medicine treatment, recognize it as a culture-bound syndrome, but pretend to share the patient’s perspectives and offer the folk medicine reatment or a new improvised treatment, recognize it as a culture-bound syndrome but try to educate the patient into seeing the condition as the physician sees it. The problem with the first choice is that physicians who pride themselves on their knowledge of disease like to think they know the difference between culture-specific disorders and â€Å"organic† diseases. While the second choice may be the quickest and most comfortable choice, the physician must deliberately deceiv e the patient. Currently in Western culture this is considered one of the most unethical things a physician can do, whereas in other times and cultures deception with benevolent intent has been an accepted tool of treatment. The third choice is the most difficult and time-consuming to do without leaving the patient disappointed, insulted, or lacking confidence in the physician, and may leave both physician and patient haunted by doubts (â€Å"Maybe the condition is real. † or â€Å"Maybe this doctor doesn’t know what s/he is talking about. †). Root-work/Obeah: DSM IV-TR (2000), states that a set of cultural interpretations that ascribe illness to hexing, witchcraft, sorcery, or the evil influence of another person. Symptoms may include generalized anxiety and gastrointestinal complaints (e. g. , nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea), weakness, dizziness, the fear of being poisoned, and sometimes fear of being killed (voodoo death). DSM IV-TR site roots, spells, or hexes can be put or placed on other persons, causing a variety of emotional and psychological problems. The hexed person may even fear death until the root has been taken off, or eliminated usually through the work of the root doctor (a healer in this tradition), who can also be called on to bewitch an enemy. Roots is found in the southern United States among both African-American and European American populations and in the Caribbean societies. Obeah (sometimes spelled Obi) is a term used in the West Indies to refer to folk magic, sorcery, and religious practices derived from Central African and West African origins. Obeah can either be a form of dark magic or good magic. As such, Obeah is similar to Palo, Voodoo, Santeria, root-work, and hoodoo. Obeah (another name used in the Caribbean society) is practiced in Suriname, Jamaica, Haiti, the Virgin Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Belize, the Bahamas, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados and many other Caribbean countries. Obeah is associated with both benign and malign magic, charms, luck, and with mysticism in general. In some Caribbean nations Obeah refers to African diasporic folk religions; in other areas, Christians may include elements of Obeah in their religion. Obeah is often associated with the Spiritual Baptist church. Origins: In Jamaica, slaves from different areas of Africa were brought into contact, creating some conflicts between those who practiced varying African religions. Those of West African Ashanti descent, who called their priests Myal men (also spelled Mial men), used the Ashanti term Obi or Obeah meaning sorcery to describe the practices of slaves of Central African descent. Thus those who worked in a Congo form of folk religion were called Obeah men or sorcerers. Obeah also came to mean any physical object, such as a talisman or charm that was used for evil magical purposes. However, despite its fearsome reputation, Obeah, like any other form of folk religion and folk magic, contains many traditions for healing, helping, and bringing about luck in love and money. Elements (key features/symptoms) According to Hughes, Simons Wintrob, 1997 study, knowledge about a culture-bound syndrome, can address the relationship between the culture-bound syndrome and the more familiar psychiatric disorders, such as those in DSM-IV. These researchers call this the comorbidity question on the assumption that studying the culture-bound syndromes patterned relationship to psychiatric diagnoses is a more fruitful approach than attempting prematurely to subsume it into the DSM diagnostic categories. Systematic research has identified strong correlations between culture-bound syndromes and criteria for psychiatric disorder, but there is rarely a one-to-one relationship between culture-bound syndrome and psychiatric disorder. The culture-bound syndromes often coexist with a range of psychiatric disorders, as many psychiatric disorders do with each other. The comorbidity question brings culture-bound syndrome research in line with current approaches in psychiatric research. Differences in the symptomatic, emotional, and contextual aspects of cultural syndromes, in turn, may signal different comorbid relationships with psychiatric diagnosis or even the lack of such a relationship. Opinion The extra ordinary addition of culture-bound syndromes in DSM-IV provides the opportunity for improving the need to study such syndromes and the chance for developing a research to study them. The growing ethnic and cultural diversity of the U. S. population presents a challenge to the mental health field to develop truly cross-cultural approaches to mental health research and services. This addition will give researchers the chance to study the relationship between culture-bound syndromes and psychiatric diagnoses. In my opinion a research program based on key questions is still unanswered, which is understanding culture-bound syndromes within their cultural context and to analyze the relationship between these syndromes and psychiatric disorders. Reference DSM -IV-TR Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (2000). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (4th ed. ). Washington, DC: Author. Hughes CC, Simons RC, Wintrob RM: The Culture-Bound Syndromes and DSM-IV, in DSM-IV Sourcebook, vol 3. Edited by Widiger TA, Frances AJ, Pincus HA, Ross R, First MB, Davis W. Washington, DC, American Psychiatric Association, 1997, pp 991–1000 Retrieved July 29, 2009 from American Journal of Psychiatry.

Suicide Resulting from Job Stress Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Suicide Resulting from Job Stress - Essay Example Studies have also revealed that most of the people relate their mental health problems to their job and the cost of the time which is lost due to any kind of mental health problem is immense. (Lewis, 2003). Every year in the UK, the absences due to stress related issues cost 4 billion pounds annually. Estimates in Canada reveal that annually the cost of time lost due to stress costs $ 12 billion. Factors that cause stress at workplace There are some people who think that stress works as a motivator and thus it is positive, however it can also be negative if it is very much and the workers get negatively affected by it. Excess stress can also result in various problems such as physical and health problems as well as thoughts of suicide. There are various factors that contribute to workplace stress. For instance, very long hours at work or a lot of work are a cause of stress. However, even if the work is too less it can also be a cause of stress for an individual. Other factors are thr eats to personal safety which occurs mainly in those places of work which are dangerous such as coal mines and oil refinancers. At every workplace, workplace conflict is a must and it occurs between those employees who disagree with one another on anything. This also occurs because of politics at work. Moreover, due to inflation and for cost cutting purposes, companies often downsize and opt for cutbacks which increase the issue of job security. Poor communication is another factor that causes stress at workplace because when the people are unable to understand what has been communicated to them, things do not work well. Besides this, lack of autonomy at work, few chances of growth and advancement and low involvement in decision making are some other factors. (Leat, 2001). Suicidal behaviors at the workplace Any individual who recognizes the signals a depressed person gives can intervene and help that person. However, most of the people do not feel comfortable being involved in such cases due to fear. There are some strategies that help in overcoming this fear and these are mentioned below. The companies should educate the employees as well as the management regarding suicide and they must be informed about the factors and warning signs that lead to suicide. Before any kind of crisis occurs, community resources and the referral options must be identified. The employees should know that intervening in their life does not mean that the counseling process would be prolonged. After A Suicide Attempt When an employee attempts for suicide, there are two major concerns he has when he returns to the job. Firstly, he thinks he would go through psychiatric hospitalization and secondly their other concern is what their colleagues will think about them. It is shown in some studies that psychiatric hospitalization can be negative for an employee since it can lead to assumptions which are incorrect because of which the individual will not be treated properly. There are howe ver some steps which can be followed to make it easy for the employees to return to their work without much problems. (Barker, 2008). The management must safeguard the confidentiality of the employee that he has attempted

Nurses' Responsibility in the Prevention of medications errors Essay

