Monday, December 30, 2019

Sexual Assault, Rape, And Rape - 858 Words

Recently Target has become the center of a huge controversial debate because of their bold move to change their bathroom policy to allow transgender people to use whichever restroom that they psychologically identify with. While some customers are jumping for joy and cheering on this new policy change, others are outraged and threatening to boycott Target stores across America. Target customers were shocked when the company issued a store-wide policy change involving their transgender customers and employees. An announcement on their website informed their customers of the new bathroom policy that would let any transgender customer/employee choose the restroom they use according to whichever gender that they identify with(â€Å"Target Steps Out†). Since this announcement many people across the country have begun to voice their opinions on the issue. Parents who shop at Target are claiming that this new bathroom policy is unsafe for their children and that it’s putting t hem at risk for assault. My question is: Did sexual assault, rape, and molestation just now become a worrisome factor in these parent’s eyes’? I hope not. If a sexual predator wanted to target your child are the chances for that any higher after the policy change when every parent is on alert and has their guard up? Probably not. Most of the people who are so against transgender bathroom rights don’t know that according to the National Center for Transgender Equality they have never even heard of an incidentShow MoreRelatedRape And Sexual Assault And Rape1465 Words   |  6 PagesRape and sexual assault have been a growing epidemic not only in The United States, but all around the world as well. There are many stories based on these issues that also deal with something called date rape drugs. Rape, sexual assault, and date rape drugs are all very closely related and can all occur in the same situation. Date rape drugs can be used to lead to a sexual assault against someone and then possibly rape. These topics are all very serious because â€Å"There is an average of 207,754Read MoreRape And Sexual Assault And Rape955 Words   |  4 PagesRapes and sexual assaults have become issues more and more in our society. Society has become more aware of these types of crimes. For a long time, there was only rape, now it is less broad than just that. Individuals, government bodies and school have all decided to work together and individually on lessening the crime. Studies have revealed many shocking statistics that have pushed society to act against these crimes. Below, I will be explaining what exactly is rape and sexual assault, how theyRead MoreSexual Assault, Rape, And Rape1644 Words   |  7 PagesSexual Assault Sexual coercion, sexual assault, and rape are acts of violence with numerous physical and mental health consequences (Helgeson, 430). It is important for future generations to be informed about these topics so that we can it prevent it from continuing. Sexual assaults are a rising problem for female teens on college campuses because of the discrepancies with the no means no policy, reoccurring problems with college fraternities, and today’s â€Å"rape† culture enabling sexual assault. ItRead MoreSexual Rape And Sexual Assault2248 Words   |  9 Pagesby sexual assault and are left, physically and mentally scarred. Sexual abuse can come in many different forms, such as; sexual harassment, stranger assault and a more under reported crime, such as date rape (Types of Sexual Assault). Date rape drugs are used in sexual assault; which is any type of sexual activity that a person does not agree upon (Date Rape Drug: Get the Facts on the Different Kinds). Anyone can be a victim of sexual assault regardless of their race, culture, gender, sexual orientationRead MoreThe Rape Of Sexual Assault895 Words   |  4 Pagescomprehend the simple meaning of the word no. Records of sexual assault are going through the roof, because of the fact people do not understand that no means no. The main victims of sexual assault are women and statics show one in four women have experienced unwanted sexual content. People come up with numerous excuses of why to blame the woman for the exper iences they face, which is wrong and make women question themselves. Women who are sexual assaulted are judged by themselves and by our societyRead MoreRape and Sexual Assault1997 Words   |  8 PagesRape and Sexual Assault Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person’s consent. The act maybe carried out by force, under threat, or with a person who is incapable with valid consent. The definition of rape varies both in different parts of the world and at different times in history. According to the American Medical Association, sexual violence, and rape in particular, is consideredRead MoreSexual Rape And Sexual Assault987 Words   |  4 PagesSexual abuse is a very sensitive and serious issue in United States, yet as well as other counties. Although we all live in a modern civilize world, we hear more and more about this unpleasant affairs happening all the time, and it seem like these problems are only increasing in every country. Therefore, each nation have their own legal definition and law of sexual assault. The following information is an example of a legal definition and statisti c of those countries. United States – In the U.SRead MoreRape : A Victim Of Sexual Assault861 Words   |  4 PagesAnyone can be a victim of sexual assault. It does not matter what gender, age, economic class, religion, or race you are, because it can happen to anyone. According to one website, â€Å"Rape victims are doctors, lawyers, nurses, military personnel, cooks, accountants, students- anyone and everyone could be vulnerable to rape or sexual assault,† (â€Å"Rape Myths and Facts,† 2015). Therefore, yes males can be the victims of sexual assault, in fact one out of every 10 rape victims are male, (RAINN, 2016).Read MoreRape And Sexual Assault Rates942 Words   |  4 Pagesand Shields found that sexual assault rates are â€Å"3.1 to 4.4 times higher at the most permissive colleges and universities than their more restrictive counterparts†. The strict enforcing of alcohol bans can reduce sexual assault incidents. Socially regulated environments such as those found in re ligious schools do in fact keep the incidents of rape and sexual assault down. However Richardson and Shields points out that this is not because these schools effectively condemned rape, but rather the restrictedRead MoreReporting Rape And Sexual Assault2577 Words   |  11 Pages Reporting Rape/Sexual Assault Prevented By: Psychological Barriers Created by Social Stigmas, Gender Views, and Law Enforcement Bias Victoria Veach University of Alabama Reporting Rape/Sexual Assault Prevented By: Psychological Barriers Created by Social Stigma, Gender Views, and Law Enforcement Bias Sexual assault and rape in common language are usually referred to as the same subject. The word sexual assault is the main category while rape is a specific entity within this category

