Stylistic Devices in Fahrenheit 451 - 1177 Words

Stylistic Devices in Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury s 1953 Fahrenheit 451 contains a number of interesting stylistic devices. Robert Reilly praises Bradbury for having a style like a great organ. ... (73). David Mogen comments on the novel s vivid style (110). Peter Sisario applauds the subtle depth of Bradbury s allusions (201), and Donald Watt pursues Bradbury s bipolar symbolic fire (197) imagery. In recent articles I discussed Bradbury s use of mirror imagery and nature imagery. In addition, throughout Fahrenheit 451 Bradbury uses imagery of hands, making them significant reflectors of conscience. The hands of the misguided are deceptively calm, reflecting the complacency of self-righteousness. At the same time, the†¦show more content†¦Bradbury employs such ironic imagery to show that Beatty is still able to possess the kind of clear (or blank) conscience which the nervous Montag fortunately no longer has. Beatty unwittingly may be the novel s best spokesperson against the stifling anti-intellectualism of his society, but he refuses to let any doubts interfere with his work; unlike Montag s, his hands never waver. Bare minutes after the tense firehouse scene, Beatty forces Montag to burn down his own house. As Beatty berates him and threatens to track down Faber, Montag finds himself twitch[ing] the safety catch on the flame thrower (119). Again, Bradbury has the conscience drive the hands onward even before the conscious mind has reasoned out the situation: Montag ... himself glanced to his hands to see what new thing they had done. Thinking back later he could never decide whether the hands or Beauty s reaction to the hands gave him the final push toward murder (119). Even when Montag finally kills the taunting Beatty, Bradbury displaces him syntactically from the center of the action. Describing Beatty, Bradbury writes, And then he was a shrieking blaze, a jumping, sprawling, gibbering mannikin, no longer human or known, all writhing flame on the lawn as Montag shot one continuous pulse of liquid fire on him (119). While Bradbury does identify the actor as Montag rather than as his disembodied hands, the abrupt transformation of Beatty and theShow MoreRelatedThe Life of a Writer: Ray Robinson Have you ever asked yourself how authors become writers? How900 Words   |  4 Pagesbased novels made him who he was. Ray Bradbury was an American fantasy and Horror author that rejected being categorized as a science fiction author. He claimed that his work is based on the fantastical and unreal world. His best known novel is Fahrenheit 451. Because of this book his fame began as an author. Bradbury didn’t only write this novel, but many more. He also wrote The Martian Chronicles and Something Wricked this Way Comes, and in 2004 Bradbury won the Pulitzer. Jeffrey W. 28 Author RayRead MoreRay Bradbury s Fahrenheit 4512323 Words   |  10 PagesPicture a world where one must meet the expectations of being normal, where diversity is not accepted, or even worse, a detached society where emotions no longer exist. By reading the first few pages of Fahrenheit 451, readers immediately get the feeling of a dystopian society. Firemen creating fires, instead of extinguishing them, and technology that has taken their society to a whole new level of entertainment. These are exaggerated ideas right off the bat, yet Ray Bradbury carries the readersRead MoreA Comparative Analysis Of Bradbury s Style1974 Words   |  8 PagesThis Way Comes and Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury was an American author who many argue revolutionized the concept of science fiction writing. Many SF writers commend technology, yet Bradbury is quick to vocalize the danger of it. He is not afraid of conforming to the regular standards of science fiction and is not afraid to voice his thoughts about technology. The story of Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel where futuristic ‘firemen’ burn books. The title mentions the number 451 which is the degreeRead MoreThe Dystopian Novel Of Literature2214 Words   |  9 PagesDystopian element is mixed with this social commentary and given a solid writing style, it can really point out the small but fatal defects in our current society. Part 1: Style and Social Commentary of Fahrenheit 451 One of the greatest examples of dystopian literature is Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. In the book Bradbury paints a society where reading and other quality forms of entertainment have been replaced by more ‘artificial’ entertainment, leaving people to live meaningless lives that are filledRead MoreThe Social Commentary And Style Within Fahrenheit 4511825 Words   |  8 Pagesuse of diction while also emphasizing the dark society to show the readers that the people think their society is perfect but it is actually the opposite. Part 1: The Social Commentary and Style within Fahrenheit 451 First off, an example of dystopian literature is Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. In the novel, Bradbury illustrates a society without the freedom of intellectual thinking from literature and replaces it with artificial entertainment. People in the society lack compassion or quality ofRead MoreDeveloping Management Skills404131 Words   |  1617 PagesDirty Dozen 444 The Meaning of Empowerment 445 Historical Roots of Empowerment 446 Dimensions of Empowerment 447 Self-Efficacy 447 Self-Determination 448 Personal Consequence 449 Meaning 449 Trust 450 Review of Empowerment Dimensions 451 How to Develop Empowerment 451 Articulating a Clear Vision and Goals 452 Fostering Personal Mastery Experiences 453 Modeling 454 Providing Support 454 Emotional Arousal 455 Providing Information 456 Providing Resources 457 Connecting to Outcomes 457 Creating Confidence

Capabilities in the Workplace Bangles Pvt. Ltd. Free Essays

Abstract: A business is likely to flourish when it makes best use of its core competencies, organization capabilities, and increases its capacity. This paper describes a firm, Bangles Pvt. Ltd, which is headquartered in UK and is looking to expand into the Asian market via its online store. We will write a custom essay sample on Capabilities in the Workplace Bangles Pvt. Ltd.? or any similar topic only for you Order Now The paper discusses the core competencies the firm has along with its organizational capabilities which will help the firm in making this expansion successful. Introduction: Bangles Pvt. Ltd is an online business based in the United Kingdom and run through social media sites, the company’s own personal website, and through other buying/selling websites such as eBay and other portals. The business originated in 2006 after the owner finished her Arts degree from a local college and decided to use her expertise in her own small enterprise. Initially she took the responsibility of production herself and began to produce highly colourful, intricately designed, handmade bangles on order. However, as business began to boom she hired two other designers to help her with the production in 2007 and currently employs 10 people to produce bangles in the ranges of collections titled casual/everyday bangles, semi-formal bangles, bridal bangles, and exclusive designs. The company basically operates upon an order service in which customers either send their orders in the inbox on sites such as Facebook or fill out order forms on the company’s own personal website. The sites are full of colourful albums full of designs of various bangle creations which are updated regularly and articles targeted towards different target audiences regarding how to use the bangles and other fashion tips (Bangles Pvt Ltd, 2014). While the company instantly began to gain steady business and maintained a commendable reputation, the company is currently facing a number of issues as it plans to expand further into other markets and has also recently begun to supply bangles in Asia via the owner’s relatives and friends who live there. The Asian market shows high potential for the company as the use of bangles is highly widespread in many Asian countries and the designs of the bangles support Asian cultural traditions while adding a contemporary touch to what is traditionally worn by Asian women. However, this will add an additional burden upon the employees at Bangles who are already over-absorbed in producing bangles for current customers. The owner is slightly worried that if the brand is not managed properly by the distributors she appoints (friends and relatives), which may cause a detrimental impact upon the company’s name and future prospects (Bangles Pvt. Ltd, 2014). Thus, it is essential for her to ensure that the operations and delivery processes in Asia are properly conducted and reliable. There is also danger that her products will end up in the retail market in Asia if no controls are implemented and may be sold to customers in bulk. The owner of Bangles also needs to ensure that her employees in Asia conform to company policy and are highly cooperative with her and her UK-based employees. She needs to maintain decorum with her employees and coordination with respect to meeting customer demand and responding to customer preferences. This paper will outline the company’s main core competencies, organizational capabilities, and capacity-building tools which can help Bangles solve its current expansion problems in the Asian market. The paper will then conclude by providing recommendations as to what the organization needs to further develop and commenting upon its managerial practices while summarizing the main points made in the paper. Core Competencies, Organizational Capabilities, and Capacity-Building: Core competencies are the unique qualities or strengths that a firm has which differentiate them from their competitors and are difficult to replicate. They are a source of competitive advantage for a firm and enable the firm to perform efficiently and effectively in a particular area relative to their competitors (Gupta, 2013). Bangles Pvt. Ltd has several core competencies which strengthen the firm and result in increased business. One of the core competencies of Bangles Pvt. Ltd is the diversified workforce, which consists of close friends and students of the owner who originate from different countries and are able to provide Bangles with unique and original ideas for bangle designs. Thus, the aesthetic appeal of Bangles’ products suits the modern tastes of consumers in the UK, India, Pakistan, Turkey, China, and Nigeria as the designers of Bangles originate from the countries mentioned. Another core competency of the firm is the owner’s personal involvement in the business and the fact that the owner provides customers with a personalized service and is highly interactive with the customers. Additionally, the owner also provides a customized service to customers who wish to get their own bangles designed at an affordable price. Also, the owner’s large social circle and connections with people in Asia who can help in expanding and managing the business is also a core competence as the owner will not have to associate with unknown parties in order to achieve expansion into Asia. The organizational capabilities of the firm are the manner in which people are managed in a firm in order to gain a competitive advantage (Grafton, Lillis, Widener, 2010). The organizational capabilities of Bangles include the owner’s excellence in human resource management as she has been successful in motivating employees since the business’s inception. The owner’s charismatic leadership style and the informal organizational culture of the firm help the employees remain comfortable and united with one another. The owner also attempts to organize the employees in the organization through the use of various communication tools including a personal group on WhatsApp, an intranet which enables the employees to interact with one another, and through the use of video conferencing when applicable (Bangles Pvt Ltd, 2014).The business’s strong internal associations and the fact that all of the designers in the firm are educated, trained, and experienced in the f ield of arts and crafts enables the firm to perform faster and more efficiently in order to quickly meet customer demand. The lack of misunderstandings between employees and the close connection between employees and the owner also serves as a source of competitive advantage and enables the work to be done quicker. The organization is currently working on capacity-building as it has previously increased its capacity by purchasing three small machines, which help cut the thread and sew on the beads for intricately and delicately designed bangles. Using these machines has sufficiently increased the capacity of the firm and Bangles has been able to complete more orders than it previously had. The company has recently tried division of labour and instead of asking one designer to complete a full pair of bangles, they have tried to break down the tasks and let one worker complete a portion of an order while the others complete other portions. This has shown commendable results recently as capacity has slightly increased. In order to solve the problems arising from an expansion into the Asian market, Bangles must use its core competencies, organizational capabilities, and capacity-building tools to its advantage. The owner can use the core competency of having a diversified workforce to be able to accurately meet the aesthetic demands of customers in Asian countries. Moreover, the owner needs to use her social connections in order to appoint a reliable manager in Asia who will help in the distribution of Bangles’ products and also manage the brand image of the firm. The owner can make use of the firm’s strong communication network to set up a system in which she communicates with customers in Asia herself or responds to their messages as soon as possible if there is a difference in timings in order to provide them with a personalized and customized service where applicable. Thus, to efficiently manage business in Asia, the owner must make use of her charismatic leadership style to constantly remain in touch with employees and the manger in Asia and ensure she is updated upon changing trends. The owner must also have a rigid plan towards crisis management in order to ensure that she is able to solve such problems without increasing hassle and confusion and risk in damaging the brand’s reputation. The owner can also extend the intranet to include employees in Asia and to ensure that she communicates with them personally in order to ensure that they are familiar with the organizational culture and are absorbed into the enthusiasm of being a part of the organization. These are the strategies that the firm can use by making use of its existing core competencies and capabilities. However, the firm may also need to enhance other departments in order to efficiently compete in the Asian market. Conclusion and Recommendations: It is evident that the firm has numerous core competencies and organizational capabilities which enable the firm to efficiently compete in the market and which can be used to its advantage in expanding into the Asian market. However, the firm may consider increasing its efficiency and capacity by hiring additional designers in Asia who can produce the bangles there and ship them to customers easily and without additional cost. Moreover, the firm may also hire additional staff in the UK to ensure that there is always someone available online to cater to customer queries and demands. In order to appropriately achieve this, Bangles may also consider giving its staff training in customer service and managing across cultures. Hence, the firm’s core competencies of a diversified workforce, strong social connections, and the owner’s personal involvement in the business serve to be highly beneficial while organizational capabilities of a strong communication network and informal organizational culture are redeem high benefits. References Bangles Pvt. Ltd. (2014) Facebook Page [online] Accessed on: February 20, 2014 Available at: https://www.facebook.com/bangles Grafton, J., Lillis, A. M., Widener, S. K. (2010). â€Å"The role of performance measurement and evaluation in building organizational capabilities and performance.† Accounting, Organizations and Society. Vol. 35(7) pp. 689-706. Gupta, R. K. (2013). â€Å"Core Competencies for Business Excellence.† Advances in Management. Vol. 6 (10). pp. 712-723 How to cite Capabilities in the Workplace Bangles Pvt. Ltd.?, Essay examples