Nurses' Responsibility in the Prevention of medications errors - Essay Example The nurse administrators can reduce the nurses’ workloads in order to help reduce the errors. Another remedial procedure is to requiring all nurses to implement error reduction procedures. Reduction of nurse burnouts reduced medical errors. Nurses must responsively prevent or lessen of medication errors to permissible levels. Evidently, the findings indicate healthcare professionals, especially nurses, should responsively prevent or reduce medication errors to allowable occurrences. Keywords: medication errors, remedial action, burnout Nursing Professional’s Responsibility to End/lessen Medications Errors Introduction Healthcare entails the nurses’ role in the patient’s recuperation. The research delves on the types of medication errors. The research delves on medication error reduction strategies. Medical errors may cause the patients’ death. Medical errors can be reduced. Healthcare professionals, especially nurses, and other healthcare facility w orkers are responsible for the prevention of medication errors. The nurses are required to exert all efforts to eliminate medication errors. Most of the medication errors occur during certain situations. One of the situations is during the nurse duty shifts. One medication error occurs when the prior shift nurse forgets to give the medication to the patient. The next duty nurse erroneously does not scrutinize whether the prior duty nurse gave the patient the required medication. The error can be prevented by requiring all the next duty nurses to compulsorily scrutinize the prior nurses’ chart notations (Kalra, 2011). Further, Dorit Pud and Anat Zahavy reiterated â€Å"one of the best strategies to reduce medication errors is to scrutinize possible loopholes in the entire healthcare process and not focus on individual isolated medication error cases† (Dorit & Anat, 2010, p. 794). The loopholes include unintentional recording of medication intakes. Forgetting to record t he patient’s actual medicine intakes may persuade the next nurse to erroneously give the same medicine to the patient. The overdose may cause severe health effects on the patient. Further, M. Wernli and D. Schwappach insist that â€Å"patients can play an important part in reducing medication errors by persuading the patients to immediately report any perceived errors to concerned medical professionals for immediate remedy† (Wernli & Schawppach, 2010, p. 285). Another possible medication error may occur during patient transfers. The patient is originally staying at hospital’s left wing. The patient is transferred to right wing in order to lessen the time needed for the resident medical doctor to move from doctor’s office to the patient’s ward bed. When the patient is transferred to the right hospital wing, another nurse committed medication error when she made a new chart. The error can be avoided by requiring all nurses to exert more time and effo rt to ensure that the patient’s chart is religiously replicated to eliminate the medication errors (Kalra, 2011). Nurses must implement medical intervention requirements to eliminate medication errors (Zerwekh & Claborn, 2010). When the nurse discovers an error in the drug order, the nurse should immediately question whether the drug order is correctness. When the nurse gathers enough evidences to prove there was a medication error, the nurse must immediately report the medication er

Evaluating The Strategical Paradox In International Businesses Commerce Essay

Evaluating The Strategical Paradox In International Businesses Commerce Essay In order to evaluate the strategies paradox in current international business this document provides case study on pizza hut in which all strategies being analysed and challenges including the history of pizza hut. Thats really hard for an entrepreneur and for a management team to run a business. They have to face lot difficulties and hardships which some times involves high risk to control the business. Particularly if the business has extended internationally. In the food industry pizza hut is very well know and famous company. As company is famous the food pizza is also have become essential part of our food and in this world almost every person have tasted pizza so the demand of the product is high now a days so many companies have come in the market which are making pizzas. But pizza hut take away and restaurants are oldest in this industry they are serving people for more than 50 years. Pizza hut is still continue to polish and flourish their business and making more and more chains in all over the world. (Feedburner 2009) Now have a look on suitable techniques which helps the strategic analysis of the business of pizza hut to study and deal with the new trends and problems in the organization. At the start of this assignment the concise history of pizza hut will be given. Various methods will be used for the strategic analysis of the pizza hut. To analyse, how external environment effects pizza hut company PEST analysis is used for that very purpose. Strategic group analysis is used to examine the mobility barriers. In order to examine the competitive advantage in organization Porters Five Forces Analysis is used. Competitor analysis is also used to know how strong their competitors what abilities they have this is essential to measure the threats and opportunities in the specific food industry. (Feedburner 2009) HISTORY OF PIZZA HUT   Ã‚  Pizza hut was started on 15/06/1958 by tow brothers named Wichita and Kansas. Their main purpose was to open a pizza parlour that was quite new concept in 1950s but these tow brothers have sense the potential of this business. They started the business by borrowing 600$ from their mother and purchased used tools and equipments. They also rent a small shop to begin their business. So in that situation pizza hut established but in the 2nd year they open their 2nd store in Topeka then after ten years the pizza hut was owned 310 pizza shops at several points they were serving around millions of people. The year 1970 is very important in pizza hut organization because on that date pizza hut was listed in New York Stock Exchange and the symbol of pizza hut was PLZ. In 1986 pizza hut owned 5025 stores. All these branches was in United States and half of these stores was franchised. In the same year pizza hut started the idea of delivery service so in this year the total amount of sa le of the company was 2 billion dollars. In 1990 the total amount of sales of company all over the world becomes 4 billion dollars. In 1996 the company has the largest shares of the market and that was 46.4% in the same year the sales of the company in home markets that was United States has become 5 million dollars. In 1998 they started their promotion The Best Pizzas under one Roof they celebrate the 40th anniversary of pizza hut in 2007. (Reade, 2008) Mission statement of pizza hut We take pride in making a perfect pizza and providing courteous and helpful service on time, all the time. Every customer says, Ill be back!   (Frank,Carney 1958) Pizza hut has bit different approach regarding their restaurants like pizza hut restaurant look different from other restaurants because in all restaurants they have very prominent red roofs and specific design. In every restaurant they have facility to serve from 60 to 90 peoples to eat-in. For last some decades pizza hut is not dominate on this industry because lot of new restaurants have opened and the competition has become more challenging. So in order to remain prominent and successful in the pizza industry and to compete their rivals they have to be very careful regarding the new trends and approaches, which have become popular in this industry to examine these new trends. They have to use appropriate methods, tools and techniques. (Candis 2008) IMPACT ANALYSIS In business zone external environment is truly very important it plays leading role to affect a business. In 2005 pizza hut used PEST analysis to determine and identify the external factors that have great impact on business at that time. In fact PEST analysis was a supporting tool for pizza hut at that time to become prominent in the business region in all over the world. Thats the best tool which can be used to assess the external environmental factors which was affecting the pizza hut. That was really essential to recognise and understand these external factor to over come the business problems. PEST analysis proved very useful for this purpose. PEST analysis is the abbreviation of Political, Economic, Social, and Technological Factors. Pest analysis is that tool or framework which can classify the environmental pressures as a political, economic, social and technological forces. In the pest analysis some time we need to add tow more factors to make better analysis these factors a re environment and legal issues. The pest analysis observes the force or impact of each factor how does they affect the business and how they interplay with each other as well. By observing these factors we got some results, which we use to make instant strategic business plans. So in that way pest analysis helps us to make strategic plans and improves business growth. (Byars 1991). POLITICAL FACTORS It means the rules and strategies of the government where pizza hut is situated either because of the local state affects how the business should be conduct or world wide factors involves. The environment created by political and officially authorise, for the business is supportive or not these things affects the business very much for example if the policies are supportive then pizza hut can open more and more restaurants in this kind of state where the government is business friendly but if the government is not business friendly then pizza hut can move to that area where government policies are favourable for the business. In the favourable business environment policies should be like that which protects the business. (Cooper 2000). ECONOMIC FACTORS These factors are totally concerned with the general prospective of the economy. The over all economy of the state always has a large impact on the business like Pizza hut. The factors concerned with economy are inflation rate, unemployment, the gross domestic commodities and the foreign buy and sell deficit and surplus. If as a whole the economy of the state is not encouraging or favourable these there is very less chance that people will prepare to take pizza hut franchises because there is chance of losing money instead of profit. (Cooper 2000). SOCIAL FACTORS   Thats really difficult to understand and enumerate the thoughts, believe and feelings of people so thats why it is considered that this factor is most difficult