Gawain And Green Knight Essays - Literature,

Gawain And Green Knight As a contemporary American reader, it is all right to assume that the first scene in which the particular character is involved drastically shapes our opinion of characters in a particular novel or poem. Immediately we jump to conclusions about what is right and what is wrong, who is the good guy and who is the bad guy. In fact, once we get an initial impression from a character, it is unlikely that this opinion will change as we continue to read on, unless of course some drastic events take place. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is an excellent example of a poem where first impressions may not be the most important to the reader. As the opening scene unfolds, we are introduced to a Green Knight who seems extremely high on himself and Gawain who seems full of confidence and is ready to take on any challenge. However, the events that take place later in the poem will most definitely have an impact on the way we view each character individually. We are automatically forced to take sides, one of the characters is bad and one of them is good. It is absurd for someone to think that this not be the case when two people confront each other in such a dramatic opening scene. By looking at the incidents that happen throughout the course of the poem, you can begin to see just how binary opposition can be reversed. Charles Bressler, in his book entitled Literary Criticism, defines binary opposition by saying that "for each center, there exists an opposing center (God/humankind, for example)" (125). In this case, the opposition revolves around the moral character of both Gawain and the Green Knight. The two characters themselves can be said to be binary opposition. Bressler expands by saying that "Western philosophy holds that in each of these binary operations or two opposing centers, one concept is superior and defines itself by its opposite or inferior center" (125). The most common binary opposition that one thinks of is good versus evil and it is unfortunate that the first few pages of text often draw the lines for us, thus limiting the amount of influence we are susceptible to throughout the rest of the novel. Like the famous line says, "you only have one chance to make a first impression." But the fact is the first impression that the Green Knight gives the readers could not be further from the truth. In fact, everything that he stands for in the opening scene is basically a front that he puts on in order to lure Gawain into his scheme. However, the audience becomes captivated by the changes that occur after the opening scene. No longer are their previous dispositions correct and their ideas that were once so firmly planted in their minds is not totally reversed. Gawain is the unknowing victim and falls prey to the Green Knight who proves that he has the upper hand. By looking at Gawain's actions, and comparing them to the hunters who went out each day, there is a definite similarity. Finally, we must examine what the author's ultimate purpose is when he shows how the two characters undergo such a dramatic transition. So why exactly are we so quick to put Gawain in the category of evil? It definitely can be contributed to his disrespect for the ceremony that is going on in King Arthur's court. The Green Knight simply rides in and disrupts the feast, demanding that someone challenge him to a beheading contest. At this time, royal feasts are one of the most highly treasured events in the castle, and for someone to ride in on a horse and provoke such a ridiculous challenge is unthinkable. "Yet he had no helm, nor hauberk neither, nor plate, nor appurtenance appending to arms, nor shaft pointed sharp nor shield for defense" (206). So here is the Green Knight, no invitation to the feast and just out to look for a challenge from another night. Obviously, there is a problem in the way he is conducting himself. The person that would answer to this beheading challenge would be Sir Gawain, a knight who made King Arthur proud. It seems to me as though Gawain was a little reluctant to participate in the game (that was really all it was at the time), but he saw it as a way to gain the respect of Arthur and that was the goal of every knight. In fact Gawain seems worried

Colonial Period Study Guide for American Literature Essays

Colonial Period Study Guide for American Literature Essays Colonial Period Study Guide for American Literature Paper Colonial Period Study Guide for American Literature Paper Essay Topic: Anne Bradstreet Poems Bless Me Ultima I am Legend Novel In Love and Trouble Stories of Black Women 1. All literature was translated orally. This includes myths, legends, tales, lyrics, etc. 2. Theme – reverence for nature. Nature seen as both physical and spiritual mother. Nature alive with spiritual forces in the forms of animals and plants. Their totems (object or animal thought to have spiritual significance, becomes emblem of a emblem) reflect this. 3. Everyday words that come from Native Americans: canoe, tobacco, potato, and mouse. 4. Two most famous figures in Native American literature are Grandmother Spider and Coyote. The colonial period: The age of faith. The Puritans 1. The puritans are a group of people influenced by the Protestant Reformation. 2. Disillusioned with the Church of England because of link to royal family and worldliness of its members. 3. Wanted to purify the Church of England 4. Suffered prosecution from the English government 5. Heard about new world and decided God wanted them to go there and begin a new life. 6. Wanted to â€Å"build a city on a hill† for all the world to see their good works and glorify God 7. Valued education because people could read the bible for themselves 8. Interpreted the bible literally. 9. First puritans were called Pilgrims, because they felt like they were on a journey Puritan Literature * Purpose was to encourage people to worship God * Favored Plain Style of Writing, so that people easily understood. Ordinary and simple sentences and words. * Wrote diaries, histories, poems, religious texts, in order to promote their faith. * NO SHORT STORIES. They were novels because they were fiction. Themes of Literature * Life is a test. If one passes, heaven; if one fails; hell. * One’s work will demonstrate if one is destined for heaven. * Wealth and health are indicators of God’s blessing and approval * Idle hands are the Devil’s workshop; work hard and stay busy to avoid the devil. A Puritan Must†¦ * Hear the bible preached * Keep a diary * Get a basic education * Marry * Be nosey in order to help others stay on the right track John Smith accomplishments * Led first successful English colony in America * Founded Jamestown in 1607 * Helped obtain food, enforce discipline, and deal with Native Americans William Bradford accomplishments * Helped lead Pilgrims to what is now Massachusetts * Became governor of his colony * Was reelected 30 times. * Organized repayment of debt * Instituted town meeting within colonies * Established good relations with Native Americans Smith vs. Bradford accounts * Both told in 3rd person * Smith seems cocky and full of himself. * Uses words like â€Å"bearing the greatest task† and â€Å"fair promises† * Continually calls Native Americans â€Å"savages† * Seems ignorant, even at end he still calls them savages * Bradford conveys positive messages * No matter difference between people, bonds can be established, and mean good for everyone * Treats them more like people * Communicated well with Native Americans. Of Plymouth Plantation is written by Bradford, and covers the story of the Pilgrim’s journey, including their journey on the Mayflower and their settlement in the new world. Accomplishments of Anne Bradstreet * Wrote poems about rights of women to learn/express themselves * These poems got published by a family member back in England Anne Bradstreet loved her husband, and considered it more valuable than wealth and that their love is eternal, and after life. John Edwards’ famous sermon: Sinners in the Hands of a Gracious God He uses metaphors to show man’s reliance on God. He shows how fragile man’s ties to life and salvation are without the help of God He refers to sin as â€Å"bitter and poisonous fruit† and â€Å"grapes of Sodom† Edward Taylor’s â€Å"Huswifery’s† extended metaphor compares life to a spinning wheel, and expresses his desire for God’s grace. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible because it dealt with unwarranted persecution, in connection to the red scare of 1950’s, in which artists such as him were accused of communist ties, due to fear (just as the witch trials were due to fear, no evidence) Sentences must have a subject, verb, and a complete thought. Static – doesn’t change. Dynamic – does change John Proctor A local farmer who lives just outside town; Elizabeth Proctor’s husband; commits adultery with Abigail Abigail Williams Reverend Parris’s niece. Abigail was once the servant for the Proctor household, but Elizabeth Proctor fired her after she discovered that Abigail was having an affair with her husband Reverend John Hale A minister reputed to be an expert on witchcraft. Reverend Hale is called in to Salem to examine Parris’s daughter Betty. His arrival sets the hysteria in motion, although he later regrets his actions and attempts to save the lives of those accused. Elizabeth Proctor John Proctor’s wife. Reverend Parris The minister of Salem’s church. Reverend Parris is a paranoid, power-hungry, yet oddly self-pitying figure. Many of the townsfolk, especially John Proctor, dislike him, and Parris is very concerned with building his position in the community. Rebecca Nurse Francis Nurse’s wife. Rebecca is a wise, sensible, and upright woman, held in tremendous regard by most of the Salem community. However, she falls victim to the hysteria when the Putnams accuse her of witchcraft and she refuses to confess. Judge Danforth The deputy governor of Massachusetts and the presiding judge at the witch trials. Honest and scrupu-lous, at least in his own mind, Danforth is convinced that he is doing right in rooting out witchcraft. Remains static. Giles Corey An elderly but feisty farmer in Salem, famous for his tendency to file lawsuits. Giles’s wife, Martha, is accused of witchcraft, and he himself is eventually held in contempt of court and pressed to death with large stones. Gets wife in trouble for saying he couldn’t pray while she read. Thomas Putnam A wealthy, influential citizen of Salem, Putnam holds a grudge against Francis Nurse. He uses the witch trials to increase his own wealth by accusing people of witchcraft and then buying up their land. Ann Putnam Thomas Putnam’s wife. Ann Putnam has given birth to eight children, but only Ruth Putnam survived. The other seven died before they were a day old, and Ann is convinced that they were murdered by supernatural means. Tituba Reverend Parris’s black slave from Barbados. Tituba agrees to perform voodoo at Abigail’s request. Betty Parris Reverend Parris’s ten-year-old daughter. Betty falls into a strange stupor after Parris catches her and the other girls dancing in the forest with Tituba. Her illness and that of Ruth Putnam fuel the first rumors of witchcraft. Mary Warren The servant in the Proctor household and a member of Abigail’s group of girls. She is easily influenced by those around her, who tried unsuccessfully to expose the hoax and ultimately recanted her confession. Dynamic, actually tries to confess at end. Mercy Lewis One of the girls in Abigail’s group.