Sunday, December 22, 2019

Analysis Of Henrik Ibsen s A Doll House - 1472 Words

â€Å"A Doll House† Playing many different characters is what Henrik Ibsen’s meant to do in A Doll House. The main characters fool people into believing they are someone other than their true selves. Nora plays her role flawlessly as she pretends to be living two different lives. Nora is Torvalds devoted and self-indulgent wife, but naively enough, she doesn’t realize she is a courageous, self-sufficient women. As the character’s progress so does Nora’s personality, she goes from a fun-loving, trophy wife that is admired by Torvalds and his friends, to a self-empowered, edger women. At first Nora is compliant, money-hungry and immature wife. Nora only acts as though she only wants money from Torvalds. She is always asking for money as a gift for her Christmas present. But littles does the audience know that this is just a role she is playing in her house. As the play progresses, Nora exhibits that she is not a â€Å"Silly Girl† (Henrik Ibsen) P. 1493 as she is always c alled by her husband. When Nora took out a loan from a well to do business man Krogstad to save her husband’s life threating illness, she understood the business details that involved the debt and she a smart and very skillful women she is not just a housewife. Over the years she has worked and hide money to pay back the loan she had borrowed and she would hide it from her husband and this shows that she has perseverance and drive. â€Å"They all think I am incapable of anything really serious.†Show MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Henrik Ibsen s A Doll House 1823 Words   |  8 PagesA Doll House is a play that was written by Henrik Ibsen in 1879. Nora Helmer is a wife and mother who secretly loaned money to save her husband’s, Torvald, life. Torvald views and treats Nora has a doll and she goes along with it. As conflict comes and goes Nora decides that her current life is not what she wants for herself. She no longer wants to be anyone’s â€Å"doll† and decides to leave her family in search of independence. This play was controversial during the time it was written becauseRead MoreAnalysis Of Henrik Ibsen s A Doll House 1152 Words   |  5 PagesHenrik Ibsen’s play â€Å"A Doll House† addresses the importance of the roles women play throughout this time period. Women are thought to be like â€Å"dolls† to their husbands, by obeying their commands and keeping a good image. We see the main character, Nora Helmer struggle to keep her perfect image of a great wife as troubles start to arise. Throughout the play we begin to see Nora push through her troubles and find her true identity, Nora shifts from being the loving, perfect wife, to being a strongRead MoreAnalysis Of Henrik Ibsen s A Doll House884 Words   |  4 Pagestransform minor lies such as white lies into something more dangerous. When one works to conceal a lie, a cloud of deception hangs over those involved and can lead to the destruction of fr iendships, relationships, and even marriages. In Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll House, he uses the motif of lies and deception to illustrate the fragileness of the Helmer’s marriage, which ultimately leads to its demise. Nora Helmer, a naà ¯ve woman who has never been given the chance to mature into an independent womanRead MoreAnalysis Of Henrik Ibsen s A Doll House995 Words   |  4 Pagesimagining and guiding the integration of all these elements belongs to the director. One of the toughest tasks of a director is to reinvigorate a socially important and renowned production while maintaining its original message and composition. Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll House is a socially important realistic play that portrays the gender dynamics that plagued the nineteenth century and questions the expectations held for women in a household and society. The play is still incredibly influential because the issuesRead MoreAnalysis Of Henrik Ibsen s A Doll House 851 Words   |  4 PagesHenrik Ibsens’s, A Doll House, details the lives of the Helmers, a seemingly perfect couple. As the story progresses from act to act, it becomes quite obvious that their relationship is everything but perfect. Complic ations arise quickly when a forged loan by Nora Helmer is brought to her husband Torvald’s attention. The prejudices women experience, particularly, Nora is a definite tone in this play. Henrick Ibsen does a great job at showing both sides of the oppression of women, particularly withinRead MoreAnalysis Of Henrik Ibsen s A Doll House 924 Words   |  4 PagesHenrik Ibsen once wrote a play called â€Å"A Doll House.† Back in 1879 when the play was written there was lots of controversy on whether are not they play should have been showed. It created lots of arguments because of the time that they play was done (Hemmer). In the time frame that Ibsen wrote his play it was a time where women really had no say. Women would listen to their husbands and do as they say. At the end of the original play Nora, the main character, left her husband and her kids. IbsenRead MoreAn Analysis Of Henrik Ibsen s A Doll House1460 Words   |  6 Pagesopposition to the idea of a female pr esident. Traditionalist opposition has women body shamed into the fixed standard of beauty being the skinny Caucasian blonde. People still look down on women in troubled relationships as being their fault. Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll House puts into criticism the problems brought by traditionalism though the story between Torvald and Nora. Where Nora has to keep a secret how she saved her husband’s life to save her marriage, because she fears a woman helping a man would shameRead MoreAnalysis Of Henrik Ibsen s A Doll House Essay1971 Words   |  8 PagesIn Hendrik Ibsen play â€Å"A Doll House† Nora is a women who had typical women gender role in the 19th century to take care of the children and the home so that she can please her husband while her husband handles all the outside business and money as the primary care taker. Nora has always lived with a man that took care of her and told her what to do. Nora completely accepted her expectations and â€Å"condition s of the world in which she live† as Torvald put it, because she never had the opportunity toRead MoreAnalysis Of Henrik Ibsen s A Doll House 1154 Words   |  5 Pagessacrifice mean? Is it important? Sacrifice can be defined as an act of immolating someone or something. Will one might think it depends on the person to decide on the importance of the sacrifice? In light of this play, â€Å"A Doll House† written realistically by Henrik Ibsen, he has portrayed many symbols throughout the play. One of the many symbols that stood out was sacrifice. Clothing also symbolized some importance in the play and the Tarantella dance as well. However, what exactly is a symbolRead MoreAnalysis Of Henrik Ibsen s A Doll House Essay981 Words   |  4 Pagestraditional stereotypes, men are strong and dominant, while women are weak and submissive. There are moments in the person’s life when men do not appreciate their wives and go across their limits. This view sounds a lo t like what Henrik Ibsen wrote about in his play, A Doll House. Ibsen presented gender roles through social roles, identity and marriage. This factors affect how the characters in the play are viewed by society. Althouth gender roles have changed over time and males and females have become more