to deal. In the analysis of social factors the life expectation of people and population is also very important we need to figure out these tow things as well to get the true result of analysis. These thoughts, attitude and believes have string impact on the pizza hut business. The big example of this is that in all Muslim countries, the pizza hut prepares a food without including pork because Muslims do not eat pork so all food recipes in Muslim countries are without pork. Similarly in India people do not eat beef because of their religious believes so in pizza hut they prepare food, which do not have beef. All recipes are without beef. In the same way changing trend in the taste of buyer is also very important, with the passage of time their taste is change so in order to be successful in the food industry that external ana lysis is really essential. Like nowadays Thai and Japanese food is really in people like these kind of food so pizza hut can start Thai soup to retain their customers similarly can add more Thai and Japanese dishes. In today life society is becoming more and more health conscious so people want healthy food and it varies to region to region as well in some countries people don not bother these kind to care so as a whole company should provide the product according to the customer needs. That will be helpful to increase and expand business. Companies each policy should be like encouraging for customer demand that will obviously have positive impact on pizza hut business. (Cooper 2000). TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS   The technology is becoming more and more advance day by day that have huge impact on the business. The factors which affect the business are internet and ecommerce, and research and development, and new skill, equipments and tools. By the research and development companies are introducing new products in the market so in order to compete them pizza hut should be prepared and should have their R D unit. Through internet and ecommerce people have easy access to the market and they can check several offers and promotion by sitting home only by clicking one button so business is become very challenging. People can give feedback for new products as well through internet. So all these new technologies are really affecting business. If pizza hut want to be successful in the market and be prominent then company must be update regarding new technologies and developments. If pizza hut is good enough in internet and ecommerce then company is serving customers very well so pizza hut can take fe edback from customers regarding their new products which would be very helpful for R D unit as well so all these new technologies are inter liked. Company can take completive advantage by analysing and introducing new technologies. (Cooper 2000). STRATEGIC GROUP ANALYSIS Strategic group analysis can be explained as its a systematic technique which gives us detailed overview of different approaches used by rivals in the market by analysing these approaches to suggest indicator for the performance of company. Strategic group analysis can be functional in five steps in the organization.(Bensoussan, Babette 2003) ANALYSE INDUSTRY STRUCTURE For the industry structure analysis of pizza hut market, Porters five forces industry analysis is appropriate and that may be used for this analysis. THREATS OF NEW ENTRANTS In Portes five forces one force is new entrance in the business in every industry. In every industry there is big trouble for companies to face new entrance similarly there is big threat for pizza hut as well for new entrance as food business is becoming more and more popular so there is good profit margin as well so many people like this industry and there are various new faces have been seen in the food market. These new companies use different approaches to attract the customers like they might offer cheap rates as compared to the well reputed brands for the same standard of product to break their customers and to increase their sales. If it will happen in food industry then there is possibility that pizza hut may lose their customers and they may move to wards new entrance so for the self-defence of pizza hut from new entrance, it is essential that company should be prepared and should make measures to oppose these kind of approach utilised by new companies in the food industry. By doing these plannings they can be safe from new entrance. (Grundy 2006) BARGAINING POWER OF SUPPLIERS So 2nd force, in Porters five forces model is bargaining power of the supplier. We can explain it like that in every business the persons who are supplying raw material can control the prices of goods. Or it is the ability of the supplier to manage the cost of the raw materials and supply of raw material, which they are providing to the organizations. Like other companies pizza hut is also using raw material and there are bundle of suppliers who are supplying products. So pizza hut can have lots of options in order to reduce that power from supplied to company like they can use alternatives products that are lower price or they can purchase raw material in large volume so that the supplier can not change their prices. Or the third option is that if they are thinking that their supplier are not providing goods on appropriate price. they can change the supplier and can choose that supplier which is offering them cheaper prices so in that way they can control suppliers hold on the raw m aterial and can provide good quality product in reasonable price to customer. (Wylie 2009) THREATS OF SUBSTITUTION The third force in the Porters five forces is threats of substitute products the explanation of that factor is that in the market some products can come which can perform patter and available on cheaper price than the actual product so by these products the demand of actual products decreases and ultimately the relevant business company will get trouble. But in the case of pizza hut there is very little chance to come substitution product but there is chance like nowadays lot of sandwiches have come in the market which have almost same place in the market as pizzas so these sandwiches even have pizza taste and flavours. So that substitution threat can be dangerous for pizza hut, company must plane to oppose this king of threats. (Wylie 2009) BARGAINING POWER OF THE BUYERS Forth force in Porters five forces is bargaining power of buyer, there are tow possibilities in this factor either the consumer power should be high or low. If the consumer bargaining power is low then its very easy for the industry to penetrate in the market infect, can be explained as the market environment is positive and it allows the company to enter and expand their business. But if the buyer bargaining power is high then its very difficult for a company to enter in the market so in the case of pizza hut the customer bargaining power is very low because every person like pizzas and there are very few players who are providing services to the people so its very easy for pizza hut to enter and penetrate in the market in any part of the world because this product is famous all over the world. (Wylie 2009) DEGREE OF INTERNAL RIVALRY The fifth factor in the Porters five forces model is degree of internal rivals. In the factor there is also tow possibilities one is the relevant company have strong competition and have high-level of rivals and the second possibility is that the relevant company have very less competition and low-level of rivals in the market. Pizza hut have very strong completion in the market and its rivals are in very strong position like Dominos pizza have very tough competition with pizza hut as pizza hut is international company its market is very wide so there is more competitors for pizza hut. So in order to dominant on the market pizza hut have to offer high quality product on cheaper price so that there rivals can not move pizza huts customers. Pizza hut should be active regarding advertising and promotions to hold on the food market other wise they will lose their customers. There process and promotions should be attractive for the customers so that they can retain their customers. There promotion should be favourable than dominos and other pizza companies with the high quality of product. (Wylie 2009) MAP THE STRATEGIC GROUPS In order to plane the strategic group, Pizza hut have to list the related and important contestant into the strategic group. After listing these competitors the senior management of the pizza hut should always see the following. MOBILITY BARRIERS There are very small hurdles into the pizza parlours due to these low barriers in this industry, it is not essential that the workers should be highly experienced. BARGAINING POWER In the case of pizza hut the bargaining power of suppler is very low so thats why threats are also low in the same way bargaining power of customer is very little so due to this less bargaining power of consumer there is less chance of threat. But pizza hut should always be alert to the changing environment of the business. (Feedburner 2009) THREAT OF SUBSTITUTION As explained in mobility barriers and in bargaining power of buyer and supplier, the threats to the substitute product is also low but there is chance of substitute product like nowadays sandwiches have the same pizza flavours but its very weak threat for pizza hut because till now these sandwiches does not take the place of pizza but pizza hut should be updated with the new substitutions and should always be prepare to oppose them. (Feedburner 2009) RIVALRY FROM OTHER STRATEGIC GROUPS As mentioned in the Porters five forces analysis in the food industry there are very strong rivals and thats really difficult to compete these rivals. In the case of pizza hut Dominoes is the main competitor company. So in order to compete Dominoes and other pizza companies, its essential that pizza hut should updated their menus and they provide good customer service and serve the customer in a good way like they should provide good quality product on cheap rate as compared to the rivals. If pizza hut will care about these techniques