Digital media in China Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Digital media in China - Essay Example This "Digital media in China" outlines how restrictions and censorship in China caused the emergence of the local Chinese social networks instead of western and also describes the most popular forms of digital media in this country. The first forms of digital media that are popular in china are the video sharing sites. These include Tudou and Youku. The sites are the equivalent of You Tube that is popular in the western countries. Tudou started in April 2005, and was the first online video platform to be introduced in china. Most of the content is user-generated videos and premium licensed content (Crampton 1). Youku, on the other hand, enjoys the largest Chinese video animation. This site started in December 2006. The videos are licensed, and professional, user generated and self-produced web videos (Crampton 1). However, the use of these sites by Chinese Netizens is different from how Americans use YouTube. These sites do not contain short video of cute animals or silly domestic mi shaps that are popular among YouTube users (Crampton 1). The content of these sites is more reliable, longer, and up to 70 percent is professionally produced (Crampton 1). Most of the users spend more than one hour as compared to counterparts that spend less than 20 minutes per day (Crampton 1). The Chinese sites are more online television stations or a substitute for digital video recorders. An individual in China have discretion of posting videos, but most of the subject of online video is longer-format professional videos. Most of the videos are external programs pirated, subtitled, and uploaded hours after screening in western countries such as United States (Crampton 1). However, there is increased demand of content on Youku and Tudou, and this has resulted to mushrooming of companies that focus solely on online video. The sites television like atmosphere has prompted most of young Chinese reliance on them. The other site is Sina Weibo. This is an equivalent of Micro blog site of the western nation. This started in 2009, three years after twitter. This is the most popular micro blogging platform in china. It has

BP Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

BP - Essay Example In order to achieve the above strategic aims of the organization, the bank developed a balanced score card for each of the 4 perspectives .This score card was developed by BP in 2003 .We will see what this score card was- (Anderson, 2003) BP made the mistake of separating quality from normal day to day business activities. Quality managers were seen by most team as outsiders who came to overlook their work. Due to this quality concept was not internalized but workarounds were developed which were used whenever the quality team visited. As is this case for any standardized software which is launched across a mammoth organization, launch of Echoke met with resistance from employees. Echoke was supposed to find out the choking points of the operation team – the areas where problem occurs again and again and thus create a standardized benchmark – however it failed to factor the human factor in this software. (Bamberg, 2000) New safety manual were launched by BP in 2004 .These manual were uniform with slight variations from place to place. However the problem was that regular training on these manuals was stopped when BP faced financial crunch. This lead to the employees reverting back to their old ways quickly. GOLD stands for Global Operational, Leaders, and Display. Gold was the ERP project launched by BP.GOLD was supposed to accumulate information available from different countries BP operates in and present it to the top management in a comprehensive manner. Initially GOLD failed to capture the prevailing conditions in different countries as they were vastly from each other which made the data skewed. There were also compatibility issues with echoke which took a lot of time to be resolved. Safety audit teams faced the same fate as quality managers. Deep thought was not given over the composition of these

Manage Information of Northampton Business School Essay

Manage Information of Northampton Business School - Essay Example From the report it is clear that  the database making process has been developed considering not only the problem of reduced attendance of the students but will also provide an overall view of the factors that is contributing to the reduced rate of attendance in Northampton Business School.   The database management process will be based on the relationships and attributes reflected in the Entity Relationship Model. The relationship model of the Department reflects the overall scenario that leads to the students and their attributes whereas the relationship model of students specifically focuses on the information required by the University for assessing the factors leading to the growing numbers of absentees among the students.  This discussion stresses that  the entities identified in both the relationship models are having direct or indirect relationships with the students monitoring process. Considering the overall view as provided in the relationship model with departmen t view, the entities are department, faculty, students and course whereas the specific student relationship model reflects only two entities namely, students and courses. The relationship between the entities is mostly defined by the purpose served by each entity.  The primary and foreign keys in the created models have been marked with multicoloured attributes to reflect them clearly.  The primary keys in both the models are the id numbers of the courses and the students.