Saturday, December 14, 2019

The History of Chocolate Free Essays

Chocolate is one of the oldest treats enjoyed by many people. By a show of hands, how many people love chocolate? I have loved chocolate ever since I was a little girl. I have enjoyed the different tastes, textures, and styles of it. We will write a custom essay sample on The History of Chocolate or any similar topic only for you Order Now Chocolate has been one of the oldest treats enjoyed by many people. I want to share with you the history of chocolate, types of chocolate, and some benefits from eating chocolate. Let’s start with the History of Chocolate! Chocolate’s history started over 2,000 years ago. It began in the tropical rainforests of Central and South America from the seed of the cacao tree. This small tree grows best in the tropical atmosphere because it receives the best amount of rain, shade, humidity, wind, and nutrients. According to Susan J. Terrio, the author of Crafting the Culture and History of French Chocolate, the first people known to have made chocolate were the ancient cultures of Mexico and Central America. These people, including the Maya and Aztec, mixed ground cacao seeds with various seasonings to make a spicy, frothy drink. This was the very first way that chocolate was consumed. When the Spanish conquered the Aztecs, they brought the cacao seeds back home to Spain. 1. The chocolate drink was very popular in Spain. It then spread to Europe where new technologies and innovations changed the texture and taste of chocolate. 2. By the mid-1700s, the blossoming Industrial Revolution saw the emergence of innovations that changed the future of chocolate. How to cite The History of Chocolate, Papers

Friday, December 6, 2019

The Difficulties of Panasonic and Samsung Stock over the Past 10 Year free essay sample

