The Kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh JR

No matter how you choose to raise your children, one thing is the same for every parent- the immediate sense of panic you feel when you can't find your child. Whether a relative has scooped your newborn up for a cuddle, or your toddler is hiding in a nearby clothing rack, or your punctual teen is 30 minutes late for curfew, the wave of panic is the same. Fortunately, so is the instant relief when we see their face. So much so, we almost feel silly for even letting our minds go there. Unfortunately that isn't always the case. For aviator Charles Lindbergh and wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, on 01 March 1932 that panic would turn to terror and then heartbreak.THE FAMEAt 30 years old, Charles Lindbergh had made quite the life for himself. His solo flight across the atlantic (from New York to Paris) He landed in Paris to a cheering crowd of over 150,000 spectators, and returned home to millions who turned out for a ticker tape parade in America. His fame was world wide as he received commendations from Presidents, Kings and Dictators. (The annals of crime) In the two-year period following Lindbergh's flight, the U.S. Copyright Office recorded thr ee hundred applications on Lindbergh songs. He married his love, Anne Morrow, and together had a son, Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr. He was a beautiful little boy with blue eyes and blonde curly locks. He may have been the apple of his parents eye but had won the affection of the people as well-and the press knew it. They followed the young family everywhere. Even the house staff cashed in on the fame by giving tours of their main residence in Hopewell, New Jersey, U.S which, in hindsight, may have given the kidnappers the advantage of knowing where the child slept.THE KIDNAPPINGOn 1 March 1932, Anne Lindbergh made a last second decision against taking a toddler with the sniffles into the cold and rainy night air to travel to her parents house. She had the nurse take young Lindbergh upstairs to bed at 8pm. The nurse, Betty Gow, rubbed medicine on his chest, changed him into a one piece sleeping suit and put him down to sleep around 8:30 pm (kidnapped) Following Lindberghs orders, she closed the door allowing the child to self soothe for no less than 2 hours before checking on him. Though Anne was in a bath and Charles was in his study, both heard a noise around 9:30 but dismissed it as being made by one of their staff. An hour later, upon checking on young Lindbergh, Nurse Gow informed them the child was gone. â€Å"They have stolen our baby!† was Lindbergh's immediate response. (kidnapped) A seal enveloped ransom note was on the open window sill.THE INVESTIGATIONAs police began arriving shortly before midnight they had little to go on. Although H. Norman Schwarzkopf (father of Persian Gulf War commander Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf) of the New Jersey State Police was nominally the lead investigator in the case, control of many of the details was ceded to Lindbergh. (encyclopedia britannica) A command center was formed in Lindbergh's 3 car garage. Despite the command center Police failed to secure the crime scene and kept no record of who was in the home at the time of the kidnapping nor of who came and went from the home afterwards. Poor lighting and bad weather limited their search outside. They started inside the home, mainly, the nursery. The ransom note demanded specific amounts of certain denominations and seemed to be written by someone who spoke english as a second language and was uneducated. The room was dusted for prints only to discover none would be found, anywhere -not even nurse Gows.(Annals of crime) It appeared to have been wiped clean, thoroughly and completely. It wasn't long before the press got wind of the story and began arriving. They each set up their own command centers and started doing their own investigating, walking around the house in search of clues and entering and exiting the home questioning staff. The next morning, no witnesses saw anyone come or go on the main street in front of the home. Investigators did manage to find a broken homemade ladder several yards from the house. It is unclear whether it was ignorance or poor training was to blame as to why so few crime scene photos were taken and those that were, were neither to scale nor taken before the evidence was moved. As for the ladder, which was considered the most damning piece of evidence, (mike ray) was photographed after being broken down into 3 pieces. Later a photo was taken of a different ladder of exact height up against the home to show a ladder of that length would reach the child's window. Fingerprint experts found 400 partial prints, but because they were all fragmentary, they had no value in identifying anyone. (annals of crime) Lack of evidence only fed speculation that some powerful criminal organization or foreign government had taken the young child (annals of crime) Even though President Hoover had vowed to move â€Å"Heaven and Earth† to find the child (annals of crime) and J. Edgar Hoover-no relation- decided to expand the FBI into a national police agency, Lindbergh chose not to cooperate with FBI agents. He first went to William Donovan (who would later head the OSS.) Then he sought out shady characters who claimed to have underworld connections. He then went to the underworlds elite that he could find=the ones in prison. Al Capone offered his assistance, upon his release, which was immediately denied. Without consulting investigators he then gave copies of the ransom note to all parties contacted in an attempt to find out who wrote it. The shady characters showed their shadiness by immediately selling their copies to the press. With the press competing in their print wars they ran with their lead, publishing the note. Suddenly, ransom notes claiming to be the kidnappers started to appear. Some raise the ransom and some included items like a thumb guard, which the baby (along with 1000's of other babies) had on when abducted, so was assumed to be his (but could not be proven to be young Lindberghs.) The third ransom note was received by Colonel Lindbergh's attorney on March 8, informing that an intermediary appointed by the Lindberghs would not be accepted and requesting a note in a newspaper. On the same date, Dr. John F. Condon, Bronx, New York City, a retired school principal, published in the â€Å"Bronx Home News† an offer to act as go-between and to pay an additional $1,000 ransom. The following day the fourth ransom note was received by Dr. Condon, which indicated he would be acceptable as a go-between. This was approved by Colonel Lindbergh (fbi 2010) In total, 12 ransom notes were received from the kidnappers. None were found in the same place and the person contacted as to their whereabouts changed each time as well. After the 12th note,which reduced the ransom to the original asking price of $50,000, Dr Condon began negotiating through the newspapers on when and where to meet. On April 2 1932 Dr Condon with Lindbergh not far in a park car, met with â€Å"John† at St Raymonds Cemetary in the Bronx to exchange the ransom for the child's whereabouts. Because Lindbergh wanted the focus on child recovery and not kidnapper apprehension, the police were not told about the exchange,however the bank did record the serial numbers from the 10,000 in cash and 40,000 in gold certificates. â€Å"John† gave them the 13th and last note stating the child could be found on a ship called â€Å"The Nelly† in Martha's Vineyard under the care of 2 innocent women under the impression they were babysitting. Instead of following â€Å"John† they contacted police who informed local authorities and Lindbergh took to the air to find the ship. Despite all efforts, the ship could not be found. Later they would find it didn't even exist. Lindbergh conceded he had gained nothing by paying the ransom.THE DISCOVERYOn May 12, 1932, the body of the kidnapped baby was accidentally found, partly buried, and badly decomposed, about four and a half miles southeast of the Lindbergh home, 45 feet from the highway, near Mount Rose, New Jersey, in Mercer County. The discovery was made by William Allen, an assistant on a truck driven by Orville Wilson. The head was crushed, there was a hole in the skull and some of the body members were missing. The body was positively identified by Lindbergh who, and after cause of death was determined, ordered its immediate cremation in Trenton, New Jersey, on May 13, 1932. The Coroner's examination showed that the child had been dead for about two months and that death was caused by a blow on the head. (FBI 2010)Now a murder investigation, the Bureau (who was acting merely in an auxiliary capacity, since there was no federal jurisdiction.) was now in charge. The President directed that all governmental investigative agencies should place themselves at the disposal of the state of New Jersey and that the FBI should serve as a clearinghouse and coordinating agency for all investigations in this case conducted by federal investigative units.On May 23, 1932, the FBI in New York City informed banks in greater New York that the Bureau was the coordinating agency for all governmental activity in the case. A close watch for ransom money was requested. A pamphlet containing serial numbers was created. Copies of this pamphlet was given to each employee handling currency in banks, clearinghouses, grocery stores in certain selected communities, insurance companies, gasoline filling stations, airports, department stores, post offices, and telegraph companies.(fbi 2010) As time went on, the money and certificates popped up along the eastern seaboard, but police had no way to analyze the bills recovered. Just as the case turned cold, On May 1st, 1933 there was an executive order released for any individuals in possession of any gold certificates to turn them into a bank for money; if you were to be found in possession of the gold certificates after this date you were held criminally responsible and could be punished via a fine of $10,000 or up to ten years in prison. Prior to this deadline, $2990 in gold certificates matching the serial number were turned into a local bank, but the bank attendants were busy due to the deadline and did not notice the serial numbers until after the individuals left the bank. What seemed to be a fruitless endeavor finally bore its first solid fruit in Sept 1934. 16 certificates had popped up in New York. A suspicious gas station attendant had wrote the licence plate number of a man who had used the certificate to purchase gas on the certificate itself. Soon after the bank teller informed the FBI. The license plate belonged to a german immigrant carpenter named Bruno Richard Hauptmann. He was married and had a son close in age to young Lindbergh had he been alive.TRIAL AND EXECUTIONWhen police arrested Hauptmann on Sept 19 1934 he had a $20 certificate on his person. Police claimed to have found many pieces of evidence in Hauptmanns home. Over $13,000 in certificates were found in his garage. An apparent sketch of a collapsible ladder similar to the one used in the kidnapping was found. Jim Condon's telephone number and address was found written on a closet wall in the house (history.com); whether this handwriting matched Hauptmann's or the ransom notes is unknown. Hauptmann did admit to police that he wrote the information down himself, but this was after hours of interrogation and at least one severe beating (FBI, 2010). Some questioned why he would still have these items 2 years after the kidnapping.The most damning evidence was found in the attic. Investigators noticed a beem missing from his rafters. The piece that would come to be known as â€Å"Rail 16† was found to be part of the homemade ladder found by the Lindberghs home and became a large part of the prosecution's case. Wood expert Arthur Koehler was one of 8 experts who testified for the prosecution. He matched Rail 16 of the kidnap ladder with the flooring from the attic. The four irregularly spaced extra nail holes in Rail 16 matched up perfectly with the holes in the attic floor joists. Prosecutor Wilentz broke up their dry testimony by bringing on a statuesque beauty, Hildegarde Alexander, described as â€Å"a blonde pajama model,† who testified that she saw Hauptmann staring at Dr. Condon in a telegraph office. Alexander was one of many eyewitnesses for both sides whose testimony seemed contrived. (crime mag) This included an 87-year-old Hopewell man, testifying for the prosecution, claimed that Hauptmann drove by his house the morning of the kidnapping. That is, he remembered the face of a stranger in a car, before he had any reason to take notice of him, and could pick him out in the courtroom three years later. Only after the trial, the defense learned that this witness was legally blind and had been so at the time of the sighting. This could've been known if the defense had challenged his eyesight as expected of an 87 year old witness. Even Lindbergh's claim that he recognized Hauptmann's voice as being the same voice that said â€Å"Hey, Doc,† at the cemetery 2  ½ years earlier seems far-fetched. But he was the Lone Eagle. As the prosecutor told the jury, â€Å"And Lindy remembered that voice. And who is to say he didn't? Are you going to substitute your judgment for his?†. (crime mag)VERDICT AND SENTENCINGOn Feb. 13, 1935, after 11 hours of deliberation, the jury returned a guilty verdict. Hauptmann was sentenced to death. A series of appeals, ultimately reaching the Supreme Court in December 1935, were unsuccessful, and a clemency bid was rejected on March 30, 1936. Desperate to bring others to justice but running out of time, the prosecution offered Hauptmann a deal- your life for your confession and accomplices. A newspaper offered $90,000 to Hauptmann's wife and child to accept the deal. (Fleming, 2010) Hauptmann, denying until the end any involvement in the crime, told them he had no names to give. On April 3, 1936, 19 months after the verdict, he was executed by electric chair. Soon after the United States Congress adopted a federal kidnapping statute—known as the Federal Kidnapping Act 18 U.S.C.  § 1201(a)(1) (popularly known as the Lindbergh Law, or Little Lindbergh Law) imposing the death penalty for transporting a kidnapped victim across a state line.(history.com)CONCLUSIONThis day, many forensic scientists and police investigators are under the belief that Bruno Richard Hauptmann was innocent and that he fell victim to police and their need for closure a case. There was too much circumstantial evidence and police made too many mistakes; crime scenes were contaminated, evidence lacked and was not always connected. (fORENSIC FILES) Lindbergh's dominating control of the investigation raises even more questions. Sadly, Lindbergh's fame was greater than Hauptmanns innocence. A point made clear by the jury, who so quickly found him guilty beyond reasonable doubt, even though so much was left unclear or unknown.