Resource Management and Corporate Strategy †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Resource Management and Corporate Strategy. Answer: Introduction The report helps in analysis of the organization named Nestle that is under the food and beverage industry. The level of the competitiveness within the respective industry has to be analysed as well by analysing the external stakeholders and current trends in the industry. The products and services of the respective company has to be analysed in an effectual manner along with identification of current strategy that helped in improving current performance of company. The main aim and purpose of the report is to understand and identify the key challenges faced by the organization related to strategic human resource management. Proper analysis of the different strategies is required to be done that will help in understanding the challenges and solve them effectually as well. Nestle is one of the worlds leading nutrition and wellness organization and it has employed more than 280,000 employees in all over the world. The products of Nestle are sold in different parts of the world and it was founded in the year 1866 and the CEO of the company is Paul Bulcke who has gained proper competitive advantage for the company in an effectual manner (Jackson, Schuler and Jiang 2014). Nestle is one of the largest food and beverage companies that is based in food processing sector. As per the statistics, it is seen that food and beverage industry comprises of different kind of establishments that is primarily engaged in the preparing of the food items along with beverages to satisfy the wants of the customers. There are different competitors of Nestle in the entire industry wherein it is seen that Nestle is one of the largest food processing companies in the entire industry (Cascio 2018). The net market share of the company is US $250 billion till the year 2017 in the month of March. The main competitors of Nestle are Heinz, Unilever and Parle Products Ltd. The supply chain of Hersheys and Heinz are simpler in nature in comparison to Nestle. However, the brand loyalty of Nestle is different kind of brand loyalty programs as well (Reiche et al. 2016). External Stakeholders and current trend of Nestle The global stakeholder market is vast in nature of Nestle and this engages with different kind of operations as this helps them in influencing the different activities. The main stakeholders of Nestle are as follows: Communities and consumers Governments Shareholders and financial community Industry along with trade associations Reporting agencies Intergovernmental organizations (Cascio 2018) The current trends of Nestle includes different kind of activities that will help them in being the best in the entire competitive market that are as follows: Natural is king wherein they meet the consumers expectations by delivering multi-dimensional and meeting the needs of the customers with natural ingredients High protein items are delivered by Nestle as this is one of the recent trends that is followed as this will help them in gaining competitive advantage Reduced sugar category has been introduced that includes the stellar growth and this will assist them in attracting more customers (Brewster, Mayrhofer and Morley 2016) Description of organization and products and services Nestle is one of the food processing companies that helps them in becoming the largest food and beverage companies in the entire society. The products and services of Nestle are baby products and tinned products along with cereal and healthcare products to the customers. The biggest brands of Nestle are KitKat, Nespresso along with Maggi and they help in supporting the families to make healthier along with tastier products and they sell to gain competitive advantage. The main strategy of Nestle is to create low cost along with highly efficient kind of operations as this will help them in gaining customer advantage. The main current strategy of Nestle is to deliver their customers with the efficient kind of products and services and improve the communication with their customers as well. The level of the organizational performance of Nestle is highly efficient in nature that has helped them in succeeding in comparison to the other competitors in the market. Nestle is one of the human company wherein it involves high performance, high commitment and high involvement. Key challenges facing practice of SHRM The five challenges faced by Nestle regarding strategic human resource management are as follows: There have been huge conflicts among the different departments in the company wherein there is huge disagreement among the employees and it is creating imbalance of power in the organization as well Secondly, there is huge communication barrier in the organization that is affecting the morale of the employees as the lower level employees are not in a position to communicate with higher level employees and this is affecting the balance of Nestle as well in the market. The change management is not up to the standard as this will create huge issues in the organization that is affecting the morale of the employees (Brewster 2017) Thirdly, there is discrimination relating to the compensation of the employees that is affecting the morale of the employees. There is no equality among the employees relating to the salary, bonus along with allowances of the company that is affecting the company in an ineffective manner (Bratton and Gold 2017) The proper workforce training and development of the employees in the organization that is affecting the motivational morale of employees and this is creating huge conflicts among different departments as well. The training and development strategies are not up to the mark and this has huge issues in managing the different changes in the organization (Kramar 2014) Lastly, the compliance with the different laws and regulations are not effectual in nature in Nestle and this is creating huge imbalance in the organization. The compliance of Nestle is not proper and the development of the leadership performed by the higher officials are not up to the mark as well (Armstrong and Taylor 2014). References Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014.Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers. Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017.Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave. Brewster, C., 2017. The integration of human resource management and corporate strategy. InPolicy and practice in European human resource management(pp. 22-35). Routledge. Brewster, C., Mayrhofer, W. and Morley, M. eds., 2016.New challenges for European resource management. Springer. Cascio, W., 2018.Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill Education. Jackson, S.E., Schuler, R.S. and Jiang, K., 2014. An aspirational framework for strategic human resource management.The Academy of Management Annals,8(1), pp.1-56. Kramar, R., 2014. Beyond strategic human resource management: is sustainable human resource management the next approach?.The International Journal of Human Resource Management,25(8), pp.1069-1089. Reiche, B.S., Stahl, G.K., Mendenhall, M.E. and Oddou, G.R. eds., 2016.Readings and cases in international human resource management. Taylor Francis.

Muet reflection paper free essay sample

Each one of us belongs to many cultural groups that distinguish us as people. These groups influence our likes, dislikes, tastes, values, morals, and help to shape who we are as people. Cultural groups are not defined by geographical boundaries, we carry our culture with us where we go and can meet others in the same cultural groups as us a thousand miles away from home. Culture is all around us, it is not just in places that are exotic. When observing Rachel Wilkinson, It became evident that the cultural groups she Is a part of make her who she Is as a person. Being American, a Marylanders. And a college student are Just a few of the cultural groups Rachel belongs to. One way in which her cultural groups affect her tastes is through music. Earaches age group, religious affiliation, family, school, and hobbies are all cultural groups that have influenced her taste in musical styles. We will write a custom essay sample on Muet reflection paper or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Earaches family is a very important aspect of her life that she cherishes deeply. She grew up in a family of six and has tons of aunts, uncles, and cousins. All throughout her childhood, she went to a daycare that my grandmother owned. The daycare was located In the basement of ere grandparents house and her mother and three aunts worked at the daycare. Rachel was with her family every single day. Country artists are constantly singing about their own family and how much their family means to them. Whether they are talking about how successful their grandparents marriage is or making jokes about their siblings, somehow the songs always seem to relate almost perfectly with Earaches own experiences and memories.The close familial bond country artists are constantly singing about never falls to bring her own personal memories to mind and make her realize Just how special my family Is to me. Earaches mother tends to Like to listen to funk as her main genre of music. This music grew on Rachel because it reminds her of times with her mother when they have bonded while listening to the music, such as on a long car ride. Because the individual songs Earaches mother listen to in this genre rarely vary, Rachel has memorized the lyrics and the songs have become an Identifying marker of her familys cultural group.Rachel believes her mother listens to this music because It reminds her of her younger years and the songs are fun to sing and listen to. When Rachel and her mother are listening to funk USIA, they are not just sitting together and listening; they are talking, laughing, cooking, eating, or Just hanging out together. Therefore this musical genre is important to Rachel and makes her feel close to her mothers cultural group. Rachel belongs to the cultural group of soccer players. She has played soccer her entire life and her Interest and love for soccer has helped shape the person she Is today and how she sees the world.Rachel and her teammates had a warm up plastic that they would listen to before every game in high school. The plastic was a bunch of rock songs that pumped the players up for the game. Before high school, Rachel never listened to rock music. However, being a part of this particular cultural group influenced Earaches music taste and made her more open-minded to rock music. Rachel now enjoys listening to rock because It brings back memories from playing the University of Maryland thus making her part of its cultural group.She absolutely loves going to parties and socializing with friends. When she goes out, dancing is her favorite activity. Loud, upbeat music is perfect when it comes to dancing. Pop music is loud with a lot of bass, melodic sounds, and catchy phrases. At many of the social events Rachel attends, pop music is played thus exposing her to this genre of music. Rachel loves pop music because it gives her a sense of excitement for the night ahead and it is very easy to dance along to.Everything the artist sings about in their songs relate entirely to the activities Rachel will be engaging in that night which is also why it is so appealing. Although pop is a big part of Earaches life, after Rachel graduates she most likely wont listen to this type of music as often. From Kindergarten through High School, Rachel has gone to a private school. She was born and raised a Catholic which caused religion to be essential in her life. Whenever times get tough, Rachel prays to God and seeks for His help and advice. Growing up, Rachel went to church every Sunday with her family.Because of this, she has a particular liking for Christmas music, especially songs that she knows and has been listening to for years. Christmas music reminds her of family traditions, good food, and a cheerful time of year. Rachel enjoys listening to the music all year round, but she especially likes listening to it after Thanksgiving when it first comes on the radio. While Christmas music reminds her of all the material things about the season, it also helps her remember the real meaning of Christmas to those in her cultural group, the sacrifice of Jesus.Christmas music helps Rachel remember the meaning of the season in a way that is fun and entertaining, but also exemplifies the values of her Catholic cultural group. As a 20 year old, it is obvious that Rachel grew up in the sasss. She enjoys listening to asss music because it brings back memories of when she was very young and carefree. She belongs to the cultural group of kids who grew p in the asss, and therefore is influenced by her music experiences as a young child today. She can interact with other people in this cultural group who often like music from the asss as well.Listening to this music with other people from the same cultural group is often during social interactions, like parties, because it is nostalgic and everybody knows the words to these songs, which makes them bond as a group. Rachel comes from an Italian family that has a great appreciation for Italian food, music, and culture. Although Rachel is not fully Italian and has never visited Italy, her ornamented who is fully Italian has given Rachel a lot of knowledge and insight about the Italian culture. Family dinners of pasta, spaghetti, tortellini, and other various Italian dishes occur quite often, especially over the holidays. At these family dinners, Italian music is played because of Earaches grandmothers love for this type of music. Earaches grandmother has a beautiful voice and always sings along to every song. Because of this, Rachel has developed a love for Italian music over the years. Although Rachel cannot understand the lyrics, she still likes to listen to the songs. Listening to Italian music brings to mind all the wonderful memories she has had with her family over the years.Also, it reminds Rachel of her Italian heritage and brings great pride to Rachel knowing this type of music is the music her ancestors listened to. This past winter, Rachel Joined Alpha Phi, which is a sorority at the University of her time in this sorority has caused Rachel to develop some new values and interests. Each girl in Alpha Phi is so different and unique and has much to offer. When Rachel goes to her weekly meetings at the sorority house, the girls always play chon music. They do this as a way to get rid all the school stress each girl has and have a fun dance party.When the techno music comes on, all the girls get up and dance and laugh with each other. Although Rachel does not listen to techno music when she is alone or in any setting other than her sorority house, since Joining Alpha Phi Rachel has been exposed to this type of music and it is now a part of her life. The town Rachel is originally from is a small community in Maryland in which many people live on farms or out in the country. Because of growing up in this community, Rachel likes country music. She identifies with the lyrics, as they are relevant and meaningful to her life in a rural town.She likes that country music tells a story about topics that she can identify with, rather than a genre like rap music whose lyrics she does not identify with as much. In this community cultural group, country music is played at town events and parades, and it is common to hear the music in stores or homes around town. Country music identifies with the values of a small town; there is emphasis on family values, social issues, and various other aspects of country life. Being that Earaches town is made up of very conservative minded people, country music appeals to her cultural values.She enjoys listening to country music as a result of being a part of this cultural group and being influenced by the culture around her. When Rachel was younger, she used to take dance classes and was in a ballet and tap dancing group. She had classes a couple times a week and had dance recitals at the end of the year. When Rachel first Joined, she loved it. She made a lot of great friends and it was really fun for her to learn how to tap dance and do ballet. Getting on stage at the end of the year was Earaches favorite because all eyes were on her and she was doing what she loved.However, one year Rachel was stuck with a really mean dance teacher. The teacher was nasty towards her students, including Rachel. Because of this teacher, Rachel began hating going to dance class. This teacher ruined her dance experiences and also her taste in classical music. This teacher scarred her memories and Rachel has developed a distaste for classical music because it reminds her of her bad experiences as a ballet dancer. Although Earaches isle for classical music has diminished over the years, it is definitely not her favorite genre today.The classical music played in ballet exemplifies the cultural groups desire for order, grace, and precision. These values are not pertinent to Rachel, and therefore classical music does not appeal to her. The cultural groups we belong to influence our tastes in many ways. For Rachel, the cultural groups she belongs to have made a considerable impact on the types of music she likes to listen to, who she likes to listen to music with, and the context in which she likes to listen to particular genres of music.