The difficulties of Panasonic and Samsung Stock over the Past 10 Year Financial Accounting: Statement Analysis Decision Making BE 310M By: The Four Elements: Brenda Clay-Ozenne School of New Dimensions Albertus Magnus College May 5, 2013 This paper was prepared for Financial Accounting, BE 310M, taught by Instructor Mark Vausio. Running head: Panasonic/Samsung What has these two Companies been doing over the past ten years? Well according to their Company’s profile and stock reports, they have not been doing very well over the past 2-3 years. Panasonic has not shown a very favorable return on their stocks in the last 3 years. Their historic leadership in key areas such as TVs, audio devices, mobile phones[-gt;0] its been eroded by the likes of Samsung and Apple. In addition, it has been too long since they have come up with successful, market-leading must-have products. We dont see this changing over the next 2, 3 years. We will write a custom essay sample on The Difficulties of Panasonic and Samsung Stock over the Past 10 Year or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page † [1] Panasonic Better Positioned To turn around its fortunes, Panasonic, maker of the Viera TV, is looking to expand its businesses in appliances, solar panels[-gt;1], lithium batteries, and automotive components. Appliances account for around only 6 percent of the companys sales, but generate margins of more than 6 percent and make up a big chunk of operating profit, Reuters reported. (Read More: Panasonic Cleans House with Write downs, Sees $9. Billion Loss) Sony, creator of the Walkman cassette and CD player, is focusing on consumer gadgets such as digital cameras and gaming devices. Jamieson said Panasonic is in a better position than Sony to survive the slump because it has a stable business of durable goods such as fridges and washing machines. Although Panasonic is facing weak competitiveness in its core TV business, particularly the panels and TVs, it has the advantage of a relatively stable consumer electronics division that is still generating positive margins, he s aid. However, for the two firms to stage a genuine turnaround, something they have failed to achieve so far, they will need to bite the bullet and completely exit some of their loss-making businesses. † Jamieson said. They need to curb, or completely exit their loss-making businesses and focus on their key strengths and these business lines[-gt;2], where they are able to generate profitability and rediscover that kind of technology leadership which historically they were famous for, he told CNBC. 1] With this being said just what has their stock options looked like over the past three years, not a very pretty picture. Revamping of their appliances and electronics division is definitely in order. Let us look at their last stock report. Panasonic 5 year report [-gt;3] The next company that we are going to look at is Samsung and their overall report on their company and their stock report over the past 2-3 years. â€Å"Samsung Corporation is for the most part doing very well; they hav e had an increase of over 60% in sales and in their stock reports. Who could ask for better but let us take a better look at the company Samsung just reported quarterly earnings[-gt;4] that look spectacular from 10,000 feet †¦ but on closer inspection show some worrisome signs. Year-over-year, the 7. 15 million won (about $6. 4 billion) net profit for this year’s first quarter was an improvement of 42%, which certainly is impressive. However, that is very different from the 81% improvement from Q1 2011 to Q1 2012. It is also just a 1. 4% improvement from Q4 2012? s 7. 05 trillion won. What all of this means is that Samsung’s pace of growth has been slowing — troubling trends for shareholders, who have enjoyed 60% gains over the past two years but have seen the stock flatten over the past few months? And while Smartphone[-gt;5] sales tend to slow in this quarter as consumers anticipate new releases, Samsung’s reliance on cell phone profit actually increased slightly — from 73% to 74% — suggesting it’s leaning even more heavily on mobile. (Bad news, considering Samsung has warned investors about increased mobile competition — a threat to the segment that dominates its profits. Samsung has been going gangbusters on selling phones[-gt;6], but the company makes dozens of different models, many of which are cheap feature phones — good for overall market share, which is how the company unseated Nokia (NYSE:NOK[-gt;7]) after 12 years to become the world’s top cell phone vendor[-gt;8] — but not so good f or profits. And what they have been doing. † [2] Even with this being said Samsung still had a lot of work to do because they are not out of the woods just yet, they still have a major competitor to deal with, and that is the Apple Co. Because even though Samsung has made just about 4 billion dollars more than Apple over the past years, this is not a long term investment because there is still other products that the company has that has not fared so well, and the company needs to make changes and advance in the other areas as well. Despite that diversification, Samsung’s revenue for the quarter totaled 52. 