Present Complex Internal Business Information Essay

Present complex internal business information using three different methods appropriate to the user’s needs In this assignment I will present internal business information using three different types of communication methods which are appropriate to the user’s needs. The three types of methods I have chosen are written, on screen multimedia presentation and verbal presentations. I have chosen ASDA to do my research upon. ASDA is a global supermarket which sells groceries, electrical equipment, general domestic equipment, toys and clothing. It is now subsidiary of the American store Wal-Mart. Today they are the UK’s second-largest chain by market share. Written- written communication involves any type of interaction that makes us use the form of a written word. It is one of the main types of communication used. Written communication is used a lot in a business as written communication involves reports, letter, instruction, agreements, memos and policies. Written communication is the most appropriate when detailed instructions are required, when something needs to be documented, or when the person is too far away to easily speak with over the phone or in person. ASDA uses this type of communication to communicate without different people in the hierarchy system or to one of their customers. It is appropriate to the user’s needs because written communication is precise and explicit. It also allows the manager to get in contact with someone easily without hassle. On-screen multimedia presentation- on screen presentation means any sort of information that is presented on the screen. It can be written so the user can read it. It can be in the form of a video clip with sound and images aswell. This can be used by the board of directors and managers when showing key information about the business. It is appropriate to the user’s needs because it allows you to show information and has a variety in ways which you can do so. The data can be in any form. Verbal communication- verbal communication has more to do with listening then speaking as you are always dealing with an audience. Verbal communication is best when you need to discuss something in detail. There are two types of verbal communication. One is through an electrical device and the second is face-to-face. With verbal communication it allows quick response. Asda uses verbal communication because you can say precisely what you mean without any confusion. It allows passage of accurate information. Verbal information is used everywhere in ASDA.

King Lear Essay

Shakespeare’s â€Å"King Lear† in a play filled with betrayal and various acts of deception. This becomes evident in the first few lines. The superficiality of Goneril and Regan empty words combined with their lack of love for their father foreshadows the events to come. We first see dishonesty in Act1 Scene1 with Lears â€Å"love test†. Goneril and Regans elegant yet false speeches oppose what they really feel. Goneril speaks first and says â€Å"I love you more than words can wield the matter†, the reason why there are no words to express this love, is because she feels none for him, it does not exist. Regan emphasizes the value of her love; she should be priced at Gonerils â€Å"Worth†, however we can see that her love is even less than her sisters when she professes Gonerils affection â€Å"Comes to short†. Her greed is adamant. Both daughter’s deception and hunger only for themselves, already in the first act establishes an emotional uncertainly and introduces ideas of what’s ahead. Cordelia speaks last, and although stands up for genuine feeling â€Å"according to my bond, no more no less†, does not flatter Lear in the way he wished. He asks her to â€Å"ment your speech a little†, as feels she should do the same as her sisters. In the speech Cordealisa honesty is seen by Lear as a rebelling and humiliation of him. He feels his heart has been lied to by her refuses in the love test to say â€Å"nothing†, assuming therefore that she does not love him. Yet could we question Lears betrayal? His actions and intentions for breaking up the state were not that of a responsible ruler, renaissance society was patriarchal and genrotocraic; they did not consider retirement, nor did they pass on their power and wealth when they reached old age. They retained their power until they died. Also opposed, was the divine right not kings. As appointed to by god this was a very important period. The fact the King defied the natural order itself has to be questioned. As we can see, Lears misuse of power proceeds from here to his tragic downfall. Not only does he deceive society with his position, but also his daughters. He is used to wielding his power with absolute authority and expects complete obedience, â€Å"though better know’st the offices of nature, bond of childhood, effects of courtesy, dues of gratitude, thou half o’th kingdom hast†. After giving away his kingdom he should have no rights or power yet is constantly expressing to his daughters â€Å"I gave you all† telling them they owe him. Lears attempt to divide power from responsibly from the beginning of the first act expresses the point he needs to learn to distinguish between appearances and reality. The next deceitful character is Edmund who is the bastard son of Gloucester and a victim of the law primogeniture. As an illegitimate son he is entitled to nothing, but this doesn’t stop his political ambition. This is expressed in Act 1, â€Å"Why bastard? Wherefore base? When my dimensions are as well compact†. Edmund argues he possesses all the person qualities of his brother and is determined to â€Å"prosper† no matter what. He lies to his farther in devious and cunning ways. By producing fake documents and fooling him into believing that Edgar seeks his life. By acting as if he does not want his farther to see the letter â€Å"Nothing my lord†, reverse psychology is used, showing Edmunds true colours. He then pushes the story further â€Å"if you violently proceed against him, mistaking his purpose, at would make a great gap in your honour†. This false act concerning honour makes Edmund out to appear good and true. Yet again just like Lear, Gloucester has fallen for false appearances and words. The subplots both now mirror as the evil children gain ground from lies, betrayal and deception. As well as emotional aspersion, physical deception is also apparent. It’s used in A1S4, when Kent disguises himself. He disguises himself as Caius, a serving man who seeks employment. Edgar then in Act2S3 disguises himself as â€Å"mad beggar tom†. By doing this I feel Shakespeare is expressing how the character deserve freedom to justice. They both have been reduced in status. In Edgars situation the contrast between life as an absolute monarch and the powerless existence described here â€Å"poor tyrlygod! Poor tom† that’s something yet: Edgar I am nothing†, could not seem starker. Both Kent and Edgar do feel free now, and there is emphasis in how they speak to show they do not care for royalty and positions. The point being how deceptive outward appearances are in King Lear. Virtuous characters assume disguises in order to survive, continuing to do well in their new lowly roles. In contrast outward appearances do appear to represent the loss of power â€Å"Off off! You lendings†. To Lear his clothing represents his folly. Lastly, there’s the fool, who is ironically different from his title. He plays a number of roles; voice of conscience, social commentator, truth teller and even a representative for Cordealia. While the fool is commonly an idiot, Lears fool seems to understand the political situation better than the king himself. â€Å"She will taste like this as a crab does to a crab (A1S5), the fool tries to warn Lear about both goneril and Regan being as sour as each other. Therefore one is no better than the other. His songs and jokes seem to be aimed at teaching Lear about the errors he has made rather than making him laugh; therefore his humour acts as a disguise. In many eyes the fool is like a commentary on significant events outlining or foreshadowing things whenever he appears. In conclusion Shakespeare’s interest in deception in King Lear is shown throughout. If the characters are not emotionally deceptive like Goneril and Regans empty words in A1S1: â€Å"I love you more than space and liberty†, in the love test. Then physically they are, such as Kent and Edgar, Which was one: to help the king and the other to escape punishment that they did not deserve. Most characters deliberately misrepresent themselves but others are naturally difficult to understand. Some try to gain power, others are only protecting themselves. There is an extreme contract between reality and truths about the appearances that make people out to be something out they are not. This quality about the characters fuels the plot and intrigues the audience, develops the play and brings it to an ultimate end.

Healing Hospitals is a Key Component of the Social Lives of People Essay

Healing Hospitals is a Key Component of the Social Lives of People - Essay Example Different from hospitals which are noisy, drugs scented and a lot of movement, healing centers provides the exact opposite of that. The components of healing hospitals include the provision of safety to patients, serenity to patients, day to day relaxing sessions, spiritual activities like praying and singing and a staff which knows how to transform the environment to a healing environment. As its duty on society, churches feel that they have the obligation to take care of the sick in society. For this reason, most churches transform their extra land to be healing hospitals. In these hospitals, patients are provided with guidance and counseling, prayer sessions and daily devotions from the holy books. It is usually a notion that a spiritual environment is free from evil, violence and ill thoughts. According to Chapman (2003), healing hospitals are the same as spiritual environments. Right from the most inferior staff member, there is a feeling of righteousness. The staffs around healing hospitals have the feeling that the lives of needy people require very intense attention. McCall (2002) argues that the working staff around healing hospitals makes the centers even more spiritual and human-friendly. The establishment of healing hospitals has a lot of challenges. In the creation of these hospitals, the aim is always to create a patient-friendly environment without a routine check of doctors, hourly injections and hospital protocol. However, these features also have important roles in the creation of healing hospitals. The major difficulty lies with the creation of a healing hospital with a serene environment but with a medical touch in it.