then it would be on the top in the market of food industry. (Feedburner 2009) GAUGE THE STRENGTH OF BARRIERS BETWEEN GROUPS In order to measure the potency of the hurdle and difficulties, pizza hut must follow the five steps. The first step is to settle on the factors which are caused to prevent organizations in the strategic group to fight with other companies in another group. Second step is that pizza hut must recognise the force of bargaining power among the suppliers and consumers and also be aware of the strength of strategic groups and industry. Third step is to recognise the threats of alternative products among the strategic group. Fourth step is to study the power or strength of the competitors among the strategic groups and the last step is to make use of Portals five forces analysis on the strategic groups. (Feedburner 2009) UNDERSTAND THE STRATEGY OF THE FIRM VIS A VIS STRATEGIC GROUPS INTERACTION In order to understand the strategy of the pizza hut select the pizza hut as a member in the main strategic group. And analyse the strength and weaknesses of the pizza hut by using porters five forces analysis model of the strategic group. Decide the strategic group which can offer the best opportunity to use the power of the company and can reduce the weaknesses of pizza hut. (Byars 1991) IDENTIFY THE APPROPRIATE STRATEGIC RESPONSES In order to recognise the correct response in the development of the foodstuff industry. It is essential for pizza hut to analyse the threats and opportunities which occurs with the changes in the business. there could be tow type of strategic response which can be utilised in order to compete the challenges these two are named as intensely proactive and mildly proactive. So from the above analysis of pizza hut there are some positive scenario and some negative aspects have been seen in the Pizza hut company. First have a look on positive aspect of Pizza hut which is based on the deep analysis. According to analysis pizza hut will enter in the different food markets in all over the world and there business will grow and business will expand it may increase its market shares as well. There are very bright chances for pizza hut to penetrate in different markets as a result business growth will increase. Now have a look on negative aspects of pizza hut, in negative scenario there are po ssibilities of alternative products which can reduce the sale of pizza hut. There would be more competition in the food market for future and there is possibilities of new entrance in the food industry because there is very good potential and bright chances for business of new comers. Due to these new entries pizza hut business may affect so they have to be planned to compete these challenges then competition with rivals would be stronger in future so they have to make their policies good to fulfil the market requirements. They might need to expand their research and development units and they may need to invest more on new technologies in order to facilitates the customer By doing this they can may able to oppose the rivals otherwise there is chance that they may lose there customers. (Byars 1991) CONCLUSION Change is very important thing in business and in every business changes take place these changes bring various trends and flavours in the surroundings or in environment. In order to deal with changes in a better way managers and owners of business use different strategies. These strategies helps to make better decisions regarding these changes. Pizza hut is very huge food company and its well know almost in every country of the world there is one or two or more restaurants of pizza hut. For last 48 years pizza hut is serving peoples and considered one of the leading organizations in food industry. For last few years pizza hut is facing lots of challenges one of the big challenge was new entrance in this particular field. These new companies have become big threat for pizza hut as these organizations tried to change the taste of pizza hut customers. But pizza hut made very good strategies to compete these challenges and get dominant on these companies. (Feedburner 2009)   REFERENCES: BOOKS Kimberly Wylie (2009).  Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation : GRIN Verlag. 7-10. Bensoussan, Babette (2003).  Strategic and Competitive Analysis. Upper Sadlle River, NJ: Prentice Hall . 22-30. Byars, L. (1991)  Strategic Management, Formulation and Implementation Concepts and Cases, New York: HarperCollins. ARTICLES Cooper, L. (2000) Strategic  marketing planning  for radically new products, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 64 Issue 1, pp.1-15. Tony Grundy. (26 Oct 2006). Rethinking and reinventing Michael Porters five forces model.  . 15 , 5. Candis Reade. (14/10/2008). History of Pizza Hut, 3. WED SITES Frank and Dan Carney. (1958).  Mission statement.  Available: http://www.pizzahuthawaii.com/about/mission.html. Last accessed 20th Nov 2010.   Feedburner. (September 30, 2009).  International business of pizza hut.Available: http://ivythesis.typepad.com/term_paper_topics/2009/09/international-business-of-pizza-hut.html. Last accessed 20th Nov 2010.  

Euphemisms: Nineteen Eighty-four and Politically Correct Language Essay

Euphemisms are everywhere in today’s society. They are a daily accessory used in today’s language and are such a normalcy that one does not notice them as strange. For hundreds of years people have used language to persuade people or even nations. With the more advanced society gets so does the language and thus this persuasion gets even more convincing. Many novels show examples of euphemisms. Among those novels includes 1984 by George Orwell. Euphemisms can range from being used in politics to media campaigns to one’s own home. Also, they can be used for multiple purposes such as good or evil. Euphemisms usually distort the truth and mislead although some are motivated by kindness (â€Å"Making Murder Respectable†). â€Å"Euphemisms are coded expressions that we use when whatever we are referring to is considered inappropriate for the circumstances or when we are embarrassed or uncomfortable with the literal version. As one might expect, many euphemisms relate to sex or death† (â€Å"Euphemisms†). There have been multiple arguments that euphemisms help make people more sensitive and politically correct while others say it hinders and clouds the language, diverting people’s true meaning. Euphemisms can either be bad or good but it is important to know when and also where to draw the line in using this language. In Orwell’s novel 1984 euphemisms is so prevalent and the language used in that book is so distorted, at first, from what today’s society uses. Then, as a longer look is taken there are connections made between the language of today and the language that the government in book created. In 1984, there are two languages; Oldspeak and Newspeak. Newspeak is the language that the government wants to be the only source of communication. They have altered Oldspeak into this new language and made it very simple and small. This helps guarantee that people will not b e able to communicate any elaborate ideas that could hurt the government. Along with shortening the language they have eliminated words that have a bad connotation and replaced them with words that sound â€Å"happier† just with rules of usage to imply they are bad (Orwell). This is a prime example of euphemisms are how it can be taken to extremes. Within the book there are specific examples such as The Ministry of Truth, which is a section of the government that makes sure that no truth is actually revealed and is based upon lies (Orwell). All of the euphemisms in the book are used to control people without them being aware what is actually happening. In today’s society euphemisms are used but they do not always have an underlying goal of evil. This language technique is so commonly used that is does not seem strange or manipulative. People who believe euphemisms or politically correct language are good tend think that they provide many virtues. Two of them are that they help reduce the social acceptability of using offensive terms and that they discourage the reflexive use of words that import a negative stereotype, thereby promoting conscious thinking about how to describe others fairly on their merits (O’Neill). Although this seems like a pleasant idea eventually the words chosen to soften the subject will still mean the same thing and eventually become just as offensive. A bully who used to call a kid retarded is still going to hurt his feelings when he calls him differently abled with a harsh tone (O’Neill). Just as calling a woman big boned opposed to fat will still make her upset if seemed to be used in a negative connotation. Not only are euphemisms used in America but also around the world included China, Japan, Egypt and Russia. Oral sex is referred to as â€Å"playing the bamboo flute† in Japanese. A prostitute accosting a client on the streets of Cairo will ask â€Å"Fi hadd bitaghsal hudoumak† which literally means, â€Å"Do you have someone to wash your clothes† (Making Murder Respectable). This proves that euphemisms have been around a long time and are not something new.Orwell did mention that euphemisms can be sneaky and coercive while cloaking a decision’s unpleasant results. This is exampled in news about war when soldiers or just civilians have died and it is referred to as â€Å"collateral damage† (Making Murder Respectable). It has been argued if euphemisms are good or bad but it mostly depends on the extent of use and the situation in which is it veiling. There is no doubt that euphemisms will continue to be used in today’s society and for future generations to come. Works Citied â€Å"Euphemisms.† Euphemisms. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2012. â€Å"Making Murder Respectable.† The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 17 Dec. 2011. Web. 06 Nov. 2012. O’Neill, Ben. â€Å"A critique of politically correct language† The Free Library 22 September 2011. 06 November 2012 Orwell, George. 1984: a novel. New York, N.Y.: Published by Signet Classic :, 1977. Print.