5 Essential Tips for Aspiring Graphic Designers

5 Essential Tips for Aspiring Graphic Designers For creative types who enjoy making visual art, a career in graphic design makes sense. It offers the opportunity to combine work with play and turn a talent into a career- a very lucrative career if youre a standout in the industry.Graphic design can be a tough field to break into. The industry is flooded with graphic designers looking to make names for themselves and get a foot in the door. Standing out takes more than talent; it takes diligence, patience and an understanding of what graphic design is all about.Not only do designers use visual artistry to convey a message that inspires an idea or action, they do it in accordance with a clients specific goals. It takes time and effort to build expertise in a field that combines art theory, typography, programming, marketing and communications. And while theres no set path to success in graphic design, there are steps you can take to increase your chances of getting work and getting known. First, you should understand theres a lot yo u dont know about graphic design.1. Do the courseworkAccomplished designer Timothy Samara described the process of graphic design as seeing (and understanding) how the qualities of visual material- shapes, images, color theory, typography, and layout- work, and work together†¦ and then being able to decide which qualities of each are relevant and engaging and useful for visualizing a particular idea or solving a certain problem.Graphic design combines a vast range of skill sets into one role. Successful graphic designers are masters of not only color, shape and typography but also a wide and ever-evolving range of software, programming languages like HTML and CSS, branding, marketing and client communication. Knowledge of animation, 3D and VR (virtual reality) concepts is becoming more common. Graphic designers who have at least a basic understanding of UI/UX (user-interface/user-experience) design principles are even more in demand.It can be difficult to assemble that body of knowledge and skill on your own, so while structured learning isnt strictly necessary to succeed in the industry, it helps a lot.A formal design education could mean a comprehensive design program, typically a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, or individual, well-chosen courses. Design programs cover topics like basic theory and fundamentals, digital-illustration technologies, programming languages, multimedia integration, multi-platform design techniques, branding, self-marketing and portfolio development, providing a well-rounded basis for a career in digital design. It may also offer opportunities for networking and real-world experience, invaluable assets for an aspiring designer (more on that later).Check out Animation Career Reviews list of the top 50 U.S. design programs in 2018 to get a feel for whats out there. But remember, guided coursework can form the basis of a career in graphic design. What it cant do is replace real-world experience.2. Social media: Know whats out thereS uccessful graphic designers know what other graphic designers are creating. In the hierarchy of jobs requiring an of-the-minute mindset, graphic design is up there. Its a fast-paced industry that reflects and sets visual trends, and if you dont know whats getting attention right now, youre losing ground.Social media is a critical tool in the design field, and no less so if youre just starting out. Keeping up with todays noteworthy designs and designers can keep you versed on the latest trends, successes and failures in the industry. It can up your own game, too, suggesting tweaks or entirely new avenues of experimentation in your designs.Do a hashtag search or find one designer and see who[sic] theyre following, suggests digital-marketing expert Sawaram Suthar on Canva. [Y]oure sure to discover works and artist[s] that can inspire you.There are countless ways to keep track of the latest work in graphic design. Various experts mention Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, design b logs and portfolio sites as worth exploring. Lots of design sites have recommendations to get you started: Try Creative Bloqs 32 graphic designers to follow on Instagram, Creative Markets 10 Brilliant Graphic and Web Design Pinterest Boards, the Art Institutes 5 Famous Graphics Designers to Follow, Shillingtons 50 Best Design Blogs You Have to Read in 2018 and Adobes 20 Creatives to Watch in 2018.3. Join the communityFollowing great designers is just the beginning, though. If you really want to make it in the field, engage with them.[I]f youre looking to leverage your design skills, writes Suthar, you need to put yourself out there.Like most creative fields, graphic design thrives on the constant exchange of ideas, opinions and critiques. Networking is a key aspect of launching (and maintaining) a successful design career: Its a highly competitive industry, and when youre low on experience, getting your name out there and building a reputation can help open doors. Designer communiti es offer a way for you to interact with other designers, experienced and novice alike. They provide a forum for you to share your work and get feedback from other designers in the field. Your skills will undoubtedly benefit from posting your work- and commenting on the work of others- on portfolio sites like Dribbble and Behance.Also, check out forums like Graphic Design Forum and Reddit Graphic Design. Follow some threads, join the discussion and ask questions. A lot of experienced designers will be happy to provide guidance and offer new avenues of experimentation that can help you solve a problem or develop your personal style.4. Dont be afraid to failGenerally speaking, get as much feedback on your work as you can. By all accounts, its essential to your development as a designer. Negative feedback can be the most valuable, according to Paula Scher, whose work includes the Citibank umbrella logo (which she reportedly designed on a napkin in five minutes) and the 2012 Windows 8 lo go redesign.You have to fail in order to make the next discovery, she told Psychology in 2009. Its through mistakes that you actually can grow. You have to get bad before you can get good.One of the best things you can do as a new graphic designer is consistently share your work in places where youll receive honest feedback. In addition to Behance and Dribbble, Digital Arts Online recommends Adobe Portfolio, Wix, Fabrik and FolioLink as some of the top places to share design work. (Check out the complete list.)In lieu of a large portfolio, build a body of work on social media. Nothing compares to real-world experience, but it can reflect your skill level, range, commitment and following.5. Get real-world experienceStill, definitely be building that portfolio.Its not easy when youre just starting out. In graphic design as in most fields, without experience, its hard to land job, which makes it hard to build the experience you need to land jobs. But experience is everything. It shows what you can do in a real-world design setting, for clients.Internships are great experience-builders. Interns learn on the job, working with professional designers on client-driven projects. (Plus, the firm might hire you if they like your work.) But there are a lot more graphic designers than there are internships, so competition can be fierce. Design programs can be helpful here, as they often offer assistance securing an internship with a design firm during the course of study. You dont need to be in a program to apply, though. You can usually find ads for internships on job-search sites and the sites of the ad agencies and design studios offering them.There are other ways to gain experience, you just have to get creative. Maybe a relatives business website could use a redesign. Suthar suggests offering to design a friends wedding invitation or selling designs on Etsy. Creative Bloq offers an extensive list of online design marketplaces.Also, try volunteering your design skills. Organizations like schools, religious organizations and charities may be open to a new online look. A lot of nonprofits post ads requesting free graphic-design services on both volunteer- and job-search sites.According to Designrfix, you could even show spec work in your portfolio: Find a local company that could use a new logo or website, design it and present it to the owners or marketing team. Whether or not they like it, the experience with the organization will earn you credible work and enhance your portfolio.In conclusion, find clients. As many as you can.Graphic designer, blogger and podcaster Lauren Hooker put it this way: [T]heres no greater teacher than first-hand experience. You can study design, you can plan for the future, and you can seek wisdom from other experienced designers, but you cant gain an accurate picture of what this industry truly looks like until you jump in head-first.

Make Your Own Homemade Hand Sanitizer

Make Your Own Homemade Hand Sanitizer Some commercial hand sanitizer contains ingredients as scary as the germs they protect you from, so why not make your own hand sanitizer from ingredients you select? This is an excellent project for kids as well as adults since the project can be expanded to include a discussion about hygiene and disinfection. Youll save money, protect yourself from germs, and can customize the scent of the hand sanitizer so it doesnt smell medicinal. Homemade Hand Sanitizer Ingredients 2/3 cup 99% rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) or ethanol1/3 cup aloe vera gel8-10 drops essential oil, optional (such as lavender, vanilla, peppermint, grapefruit)bowl and spoonfunnelrecycled liquid soap or hand sanitizer bottle Make Hand Sanitizer Nothing could be easier! Simply mix the ingredients together and then use the funnel to pour them into the bottle. Screw the pump back onto the bottle and youre ready to go. How It Works The active ingredient in this hand sanitizer recipe is the alcohol, which needs to comprise at least 60% of the product in order to be an effective disinfectant. Essential Oils in Hand Sanitizer In addition to adding fragrance to your hand sanitizer, the essential oil you choose may also help protect you against germs. For example, thyme and clove oil have antimicrobial properties. If you are using antimicrobial oils, only use a drop or two, since these oils tend to be very powerful and might irritate your skin. Other oils, such as lavender or chamomile, may help soothe your skin.

Legal Aspects of Mergers and Acquisitions in Business Research Paper

Legal Aspects of Mergers and Acquisitions in Business - Research Paper Example If ABC wants to acquire Smith Bicycle Company, a private seller, it is vital to consider the two ways of acquiring the company. The first way of acquiring the business is by buying shares in the company that owns the business (Gole & Morris, 115). The second way of acquiring the company is through purchasing the assets of the company, which comprises the business. It is imperative to state that in this situation, the company is the seller, and it will thereby sell some or the entire assets to the buyer. It is worth denoting that share sales structure the majority of the acquisitions. A variety of factors may affect the structure used. Occasionally, it is vital to restructure the business or company before its sale in order to allow for proper acquisition. In the case of Smith Company, it is imperative to state that tax implications tremendously determine the structure of a transaction for both the buyer and sellers. Their interests may conflict particularly when achieving the vast be neficial tax outcome. Moreover, where sellers are individuals, there is a likelihood that the sellers will favor a share sale in order to circumvent a latent double tax charge (Gole & Morris, 116). This tax charge comprises of an initial tax charge on the company during the sale of assets to the buyer, and an additional tax charge on the shareholders of the company, when they pull out the sale profits from the company. Since tax immensely proves as a critical determining factor towards the structure of a deal, it is vital for the buyer and seller to obtain specialist tax advice. Based on the share sale, the buyer acquires the company together with all its â€Å"assets, liabilities, and obligations† (Gole & Morris, 118). This offers the sellers a suitable break, as, after the sale of the company, they will cease to have direct conscientiousness for the company. The buyer will thus owe any prevailing liability under the terms of warranties and indemnities agreed upon in the sal e and purchase agreement. Based on business sale, there is only an acquisition of assets and liabilities purchased by the buyer, implying that everything else remains with the company (Gole & Morris, 118). If the buyer suspects of unknown liabilities within the company or troubled by any business aspect, the buyer prefers to structure the deal as a business sale. It is worth denoting that there exist more realistic and marketable issues to assert on a business sale other than on share sale. Based on the share sale, there is an only a transfer of ownership of the company shares. It is imperative to state that while there is a change on the shareholders of the company, the assets that are inclusive of business contracts and licenses remain with the company. From the outside, there is minimal change as customers and suppliers will continue dealing with the company. However, certain contracts such as financing contracts in conjunction with other long-term agreements at times require the consent of the other party after planning of change of company’s ownership (Gole & Morris, 120). It is critical to identify such contracts earlier in the acquisition process.