Module 3 SLP Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Module 3 SLP - Assignment Example Market research is essential in identifying specific market needs, characteristics of such markets as well as strategies to be devised to reach those markets (Jargon 2012). The following report explains the processes that were involved in the planning and execution of market research about the company’s products. The research process stemmed from a SWOT analysis that was carried to determine the company’s ability to take advantage of various opportunities in the market as well as tackling its threats in the market. The process was comprehensive, tackling both the internal and external business environment and providing recommendations on ways to improve the companies effectiveness and competitiveness over its rivals. The main objective in carrying out the research was to find out the specific weaknesses that the company was facing in its operations. In addition, it was also to find out some of the pointers to the company strengths so that it would work on weakness to increase its competitive advantage. In analyzing the company’s internal environment, the research aimed at identifying the influence of specific issues on business activities, as well as their merits and demerits to the business. According to the SWOT analysis that was done, there were pertinent issues of concern to the business that needed research on how they could be addressed to increase the company’s market competitiveness. In reference to the business’ internal strengths, some of the issues relevant for research included the number of staff and their knowledge about company goals and objectives, awareness about company products and their marketing strategies. There was also concern about the communication channels that were used in the company and how they influenced effective performance. As far as the company’s weaknesses were concerned, there was need to research the record keeping process

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

Interview Paper - Essay Example Knowing about his theories, an expectant mother has some educated knowledge about how she should deal with her child if there are certain practices that she wants to develop or otherwise, in the child. Other concepts on human development such as Piaget’s physical growth and development as well as Lev Vygotsky’s â€Å"Zone of Proximal Development† will be put in juxtaposition with the experiences and observations of a caregiver. Mercedes Montes is a caregiver to three year old Alfred. She has been looking after the child every weekday for more than nine months now. The caregiver says that she loves her job because she enjoys being with the child. She considers the joys and thrills she feels being a part of the growing process of Alfred the best part of her job. Even though she is not related with the child, she thinks she is a big part of whatever the child will become in the future. She does not only act as a caregiver to the child but as a teacher as well. She says her employer is making sure that the child gets the instructions she is not able to provide while she is away from her child, working at a bank that is why she hired Montes who recently graduated her BS in Education. The job does not only provide financial support for the woman but experience also which she says is valuable. Montes says that together with the joys and enjoyment she gets from her job, there are also difficulties. For instance, when the child gets sick, she seems to become the culprit for reasons such as forsaking the child’s needs. She says that it is emotionally cracking to think that she has done everything to do her responsibilities well but in the end, when something bad happens to the child, she becomes the first to be blamed. In addition, when the child is well and healthy, she says that she often ends her day very tired because the child is very active. Alfred seems to have all the energy to run around and climb and as a caregiver, she

How successful is neo-liberalism in explaining why states cooperate Essay

How successful is neo-liberalism in explaining why states cooperate - Essay Example The concept of neoliberalism has been used in order to interpret the behaviour of people or states under specific conditions. It is even expanded in the area of organizational behaviour and planning. Regarding this issue, it is noticed by Bourdieu (2008, online article) that ‘the neoliberal programme draws its social power from the political and economic power of those whose interests it expresses: stockholders, financial operators, industrialists, conservative or social-democratic politicians; high-level financial officials eager to impose policies and so on’. Current paper focuses on the role of neoliberalism when having to explain the reasons for which states cooperate. The various aspects of neo-liberalism as a social and political concept will be analyzed in order to identify their role in the formulation of specific political behaviour with a special reference to the cooperation among states within the international community. Neoliberalism is a significant concept related with a variety of social and political fields; in the economic sector also the above concept can be effectively applied. In this paper neoliberalism is used under its form of an important criterion for the development of strategic cooperations among states; in other words the political ‘dimension’ of neoliberalism is likely to be employed for the development of this study. However, it is necessary to refer primarily to the various aspects and forms of neoliberalism in order to justify its presence in the evaluation of specific political behaviour – cooperation – by states internationally. In this context, we could refer to the study of Kilmister (2004, online article) who noticed that ‘neo-liberal economics is based around three main elements; firstly, there is a re-conceptualisation of the role of government expenditure; state spending is explicitly seen as justified only by the need to make domestic ca pital more

Channel Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Channel Management - Essay Example The insurance industry too has begun using hybrid marketing channels. The objectives of marketing channels can be understood better by analysing their four functions - facilitating the exchange process, alleviating discrepancies, standardizing transactions and providing customer service. A marketing channel's most important aim is to facilitate a smooth exchange process between a firm and an individual. As marketing is a process of exchange between a buyer and a seller, channel members are considered exchange facilitators. When a marketing channel fails to deliver goods that match customer expectations, discrepancies occur. These can be corrected through activities such as sorting, accumulating, allocating and assorting. Organizations produce a variety of products for several reasons. Some reasons are: Distributors facilitate the task of sorting products so that their identification becomes easier and they can be delivered fast. Accumulating is the process of collecting the same product in large quantities. Distributors help both buyers and sellers protect themselves against price and supply fluctuations. Allocating is the process by which larger quantities of homogeneous products are broken down into smaller quantities. Manufacturers sell their products in bulk to wholesalers, who in turn, sell these in bulk to distributors. The distributors sell these products in smaller quantities to customers. Assorting is the process by which the customer's exact requirement is ascertained for a target group of customers. Distributors facilitate the marketers' task of assorting the products for different consumers according to their tastes and preferences. Another major objective of marketing channels is standardizing transactions. Let us consider the example of a milk delivery system here. In this case, the distribution is standardized throughout the marketing channel so that consumers do not need to negotiate with sellers on any aspect, whether prices, quantity, payment method or products location. Customer service includes installation, training and maintenance of the product and other forms of service required by customers. Distributors too offer these services. In a typical distribution system, there are two tiers between the manufacturer and the final consumer - the wholesale distributor and retailer. In a marketing channel, working with distributors and resellers creates more problems than it solves. This is because it is feared that intermediaries are interested in maximizing their profits and are not concerned about manufacturer's profits. To further this end, they prefer manufacturers with products and brands in high demand. Though this may be considered rational, it creates problems for manufacturers who are introducing new products in a new market. This forces the manufacturer to set-up a direct-distribution channel in international markets. Established companies, when entering international markets, choose emerging markets first. As they have limited exposure in these markets, they sell their products through local distributors who are independent in nature. Initially, though there can be a fast growth in sales, as the time passes, manufacturers start realizing and identifying problems with the distributors (Arnold,

Discussion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 145

Discussion - Essay Example The best null hypothesis in this case is; The quality of products manufactured in overseas plants is not better than the quality of products manufactured in U.S. plants. This hypothesis will be essential in helping to compare the quality of products produced in the overseas and local plants. Since it is a comparison that is being made, it is crucial to use words that portray a disparity between the local and abroad products. While conducting the research to ascertain the hypothesis, the appropriate tests to be carried out include an evaluation of the costs and benefits of both local and overseas plants. The research should assess which of the two options is the cheapest. In addition, the purpose of the study should be to portray why local manufacturing will produce quality products compared to overseas production. Since the local manufacturing plants are already established compared to foreign plants that are to be introduced, they will yield better results. When conducting the statistical test, I would chose a significant level to determine whether there is statistical significance in the results. The best approach to use is by checking the test that will give a lower probability of an error. The possible outcomes of my statistical tests is that they will yield positive results based on the hypothesis being tested. However, there are limitations since the variables being compared have significant diffe rences (Downing & Clark,

Final exam Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Final exam - Assignment Example However, the exact point where the mind and body interact, and the process of their interaction, escapes our knowledge, it cannot be scientifically quantified. It is therefore not an easy thing to explain how something immaterial (mind) interacts with the material (body). For while the physical part of the body is evident, it beats logic just how an invisible immaterial thing influences the body One is able to know his/her own mind because he/she can afford to enter into his/her inner sanctum of thought, this way, in a reflective mood one can tell clearly when he is in pain, or when sad or even when overwhelmed by joy, but it is difficult to tell whether other people have minds, or they are just programmed robots. While similarities in shape and size do not necessarily mean that because one is like this, the other person is the same too, the argument of analogy claims that, those similarities provide us with an important hint in getting to know the mind of others, it is therefore helpful to note that since we are members of the same species and share so many similarities together, such as the response of joy with elation and loss with sorrow, we can get to know the state of others from their overall response in different occasions, setting us always as the determinants, therefore by observing the behavior of others one can infer (courtesy of the similarities) that others to o have a mind. Memory theory of personal identity is the principle that claims that memory is the key factor that enables one to persist over time, the theory argues that , in the midst of growing change and changing times that so often change us qualitatively and quantitatively, the only thing that attaches us to that person who was yesterday or twenty years ago, is the ability to recall a certain experience that that same person experienced, in the

A Birthday Remembered Essay Example for Free

A Birthday Remembered Essay Love is very complicated, not just butterflies in one’s stomach, but it also involves a lot of pain. The pain is not easy to drain. We have to confront ourselves with the pain and get over it, but that’s easier said than done. We restrain our feelings and try to forget them. This only causes an even bigger pain. That is the situation for Ellen, the main character in this short story. Ellen’s love life has been complicated, she is a lesbian and obliged to listen to people’s prejudices. Her one and only love, Jackie, dies caused by an incurable illness and she is not allowed to bury her â€Å"She has not been allowed to do this one last thing for Jackie. To be with her during the last rituals.† (l.24-25). Because of Jackie’s former husband, Roger, whom she has left to live with Ellen, but he could not accept his wife being a lesbian, because of his man-stubbornness and he even tried to declare her temporarily insane (l.15). Jackie’s daughter on the other hand thinks that what Ellen and Jackie had was wonderful and beautiful, but you don’t know yet if she’s a lesbian herself or a heterosexual (l.102). The short story is written in third-person (l. 8) â€Å"why shouldn’t she?† The narrator is not omniscient, but we have inner-angel from Aunt El since we only â€Å"hear† thoughts from her, and not from Tobie or Warrick. (line. 104) â€Å"She felt the shock of the words†. You can’t really tell if the narrator is reliable or not, since we don’t know which connection he has to any of those in the story. Neither does he try to make anyone to seem like the â€Å"bad guy†, but the narrator is making us feel sorry for Aunt El, for her big lost Jackie. (L. 24 89) â€Å"She hadn’t been allowed to do this one last thing for Jackie† â€Å"but we have to get used to living without loved ones†. The language used in this short story is very well written and is very descriptive, because of all the adjectives being used, which makes the story way more â€Å"living†. (l. 12) â€Å"Roger had been furious, appalled and angr y..† although the story is very well written it’s also a bit harsh to understand, because of some of all these adjectives and expressions. At line 37 there might be a flashback â€Å"here’s to you, Ellen Simms, on your birthday†. See more: The stages of consumer buying decision process essay The reason that this maybe could be a flashback is firstly because of the changing of the type, at only that sentence, which might give an account of her past together with Jackie before her death. One thing that was striking me was that the story is written in the preterit, but at the same time the narrator uses direct speech, which I think is a bit odd, since you normally writes the whole story in either present or the past, and very seldom a combination of the 2 indication of times. We have two main characters in this story, who’s Aunt El and Tobie: Aunt El / Ellen Simms is an old women who lives by herself. She used to be heterosexual and lived together with a man named Roger. They had a kid together named Tobie which is 15 years old. Ellen chooses to leave Roger because she’s changing her sexuality, and becomes a lesbian and falls in love with Jackie. But unfortunately Jackie died one year from now on, which leaves her alone with Tobie, and chooses to return back t o the father Roger. Ellen is a very obliging and kind person. She really misses her old flame Jackie, and cares a lot about Tobie whether her sexuality is heterosexual or lesbian (l. 83) â€Å"suppose it had been a girl? People choose who they want.† She seems considerate, when she offers Tobie and Warrick a hot cocoa, and remembers that young’s always are hungry and decides to make them some sandwiches. Tobie is daughter of Ellem Simms and the late Jackie. She’s 15 years old, but doesn’t have an abundance of friends (l. 20) â€Å"Tobie never had an abundance of friends†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She has short blond hair, had lineament from her father and a nice smile (l. 53-55). She cares about Ellen, since she’s the only one who shows up at her birthday and brings a present, which she has been saving money, for about a week. The way she earns these money is through her job in the library (l. 68) â€Å"I’m a library page after school..† helpful is also a good word, that would describe, which you can see in the story, when she offers her help to go and make cocoa together with Ellen. It seems she trusts Ellen more than her own father, since she decides to show Warrick for Ellen instead of her father. The message in this short story, is that pain will always be there, but only temporary, but at the same time hard to get over. That love is a big (maybe the biggest) part of our life and we should not regret, but remember the good times you’ve had with those you’ve loved. Don’t take anything in vain, live your life. And it doesn’t care if you are a heterosexual, lesbian or gay, just as long as you are happy. The title of this story is â€Å"a birthday remembered† which I guess is chosen because of all the emotional feelings that’s stepping in strength through this story and especially the quote from the daughters side â€Å"I hope it will be as wonderful and beautiful as what you and mom had together†.

Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 Article Review Essay Example for Free

Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 Article Review Essay The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was a daring attempt to legislate morality with the intentions of restoring integrity with the public in financial markets. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act is a direct result from corporate scandals like WorldCom, Enron, Adelphia, and Tyco, which succeeded in the collapse of these major corporation and ruined people’s lives. The mistreatment of employees and investors by flagrantly unethical business practices cost some their life savings and retirement portfolios while others went to jail because they were part of the scandals. The provision regarding ethics in business contained within the Sarbanes-Oxley Act help to ensure and deter unethical business practices. There are two particular provisions that have a big effect on organizations on their ethical decision making. The first is the requirement corporations must create a code of ethics for senior financial officers that include enforcement mechanisms and the regular rotation of outside auditors. There are other requirements such as Section 303 â€Å"improper influence on conduct of audits,† Section 306 â€Å"insider trades during pension fund blackout periods,† and Section 307 which state â€Å"rules of responsibility for attorneys,† (Orin, 2008) but the first two mentions have the power collectively to regulate corporations internally and externally. The Code of Ethics is a schematic for each corporation for governance within the organization to regulate and set acceptable standards for directors, officers, accountants, and employees. The mandatory rotation of auditors ensures the organization has a truly independent audit that allows auditors to question and criticize business practices of the corporation experiencing the audit. The SOX should have went one step farther by mandating audit –firm rotation rather than just rotation of the lead person doing the audit, which would ensure complete independence of the audits. The rotation will ensure if one auditor misses unethical practices or is part of it will be discovered and discontinue with the rotation. The out-of-pocket expense for compliance has many critics who say this is an unfair burden on corporations; however have made significant strides against unethical business practices. The criminal penalties for which the act provides includes fines, imprisonment, loss of exchange listing, and loss of DO insurance depending on which section of the SOX the corporation is out of compliance with. The CFO or CEO who unknowingly submits a wrong certificate could be fined up to one million and up to 10 years of prison, if knowingly then he or she could be subject up to five million and up to 20 years imprisonment. â€Å"The ultimate incentive, which may prove to be the sine qua non, is that a failure to do so could expose them to the disastrous possibility of being deemed to have embraced these historical problems and to become accountable for them as their own† (Orin, 2008). The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was drafted by Representative Michael Oxley and Senator Paul Sarbanes, which was intended to protect investors by ensuring/improving the reliability and accuracy of corporation’s disclosures of corporate financial performances. The SOX ensures that executives are held accountable for all financial issue even if unknown, forcing them to become more involved and monitor the accuracy of what is being reported to be true and accurate. References Orin, R. M. (2008). Ethical Guidance and Constraint Under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Journal Of Accounting, Auditing Finance, 23(1), 141-171. SOX-Online, (2012). Sarbanes-Oxley essential information. Retrieved from http://www. sox-online. com/basics. html