87 trillion won (roughly $47. 3 billion), which is not much more than the $43. 6 billion in revenue Apple reported. Another way of looking at this is to consider the impact if Smartphone sales were to drop significantly. Apple would take a hit in this scenario, but its iPad sales are robust, its other divisions make money and it has room to expand its product line into something else (like TVs) if needed. Even with the iPad’s lower margins — estimated to be in the 37% to 40% range — Apple would still be a highly profitable company if smartphone sales fell. Investors would not be happy, but the company would not be in trouble. Samsung’s plan B is hazier. While it dominates mobile phone sales[-gt;9] with nearly 33% of the Smartphone market, Samsung is a relatively small player when it comes to tablets with a roughly 8% share. Even though it hopes to double last year’s number (to roughly 40 million tablets for 2013)[-gt;10], Apple moved half that many in Q1 2013 alone. Sure, Samsung has all those other product lines, but even the ones where it is a dominant player — TVs, for example — it is not performing well. TV profit margins were 2% in the last quarter; better than losing money, but nothing to brag about. There are no real new product silos to pursue; Samsung has tried it all, and it is not making much from those other lines of business. This huge range of established products can be looked at as an advantage[-gt;11], but it also could become a drag on earnings if those Smartphone dollars disappeared. [2] Here is a snap shot of Samsung’s Stock report. [-gt;12] So with both of these companies trending or not trending in today’s market, which one will fare better, well for me it looks like Samsung has a better chance. References 1. Sony, Panasonic Face 2, 3 Years of Poor Profitability: Fitch Published: Friday, 23 Nov 2012 | 2:02 AM ET By: Jean Chua[-gt;13] Writer CNBC. com Asia 2. Just How Strong Is Samsung Right Now? Diversification might not be a blessing for the S. Korean tech giant Apr 29, 2013, 4:00 pm EDT | By Brad Moon[-gt;14], Investor Place Contributor One interesting point of comparison between Apple and Samsung is the average profit margin they have on their mobile devices. Apple has been able to maintain margins in the 49% to 59% range for its iPhones[-gt;15], while the Wall Street Journal says Samsung hit 19. 8% in Q1[-gt;16]. That’s how Apple can snap up more than 70% of the smartphone market’s profits despite Samsung being the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer with sales nearly double the number of Apple’s units[-gt;17]. -gt;0] http://www. cnbc. com/id/49936544 [-gt;1] http://www. cnbc. com/id/49936544 [-gt;2] http://www. cnbc. com/id/49936544 [-gt;3] http://www. bing. com/images/search? q=panasonic+stock+historyqs=ASsk=AS1FORM=QBIRpq=panasonic%20stock%20sc=8-16sp=2qs=ASsk=AS1#view=detailid=AC46E90576E2ABD3EEDFE5D1EDB32D40C2966150sele ctedInde x=248 [-gt;4] http://www. samsung. com/us/aboutsamsung/news/newsIrRead. do? news_ctgry=irnewsreleasenews_seq=20728 [-gt;5] http://investorplace. com/2013/04/just-how-strong-is-samsung-right-now/ [-gt;6] http://investorplace. om/2013/04/just-how-strong-is-samsung-right-now/ [-gt;7] http://studio-5. financialcontent. com/investplace/quote? Symbol=NOK [-gt;8] http://www. pcmag. com/article2/0,2817,2413347,00. asp [-gt;9] http://investorplace. com/2013/04/just-how-strong-is-samsung-right-now/ [-gt;10] http://reviews. cnet. com/8301-13970_7-57571311-78/samsung-says-it-plans-to-double-its-tablet-sales-this-year/ [-gt;11] http://www. forbes. com/sites/haydnshaughnessy/2013/04/12/these-3-game-changers-define-the-apple-vs-samsung-battle/ [-gt;12] http://www. ing. com/images/search? q=Samsung+Stock+ChartForm=IQFRDR#view=detailid=BFF2A4A8AF4A18628BFAD5269A8A22D082290BA4selectedIndex=76 [-gt;13] http://www. cnbc. com/id/46861145 [-gt;14] http://investorplace. com/author/brad-moon/ [- gt;15] http://www. reuters. com/article/2012/07/26/us-apple-margins-idUSBRE86P1NI20120726 [-gt;16] http://online. wsj. com/article/SB10001424127887323335404578445532742015350. html [-gt;17] http://www. forbes. com/sites/haydnshaughnessy/2013/04/26/samsung-rises-to-nearly-double-apples-smartphone-sales/