Discrimination Law In Employment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Discrimination Law In Employment - Essay Example Having had a trans-gender operation will not alter her efficacy as a worker in any significant way. Hence, Alluria’s is a clear cut case of injustice and if she makes a lawsuit she will win. The Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 describes a disabled person as someone who has a â€Å"physical or mental impairment, which is long-term or substantial and makes them unable to carry out normal day to day activities and has more than a minor or trivial effect and lasts or is likely to last at least 12 months.† Karen’s disability has been congenital (hence long-term), substantial and certainly not trivial. It is difficult to see how Karen can be effective in a boutique with such a major disability. However, she had a right to apply for the job. She also did the right thing by disclosing her disability during the interview. It is due to the sloppiness of the interviewer that she got hired in the first place. If this is the real issue then Sonia should inform her so and follow proper Employee Dismissal Procedure, with its due notice period, full and final financial settlement, etc. But Sonia had not pursued this line of action and instead is nagging Karen t o â€Å"stop biting her nails†, which is irrelevant to the issue. Karen is also being victimized by Sonia for taking her previous employer to the Employment Tribunal. Karen had every right to take her previous employer to task. Discrimination by way of victimization is said to occur when an employer treats the employee less favourably due to their actions they have taken under or in connection with the DDA Regulations. In sum, Karen has two grounds for discontent – Disability Discrimination and Victimization – if she decides to take legal action. But Karen has to ensure that the total number of personnel in the boutique is more that 20, as the DDA is applicable only to employers with 20 or more employees. Also, she has to confirm that her particular

Professional Educator Professionalism Essay Example for Free

Professional Educator Professionalism Essay Professional development is an important aspect of an educator’s life. Without continuous development, there will be no true development. To enhance professionalism, I will look for trainings and seminars enhancing my skills and participate in these activities. I can benefit from such seminars and trainings in two ways. One is by learning more about educator professionalism. Secondly, I can network with other people and learn from their experiences as educators. Another action item that I can include would be to consult books, websites and blogs on educator professionalism. By reading the experiences of other educators, I can also take a look at my own experiences and apply the lessons I learn. A realistic time line for monitoring my progress is one year. During this time, I will keep a personal journal detailing the lessons I learned and the progress I am making in connection with developing professionalism. Through this, I can have an empirical tool for assessing my professional growth. This journal can in fact be online through a blog. This way, I can effectively use technology in enhancing my productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness in being an educator. Reflection and Professional Improvement As part of the journaling and blogging process, I can use reflection. I can look at my daily, weekly and monthly experiences and reflect on my progress. Reflection is a very powerful tool because it allows me to look back and take a look at my own professional practice, my own beliefs, my experiences and think about how these things affect my thinking, my belief system and the way that I do my work. With the aid of my journal, I can write down my thoughts. This way, I can benefit more greatly from my reflections and make necessary adjustments if needed. Reflections, after all, are worth nothing if I do not make the necessary actions to make improvements. With reflection, I can also be satisfied with the result of my efforts. I can be further encouraged with the results of my efforts. The Importance of a Professional Growth Plan An old adage says that those â€Å"who fail to plan are planning to fail. † Planning for professional growth is very important because it allows people to define their vision. Once they know their vision, they can put their heart and their efforts to it. It is similar to having a clear direction in mind. From such a direction, the map can be derived and will help a person navigate through the difficult road of professional growth. A professional growth plan also prescribes the course of action that a person has to take to make the most of his profession. It enables a person to set goals and the corresponding action he has to do to achieve such goals. It also breaks down the vision into achievable goals and prevents him from being overwhelmed and being overtaken by fear or hesitation. At first glance, a vision may seem impossible to achieve. But with goals and objectives, a professional can take one step at a time towards the eventual destination. On the contrary, without a professional growth plan, a person may simply do one thing after another and will end up just doing what he has done in the past over and over again. Over time, he becomes stagnant and eventually his skills will deteriorate. To avoid this scenario from happening, a professional growth plan is very much needed.

Meeting Mila :: Children Personal Narrative Friendship Essays

Meeting Mila Children used to annoy me. They cried. They pooped. They cried some more. They yelled obvious questions at the movies, screamed constantly in the grocery store, and seemed to have an affinity for yelling out facts that the general public did not need to know (such as when in a department store, Bobby informs the sales clerk, "MOMMY SAYS MY BROTHER BILLY WAS AN ACCIDENT!") Furthermore, I had no idea how to deal with children. I was the youngest sibling in my family, and unlike most girls my age, I had never been a babysitter. All of that would change, however, when I met Mila. She would show me just how intelligent, honest, and wonderful children can be. It was around Valentine's Day when I met a strange and interesting young man named Jack. He was a writer, chain smoker, and lover of all cartoons -- especially those involving giant fighting robots. I was going to Topeka West High School, he was a freshman at Washburn University and despite our age difference, we clicked. He told me when we first met that he had a little girl, that her name was Mila, and that she was two years old. I like to think that the fact he had a child didn't freak me out, but it did. As a sixteen year old, I was too young to have to deal with a kid. Also, I was convinced that I didn't have the time or patience to spend time with both Jack and his daughter. Mila had a squinty-eyed smile that could lighten up my foulest mood. Her eyes were like a prized Husky's, a beautiful, piercing ice blue--just like her father's. Her hair was so blond, it was white. It amazed me (and still does) that so much beauty could be bundled into such a small package. I noticed right away that she also had his ears--they stuck out from the sides of her head just like his, but hers were more feminine, with earrings adorning her tiny lobes. At first, she was shy around me. (Of course, back then, she hadn't mastered opening doors yet, and oh, how that's changed!) But over the weekends she spent at Jack's house, I became "Her Sara." She started becoming more comfortable around me when I began driving Jack to Lawrence to pick her up and then driving back with her in tow.

Polaroid Corporations Essay

In late March 1996, Ralph Norwood was faced with the task of restructuring Polaroid’s capital structure. In the past, Polaroid had a monopoly in the instant-photography segment. However, with upcoming threats in the emerging digital photography industry and Polaroid experiencing recent losses in their market share due to Kodak’s competition, Gary T. DiCamillo, recently appointed CEO of Polaroid, headed a restructuring plan to stimulate the firm’s performance. The firm’s new plan has goals such as to aggressively exploit the existing Polaroid brand, introduce product extensions, and enter new emerging markets such as Russia in order to secure Polaroid’s future. In addition to the plan, DiCamillo has included certain core objectives that Norwood would need to consider in his recommendation. These values include goals of value creation, financing flexibility, and staying with the â€Å"investment-grade† rating for bonds. His plan would have to afford Polaroid low costs and continued access to capital under alternative debt policies. Norwood would need to access the right optimal strategy with these restrictions; that is to say that even if the most optimal capital structure was to force Polaroid’s bond rating under BBB-rated, Norwood would need to settle for some middle ground. Financing Requirements: Polaroid faces several business risks in March of 1996 that will affect its financial policy. The company must consider foreign risk exposure, demand variability, and the ability to develop new products in time and compete in a developing, innovative market. Polaroid is still essentially a one-product line company, deriving 90% of its revenues from photographic products. Polaroid must also consider the threat that digital imaging technologies pose towards the company’s future. With the start up development of these new technologies, it is clear that Polaroid will not have a monopoly in these markets. In addition, Polaroid experiences business risk with their increasing revenues coming from developing countries. Approximately 9% of Polaroid’s sales in 1995 came from Russia. Exhibit 2 (Information on International Revenues) shows the percent of total international sales is on the rise, while U. S sales are on the decline. Even though, Polaroid does have international lines of credit and probably other strategies to reduce currency risk, their business in these developing international markets does pose increasing market risk. The business risk from competitors and international markets does signify that Polaroid will need additional funding to keep up. The company must maintain a strong and flexible balance sheet to accommodate for future financing needs. Another area of concern is Polaroid’s earnings coverage ratios. While Polaroid has a relatively low debt ratios that are comfortably in the AA-BBB range, the company is struggling to maintain safe earnings coverage multiples on its interest payments. The issue is magnified in the future as market equity grows thus increasing WACC. Without better earnings, Polaroid will not be able make interest payments on the additional debt required to balance the company’s optimal capital structure. The use of debt and the resulting additional financial risk is a decision that Norwood must ultimately make. Norwood is also concerned with developing a long term financial strategy for Polaroid that will enable the company to grow according to DiCamillo’s plan. Virtually all of Polaroid’s debt is maturing within the next six years. The major components are listed below. – $150 million in notes at 7. 25%. which mature on January 15, 1997 – $200 million in notes at 8%, which mature on March 15, 1997. Employee Stock Option Plan Loan with scheduled semiannual principal payments through 1997. Interest rate has varied over time, but is very low due to tax benefits to ESOP lenders. – $140 million in convertible subordinated debentures at 8%, which mature in 2001. They are convertible to common stock at $32. 50 per share. They are not redeemable until September 30, 1998 unless the stock price exceeds $48. 75 for 20 of 30 consecutive trading days. Norwood wants to restructure Polaroid’s debt and equity to maximize the company’s future potential. During this restructuring, Norwood wants to keep the cost of capital low, create value, and preserve Polaroid’s investment grade in order to allow for future borrowing at investment grade status. Polaroid’s Current Position The current capital structure is not appropriate for Polaroid, and it will inhibit the company’s ability to meet future financial demands. After analyzing Polaroid’s current debt maturity structure, the group concluded an eventual downgrade of the company’s BBB bond rating by the end of 1996 according to the coverage ratios. The cost of debt drastically increases when a company enters the non-investment-grade status, while the switch amongst investment-grade ratings is relatively marginal. Exhibit 1 shows the maximum amount of debt Polaroid could have for each credit rating. Polaroid’s current investment-grade rating must be maintained to keep costs low and protect the Polaroid brand name. To maintain this rating, Polaroid needs to stop repurchasing stock and have an issuance of equity in 1996 to avoid a downgrade to junk status. Polaroid needs to make these changes to its capital structure to have flexibility and preserve its bond rating. Any persisting needs can be funded through debt financing. Our Recommendation We recommend issuing $200 million in equity initially to pay off the $150M and $37. 7M debts. This will not only allow the firm access to much needed capital, but will also decrease the leverage ratio and minimize financing risk. Also, the ESOP program will be temporarily suspended to reduce leverage. Currently, Polaroid’s D/E is far too high at . 4. This additional equity brings it to a more manageable . 22. By analyzing the coverage ratios, we predicted that if equity was not issued by 1996, the company would lose its BBB rating. Our recommendation first and foremost considers the preservation of Polaroid’s BBB status. The advantage to a new equity issuance is that it will provide needed capital without damaging the company’s financial statements. This will provide flexibili ty for further borrowing in the future and make it easier for Polaroid to maintain its debt rating. Furthermore, when capital is needed in 1998, we will issue $425M in 5-year bonds. This gives Polaroid the lowest WACC and maximum leverage while maintaining BBB status. At this point the ESOP program will resume with the company re-levering. With a somewhat flat yield curve, longer term bonds are not significantly cheaper to outweigh the flexibility that 5-year bonds offer. If earnings improve in 5 years, a capital structure with more leverage may be preferable. Having 5-year bonds gives Polaroid this flexibility. Exhibits 2 and 3 show that a capital structure with a D/E between . 22 and . 26 is optimal. Given the consistent growth in market equity capital, additional borrowing and possible share repurchases will be necessary in the future to stay in this range. This strategy would open the door for Polaroid to find the optimal capital structure while still adhering to the values of the new CEO. The objective would be to choose the option with the lowest weighted average cost of capital, thus creating the most value, maintaining a minimum of a BBB rating, and also allowing flexibility.