Study On The Objectives Of The Bse Sensex Finance Essay

Study On The Objectives Of The Bse Sensex Finance Essay BSE SENSEX is the short form of the BSE Sensitive Index. The index is widely used to measure the performance of the Indian Stock Market. It is a Market Capitalization Weighted index of 30 stocks representing a sample of large, liquid, well established and financially sound companies. The index is widely reported in both, the domestic and international, print and electronic media and is widely used to measure the performance of the Indian stock markets. The BSE Sensex is the benchmark index of the Indian capital market and one which has the longest social memory. In fact the Sensex is considered to be the pulse of the Indian stock markets. It is the oldest index in India and has acquired a unique place in the collective consciousness of investors. Further, as the oldest index of the Indian Stock Market, it provides time series data over a fairly long period of time. One of the most important attributes of Sensex is to maintain continuity with the past i.e. to update the base year av erage. The base year value adjustment ensures that the rights issue and new capital of the index scrips do not destroy the value of the index. The day-to-day maintenance of the Sensex is done by the Bombay Stock Exchange and special care is taken to include only those scrips, which pass through several filters. The Stock Exchange, Mumbai popularly known as BSE was established in 1875 as The Native Share and Stock Brokers Association. It is the oldest one in Asia, even older than the Tokyo Stock Exchange, which was established in 1878. It is a voluntary non-profit making Association of Persons (AOP) and is the first Stock Exchange in the country to have obtained permanent recognition in 1956 from the Government of India under the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956. The Exchange, while providing an efficient and transparent market for trading in securities, debt and derivatives upholds the interests of the investors and ensures redressal of their grievances whether against the companies or its own member brokers. A Governing Board having 20 directors is the apex body, which decides the policies and regulates the affairs of the Exchange. The Governing Board consists of 9 elected directors, who are from the broking community (one-third of them retire every year by rotation), three SEBI nominees (Securities Exchange Board of India), six public representatives an Executive Director, Chief Executive Officer and a Chief Operating Officer. The Executive Director and the Chief Executive Officer are responsible for the day-to-day administration of the Exchange and he is assisted by the Chief Operating Officer and other Heads of Departments. OBJECTIVES The BSE Sensex is the benchmark Index of the Indian Stock Market with wide acceptance among individual investors, institutional investors and fund managers. The objectives of the index are: Æ’ËÅ" TO MEASURE MARKET MOVEMENTS Given its long history and wide acceptance, no other index matches the BSE Sensex in reflecting market movements and sentiments. Sensex is widely used to describe the mood in the Indian Stock Market. Æ’ËÅ" BENCHMARK FOR FUNDS PERFORMANCE The inclusion of the Blue chip companies and the wide and balanced industry representation in the Sensex makes it the ideal benchmark for fund managers to compare the performance of their funds. Æ’ËÅ" FOR INDEX BASED DERIVATIVE PRODUCTS Since Sensex comprises of leading companies in all the significant sectors in the economy, we believe that it will be the most liquid contract in the Indian market and will garner a pre dominant market share LISTING OF SECURITIES Listing means admission of securities to dealings on a recognized stock exchange. The securities may be of any public limited company, Central or State Government, quasi-governmental and other financial institutions/corporations, municipalities etc. The objectives of listing are mainly to: Æ’ËÅ" Provide liquidity to securities Æ’ËÅ" Mobilize savings for economic development Æ’ËÅ" Protect interest of investors by ensuring full disclosures. The Exchange has a separate Listing Department to grant approval for listing of securities of companies in accordance with the provisions of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956, Securities Contracts (Regulation) Rules, 1957, Companies Act, 1956, Guidelines issued by SEBI and Rules, Bye-laws and Regulations of the Exchange. SELECTION CRITERIA The criteria for selection and review of scrips for the BSE Sensex can be explained in the following manner: A. QUANTITATIVE CRITERIA 1. MARKET CAPITALIZATION: The Scrip should figure in the top 100 companies listed by market capitalization. Also market capitalization of each of the scrip should be at least. 0.5 % of the total market capitalization of the Index i.e. the minimum weight should be 0.5%. Since the BSE Sensex is a market capitalization weighted index, this is one of the primary criteria for scrip selection. (Market Capitalization would be averaged for last 6 months). 2. LIQUIDITY: a. Trading Frequency: The scrip should have been traded on each and every trading day for the last six months. Exceptions can be made for extreme reasons like scrip suspension etc. b. Number of Trades: The scrip should be among the top 150 companies listed by average number of trades per day for the last one year. c. Value of Shares Traded: The scrip should be among the top 150 companies listed by average value of shares traded per day for the last one year. d. Trading Activity: The average number of shares traded per day as a percentage of the total number of outstanding shares of the company should be greater than 0.05 % for the last year. 3. CONTINUITY: Whenever the composition of the Index is changed, the continuity of historical series of index values is re-established by correlating the value of the revised index to the old index (index before revision). The back calculation over the last one-year period is carried out and correlation of the revised index to the old index should not be less than 0.98. This ensures that the historical continuity of the index is maintained. 4. INDUSTRY REPRESENTATION: Scrip selection would take into account a balanced representation of the listed companies in the universe of BSE. The index companies should be leaders in their industry group. 5. LISTED HISTORY: The scrip should have a listing history of at least 6 months on BSE. However, the Committee may relax the criteria under exceptional circumstances. B. QUALITATIVE CRITERIA 1. SCRIP GROUP: The Scrip should preferably be from à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾Aà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸ group. 2. TRACK RECORD: The company should preferably have continuous dividend paying record or / and promoted by management having proven record. S P CNX NIFTY The NSE -50 Index was launched by the National Stock Exchange of India Limited, taking as base the closing prices of November 3, 1995 when one year of its Capital Market segment was completed. It was subsequently renamed S P CNX Nifty- with S P indicating endorsement of the Index by Standard and Poorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s and CNX standing for CRISIL NSE Index. The S P CNX NIFTY, also popularly known as the Nifty 50, is one of the most scientific indices in India that reflects the price movement of 50 blue- chips, large cap, liquid and highly traded stocks of 23 sectors. The Nifty is managed by India Index Services Products Ltd. (IISL). The total value of all Nifty stocks is approximately 70% of the traded value of all stocks on the NSE. Nifty stocks represent about 59% of the total market capitalization. OBJECTIVES The basic idea of this index is to ascertain the movements of the stock market as a whole by tapping the news which can affect the stock. The index also averages out the good stock specific news for a few companies and bad stock specific news for others and left with the news that is common to all stocks. The news that is common to all stocks is news about India, which is the sole purpose of NSE Nifty. According to NSE, the Index was introduced with the objectives of: 1. Reflecting market movement more accurately, 2. Providing Fund Managers with a tool for measuring portfolio returns vis-a-vis market returns, and 3. Providing a basis for introducing Index based derivatives. This paper discusses Efficient Market Hypothesis (thereby referred to as EMH), seasonalities and its implications in both advanced and emerging securities markets. EMH suggests that investors cannot expect to out perform the market consistently on a risk adjusted basis (Mayo, 2003). According to Fama (1965) who developed the Efficient Market Hypothesis, an efficient market is a market where there are a large number of rational profit-maximizers actively competing, with each trying to predict future market values of individual securities, and where important current information is almost freely available to all participants. In an efficient market, competition among the many intelligent participants leads to a situation where at any point in time, actual prices of individual securities already reflect the effects of information both on events that have already occurred and on events which, as of now, the market expects to take place in the future. In other words, in an efficient marke t at any point in time, the actual price of a security will be a good estimate of its intrinsic value. On the other hand, in an inefficient market, EMH would not hold. This suggests that existence of loop holes which could be exploited to make abnormal returns by predicting market price patterns, using past price information and insider information. These market inefficiencies, also called market anomalies have received as much research work as EMH. 2. THREE FORMS OF MARKET EFFICIENT HYPOTHESIS There are three forms of market efficiency in an informationally efficient market, where prices adjust quickly and accurately to new information (Emery et al, 2007). These forms show the degree of efficiency of security markets and attempt to answer the question of how efficient a market is. (Mayo, 2003 and Keane, 1983) 2.1 Weak Form Efficiency The weak form of EMH asserts that the current price fully reflects information contained in the past history of prices only. Stock market price information is available via most means of mass communication. Thus, investors should be unable to make superior profit from use of public information i.e. daily stock market prices or company results available to all. Again, many investment bankers and financial analysts devise investment strategies using technical analysis of past data to outperform the market and their competitors, in satisfying their clients demand for superior returns. Transaction costs of trading, investment advice, analysis and commissions when considered, affects the investors return, especially for investors who continue to use traditional full service brokers (Mayo,2003) 2.2 Semi Strong Form Efficiency The semi strong form of EMH, according to Brealey et al (2006), prices reflect not just past prices but all other published information, such as you might get from reading the financial press. Similarly, Fama (1969) defined it as publicly available information with examples of announcements of annual earnings and stock splits. Semi-strong form of EMH asserts that current prices fully reflects public knowledge about the underlying companies and that efforts to acquire and analyze this knowledge cannot be expected to produce superior investment results (Lorie Hamilton 1973). 2.3 Strong Form Efficiency The strong form of EMH suggests that share prices fully reflect not only published information but all relevant information including data not yet publicly available. It also asserts that not even those with privileged information (insiders) can often make use of it to secure superior investment results (Lorie Hamilton 1973). These three forms of EMH are not independent of one another. For the market to be efficient in the semi-strong form, it must also be efficient in the weak form, because if price movements follow a predictable path which the perceptive observer can exploit profitably, the implication is that the price has reacted slowly or capriciously to published information. Likewise, for the market to be efficient in the strong form it must also be efficient at the other two levels, otherwise, the price would not capture all relevant information (Keane, 1983). He went on to state that for an inefficiency (seasonality) to be operationally significant it must be exploitable. Keane (1983) analyses four criteria an exploitable inefficiency should satisfy, these are: (a) it should be authentic supportable by properly conducted statistical research. (b) It should be identifiable-not just strategies or people that beat the market but concrete and verifiable evidence. (c) It should be material- inefficie ncies are not exploitable unless they are sufficient to compensate for the costs and risks of pursuing them. (d) It should be persistent-the value of inefficiency is not just a record of its existence in the past but that it will continue to exist in future. These criteria are very important in understanding the different types of market seasonality or anomaly, their existence, prevalence and their implications for the EMH. 3. SEASONALITIES AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR THE EMH Seasonalities, as the name suggests are time regularities, patterns or predictable trends. In the financial securities market, seasonalities would suggest predictable time patterns in the behaviour of the stock market-volume of stock trades, stock returns etc. If it does exist, then investors can exploit the market for superior returns in all financial securities markets. Seasonalities as defined by Alagidede (2008) are evidences of market efficiency anomalies. These are also known as seasonal anomalies (calendar effects) which may be loosely referred to as the tendency for financial returns to display systematic patterns at certain times of the day, week, month or year. Calendar effects include: January effect, the month of the year effect, monthly effect, holiday effect, Monday effect / day of the week effect, weekend effect, turn of the year effect etc. (Guo and Wang, 2007). Discussing a few of them will be worthwhile. 3.1 The January Effect The January effect is where returns are much higher during the month of January than any other month, i.e. where investors can earn a disproportionately high amount of the total annual return available from both fixed income assets and equity in January Clare et al (1995). Most research conducted in developed economies confirm the presence of the January effect, although, in more recent times they seem to be disappearing. Keim (1983) and Reinganum (1983) show that the January effect and the size effect are highly interrelated. Blume and Stambaugh (1983) discovered, after controlling for upward biases in small stock returns, the size effect was only significant in January. An extensive amount of studies has gone into the month of the year effect. Mills and Coutts (1995) concluded that stock returns are much higher in the month of January in the UK using FTSE indices between January 1986 and October 1992(FTSE 100,Mid 250 and 350 indices). Gultekin and Gultekin (1983) using 17 countries also found evidence that the January return is much higher than other months returns, Alagidede (2008) tested for month of the year effect in emerging African markets and concluded that the January effect is positive and significant for Nigeria, Egypt and Zimbabwe. However Guo and Wangs (2007) study on the emerging Chinese stock market shows that there is no significant January effect in Chinese stock market. Many researchers have sought the cause of the January effect and arrived at a number of causes which include: tax-loss selling hypothesis, provision of new information at the end of a fiscal year, firm size had the significant higher risk in the beginning of the year than the rest of the year and the systematic tendencies for closing prices to be recorded at the bid in the last traded in December and at the ask in early January (Guo and Wangs, 2007) 3.2 The Holiday Effect The definition of a holiday is relative, subjective and would vary for different countries and their capital markets e.g. Christian, Muslim, public holidays etc. One definition of a holiday looks at days, other than Saturday or Sunday, upon which the market is closed (Alagidede, 2008). Ariel (1990) used US data reports to show that the trading day prior to holidays on average displays high positive returns, this result was supported by Kim and Park (1994) for US, Japan and UK .However, Cadsby and Ratner (1992) using UK data concluded that the holiday effect was insignificant This conclusion was challenged by Mills and Coutts (1995) in their study of calendar effects using London stock FTSE indices. Coutts et al (2000) showed that the holiday effect is present in their study of the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE), although, no similar study has been undertaken on the ASE which would have been used as a basis of comparison. Their results were consistent with international evidences. 3.3 The Weekend Effect One of the most prevalent anomalies appears to be a weekend effect where stocks display significantly lower returns over the period between Fridays close and Mondays close (Arsad and Coutts, 1995). Jaffe and Westerfield (1985) examined the daily stock market returns in 4 international stock markets including, the London stock Exchanges FT30 over the period 1950 1982 and found a significant weekend effect. Consistent with Jaffe and Westerfield (1985) findings, Condoyanni et al (1987) also found the existence of the weekend effect in the UK when examining the FT30 over the period 1979 1994. Arsad and Coutts (1996, 1997) also found the weekend effect in the FT30 from the period 1935 1994, although according to their research the effect was found not to be persistent. Board and Sutcliffe (1988) examined the weekend effect in the Financial Times all share index over the period 1962 1986 and found clear evidence of a weekend effect over the sample period, with the significance of the e ffect diminishing over time. This is consistent with later research done by Dubois and Louvet (1996) on the same index for the period 1969 1992, in which negative returns was found on Monday, which are compensated by abnormal positive returns on Wednesday. Agrawal and Tandon (1994) examined the weekend effect in 18 countries including the UK and found a negative Monday return when the market rises in the previous week. Furthermore, they found the effect disappearing in 1980. Mills and Coutts (1995) found evidence of the existence of the weekend effect in the UK when the FTSE 100, Mid 250, 350 and certain of the accompanying industry baskets was examined for the period from 1986 to 1992. Ajayi et al (2004) investigated day of the week stock return anomaly, using major market stock indices in eleven eastern European emerging markets for the period 1994 2002. The results show negative and positive Monday returns in six and five emerging markets respectively, of which only two of the six show negative Monday returns and one of the five show positive Monday returns and were statistically significant. Choudhry (2000) investigated the day of the week effect in seven emerging Asian stock markets from 1990 1995 and found significant weekend effect in some of the markets considered. 3.4 The Day of the Week Effect: The day of the week effect refers to existence of a pattern on the part of stock returns, whereby these returns are linked to the particular day of the week (Poshakwale 1996). The last trading days of the week, particularly Friday, are characterised by substantially positive returns while Monday, the first trading day of the week, differs from other days, even producing negative returns (Cross 1973, Lakonishok Levi (1982), Rogalski (1984), Keim Stambaugh( 1984) and Harris (1986). In other words, this effect relates to the difference in returns across different days of the week with the variance in stock returns found to be largest on Mondays and lowest on Fridays (Raj Kumari 2006). It should be noted that the day of the week effect in emerging capital markets has not been extensively researched and the presence of such an effect would mean that equity returns are not independent of the day of the week effect against random walk theory (Poshakwale 1996). On the other hand, the inte rnational evidence of the report has been somewhat mixed. Dubois and Louvert (1996) find returns to be lower for the beginning of the week (but not necessarily Monday) for European countries, Hong Kong and Canada. However, it was observed that the anomaly disappeared in the USA for the most recent periods. Agrawal and Tandon (1994), find negative Monday returns in nine countries and negative Tuesday returns in eight countries (out of a total of nineteen countries). Several theories have been put forward regarding specific time periods anomalies in the capital market. The day of the week effect has been explained by examining various kinds of measurement errors such as: settlement period hypothesis; which attributes the day of the week effect to the settlement dates with prices higher on the pay-in days as compared to the pay-out days. Calendar time(trading time) hypothesis; implies that since Monday returns are spread across three days (Saturday, Sunday Monday), the returns should be three times as high as other days. The negative Monday returns go against this reasoning, which lead to the proposed theory that returns should be proportional to trading time as opposed to calendar time (Raj Kumari 2006). Information flow hypothesis postulates that the difference in information flow over the weekend compared to other days of the week causes the Monday effect (Dyl Maberly 1988). Often companies hold back negative information till the weekend, g iving the investors two non-trading days to absorb the information before reacting with trading activity. Consequently, all sell orders get pushed to Monday, thereby giving negative returns (Raj Kumari 2006). Retail investor trading hypothesis, suggests that negative Monday returns could be the result of individual investor trading activity (Brooks Kim 1997). It was found that trading activity is significantly lower on Monday for large size trades, while small size trades have a higher percentage of sell orders on Monday as compared to other days of the week. 3.5 Trading Month Effect The trading month effect also called the turn-of -the-month effect which was first documented by Ariel(1987) using US data shows that returns are only positive around the beginning and during the first half of trading months, whereas during the second half they are on average zero. This study was replicated by Jaffe and Westerfield (1989), for the UK, Japan, Canada and Australia, in their study. However, only Australia shows a significant monthly effect. A conflicting evidence for the UK in a report from Cadsby and Ratner (1992) shows a significant trading month effect in the FT 500. Ariel (1988) offered three explanations for the trading month effect which include: new information concerning corporate cash flows, changes in risk free rate and changes in the preferences of market participants leading to variation in demand for securities which cannot be offset by supply. Mills and Coutts (1996) investigated the this effect using a large sample of daily returns from the Financial Time s Industrial Ordinary Share Index and found that a trading month effect is present but exists for a much shorter period than has been documented by previous studies for both the US and the UK. The information release hypothesis of French(1980) was accepted as an explanation of the trading month effect, only if the unexpected release of good and bad news has a tendency to fall in the final and first days of trading months, securities would be riskier during these periods , thus justifying the higher first half returns. Context of India: Published studies that have examined calendar effects in the Indian stock market appear to be limited. Kaur (2004) reports that few studies have examined the day-of-the-week effect in the Indian stock market, and further notes the absence of studies that examine monthly seasonality in the Indian stock market. Kaur utilized two Indian stock indexes, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) 30 index and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) SP CNX Nifty stock index, to examine the day-of-the-week effect and the monthly effect. Kaur did not find a January effect in the Indian stock market, but did find that March and September generated substantially lower returns, whereas February and December generated substantial positive returns. Sarma (2004) adds that very few studies have examined calendar effects during the post reform era in the Indian stock market. Sarma investigated the BSE 30, the BSE 100, and the BSE 200 stock indexes to detect the day-of-the-week effect. Utilizing Kruskal-Wallis test statistics, Sarma concluded that the Indian stock market exhibited some seasonality in daily returns over the period January 1, 1996 to August 10, 2002. Bodla and Jindal (2006) examined several seasonal anomalies in the Indian stock market utilizing the SP CNX Nifty Index for the period January 1998 to August 2005. For the monthly effect, they did find some significant differences for their sub-period, January 2002 to August 2005. However, they were unable to find any significant differences among individual months. In an earlier study, Ignatius (1998) examined seasonality in a BSE index and in the Standard and Poors 500 stock index for the period 1979-1990. Ignatius found that December generated the highest mean returns , and that April and June generated high returns in the Indian stock index. Some studies examine seasonality in the Indian stock market as part of a broader analysis of seasonality in several major emerging stock markets. For example, Fountas and Segredakis (2002) investigated monthly seasonal anomalies in eighteen major emerging equity markets, including the Indian stock market. They examined the monthly effect for the period January 1987 to December 1995. For the Indian stock market, they found August returns were significantly greater than April, May, October and November returns. However, they did not find evidence consistent with hypothesized tax-loss selling in the Indian stock market, as the tax-year in India commences in April. Yakob, Beal and Delpachitra (2005) examined seasonal effects in ten Asian Pacific stock markets, including the Indian stock market, for the period January 2000 to March 2005. They state that this is a period of stability and is therefore ideal for examining seasonality as it was not influenced by the Asian financial crisis of the late nineties. Yakob, et al., concluded that the Indian stock market exhibited a month-of-the-year effect in that statistically significant negative returns were found in March and April whereas statistically significant positive returns were found in May, November and December. Of these five statistically significant monthly returns, November generated the highest positive returns whereas April generated the lowest negative returns. Evidence of monthly seasonality in the Indian stock market is somewhat mixed. This may be, in part, a consequence of the fact that the Indian economy is in transition and is therefore constantly evolving, supporting the notion that further research into these calendar effects in the Indian stock market is warranted.