Competition in the banking industry

Competition in the banking industry The banking system of a country plays a vital role in social welfare of the people in the country and of people of the world in general. It offers services to enterprises and consumers to undertake their business activities and to easily perform their day-to-day transactions. It is necessary to ensure an efficient functioning of the banking system; otherwise, a dull and bogus banking system brings about an ultimate threat of potential for financial instability. That is the reason why the competition in financial sector is of much importance. The importance is for many reasons; i.e. it relates to the efficiency, quality and innovation of the production of financial services. Most importantly, it helps in taking careful decisions in policy making for banks (Claessens and Laevens, 2003). In recent years, a lot of research work has been carried out, investigating the nature of competition in the banking industry along with the degree of competition, factors affecting the competition and the effects of competition on other market factors on micro level as well as on macro economic level. An explanation for the vast amount of studies on this topic is that competition can not be measured directly due to the lack of detailed information on prices and costs of the various banking products (Bikker et al., 2007). This topic has also gained popularity among bankers, economists and policy makers because of globalisation, liberalization of financial markets and banking harmonization all over the world, especially in the European Union. Since early 90s, there are a lot of regulatory changes observed in the banking industry in order to achieve the establishment of a single, competitive market in the financial sector of Europe. It was initially triggered with the implementation of the Second Banking Coordination Directive defining conditions for Single Banking License. As a consequence, entry barriers have been removed substantially for the new entrants increasing competition, coupled with a significant consolidation process. The intuition behind this was Market Contestability; a market is contestable if there are no barriers to entry, exit is absolutely costless and the prices are highly elastic to demands for industry output. The key idea is that a firm may be compelled to be more competitive and efficient by the prospect of new entrants (Allen and Engert, 2007). Furthermore, costless exit means that if a firm enters into a new market and then decides to withdraw, it is required to recover sunk entry costs. These features insure that even if a market has a small number of active firms, it is still effectively contestable and competitive (Nathan A. and Neave E., 1989). Moreover, the pro-competitive deregulation process has increased the level of competition (Cetorelli, 2004), particularly in non-traditional and non-interest bearing areas of banking activity (Goddard et al. 2001). Trivieri F. (2005) documents that in the course of the 1990s, the Italian banking system underwent profound changes at normative and institutional levels, which led among other things to a significant relaxation of the entry barriers, to the liberalisation of bank branching, to the redefinition of ownership structure and to a large number of mergers and acquisitions. The effects of these transformations and, in particular, of those linked to the process of consolidation have been studied by many authors (see, among others: Resti, 1997; Angelini and Cetorelli, 2000; Messori, 2001; Sapienza, 2002; Focarelli et al., 2002; Focarelli and Panetta, 2003). According to European Central Bank 1999, 29 percent banks had been merged or shrunk between 1985 and 1997. In Italian banking industry, the Second Banking Directive was implemented in 1993, followed by a 20 percent reduction in the number of banks as a result of consolidation. It is observed that competition has been increased in recent years in European banking markets which is also generally true for Italy. Angelini and Cetorelli (2000) cite that a rise in the competition is easily found in European banking markets during recent years. Danthine, Giavazzi, Vives and von Thadden (1999) report a somewhat generalized decrease in banks net interest margins across Europe during the 1990s. Consistent with the European evidence, a declining trend in bank margins is also observed across different markets in Italy. This paper focuses only on the banking industry of Italy and analyzes the evaluation of competitive conditions, nature and the degree of competition in the Italian banking industry using firm-level balance sheet data. In this paper, we explore more thoroughly the competitive nature and degree of competition in the Italian banking industry by adopting a methodology developed in empirical industrial organization and used extensively in banking. Further more, we will compare our results with previous results to find out that whether the degree of competition has been increased or it has been as same as it was in the past. The setup of the remainder of this paper is as follows. Section 2 contains some important information about structure and features of a competitive banking industry which helps in understanding the competition more thoroughly. Next Section 3 introduces the original Panzar-Rosse model along with the previous studies in the field. Section 4 gives a brief explanation of the general Panzar and Rosse model. This section also shows the interpretation of the H-statistic along with the description of the testing hypothesis. Following Section 5 deals with the empirical model used in this study including long-run equilibrium test. This section also contains the banks data used for the empirical illustration for our theoretical findings. Finally in the last Section 6 empirical results and conclusion is discussed. OPTIMAL COMPETITIVE STRUCTURE OF THE BANKING SYSTEM According to Northcott C. (2004), competition improves efficiency and growth in the banking sector but market power or concentration is necessary for stability in the industry. Moreover, competitive environment promotes productive and allocative efficiency leading towards economies of scale while market power improves credit availability, stability, quality of banks loan portfolios, screening of loans and monitoring them. As a result, market power should not be eliminated, but rather used to facilitate an environment that promotes competitive behaviour. FEATURES OF A COMPETITIVE BANKING INDUSTRY Concentration weakens competition by fostering collusive behaviour among firms. Increased market concentration was found to be associated with higher prices and greater than normal profits (Bain, 1951). Smirlock (1985) and Evanoff and Fortier (1988) argue that higher profits in concentrated markets could be the result of greater productive efficiency. Berger (1995) finds some evidence that the efficiency hypothesis holds in US banking. In Europe, on the other hand, structural factors appeared to be more important and the SCP hypothesis seemed to hold (Goddard et al., 2001). If a well-developed financial system is provided then contestability improves with new entrants. Contestability is not necessarily related to concentration or the number of banks. Concentration and competition can exist together because of the presence of asymmetric information and branches and the effect and use of new technologies. (Northcott C, 2004) LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL ISSUES: According to Bikker and Haaf (2000), initially the economic literature on the issue of competition in the industrial sector can be divided into two main categories; structural approach and non-structural approach. Structural approach can be further divided into two main paradigms. First type of structural approach is Structure-Conduct-Performance (SCP) paradigm, which tells us that the degree of competition is determined by the structural characteristics of the market, such as, number of firms, size of the firms, etc. The SCP was developed in the early 1950s by Mason (1939) and Bain (1951). Bain (1951) constructs the market power hypothesis that collusive behaviour is initiated by high concentration which results in large profits for firms. Later, Stigler (1964) and Demsetz propose efficiency hypothesis in contrast of marker power hypothesis stating that the efficiency of bigger firms may be the reason for high concentration instead of collusive behaviour of firms, while during 1980s, Baumol, Panzar and Willig (1983) build contestability hypothesis. Their hypothesis states that if entry and exit barriers are relaxed then competition may be prevailed (Mkrtchyan A. 2005). Second approach is Efficient-Structure-Hypothesis (ESH), which states that greater concentration in the industry not only increases the level of efficiency in the sector but also increases the degree of competition in that sector. Non-structural approach is based on describing the nature of competition in the context of the studies of New Economic Industrial Organization (NIEO). It suggests non-structural models to analyse the competition in markets which do not rely on the markets structure. Particularly, Klein (1971), Baumol, Panzar, and Willig [1982] provide a theory that shows that market competitiveness can be inferred irrespective of the structure of the market. NIEO studies include Iwata Model (1974), Brasnahan Model (1982), Rosse and Panzar (1977), Panzar and Rosse (1982), Panzar and Rosse Model (1987), etc. Non-structural method or firms input-output cost studies have gained more popularity than the structural approach among academics, researchers, analysts and policy makers. Particularly Panzar and Rosse model (1987) is the most widely used and is very popular model for competition. Duncan (2003) mentions that the Panzar and Rosse (P-R) model provides a comprehensive and simple method to calculate the competition. It does not require intensive data as compared to other models and has been firmly related to theoretical side. The information required for this model is easily available as it calculates the sum of the factor prices elasticities estimated from a reduced form of revenue function. The Rosse-Panzar test has been developed to examine competitive conditions in the light of the contestability theory (Rosse and Panzar, 1977; 1982; 1987). This approach measures the degree of competition by analyzing how each banks revenues react to changes in input prices. It has primarily emerged to test market conditions that encompass all spectrums of competitiveness away from the restrictions brought about by the structural concepts. Basically, it depends on the relationship between gross revenues of the firm and the change in its input prices by using a statistic which is called the H-statistics that measures the sum of elasticities of total revenue with respect to each input price. As this approach includes the revenue equation so for banks, mainly the revenues are interest revenue. In this approach, h-statistics is used to measure the degree of competition. The H-statistics will tell us the responsiveness of revenues to the changes in input prices. If h-statistics is less t han or equal to zero then there will be monopoly, if it is between zero and one then there will be monopolistic competition and if it is equal to one then there will be perfect competition (Greenberg J. and Simbanegavi W.). This approach is preferred when testing the data of different individual banks. Moreover, P-R approach yields similar results without any ambiguity as it has clearly defined hypotheses with specific interpretations. PREVIOUS GENERAL STUDIES ABOUT BANK COMPETITION: Rearrange the literature review according to the claessens and neave. A great number of papers have been written on investigating competition in the banking industry using Panzar and Rosse model (1987). But the motivations for analyzing the nature of the competition are vastly varied like contribution of institutional and structural factors, growth, regions, stability, financing, efficiency, contestability, consolidation, cross-border capital flows, risks etc. The summary of the previous works and their findings can be seen in the Appendix Table 1. Panzar J. and Rosse J. (1987) develop test for Monopoly and use linear regression model to estimate the H-statistic for the newspaper industry, reporting that it is vague to conclude that the newspaper firms earn oligopoly profits. Looking at the cross-country studies carried out in the EU banking markets, one of the earliest analysis is undertaken by Molyneux et al. (1994) who test the Panzar-Rosse statistics on a sample of banks in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK for the period 1986-89. Results indicate monopolistic competition in all countries except Italy where the monopoly hypothesis can not be rejected. Shaffer and Disalvo (1994) use this test to analyze the data of a duopoly banking market in south central Pennsylvania to exercise the procedure for concentration and competitive conduct. Waleed Murjan and Cristina Ruza (2002) examine the Arab Middle Eastern banking markets with this test concluding that the banking sector is more competitive in non-oil-producing countries than the banking industry in oil-producing countries. Gelos and Roldos (2002) apply this method on 8 different countries of Latin America and Europe, finding that market contestability prevents the competitive pressure from declining which can happen because of the consolidation while Claessens and Laeven (2003) process the data of 50 countries obtaining the same results. Bikker and Haaf (2002) assess the banking industry in 17 European countries and six countries that are outside of Europe comparing competitive conditions and market structure. Goddard, J. and Wilson, J. (2006) report misspecification bias in the revenue equation for the banking sectors of 19 developed and developing countries. They suggested a dynamic revenue equation for unbiased estimation rather than fixed effects estimation which is severely biased towards zero. Gilbert (1984) and Berger (1995) test the data for 8,235 banks in 23 developed nations producing the results that a higher degree of market power has less risk exposure. Yuan Y. (2005) assesses the competition in Chinese Banking sector and comes up with the results that China already has had perfectly competitive condition before new foreign entrants and it still has the same situation. Duncan D. (2003) presents the empirical assessment of the market structure of the Jamaican banking sector and competitive trends in the market finding monopolistic behaviour. Al-Muharrami S. et al. (2006) take GCC Arab countries into observation and suggest that Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE operate under perfect competition; and Bahrain and Qatar operate under conditions of monopolistic competition. Nathan A. and Neave E. (1989) exercise the test on Canadian financial industry and reject the hypothesis of monopoly power in Canadas financial system. PREVIOUS STUDIES ABOUT COMPETITION IN ITALIAN BANKING INDUSTRY: A great number of studies on competition in financial sector of EU countries have been reported which also include Italy in general. But there are also some research-papers which are produced specifically for Italy. Some of them are: Cetorelli N. and Angelini P. (2000) study the case of the Italian banking industry and cite that competitive conditions have improved substantially after 1992, and it is believed that the introduction of the Single Banking License in 1993 also