Behavioral Finance

Behavioral finance is a study which involves the influence of psychology on the attitudes and behavior of investors and its subsequent effects on the markets. Behavioral Studies is still in its development stages, but it is instrumental in determining/ explaining as to why or how markets might be inefficient. The difference between traditional finance and behavioral finance is that traditional finance is based on the following concepts: – Investors have rational behavior – Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) – Markets are efficientBehavioral finance on the other hand says that, the psychological forces interfere with these concepts. It says that there are both internal and external behavioral obstacles towards the value creation of any company. In practical terms it brings forward the errors in judgments made by both individual investors and fund managers and the various biases to which we as humans are prone. Analyzing this will place us in a position to make dec isions which avoid errors/mistakes committed in the past . INVESTORS: Individual investors: An individual investor is a person who purchases small amounts of securities for him/herself.He is not professionally involved in investment services and whatever purchases he/she makes are on an arm’s length basis. Individual investors are highly regulated because they are thought of as amateurs with little or no knowledge. An individual investor is also known as retail investor or small investor . Professional investor: These investors are usually all those businesses which are involved in giving investment services either directly or indirectly for example, investment companies, mutual funds, investment banks, brokerage houses etc.Besides them professional investors could also be individuals which are professionally involved in giving investment services. Professional investors are also known as institutional investors. These investors are subject to fewer regulations probably becau se they are perceived as having superior knowledge to individual investors . Behavioral biases: Individual and Institutional investors are both prone to almost similar biases, because institutional investors are although organizations in their own right but in actual are lead by a handful of managers.Proponents of this study argue that humans are prone to bias in making their judgments no matter how qualified or experienced they may be. They say that humans make frequent use of heuristics, mental shortcuts/rules of thumb to simplify decisions and tasks that are complex. Availability heuristic: With availability heuristic it is believed that for humans the probability of an event occurring is dependent on how easily one can imagine that event happening. The more clear is the image the greater the probability.A related concept is Illusory correlation which describes we imagine and hence interpret evidence. Although this bias is limited for retail investors since not only their investm ents are smaller but they also don’t have various charts, patterns analyzing past year data at their disposal, as for institutional investors this bias is at a much more magnified level because many fund managers use charts and technical analysis which according to them helps in identifying various patterns and price/stock moments . Representativeness heuristic:This concept says that humans are prone making judgments that involve consideration of stereo-types instead of the underlying features. For example, while hiring the selection process takes into consideration the qualifications, relevant experience, personality etc. however this in no way can predict the future job performance of the individual. This also incorporates a related concept called Illusion of validity which puts forward that the confidence in one’s judgment is primarily based on the representation of the situation instead of the characteristics.However, retail investors are more prone to this bias as compared to institutional investors because they have the information that is available to the general public for example, commentaries from financial journalists, analysts which believe that well known companies are good stock-market investment options, but in reality these two factors are largely unrelated . Anchoring and adjustment: This is another important heuristic according to which decisions made by humans are dependent on some key value/number.There is no process or logic behind determination of this value/number it could be any random number. For example, budgeting which involves use of current figures to determine future estimates. Many fund managers use current year figures and current year industry averages to determine future estimates. This bias is a product of our inherent conservatism which leads to our under reaction to new information. Institutional investors are more prone to this bias as compared to small investors. Probably because the managers of investment c ompanies actively use these techniques to draw conclusions.Small investors would hardly be aware so these techniques however those with an accounting background could be an exception . Loss aversion: It is also a key bias. It is based on the concept that humans find it very difficult to accept loss and the state of denial is such that we infact believe that holding onto it for longer periods of time would turnaround things some way or the other. This bias has some major consequences in financial decision-making. For instance, over the years it has been seen that many companies have kept running loss-making units and destroying shareholder wealth to the level at which it was irreparable.The reasons behind the strength of this bias as scholars put it is the shame and regret and feeling the blame for the loss incurred. Individual investors are more prone to this professional investors, a study revealed that individual investors sell those stocks that start to perform well quite soon an d hang on loss-making stocks for longer periods of time hoping that things might take a u-turn. This problem as professional traders put it is named get evenitis. Hindsight bias: It is based on the concept that humans are prone to that feeling â€Å"I knew it all the while† or precisely hindsight bias.To correct this bias is also very difficult because it’s natural for us to make differing conclusions regarding what happened in the past even though those decisions would have been correct according to the data and circumstances at hand then. For example, these days since the global economy is in recession even a layman is heard that this was inevitable. Individual investors are prone to this bias out of human nature, as for institutional investors they are less prone to this because they would be having greater access to information all the time .Over-confidence bias: Humans are naturally over-confident about their abilities normally. This further leads to over optimism i. e. we normally feel that we can be successful in most of our endeavors or do the right thing in most of the situations. However in reality that is not possible. Moreover the more information or data one gathers regarding a task, the more that person feels in greater control this is called Illusion of knowledge. Practically the biggest setback that one has to deal with results unfolds is that they are quite different than what was expected.Individual investors are much less prone to this bias as compared to institutional investors which suffer a lot more, because the over-confidence of a team of managers would prove more lethal financially. For example, 3Com which acquired US Robotics in 2000 made an IPO of its division that made the famous Palm pilots. Although the share prices went as high as $165 making 3Com the fourth largest technology firm then but announcement of a forthcoming product without the infrastructure yet in place saw its share prices dramatically fall to $1. 35 in 2001.This financial blunder was a result of a combined over-optimism of the then senior management. INVESTMENT BELIEFS: Characteristics of the Individual investor’s investment beliefs would be focused on limited aspects probably because they have limited knowledge of the market and they invest smaller amounts as compared to institutional investors. They would probably invest in companies that have good market reputation and which promise a good return within a short span of time. As for institutional investors their investment beliefs would be diverse since they are professionals.It would be important for them to take measures to avoid conflicts of interest. It would also be important for them to develop a clear view of capital markets in order to invest in companies that are expected to yield good returns . CONCLUSION: Behavioral finance has therefore highlighted that financial decision-making of both individual and institutional investors. The errors/mistakes made in yes ter-years both at the individual and organizational level if taken care of in future could result in making sound long-term decisions. WORKS CITED: Blanco. A.Behavioral Finance Possibilities and Limitations of Different Approaches. Wiesbaden, 2003 Fortune. Why CEOs Fail. February 10th 2009 Retrieved from :< http://money. cnn. com/magazines/fortune/>, 1999. Goldberg. J. Behavioral Finance. John Wiley, 2001. Montier. J. Behavioral Finance: Insights into Irrational Minds and Markets. J. Wiley. 2002. Owen. A. S. Behavioral Finance and the Decision to Invest in High Tech Stocks. School of Finance and Economics, University of Technology, 2002 Pompian. M. M. Behavioral Finance and Wealth Management: How to Build Optimal Portfolios That Account for Investor Biases.John Wiley and Sons, 2006. Redhead. K. Personal Finance and Investments: A Behavioral Finance Perspective. Routledge, 2008 Shefrin. H. Behavioral Finance. Edward Elgar Pub, 2001. Shleifer . A. Inefficient Markets: An Introduction to Behavioral Finance. Oxford University Press US, 2000. Stanyer. P, Dimson. E. The Economist Guide to Investment Strategy: How to Understand Markets, Risk, Rewards and Behaviour. Bloomberg Press, 2006. Taffler. J. R. (2001). Management Focus. Thaler. H. R. (1993). Advances in Behavioral Finance. Russell Sage Foundation

Project Management A Critical Evaluation

Project Management A Critical Evaluation Introduction Available literature demonstrates that a project schedule is a fundamental constituent of any project management activity, issues of size or scope of the project notwithstanding. Indeed, as noted by Kerzner (2001), a project schedule not only directs the project stakeholders on when each activity should be done, but it reveals what has already been achieved, whether certain activities are late in terms of delivery, and the sequence in which project activities need to be completed.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Project Management: A Critical Evaluation specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It is against this background that the present paper seeks to respond to a few issues related to project scheduling, primarily the identification of activities needed to estimate resources and durations, identification and discussion of some of the milestones that may be contained in a project, and, lastly, the provision o f a summary of how human resources should be assigned to each project activity to guard against lateness or perceived schedule slips. Activities to Estimate Resources and Durations in Project Management An accurate assessment or estimation of the resources and durations needed to complete particular tasks should be an issue of imperative concern for project managers and other stakeholders in the team. Kerzner (2001) notes that while it is true that duration estimation analyzes the time that may be taken to complete either the entire project or subsections within the entire project, activity duration, on its part, is to a large extent dependent on other time and resource approximations. In this perspective, the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) can be proposed as an activity that can assist the project team to estimate the resources and durations needed. This activity not only defines a project in the context of its deliverables, but provides a framework for breaking down the stated del iverables into consequential units of work (Kerzner, 2001). The author further notes that with this breakdown, team leaders are able to ascertain a proper work hierarchy that operationalizes resource and duration estimations. The second activity that could be proposed entails undertaking a critical path review using the Critical Path Method (CPM) with a view to estimating the overall project duration. It is of significance to note that the CPM has the capacity to calculate the total project duration while basing its estimates on individual task durations and their interrelationships. It therefore follows that the series of project tasks determining the minimum time required for the project should be included as the critical path (Kerzner, 2001).Advertising Looking for essay on project management? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The third activity that could be proposed involves undertaking a performance evaluation re view using an effective project management tool, such as the Performance Evaluation Review Technique (PERT). According to Schwalbe (2010), this activity employs a pictorial description of project tasks as a system of dependencies with a view to assess or investigate the most likely time and resource estimates. Forth, the project leader in conjunction with other members can initiate a Resource Breakdown Structure (RBS), which is basically â€Å"†¦a hierarchical structure that identifies the project resources by category and typeâ€Å"(Schwalbe, 2010, p. 222). The information gathered by this structure is fundamentally important in not only determining the costs of resources, but also on how to go about acquiring the resources. Lastly, a Three-Point Estimate (TPE) can be used to estimate activity durations. This activity, according to Schwalbe (2010), revolves around designing â€Å"†¦an optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimate [whereby] the optimistic estimate i s based on a best-case scenario, while the pessimistic estimate is based on a worst case scenario† (p. 223). Milestones for the Project Milestones are simply goals or objectives that assist project leaders to keep track of the overall progress for any project, with each milestone indicating a forward movement (Higginbotham, 2008). In essence, milestones not only assist in building continued momentum for the team members, but they show progress to members of staff as well as to other leaders. The SMART (specific; measurable; attainable; relevant; time-bound) criteria can be used to describe project milestones in the context of the outlined case study (Schwalbe, 2010). Under the ‘specific’ term, we can identify and describe the first two project milestones, which may include: A fully functional remote deposit capture must be in place within the next five months to allow a month’s time for any necessary adjustments, and The remote deposit capture must be able to fulfill the core objectives of increasing customer satisfaction and curtailing customer loss. Under the ‘measurable’ term, we can identify and describe the third and forth milestones, namely: The remote deposit capture, upon its commissioning, must be able to improve customer satisfaction levels by up to 25 percent, and The bank must be able to register an increase of about 20 percent in its customer base upon the commissioning of the new project. Moving on, under the ‘attainable’ term of the SMART criteria, we can identify and describe the fifth and sixth milestones, namely:Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Project Management: A Critical Evaluation specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The staff members need to undergo training to improve their abilities and skills towards the operationalization of the new project, and The need to make heavy investments in information technology (IT) to en sure the goals of increasing customer satisfaction and avoiding the loss of current customers are met after takeoff. Under the ‘relevancy’ term, we can identify and describe the seventh and eighth milestones as follows: Conduct a baseline survey in the fourth month of project implementation to evaluate how other banks are coping with the issues of customer satisfaction, and To conduct a baseline survey to investigate the relevancy of remote deposit capture against the industry’s best practices. Lastly, under the ‘time-bound’ term of the SMART criteria, we can identify and describe the project milestones as follows: We must have the necessary IT infrastructure in place by the lapse of 90 days (three months), and We must be able to test the new IT infrastructure using selected bank customers by the lapse of 150 days (five months) to provide room for any improvement or adjustment. Assigning Personnel to Project Activities It is indeed true that an IT -related project such as the implementation of a remote deposit capture for a banking institution certainly requires personnel from a wide variety of fields, such as software developers, network administrators, java programmers, risk assessors, junior support staff, internet security personnel, subcontractors, and senior personnel such as the chief information officer (CIO), among others. The way that all these personnel are assigned their duties is critical to the success of any IT-related project (Schwalbe, 2010). According to Lock (2007), personnel should be assigned to project activities based on their availability, level of skill and training, and an open mind to learn more. The table next page demonstrates how the tasks will be delegated among the personnel involved Personnel activity M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 Software developers Developing network receivable software Network administrators Networking between main office and branches Java programmers programming Risk assessors Assessing risk in depositing money online Junior support staff Support roles Security personnel Internet security subcontractors Provision of hardware CIO oversight N.B: M1-M6 = the first month through the sixth month (project period) It is indeed true that some projects may fall behind schedule owing to a multiplicity of factors, such as lack of finances, lack of materials, lack of the required personnel, and occurrence of natural catastrophes, among others (Lock, 2007). When such eventualities occur, the project manager or leader may renegotiate the scope/ schedule of the project with the project sponsor, along with other members, to evaluate if it is indeed viable to either reduce the scope activities of the original project or possibly increase the schedule duration to ensure that project scope activities are satisfactorily met (Schwalbe, 2010). Second, the project leader, in collaboration with the project sponsor and other team members, may engage in resource re-allocation to make sure that extra resources are availed to project areas that might have fallen behind schedule. Third, the project members might engage in multitasking, which basically entails working on multiple project activities for a specific amount of time to permit for more than one activity to be completed (Lock, 2007). Other strategies that may be used include increasing dedicated time, project schedule compression, and fast-tracking of activities (Schwalbe, 2010).Advertising Looking for essay on project management? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Conclusion The above analysis demonstrates the complexities involved in project management, particularly in making estimations for resources and time durations. The analysis has also touched on project milestones and how such milestones need to be generated to ensure successful implementation of projects. All in all, the underlying task is for the project manager to lead the team using industry-specific best practices in project management to ensure successful implementation (Lock, 2007). Reference List Higginbotham, J. (2008). Project planning: Identify milestones, assumptions, and tasks. Retrieved from volunteercentered.com/2008/03/31/project-planning-identify-milestones-assumptions-and-tasks/ Kerzner, H. (2001). Project management: A systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling, 7th Ed. New York, NY: John Wiley Sons. Lock, D. (2007). Project management, 9th Ed. Hampshire: Gower Publishing Ltd. Schwalbe, K. (2010). Information technology project management. Boston, M A: Cengage Learning.