Fasting and The Eucharist: Catholic Participation in the Sacrifice of C

Fasting and The Eucharist: Catholic Participation in the Sacrifice of Christ Christ, as the ultimate sacrifice in Christianity, gave his own life for the benefit of others. His self-sacrifice continues to this day to be celebrated in the Catholic Mass. Through communion, or receiving the Eucharist, one is able to actively partake of the fruits of that sacrifice. But how does one follow Jesus’ example? One surely cannot strive for the same kind of physical death that Jesus experienced. Thus, practice of another form of self-sacrifice becomes necessary. To eat, to nourish one’s self is an act that is essential for human life. What could cause more pain in this life than to deny one’s self sustenance? The practice of fasting, as one form of self-denial, can serve to bring one closer to identifying with the sacrifice of Christ. This is especially evident when fasting is examined in relation to the Eucharist in the Catholic tradition. But before we continue, a distinction must be made between two different types of self-denial. To fast, and to not eat do not constitute the same act. My own personal experience while exploring the topic of fasting has deeply colored my view of the practice of fasting. Many personal interests led me to pursue the question of fasting as a form of self-sacrifice. One was my personal engagement with and interest in the Roman Catholic tradition. Another, much more personal influence is my personal relationship with food. To stop eating is one of the (unhealthy ways) in which I personally deal with stress or depression. In reading Caroline Bynum’s book on the relationship medieval women mystics had with food I was able to identify on many levels. These women, in some cases, lived for... ...5 At the request of my friend, her name has been changed, in case her mother really does have spies everywhere. 16 Nussbaum, Melissa. â€Å"Your paper on fasting.† Email to Lorena Dremel. 03/06/2003 17 Dugan, Kathleen M. â€Å"Fasting For Life: The Place of Fasting in the Christian Tradition.† Journal of the American Academy of Religion. Vol. 63 Issue 3 (Fall 1995): 547 18 Repohl, Roger F. â€Å"Hungry Together.† Commonweal. Vol. 124 Issue 3 (02/14/1997): 9-10 19 Several articles including: Orsy, Ladislas. â€Å"Holy Days of Obligation? Holidays of Celebration?† America. Vol. 166 Issue 2 (01/18/1992-01/25/1992): 28-29. Rogers, Carole Garibaldi. â€Å"Why Catholics Fast: Searching for the Tradition.† America. Vol. 186 Issue 6 (02/25/2002): 6-10. Sherry, Mary. â€Å"Fasting? But That’s So Mortifying.† America. Vol. 186 Issue 7 (03/04/2002): 21-22. Fasting and The Eucharist: Catholic Participation in the Sacrifice of C Fasting and The Eucharist: Catholic Participation in the Sacrifice of Christ Christ, as the ultimate sacrifice in Christianity, gave his own life for the benefit of others. His self-sacrifice continues to this day to be celebrated in the Catholic Mass. Through communion, or receiving the Eucharist, one is able to actively partake of the fruits of that sacrifice. But how does one follow Jesus’ example? One surely cannot strive for the same kind of physical death that Jesus experienced. Thus, practice of another form of self-sacrifice becomes necessary. To eat, to nourish one’s self is an act that is essential for human life. What could cause more pain in this life than to deny one’s self sustenance? The practice of fasting, as one form of self-denial, can serve to bring one closer to identifying with the sacrifice of Christ. This is especially evident when fasting is examined in relation to the Eucharist in the Catholic tradition. But before we continue, a distinction must be made between two different types of self-denial. To fast, and to not eat do not constitute the same act. My own personal experience while exploring the topic of fasting has deeply colored my view of the practice of fasting. Many personal interests led me to pursue the question of fasting as a form of self-sacrifice. One was my personal engagement with and interest in the Roman Catholic tradition. Another, much more personal influence is my personal relationship with food. To stop eating is one of the (unhealthy ways) in which I personally deal with stress or depression. In reading Caroline Bynum’s book on the relationship medieval women mystics had with food I was able to identify on many levels. These women, in some cases, lived for... ...5 At the request of my friend, her name has been changed, in case her mother really does have spies everywhere. 16 Nussbaum, Melissa. â€Å"Your paper on fasting.† Email to Lorena Dremel. 03/06/2003 17 Dugan, Kathleen M. â€Å"Fasting For Life: The Place of Fasting in the Christian Tradition.† Journal of the American Academy of Religion. Vol. 63 Issue 3 (Fall 1995): 547 18 Repohl, Roger F. â€Å"Hungry Together.† Commonweal. Vol. 124 Issue 3 (02/14/1997): 9-10 19 Several articles including: Orsy, Ladislas. â€Å"Holy Days of Obligation? Holidays of Celebration?† America. Vol. 166 Issue 2 (01/18/1992-01/25/1992): 28-29. Rogers, Carole Garibaldi. â€Å"Why Catholics Fast: Searching for the Tradition.† America. Vol. 186 Issue 6 (02/25/2002): 6-10. Sherry, Mary. â€Å"Fasting? But That’s So Mortifying.† America. Vol. 186 Issue 7 (03/04/2002): 21-22.

evolution v. creation Essay -- essays research papers fc

Evolution   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Should the stork theory appear in books on reproduction? How about astrological lore in expositions on astronomy? It would be unreasonable to even consider those ridiculous concepts. This is why the idea of creation should not be considered as the answer to how life began. Rather, the theory of evolution accounts for the creation of life. Charles Darwin is credited with creating the theory of evolution. Evolution assumes that all natural forms arose from their ancestors and adapted over time to their environments, thus leading to variation. In evolution, there are many rules the environment places upon the survival of a species. â€Å"There are many misconceptions that creationists have about evolution. A large part of the reason why creationist arguments against evolution can sound so persuasive is because they don't address evolution, but rather argue against a set of misunderstandings that people are right to consider ludicrous† (Isaak). Evolution refers to change, or transformation over time. â€Å"There are numerous ways in which evolution occurs, the most noted are Natural Selection and Adaptation† (â€Å"Evolution v. Creationism†). As Savage said, â€Å"We do not need a listing of evidences to demonstrate the fact of evolution any more than we need to demonstrate the existence of mountain ranges† (v).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A very popular, although erroneous, argument given by creationists is that evolution has never been observed. Evolution at its simplest involves relatively minor changes in the gene pool of a particular population from one generation to the next (Savage 32). One example of evolution being observed is insects developing a resistance to pesticides over the period of a few years. Even most creationists recognize that evolution at this level is a fact. â€Å"What hasn't been observed is one animal abruptly changing into a radically different one, such as a frog changing into a cow. This is not a problem for evolution because evolution doesn't propose occurrences even remotely like that. In fact, if we ever observed a frog turn into a cow, it would be very strong evidence against evolution† (Isaak). According to Isaak, what they don't appreciate is that this rate of evolution is all that is required to produce the diversity of all living things from a common anc estor.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another inaccu... ... a wide range of observations throughout the fields of genetics, anatomy, ecology, animal behavior, paleontology, and others. According to Dennett, if you wish to challenge the theory of evolution, you must address that evidence. You must show that the evidence is either wrong or irrelevant or that it fits another theory better (275). â€Å"If I had to give an award for the single greatest idea that anyone ever had, I’d give it to Darwin† (Dennett 278). Works Cited   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dennett, Daniel C. Darwin’s Dangerous Idea. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Evolution v. Creationism.† 21 April 2002. http://physics.syr.edu/courses/modules/ ORIGINS/origins.html. 4 Jan. 2004.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Isaak, Mark. â€Å"Five Major Misconceptions About Evolution.† 1 October 2003. Online. Available http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-misconceptions.html. 4 Jan. 2004.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Prinze, Karl. â€Å"Evolution v. Creation: Misconceptions Dangerous.† 12 June 1999. Online. Available. http://www.ius.edu/journalism/2000/darwin.html. 4 Jan 2004. Savage, Jay M. Evolution. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc, 1963.

Self-Worth and Moral Knowledge :: Philosophy Morals Traditions Papers

Self-Worth and Moral Knowledge I argue that persons are unlikely to have moral knowledge insofar as they lack certain moral virtues; that persons are commonly deficient in these virtues, and hence that they are regularly unlikely to have adequate moral knowledge. I propose a version of this argument that employs a broad conception of self-worth, a virtue found in a wide range of moral traditions that suppose a person would have an appropriate sense of self-worth in the face of tendencies both to overestimate and underestimate the value of one’s self. I begin by noting some distinctive features of this argument that distinguish it from more common arguments for moral skepticism. This is followed by an elucidation of the virtue of self-worth. I then consider some connections between self-worth and moral knowledge and, more briefly, the extent of self-worth among persons. Finally, I respond to the objection that the argument is incoherent because it presupposes moral knowledge that it later undermines. My aim is to offer a brief defense of an argument for a moderate moral skepticism that is rooted in morality itself as often understood. In general form, the argument is based on the contention that persons are unlikely to have moral knowledge insofar as they lack certain moral virtues; it continues with the claim that persons are commonly deficient in these virtues, and it concludes that they are regularly unlikely to have adequate moral knowledge. I will propose a version of this argument that employs a broad conception of self-worth, a virtue found in a wide range of moral traditions that suppose a person should have an appropriate sense of self-worth in the face of tendencies both to overestimate and underestimate the value of one's self. I begin by noting some distinctive features of this argument that distinguish it from more common arguments for moral skepticism (section I). This is followed by an elucidation of the virtue of self-worth (section II). I then consider some connections between self-worth and moral knowledge (sections III and IV), and, more briefly, the extent of self-worth among persons (section V). Finally, I respond to an objection that may be made against this argument (section VI). I. The argument I defend here is in several respects different than familiar arguments for moral skepticism. First, moral skeptics often purport to show that there is no moral knowledge and sometimes that there can be none. (1) The present argument claims only that persons commonly are likely to be deficient in moral knowledge and hence that there is less moral knowledge among persons than might be thought.