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLES MANAGEMENT Essay

Chapter-V Accounts Receivable Management †¢ Introduction †¢ Goals of Receivable Management †¢ Credit Management †¢ Optimum Credit Policy †¢ Credit of Account Receivable 155 Introduction Accounts receivable represent the amount due form  customers (book debts) or debtors as a result of selling goods on credit. â€Å"The term debtors is defined as ‘debt’ owned to the firm by customers arising from sale of goods or services in the ordinary course of business.† The three characteristics of receivables the element of risk, economic value and futurity explain the basis and the need for efficient management of receivables. The element of risk should be carefully analyzed. Cash sales are totally riskless but not the credit sales, as the same has yet to be received. To the buyer the economic value in goods and services process immediately at the time of sale,  while the seller expect an equivalent value to be received later on. The cash payment for goods and services received by the  buyer will be made by him in a future period. The customer  from whom receivables or book debts have to be collected in  future are called Trade debtor and represent the firm’s claim on assets. Receivables management, also termed as credit management, deals with the formulation of credit policy, in  terms of liberal or restrictive, concerning credit standard and credit period, the discount offered for early payment and the 156 collection policy and procedures undertaken. It does so in such a way that taken together these policy variables determine an optimal level of investment in receivables where the return on that investment is maximum to the firm. The credit period extended by business firm usually ranges from 15 to 60 days. When goods are sold on credit, finished goods get converted  into accounts receivable (trade debtors) in the books of the seller. In the books of the buyer, the obligation arising from credit purchase is represented as accounts payable (trade creditors). â€Å"Accounts receivable is the total of all credit extended by a firm to its customer.† A firm’s investment in account receivable depends upon  how much it sells on credit and how long it takes to collect receivable. Accounts receivable (or sundry debtors) constitute the 3rd most important assets category for business firm after plant and equipment and inventories and also constitute the 2nd most important current assets category for business firm after inventories. Poor management of accounts receivables are: neglect of  various overdue account, sharp rise in the bad debt expense, and the collection of debts expense and taking the discount by customers even though they pay after the discount date and  even after the net date. Since accounts receivable represent a sizable  investment on the part of most firms in the case of  public enterprises in India it forms 16 to 20 per cent of current assets. Efficient management of these accounts can provide  considerable saving to the firm. 157 Factors involving in Receivable management: 1. The terms of credit granted to customers deemed creditworthy. 2. The policies and practices of the firm in determining which customers are to be granted credit. 3. The paying practices of credit customers. 4. The vigoir of the sellers, collection policies and practice. 5. The volume of credit sales. Goals of Receivable Management The basic goal of credit management is to maximize the  value of the firm by achieving a trade off between the liquidity (risk and profitability). The purpose of credit management is not to maximize sales, nor to minimize the risk of bad debt. If the objective were to maximize  sales, then the firm would sell on credit to all. On the contrary, if minimization of bad debt risk were the aim, then the firm would not sell on credit to anyone. In fact, the firm should manage its credit in such a way that sales are expanded to an extent to which risk remains  within an acceptable limit. Thus to achieve the goal of  maximizing the value, the firm should manage its trade credit. The efficient and effective credit management does help  to expand sales and can prove to be an effective tool of  marketing. It helps to retain old customers and win newcustomers. Well administrated credit means profitable credit accounts. The objectives of receivable management is to  promote sales and profits until that point is reached where the 158 return on investment is further funding of receivables is less than the cost of funds raised to finance that additional credit. Granting of credit and its management involve costs. To  maximize the value of the firm, these costs must be controlled. These thus include the credit administration expanses, b/d  losses and opportunity costs of the funds tied up in receivable. The aim of credit management should be to regulate and  control these costs, not to eliminate them altogether. The cost can be reduced to zero, if no credit is granted. But the profit foregone on the expected volume of sales arising due to the extension of credit. Debtors involve funds, which have an opportunity cost. Therefore, the investment in receivables or debtors should be optimized. Extending liberal credit pushes sales and thus  results in higher profitability but the increasing investment in debtors results in increasing cost. Thus a trade off should be sought between cost and benefits to bring investment in  debtors at an optimum level. Of course the level of debtors, to a great extent is influenced by external factors such as industry norms, level of business activity, seasonal factors and the  degree of completion. But there are a lot of internal factors include  credit  terms,  standards,  limits  and  collection  procedures. The internal factors should be well administered to optimize the investment in debtors. 159 Credit Management In order that the credit sales are properly managed it is necessary to determine following factors: 1. Credit Policy 2. Credit Evaluation of Individual Buyers 3. Credit Sanction Decisions 4. Control and Monitoring of Receivables Credit Policy The first stage of credit sales is to decide policy in which most important variable is whether credit sales should be made or not and if yes to what extent i.e. what percentage of sales should be done on cash and what percentage on credit. The  discussion with cement companies marketing and financà ©Ã‚  department clearly suggest that the credit policy is more  dependent upon market forces and less on company specially  in periods when there is excessive competition which has  happened a number of times in the history of cement industry after decontrol and manufactures have been forced to provide credit if they wanted full utilization of capacity. If in the market there is practice of providing credit, those companies who do not fall in line have lower sales and so lower utilization of instilled capacity. The management has to weigh whether it  should avoid risk of realization and problem of arranging  funds for larger sales on credit or decide for reduced capacity util ization thereby resulting in higher cost per tonne of cement produced. 160 Actually the policy should be based on cost benefit  analysis of these factors but often policy is decided without detailed calculations. In actual practice when one waits to push sales the marketing department pressurizes the management to provide liberal credit to buyers to realize sales targets. Credit Rating The second virtual point of credit policy is to whom to give credit and whom it should be denied. Whether it should be given to everyone or on selective basis? As per standards one can workout impact of credit sales on profits by following formulae: ∆P = ∆S (1-V) – K * ∆I – B, ∆S in the above formula ∆P = Change in profit ∆S = Change in sales V = Ratio of variable cost to sales K = Cost of capital i.e. interest cost of credit ∆I = Increase in receivables investment B = Bad debts ratio on additional sales The change in profits (∆P) is dependent upon ratio of variable cost and fixed cost and change in sales. The figure is worked out by deducting variable cost from sales i.e. sales  minus variable cost is change in profits. The above formula appears to be very simple but for  policy purposes it requires that policy maker should be able to estimate precisely the impact of credit on sales value, the  variable cost and bad debts besides the cost of capital. In practice besides the cost of capital, it is very difficult to measure extent of increase in sales as a result of credit and it is only broad estimate of sales department. Similarly, it is very difficult if not impossible to workout likely bad debts. The variable cost can be worked out with great precision if proper costing system is maintained. Because of difficulties in  quantifying various variables in the formulae often credit  policy is decided without working details on prevailing market conditions and the need of the company to push sales at a point of time. It has been by various companies that no details are worked. Credit Period The credit period is the time length for which seller agrees to provide credit to the buyers. It varies according to the practice of trade and varies between 15 to 60 days. In some  cases for an early payment pre-agreed discount is given to  induce buyer make an early payment. For late payment in the  agreement there is provision for interest