Case Study Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Case Study - Assignment Example Capital budgeting decisions fundamentally places strong emphasis on time value of money. In this regard, net present value method is very effective as it takes in consideration discounting of the inflow. The NPV of project Alpha was determined to be  £36,700 while that of project Beta was determined to be  £29,340. Both NPVs are positive but project Alpha has higher NPV, hence the firm should accept project Alpha. Accounting rate of return has been measured by establishing proportionate relationship between average accounting income and average investment for a specific period. The ARR of project Alpha was determined to be 29.39% while that of project Beta was determined to be 1.62%. The reason for low ARR in project Beta is significant investment in new purchases in the third year. Based on ARR, project alpha should be accepted. Additionally, payback period is least for project Alpha and based on the argument that a project with quicker returns should be accepted, project Alpha is better investment that Project Beta. Nonetheless, the overall assessment favours project Alpha over project Beta. Therefore, Project Alpha is a better investment (Froot and Stein, 1998). Capital budgeting decisions can be evaluated using discounted and non-discounted techniques: the discounted techniques comprise NPV and IRR method while non-discounted techniques include ARR and Payback period. NPV is referred to the difference between initial investment in a project and the discounted future net cash flows from the project. The NPV of a project ranges among positive, negative or breakeven (equivalent to zero). The first criterion for accepting a project is positive NPV as negative NPV indicates unfeasible project while zero indicates breakeven. The second criterion for accepting or rejecting a project is that an investment with highest NPV will be accepted. Discounting cash flows using a discounting factor, which

Comparing heat loss between a single test tube Essay Example for Free

Comparing heat loss between a single test tube Essay I aim to prove whether heat loss is reduced by huddling test tubes, as opposed to the heat loss of a single test tube, which is more exposed to the air. Background Information Controls Variables The number of test tubes. Time taken to carry out the experiment. The number of thermometers. Starting temperature. Amount of water added to each test tube. Final temperature. 15 readings, which are repeated for an average. The number of elastic bands required supporting the huddle. The number of beakers and stands required supporting the test tubes. Prediction I predict that the single test tube is more exothermic than the test tubes in the huddle. This is because, by huddling, a smaller surface area of the test tubes is exposed to the air. Thus, less heat is given off. Heat can be lost in various ways. However, by huddling the test tubes, heat loss via convection and radiation can be reduced. Examples where huddling is vital for survival occur in nature. As evidence that huddling is a learned response, animals like penguins and seals would die if they were not taught these basic skills. If my prediction is correct my graph should resemble the one shown below: Temp ( C) 70 35 0 15 Time (mins) Method To make comparisons between the temperature loss of a single test tube and the test tubes in a huddle, I required eight test tubes. First, I placed one test tube in a stand and gave it a thermometer. The remaining seven test tubes were held together by an elastic band and placed in a large beaker. A thermometer was then placed in the centre test tube of the huddle. Next, my teacher poured boiling water to the brim of each test tube. At this point, I started the stop-clock, reading each thermometer every minute for 15 minutes and recording the temperature in a results table. After documenting the final result, I refreshed the water in each test tube and repeated the experiment to record my second readings. Conclusion My results show that the test tubes in a huddle lost 24. 5 C and the single test tube lost 28 C. Thus the test tubes in a huddle restored 3. 5 C more than the single test tube. As a result the test concurs with my prediction, that the single test tube is more exothermic than the test tubes in the huddle. I also configured results to show the percentage change of the single test tube and the test tubes in a huddle. The percentage change for the single test tube was 33. 26% and 24. 809% for the test tubes in a huddle. The percentage change for the test tubes in a huddle was 8. 451% less than that of the single test tube. Thus indicating the single test tube has a higher percentage change. Evaluation. My investigation into the heat loss of a single test tube and test tubes in a huddle was successful as the results coincide with my prediction and predicted graph. Thus proving my results was correct. It was imperative that I made the experiment a fair test by complying with the following: The size of each test tube had to be the same. Â  The temperature of the single test tube and the test tubes in a huddle had to be the same before the experiment began. The amount of water added to each test tube had to be the same. Each result had to be recorded every minute. Â  The thermometers had to be kept still, inside the test tubes, at all times e. g. no picking up in order to read the temperature. This is so the temperature is not affected. To improve my investigation, I would accomplish the following: Â  By repeating the experiment more than twice, I can get more readings and thus improve my average results. This makes the experiment more accurate. Â  I can begin the experiment at higher temperatures. This will give me more varied results. Beginning the experiment at higher temperatures will also enable me to expand the time. Providing me with more results. By carrying out the same experiment in different temperatures, I can resolve how much the results are affected and make comparisons. Â  I could also cover the test tubes in different materials like cotton and foil to resolve whether they affect the temperature. Â  I can differ the water level in the single test tube compared to that of the test tubes in a huddle to determine whether the amount of water affects the results. Christopher Smith 5/7/2007.