helps fostering the competitive behaviour in Italian banking industry. DellAriccia G. and Bonaccorsi E. (2003) investigate the relationship between bank competition and firm creation. They document that the effects of competition in the banking sector on the creation of firms in the non-financial sector are less favourable to the emergence of new firms in industries where information asymmetries are greater. Coccorese P. (2002) rejects the theory that competition can be easily reduced by the collusive behaviour of the firms, and comes up with the conclusion that strong concentration does not necessarily prevent competition among firms. Trivieri F. (2005) compares the banks involved in the cross-ownership and banks that are not involved. He finds that Italian banks involved in cross-ownership are less competitive than the banks which are not involved in cross-ownership, hence proving cross-ownership decreases competition. GENERALIZED PANZAR AND ROSSE (1987) APPROACH: P-R model assumptions: Firstly, there are some assumptions and conditions in which Panzar and Rosse model works. The model supposes that banks operate in long run equilibrium. Although Goddard Wilson (2006), documents that this condition is not needed any more if a correctly specified dynamic revenue equation is adopted which permits virtually unbiased estimation of the H-statistic. This eliminates the need for a market equilibrium assumption, but incorporates instantaneous adjustments as a special case. So in this paper long run equilibrium postulate holds. Another assumption is that the market participants affect the performance of the banks by their actions. Another postulate is that the price elasticity of demand is greater than unity. Moreover, the model posits that there is a homogenous cost structure. Furthermore, profits are maximised to obtain the equilibrium number of banks and the equilibrium output. In long rum equilibrium, it is known that banks maximise their profits when, marginal revenue eq uals to marginal cost (Bikker and Haaf, 2000). Trivieri F. (2005) also adds that the banks are treated as single product firms which mainly provide intermediation services. EXPLANATION OF PR MODEL: Claessens and Laeven (2003) cite that the Panzar and Rosse model studies the impact of changes in factor input prices reflected in equilibrium revenues by a specific bank. Bikker and Haaf (2000) write that Panzar and Rosse model gives simple models for oligopolistic, competitive and monopolistic markets. This test works on the reduced form revenue equation and uses H-statistics. This H-statistics can tell us not only the nature of competition but also gives information about the degree of the competition. H-statistics if measures between 0 and 1, it is monopolistic competition, 0 is considered as monopoly and 1 as perfect competition. Here, a general banking market model is used, which determines equilibrium output and the equilibrium number of banks by maximising profits. The model is also able to allow for bank-specific variables in the equation. According to Bikker and Haaf (2000), in the long run equilibrium, it is known that banks maximise their profits at the break-even point. The break-even point is where marginal revenue equals marginal cost. So, the bank i maximises its profits, where marginal revenue equals marginal cost: (1) Ri refers to revenues and Ci to costs of bank i (the prime denoting marginal), xi is the output of bank i, n is the number of banks, wi is a vector of m factor input prices of bank i, zi is a vector of exogenous variables that shift the banks revenue function, ti is a vector of exogenous variables that shift the banks cost function. Secondly, it means that in equilibrium at the market level, the zero profit constraint holds (Bikker and Haaf, 2000): (2) Variables marked with an asterisk (*) represent equilibrium values. Panzar and Rosse define a measure of competition H as the sum of the elasticities of the reduced-form revenues with respect to factor prices (Bikker and Haaf, 2000): (3) According to Khan, M. (2009), it measures the percentage change in (equilibrium) revenue due to a one percent change in all input factor prices (change in cost). From duality theory, it is known that one percent increase in factor prices will lead to one percent upward shift in cost function. The impact of this shift in cost function on the (equilibrium) revenue of the banks is directly related to the degree of competition in the banking sector. Bikker and Haaf (2000) further explain that Panzar and Rosse prove that under monopoly or under perfectly collusive oligopoly, an increase in input prices will increase marginal costs, reduce equilibrium output and subsequently reduce revenues; hence H will be zero or negative. An increase in input prices raises both marginal and average costs by an equal proportion as the cost is homogeneous of degree one in input prices without altering the optimal output of any individual firm. Exit of some firms increases the demand faced by each of the remaining firms, thereby leading to an increase in prices and total revenues by as same amount as the rise in costs, resulting perfect competition where H-statistic is positive but not greater than unity. In this case marginal and average cost will be increased by the rise in input prices (Nathan A. and Neave H., 1989). INTERPRETATION OF H-STATISTICS: Panzar and Rosse prove that, under monopolistic competition, H is between zero and unity. H is a decreasing function of the perceived demand elasticity, so H increases with the competitiveness of the banking industry. As a result, this H-statistic can serve as a continuous interpretation of the competitiveness. Although this is not mentioned by Panzar and Rosse (1987) but with some assumptions this continuous interpretation is correct. So, the testable hypotheses are: The banking industry is characterised by monopoly for H=0, monopolistic competition for 0 HYPOTHESIS TESTING; Khan, M. (2009) mentions: Two-sided Perfect Competition Test: Maintaining the long run equilibrium postulate, if banks are operating under perfect competition, a one percent change in cost will lead to a one percent change in revenues. Output will not be changed if the demand function is perfectly elastic under perfect competition, output price and cost both will increase by the same extent. This implies that under perfect competition, H-statistic will be equal to one. Statistically, we will test the following hypothesis. H0 : H = 1 Perfect competition prevails in the banking sector. H1 : H à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚   1 There is no perfect competition in the banking sector. Two-sided Monopolistic Competition Test: If banks are operating in monopolistically competitive environment, one percent increase in cost will lead to less than one percent increase in revenue as the bank faces fairly inelastic demand function. Statistically, we will test the following hypothesis. H0 : 0 H1 : H à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ 0 or H à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥ 1 Banks are not operating in a monopolistic competition environment. One-sided Monopoly Test: Standard theory of market structure suggests that the sum of factor input price elasticities should be less than zero if the underlying market structure is monopoly. Statistically, we will test the following hypothesis. H0 : H à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ 0 Banks are operating in a monopoly condition. H1 : H > 0 Banks are not operating in a monopoly condition. (Khan M., 2009) EMPIRICAL FRAMEWORK AND METHODOLOGY: The test is robust with any definition of market whether it is within the national boundaries or it is the global international banking industry because there is no need to specify a geographic market. Before testing, it is commonly necessary to obtain a reduced form of revenue equation which consists of revenue as a dependent variable, factor input prices as independent variables and some controlled or firms specific factors. The basic equation is: Total interest revenue = total cost + controlled variables + error term The panel data is used in the paper which is the data collected over multiple time periods. It is the combination of cross-sectional and time series dimensions. Hence, it can be derived as: Ci = a + Byi + Ei (4) Ct = a + Byt + Et (5) Where, C is the dependent variable, a is constant term, B is the coefficient of the independent term, y is the independent variable and E is the error term. Combining both the equations (4) and (5), the final basic equation can be given as: Cit = a + Byit + Eit (6) But Panzar and Rosse define the H as the sum of the elasticities of the reduced-form revenues with respect to factor prices, so the econometric model of the Panzar and Rosse statistic may be represented by the following equation: (7) For i = 1,..I; t = 1,T; Where, R is a measure of gross revenue. W is a vector of factor prices (the H statistic is given by the sum of the estimated coefficients of the variables in this vector); S is a vector of scale variables; X is a vector of exogenous and bank-specific variables that may shift the cost and revenue schedule, ÃŽÂ µ indicates the error term; I is the total number of banks; T is the number of periods observed (Trivieri, 2005). To calculate the sum of elasiticities, it is necessary to estimate the log linear model instead of estimating a simple linear model that is the reason for taking the log of all the variables in equation (7). The sign of the variables of different costs and bank specific variables are positive showing a direct relationship to revenues (Trivieri, 2005). In this pooled regression, extra intercepts or dummies for time are used, but dummies for individuals are not included because of the application of within-group-estimators. Because with-in-group estimator takes first difference and removes the individuals dummies variables by itself. Thus being a fixed effects model, it measures differences in intercepts for each group and the differences are calculated by a separate dummy variable for each group (Trivieri, 2005). The use of fixed effects panel regression with time dummies allows calculating the relevant parameters of the empirical model. Furthermore, unobserved heterogeneity is controlled by the fixed effects too avoiding omitted variable problems (Trivieri, 2005). In this paper, the intermediation approach developed by Sealey and Lindley (1977), is followed which tells that deposits, labour and capital are inputs for the banks. The empirical model applied in this paper is as: LGIRTA = B1LLABCOST + B2LCAPCOST + B3LFUNDCOST + B4LLTA + B5LBMIX (8) Where, LGIRTA = Log of Gross Interest Revenues over Total Assets LLABCOST = Log of Labour factor price LCAPCOST = Log of Capital Cost LFUNDCOST = Log of Funding Cost LLTA = Log of Loans to Total Assets LBMIX = Log of Loans to Banks and Clients over Total Loans This paper addresses the banking industry of Italy. The data includes 480 banks approximately, of all sizes in Italy. The data contains two different samples. First sample consists of the data from 1995 to 1997, total 3 years, and the second sample contains data from 1997 to 2000, total 3 years. We make a comparison and inference between the results obtained by these two samples through our empirical model and find out the competitive behaviour of Italian financial market. LONG RUN EQUILIBRIUM TEST: An important underlying condition of the H-statistic for competition is the long run equilibrium. Panzar and Rosse (1987) cite that this postulate is crucial for the cases of perfect competition and monopolistic competition. Though, it is not a fundamental assumption in the case of monopoly because when H is less than or equal to zero then it is a long run assumption for monopoly (Trivieri, 2005). Long run equilibrium test for the observations can be done with the prerequisite that: competitive markets equalise the return rates across firms, so that in equilibrium these rates should not be correlated with input prices (Trivieri, 2005). In our empirical model as in Shaffer (1982), this test can be carried out by re-estimating the equation with the proxy for the return on assets, ROA, as dependent variable in the calculation of H. In this context, H = 0 implies that the data are in long run equilibrium (Trivieri, 2005). The intuition behind this theory is that, return on assets, ROA, should not be related to input prices. De Bandt and Davis (1999), define the equilibrium condition as the state in which changes in banking sector are considered as gradual, long run equilibrium for the observations does not mean that competitive conditions remain the same and do not change through out the period of observations (Trivieri, 2005). Although it is inappropriate to use Rosse-Panzar test which is based on a static equilibrium framework, but in the real financial market, the equilibrium adjustments are less than instantaneous, resulting disequilibrium on some points in time or frequently, or always. Moreover, when it is known that the adjustments towards equilibrium are partial and not instantaneous then using fixed effects estimation for the static revenue equation will result in biased H-statistics toward zero (Goddard J. and Wilson J., 2006). For the long run equilibrium, we estimate the following equation: LROA = B1LLABCOST + B2LCAPCOST + B3LFUNDCOST + B4LLTA + B5LBMIX (9) DATA AND SAMPLE DESCRIPTION: The empirical part of this paper uses an unbalanced panel data set on which the Panzar and Rosse methodology has been applied containing a range of Italian banking firms. The data and the samples used for the estimation of H indicator are provided by Dr. Leone Leonida, Queen Mary, University of London. The data used in this paper are annual and refer to the period 1995-1997 (3 years) for the first sample. The first sample for the econometric analysis is made up of an unbalanced panel data of 480 financial institutions of all sizes, for a total of 1401 observations. The number of parameters is 487. The longest time series is 3 years long and the shortest time series is only 2 years long with 2 time dummies. The second sample covers the period of 1998-2000 (3 years) having 1330 number of observation from 474 banks of all sized. The number of parameters is 481. The longest time series is 3 years long and the shortest time series is 2 years long depicting unbalanced panel data with 2 time dummies. In the Appendix, Table 3 provides a summary of the definition of relevant dependent variable, independent variables, bank specific factors variables and control variables. LGIRTA is the log of gross interest revenue over total assets, which is used as dependent variable, also used by De Bandt and Davis (2000), and Trivieri F. (2005). Trivieri (2005) points out that according to Vesala (1995) and De Bandt and Davis (2000) it is the most appropriate choice because it then represents a price equation and not the revenue equation. Moreover, our equation will be consistent with the conceptual structure used by the application of Panzar and Rosses statistic to the banking sector. The choice for taking only the interest part of the total revenue of banks is consistent with underlying notion of the P-R model that financial intermediation is the core business of most banks. However, Shaffer (1982) and Nathan and Neaves (1989) have included total revenue instead of only interest revenue because of the fact that banks have increased their non-interest activities and services which have started generating income other than interest. But s