payment by buyer. If credit is given for longer period it induces to push up sales but this is true only when one provides longer period credit than competitors. The customer-distributor, dealer, consumers is attracted to a firm who provides longer period credit. The impact of credit on profits and sales can be worked out from the following formula: ∆P= ∆S (1-V)*K*∆1-b, ∆S The various components are as under : 162 ∆ P= Change in profit ∆ S= Change in sales ∆ 1= Change in investments receivables V= Ratio of variable cost to sales K= Cost of giving credit b= bad debits ratio to increased credit The discussion with the industry suggests that they rarely take decision on period of credit based on formula. It is market conditions and practices in the trade, which decides the period of credit and hardly any calculations of cost are done. In practice it is marketing department whose advice plays an  important and deciding role. In the period when sales have to be pushed up more credit is provided and there is no uniform policy overtime. During rainy season (July-Sep.) when demand is generally slack more liberal credit is granted than rest of the year. Further, when stocks accumulate due to sluggish sales,  producers accept the terms of their customers and traders  about the period of credit but when market conditions are  tight, the seller becomes more strict in providing credit. Optimum Credit Policy Credit policy refers to those decision variables that influence the amount of trade credit i.e. the investment in receivables. The firm’s investment in receivable are affected by general economic conditions, industry norms, pace of technological change, competition etc. Though the firm has no control on these factors, yet they have a great impact on it and it can certainly influence the level of trade credit through its 163 credit policy within their constraints imposed externally. The purpose of any commercial enterprise is the earning of profit. Credit itself is utilized to increase sales, but sales must return a profit. Further, whenever some external factors change, the firm can accordingly adopt its credit policy. R.J. Chambers says, â€Å"The responsibility to administer credit and collection policies may be assigned to a financial executive or marketing executive or both of them jointly depending upon the original structure and the objectives of the firm.† Different types of credit policy are: 1. Loose or Expansive Credit Policy– Firms following this policy tend to sell on credit to customers very liberally. Credits are granted even to those whose credit worthiness is not proved, not known and are doubtful. Advantages of Loose or Expansive Credit Policy: (i) Increase in Sales (higher sales), (ii) Increase in profit (higher profit), Disadvantages of Loose or Expansive Credit Policy: (i) Heavy bad/debts. (ii) Problem of liquidity (iii) Increase in cost of credit management. 2. Tight or Restrictive Credit Policy– Firms following this policy are very selective in extending credit. They sell on credit, only to those customers who had proved credit worthiness. Advantages of Tight of Restrictive Credit Policy: (i) Minimize cost. (ii) Minimize chances of bad debts. 164 (iii) Higher sales in long run. (iv) Higher profit in long run. (v) Do not pose the serious problem of liquidity. Disadvantages of Tight or Restrictive Credit Policy: (i) Restrict Sales. (ii) Restrict Profit Margin. Benefits of Credit Extension: (i) Increases the sales of the firm. (ii) Makes the credit policy liberal. (iii) Increase the profits of the firm (iv) The market value of the firms share would rise. Cost of Credit Extension: (i) Bad debt losses (ii) Production and selling cost. (iii) Administrative expenses. (iv) Cash discounts and opportunity cost. Cost Benefit Trade off Profitability 165 Aspects of Credit Policy: (i) Credit terms (a) Credit Period (b) Cash Discounts (ii) Credit Standard (iii) Collection policy or collection efforts. (i) Credit terms – The stipulations under which the firm sells on credit to its customers are called credit terms. (a) Credit Period – The time duration for which credit is extended to the customers is referred to as credit period. It is the length of time for customers under which they are allowed to pay for their purchases. It is generally varies between 15-60 days. When a firm does not extend any credit the credit period would obviously be zero. It is generally stated in terms of a net date, for example, if firm allows 30 days of credit with no discount to induce early payments credit then its credit terms are stated at ‘net 30’. Usually the credit period of the firm is governed by industry norms, but firms can extend credit for  longer duration to stimulate sales. If the firm’s bad debts build up, it may tighten up its credit policy as against the industry norms. According to Martin H. Seidhen, â€Å"Credit period is the duration of time for which trade credit is extended. During this period the overdue amount must be paid by the customer. The  length of credit period directly affects the volume of  investment in receivables and indirectly the net worth of the company. A long credit period may blast sales but it also 166 increase investment in receivables and lowers the quality of trade credit.† (b) Cash Discounts – It is the another aspect of credit terms. Many firms offer to grant cash discount to their customers in order to induce them to pay their bill early. The cash discount terms indicate the rate of discount and the period for which discount has been offered. If a customer does not avail this offer, he is expected to make the payment by the net date. In the words of Martin H. Seiden â€Å"Cash Discount prevents debtors from using trade credit as a source of Working Capital.† Liberalizing the cash discount policy may mean that the discount percentage is increased and or the discount period is lengthened. Such an action tends to enhance sales (because the discount is regarded as price reduction), reduce the average collection period (as customers pay promptly). Cash Discount is a premium on payment of debts before due date and not a compensation for the so – called prompt payment. (iii) Credit Standard – The credit standard followed by the  firm has an impact of sales and receivables. The sales  and receivables level are likely to be high, if the credit  standard of the firm are relatively low. In contrast, if  the firm has relatively low credit standard, the sales  and receivables level are expected to be relatively  high. The firms credit standard are influenced by three  Ã¢â‚¬Å"C† of credit. (a) Character – the willingness of the  customers to pay, (b) Capacity – the ability of the  customers to pay, and (c) Condition – the prevailing  economic conditions. Normally a firm should lower its credit standards to the  extent profitability of increased sales exceed the associated costs. The cost arising due to credit standard realization are administrative cost of supervising additional accounts and  servicing increased volume of receivables, bad debt losses,  production and selling cost and cost resulting from the slower average collection period. The extent to which credit standard can be liberalized  should depend upon the matching between the profits arising  due to increased sales and cost to be incurred on the increased sales. (iii) Collection policy- This policy is needed because all  customers do not pay the firm’s bill in time. There are certain customers who are slow payers and some are non-payers. Therefore the collection policy should aim at accelerating  collections from slow payers and non-payers and reducing bad debt losses. According to R.K. Mishra, â€Å"A collection policy should  always  systematization  emphasize  in  promptness,  collection  efforts. It  regularity  will  and  have  a  psychological effect upon the customers, in that, it will make them realize the attitude of the seller towards the obligations granted.† The collection programme of the firm aimed at timely  collection of receivables, any consist of many things like  monitoring the state of receivable, despatch of letter to  customers whose due date is approaching, telegraphic and  telephone advice to customers around the due date, threat of legal action to overdue accounts, legal action against overdue accounts. The firm has to be very cautious in taking the steps in  order to collect from the slow paying customers. If the firm is strict in its collection policy with the permanent customers, who are temporarily slow payers due to their economic  conditions, they will get offended and may shift to competitors and the firm may loose its permanent business. In following an optimal collection policy the firm should compare the cost and benefits. The optimal credit policy will maximize the profit and will consistent with the objective of maximizing the value of the firm. Credit Evaluation Before granting credit to a prospective customers the  financial executive must judge, how creditworthy is the  customer. In judging the creditworthiness of a customer, often financial executive keep in mind as basic criteria the four (i) Capital –refers to the financial resources of a company as indicated primarily by the financial statement of the firm. (ii) Capacity – refers to the ability of the customers to pay on time. (iii) Character – refers to the reputation of the customer for honest and fair dealings. (iv) Collateral – represents the security offered by the customer in the form of mortgages. Credit evaluation involves a large number of activities  ranging from credit investigation to contact with customers, appraisal review, follow up, inspection and recovery. These  activities required decision-making skills which can partly be developed through experience but partly it has to be learned externally. This is particularly true in area of pre-credit  appraisal and post-credit follow up. It is an important element of credit management. It helps  in establishing credit terms. In assessing credit risk, two types of error occur – (i) A good customer is misclassified as a poor credit risk. (ii) A bad customer is misclassified as a good credit risk. Both the errors are costly. Type (i) leads to loss of profit on sales to good customer who are denied credit. Type (ii)  leads in bad debt losses on credit sales made to risky customer. While misclassification errors cannot be eliminated wholly, a firm can mitigate their occurrence by doing proper credit evaluation. Three broad approaches used for credit evaluation are: A. Traditional Credit Analysis – This approach to credit  analysis calls for assuming a prospective customer in terms of 5 of credit: (i) Character, (ii) Capacity, (iii) Capital, (iv) Collateral, and (v) Conditions. To get the information on the 5 firm may rely on the following. 