SWOT Analysis Of Halal Restaurant

SWOT Analysis Of Halal Restaurant In this business plan report summarise the nature of our business, the advertising and sales strategy, the monetary background, projected cash flow and income statement. Nevertheless it shows our current position and where we want to be in the future and how we have planned to get there through excellent management. It lays out the route for the future our business and set up standards of success. Hence the business plan will help us in acquiring capital from investors / lenders such financial institutions as they will have clear understanding of the business and willing to invest if the business proposal is persuasive. Our business proposal is setting up a halal restaurant in Treforest whereby the restaurant will cater healthy meals prepared in Islamic rites. The restaurant will provide a combination of wide varieties of food with excellence in value pricing, fun packaging and atmosphere. In Treforest there are numerous halal takeaways thus this will give us competitive advantage as there is no halal restaurants within the area. Our main target customers are Muslims who are minority from all over the world, who will be easily attracted to a place where they will be enjoying their meals prepared according to their Islamic rites in comfortable environment. Nevertheless despite the fact the food being prepared in Islamic rites, we intend to target majority of the students and the local people as the food offered will be healthy diet and it will cater their needs such as their busy lifestyles. Our mission is to provide high quality food which adheres to Islamic rites and to provide products which are better, safe and hygienic. Morever we aim to promote customer satisfaction through feedbacks, review of menu and creating friendly relationship with customers. Halal restaurant will be a privately held company and registered as a Limited private company, with three shareholders with equal number of shares. The restaurant will be a rented property. Six staffs shall be employed who will include two chefs, two waiters and two kitchen porters. As we the shareholders will also be accountable for managerial tasks of the halal restaurant. Halal industry is growing and expanding at a high rate because of migration of more people into UK specifically in Wales, and we want to have our own shares in Halal food industry. The reason of setting up a halal restaurant in Trefforest is, first there is low degree of halal restaurants within the area as majority are fast foods and takeaways. Thus this will give us a competitive advantage as competition within restaurants will be low. Moreover the restaurant will cater healthy meals and it since the location of the restaurant will be in treforest majority of customers will prefer dining out in our restaurant rather than travelling to Cardiff as they will save their time and money used on transport. The key to be successful in our restaurant, we will create a unique and innovative atmosphere of dining which will be different from competitors and offer a great fastest service and high quality of food. The employees would be motivated so they can work in comfortable environment and different programs would be enhanced so as to assemble devoted workforce. Furthermore we will focus on cost control so as to meet profit margin by managing bank deposit, accounts payable, issuing inventory, cash receipts, purchasing, order taking, and service preparation. This will help us to track actual expenditure aligned with our forecasts in managing the halal restaurant. Moreover customer satisfaction would be our prominent factor for the success of halal restaurant. This will be done thorough frequent and friendly interaction with customers so as to know their particular needs. Our restaurant would encourage the two most important values in restaurant business which is brand and image, as these two ingredients are a couple of main drivers in marketing communications CHAPTER 2 2.0 BUSINESS OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGY Our halal restaurant objectives for the first year of inception are to make the companys name as household name, build a solid reputation so as to establish successful halal restaurant and gain a market share in Halal food industry in Wales. We also want to make halal restaurant as the favourite choice for the Muslim people and the rest of the community. We also intend to expand into a number of outlets depending on how the business will operate, through franchising to other cities, such as Liverpool, Manchester and London so as to increase customer base. Nevertheless our main business financial plan is to have sufficient monetary funds to run our restaurant for a maximum of two and a half years without deeping to our profit. This will help us as in the 3rd year in repaying the loan as the profit accumulated will have an interest margin. Prior to our earlier research we have noted that for us to attain an excellent profit margin for the two and half years that we have earlier mentioned some of the restaurant items such as kitchen refrigerators cookers and any item that maybe of extravagant purchase would be leased. This will enable us to reduce potential costs. Nevertheless we will have a useful administrating system and basic accounting information that will keep update records of each month sales so as to track the profit and loss through out the year. In order for us to increase our customer base we plan to advertise our business through posters, fliers, mosque, internet in order to uphold customer satisfaction and later through media. With initial launching and advertisement of job opportunities within the halal restaurant, this will help us to advertise more our business as the spread of the new halal restaurant will make people eager to know what kind of services and product that will be offered. Our main goal is to be one of the most successful Halal restaurants in UK, we will strive to be a premier Halal Restaurant brand in the local marketplace. We want our customers to be satisfied when visiting restaurant and website as well as to work on their feedback seriously. MARKET SIZE Halal restaurant belongs to the Halal industry which is growing and expanding at a high rate. Many multinational companies are now investing in this industry and there are many others planning to enter the industry. It is widely reported that demand for Halal products is on the increase amongst Britains estimated 3 millions Muslims, 95% of which claim to be Halal consumers. The Halal Food Authority estimates that the UK market for Halal food grew 30% in 2006, even though the Muslim population grew just 3% according to Mintel report. Across Europe, where the Muslim population has grown by more than 140% in the last decade, there is a similar picture with 2nd and 3rd generation European Muslims are seeking out convenience and looking for products such as Halal pizzas, lasagne and hot dogs. Estimates can be different, but the organisers of Londons World Food Market exhibition estimate the UK Halal market to be worth  £2.8 billion. . CHAPTER 3 MARKETING ANALYSIS 3. 0 PRODUCT AND CUSTOMER ANALYSIS. As earlier mentioned the menu products served in the restaurant will be halal prepared according to Islamic rites. The halal food range from frozen food, ready made meals, canned food, beverages, packed meat, baked goods, dry goods (food ingredients), condiments and snacks (Halal Products, 2010). These products will be used in a halal way to prepare meals. Example of such menus include Chicken Tikka Masala with Rice served with Broccoli and sweet corn and the dessert of Fruit salad yoghurt. However a detailed research would be conducted so as to know the favourite healthy dishes for Muslims. With awareness of reducing obesity and increased healthy eating, such menu people will be attracted to buy a meal as it is healthy and balanced diet as it has all the nutrients need for the body and it has less fat. In as much as the Muslim community will benefit from the healthy meal as it will be prepared and based in their Islamic approach. Furthermore most Muslims will increase their social i nteraction when having a meal in our restaurant as they will have a more comfortable environment to interact. Our major target segments customers in Treforest are Muslims who are minority in the area. In the University of Glamorgan the ethnic groups of Asians which include Indian, Pakistan, Bangladeshi, Malaysia and other Asian background account to 5.6% while whites are the majority who account to 82.03%. The blacks and other black background account to 2.8% and other ethnic back ground is 4.2%. Despite of our first priority customers being muslims students, our second target customers are other students from different backgrounds. Halal food is well eaten not only by Muslims but by other nationalities, thus most of the other students will be attracted to buy meals from our restaurant as majority of them do not have sufficient time to prepare a meal due to studying all day long and most of them have passion of trying different kinds of food. Moreover in occasions such as birthdays and graduation ceremonies we will have numerous customers as many of the students and their families will come to our restaurant to celebrate their achievement by purchasing meals. Thereby in such occasions, deals will be promoted so as attract as many customers during such occasions. Our third target customers are the local people within the area such as professionals, families; singles and couples. Due to the busier lifestyles most of them do not have enough time to prepare a meal at home. Most families partners do work full time thus dining out is alternative to home cooking meals. Our estimate population within treforest is around 30,000 and the percentage of Muslims is around 2.3% including students. This estimate was based on 2006 statistics which showed the total population in treforest was 25,000 and the of which the Muslims accounts to 1.87%. (Rhondda Cynon Report, 2006). Thus the population has grown by 20% to date. Hence our restaurant will cater their needs by providing good quality food and ensure good customer service has been provided throughout. We will have potential customers from these groups as most of them do prefer to dine out as a luxury treat to their families and themselves. Nevertheless a market plan of survey would be carried out so as to know if our business idea is being welcomed within the area. 3.1 COMPETITORS PROFILE However our halal restaurant will face competition within the area as the latter is occupied with halal take aways, pubs, Chinese takeaways and sandwich shops. In those halal takeaways most of the food is halal and they do have affordable deals whereby most of the students are attracted to purchase them. Nevertheless in pubs they do serve most of halal dishes such curries, hence there is high probability most of customers to switch to pub menus. 3.2 UNIQUE SELLING POINT In order to compete with our competitors we have set a unique selling proposition which will set us unique from the market. One of the USP that will entice our customer is, the halal restaurant will offer innovative and fastest service to the customer by putting a time limit guarantee for their meal. This will be done by reducing the steps of getting meals to customers. Moreover customers will have opportunity to evaluate food choices so as to keep the favourites on the menus and frequent interacting with the customers will be enhanced so they feel their feedbacks are being valued. 3.3 PRICING STRATEGIES 3.4 MARKET SHARE Majority of the time due to the busier lifestyle of the students and the local people most of them prefer to eat out rather than cook because they dont have time. Based from UK statistics our market share noting we will capture the majority of the Muslims because we will be providing Halal food which is being prepared in accordance to Islamic belief. Nevertheless we have a market share of majority of local people as most of the halal food is healthy and balanced Wales GDP per capita purchasing power parity $22,800 per annum per week $438.46 Incomplete more elaboration on purchasing capability of a single person. Initial maximum market share Total purchasing power(expenditure) of the targeted market Number of competitor +1 (own business) 438.46 = 73.08 6 Remember to include the initial market share 9%. 3.5 MARKET TRENDS. In treforest the population is mostly populated with students so the market trend will be very much be affected by the term time of the university. This means that when the university is opened the sales are high and when the university closes the sales are expected to be low this is because local students tend to travel and some foreigners. However most foreigners students they tend to remain in the university closes as most of them prefer working full time; hence this will have an impact in ourrestaurant as sales will tend to be stable. Nevertheless due to awareness of eating healthy diet and busier lifestyles, majority of people will prefer to eat out rather than cooking at home as it save time. This will have an impact in our restaurant as there will be frequent constant flow of customers who their needs will cater for. Thus as our initial market share estimated to 9% we expect growth of market share within the period of 6 to 12 months to be 16.7%. 3.6 SWOT ANALYSIS OF HALAL RESTAURANT STRENGHTS Availability of Muslim students who prefer halal food due to their Islamic belief. Busier lifestyles of local people and students who do not have sufficient time to prepare a meal at home. British people who are majority in the area are very experimental to different type of food thus our restaurant will cater their needs. WEAKNESSES A lot of monetary funds required to set up the halal restaurant. Fluctuation of sales when majority of students are on holidays. OPPORTUNITIES The long term objective of franchising thorough Wales so as to reach broader market. Our restaurant does offer healthy meals thus majority of people will be attracted to buy our meals. THREATS Within the area there is high competition as there are many competitors such as pubs, Chinese takeaways, halal takeaways, Indian restaurants who offer some of halal meals with affordable deals. Implementation of legislations such National Minimum Wage and Tipping legislation which require employers to comply with NMW of  £5.90 and paying more in National contributions so as to back up Tipping Legislation. This will increase costs in the restaurant business. CHAPTER 4 4.0 INTRODUCTION: The operational plan of our establishment will take care of matters such as Human resources, location, restaurant hours, suppliers, advertising strategy, registration and certification of the business along with other requirements The operational plan will also be shedding some light on ways of creating a strategic work plan that will formulate ways to achieve targets in the most reasonable amount of time 4.1 HUMAN RESOURCES We will be hiring two chefs one sous chef and a commis chef a kitchen porter and last but not the least two plate waiting staff. While recruiting these staff we will be looking for somebody with a reasonable catering industry experience except for the sous chef who has to have a good experience of working at the same designation. We will be managing the place ourselves with our previous catering, restaurant and hospitality industry experience and our HACCP and food safety qualifications we will be supervising the restaurant and the staff making sure that the customers are satisfied and content by handling all feedbacks and queries promptly and efficiently making sure that the daily book balancing runs smoothly and accurately costing of all the meals, creating promotional deals and strategies for the restaurant dealing with the suppliers and last but not the least running the restaurant according to the hygienic standards of the local authorities. We will be hiring a sous chef who must have at least 3 years of sous chef experience and be able to prepare dishes under pressure and should be able to work on his own initiative. We would be paying him  £19k- £21k depending on his experience his main jobs would be Creating menus Preparing and supervising all our main dishes Taking care of the stock and stock taking Make sure that all the heavy equipment is used in a safe way Cleaning all the heavy cooking machinery grinders etc. Making sure that the temperature records are up-to-date and hence the food served is hygienically safe. We will be hiring an enthusiastic commis chef who would be a fresh graduate and should have some experience in cooking, should have a can do attitude and willing to learn. we would be paying him  £11k- £13k depending on the experience. His duties would be Pastries and vegetable sauces preparation Salad preparation Assisting the sous chef in preparing the main meals Assisting the chef in stock taking Receiving and making sure that the deliveries are the same as invoiced and that their temperature at the delivery time was safe Cleaning the kitchen equipment after use Making sure that the kitchen is slip and trip free. We will be hiring a kitchen porter with some experience and we will be paying him  £5.80 and his duties will be as follows Washing dishes Cleaning the kitchen Receiving the deliveries and making sure they are fine and at a safe temperature Helping the chef in all other ad hoc duties We will be hiring two plate waiting staff with at least 1 year of experience, they should be customer friendly, polite and outgoing since they are going to be the first point of contact for all our customers. We will be paying them  £6 an hour their main duties would be Meeting and greeting customers showing them to the tables Take orders Take food to and from the table Making sure that the customers are satisfied with their meal by asking them Be proactive and offer them with extra desserts and drinks 4. REGISTERING THE BUSINESS In the Rhonda-Cynon-Taff council where we are intending to open our restaurant we have to register our business with the local authority 28 days before starting the business. We may also be required to get approval from the council due to our use of products of animal origin which in our case would be meat, fish, milk, eggs and any of their by-products and products made from them. In order to obtain the approval we need to submit an application form to the food team at the council along with a site plan that should reflect the layout of the premises accurately and an evidence of the food safety management systems on HACCP (hazard analysis and critical control point) principles (Food Business, 2010) On receipt of this application the local authority will arrange a site visit which is equivalent to a food premises inspection. During the inspection if all the requirements for the approval have been met, our premises will be issued with a unique three digit approval number which is part of a standard identification mark and will be used for all documentation. To register the business for VAT payments the law requires that the turnover of the VAT taxable goods and services supplied for the previous 12 months should be over  £68,000 and if it is below that amount then the business could still be registered for VAT voluntarily, and in our case this is what we will be doing we will be registering for VAT voluntarily because in future when the value of the taxable goods and supplies goes above  £68,000 and somehow we get busy and forget to register for VAT, we might get charged a penalty. And not just that there are benefits as well for voluntary registration. We will be registering for VAT online which would be the most convenient way for us in order to do that we will need to register with the HMRC online services first and then we will need to fill in two forms called VAT1 VAT2 with all our business details (HM Revenue and Custom, 2010). OPERATION TIMES In our restaurant we will be serving at different times to cater for people from different walks of life in the morning we will be serving a buffet style breakfast to cater for the students and for the people on the way to work, lunch and dinner for the students and general public and for the people who want to have a great time. Our serving hours are going to be BREAKFAST..08:00am till 11:00am LUNCH..12:00pm till 03:00pm DINNER.07:00pm till 10:00pm SUPPLIERS We have been in contact with different suppliers for our raw materials, crockery silverware, heavy equipment and all the other items that are required for opening a new restaurant. While reviewing these suppliers we need to make sure that the suppliers are of good reputation and hence provide good quality products while not making a huge dent on the business account We will be ordering our raw halal meat, spices, confectionary and all cooking items from a company called 3663. We will be ordering our fresh dairy products from a company called fresh fayre. Our disposable take away containers and the cleaning equipment that includes dishwashing liquid, bleaches sanitizersn degreasers and all kind of other cleaning equipment will be ordered from a company called BUNZL. Our used oil will be collected by a company called ARROW OIL COLLECTIONS but we have to put the request through our supplier which would be 3663 because they have this condition that they only collect oil if its bought through a certified oil seller. All our heavy equipment which is our fridges, freezers, fryers, furniture and any other heavy equipment for the restaurant and kitchen will be ordered through a company called LOCK HART on lease as long as we make an order above a  £1000 worth. All these suppliers have been carefully chosen considering their quality, reliability and prices. ADVERTISING AND PROMOTION Effective advertising and promotion is a vital supplement for any business and specially if the business is a newborn baby like ours We will be doing our advertisement through print media avoiding broadcasting it on TV since it does not fulfil our requirement for promoting our restaurant and its really dear as well instead we will be using brochures, posters, flyers and leaflets and specially handing out leaflets outside the university and in the surrounding area and specially outside the mosque. CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENT The halal certification required for the restaurant is going to be provided by the supplier the slaughter house from where the supplier acquires meat is inspected by the halal council and if all the necessary requirements are fulfilled and if the animal is slaughtered in a sharia way then the supplier is given a certificate which proves that the meat is halal and gives the authority to pass on that certificate to its customers and in this case the customer would be us and we will have the right to display that certificate. All the staff handling the open high risk food are required to have training certificates of handling high risk food and at least one member of staff is required to have adequate knowledge of the HACCP(hazard analysis and critical control point)/ food safety management systems.