Choosing an Ivy League Business School

Choosing an Ivy League Business School The Six Ivy League Business Schools Ivy League schools attract intellectuals from around the world and have a legendary reputation for academic excellence. There are eight Ivy League schools, but only six Ivy League business schools. Princeton University and Brown University do not have business schools. The six Ivy League business schools include: Columbia Business School - Columbia UniversitySamuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management - Cornell UniversityHarvard Business School - Harvard UniversityTuck School of Business - Dartmouth CollegeWharton School - University of PennsylvaniaYale School of Management - Yale University Columbia Business School Columbia Business School is known for its diverse entrepreneurial community. The schools location in the business hub of New York City provides unparalleled immersion in the business world. Columbia offers many different graduate programs, including an MBA program, executive MBA programs, doctoral programs, and Master of Science programs in several business disciplines. Students who are seeking an international experience should explore Columbia’s pioneering program with London Business School,  EMBA-Global Americas, and Europe, or the  EMBA-Global Asia, created in partnership with the University of Hong Kong. Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management Cornell Universitys Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, more commonly known as Johnson, takes a performance-learning approach to business education. Students learn theoretical frameworks, apply them to real-world situations in actual business settings, and receive continuous feedback from qualified experts. Johnson offers the Cornell MBA five different ways: one-year MBA (Ithaca), two-year MBA (Ithaca), tech-MBA (Cornell Tech), executive MBA (Metro NYC), and Cornell-Queens MBA (Offered in conjunction with Queens University). Additional business education options include executive education and Ph.D. programs. Students seeking a global experience should look to Johnsons newest program, the Cornell-Tsinghua MBA/FMBA, a dual degree program offered by  Johnson at Cornell University  and  PBC School of Finance (PBCSF) at Tsinghua University. Harvard Business School The overall mission of Harvard Business School is to educate leaders who make a difference. The school does this through its educational programs, faculty, and influence around the world. HBS program offerings include a two-year MBA program, executive education, and eight full-time doctoral programs leading to a Ph.D. or DBA. HBS also offers summer programs for ambitious undergraduates. Students who like the idea of studying online should explore the schools HBX online programs, which incorporate active learning and the case method learning model. Tuck School of Business The Tuck School of Business was the very first graduate school of management founded in the United States. It offers only one-degree program: a full-time MBA. Tuck is a small business school, and it works hard to facilitate a collaborative learning environment designed to build lifelong relationships. Students participate in a unique residential experience that promotes teamwork while focusing on a core curriculum of general management skills. Their education is then rounded out with advanced electives and seminars. Wharton School Founded more than a century ago in 1881, Wharton is the oldest Ivy League business school. It employs the most published business school faculty and has a global reputation for excellence in business education. Undergraduate students who attend Wharton School work toward a BS in economics and have an opportunity to choose from more than 20 different business concentrations. Graduate students can enroll in one of several MBA programs. Wharton also offers interdisciplinary programs, executive education, and Ph.D. programs. Minority students who are still in high school should check out Whartons pre-college LEAD program. Yale School of Management Yale School of Management prides itself on educating students for leadership positions in every sector of society: public, private, nonprofit, and entrepreneurial. Programs are integrated, combining fundamental core courses with unlimited elective choices. Graduate students can choose from a range of programs at the graduate level, including executive education, MBA programs, a Master of Advanced Management, Ph.D. programs, and joint degrees in business and law, medicine, engineering, global affairs, and environmental management, among others. Yale School of Management does not award undergraduate degrees, but second-, third-, and fourth-year university students (as well as recent graduates) can participate in Yale SOMs two-week Global Pre-MBA Leadership Program.

Why did the U.S. Supreme Court once rule that the federal income tax Essay

Why did the U.S. Supreme Court once rule that the federal income tax was unconstitutional How did Congress react Include proper in-text citations in APA format to support your answer - Essay Example This culminated in the annulment of the federal Income Tax Act of 1894, by the United States Supreme Court, on constitutional grounds. The Court held the levy imposed by the law on the returns from real estate was not sufficiently different from the taxes remitted by the property owners on the same assets. The court, therefore, categorized the duty as a direct tax, which should be apportioned among the different States. This ruling set a remarkable precedent, that, although, not all income taxes amounted to direct taxes; however, it was still unclear whether the income tax fell in either category of taxes. Regardless, the income tax was believed to be illegal because Congress had not yet streamlined the Sixteenth Amendment to be in tandem with the taxation laws. Federal authorities in charge on income tax based their arguments on the fact that the passage of the Sixteenth Amendment permitted the government to implement the income taxes. Additionally, the court concluded that the enactment of such a law would be a recipe for chaos between different social classes. Nonetheless, the ruling prompted Congress to correct the ambiguous issue by ratifying a Constitutional amendment. Shortly after the passing of the Amendment, the legislature enacted another legislation governing income tax; a legal structure, which was largely drawn from the 1894 law. It was, however, clearer on both

Apex Corporation Case Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Apex Corporation Case - Coursework Example Conversely, the owners may just be satisfied with a business size that suits their managerial capabilities. Whatever the size of the business, it is the financial health that matters the most to all stakeholders (Meigs & Meigs, 10). In the given assignment, I have to assume that I am an attorney and that a client has approached me to consider whether a managerial position at Apex Corporation would be good to take up. He is already impressed with the salary and benefits they are offering but has no knowledge of accounting or finance. So I am going to have to advise him after looking at Apex’s financial statements for 2001, as the assignment criteria limits our evaluation to this year only. However we might make comparisons between the years 2000 and 2001 Analysis of Financial Statements The financial statements of a corporate enterprise, namely the income statement and the balance sheet are two of the most important summaries of the business activities that have occurred over t he last financial year. We are told that the Apex Corporation is a local manufacturing firm. The third statement that has also found to be of use to stakeholders is the Statement of Cash Flow, which shows how the firm used the cash generated in financing, investment and production activities. Negative or troubling cash flow situations are often the first sign of distress in a business, occurring long before telltale signs emerge on its income statement and balance sheet. The most common ratios that can be calculated for a corporate business entity using ratio analysis are the Current Ratio, the Debt-Equity Ratio, the Receivables Turnover, the Gross Profit percentage, the Net Profit percentage and the Inventory Turnover. This will give an analyst a good picture of the financial strength and viability of the business. Another approach would be a year to year comparison of results, using the common size income statement and balance sheets for 2000 and 2001. Calculation of Financial Rat ios Proceeding with our calculations, we first have the Current Ratio, which is calculated as: Total Current Assets / Total Current Liabilities. For Apex Corporation, this is: For Year 2000: $3,415,807/ $1,546,107= 2.21: 1. For Year 2001: $4,257,700/ $1,616,700= 3:1. So we find that Current Ratio has improved from 2.21:1 in 2000 to 3:1 in 2001. This indicates that there are now more current assets to cover current liabilities. The working capital which is defined as Total Current Assets – Total Current Liabilities, has improved from $1,869,700 in 2000 to $2,614,000 in 2001. This speaks well of the company’s short term liquidity and solvency. However, we would have to compare it to Industry Averages for the manufacturing sector to be more accurate in our perceptions (Meigs & Meigs, 943). Moving on to the Debt-Equity Ratios, the ratio of Total Debt to Total Assets can be calculated by Total Liabilities / Total Assets. For Year 2000 it is $2,296,107/ $5,615,807 or 0.41: 1 and for Year 2001 it works out to $2,466,700/$5,697,700 or 0.43:1. This means that debt was 41 cents to the dollar for each $1 of assets owned by Apex Corporation in 2000, and this increased slightly to 43 cents to the dollar in 2001. In other words we can say that each $1 of assets of Apex Corporation was financed 41percent by debt in 2000 and 59 percent by equity; this changed to 43 percent debt and 57 percent equity in 2001. Coming now to the Gross Profit Margin, this is given by: Gross Profit/ Sales x 100. For