National Influenza Immunization Program - The Swine Flu of 1976 Essay

In 1976, due to an outbreak of influenza at Fort Dix, New Jersey, the United States set a precedent in immunology by attempting to vaccinate the entire population of the country against the possibility of a swine-type Influenza A epidemic. While a great many people were successfully immunized in a very short period of time, the National Influenza Immunization Program (NIIP) quickly became recognized as a failure, one reason being that the feared epidemic never surfaced at all. But this massive undertaking deserves more analysis than just a simple repudiation. For example, all evidence linked to the pathology, microbiology, and historical cycle of influenza and the outbreak at Fort Dix suggests that the reactions of the scientists and other personnel involved in the NIIP were correct. However, one must also acknowledge the many complications and misjudgments that plagued the program after its initiation, from biological difficulties, logistical problems, to tensions with the media. Th e swine flu is a historical event that needs to be evaluated, regarding both its successes and its failures, so that lessons can be learned for future immunization programs. While influenza, or the "flu", is not commonly recognized as an extremely lethal disease, the pathology of influenza, and especially of the kind found at Fort Dix, does suggest that an immunization program was a reasonable course to take in 1976. In the public's mind, influenza is often not seen as a specific disease, using interchangeable names for it like "flu", "gripe", and "virus". (Silverstein: 1) However, influenza is very different from an everyday low fever or "stomach flu". It is a respiratory infection, connected with a fever, coughing, and muscle aches, which often la... ...d be held responsible for not creating a more adaptable program that could deal with these occurrences. The NIIP must be evaluated for its drawbacks and its successes, so that people will not just see this as an unfortunate historical event, but can use it to help further immunization and disease-fighting programs in the future.    Works Cited The "Flu". Online. 17 Feb. 1999. Available: www.ultranet.com/~jkimball/BiologyPages/I/Influenza.html Laitlin, Elissa A. and Elise M. Pelletier. "The Influenza A/New Jersey(Swine Flu) Vaccine and Guillain-Barrà ©acute; Syndrome: The Arguments for Causal Association." Drugs and Devices Line, 1997. Online. 15 Feb. 1999. Available: www.hsph.harvard.edu/Organizations/ddil/swieflu.html Silverstein, Arthur M. Pure Politics and Impure Science: The Swine Flu Affair. Baltimore and London: The John Hopkins University Press, 1981.

Id, Ego and Super-Ego As it relates to “The Lord of the Flies” Essay

Many people have different types of personalities. The characters from the story The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, have 3 different parts of personality of the brain. According to Freud these are the three parts Id, Ego and the Super-Ego. Freud’s personality theory really shows in The Lord of the Flies. In the story Jack would be described as the Id. According to Sigmund Freud, Id is the part of your personality you are born with that you have to control. These aspects of personality are entirely unconscious and make you have a bad behavior if you don’t get what you desire, want or need. Jack had a problem following the rules and controlling his behavior about working together to get rescued with the other kids. He killed people, not caring about the consequences. He felt like he could do anything he wanted, Id people don’t care about following rules; that’s the last thing they care about. On the other hand, Super-ego is very different from Id. People who are ruled by Super-Ego follow the rules and even make them. They sense what’s right and wrong. In The Lord of the Flies the Super-Ego was Piggy. He would take everything very seriously when it would come time to make plans. For example he said, â€Å"How can you expect to be rescued if you don’t put first things first and act proper?† (p 45). It shows us how much he wants order in the group and for everybody to act maturely. Super-Ego also operates in accordance with social conformity and appropriateness. The super-ego, its role of moral authoritarian, is the opposite of the Id. The other main character from the Lord of the Flies was Ralph. He’s the one known as the leader. He cared, showed kindness and also was very  intelligent. The personality represented by Ralph is the Ego. The role of the Ego is to sift through what is real and what isn’t. They make decisions by their thoughts, theyfollow what makes sense to them and how they relate it to the world we live in. Ralph demonstrates common sense and reality, which is one of the things Ego has. Ralph was very realistic about being rescued when everybody was saying that nobody would find them. He also wanted to have fun; an example of how the Ego balances the Id and Super-Ego is showed Ralph is figuring out what to do, â€Å"†¦This is what I thought. We want to have fun. And we want to be rescued.† (p 37). William Golding really shows us how human nature could be. He illustrates how truly destructive humans can be. Golding makes very good use of characters in The Lord of the Flies, he shows both good and evil through each of the characters. He saw how destructive humans can be, and how normal people transform from a civilized human being into a savage in a quick second. The ending tells us that people don’t really imagine what other people can do. The military officer made a joke that it was ironic of what’s happening on the island, â€Å"We saw your smoke. What you been doing? Having a war or something?† (p 201). It’s ironic how the military officer said something that was exactly what was happening†¦he would have never thought some little kids would do something like that. The Lord of the Flies is a picture of the society in which we live today. It is a novel, which explains some of the issues like violence and many other things that are happening in the world. It is much easier to side with evil but very challenging to support humans and what we know is right. Society keeps everybody civilized and we need rules and principles to live by.The Id, Ego and Super-Ego are why we are different from each other, it explains why we think and behave differently. Freud knew all parts of personality must exist together in balance for a person or a society to stay healthy, live happily and safely.