manager should be a leader Essay -- essays research papers

manager should be a leader What is leadership? How is it different from being a manager? How can leaders keep their finger on the pulse of what's happening, inspire others to high achievement, guide their team members through difficult decisions, and still have time to actually finish a cup of coffee while it's still warm? The solution is disarmingly simple: Ask questions. Listen to the answers. Ask some more questions. Give good answers to questions asked by others. Easier said than done.The Relationship of Leadership and Management In general, the middle of the road viewpoints hold that: 1) although there are many overlaps, leadership and management are different things, involving differing skills, behaviors, and viewpoints; 2) those who use only leadership skills, behaviors, and viewpoints are ineffective in organizations that have significant administrative components; 3) those who use only management skills, behaviors, and viewpoints are ineffective in organizations that have significant human components; and 4) in organizations having both administrative and human components, only those who use an appropriate balance of management and leadership skills, behaviors, and viewpoints can be effective. As an example, William Wallace (who most of us Anglos know as "Braveheart") would have been completely ineffective leading the Scots to victory over the English if he were to have used only management skills. Conversely, the proprietor of a financial management business would probably relate to her clients well but wouldn't make much money for them if she were to use only leadership skills. Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, wrote that leadership is a facet of management. He wrote, "Leadership is just one of the many assets a successful manager must possess. Care must be taken in distinguishing between the two concepts. The main aim of a manager is to maximize the output of the organization through administrative implementation. To achieve this, managers must undertake the following functions: †¢ organization †¢ planning †¢ staffing †¢ directing †¢ controlling Leadership is just one important component of the directing function." If effective management requires us to practice good management skills and effective leadership requires us to practice good leadership skills, and both are needed to do our jobs as SGLs well; then first we need an ... ...t;Leaders don't inflict pain. They bear pain." - Max DePree Ah well! I am their leader, I really ought to follow them! - Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin When the effective leader is finished with his work, the people say it happened naturally. - Lao Tse I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers - Ralph Nader Lead and inspire people. Don't try to manage and manipulate people. Inventories can be managed but people must be lead. - Ross Perot The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves. - Ray Kroc, Founder of McDonald's The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been. - Henry Kissinger Think of managing change as an adventure. It tests your skills and abilities. It brings forth talent that may have been dormant. Change is also a training ground for leadership. When we think of leaders, we remember times of change, innovation and conflict. Leadership is often about shaping a new way of life. To do that, you must advance change, take risks and accept responsibility for making change happen. - Charles E. Rice, CEO of Barnett Bank