1. Financial statements 2. Bank references 170 3. 4. Credit agencies 5. Experience of the firm 6. B. Trade references Prices and yields on securities Sequential Credit Analysis – This method is more efficient method than above method. In this analysis, investigation is carried further if the benefits of such analysis outweighs its cost. C. Numerical Credit Scoring – This system involves the following steps. 1. Identifying factors relevant for credit evaluation. 2. Assign weights to these factors that reflect their relative importance. 3. Rate the customer on various factors, using a suitable rating scale (usually a 5 pt. Scale or a 7pt. Scale is used). 4. For each factor, multiply the factor rating with the factor weight to get the factor score. 5. Add all the factors score to get the overall customer rating index. 6. Based on the rating index, classify the rating index. D. Discriminant Analysis – The credit index described above is somewhat ad hoc in nature and is based on weight which are subjective in nature. The nature of discriminate analysis may be employed to construct a better risk index. Under this analysis the customers are divided into two categories: 1. who pay the dues (X) 171 2. who have defaulted (O) The straight line seems to separate the x’s from o’s, not completely but does a fairly good job of segregating the two groups. The equation of this straight line is Z = 1 Current Ratio + 0.1 return on equity A customer with a Z score less than 3 is deemed credit worthy and a customer with a Z score less than 3 is considered not credit worthy i.e. the higher the Z score the stronger the credit rating. (V) Risk Classification Scheme – On the basis of information and analysis in the credit investigation process, customers may be classified into various risk categories. Risk Categories Description 1. Customers with no risk of default 2. Customer with negligible risk of default (< 2%) 3. Customer with less risk of default (2% to 5%) 4. Customer with some risk of default (5% to 10%) 5. Customer with significant risk of default (> 10%) Credit Granting Decision – After assessing the credit worthiness of a customer, next step is to take credit granting decision. There are two possibilities: (i) No repetition of order. Profit = P (Rev-Cost) – (1-P) Cost 172 Where P is the probability that the customer pays his dues, (1-P) is the probability that the customer defaults, Rev is revenue for sale and cost is the cost of goods sold. The expected profit for the refuse credit is O. Obviously, if the expected profit of the course of action offer credit is positive, it is desirable to extend credit otherwise not. Customer pays (Rev-cost) Offer credit Customer default (1-P) Refuse credit (ii) Repeat Order – In this case, this would only be accepted only if the customer does not default on the first order. Under this, once the customer pays for the first order, the probability that he would default on the second order is less than the probability of his defaulting on the first order. The expected profit of offering credit in this case. Expected profit on initial order + Probability of payment and repeat order x expected profit on repeat order. [P1 (Rev1 – Cost1)-(1-P1) Cost1] + P1 x [P2(Rev2-Cost2)-(1P2) Cost2] The optimal credit policy, and hence the optimal level of accounts receivable, depends upon the firm’s own unique operating conditions. Thus a firm with excess capacity and low variable production cost should extend credit more liberally and carry a higher level of accounts receivable than a firm operating a full capacity on a slim profit margin. When a sale is made, the following events occur: 173 (1) Inventories are reduced by the cost of goods sold. (2) Accounts receivable are increased by the sales price, and (3) The differences is recorded as a profit. If the sale is for cash. Generally two methods have been commonly suggested for monitoring accounts receivable. (1) Traditional Approach (a) (b) (2) Average collection period Aging Schedule Collection Margin approach or Payment Pattern Approach (a) Average Collection Period (AC): It is also called Day Sales Outstanding (DSOI) at a given time ‘t’ may define as the ratio of receivable outstanding at that time to average daily sales figure. ACP = Accounts receivable at time â€Å"t† Average daily sales According to this method accounts receivable are deemed to be in control if the ACP is equal to or less than a certain norm. If the value of ACP exceed the specified norm, collections are considered to be slow. If the company had made cash sales as well as credit sales, we would have concentrated on credit sales only, and calculate average daily credit sales. The widely used index of the efficiency of credit and collections is the collection period of number of days sales 174 outstanding in receivable. The receivable turnover is simply ACP/360 days. Thus if receivable turnover is six times a year, the collection period is necessarily 60 days. (b) Aging Schedule – An aging schedule breaks down a firm’s receivable by age of account. The purpose of classifying receivables by age group is to gain a closer control over the quality of individual accounts. It requires going back to the receivables’ ledger where the dates of each customer’s purchases and payments are available. To evaluate the receivable for control purpose, it may be considered desirable to compare this information with earlier age classification in that very firm and also to compare this information with the experience of other firms of same nature. Financial executives get such schedule prepared at periodic intervals for control purpose. So we can say Aging Schedule classifies outstanding accounts receivable at a given point of time into different age brackers. The actual aging schedule of the firm is compared with some standard aging schedule to determine whether accounts receivable are in control. A problem is indicated if the actual aging schedule shows a greater proportion of receivable, compared with the standard aging schedule, in the higher age group. An inter firm comparison of aging schedule of debtors is possible provided data relating to monthly sales and collection experience of competitive firm are available. This tool, 175 therefore, cannot be used by an external analyst who has got no approach to the details of receivable. The above both approaches have some deficiencies. Both methods are influenced by pattern of sales and payment behaviour of customer. The aging schedule is distorted when the payment relating to sales in any month is unusual, even though payment relating to sales in other months are normal. II. Payment Pattern Approach – This pattern is developed to measure any changes that might be occurring in customer’s payment behaviour. It is defined in terms of proportion or percentage. For analyzing the payment pattern of several months, it is necessary to prepare a conversion matrix which shows the credit sales in each month and the pattern of collection associated with it. The payment pattern approach is not dependent on sales level. It focuses on the key issue, the payment behaviour. It enables one to analyze month by month pattern as against the combined sales and payment patterns. From the collection pattern, one can judge whether the collection is improving, stable, or deteriorating. A secondary analysis is that it provides a historical record of collection percentage that can be useful in projecting monthly receipts for each budgeting period. Control of Accounts Receivable Some of the important techniques for controlling accounts receivable are ratio analysis, discriminate analysis, 176 decision tree approach, and electronic data processing. Information system with regard to receivables turnover, age of each account, progress of collection size of bad debt losses, and number of delinquent accounts is also used as one of the control measures. Ratio analysis is widely used in the control of accounts receivable. Some of the important ratios used for this purpose are discussed below: (1) Average collection Period (Receivables