Organizational Behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Organizational Behavior - Essay Example Before these theories one important concept to be understood is from the Maslow's Hierarchy of needs and the Mclleland's need theory. These theories do set the steps for other theories, as organizations tend to fulfill their employee needs so as to prosper. Coming to the theories we have Douglas McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y. This has been a quite a study as it focuses on the employee behavior and how to handle such type of employees. Theory X states that employees are lazy and dislike work. It said that it's a human psychology to dislike work and put less effort. It demanded that people be coerced to work and some do not work until they are threatened for punishment or so. The theory also suggested that as they are de-motivated to work, employees require close supervision and direction to complete the task involved otherwise there would be an organizational loss. It also emphasized on the fact that most people want to delineate authority and avoid responsibilities therefore they prefer to be directed and moreover have no or less self control. People lying in this category mostly feel un-secure and have little ambition to go beyond. On the other hand Theory Y states that work is natural activity. People inducted in this theory are said to have self-control and ability to self-direct. They want to have authority and ambition to go beyond. They put in their best to achieve a task involved. The flow of rewards makes them more committed to the organizational objectives. As stated they seek responsibility and want to create something that can fascinate or at least that can be well regarded within the organizational framework. This theory has helped managers to bring out the most from their employees and have made it possible to design ways of improving productivity. Fredrick Wilson Taylor Moving forth we have the Scientific Management Theory by F.W. Taylor which also tends to focus on employees. This theory made it possible for the employers to make betted use of their resources and achieve the organizational objectives in a better fashion. There are 4 pointers in this theory which are the core. The core elements of this theory are: 1. The development of a discipline for each constituent of a man's work to substitute the old 'rule-of-thumb' techniques. 2. The scientific development, selection and training of workers instead of giving them choice of selecting their own task which they think they can best do. 3. There should be a good relationship among the employees and the management in order to carry out the designed procedures. 4. The distribution of work between workers and the management in about equal allocation, such that each group takes authority of what it can better do instead of relying more on workers only. Taylor's observation of the motivations of workers has had a deep influence throughout the century. According to Taylor we all have to make choices and thus are rational and this belief led him to formulate payment systems that very much related the kind of effort he wanted with the level of reward offered. As a fact, there was strong criticism of this premise that treats humans like machines and presupposes that workers