Book Review on Poor Economics

BOOK REVIEW POOR ECONOMICS: A RADICAL RETHINKING OF THE WAY TO FIGHT GLOBAL POVERTY By: Abhijit V Banerjee & Esther Duflo POOR ECONOMICS argues that so much of anti-poverty policy has failed over the years because of an inadequate understanding of poverty. The battle against poverty can be won, but it will take patience, careful thinking and a willingness to learn from evidence. Banerjee and Duflo are practical visionaries whose meticulous workoffers transformative potential for poor people anywhere, and is a vital guide to policy makers, philanthropists, activists and anyone else who cares about building a world without poverty.CHAPTER 1: THINK AGAIN, AGAIN Poverty and development can sometimes feel like overwhelming issues – the scale is daunting, the problems grand. Ideology drives a lot of policies, and even the most well-intentioned ideas can get bogged down by ignorance of ground-level realities and inertia at the level of the implementer. In fact, we call these the â₠¬Å"three I’s† – ideology, ignorance, inertia – the three main reasons policies may not work and aid is not always effective.But there’s no reason to lose hope. Incremental, real change can be made. Sometimes the change seems small, but by identifying real world success stories, facing up to real world failures, and understanding why the poor make the choices they make, we can find the right levers to push to free the poor of the hidden traps that keep them behind. CHAPTER 2: A BILLION HUNGRY PEOPLE? Jeffrey Sachs, an advisor to the United Nations and director of Columbia University's Earth Institute, is one such expert.In books and countless speeches and television appearances, he has argued that poor countries are poor because they are hot, infertile, malaria-infested, and often landlocked; these factors, however, make it hard for them to be productive without an initial large investment to help them deal with such endemic problems. But they cannot pay for the investments precisely because they are poor — they are in what economists call a â€Å"poverty trap. † Until something is done about these problems, neither free markets nor democracy will do very much for them.The basic idea of a nutrition-based poverty trap is that there exists a critical level of nutrition, above or below which dynamic forces push people either further down into poverty and hunger or further up into better-paying jobs and higher-calorie diets. These virtuous or vicious cycles can also last over generations: early childhood under-nutrition can have long-term effects on adult success. Maternal health impacts in  utero  development. And it’s not just quantity of food – quality counts, too. Micronutrients like iodine and iron can have direct impacts on health and economic outcomes.But if nutrition is so important, why don’t people spend every available extra cent on more calories? From the look of our eighteen-count ry dataset, people spent their money on food†¦ and festivals, funerals, weddings, televisions, DVD players, medical emergencies, alcohol, tobacco and, well, better-tasting food. CHAPTER 3: Low-Hanging Fruit for Better (Global) Health? Every year, nine million children under five die from preventable diseases such as diarrhea and malaria. Often, the treatments for these diseases are cheap, safe, and readily available.So why don't people pick these ‘low-hanging fruit'? Why don’t mothers vaccinate their children? Why don’t families use bednets, or buy chlorinated water? And why do they spend such large amounts of money on ineffective cure instead? There are a number of possible explanations. These can include unreliable health service delivery, price sensitivity, a lack of information or trust, time-inconsistent behavior and the simple fact that the poor may not be able to tackle big, chronic illnesses. None of these reasons explains everything in isolation.But understanding what stops the immediate spread of our ‘low-hanging fruit’ – bednets, de-worming medication, vaccines, chlorinated water – is an important step in improving global health, and may finally help to eliminate health-based poverty traps. CHAPTER 4: TOP OF THE CLASS Over the past few decades, children have flocked into the schools, but schools seem to have delivered very little: teachers and students are often absent, and learning levels are very low. Why is this happening? Is it a supply issue, where the government needs to provide children with better schools, better textbooks, better teachers and better facilities?Or is it demand, where parents would lobby for quality education if and only if there were real benefits? There seems to be a problem with both. For example, parents expect both too much and too little from the schools: government jobs for those who graduate from secondary school, and nothing for the rest. Teachers seem focused on te aching small elite, and undervalue the regular students. These expectations affect behavior and generate real world waste. But the good news is that these expectations and these real world outcomes can be changed CHAPTER 5: Pak Sudarno's Big FamilyMost policy makers consider population policy to be a central part of any development program. And yet, unexpectedly, it seems that access to contraception may not be the determining factor in the poor's fertility decisions. So how can policy makers influence population? Instead of contraception, other aspects like social norms, family dynamics, and above all, economic considerations, seem to play a key role, not only in how many children people choose to have, but how they will treat them. Discrimination against women and girls remain a central fact of the life for many poor families.Going inside the â€Å"black box† of familial decision-making – that is, understanding how and why decisions are made the way they are – is essential to predicting the real impact of any social policy aimed at influencing population. CHAPTER 6: BAREFOOT HEDGEFUND MANAGERS The poor face a huge amount of risk – a friend of ours from the world of high finance once noted that they're like hedge fund managers. These risks can come from health shocks – like an accident – or agricultural shocks – like a drought – or any other number of unexpected crises.Often, the poor just don't have the means to weather these shocks, and so they get pushed into poverty traps. The steps they take to protect themselves form these risks are insufficient and often costly: they choose less profitable and less risky crop, they spread themselves too thin across a great number of activities; they exchange favors with neighbors. Yet all this doesn't always even cover large shocks. CHAPTER 7: MICROFINANCE The fact that banks are often unwilling to lend to the poor, coupled with the extremely high interest rates m oneylenders charge, was a call to action for the founders of microfinance.Enforcing credit contracts involves collecting extensive information about the borrower to ensure repayment. The high cost of gathering this information makes neighborhood moneylenders the easiest source of credit. Microfinance institutions rely on their ability to keep a close check on the customer, in part by involving other borrowers who happen to know the customer: This was a recipe for enormous success, there are more than 200 million microfinance borrowers today. Many MFIs were unwilling to evaluate whether their lending programs were helping the poor.The MFIs were financially sustainable and borrowers kept coming back, which the MFIs saw as proof enough. When an Indian MFI, Spandana, was rigorously evaluated, there was clear evidence that microfinance was working. People in Spandana neighborhoods were more likely to have started a business and made large purchases. However, there were no detectable impa cts on women's empowerment, spending on education or health, or in the probability that kids would be enrolled in private schools. One of the limits of microfinance is its inflexible structure and focus on â€Å"zero default. It may not be an effective borrowing channel for entrepreneurs who are willing to take risks and will go on to set up a large business. More established businesses do not find it that much easier to get credit. In particular, they run the risk of being too large for the traditional moneylenders and microfinance agencies, but too small for the banks. We need to see the equivalent of the microfinance revolution for small and medium firms; figured out how to do it profitably on a large scale is the next big challenge for finance in developing countries. CHAPTER 8: SAVING BRICK BY BRICKJust as with lending, banks have not found a good way to adapt their services to the poor. The administrative costs associated with managing small accounts are too high. Instead, th e poor find unusual and ingenious ways to save. They buying durable goods like jewelry or new bricks for their house. Many form savings â€Å"clubs† such as the popular rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs) in Africa. However, the fact that the poor have to adopt complicated and costly alternative strategies to save means that saving is harder than if they had a bank account: access to a saving accounts increases profits and consumption.With new technology and innovations like M-PESA in Kenya which allows cell phone users to send money with their phone, microsavings might become the next microfinance revolution. However, not all barriers to savings are externally imposed. The poor, like anyone else, easily give in to the temptation to spend money in the present rather than save it for the future. They have difficulty, for example, saving enough over a short season to buy fertilizer; but a program to help them buy it early increased fertilizer use. The poor may be more subject to temptations than the rich because the items they dream of may be further from their reach.Poor people who feel that they have opportunities have strong reasons to cut down on â€Å"frivolous† spending and invest in the future. Those who feel that they have nothing to lose, in contrast, save less: hope matters! CHAPTER 9: RELUCTANT ENTREPRENEURS Many expect that the poor will find successful business opportunities. They haven't been given a chance, so their ideas are fresher: MFIs have many examples of successful clients, like a garbage collector turned recycling empress! The sheer number of business owners among the poor is impressive. When tiny grants were made to small businesses in Sri Lanka, their profits increased rapidly.However, while many of the poor operate businesses, most of these businesses are tiny. The businesses of the poor tend to have few if any employees and very limited assets. The businesses run by the poor are also generally unprofitable, which may well explain why giving them a loan to start a new business does not lead to a drastic improvement in their welfare. Many businesses suffer from the â€Å"empty shelf† problem: a space a created for a shop, but no inventory fills the shelves. Even a small investment in more inventory will have large marginal returns, but once the shelves are full, the business has no further scope to grow.Despite initial large returns to small investments, many small businesses hit at point at which a substantial capital investment is needed in order to continue growing. However, few people are willing to give such large loans to the poor. Because of this trap, the poor may not invest as much (both money but also emotions and intellectual energy) into their businesses because they know that their business will always remain too small to make real money. Often, the enterprises of the poor seem more a way to buy a job when more conventional employment opportunities are not available t han a reflection of a particular entrepreneurial urge.One of the most common dreams of the poor is that their children become government workers – a stable, though not always an exciting job. A sense of stability may be necessary for people to be able to take the long view. People who don’t envision substantial improvements to their future quality of life may stop trying and end up staying where they are. Creating good jobs could go a long way in increasing the stability of the lives of the poor, which will, in turn give the poor the opportunity and the urge to invest in their children and save more.There are more than a billion people who survive off of the earnings of their own farm or business. We must be impressed by their resilience. But these small businesses will probably not pave the way for a massive exit from poverty. CHAPTER 10: POLICIES, POLITICS Even the most well-intended and well-thought-out policies may not have an impact if they are not implemented pro perly. Corruption, or the simple dereliction of duty, creates massive inefficiencies. Many people believe that until political institutions are fixed, countries cannot really develop. There may be no natural process to completely eliminate bad institutions.Institutional change from the outside is probably an illusion. But it is not clear that things will eventually fix themselves. However, fighting corruption appears to be possible to some extent even without fixing the larger institutions. Relatively straightforward interventions, such as threatening audits or publicizing corruption results have shown impressive success. Often, small changes make important differences. In Brazil, switching to a pictorial ballot enfranchised a large number of poor and less educated adults. The politicians they elected were more likely to target their policies to the poor.In China, even imperfect elections led to policies that were more favorable to the poor. In India, when quotas for women on villag e councils in India were enacted, women leaders invested in public goods preferred by women. Policies are not completely determined by politics. Good policies (sometimes) happen in bad political environments. For example, Suharto built tens of thousands of schools in Indonesia. And bad policies happen in good environments, because what the government is trying to do is hard: generally, the government tries to convince people to do something they would not like to do, like wearing a helmet on a motorcycle!The opportunities for corruption are rife. Bad policies are often a product of the three I's: ideology, ignorance, inertia. For example, nurses in India, whose job description is so overwhelming that they have decided that they cannot possibly do it, and instead do nothing. Careful understanding of constraints can lead to policies and institutions that are better designed, and less likely to be perverted by corruption. Changes will be incremental, but they will sustain and build on themselves, and perhaps even improve the political process.

iacocca essays

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Uniforms in public school essays

Uniforms in public school essays Quality education is critical to the future of Americas children. However, we cannot educate our children in schools where weapons, gang violence, and drugs, threaten their safety. Many local school districts have made uniforms an important part of an overall program to improve school safety and discipline. Students resort to violence and theft simply to obtain designer clothes or name brand shoes. This instills a fear among the It is no secret that violent behavior has become a problem in public schools. For this reason more and more public schools are entertaining the idea of uniforms to get the minds of their students off of fashion and onto their education. Many parents and students support the uniform issue because they feel it makes all the students equal in the eyes of their peers and teachers. However, many parents feel that just like installing metal detectors, uniforms are a simplistic solution to a far greater problem. Some experts believe uniforms promise to cut down crime and reduce violence, but only if we take away that students individuality and freedom of expression. What does this promise? Uniforms have been used in an effort to try an reduce crime, and at the same time, remove peer pressure amongst students to try to fit in so they can concentrate on their school work. President William Clinton agrees with this saying If uniforms can help deter school violence, promote discipline, and foster a better learning environment, then we should show strong support to the parents that try them.(21) By mandating uniforms in public school, school officials hope to see a reduction in crime and violence. According to statistics, there are notable decreases in school violence and illegal offenses after the enactment of a school uniform or standardized dress code policy.(Lewis) Can uniforms really hel...

PIN Number

PIN Number PIN Number PIN Number By Simon Kewin To keep your writing as clear and concise as possible, you should generally try to remove unnecessary words. Sometimes duplication is fine – for artistic effect, for example but as a general rule, it’s best to say things in as few words as possible.   Unnecessary words often creep in when using acronyms. Acronyms are words formed from the initial letters of phrases, as discussed in a previous Daily Writing Tips article. Examples include â€Å"laser† (from â€Å"light amplification by the stimulated emission of radiation† and â€Å"scuba† (from â€Å"self-contained underwater breathing apparatus†). But a mistake that is often made is to repeat, unnecessarily, the last word of the original phrase.   An example of this is â€Å"PIN number†. In this phrase, PIN is (most commonly) an acronym for â€Å"personal identification number†. Written out in full, â€Å"PIN number† amounts to â€Å"personal identification number number†. This might make sense – if, for example, you were discussing the number of PINs you have – but most likely it’s just nonsense. â€Å"Please enter your PIN† makes perfect sense.   There are numerous other examples to be found : ATM machine, HIV virus, ISBN number, LCD display, SAT test and so forth. These are very common mistakes : search for any of them on the internet and you’ll find countless examples. Because they are so common, it’s all too easy to find yourself employing them without noticing. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:How to Format a UK Business LetterAt Your DisposalAppropriate vs. Apropos vs. Apt