Response to The Higher Circles

Mills' essay entitled The Higher Circles is about the existence and functions of the power elite groups in our society and how they affect, influence, or shape affairs of the society and the world. In a society or a nation, Mills argues that there are people more influential and powerful than the others and every decision or action they make holds significant consequences to ordinary men.â€Å"Within American society, major national power now resides in the economic, the political, and the military domains† and â€Å"they occupy the strategic command posts of the social structure† which include making decisions on how governments and social sectors operate (Mills). The powerful men who hold these elite positions are very different from the ordinary men for all their decisions, even their failure to make some, all have substantial effect and repercussions to other sectors of the society.The argument of Mills in his work is supported by facts and proofs of how significant are the higher circles in the society. He discussed how other institutions like schools, families, and religion become subordinate to these power elite groups. He emphasized that these men â€Å"occupy positions in American society from which they can look down upon, so to speak, and by their decisions mightily affect, the everyday worlds of ordinary men and women† (Mills).These elite groups dominate major decisions in the society and every action they do make up the structure of social conditions. Mills' work is accurate because it laid down facts and comparisons to prove his definition of the role of the power elites. As a whole, C. Wright Mills' article was very informative and insightful as it focuses on enlightening readers on the existence that the powerful men that lead the higher circles and it also highlights their different, significant functions to the society.The article gave substantial evidences how ordinary people perceive and accept these power elites into th eir lives. Adequate information about their effect to the different sectors of society also suffice to prove that these men are indeed on the top of the rule. Everything that these powerful elites do have important consequences on how the society will function for the other people. Work Cited Mills, C. Wright. â€Å"The Higher Circles. † The Power Elite. Oxford Press, 1956. Print.

Combating Juvenile Delinquency

These programs are the most recent ones in which as been around since 1901 to 1983 . There's two programs in which I look for has being able to geared on a straight path for success. Both are similar around the same action being pointed out for understanding in others viewpoint that take on with In a community that makes It stay in a clean community.The programs are the BSP and D. A. R. E. Programs that has taught our kids success from personal experience and from strict up bring Instead of spearing the rod rules. The BSP stands for The Big Brothers Big Sister Programs which is geared around families needs that helps to instill children who needs help focusing in living arrangements raising up on a not so good area neighborhood or just need that guide to achieve a goal in general with in the community. Dealing with problems with family incarceration.The kids age group are from 6-18 years of age. The BBS programs are models shown one-to-one relationship. The most that are active in th e immunity are Community-based mentoring school, Mentoring children of prisoners, being able to build blocks health children Initiative. Another program is the D. A. R. E program that stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education that's been around since 1983 It works with in 43 countries around the world. The D. A . R. E programs age starts form preponderating to the 12th grade.The police educators teach with In a class room setting, by which teaching kids ways to avoid outsides trying to drift them away to drugs gangs, and violence. The performance an clean and better life structure. The main sociological theory shown tit in two programs above shows teaching and educate kids to stay on the good path to keep a good community, stop the crime form occurring in the society, is the Theory Institutions Anomie Theory which Steven Messier and Richard Responded presented o the Marten's. Propose an idea that would improve the community would be to having better information about different way in which families work on keeping kids in more extra activities. Such as being able to teach with out hold low standers on their children. Be able to work with more educated adults that truly care of the well being of other regardless of their background. In the community have the church's step up and be more concise with trying to put forth more resource an time an money alone with outsource programs to encourage families an friends to educate instead of discriminate toward others.References (2011) Big Brother Big Sister of the Triangle, So many ways to get started 2/23/2014 Http://www. Abstracting. Argot (2014) Dare Dare Teaching students good decision making skills to help them lead safe and health lives. 2/23/2014. Http:// w. W. W. Dare. Org/about-garage Delis, M. , Hewitt, J,. & Region, R. (2014). Delinquency in Society ( 9th deed. ). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Microsoft Strategic Management Essay