The Effects Of Infrastructural Facilities

The Effects Of Infrastructural Facilities Infrastructure are the basic facilities, services, and installations needed for the functioning of a community or society, such as transportation and communications systems, water and power lines, and public institutions including schools, post offices, and prisons. Large infrastructure projects generally stimulate demand for nearby real estate .these infrastructural projects usually create abundance of jobs as well as follow on demand for goods and services. They also provide a more effective use and connectivity of the available economic resources and the resulting increase in economy activity from new and more disposable income will in turn typically boost. Economic growth, thats why people will want to purchase or rent residential estate in location within close proximity to major works, Major infrastructure project can take many forms and often include transport, infrastructure improvement such as link roads, railway line extension, new bridges and major freeways. Other projects could be new shopping malls and commercial precincts, new power stations, improve communication facilities industrial areas and business parks, new hospital, school and universities. These can all have an impact property values and demand for residential properties. It is also worthy to note that the quality and quantity of infrastructure available in a given place societies is the yardstick for measuring the general level of development of that area and a major determinants of property development and their respective value trends. The provision or not of these facilities can positively development affect the rate of property development in a given area and this in turn can improve the property value due to the corresponding boost on economics activities achieved through the better accessibility (road) or the higher degree of convenience from the use of these infrastructural facilities. 1.2 Statement of Problem The infrastructure of a city is a major determinant on the demand of houses. One of the major problems affecting housing demand in Lokoja. The poor infrastructure provision in the study area affects the rate of housing Demand in the area, this is because people will only buy or rent houses in areas were the infrastructure provision is sustainably available,this will help to enhance the livability in the community. The poor infrastructure provision in Adankolo is a major determinant on the decrease in the rate of housing demands in the study area. Those who are living in the study area have no choice because they cannot afford the rent in other livable towns . Housing is an enclosed component or structure that has services which support the comfort and existence of human living. These services or facilities are numerous some of which include; kitchen, toilet, refuse disposals, good road networks, electricity, telecommunication and others. Ogedengbe and Oyedele, (2006) carried a research on effects of waste disposal on property values, similarly Robet in his work The Effects of Road Infrastructure on Property Values emphasized more on just road as a facility affecting demandvalues, Whereas many other facilities affect values of residential properties. This now poses a gap between these previous empirical studies hence there is need to reconsider many other facilities as they affect housing demand and housing demand of residential properties. 1.3 Aim and Objectives The aim of this study is to ascertain the effects of infrastructural facilities on housing demand in Lokoja metropolis. OBJECTIVES To identify the various infrastructure available in the study area. To examine the adequacy of infrastructural facilities provision on the residential properties in the study area To recommend possible solution to the problems of housing in the study area. 1.4 Scope of the study This research work intends to determine the effects of infrastructural facilities on housing demand in Lokoja. It is limited to Lokoja metropolis alone with particular emphasis on two areas namely; peace community ganaja village and Adankolo for comparative analysis. 1.5 Justification Although challenges surrounding life and human wants are limited and endless, however these study focuses on the effects of infrastructural facilities on housing demand in Lokoja. And this particular studywill serve as a guide to the following. Urban and regional planners and other allied professionals such as builders, architect, engineers, and others in their various field of activities .for example, these study would give the city managers the ideas of important of infrastructural facilities in there different areas. It serves as a tool to all researchers in the field particularly in the study area.(Lokoja) 1.6 The Study Area Lokoja, Nigeria is located at 7.80236 [latitude in decimal degrees], 6.743 [longitude in decimal degrees] at an elevation/altitude of meters. The average elevation of Lokoja, Nigeria is 55 meters.Lokoja is also a Local Government Area of Kogi State with an area of 3180 km ² and a population of 195,261 at the 2006 census. It is bounded by the Niger in the north and east upstream from the capital until the border with Kwara State, and includes the city of Lokoja. The postal code of the area is 260.The original site of Lokoja, is a 1,349-foot- (411-metre-) high mass of oolitic iron ore. The town has a hydroelectric power generating plant. It is situated on the local highway between Kabba and Ayangbe and has ferry service across the Niger River. Formerly the capital of Kabba province, Lokoja was part of Kwara from 1967 to 1991, when it became the capital of the newly formed state of Kogi. CLIMATE Climate: The site has a tropical climate that comprises of two season namely dry and wet seasons. The wet seasons starts from the month of April and ends in October, while the dry season starts from November and continues till March. The two seasons are affected by the south-westerly winds coming from the Atlantic Ocean and north-easterly winds which come from the Sahara Desert. Another weather phenomenon (micro climate) is associated with the presence of inselbergs. This feature exerts an influence on local weather greater than their size. Rainfall: Rainfall data obtained from the Department of Meteorological Services Lokoja for 25 years (1989- 2005) reveals that the maximum daily rainfall figures of Lokoja town are as follows: Humidity and Temperature: The highest temperatures in the study area always tend to occur at the end of the dry season close to the spring equinox. Thus March has the highest temperature of about 34.5 c, while the lowest temperature occur in the middle of the dry season in December/January, when outgoing radiation is encouraged by low humidity, clear skies and longer nights. The temperature at this time falls as low as 22.8 c. In the dry season there is a decrease in relative humidity from south to north in the study area caused by the higher elevation in the north. In the rainy season, this variation disappears and associated with the high relative humidity is an extensive cloud cover over the region. ECONOMY Agriculture is main stay in Lokoja area economy, various crops are widely grown in the area which includes; coffee, cocoa, palm oil, cashews, groundnuts, maize, cassava, yam, rice and melon.The state is home to the largest iron and steel industry in Nigeria known as Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited. One of the largest cement factories in Africa, the Obajana Cement Factory . MAP OF NIGERIA DEPICTING STUDY AREA Limitation of the Study The major problem in the field of study is language barrier and through these, the researcher that did not understand their language (respondents) will find it difficult to express his mind freely to those that did not understand English language which is the general language in Nigeria, among the respondents. Another problem is illiteracy among the respondents; because some of the respondent finds it difficult to fill questionnaire which is the main information needed from them for the completion of the project. Lastly regardless of these limitations, data collected are sufficient enough to reach the research objectives. 1.8 Definition of Terms Infrastructures It can be generally defined as the set of interconnected structural elements that provide framework supporting an entire structure of development The term typically refers to the technical structures that support a society, such as roads, bridges, water supply, sewers, electrical grids, telecommunications, and so forth, and can be defined as the physical components of interrelated systems providing commodities and services essential to enable, sustain, or enhance societal living conditions The terms housing demand and housing needs are often confused. There are Some key differences between housing demand and housing needs that must beclarified. The meaning assigned to both terms is erroneously similar in manydocuments. The following statement is extracted from the study of housing- Demand models published by the Housing Branch in Hong Kong which asserts that: Housing needs Housing needs is defined as the number of existing ornew households requiring adequate housing. Anadequately housed household is one that lives in selfcontained living quarters made of permanent material.(Liu, Wu, et al. 1996) They also proffer a workable definition of housing demand, viz: Housing demand Housing demand is defined as the number of householdsactually seeking accommodation. In the public sector,demand is assumed to be equal to housing needs. In theprivate sector, demand is constrained by affordability. Facility may refer to: An installation, contrivance, or other things which facilitates something; a place for doing something: Literature Review Infrastructure has been variously defined, according to William Merish and Catherine Brown described infrastructure as the systematic framework which underpins a communitys ability to fulfill its mission of providing a basis of its citizen to productive and to nurture social equity.Omuojine(1997) described it as the stock of fixed capital assets in a country for example Road, railways, Airports, Hospitals, Waterway, power stations, water works, and telecommunication network. It serves as slender threads that weaves together human want and value with those of the environment.Literally, it refers to fixed facilities or installation traditionally provided by public sector. Omuojine (1997) classified it as followed. Transportation including road, railway, airports, seaports and water way. Water supply including water works and Dams Electricity including power stations Telecommunication including postal, telephone, telex, fax, mile services. Health including Hospital, maternity home, and health centers. Sanitation and solid waste disposal. Drainage and Embankments. Infrastructures have certain characteristics viz. Requires large lump sum investment. Entails considerable economic of scale which results in monopolies. Has a high level of externalities both positives and negatives. Intermediate input characteristics. Possess important networks effects. Posses difficulties in cost recovery. While these characteristics have generally remained true, the exact character trait will depends on whether it is urban, rural or inter rural. Infrastructure or trunk and feeder type of fixed/ moving facilities, or the operator of the facility i.e. Whether public or private, central/ state, local Government agencies. Infrastructures include the aggregate of all facilities that enables a society to function effectively, by providing the physical facilities, which moves people, goods, commodities, water, waste, Electricity, road, sewerage and information infrastructure provides an enabling environment for growth and enhanced quality of life.PojuOnibokun (1985) infrastructure is therefore; universally regarded as the engine that drives the city. The linkage between the economy activities and infrastructure continue to grow stronger and more critical as an economic activity becomes increasingly more complicated and global in scope. Lawal (1997). Through the provision of urban infrastruct ure is tradition all the presence of government, the growing difficulties and limitation of public finance and the reality of the wide gap between the demand and supply of infrastructures services with all its pervasive effect inevitably compel urban authorities to look to the private sector and community. Based organization (cbos) for partnership. Babawale (2004) infrastructure is generally poor in developing countries. Although it differs widely among countries and sectors. In Nigeria for instance most households and private companies get electricity form private generating sets because of power holding of Nigeria unreliability. This imposed extra cost on companies and environmental effects on neighbors. There is no water supply in most cities and therefore no waste disposal system. HOUSING DEMAND Housing demand is defined as the housing need people backed up with the purchasing power or the ability and willingness to pay. According to You (1993). As quoted in Olufemi(1993), housing demand could be expressed in term of purchasing power, a function of income, family size, location and tradition etc. Housing demand is different from need. It is only when the need (desire) is backed up with price or rent that we talk of effective demand.According to Robinson (1979), there are three main component of housing demand and these are. From new households, demand from movers between tenure group and demand from existing household within a particular tenure groups. The author also noted that renting is an important feature of demand. This is because the majority of household who could not build or purchase their own home often result to renting. Demand for housing differs from place to place across the socio- economic groups. For instant demand in the city differs from that of the rural areas. Demand also differs among high, medium, and low income groups. Housing demand also changes with time and with social and economic situations. In Nigeria for instance there is a noticeable change in the demand for different type of units. As income and building technology changes. There has been gradually change from the demand for row housing or face to face tenement to more modern housing types such as self contain and flats apartment as well as duplexes. Generally,housing market or sub market of the low income group demonstrates a great diversity of demand, which result from two major factors (UNCHS, 1996) first is there disposal income and the second is how much they are prepared to spend on housing. The amount of money they are willing to spend on housing is in turn determined by the type of accommodation available, the location, s ize, and quality of the houses in terms of infrastructure and services available, and the level of security offered. The demand for housing is a reflection of the ability of household to pay for them. Thus, an examination of households, income and prices of housing unit provides a basis for accessing housing demand, an assessment of the housing demand situation in Nigeria by the UNCHS (1993) reveals that the different income groups are confined to different options. Generally, the poor economic situation in Nigeria during and in the post. Structure adjustment program (SAP) period has affected the purchasing power of the majority. Although household income have risen, in numerical terms, by a factor of about five since 1987, the purchasing power has declined by a factor of about eight(UNCHS,1993). It is therefore observed that the household income of the lowest income group are too low to allow them to exercise any effective demand for formal housing in the open market consequently, majority of the low income household cannot afford any form of formal housing without subsidy. Thus they resort to sur vival outside the formal housing market. For this group the UNCHS (1993) observed that. the present 20% of the household do not earn enough to participate in formal housing market in the urban area. They resort to various informal housing arrangements for themselves. This arrangement includes the setting -up of shanty dwellings of their own on land belonging to them(squatting), renting shanty dwelling, colonization of uncompleted multiples storey buildings, occupation of vacant spaces in public buildings at night,etc. BASIC CONCEPT OF HOUSING. Housing is an empirical word as Salau (1990) has written The confusion of given an exact meaning of definition to housing is perhaps due to the multi-dimensional nature of housing itself Agboola (1998) stated that Housing involves series of processes by which resources such as land, labour, finance and building materials are combine to produce new housing. It involves also the upgrading of existing housing to the demanders .He explained further that housing particular delivery system encompasses the process that allocates housing unit to households in particular country and that housing delivery is stimulated and sustained by the demand and supply mechanism this of course,means that in a free market economy like Nigeria, the forces of demand and supply for housing stock, may determine what stocks come into the housing delivery market and who among the demander get what from the market?. According to Baurue (1981), Housing is the provision of all forms of infrastructures for a conducive living environment whereas habitable and standard houses bythe residential or commercial or any other forms of building properly arranged in a statutorily planned area meeting all the forms of planning rules and ordinances in housings.World health Organization (WHO). Defined housing as a residential environment which includes in addition to the physical structures. The main uses for shelter, all necessary services, facilities, equipment and devices needed or desire for physical or social wellbeing of the family and individuals. Ayeni(1984) defines housing as not only referring to the shelter provided by the structure but also the lot on which the shelter stands and the services provided to the lots such as waterand energy supply, waste disposal, drainage, fire and police protection and kick lighter (1986)defined the term housing in its entire ramification to refer to more than just a dwelling but also included all that is within and surrounds thedwelling. Salau(1990) transcends the physical dimensions of shelter and include the general environment within which the structure is located and the availability of essentialsocial services and infrastructural facilities, which ultimately ensure the satisfaction of the population. National housing policy (1991), housing forms an important part of peoples life and it is rather inseparable from them as it provides the users of occupiers shelters, security, privacy, prestige and a means of self-expression. It is a basic need as everyone requires a shelter, which for most people means a home that, is a permanent base in which the greater part of time is spent. Ozo (1987), asserted that a house must be a home;that is , a resting place in which to try to fulfill the fundamental purpose of human society,namely a secure , rewarding, happy or atleast a reliable life.to the individual family,a house as both a shelter and symbols of physical protection and psychological identity of economic valueand a foundation for security and self respect.Olotuali (1997) stated that housing provides the framework of meeting mans need for shelterand it is all encompassing phenomenon of the creation of the environment, in which man grows and lives and grows.Bourne (1981)summed housing up as a physical entity, a good artifact, an economic good, a capital stockand a statue symbol all at once.Madge(1968) assorted that housing is an important element in all capital formation and the largest single component in total building of any nation. According to Omole(2001), housing is more than a mere shelter in its proper definition , housing can be defined as a residential environment which man uses for shelter and the environment of the structure needed or design for his physical and mental health as well as the social being. Ozo (1987), a house is certainly the bulkiest, the most difficult to move and most durable consumer good. In view of the enormous resources requiredin acquiring housing (since it can hardly be purchase out of ones income in less developed countries). It is true measure of the social- economic statues of a society. Looking at the definitions above .therefore a good housing or shelter development of a group of people and a nation at large. A well determined settlement equally determined the productivity and consumption ration as well as economic, moral and welfare terms of the people or nation. THE NIGERIAN HOUSING MARKET The Nigerian housing market is highly untapped and undeveloped despite lot of opportunities that abound in the sector (Akeju 2007). This is basically due to many reasons amongst which includes. Lack of finance Government policy Lack of infrastructural development High level of poverty. There is continuous increase in the average price of house due to increase in cost of building materials and inflation in the economy. This has highly contributed to the upward trend in the house trend in the house price which has significantly affected the number of unit of houses constructed annually. The Government efforts at addressing the problem have not been successful due to its unsustainable approach of providing houses to the people, the houses are grossly inadequate and unaffordable by the larger proportion of the masses for which they are meant for. There are efforts by the private individuals to help in alleviating these housing problems. The bulk of the housing problems is prevalent in urban cities, but there are lot of un occupied and dilapidated houses in the rural areas to urban centers for greener pastures. Most individual that are involved in property development build for their own uses or are home owners, while the few ones involves in building for commercial purposes, build shops and space to let for offices because if the high rental income accruing from such commercial properties. The residential developments in most cases are illegal, informal and untitled. This is due to long, undue delay to title registration and laxity in enforcing development control regulations by the official of the urban and regional planning department (Fasakin and Ogunmakin 2006). Private sectors contribution toward alleviating this housing problems has been I the form of individual efforts, cooperative societies or association, corporate bodies, estate agents, nongovernmental organization / charity organization and foreign investors, their contributions toward alleviating housing problems in Nigeria are briefly discussed below. INDIVIDUALS This represent the greatest source of contribution from the private sector in most urban centers where the housing problem is very prevalent , a greater proportion of the population dwells in residential houses built by private individuals. These individual financed the project through their personal savings, borrowing from family, friends and lenders or cooperative movements. It can be categorically stated that number of housing unit built by individual have been very substantial when compared with other source of constructing houses. (2) COOPERATIVE BODIES The idea of cooperatives housing have started long time ago when individual planning to own a house seek help from relative, in town, neighbors and friends (Wahab 1988). This concept has been successfully tested and certified in countries like Italy, United Kingdom, Zambia, Sweden and Philippines (Daramola, 2006). It is suited to meet the need of low income earner who constitutes the vast majority of Nigerians. The member of the cooperative are able to enjoy housing loan for the construction of their own housing unit. (3) CORPORATE BODIES. The federal government of Nigeria has realized that they cannot solve the housing problem alone. Has involved the cooperate bodies to contributes their own goals towards the achieving the objectives of housing for all. It was evident that most of the companies have totally neglect for housing needs of their workers. These consequently made the Government come to the rescue of the workers. These consequently made the Government come to the rescue of the workers through the promulgation of employee housing scheme (special provision). Decree 54 of 1979, thus compelling any employer of 500 employees to provide minimum housing of 50 units of which 75% should available for non-executive staff. (4) ESTATE DEVELOPER / AGENTS The private developer or estate agents activities were concentrated in Lagos in 1990 and they play significant roles in the development of the Nigeria housing market (Efin. A and Finmark trust,2010), they ensure adequate shelter is provided to meet the demand of the increasing number of people having housing need. They often employ various finance techniques such as turnkey, pre-letting and joint finance to construct housing unit for the people (Nubi 2000). (5) NON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATION AND VOLUNTARY ORGANISATION. In recent year there is increasing trends by non-governmental organization and voluntary organization such as religion bodies to contribute their own effort at addressing the housing problems faced by the people in both rural and urban cities. They assist resetting displaced people having housing problem as a result of natural disaster like war, flood, famine, earthquakes, and etc. (6) FOREIGN PARTNERS / INVESTORS. The government through its various development policies has attempted to encourage foreign investors in the housing market. This is usually in the form of foreign partnership with the local estate developers.These provided more capital base for the estate company, thus making them to be involved in large capital based project. The company are usually handling Government housing project which are capital intensive and required more technical expertise and knowledge. THE ECONOMICS OF HOUSING Housing as a product is regarded as a commodity with an exchange value, according to Angel et.al (1992), housing is viewed as a commodity with an exchange value rather than as goods to be produced and allocated outside the market place. Hence the housing sector is composed as a vast set of exchange relations, driven by supply and demand forces which permit all part of the sector despite the existence of apparently distinctive sub markets. (Agunbiade 1993). The units in the standing stock to be traded in the market have a contribution of attributes and qualities, which determines their selling prices. Such attributes include age and durability of structures, total floor space, structural design and internal layout, location accessibility, ancillary services present, security, aesthetics and the general environmental condition. These attributes distinguish one unit from the other. Thus the structural condition of units and the flow of services they yield determine the value of housing unit in the market. According to Robinson (1979) there are two measure of value in the housing market, these are rent and price. Rent is the payment made for a flow of housing services received over a specific period of time while price is the capital value associated with a particular unit of stockin the ordinary sense, we could argue that the value of housing unit (V) is equalto its price (P) i.e. V = P . However in some cases, the different between the exchange value and the actual value is refers to as subsidy, which is often, paid by Government or corporate bodies to their employees. Thus, subsidy could be regarded as a distortion to the actual market determined price or rent of a housing unit. Housing need, supply and housing price in an economy involved complex processes that are influenced by social and economic force. The understanding of the nature and attributes of the demand and supply of housing is therefore important in any housing study. However, before we address the issue of need, demand, supply and price. It is ideal to consider the characteristics of housing as a product 2.5 ROLE OF INFRASTRUCTURAL FACILITIES ON DEVELOPMENT Ratchiffe (1995) classical rent theory conceptualizes that general improvement in access routes (Roads) have positive effect on the areas land values; Boyce and Allen (1974) in Denver studied the impact of accessibility and amenities on property values. They selected several study areas then applied six (6) criteria encompassing accessibility, amenities and property characteristics and used regression analysis to investigate 24,082 property transactions. They identified a positive impact of infrastructural facilities on property values. Stopper and Meybury (1971) claimed that the relevance of transportations facilities in influencing urban growth and development is reflected in most North. American and Europeans town which shows a growth pattern derived largely from transactional routes. Abouchar (1977) investigated the impact of a subway on property value on Toronto, he studies the metropolitan Toronto subway system through on analysis of the operations of welfare criteria with the basic objective of distinguishing the impact of the subway on property value (demand and price) by looking at year to year relative percentage changes in property values in and out of the subway corridor. However, his analysis concluded that the subway had no effect on the property value in the subway area. The validity of findings and conclusion are questionable as the study did not fulfill the requirement of a before and after approach because the analysis of the property market was concluded in 1992 the date the subway began its operation. Abdulateef (1997) observed a positive impact of road transportation and communication on land use development and property values, the provision of infrastructural facilities in any socio economic unit whether a nation, region or community could have either a positive or negative impact on property value. For instance, the provision of an incinerator in a residential district will have a negative effect on the value of the properties in that area while the provision of infrastructural facilities like good roads network, water and electricity supply, drainage system, good refuse collection treatment and disposal system etc enhances values to unpre cedented level just as the inadequacy or lack or these facilities adversely affect value as a paradox. 2.6 IDENTIFICATION OF PUBLIC UTILITIES MANAGEMENT AGENCIES IN NIGERIA The prominent public agencies for the provision and management of the infrastructural facilities in Nigeria are: Power holding company of Nigeria Plc. In charge of electricity generation, distribution and supply to consumers (PHCN) Nigeria telecommunications limited (NITEL) State water corporation State waste management boards Federal road maintenance agencies (FEMA) Nigerian communications commission (NCC) Federal air