International trade and transportation law Essay

International trade and transportation law - Essay Example   Generally, the bills of lading used on international shipments include ocean bills of lading for cargo transported by ocean and air waybills for cargo transported by air. Some bills of lading are negotiable where as some are not. The difficulties of non negotiable bill of lading was explained by Chana (1999). He also discussed about the comparison of bills of lading in China, Hongkong and United States of America (Chanb, 1998). The status of bills of lading in China was also explained by Chen (1999). The letter of guarantee provided by the bank or any financial institution will be vital in some cases of bills of lading. For example in case of an Australian context i.e. Pacific Carriers Ltd. v. Banque Nationale de Paris, the bank who had given the letter of guarantee was held responsible for loss of goods (Derrington and White, 2002). Even though letters of indemnity are a common practice, in some of the ceses, they were criticized by the courts for violation of the facts (United Baltic Corp. v. Dundee Perth & London Shipping Co., 1928). By performing all the above mentioned functions, bill of lading contributes significantly to International trade of goods. With the bill of lading showing that a contract of carriage exists and that the goods have been received by the carrier, a buyer and his bank are assured that the delivery of goods according to the contract of sale is under progress. Similarly an exporter, holding a bill of lading as title to the goods, may, by choosing when to pass the bill to the buyer, decides when the latter takes delivery of the goods. Thus the bill of lading becomes an essential element in controlling payment procedures in international trade. Most important thing is that the extent of protection provided by bill of lading is quite enormous (Jan Ramberg, 1979). The standard format for documentary credit transactions in international trade is ‘The Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits’, or UCP 500 which will ensure

WRITTEN ANALYSIS OF A MOVIE- THE MAN FROM EARTH Essay

WRITTEN ANALYSIS OF A MOVIE- THE MAN FROM EARTH - Essay Example The story is kept on going by conversation of characters throughout the film, driving the plot of the film. The whole movie revolves around Cro-Magnon, his professor and teacher friends at his farewell party who play with the viewers’ intellect. The film involves characters of different professionals, ranging from an anthropologist, a biologist, a psychologist and a religious expert, all who appear in the small house, from where their friend John is preparing to leave. John keeps on moving to new places to avoid being noticed by people that he doesn’t age, a secret he has kept to himself (Philosophical Films 2007). As the movie begins, Professor John Oldman packs his belongings in a truck in preparation for moving to a new home. It is at this point that his friends gather to give him a farewell party. The friends are John Oldman, Dan, an anthropologist, Harry a biologist, Edith who is devout Christian, Sandy who is a historian in love with John, Art an archaeologist, Linda Murphy who is an Art’s student and Will Gruber who is an old psychiatrist. It is at the party that his friends curiously question John about his reasons for leaving them to another place that soon (Philosophical Films, 2007). As John tries to explain his reasons for leaving, his friends get the revelation that John was the person who had lived for 14,000 years. His friends initially think that John is giving them one of his science fiction stories. By describing his origin, he reveals to them his long journey in life, right from the time he was given an opportunity to ride with Christopher Columbus long back in the 15th century. From this recollection, his friends come to the realization that he had, in fact, survived for the said 14,000 years. His friends get the revelation that John was once Jacques Borne and his time to leave has come since some people had started noticing he was not aging. Doubting John’s mental condition, one

The Perspective and Emergent Approaches to Strategic Management Essay

The Perspective and Emergent Approaches to Strategic Management - Essay Example Whenever an organization succeeds in terms of profitability and productivity, it is usually assumed to have effective strategies. But the effectiveness of the strategy for a prolonged time remains dubious. Strategies are developed by the management with the support of logical approach, analytical activities, and experiences. Present day management researchers added another agent to the above-mentioned ingredients of strategy making, i.e. the dynamic nature of the business environment which keeps on changing. The changing nature of business environment influences the effectiveness of the strategies and brings differences in its output (Murray, Poole & Jones, 2005, p.168). The present report is an attempt to analyze the different views of researchers on strategic planning and its associated factors. In a broader sense, the study discusses ‘Prescriptive and Emergent’ approaches to strategy formulation and their suitability in the present day business organizations. Irrespective of suggested views and arguments on the concept of strategic management, organizations as well as academicians have agreed on the core concept which describes the conversion of organizational resources into needs of unsatisfied customers keeping a profit which satisfies the long-term objectives of the stockholders. The debate among the researchers is regarding the methods, models, system, or processes which could be used to achieve the core objective of strategy. The approaches for strategic planning, irrespective of the methods, models, and processes used to execute the plan can be classified into four generalized approaches as General Electric/Ansoff /McKinsey approach, Management by objective approaches, Business policy approach, and Non-strategic approach.  

Persuasive Speech Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Persuasive Speech - Essay Example Body Paragraph 2: Alcohol related road accidents are increasing government’s financial burden. According to Blincoe the total economic cost experienced by the nation of America due to drinking and driving incidents is $277 billion and this cost includes expenses in shape of medical bills, expenses paid for repairing damaged property and even legal expenses (Blincoe, 2014). The CDC reports that during the year of 2009, more than 10000 deaths were caused due to vehicles that were being steered by individuals who were drunk (Cdc.gov, 2012). My name is (first & last name) and I am here to persuade you to install breathalyzers in your cars. The term breathalyzer is used to refer to a digital device which has been specifically designed to identify the level of alcohol in an individual’s blood at one point in time. Traditionally these devices have only been used by police officers in order to identify drivers who have consumed alcohol and are driving on the road. These devices come in all shapes and sizes and are available at competitive prices. The issue with drinking and driving is that drinking alcohol results in impairment of various significant driving skills of a drive. Each year a high number of the people who die due to road accidents are involved in a crash where the person sitting behind the wheels is drunk. Due to this the burden on the gov ernment is increasing in shape of safeguarding the lives of their citizens and the financial costs that the government has to pay for each incident. The emotional and financial costs are not only paid by the government, the emotional cost is even bared by the individuals involved in the accident and their families. Breathalyzers should be installed in the car of every individual because drinking and driving reduces the ability to drive, road accidents caused due to driving under influence increases the cost of the government and it even

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 6

Marketing - Essay Example Table of Contents Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Types of Websites 6 Comparison between B2B & C2C websites 8 Recommendation for improvements 12 Conclusion 13 Reference 14 Introduction In the year 1990 commercialization f the web began with the introduction of linking websites and the information by Tim Berners-Lee’s. With the advancement in the technological field more innovative approach came into play with the innovation of new hyper text transfer protocol (HTML). New browser was developed by the developers of them the most prominent one becomes Internet Explorer from Microsoft Corporation which gained popularity amongst the users. The major factor behind the rapid growth of the Web technology is due to the fall in price of computers and interest rate of the bank which increases the ownership of computers to great extent amongst the people. Different types of websites came into existence and increased at lightning speed from 19,000 websites to 176M websites just within a period of 18 years from 1990’s to 2008. With time and technological inventions better understanding of the web techniques and developers helped in better communication and user friendly design which created more attractiveness for the websites for different companies. ... E-commerce was introduced into web and companies carry out their business over internet for a better reach to the customer resulting in huge growth from $27M in the year 2000 to $ 139M in 2008. Figure 1: E-commerce retail sales growth 2000-2008 (Source: Cengage Learning, n.d.) This report is mainly concerned with the analysis of two kinds of websites one is Business to Business website (http://australia.cat.com/) and the other one is Consumer to Consumer website (eBay.com.au). Both these websites are based at Australia and the companies are operating their business in two different ways with the help of technologies which is needed to be evaluated in this project. Types of Websites While developing a website one of the foremost requirements for the company is to understand the types of business in which the company operates in. With proper understanding of the business process the website development team can implement the strategies and design the website for better grip in the mark et. Complying with the business model is very essential for a sustainable growth in the market for the company. For operating business online e-Commerce business model is the major tool for the companies to reach to the customers in a more convenient manner. E-Commerce technology can be implemented on several ways in different types of websites according to the business process and the product offering of the company. The different types of websites can be as follows- Business to Business (B2B) When the e-commerce transaction is taking place in between two business units and the buying and selling of goods and services are carried out for manufacturing and producing new products. In business to business process the raw

Major problems and issues of an organization analyzed through a case Essay

Major problems and issues of an organization analyzed through a case study - Essay Example The two thus form a good case study through which the major problems that face organizations can be studied. An in-depth analysis of the companies will be undertaken through a brief background on the two in the movie rental market followed by diagnosis of their situations. A competitive and performance analysis will then be undertaken with recommendations on the way forward being generated. Netflix was started in 1997 by Reed Hastings and 10 years later had already taken over market leadership in movie rental services. Figures such as $1.2 billion in revenues, 100,000 movies in their catalogue and 7 million subscribers are quite enviable in the market. The main source of their dominance has been pioneering online movie renting through subscriptions (Thompson, Strickland and Gamble). Blockbuster on the other hand enjoyed early market domination since its inception in 1985 by David Cook (Blockbuster.com 2009). Its main source of advantage was availing movies at a much cheaper rental rates through negotiating deals with the major film studios thus reducing its rates to even just a tenth of competitors’. Blockbuster’s competitive advantage was nullified by Netflix’s focus on internet adoption. The two firms are still competing in a highly competitive market as stated by Netflix Inc. (6). Diagnosis of Netflix’s and Blockbuster’s Competitive Situations. Netflix is at the moment the market leader but is facing cutthroat competition from a resurgent Blockbuster which re-strategized and started slicing Netflix’s market share to an extent that forced the later to reduce its subscription fees leading to drop in its stock prices from panic. Other competition is also being felt from other albeit smaller rivals such as Redbox. Netflix (6) is also in recognition that the movie rental market is subject to drastic and rapid changes since