Monday, November 25, 2019

Free Essays on Designing A Government

To form a government from the choices that I have been provided with this would be my chosen government layout. First, I would choose a government that gives elected officials considerable latitude to do what they want or feel is best, without having to worry about public opinion for the first question because we need elected officials with the ability to vote there minds. If the people dictated every issue their views would be constantly changing with the Polls. For the next question I would choose a government where major changes in policy are hard to accomplish and happen rarely because we need time to debate and discuss the issues, an example of not allowing this would be when Hitler was in control of Germany he could make decisions quickly with no debate, and look at the damage that he cause during his reign. For the third question I choose a government that allows minorities to block legislation that they feel is unfair or unjust to them because if a majority rule was in effect then minorities would be persecuted and denied equal rights, an example of this would be the Civil Rights of African Americans in the 50’s and 60’s having to ride on the back of the busses, drinking out of different water fountains, ect... For question four I choose a government that leaves citizens alone to live as they wish, and that goes without saying, Religious Freedom, which we all as citizens of the United States have whether or not we decide to practice religion or even it we choose to have a religion, and that should never be allowed to change. For question five I would choose a government in which power is centralized, to allow for coherent and consistent policy across the entire nation because a central government is critically needed, an example of this type of government not being allowed would have to be the American Civil War which was fought because the South believed in the State’s rights over the National Government. ... Free Essays on Designing A Government Free Essays on Designing A Government To form a government from the choices that I have been provided with this would be my chosen government layout. First, I would choose a government that gives elected officials considerable latitude to do what they want or feel is best, without having to worry about public opinion for the first question because we need elected officials with the ability to vote there minds. If the people dictated every issue their views would be constantly changing with the Polls. For the next question I would choose a government where major changes in policy are hard to accomplish and happen rarely because we need time to debate and discuss the issues, an example of not allowing this would be when Hitler was in control of Germany he could make decisions quickly with no debate, and look at the damage that he cause during his reign. For the third question I choose a government that allows minorities to block legislation that they feel is unfair or unjust to them because if a majority rule was in effect then minorities would be persecuted and denied equal rights, an example of this would be the Civil Rights of African Americans in the 50’s and 60’s having to ride on the back of the busses, drinking out of different water fountains, ect... For question four I choose a government that leaves citizens alone to live as they wish, and that goes without saying, Religious Freedom, which we all as citizens of the United States have whether or not we decide to practice religion or even it we choose to have a religion, and that should never be allowed to change. For question five I would choose a government in which power is centralized, to allow for coherent and consistent policy across the entire nation because a central government is critically needed, an example of this type of government not being allowed would have to be the American Civil War which was fought because the South believed in the State’s rights over the National Government. ...