Licencia de conducir para indocumentados en Maryland

Licencia de conducir para indocumentados en Maryland El estado de Maryland permite a los migrantes indocumentados obtener la licencia de manejar o, para los que no desean conducir, una tarjeta de identificacià ³n conocida o  I.D.  por sus siglas en inglà ©s. En este artà ­culo se informa sobre quà © pasos hay que seguir para solicitar la licencia y quà © documentos es necesario presentar. Asimismo, se habla de cà ³mo es la situacià ³n en otros estados y cul es el estatus particular de los muchachos indocumentados que se conoce como Dreamers, ya que para ellos el tema de licencia de manejar opera de otra forma. Cà ³mo sacar la licencia de manejaro I.D. en Maryland si se est como indocumentado Estos son los requisitos que hay que cumplir y la documentacià ³n que hay que colectar antes de examinarse de conducir: Prueba de haber pagado los impuestos (taxes) en el estado de Maryland por al menos 2 aà ±os.Un nà ºmero fiscal que se conoce como ITIN y que se solicita al IRS.Una carta certificada por la Oficina del Controlador de Maryland que puede solicitarse por internet.Un I.D. vlido y sin expirar, por ejemplo, el pasaporte o matrà ­cula consular.2 documentos que sirvan para probar residencia en el estado de Maryland como por ejemplo el lease de la vivienda, las facturas del pago del telà ©fono, cable, electricidad, extractos bancarios, etc.   Si no se tienen todos los documentos no se puede obtener ni el I.D. ni la licencia de manejar de autos o para bicimotos. Si la intencià ³n es solamente obtener un I.D. del estado, lo anterior es suficiente y ya se puede cerrar una cita con el Department of Motor Vehicles. Por el contrario,  si adems se quiere obtener la licencia de manejar entonces hay que tomar los tests. Exmenes para la licencia de manejar en Maryland El primer paso es estudiar el manual del conductor para autos y bicimotos. Se pueden tomar gratuitamente tests por internet para asegurarse que se sabe la respuesta.   Despuà ©s cerrar una cita para rendir el examen de conocimientos y posteriormente tomar el test de manejar. Para esto à ºltimo pueden darse dos situaciones: Si ya se tiene una licencia de manejar de otro paà ­s sin expirar y vigente entonces es necesario tomar una leccià ³n de tres horas sobre un Programa de Educacià ³n de Drogas y Alcohol y luego ya ser posible tomar el examen de manejar.Por el contrario, si no se tiene ese tipo de licencia es necesario sacar primero un Permiso de Estudiante, lo que en inglà ©s se conoce como Learner ´s Permit, y tambià ©n tomar un curso de Educacià ³n para Conductores. Sà ³lo luego despuà ©s se puede tomar el examen de conducir. Atentos para evitar estafas No es posible comprar la licencia de manejar. Mucho cuidado con las personas que aseguran que pueden obtener uno a cambio de una cantidad de dinero.   Los casos de fraudes a inmigrantes se pueden denunciar, aà ºn cuando se tenga estatus de inmigrante indocumentado. Pero en la situacià ³n actual es siempre mejor consultar primero con un abogado o una organizacià ³n de ayuda a los migrantes. Cà ³mo son las leyes en otros estados y Dreamers Estos son los estados en los que los indocumentados pueden sacar la licencia de manejar. Tener en cuenta que los Dreamers con la Accià ³n Diferida aprobada se rigen por otras reglas y pueden obtener sus licencias de la forma regular que aplican a los ciudadanos americanos y residentes permanentes legales. En otras palabras, pueden manejar en todos los estados. Derechos de los indocumentados Aunque seas indocumentado por ley tienes derecho a cobrar al menos el salario mà ­nimo, que varà ­a de estado a estado. En cuanto al tema de la legalizacià ³n en la actualidad existen  15 posibles caminos que existen en la actualidad para la regularizacià ³n de indocumentados. Hay que tener en cuenta que no es fcil y que depende de las circunstancias de cada uno. Si se cree que se puede calificar para alguna de ellas, es fundamental contar con un buen abogado migratorio que conozca las leyes a fondo y se conduzca con à ©tica. Si no se conoce, se recomienda pedir asesoramiento para elegir abogado a instituciones reputadas con buenas bases de datos. Finalmente, como asunto prctico destacar los  Ã‚  documentos que sirven para viajar por avià ³n dentro de Estados Unidos, ya que este es un asunto que preocupa especialmente a los migrantes indocumentados.