Persuasive Speech Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Persuasive Speech - Essay Example Body Paragraph 2: Alcohol related road accidents are increasing government’s financial burden. According to Blincoe the total economic cost experienced by the nation of America due to drinking and driving incidents is $277 billion and this cost includes expenses in shape of medical bills, expenses paid for repairing damaged property and even legal expenses (Blincoe, 2014). The CDC reports that during the year of 2009, more than 10000 deaths were caused due to vehicles that were being steered by individuals who were drunk (Cdc.gov, 2012). My name is (first & last name) and I am here to persuade you to install breathalyzers in your cars. The term breathalyzer is used to refer to a digital device which has been specifically designed to identify the level of alcohol in an individual’s blood at one point in time. Traditionally these devices have only been used by police officers in order to identify drivers who have consumed alcohol and are driving on the road. These devices come in all shapes and sizes and are available at competitive prices. The issue with drinking and driving is that drinking alcohol results in impairment of various significant driving skills of a drive. Each year a high number of the people who die due to road accidents are involved in a crash where the person sitting behind the wheels is drunk. Due to this the burden on the gov ernment is increasing in shape of safeguarding the lives of their citizens and the financial costs that the government has to pay for each incident. The emotional and financial costs are not only paid by the government, the emotional cost is even bared by the individuals involved in the accident and their families. Breathalyzers should be installed in the car of every individual because drinking and driving reduces the ability to drive, road accidents caused due to driving under influence increases the cost of the government and it even

Major problems and issues of an organization analyzed through a case Essay

Major problems and issues of an organization analyzed through a case study - Essay Example The two thus form a good case study through which the major problems that face organizations can be studied. An in-depth analysis of the companies will be undertaken through a brief background on the two in the movie rental market followed by diagnosis of their situations. A competitive and performance analysis will then be undertaken with recommendations on the way forward being generated. Netflix was started in 1997 by Reed Hastings and 10 years later had already taken over market leadership in movie rental services. Figures such as $1.2 billion in revenues, 100,000 movies in their catalogue and 7 million subscribers are quite enviable in the market. The main source of their dominance has been pioneering online movie renting through subscriptions (Thompson, Strickland and Gamble). Blockbuster on the other hand enjoyed early market domination since its inception in 1985 by David Cook (Blockbuster.com 2009). Its main source of advantage was availing movies at a much cheaper rental rates through negotiating deals with the major film studios thus reducing its rates to even just a tenth of competitors’. Blockbuster’s competitive advantage was nullified by Netflix’s focus on internet adoption. The two firms are still competing in a highly competitive market as stated by Netflix Inc. (6). Diagnosis of Netflix’s and Blockbuster’s Competitive Situations. Netflix is at the moment the market leader but is facing cutthroat competition from a resurgent Blockbuster which re-strategized and started slicing Netflix’s market share to an extent that forced the later to reduce its subscription fees leading to drop in its stock prices from panic. Other competition is also being felt from other albeit smaller rivals such as Redbox. Netflix (6) is also in recognition that the movie rental market is subject to drastic and rapid changes since

Disadvantages of Censorship Essay Example for Free

Disadvantages of Censorship Essay The censorship debate is a long one, and the numbers seem to be equally divided between both sides. Censorship exists in all forms of media, and far beyond it. Those against are not campaigning for a completely censorship free country, but just to minimise it to an extent where it is not such a predominant part of what we watch, hear and think. It would be impossible and unrealistic to believe that the country would be able to function properly without some control of the information leaked to the general public, but it is also a worrying prospect that we may not know as much as we think we do about the country we live in and the problems facing it. One example of the advantages of censorship is during World War II. It played a major part along with propaganda to maintain a positive atmosphere throughout England, as if all the gruesome details concerning the ever-increasing death rate, the awful state of the soldiers and the destruction of homes and buildings were openly shared, not only would the people of England lose the faith they once had in winning the war, but it would make the country much easier to beat. The army wouldnt have anything to prove, and the German spies closely monitoring the media would be able to pin-point the perfect places to destroy in order to bring morale to such a low that the English would have no choice but to surrender. But was this really justified? Didnt the people have a right to know the real condition other parts of the country were in? What gives the government the right to release incorrect statistics? This is the type of thing being debated about today. To what extent should free speech be limited? Would that even still count as free? What would have happened if an English soldier had been allowed to write home about the true glory of the war? His family would have obviously been horrified, and consequently told their friends and co-workers, warning them against sending their son to war. If this was wide-spread enough, there would have been a dramatic increase in the men avoiding conscription and a decrease in enthusiasm in joining, making it weaker and even more out-numbered by the opposing forces leading to almost definite defeat. But is this a reason enough to make this soldier lie? To subject thousands more men to a gruesome and possibly fatal ordeal? Does the ends really justify the means?

Moral Hazard Adverse Selection And Asymmetric Information Finance Essay

Moral Hazard Adverse Selection And Asymmetric Information Finance Essay There are many people who have an extra money and want to credit this money to make gains by investing this money, at the other side, there are many people need money to use it in many aspects of life e.g. students need money to pay for their education, home buyer need money, business financial investors also need money and so on, for all of these needed financial intermediary to play an important rule to link between investors and borrowers. There are many risk may happens if there is no intermediate between lender and borrower, information asymmetry one of these risk and in this case information between seller and buyer are different, so it leads to two issues adverse selection and moral hazard. Adverse selection is happened when the one of parties know information more than the other parties, or if the one of parties know information that the other parties not have. Moral hazard is the situation which if the two parties make an agreement about something and one of these parties no t obligate with the agreement terms. All these issues help to explain why banking institutions and other financial intermediaries exist. So, lets go to talk about financial intermediaries and how it can help individuals to deposits and loans by using the easiest way without high level of risk. Also, in we will talk in the following about the terms Information asymmetry, Adverse Selection and Moral Hazard. Financial Intermediaries: Financial intermediary is institutions that take money from investor and depositors and give this money to the borrowers as loans, the main aim from these institutions to link between the depositors whom are seeking for credit and borrowers whom are seeking loans from financial institutions. There are many forms of financial institutions like investing banks, life insurance companies, saving loans associations, building and loan associations, commercial banks, credit unions and investment companies. (Investor Directory) Using financial intermediaries in investing give the investors many advantages, let us to talk about the two main advantages, first, making investing through financial intermediaries could reduce the risk of these investments, because directly the investor not have a large base to give his loans, so in this case there is bad diversify, therefore the investor will face a high risk, but by using financial institutions as middleman to invest money we find that the diversify is good, because these institutions have a big base from lenders and borrowers and it invest in a different business which dont have a relation between it. In this case we have a good diversify, so the risk will decreased more than if we investing directly. Second, also financial intermediaries help to give savers the liquidity, liquidity is the ability to convert assets into money (cash) quickly. For example if an individual saver lent someone (borrower) money to but house or asset, and in an argent case he needs hi s money, in this case there is a house now not money, so it is very difficult to convert this asset to cash quickly, it takes a lot of time to do that. But with financial intermediaries could help the saver by giving him the money that he need by provide him the liquidity very quickly than individual, if the financial intermediary doesnt have liquidity at that moment, it can obtain help from the government or another financial institution. (Ingrimayne) The economic business is depend on that all individuals whom owned an economic relationships have a perfect knowledge, also may have similar predictions about the future prospects. But in real, the both parties of each relationship suffer from incomplete information, sometimes they suffer from information asymmetry situation which means the probability of happening the future actions is randomly. the situation that have a different information between the both parties leads to conflict in interests of both parties who have the relationship, therefore this leads to uncertainty which represents in moral hazard and adverse selection. (M. A. Al-Garny) Asymmetric Information Information asymmetry means the situation where there is information which knows to some parties but not to all parties. Asymmetric information can lead to different in the cost between internal and external finance, e.g. seller is know an information on the subject of the quality of assets will be disinclined to agree the conditions offered by buyer who has less information about that asset, this may cause market break down, or may be also cause buying the asset in low price, but if all buyers and sellers have complete information, the situation here will be different. (WSU) Also information asymmetry makes market turn into inefficient, because information is not available to the entire market participant, thus they cant make a good decisions for their businesses. (Investor Words) There are two issues that caused by Information asymmetry, adverse selection and moral hazard. We will talk about these two Issues at the following: First: Adverse Selection Adverse Selection, negative selection or anti-selection is a term which simply means a situation where the buyer and seller have different information about the some aspects of product quality. (Wikipedia) For example in the firms managers and other insides may know more information (about the current position of the firm and the future prospects of the firm) than the outsider investors, in this case the outer information may differ than the inside information, therefore the solution for this problem in this situation is by issuing financial reports to insure the information transferred perfectly from inside firm to the outside investors to help them to make good decisions. (Money Instructor) George Akerlofs in his paper The Market for Lemons located two answers for adverse selection problem, signaling and screening. Michael Spence proposed the suggestion of signaling to solve the information asymmetry problem. In this situation, it is potential for people to indicate their style, therefore credibly transferring information to the other party. Joseph E. Stieglitz the first one who put the screening theory. In this way the under informed party can make the other party to know their information. Sometimes the sellers may know information better than the buyers, like peoples who sale used car, life insurance transactions, real estate agents, realtors, mortgage brokers and loan originators, and stockbrokers. And sometimes the buyers may know information better than the sellers, like the man who sale old art pieces with no previous expert evaluation or health insurance customers of a range of risk levels. (Wikipedia) Second: Moral Hazard The concept of moral hazard comes from insurance industry. Moral hazard is an idea saying that the person will take risk if he has an incentive to do that, therefore the person will ignore some morality aspects of his selection. Instead, he will do what will increase his profits. Anyone knows the tradeoff between return and risk, if he takes risk there may be consequences. The indifference comes when the risk comes without consequences. Also we can define moral hazard as if someone or party that has insurance cover may be further ready to take risks than the other who does not, e.g. if there is a person who has a car and his car is insured against stealing may be more not careful about dropping the probability of stealing than other would has been without such insurance. This point exactly tells us why insurance companies need to overtake (the amount of an appeal driven by the insurer person) majority claims, and decrease premiums rapidly as overtaking growing. It is also why insurer is extremely cautious about the assessment of what he insures and why he is not lawfully necessary to give more than the actual cost of what he cover. Moral hazard also is able to occur at the outer of insurance. Banks and financial institutions over and over again include embedded state guarantees (not official or lawfully obligatory guarantees, other than a common prospect which they are too significant to be unsuccessful). This creates a motivation used for the administration to take larger risks as they will profit from gambles that work, other than the state will give for individuals so as to do not. (Money Terms) Conclusion: I conclude that the financial intermediaries are able to change the risk of assets for cause that they know how to locate an answer for a market breakdown and defeat an information asymmetry problem that come up in credit markets for the reason that borrowers be acquainted with superior concerning their plan than lenders do. Also the financial intermediaries exist to help in solving many issues as we said in this paper. It plays the middleman rule in linked between the borrower who need to finance in his business and lender who want to investing and gain profits taking into account the important rule of this institutions by save the lender from asymmetric information, adverse selection and moral hazard. Because the main issue from its foundation is to collect information about borrowers and this job not easy. This issue is very costly for individuals (small lenders) but when there is financial intermediaries can help the lender to insure where he can invest his money without risks if he gives his money to wrong person, by providing him full information about good borrowers, at the same time this job here doesnt cost a lot because the big size of consumers that they connected with market. On the other hand, there are also still some risks when we deal with financial intermediaries. But with some regulation and other instruction it will be decreased to minimum limit.