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Business Environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 4

Business Environment - Essay Example This lies solely as a theoretical benchmark of measuring performance of companies operating under perfect competition. In practice, one of the many deviations may be the possibility and that the firms and customers may not have perfect information about the market. Some firms operating in the market may not have access to information that older firms do (Rees et al, 2005). Similarly, customers in emerging markets may also be at a lower access to information about the products and the industry than already developed and mature markets. This will lead to a change in structure of the theoretical perfect competition structure. Moreover, the imbalance in perfect information may also affect other factors such as the firms being price takers and barriers to exit and entry may persist for some firms while others may not face the same consequences. Firms may not exactly be operating on the floating prices as many market prices may be either exaggerated or deflated due to an overall nature of the industry at a given time. Many firms may drastically lower their prices in order to beat upcoming competition and if a new entrant takes the floating price at that time to try to equate marginal cost to marginal profit- it may lead to a long run closure of that new entrant (Worthington, 2006). Furthermore, pessimism and optimism in the market may also lead the market to deviate from the perfect competition theory as the cost of factors of production along with the floating price in the market may be perceived by the customers and firms in a different way both in the long and the short run. Many firms, therefore, may (along with the industry as a whole) may start functioning as a price setter rather than a price taker as generally assumed by the theory of perfect competition (Rees, 2005). Building upon supply and demand of the factors of production and the supply and demand of the product itself, the

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

The Effects of Antidepressant Treatment in Prenatally Stressed Rats Literature review

The Effects of Antidepressant Treatment in Prenatally Stressed Rats - Literature review Example Prior studies suggest that abnormalities in the transmission of hippocampal glutamate play a vital role in the pathophysiology of mood and anxiety ailments. Apparently, many of the studies borrowed greatly from prior studies on the same line, but other studies present actual studies to provide empirical evidence on the same (Marrocco et al., 2014). Alternatively, there is empirical evidence in regards to a model of depression and anxiety, which is central to the hypo-function hippocampus, and many of the studies utilize female rats because of their high incidence of major depression in women (Van et al., 2011). Exposure to chronic stress in adulthood leads to the improvement of production of glutamate in the hippocampus. In this regard, there are other treatments for anxiety noted from the cited articles. The evidence asserts that a portion of the hippocampus, which specifically encodes memories of stress, emotions, and anxiety, is in line with the postulated hypothesis of stress-rel ated disorders (Marrocco et al., 2014). In addition, chronic stress can result in long-term physiological and behavioral disorders such as low birth weight, infant morbidity, anxiety, and lack of sleep and cognition retardation (Maccari et al., 2003). Other scholars have aimed to establish a link between PRS exposure, and alcohol consumption (Richardson et al., 2008). In this perspective, there is a variance between male and female consumption of alcohol, and research suggests that males show reduced activation of acute alcohol administration (Richardson et al., 2008). Recently, evidence has come up showing that PRS has can prevent the reduction in the consumption of alcohol-induced by chronic stress in adult alcohol-preferring female rats (Darnaudery et al., 2007). Many of the scholars have utilized rats, as subjects, in their studies, to show how mood disorders can be stable throughout the life of a human being (Vallee et al., 1999). This is because it is possible to notice the ai lments early and later as they develop (Henry et al., 994).The methods utilized by many of the studies follow an evidence-based approach, whereby the aim was to test the evidence (Darnaudery et. al., 2007). In scientific research, the objective is to achieve empirical evidence and because most of the studies identified followed experimental approaches (Nestle and Hyman, 2010). This approach is effective, and it utilizes randomized trials, including a control group and experimental group. The two groups help investigators to compare results, or findings appropriately (Richardson et al., 2008). In other cases, the investigators further, classify the control and experimental groups in terms of sex, age to find out the variations in the provided context. The most important advantage of this approach is to increase internal validity (Henry et al., 994). This means that in the event of subsequent studies on the same subject will amount to similar findings (Morley-Fletcher et al., 2003). C hronic treatment of the PRS rats using antidepressants had a positive outcome, in that it resulted in normal levels of synaptic vesicle-associated proteins in rats (Maccari et al., 2003). In this context, the use of anxiolytics and tranquilizers escalate the rigidity in the animal models of depression (Moley-Fletcher et al., 2003). Alternatively, depolarization-evoked the production of glutamate was in high PRS rats.