Background It’s the 1970s. At work, we rely on typewriters. If we need to copy a document, we likely use a mimeograph or carbon paper. Few have heard of microcomputers, but two young computer enthusiasts, a nineteen year old kid and his twenty-two year old business partner (Bill Gates and Paul Allen) sold their first program to a little computer company in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The program was called BASIC, and it was the start of this company we call Microsoft. We see that personal computing is a path to the future. In 1975, Gates and Allen form a partnership called Microsoft. Like most start-ups, Microsoft begins small, but has a huge vision—a computer on every desktop and in every home. During the next years, Microsoft begins to change the ways we work. Starting in 1980, Microsoft formed an important partnership with IBM that allowed them to bundle Microsoft’s operating system with computers that they sold, paying Microsoft a royalty for every sale. In 1985, IBM requested that Microsoft write a new operating system for their computers called OS/2; Microsoft wrote the operating system, but also continued to sell their own alternative, which proved to be in direct competition with OS/2. Microsoft Windows eventually overshadowed OS/2 in terms of sales. When Microsoft launched several versions of Microsoft Windows in the 1990s, they had captured over 90% market share of the world’s personal computers. We can take a look of the road map of Microsoft products, how it becomes a giant in the personal computer market. In 1982 – 1985 (Windows 1.0) – Microsoft launched a first version of new operation system – Interface Manager is the code name and is considered as the final name, but Windows prevails because it best describes the boxes or computing â€Å"windows† that are fundamental to the new system. In 1987 – 1992 (Windows 2.0) – Microsoft releases Windows 2.0 with desktop icons and expanded memory. With improved graphics support, you can now overlap windows, control the screen layout, and use keyboard shortcuts to speed up your work. Some software developers write their first Windows–based programs for this release. In 1990 – 1994 (Windows 3.0 & Windows 3.1) – Microsoft announces Windows 3.0, followed shortly by Windows 3.1 in 1992. Taken together, they sell 10 million copies in their first 2 years, making this the most widely used Windows operating system. In 1995 – 2001 (Windows 95) – Microsoft releases Windows 95, selling a record-setting 7 million copies in the first five weeks. It’s the most publicized launch Microsoft has ever taken on. Television commercials feature the Rolling Stones singing â€Å"Start Me Up† over images of the new Start button. The press release simply begins: â€Å"It’s here.† In 1998 – 2000 (Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me) – Windows 98 is the first version of Windows designed specifically for consumers. PCs are common at work and home, and Internet cafes where you can get online are popping up. Windows 98 is described as an operating system that â€Å"Works Better, Plays Better.† In 2001 – 2005 (Windows XP) – Windows XP is released with a redesigned look and feel that’s centered on usability and a unified Help and Support services center. It’s available in 25 languages. From the mid-1970s until the release of Windows XP, about 1 billion PCs have been shipped worldwide. In 2006 – 2008 (Windows Vista) – Windows Vista is released in 2006 with the strongest security system yet. User Account Control helps prevent potentially harmful software from making changes to your computer. In 2009 – today (Windows 7) – By the late 2000s, the wireless world has arrived. When Windows 7 is released in October 2009, laptops are outselling desktop PCs and it’s common to get online at public wireless hotspots like coffee shops. Wireless networks can be created at the office or at home. External Environment Microsoft gained a good result during the past thirty years. However, they still need to face the market change, which we called External Environment. Let us to take a look what External Environment that Microsoft is facing. Political factors – Microsoft is highly affected by the political scenario there in USA. Microsoft is becoming one of the giant companies globally. It has created huge monopoly across the globe. US government is now trying to break up Microsoft into several different companies so that to maintain equal competition throughout the market. One of the other reasons in splitting up Microsoft Corporation that it is becoming so much stronger that it could be a threat for even US government in near future. Economic factors – Being such a versatile company and the market share they have, Microsoft plays major role in bringing up the country economies they have set-upped their businesses. According to an independent studies that the economies of the country shoots up three times when Microsoft starts businesses in that country. Social factors – Microsoft has an edge on all of its competitors that socially more people are inclined towards Pentium platforms so naturally it helped a lot to have more market share rather than others. Market segment of Pentium users is considerably very huge but it would be threat for Microsoft that they are losing its share with an average pace, due to their unsatisfied customers. Technological factors – It was a decade earlier that Microsoft was the leader in producing high tech software and gadgets, but now they are getting tough competition from global phenomenon brand ‘Apple’. No doubt Microsoft adopts and market new technology. Environmental factors – Microsoft follows very strict policies to make sure that the company remains in full compliance with international environmental regulations and the specifically environmental requirements of each country/region where they are doing their business. Microsoft reduces waste disposal, where possible through source reduction and recycling at company facilities. All waste safely and responsibly handled and disposed of properly. Legal factors – Microsoft is playing vital role in legal aspect of their pirated products like Windows and other software. They are trying their level best to reduce the usage of their pirated software. They are introducing different security features which may reduce the usage of pirated products. Porter’s Five Forces Model Force 1: Potential Competitors The entry barriers of Microsoft’s business divisions are high. In the operating system business, it holds major market share in personal computing. There is over 90% of personal computer are using Microsoft Windows Platform (NETMARKETSHARE, 2012). The second is Mac OS by Apple Inc. which is only have 7.3% market share. Creating an operating system takes years and requires high skill set and knowledge. Besides the coding, it involves graphic design for better user experience, integration between various platform, and design of innovative features. Both Microsoft and Apple have been developed operating system for near thirty years. Microsoft has very strong user base from home users to enterprise and even government all over the world. To create a new operating system is very difficult that not only the financial problem but also experience developer and the market to promote this product. Force 2: Rivalry Among Incumbent Firms The threat of rivalry is relatively among Microsoft is low. There are just few rivals on operating systems market. The only distinction between operating systems is what software it can run. However, many famous application have release cross platform version. Force 3: Supplier Power F or supplier power, the threat for Microsoft is relatively low. All major resource are come from corporate internal. Most of them are human resources. For other business like their gamming console, Microsoft has several of suppliers available. The only down side of a supplier could hold is that the items needed by the console is a wide variety of electronics Force 4: Buyer Power Most of the PC Company sold their desktop, laptop, workstation with latest Microsoft Windows OS. This is become as expected by buyer. Even the direct competitor like Apple, their Mac PC and Mac Book can also support Windows OS. The cost of the OS is absorbed in the price of PC, and buyers tread it as bundle software. So it leads to low treat from buyers. Force 5: Substitute Products/Services Threat of substitute for Microsoft is low, even with the improvements of Mac OS X has made. To substitute by Mac OS, user need to purchase Apple PC. Apple PC usually more expensive compare with other brand in same hardware configuration. Many user consider the cost is not justify. SWOT Microsoft SWOT Analysis is in order to dissect the company situation in the market, consisting of 4 layers such as Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and threats. To date, the global business of Microsoft Corporation (Microsoft) mainly develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports software products for various computing devices. Its performance has been certainly in the science and technology circle, through its strong operating performance and financial stability to the company. It was expected to seek more growth avenues in the future. However, Microsoft’s margins and market share were partially hinged on the intensifying competition. Strengths * Windows is the dominate operating system in PC desktop of the world 92 percent of the market before Apple with 6 percent * Microsoft Internet Explorer is the second largest web browser behind Google Chrome * MSN was one of the favorite’s instant online chatting platforms * Bing is the second largest search engine behind Google * Software products have high name recognition, broad-based corporate and consumer acceptance, for instance Word, Excel, PowerPoint & Access, and numerous powerful features that are in use worldwide, thereby promoting standardization and competitive advantage through their ease of integration and cost-effectiveness Weaknesses * Dependency on hardware manufacturers to preinstall Microsoft’s PC operating system * Falling sales in the operating systems and server software sectors * Little or no significant presence in the wireless market. For example, Windows CE has been hazy and gave up. * Few products were occupying in an Internet applications * Perceived by many as a cutthroat competitor that uses its dominant market position to marginalize competition by stealing/destroying the competition’s products, stifling product innovation, and decreasing the availability of competitor products Opportunities * Lower global telecommunication costs create new markets as people connect to the Internet * Mobile phone applications and exploitation of personal digital assistants represent a growth industry so that strategic alliances could provide Microsoft with opportunity in a market Popularity among people for Internet access * The needs for personal computers in the global markets still keeps necessary for the aspect of document although the growth and increasing popularity of personal handheld devices Threats * Apple and Linux threaten Microsoft’s 88% market share of the desktop operating market * Currency exchange rates affect demand for application/operation software and hardware, and fluctuating currencies can negatively impact revenues in the global marketplace * Hardware manufacturers (Sun Microsystems, Oracle, and IBM) have collaborated on new platform technologies that replicate much of the value of Windows * Hardware manufacturers (Sun Microsystems, Oracle, IBM, AOL, and Apple) are preinstalled in their own prefunded programs with their own hardware * Personal computers, mobile phones, personal digit assistants, entertainment oriented handheld computers, and similar wireless products for Internet access do not need Window operating system products * Rapid development of mobile devices that will displace/replace personal computers * Software piracy of commercial and consumer applications software would be directly threaten the revenue streams * Cycle of Technology life is sh orter * UNIX is believed dominating in high-end mission as its customers do not believe Windows can handle these operations Capability and Resource In today’s information generation, the invisible is the essential. We no longer live in a world where physical assets are more valuable than invisible assets. Top levels of business performance are relying on invisible characteristics. Successful business could be achieved depending on the tangible and intangible issues. Intangible Leadership and managerial capabilities Slogan as follows quoted by Bill Gates of Microsoft: â€Å"Our basic assets, which are our software and our software development skills, do not show up on the Balance Sheet at all.† – Bill Gates advocates the company that Ability to innovate, Ability to change, Speed to Market, Develop and Retain the Best People and Create a One to One Customer Relationship. He clearly pointed out the Marketplace that a preference for invisible over visible when it goes to running a company. Therefore, businesses will have to recognize new drivers of value, such as customer led company processes, increased specialization, and an emphasis on knowledge employees. Brand name According to http://brandirectory.com/league_tables/table/global_500_2011 Microsoft jumped from fifth to second place in Brand Finance’s new list of the world’s most valuable brands as at 2011, but it’s still behind first-place Google. The Microsoft brand is worth $42.8 billion on 2011, up from a value of $33.6 billion in 2010, according to the list released today. Patent The Microsoft Intellectual Property Licensing group is responsible for licensing Microsoft patents and other forms of intellectual property (IP) such as research technology and know-how. The following items were the examples of patent of products. Several devices, from portable computers and personal digital assistants (PDAs) to mobile phones and video cameras, use liquid crystal display (LCD) technology to render images on a screen. Exchange ActiveSync is a communication protocol that enables mobile, over-the-air access to e-mail messages, schedules, contacts, task lists, and other Exchange Server mailbox data File systems patent The Extended File Allocation Table (exFAT) is the latest file system for personal storage devices. The file allocation table (FAT) File System makes it possible for an operating system to track the location and sequence of each piece of a file Microsoft also offers a flexible Intellectual Property (IP) licensing program upon increasing in the industry’s interest in licensing its growing hardware technology portfolio. Strategic Partnership Nokia and Microsoft gathered on 2011 to create market-leading mobile goods and services designed to provide consumers, operators and developers without rival choice and chances. As each company would concentrate on its important competencies, the partnership would create the chances for fast time to market execution. Besides, Nokia and Microsoft joined integrate important assets and create completely new service provides, while extending built up goods and services to handheld devices market. Tangible Researching Centre and facilities Microsoft Research Cambridge was set up in July 1997 with a few researchers. Today over 100 researchers, mostly from Europe, are joined in computer science research at the lab. The city of Cambridge, England, was the good choice for the station of the facility because of its world-renowned reputation and its rich history as a center of learning. Located in Mountain View, California, Microsoft Research Silicon Valley was founded in August 2001 and now employs about 75 researchers. Its research work concentrate on assigned computing and includes privacy, security, protocols, fault-tolerance, large-scale systems, concurrency, computer architecture, Internet search and services, and related theory. Microsoft Research Asia is founded in Beijing as Microsoft’s fundamental research facility in the Asia Pacific region and expands rapidly. By attracting the best talent from Asia and across the international, Microsoft Research Asia has grown into a world-class research laboratory with more than 240 researchers and developers and more than 260 visiting scientists and pupils. Nowadays, the lab conducts core research in natural user interfaces, next-generation multimedia, data-intensive computing, search and online advertising, and computer science fundamentals. Employee With 90,000 employees in over 190 cities planning and developing many products and services for all customers and partners, Microsoft is concentrate on ensuring a top level of satisfaction among its customers and partners. It is an important component of its business. Final mission is to provide experiences for the customers and partners, across all of their interactions with Microsoft, that they value and recognize, and enable them to realize their full potential. Strategies In order to discuss Microsoft’s strategies of business level, corporate level, and international level, it is necessary to define them beforehand. Business level strategy is a comprehensive mechanism a company chooses to gain competitive advantage or superiority in a particular business (Cutcher, 2006). Corporate level strategy refers to the decision a firms make to explore new strategic opportunities, which range from an extension of current product line to expanding current operations and further moving the firm to completely new lines of business, under such conditions to vendor uninterrupted growth or keep current sales and profits (Cutcher, 2006). International level strategy is a strategy through which the firm sells its goods or services outside its domestic market by a few entry modes, like exporting, licensing, Joint venture/Alliance, and Sole venture. Microsoft adopts differentiation as one of the business level strategy by: * Accessibility options that let user personalize the computer display, mouse, keyboard, sound, and speech options in Windows and other Microsoft products. * Assistive technology products, specialty software and hardware products (such as screen readers and specialty keyboards), that provide essential computer access to individuals with significant vision, hearing, dexterity, language, or learning needs, and, * Interoperability among assistive technology products, the operating system, and software programs, which is critical for assistive technology products to function properly. * Continuing our longstanding commitment and leadership in developing innovative accessibility solutions. * Making the computer easier to see, hear, and use by building accessibility into Microsoft products and services. * Promoting innovation of accessibility in the development community and working with industry organizations to encourage innovation. Microsoft also uses cost leadership as one of the business level strategy to be consistent with the aim of Microsoft’s original goal enabling PCs that run Microsoft software on every desktop making the use of software is possible for everybody (blogspot, 2011). It provides inexpensive upgrade offers for user to upgrade from existing operation system or software to brand new version. Also, OEM version of operation system comes with brand new PC devices are sold at considerable discount. Furthermore, special edition of operation system and software specified for colleges ‘use are also offered with much discount to penetrate the market of students and teenagers. To maintain growth of business, Microsoft goes for diversification and innovation as corporate level strategy (scribd, 2009). Example would be TV game console, Xbox 360, mobile phone operation system, and voice over IP service software, Skype. Such strategy enables Microsoft to benefit in terms of money, market share, and better use of resources by: 1. Exposure to new products and markets 2. Sustain innovation and use opportunities to integrate knowledge into operations 3. Spread risk by avoiding having all eggs in one basket and provide better risk control through not being reliant on a single market 4. Provide movement away from declining activities (scribd, 2012) As to international level strategy, Microsoft adopts licensing as an entry mode, in which Microsoft, the licensor, authorizes a foreign licensee to use its patented technology for making and marketing products in the licensee’s home country (Cutcher, 2006). Microsoft sells goods and services through forming partnership with local licensee all around the world. Their partners are often licensed resellers and authorized distributors that are selling Microsoft’s products to local customers and provide marketing operation (Microsoft, 2012). Besides, Microsoft adopts global strategy to compete globally. Except suiting the language for each country and region, their products, like OS and office suite, are standardized that they share the same functions and features. Recommendation Microsoft is the world’s largest software maker. It represent the top tier in the industry and playing the role of market leader. Actually there’s not much weakness on its dominate market like operating system and office application. On the other hand, due to the changes of user behavior on Internet, more and more user surfing Internet using mobile device. In 2011, only 3.79% using mobile or tablet for browsing Internet. At the end of 2012, it has been increased to 10.42% (NETMARKETSHARE, 2012). We can predict the numbers of mobile device will keep growing in the near future. Microsoft was once dominate the mobile device (or PDA during that era) market by its Windows Mobile / Pocket PC OS. But losing it when Apple release iOS and iPhone. Consumer market keep changing in an expeditious way. A market leader can falling in a blink. Microsoft take two years to release Windows Phone 8 after the release of Windows Phone 7. To regain the market share, Microsoft may speed up its R&D. Provide upgrade path for its product or even produce its own hardware like other direct competitors Apple Inc. and Google did. Bibliography Cutcher L., & Wailes N., (2006), Cases in Strategy and Management, North Ryde, McGraw-Hill,p.100. Chakidan, 2011. Microsoft Business Strategy Analysis. [online] Available at:< http://chakidan.blogspot.hk/2011/04/strategy-analysis-for-microsoft.html> [Accessed 26th Dec 2012] Microsoft, 2012. Microsoft partner program. [online] Available at:[Accessed 26th Dec 2012] NETMARKETSHARE, 2012, Browsing by Device Category, Net Applications.com, [online] Available at: NETMARKETSHARE, 2012, Desktop Operating System Market Share, Net Application.com, [online] Available at: http://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=8&qpcustomd=0 scribd , 2009. Project Report: Impact Of Company’s International Strategy on