Autism Essay examples -- essays research papers

   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are several reasons why I chose the topic of Autism. First, autism is intriguing because it is very hard to understand. Medical science is at a loss to explain why and how it occurs. Second, I have had occasion to develop a personal relationship with children who are afflicted with autism.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  At The Children’s Institute, where I volunteer, I sit and play with many kids, two of whom are very hard to play with. Even though they are five and six years old, they avoid making eye contact with others, and often refuse to play with the other kids. Also, once they start watching something, like television, it is very hard to get them to look somewhere else. They are focused, almost mesmerized by the television, especially if there are flashing lights or colors. One child rocks back and forth, sometimes slowly and sometimes faster. An older child makes noises a lot, hums and randomly laughs for no reason. My observations prompted me to do some research into autism and I found that these were traits which others had also observed in patients afflicted with autism.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Autism has mystified scientists and doctors for more than a century. So, what do we know about it now? It is a complex developmental disability that usually appears during the first three years of life, and it arises from a neurological disorder that affects the functioning of the brain. The brainstem of a person with autism is shorter than a normal brainstem, lacks a structure known as the superior olive and has a smaller than normal structure known as the facial nucleus. Scientists who have observed the brainstems of autistic patients have reported that it is though a band of tissue is missing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The symptoms of autism vary from one person to another. Some people can be affected greatly by one symptom, while other may be affected more strongly by a different symptom.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This developmental disability impacts normal development of the brain in areas such as social interaction and communication skills. Children with autism cannot interpret the emotional states of others, they don’t recognize anger, sorrow or manipulative intent. Their language skills are limited and they will often fail to initiate and sustain conversations.   Ã‚   ... ...ng.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A child with autism is normal in appearance to the untrained eye. But scientists have identified a few physical anomalies. The corners of the mouth are low compared with the center of the upper lip, and the tops of the ears flop over. Also, the ears are a bit lower than normal and have almost a square shape.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the information I have gathered, we see both how similarly affected the victims of autism are and how much the effects of autism vary from one person to another. New scientific discoveries have served to dispel some of the mystery of this complex developmental disability. Of course, it is frustrating for anyone who has a family member or is a family friend of an autistic person because there is still no explanation for why autism strikes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As a volunteer who works with autistic children, I believe it is important to increase awareness and understanding of this affliction. We can and should reach out to autistic children and help them live lives that are as meaningful and productive as possible. In doing so, I have found that we can enrich not just their lives but our own as well.

Fiber-optic Communications :: Fiber-optic essays

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1987, both Eli Yablonvitch and Sajeev John got together to discuss research that both had previously discovered. Eli Yablonvitch was an electrical engineer at Bell Communications Research in Red Bank, New Jersey. Yablonvitch was known for refining a laser that would become a mainstay of fiber-optic communications. Sajeev John is a Harvard graduate student who worked on a thesis inspired by Philip Anderson of Princeton.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The two agreed that the name of their idea should be called a photonic band gap. Phontonic crystals have the regular lattice structure of natural crystals. Their purpose is to try and trap light without destroying it. The trick is to not kill the photons but to tame them, by allowing light out when you want. Microchips are made of semiconductors and a semiconductor is a band gap. A band gap makes is possible to control the flow of electricity in a chip. In order to make light chips, you need the photonic equivalent of silicon: a material that can trap light. â€Å"You need a way of trapping the light so there are no escape channels,† says John.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It was until 1997, when European investigators succeed in trapping light in a random material. Diederik Wiersma and his colleagues used a powder of gallium arsenide. The laser could not penetrate a layer of powder even when the layer was less than a hundredth of an inch thick. It was indeed the very first time that anyone had trapped light, but as they knew, microchips cannot be made out of powder.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Yablonovitch was in his office on day in October 1986, â€Å"I started drawing crisscrossing lines, and everywhere the lines crossed I put a heavier mark. Before I knew it I had drawn a checkerboard. And then I said, ‘Well, I might as well do it in three dimensions.’† This later became known as Yablonovitch’s â€Å"eureka moment.† He realized that what he had drawn was a crystal structure that might trap light through interference. Interference happens when two light waves of the same wavelength meet.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Bragg reflection is when light waves pass through one plane but is reflected back by the next plan. All waves that interfere constructively intensify the reflected light. Yablonovitch found that if you could design a crystal that Bragg-reflected light now which direction is was coming from, you would have built a trap.

Humans or Robots? Essay

As Americans, we are told from a young age that in order to have a fulfilling life we must work hard to reach the American Dream. We must get an impressive degree; we must get married by age thirty to someone of the opposite sex; we must have two kids—one boy and one girl; and most importantly we must work a nine-to-five job, writing reports at a desk in a successful corporate business. If one does not fulfil these requirements, others expect that they probably were not up to par, or as deserving, as the other Joe Schmo who did. In Daniel Orozco’s short story, â€Å"Orientation,† the narrator is showing a new employee around the office, telling him/her about all of the rules that he/she must follow, about the personal lives of the other employees’, and about the â€Å"perks† he/she will have as an employee. By illustrating the corporate workplace as being void of any human element, the story argues that the workplace is an impersonal and a relentles sly unforgiving environment, and that people should be aware of this crisis in corporate America, and furthermore see the faults of the corporate workplace. The story begins with the narrator telling the new employee rules about his/her phone, and that he/she may not answer it or make any personal phone calls, unless it is an emergency. However, after the narrator tells the new employee what he/she must do in the case of an emergency call, the narrator describes the consequences to not following the rules by saying, â€Å"If you make an emergency phone call without asking, you may be let go† (484). This illustrates the company’s capacity for human emotion (which is obviously extremely low), showing that the company’s value of its rules is more important than any emergency. An emergency is something that comes up unexpectedly and needs to be attended to right away to fix the problem. In this case, the company has no empathy for its employees but rather for the efficiency of the business. The employees are expected to put their job before everything in their lives, even though a job is, in most cases, a source to suppo rt the other aspects of their lives. The narrator goes on to point out the receptionist who is a temporary employee, but is only labeled temporary because historically they always  seem to quit. The narrator states, â€Å"Be polite and civil to our temps. Learn their names. Invite them to lunch occasionally. But don’t get too close to them, as it only makes it more difficult when they leave† (484). The narrator is instructing the new employee to be â€Å"polite† and â€Å"civil† to the receptionist, which contrasts the human tendency to want to be friendly to co-workers. This illuminates the narrator as being robotic and emotionless, just like the company. The narrator and the company alike are incapable of genuine emotion, which is evident when the narrator tells the new employee to be â€Å"polite† and â€Å"civil† but to not get too attached. The emotional ability of the narrator is clearly forced when he/she tells the employee to be â€Å"civil† towards the receptionists, to â€Å"learn their names†, and to â€Å"invite them to lunch occasionally.† The low magnitude of what the narrator perceives as friendly is disturbingly unhuman-like. The narrator has no difficulty telling the new employee to put in the bare minimum of his/her emotional effort, by purely tolerating the receptionist, without being too mean or too nice to her. The narrator expects the new employee to be just as detached and emotionless as the company, because if he/she is not, it would only make it emotionally harder for him/her to endure the emotionless acts and values of the company. In another attempt to make the company appear good, the narrator tells the new employee about the comprehensive health plan that covers the costs of any family illness or tragedy. The narrator uses the example that if anything happened to any of Larry Bagdikian’s daughters, all expenses would be covered and that, â€Å"he would have nothing to worry about† (486). The irony behind this is that if an illness or tragedy happened to any of his daughters, he would have the illness or tragedy to worry about rather than the breadth of his health plan. Like any good father, he would fret about his child’s well-being above any financial costs. This piece of evidence has a strong connection back to when the narrator said that if the new employee ever made an emergency phone call without asking, the new employee would be let go. Another example of how the comprehensive health plan does not take away worry is when the narrator talks about how Barry Hacker’s wife died, and how she was completely covered but she has â€Å"haunt[ed] him† (487) since. The company’s comprehensive health plan shows that the company expects  family illnesses and tragedies to come up, but the company would rather make up for their lack of empathy during the emergency, when it is already too late and has turned into a tragedy. Although the company tries to make the comprehensive health plan look like a perk to the job, Orozco argues that it is more of a plan to compensate for the company’s faults and is purely intended to take employees’ attention away from the corrupt workplace environment. An ongoing pattern throughout the story that illuminates the strict workplace environment is shown in the repetition of, â€Å"you may be let go†. A good example of this is when the narrator states, â€Å"Feel free to ask questions. Ask too many questions, however, and you may be let go† (484). In a humane workplace, there are typically universal rules that, if broken, would result in an employee being fired. However, the company’s rules that will get an employee fired are all irrational. The company expects its employees to act without human error and to balance everything with perfect proportion. This is manifested when the narrator says to not ask â€Å"too many questions† but does not tell the new employee what that exactly means. The amount of questions that the new employee will perceive as too many is subjective, but the narrator sees it as an objective amount and expects the new employee to also see it objectively and without further clarification. The narrator goes on to explain the rules about the coffee pool and the microwave oven. When talking about the coffee pool, the narrator says, â€Å"You are allowed to join the coffee pool of your choice, but you are not allowed to touch the Mr. Coffee† (486). Immediately after, the narrator goes on to describe the rules for the microwave oven when he/she states, â€Å"You are allowed to heat food in the microwave oven. You are not, however, allowed to cook food in the microwave oven† (486). When it comes down to it, the company’s strict guidelines have little to do with the company itself. The rules for the Mr. Coffee and the microwave oven are both very simple and perplexing. Rules are generally used as safety precautions or for efficiency. Touching the Mr. Coffee and cooking food in the microwave oven have nothing to do with safety or efficiency, and have everything to do with the unforgiving and power-driven nature of the company. Through the absence of any human element, the story argues that the corporate workplace is emotionless and harsh and that it sends a negative message to corporate workplace employees. Orozco’s agenda behind writing â€Å"Orientation† was to articulate how corporate bureaucracies exploit their employees by subjecting them to irrational standards and by expecting them to work without human error. I agree with Orozco because corporate businesses tend to care more about the money and the success rate of the business, rather than their employees. This subjects the employees to neglect and in essence makes them slaves to their workplace. The message is not outdated, and the workplace conditions are currently, in my opinion, more taxing than the author intended to portray. The message that we should always be aware of the faults in the corporate workplace will never be outdated, and furthermore it is important to remember our history for generations to come so that the history of corporate workplace conditions does not repeat itself.