Soft Systems Thinking Essay Essays

Soft Systems Thinking Essay Essays Soft Systems Thinking Essay Paper Soft Systems Thinking Essay Paper Soft System Methodology ( SSM ) was developed as methodological analysis by Peter Checkland and his co-workers working at Lancaster University and Open University in the seventiess. The thought of the SSM is to understand. place and work out the existent universe jobs. This paper will get down with the history of SSM and its definition. Then it describes the SSM methodological analysis with a practical instance survey from the existent universe. The writer will look into the chief characteristics and benefits SSM. Afterwards the writer will show the relationship between the soft systems believing. cognition direction. rational capital and societal capital. Soft Systems Methodology ( SSM ) is now taught and used around the universe. â€Å"SSM as an attack to undertaking the multi-faceted jobs which directors face ; in making this. it besides established the now well-recognized differentiation between ‘ hard’ and ‘ soft’ systems thinking† ( Winter. 2000 ) . Soft Systems Methodology is based on systems believing. It views the job sphere in a holistic instead than reductionist manner. recognizing that the constituent parts are interconnected. so that a alteration to one portion will impact the other parts. â€Å"Systems believing is a model for seeing interrelatednesss instead than things. for seeing forms of alteration instead than inactive snapshots† ( Frank. 2002 ) . Systems believing propose flexible linguistic communication which can spread out. form and alter the human being normal manner of believing in respect to complex affairs. Wang and Ahmed ( 2003 ) argue that soft systems enclose a broad scope of soft constituents including historical. personal. cultural and institutional factors which lays the bases of organizational acquisition. Taking a holistic attack requires the ability to distance oneself from daily operational jobs and to see how jobs and issues are connected to the overall form that underlies peculiar inside informations and events. Senge ( 1990. cited Bonn. 2001 ) calls this attack as â€Å"systems thinking† . He argues that: â€Å"We must look beyond personalities and events. We must look into the underlying constructions which shape single actions and make the conditions where types of events become likely† . SSM is called human activity systems ( Brocklesby. 1995 ) . SSM methodological analysis composes of seven phases and those are: 1. The job state of affairs unstructured. 2. The job state of affairs structured. 3. Root definitions of relevant systems. 4. Conceptual theoretical accounts. 5. Comparison of phase 4 and phase 2. 6. Identify executable and desirable alterations A ; 7. Action to better the job state of affairs. These phases are shown below in Figure 1. Figure 1. Traditional SSM Seven Stages Phases 1. 2. 5. 6. and 7 are existent universe activities that involves existent people in the job state of affairs or the existent job that needs to be improved. These activities speak every twenty-four hours linguistic communication of the peculiar state of affairs. While phases 3 and 4 are system believing activities which may or may non affect those in the job state of affairs depending on the fortunes. It describes what complexness of the system and what and how the system ought to look like. These activities speak the linguistic communication of the system. Another manner to believe of these activities are to believe of activities 1 and 2 as the stage of happening out about the job state of affairs. stages 3. 4. and 5 contribute to do up the stage of system thought. and eventually stages 6 and 7 are the stage of taking action. These seven phases do non stand for a individual procedure which can be followed from start to the terminal in a consecutive order and after which a right determination or an reply will be obvious. These phases are phases in a procedure and this procedure may hold to be repeated many times before a sensible adjustment or understanding may be reached. Planing and direction is progressively debatable in the real-world environment of gyrating alteration and uncertainness. Knowledge is uncomplete. values are in difference and the determinations of others are frequently unpredictable. Problem structuring methods ( PSMs ) are now a cardinal direction accomplishment. It is the procedure of recovering information from long-run memory and external memory and utilizing it to build the job infinite. i. e. to stipulate ends. operators and rating maps etc. The methods which have come. jointly. to be known as PSMs were developed independently from the mid 1960s onwards. What each PSM offers is a manner of stand foring the state of affairs ( that is. a theoretical account or theoretical accounts ) that will enable participants to clear up their quandary. converge on a potentially actionable common job or issue within it. and agree committednesss that will at least partly decide it. There are many types of PSMs and the more standard signifiers of the chief methods may be briefly summarized as follows: -Strategic options development and analysis ( SODA ) : This is a general job designation method that uses cognitive function as a modeling device for arousing and entering individuals’ positions of a job state of affairs. -Soft systems methodological analysis ( SSM ) : This is a general method fro system redesign. Participants build ideal-type conceptual theoretical accounts ( CMs ) . one for each relevant universe position. -Strategic pick attack ( SCA ) : This is a planning attack centred on pull offing uncertainness in strategic state of affairss. -Robustness analysis: This is an attack that focuses on keeping utile flexibleness under uncertainness. -Drama theory: This draws on the two attacks. metagames and hypergames. It is an synergistic method of analyzing co-operation and struggle among multiple histrions. Sometimes non merely one attack is used but several. When developing an IT scheme for a big UK supermarket concatenation ( Sainsbury ) . they deployed and adapted a broad scope of PSMs in combination. Cognitive maps ( from the SODA attack ) were drawn. The following stage was to analyze each possible new IT systems in more item. for which the undertaking force members learned to utilize SSM. The rating of these possible systems was conducted utilizing the ‘comparing’ manner of the SCA. The concluding phase involved change overing the precedence portfolio of systems into a smaller figure of larger undertakings. New systems were developed and introduced over a five twelvemonth period. and were found to ensue in significant. measured benefits. SSM has advantages and those are: the ability to work out soft jobs where hard techniques fails ; takes societal. political. and power distribution issues into consideration through the application of cultural watercourse analysis ; Support different point of views through rich images ; can be used for larning in add-on to work outing jobs ; can be used in system where there is ill-situation but there is no specific ends and aims ; allows for new and inventive solutions to be discovered ; really utile in the beginning of work outing a job to happen out about the job state of affairs and understands demands. SSM has disadvantages and those are used to work out some ill-parts of the system but it doesn’t construct a whole system ; it does non state you how to construct the system ; the power managing portion seems fancy where the directors ever have the upper manus ; direction are non so happy about the nature of unfastened ended SSM ; heavy weight and clip devouring procedure ; limited in the design of a new system. Executives in successful administrations systematically search for ways to better the public presentation of their administrations. This motivates direction of such administrations. to obtain new apprehensions of some of the implicit in but complex mechanisms. e. g. Knowledge. that govern the endeavor effectivity. Increasingly. the cognition being captured and used by administrations is seen as the footing for the firm’s competitory advantage. Offsey ( 1997 ) asserts â€Å"As the gait of planetary competition quickens. executives realize that their border lies in more expeditiously reassigning cognition across their organisations† . On the other manus Inkpen ( 1996 ) argues that ‘Increasingly. the creative activity of new organizational cognition is going a managerial priority†¦ . . A failure to make cognition and pull off it as a critical organizational plus may account for the worsening public presentation of many well-established firms† . Such considerations from administrations led to the outgrowth of a new motion known as Knowledge Management ( KM ) . Knowledge direction is a cyclic acquisition procedure where SSM adds value in motive on uninterrupted and effectual acquisition ( Gao. Li and Nakamori. 2002 ) . Many research workers view the construct of KM as about people and non engineering. Quinn ( 1992. cited Soliman and Spooner. 2000 ) believes that the economic and bring forthing power of a modern corporation lies in its rational and service capablenesss alternatively of its difficult assets. Sarvary ( 1999. cited Alvesson and Karreman. 2001 ) goes ‘There is much more to knowledge direction than engineering entirely. Knowledge direction in a concern process† . Davenport and Prusak ( 1998 ) define cognition as â€Å"a unstable mix of framed experience. values. contextual information. and adept penetration that provides a model for measuring and integrating new experiences and information. It originates and is applied in the heads of apprehenders. In administrations. it frequently becomes embedded non merely in paperss or depositories but besides in organizational modus operandis. procedures. patterns and norms† . Nonaka ( 1991 ) suggests that there are two types of cognition: tacit. which is embedded in the human encephalon and can non be expressed easy ; and explicit cognition. which can be easy codified. Researchers argue about the importance of the above two types of cognition. While some focal points on pull offing expressed cognition. others argue that more accent is to be given to pull offing the tacit cognition. Mintzberg ( 1989. cited Soliman and Spooner. 2000 ) argues â€Å"The strategic informations bank of the administration is non in the memory of its computing machines but in the heads of its managers† . In order to transform the above two types of cognition within the house into a valuable plus. cognition. experience. and expertness must undergo some KM Procedures that may include formalisation. distribution. sharing. and application of cognition. Von Krogh et Al. ( 2000a. B ) identified a six measure KM procedure that starts with creative activity and progresses to knowledge gaining control and storage. knowledge polish. cognition distribution. cognition usage. and monitoring of the full procedure. Theories such as: Theory Y ( McGregor. 1960 ) . Management by Objectives ( Drucker. 1965 ) . strategic planning by Mintzberg and Porter ( 1970s ) . Entire Quality Management by figure of quality gurus such as ( Deming. 1986 ; Juran and Gryna. 1993 ; Crosby. 1979 ; Feigenbaum. 1991 ) . and Learning Organization ( Senge. 1990 ) . are all stand foring the development in the tools and patterns in the direction field during the 20th and twenty-first century. As a consequence of the uninterrupted attempt of seeking the competitory advantage. new construct of direction has emerged. underscoring on the importance of pull offing consistently and explicitly the organisational rational plus. â€Å"As a consequence the direction community has come to recognize that what an organisation and its employees know is at the bosom of how the organisation functions† ( Davenport. Prusak. 2000 ) . Drucker ( cited in DeTienne A ; Jackson. 2001 ) supports the same position and mentioned that â€Å"We know that the beginning of wealth is something human: cognition. If we apply knowledge to tasks we already cognize how to make. we call it productiveness. If we apply knowledge to tasks that are new and different. we call it invention. Merely cognition allows us to accomplish these two goals† . The value of the organisation’s cognition should be recognised. so that cognition is managed as an plus ( Rowley. 1999 ) . Kannan and Aulbur ( 2004 ) argue that rational capital. knowledge direction and intangible assets are of import factors in finding the value of an organisation. as reflected in the growing of the cognition direction industry. Intangible assets such as good will. patents. hallmarks. rational capital and client lists are going cardinal assets in many of today’s corporations. particularly in the engineering industry. With the turning influence of intang ible assets. their appraisal is going more of import and the standards for their appraisal should besides go on to develop to assist extinguish any abnormalities that may originate. This is indispensable in protecting the credibleness of comptrollers and the stockholders of corporations. â€Å"Intellectual capital can be defined as rational resources that have been â€Å"formalized. captured and leveraged† to make assets of higher value† ( Prusak. 1998 cited Kannan and Aulbur. 2004 ) . Rastogi ( 2002 ) defines IC as â€Å"A firm’s holistic art and potency for making value† . IC refers to rational stuff such as rational belongings. cognition. information and experience that can be used to make wealth. Intangible assets are innately hard to mensurate and include a big figure of organisational and single variable ( Kannan and Aulbur. 2004 ) . Intellectual capital may be both the terminal consequence of a cognition transmutation procedure or the cognition itself that is transformed into rational assets of the house ( Dzinkowski. 2000 ) . Three extra signifiers of capital have became popular constructs in the new economic system of the past mark old ages: market capital. rational capital. and knowledge capital ( Tymon and Stumpf. 2003 ) . Management is of import in organizing. fosterage and heightening rational capital to do it productive. There is some incompatibility and confusion between the footings KM and IC. There is an copiousness of literature on both. each covering with the same issue that the value of cognition as an organisational plus ( Egbu. 2004 ) . Intellectual Capital consist of Social Capital: Relationships within and outside the administration ; Human Capital: The people within the administration ; Structural Capital: The procedure and operations of the administration ; Customer Capital: Value of external relationships. Organization such as Skandia describes rational capital through measuring of new indexs. A balance scorecard for mensurating public presentation on fiscal capital and assorted rational capital dimensions is presented to Skandia direction ( Bucklew. 1999 ) . Bucklew ( 1999 ) argues that rational capital additions company value and makes concern operations more efficient. Beside that he arguers that the sharing of competences requires direction of information which indicates that both information direction and rational capital are related. The Intangible Asset Monitor was developed by Karl Erik Sveiby as a presentation format that displays indexs for internal direction information intents ( Sveiby. 1997 ) . Success in the 21st century will be more societal and relational than it has been since kins were the prevailing societal construction of society. Tymon and Stumpf ( 2003 ) argue that societal capital is the stock of accrued resources that one can entree based on the relationships that can help or be leveraged in carry throughing an terminal or fostering a chase. The stock of accrued resources that can be accessed via these relationships is what we define as societal capital. â€Å"These resources include information. thoughts. leads. concern chances. fiscal capital. power. emotional support. good will. trust. and cooperation† ( Baker. 2000 ) . Social capital can be defined as the existent and possible resources embedded within. available through. and derived from the web of relationships possessed by an person or societal unit. In this definition. societal capital comprises both the web and the assets. which may be mobilized through that web. Since rational capital is by and large created through a procedure of uniting the cognition and experience of different parties. it is dependent upon exchange between these parties. ( Nahpiet. 1997 ) . The worker is farther alienated from other people. since capitalist economy transforms societal dealingss into market dealingss. and people are judged by their place in the market instead than by their human qualities. Peoples come to see each other as hypostatizations – as worker or as capitals – instead than as persons. In the writer sentiment. the societal dealingss of capital that arise are between those who own the agency of production. and those who must work. This entails a relation non merely of belongings. but besides of power. The dealingss are characterized in category battles which leads to development. by pull outing excess labor. and therefore to disaffection of the worker. It is the potency of societal capital to take to new penetrations ( rational capital ) through the interactions among a diverse group of sure others in covering with an issue. Knowledge workers skilled in the usage of societal capital acknowledge this interactive potency. Much of the grounds of the relationship between societal capital and rational capital high spots the significance of the relational dimension of societal capital. In peculiar. research identifies many ways in which aspects of relationships influence the motive of parties to prosecute in cognition creative activity through exchange and combination. â€Å"It is both normative and descriptive in nature in an effort to see the full cognition rhythm. The model is normative in that is prescribes specific KM processs ( or undertakings ) . and it is descriptive in that it identifies properties of KM that influence its success or failure organisational civilization. acquisition. scheme. cognition classifications† ( Rubenstein – Montano. Liebowitz. Buchwalter. McCaw. Newman and Rebeck. 2001 ) Harmonizing to several research workers. societal capital can act upon professional success ; aid workers in the occupation hunt procedure and make a better portfolio of employees for the organisation ; ease the exchange of resources between units ; estimulate invention. rational capital creative activity and the efficiency of multidisciplinary squads ; cut down the rotary motion of employees and back up the creative activity of start-ups ; and beef up dealingss with providers. regional web production and inter-organizational acquisition. There is one of import and critical facet. which contributes to the effectivity of the transportation of cognition within any house. which is the civilization of the administration. Goh ( 2002 ) argues that â€Å"one cultural dimension critical to knowledge transportation is co-operation and collaboration†¦The existing of a strong co-operative and collaborative civilization is an of import requirement for cognition transportation between persons and groups† . Developing a civilization that encourages sharing and reassigning of cognition is a really of import function of the direction of any administration. A civilization that should be built on trust and transparence between all persons within the administration. a civilization that will honor persons who portions their cognition and reassign it to their equals within the administration. a civilization that encourages acquisition of different competencies required by the house. and a civilization that encourage horizontal communicating flows through the set uping cross-functional squads within the administration. should be encouraged. Such civilizations would be achieved through the leading committedness of the administration. and through paying attending. as suggested by Devanport and Prusak ( 1998 ) . to the amateur cognition workers who perform the different cognition work. and besides by the creative activity of a Chief Learning officer place within the company. In decision. the SSM plays of import function in measuring the design a system to carry on cognition direction which is the rational capital of the house. Firm’s civilization and administration construction from the leading point of the position are the cardinal factors for interchanging and sharing the cognition which is the rational capital and treated as an assets. REFERANCES Alvesson. M. and Karreman. D. ( 2001 ) Odd Couple: Making Sense Of The Curious Concept Of Knowledge Management. Journal Of Management. Studies. 38:7. November 2001. pp. 0022-2380. Bonn. I. ( 2001 ) Developing Strategic Thinking as a Core Competency. Management Decision. Vol. 39 No. 1. pp 63-70. Brocklesby. J. ( 1995 ) Using Soft Systems Methodology to Identify Competence Requirements in HRM. International Journal of Manpower. Vol. 16 No. 5/6. pp. 70-84. Davenport. T. and Prusak. L. ( 1998 ) Working Knowledge. Cambridge. Ma: Harvard Business School Press. Egbu. C. O ( 2004 ) Pull offing Knowledge and Intellectual Capital for Improved Organizational Innovations in the Construction Industry. An Examination of Critical Success Factors. Engineering. Construction and Architectural Management. Volume 11. No. 5. pp. 301-315 Frank. M. ( 2002 ) What is â€Å"engineering systems thinking† ? Kybernetes. Vol. 31 No. 9/10. 2002. pp. 1350-1360. Gao. F. . Li. M. and Nakamori. Y. ( 2002 ) Systems Thinking on Knowledge and Its Management: Systems Methodology for Knowledge Management. Journal of Management. 6 ( 1 ) pp. 7-17. Goh. S. G. ( 2002 ) Pull offing Effective Knowledge Transfer: An Integrative Model and some Practice Implications. Journal Of Management. Vol. 6. No. 1. pp. 23-30. Nonaka. I. ( 1991 ) â€Å"The Knowledge Creation Company† . Harvard Business Review. November/December. pp. 96-104. Inkpen. A. C. ( 1996 ) Making Knowledge Through Collaboration. California Management Review. Vol. 39. No. 2. Fall 1996. Kannan. G. and Aulbur. W. G. ( 2004 ) Intellectual Capital Measurement Effectiveness. Journal of Intellectual Capital. Vol. 5 No. 3. pp. 389-413 Nonaka. I. ( 1991 ) The Knowledge Creation Company. Harvard Business Review. November/December. pp. 96-104. Offsey. S. ( 1997 ) Knowledge Management: Associating Peoples to Knowledge for Bottom Line Results. Journal Of Knowledge Management. Vol. 1. No. 2. December 1997. Soliman. F. and Spooner. K. ( 2000 ) Strategies for Implementing Knowledge Management: function of human resource direction. Journal Of Knowledge Management. Vol. 4. No. 4. 2000. pp. 337-345. Tymon. W. G. and Stumpf. S. A. ( 2003 ) Social Capital in the Success of Knowledge Workers. Career Development International. 8/1. pp. 2-20 Von Krogh. G. Khijo. K. . and Nonaka. I. ( 2000a ) Enabling Knowledge Creation. How to Unlock the Mystery of Tacit Knowledge and Release the Power of Innovation. Oxford University Press. New York. NY. Von Krogh. G. . Nonaka. I. . Nishiguchi. T. ( Eds ) ( 2000b ) Knowledge Creation. A Source Of Value. Macmillan. New York. NY. Wang. C. L. and Ahmed. P. K. ( 2003 ) Emotion: The Missing Part of Systems Methodologies. Kybernetes. Vol. 32 No. 9/10. pp. 1283-1296 Winter. M. ( 2000 ) The Relevance of Soft Systems Thinking. Human Resource Development International. Vol. 3 No. 3. pp 377-383