x 365/Annual Credit Sales): The average collection period indicates the average time it takes to convert receivables into cash. Too low an average collection period may reflect an excessively restrictive credit policy and suggest the need for relaxing credit standards for an acceptable account. On the other hand too high an average collection period may indicate an excessively liberal credit policy leading to a large number of receivables being past due and some being not collectable. (2) Receivables Turnover Sales/Receivables): (Annual Credit This ratio also indicates the slowness of receivables. Both the average collection period ratio and receivables ratio must be analyzed in relation to the billing terms given on the sales. If the turnover rates are not satisfactory when compared with prior experience, average industry turnover and turnover ratios of comparable companies in the same industry, an analysis should be made to determine whether there is any 177 laxity in the credit policy or whether the problem is in collection policy. (3) Receivables to Sales (Receivables/Annual Credit Sales x 100) Receivables can be expected to fluctuate in direct relation to the volume of sales, provided that sales terms and collection practices do not change. The tendency towards more lenient credit extension as would be suggested by slackening of collections and increase in the number of slow paying accounts needs to be detected by carefully watching the relationship of receivables to sales. When credit sales figures for a period are not available, total sales figures may be used. The receivables figures in the calculation ordinarily represent year-end receivables. In the case of firms with seasonal sales, year-end receivables figures may be deceptive. Therefore, an average of the monthly closing balances figures may be more reliable. (4) Receivables as percentage of Current (Receivables/Total Current Assets Investment) Assets The ratio explains the amount of receivables per rupee of current asset investment and its size in current assets. Comparison of the ratio over a period offers an index of a firm’s changing policies with regard to the level of receivables in the working capital. Some other ratios are: 1. Size of receivable = receivable/total current assets 2. Size of debtors = debtors/total current assets 178 3. Size of loans and advances = loans and advances/total current assets The size of receivables of selected companies has been given in table 5.1 Table 5.1 Size of Receivables of the Selected Cement Companies for the years from 2003-04 to 2007-08 Year ACC Mangalam Gujarat Ambuja 0.52 0.35 0.43 0.35 0.46 0.52 0.43 0.54 0.38 0.54 0.44 0.46 Shree Cement 0.58 0.55 0.63 0.61 0.66 0.61 India Cement 0.54 0.72 0.79 0.84 0.87 0.75 Industry Average 0.53 0.53 0.61 0.61 0.62 0.58 2003-04 0.68 2004-05 0.61 2005-06 0.67 2006-07 0.64 2007-08 0.62 Company 0.64 Average Source: Based on data provided annual Reports of the cement companies. The size of receivable of all the cement companies shows  fluctuating trend throughout the study period except Gujarat Ambuja, and Shree. Both the companies show increasing trend. The minimum size of receivable in ACC is 0.61 (2004-05),  Mangalam is 0.38 (2007-08), Gujarat Amubja is 0.35 (2003-04 and 2004-05), Shree Cement is 0.55 (2004-05) and in India  Cement is 0.54 (2003-04). The maximum size of receivable in  ACC is 0.66 (2003-04), Mangalam is 0.52 (2003-04), Gujarat Ambuja is 0.54 (2007-08), and Shree cement is 0.66 (2007-08) and in India cement is 0.87 (2007-08). The study of the  composition of receivables is a very important tool to evaluate  the management of receivables. It assists to show the point where receivables are concentrated most. The size of sundry debtors in cement manufacturing   companies in India has been computed and presented in the table 5.2. Table 5.2 Size of Sundry Debtors of the Selected Cement Companies  for the years from 2003-04 to 2007-08 Shree Cement 0.22 India Cement 0.11 Industry 0.21 Mangalam Gujarat Ambuja 0.34 0.05 2004-05 0.29 0.32 0.05 0.33 0.08 0.22 2005-06 0.32 0.34 0.07 0.32 0.11 0.23 2006-07 0.28 0.31 0.08 0.27 0.14 0.22 2007-08 0.27 0.21 0.09 0.26 0.12 0.19 Company 0.28 0.30 0.07 0.28 0.11 0.21 Year ACC 2003-04 0.19 Average Source: Based on data based on Annual Report of Cement Company It is evident from the table 5.2 that the size of sundry  debtors in ACC, India Cement, Mangalam and Shree show fluctuating trend throughout the study period. Percentage to current assets was highest to 0.32 in ACC in 2005-06 and  highest 0.33 in Shree in 2004-05. Gujarat Ambuja shows  increasing trend throughout the study period. The percentage of sundry debtors to current assets where reduced shows that in those years the speed of increase in current assets was much more than that of the sundry debtors. The size of receivable of all the cement companies shows fluctuating trend throughout  the study period except Gujarat Amubja. The minimum size of  receivable in ACC is 0.21 (2003-04), Mangalam is 0.21 (2007-08), Gujarat Ambuja is 0.05 (2003-04 and 2004-05), Shree cement is 0.22 (2003-04) and in India Cement is 0.08 (2004-05). The  maximum size of receivable in ACC is 0.32 (2005-06),  Mangalam is 0.34 (2003-04 and 2005-06), Gujarat Ambuja is 0.09 (2007-08), and Shree Cement is 0.33 (2004-05) and in India Cement is 0.14 (2006-07). The average collection period of selected cement  companies has been given in table 5.3 Table 5.3 Average Collection Period in Selected Cement Companies for the years from 2003-04 to 2007-08 (in days) Year ACC Mangalam Gujarat Ambuja Shree 1999-00 34 36 7 46 India Cement 18 2000-01 43 36 7 47 20 2001-02 43 33 8 49 22 2002-03 41 27 10 48 37 2003-04 26 28 10 37 47 Company 39 32 8 45 29 Average Source: Based on data provided in Appendix The minimum Average Collection Period in ACC is 34 (2003-04), Mangalam is 27 (2006-07), Gujarat Ambuja is 7 (200304 and 2004-05), Shree Cement is 37 (2007-08) and in India Cement is 18 (2003-04). The maximum Average Collection Period in ACC is 43 (2004-05 and 2005-06), Mangalam is 36 (2003-04 and 2004-05), Gujarat Ambuja is 10 (2006-07) and  2007-08), and Shree Cement is 49 (2005-06) and in India Cement is 47 (2007-08). 181 The Creditor turnover of selected cement companies has been given in the table 5.4. Table 5.4 Creditor turnover of Selected Cement Companies or the years from 2003-04 to 2007-08 Shree 11.10 Mangalam Gujarat Ambuja 8.77 1.12 1.63 India Cement 1.40 Industry Average 4.80 2004-05 12.60 6.98 0.71 1.15 1.38 4.56 2005-06 12.93 5.80 0.63 1.41 1.09 4.37 2006-07 12.19 5.48 0.95 1.93 0.97 4.30 2007-08 13.42 3.71 0.73 1.58 0.90 4.07 Company 12.45 6.15 0.83 1.54 1.15 4.42 Year ACC 2003-04 Average Source: Based on data based on Annual Report of the cement companies It is evident from the table 5.4 that Creditor turnover in ACC and Gujarat Ambuja and Shree fluctuating trend. Mangalam and India Cement show decreasing trend all over  the study period. The minimum Creditor turnover in ACC is 1.10 (2003-04), Mangalam is 3.71 (2007-08), Gujarat Ambuja is 0.62 (2005-06), Shree Cement is 1.15 (2004-05) and in India Cement is 0.90 (2007-08). The maximum Creditor turnover in ACC is 13.42 (2007-08), Mangalam is 8.77 (2003-04), Gujarat Ambuja is 1.12 (2003-04), and Shree Cement is 1.93 (2006-07) and in India Cement is 1.40 (2003-04). The  debtors  turnover  in  cement  manufacturing  companies in India has been computed and presented in thetable 5.5. 182 Table 5.5 Size of Receivable of Selected Cement Companies  for the years from 2003-04 to 2007-08 Year ACC 10.65 Mangalam Gujarat Ambuja 10.21 50.26 2003-04 2004-05 8.58 10.21 2005-06 8.45 2006-07 2007-08 Shree 7.90 India Cement 20.45 Industry Average 19.89 52.07 7.78 17.85 19.30 11.19 44,17 7.47 16.66 17.59 8.95 13.64 36.79 7.67 9.92 15.39 10.20 13.06 37.41 9.94 7.73 15.67 Company 9.37 11.66 44.14 8.15 14.52 17.57 Average Source: Based on data based on Annual Report of the Cement Companies It is evident from the table 5.5 that the debtors turnover in ACC is fluctuating maintains approximately a fixed level. Mangalam and Gujarat Ambuja show fluctuating trend  throughout the study period. Debtors turnover was highest to 13.64 in Mangalam and 9.94 in Shree in 2006-07 and 2007-08  respectively. India Cement shows decreasing trend throughout the study period. The minimum debtors turnover in ACC is 8.45 (2005-06), Mangalam is 10.21 (2003-04 and 2004-05),  Gujarat Ambuja is 36,79 (2002-03), Shree Cement is 7.47 (200506) and in India Cement is 7.73 (2007-08). The maximum debtors turnover in ACC is 10.65 (2003-04), Mangalam is 13.64 (2006-07), Gujarat Ambuja is 52.07 (2004-05), and Shree Cement is 9.94 (2007-08) and in India Cement is 20-45 (2003-04). 183 Select References: O.M. Introduction to Financial Management (Homewood illnois: Richard D. Irwin, 1978). Lawerence D. Schal and Charles W. Haley, Financial Management, 3rd Edition. New York, McGraw Hill, 1973). S.E Bolten, Managerial Finance, (Boston: Houghton Mitten Co., 1976). R.J. Chambers, Financial Management, (Sydney: GTE Law Book Company Ltd,. 1967). Joseph L. Wood, ‘Credit and Collections’ in Daris Lillian, ed., Business Finance Handbook, (Englewood, Cliffs, New Jersey : Prentice Hall, 1962. Martin H. Seiden, The Quality of Trade Credit (New York : National Bureau of Economic Research, 1964. Theodore N. Backman, Credit and Collection: Management and Theory (New York : McGraw Hill Book Company, 1962). 184