Ghost Story Essay

Examinations are tests for evaluating a student’s knowledge. The present system of education ignores the student’s individual skills and intelligence. Parents and teachers judge a student’s potential through examinations. The Indian system of education is based on the pattern set up by the British. Nothing much is taught beyond the syllabus and only examinations determine the degree or grade of a student. Various Commission, which were set up to improve this system recommended practical training and periodical tests. Cheating, leaking of question papers and other corrupt practices, that have cropped up in the examination system should be checked. the aim of education should be to equip the student to face the tough battle of life. Examinations aim at judging a student’s knowledge in a specific time frame and in analyzing whether the student has gone through a certain course of study satisfactorily. Tests enable the teacher to know how well the student has understood the subject. A good result makes the teacher as well as the parents happy. The effort of the teacher is rewarded when a student passes an examination and vice versa. Thus, a teacher’s dedication towards his profession is judged through examination. Examinations help the parents to assess their child’s capability. Parents become proud of their children when they perform well in the examinations. Students become alert when examinations are at their door step. They utilize their time for preparation. Examinations make them work hard for scoring good marks. Some schools award citations and certificate and give scholarships to those students who excel. Such awards prompt the students to work hard. Examinations help the teachers and the parents in analyzing the amount of labor put in by the students in gaining knowledge. Teaching is always followed by tests because the tests give an impression as to how well the students have understood the subject. A good result helps the teacher feel relieved at his success in imparting education to his pupils while a bad result indicates that there is a need of more effort on the teacher’s part. Thus, examinations are also a means of judging a teacher’s dedication towards his profession. With the help of the result of examinations parents can make the right assessment of their child’ caliber. If he is weak in his studies, they could guide him further in the subject. f his performance is up to the satisfaction of his parents, they would be proud of him. However, there are certain flaws in the examination system. The system of education in India is based on the pattern set up by the British. The knowledge imparted is restricted to the syllabus. Students are taught according to the prescribed syllabus. Nothing much is taught beyond the syllabus. When a student is unable to gasp a particular subject, the seeks private tuitions or enrolls himself in a coaching institute. Students tend to learn their subjects by heart, without applying their mind. Thus, cramming enables many students to pass examinations. Most students look towards their examinations with an anxious mind. They, at a very young age, begin to feel the tension and stress of examinations. Examinations are just the first in a series of tests that initiate young ones into a competitive world. But the importance attached to them is unreasonably high. During the examination period and till the result is declared, not only the students but also their parents and tutors remain tensed. It is cast as a do-or-die battle. Students do not have enough spare time for games and are unable to give wings to their hobbies due to the burden of examinations. Failure in the examination arouses a felling of low self esteem and negative self-image in the minds of the students. At times, students break down under pressure to perform and resort to extreme measures like running away from their homes or even committing suicide. Today school psychologists or school counselors give them proper advice to increase the efficiency of learning in schools and handle to pressure of examination. A positive mental state can improve one’s chances of success. Leakage of question papers, copying and cheating in examination halls have become a common affair. Bribery and other corrupt practices also have crept into the examination system. Even some of the teachers check the examination papers without assessing them properly, as a result of which students suffers. Examinations give a degree or a grade to the student. The prevailing system of education does not help the students to make their career in life or to earn a decent living. The youth who fails to get the desired percentage of marks suffer the most. In order to overcome the shortcomings present in our educational system, many Education Commissions were set up from time to time to suggest changes in the pattern. Action on their suggestions Central Board of Secondary Education and other State Boards of Secondary Education decided to introduce a separate steam of vocational education. According to Educational experts, ongoing evaluation is more effective than board examinations. They have recommended that Class X examinations be made mandatory only for those who want to opt out of formal education. Further, it has been suggested that class XII examination be staggered over a two-year period. They have recommended the need for a new pattern which would impart education thought training. Educational experts feel that the educational system being obsolete and redundant is not serving the purpose of educating the youth. They have felt the need to evaluate a student’s performance during the whole year. This could make the examination system more acceptable. According to the new method adopted by many public schools, examinations would remain a part and parcel of the education system. However, periodic tests will be held at regular intervals. The syllabus would include practice exercise at the end of each lesson. This will help the student in grasping the subject matter properly. The aim of education should be to equip the student for the tough battle of life, build his character and personality, widen his sphere of knowledge and qualify him for employment. The student should not only be taught lessons from books but also lessons from practical life. The educational system should not only be theoretical and academic but also give practical knowledge. Students should not be encouraged for rote learning. Projects and term papers may encourage an engagement with the subject matter and are more likely to add sum and substance to a student’s knowledge base. When History, Geography and Maths are reduced to mere digits on a mark sheet, they cease to inspire, give joy, or nurture the faculty of inquiry. Nevertheless, the system of examination, prevalent for centuries, cannot be changed overnight. It will take some time to change the system. While this transition take place, the corrupt practices, cheating and leakage of question papers related to examinations should be checked. Parents should not make their love conditional to the performance of their children in the examinations. Their expectation level should be reasonable. With this and with the revised system of education, examination will prove beneficial for the students. Good health is a boon. It is the real jewel of life, the most precious possession of man. If a man losses his health, the world losses all it § charms for him. A good wealth of health can be obtained in a number of ways. It needs regular exercise, good food, good thoughts, and cleanliness. A healthy person does not spend money on medicines and visiting doctors. Just opposite, a sluggish person is another form of hell of diseases. The simplest and most traditional definition of health is that it is the freedom of sickness and diseases. According to World Health Organisation (WHO), a branch of the United Nations, health is physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease. Next to life itself, good health is the most precious gift and is necessary for a purposeful existence. ‘Sound mind in a sound body’ is an old saying. Healthy persons can work for long hours without getting tired. They can enjoy all the pleasures of life, whereas unhealthy pe rsons can’t. The world has no charm for them. They are always worried due to their physical complications. Wealth has no importance for them. To keep good health no money is needed. It can be achieved only through our efforts and proper health care. We can maintain good health only if we are aware of various factors which affect our health. There are certain things which are essential for keeping our body free from diseases. Nutritious food comes first. We should takeVpnly that food which has nutritious value. Some regularity in life is also important for good health. We should get up early in the morning, go out for a walk, breathe in fresh air to keep our lungs clean and in good order, and take brisk walk, move arms while walking. Maintaining clean habits is also important in this regard. If we don’t take bath regularly, don’t wear clean clothes, don’t eat fresh food, we may develop physical complications in the long run. Hence regularities, good habits and cleanliness have great value in maintaining good health. Balancing sleep and rest are also useful in this regard. We know that a great deal of the waste matter in our bodies escaped by means of the skin, which contains many millions of tiny drainpipes called ‘pores’. If we neglect keeping our bodies clean, these pores get choked up and the waste matter cannot escape. Hence we must keep this important point in our mind and do accordingly. Laughter is the best medicine of good health. So, we should keep calm by overcoming anger, greed, fear, envy and enmity. Life of a healthy man is his long lasting wealth. It makes him able to enjoy life to the full. Those who are wealthy may not always be healthy but the healthy people are always wealthy. Sayings about health and wealth have been noted throughout time. Benjamin Franklin was quoted as saying, â€Å"Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.† This has been a popular saying for centuries. The saying health is wealth may also inspire the belief that without good health, a wealthy man cannot fully enjoy his riches. Conversely, a healthy individual has the potential to achieve his goals. An individual in excellent health may have the ability to become wealthy, but a person who is ailing may never have the opportunity to bring his dreams to life. When a quote or saying becomes widely used and extremely popular, it generally tends to be passed on throughout the years. Health is wealth is one of those sayings that has remained popular for many years. In the study of language and humanities, the common phrase health is wealth can be classified as a mainstay expression. Quotes have been coined from many philosophers and authors throughout history. Health is wealth may be known as a phrase, a saying, or an expression. Another saying or expression that has similar meaning is â€Å"When you have your health, you have everything.† This saying means that the healthy individual is extremely wealthy in a fundamental way.