The Discussion part for paper of Customers and marketers co-creating a Essay

The Discussion part for paper of Customers and marketers co-creating a purchase experience - Essay Example Customer purchases is not only about products and services. The personal experience of the customers upon purchasing a product and/or services also matters. The process of co-creation is important since it could enable the customers to develop a more valuable experience and emotional attachment with the company’s product and/or a specific brand name. This kind of relationship between the customers and marketers is vital in the development and strengthening of customers’ satisfaction and loyalty. The Co-creation theory focuses merely on the relationship between the customers and the marketers. Highlighting the role of employees and customer service manager in co-creation theory could create a more promising effect on the customers’ attitude and behavioural loyalty. Customers’ emotional loyalty is another aspect that can be included in the theory model since it has equally proven to be a result of strengthening the relationship between the customers and the marketers. Another area of consideration is the customer complaint management and service recovery since both could support and strengthen the customers’ satisfaction. Co-creation marketing approach could lead to customer satisfaction and trust that is needed in order to strengthen the relationship between the customers and the marketers. A strong relationship bond between the two is essential in developing and maintaining customers’ loyalty. Based on the research method that was presented in this study, satisfying the customers has more relevance in strengthening the relationship between the customers and the marketers more than establishing ‘trust’ alone. Therefore, marketers should focus more on customers’ satisfaction in order to strengthen the relationship between the two and for the marketers to achieve attitudinal and behavioural loyalty from the customers. Increasing the customers’ satisfaction is not totally dependent on

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

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