Monday, November 18, 2019

Financial systems around the globe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Financial systems around the globe - Essay Example Nowadays, there is a considerable change in these methods as the concepts of transaction cost and use of full information are removed and intimidation has increased in today’s financial market. It’s difficult to bring these changes with the traditional method of financing growth. There is also a tendency in the direction of cross border merger and acquisitions among great financial service firms in diverse nations. These cross border merger and acquisitions frequently engage big universal sort of institutions that give numerous types of financial services to multiple nations. There are two basic methods, which are used nowadays, which are bank intermediation based method and market based financial system (Leyland and Pyle 1977). We know that there is a diversification of financial systems in different countries. Most of these countries have bank intermediations and market based financial systems but the importance of these systems is comparatively different from each ot her. United States has â€Å"market based financial system†. The financial market has an important role in the financial environment of the country and the banks’ intimidation is insignificant (Leviene 2002). Germany has â€Å"bank intimidation based† financial market. In such financial environment, banks control the allocation of credit and financial markets are not as important as in US. Besides this is confirmed that the financial systems vary from one another according to different countries and due to this, the financial growth rate is also different for each country according to their selection of the financial system.... financial systems because every financial system provides unique functions that are meritorious, and due to the difference in the functions the financial growth of a country also varies (Allen and Santomero 1997). Worldwide or global banking is a substituted method to a stock market to share the risk, collect information for providing the guidance to generate the information and to match corporate governance of different countries. Here, we have discussed about Germany, where the size of the stock market is small & banks carry the entire risk related to the equity, right of proxy regarding the other’s shares. On other hand, banks are working as the representatives to manage the affairs such as to borrow loan and other corporate activities. The thing, which needs to be examined is whether the bank is working as the substitute of the stock market or it has the information about the dealings of the firms, if banks are working as the substitutes of the stock market then the perfor mance of the firms should improve but if they have some kind of private information regarding the firms then they may be a part of conflicts of firms with the equity holders and with those who voted in proxy through banks. It investigates through the facts and figures that the banks influence the performance of German firms and the rest of conflicts arise because of it (Gorton and Schmid 2000). Banks and other financial intermediaries are the basis of outsourcing to the firms. Intermediaries supply more than 50 percent of outsource funds from the countries that are United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France. The investors primarily borrow money as a loan through the banks and they do not directly borrow the loan. Diamond gives a model of Financial Intermediation and Delegated

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Islamic Equity Investment Risk and Return Behaviour

Islamic Equity Investment Risk and Return Behaviour Islamic equity investments deal with the application of Shariah in stock selection in fund management. Islamic equity investment is a new and emerging concept in fund management and posed a slow growth compared with a fast paced growth in Islamic fixed income Sukuk markets and Islamic banking in the current decade. However Islamic equity investments contain a significant potential to generate above average risk adjusted returns than conventional equity investment as discussed in this paper. The thesis argues about the risk returns behavior of Islamic equity investments by analyzing the risk return behavior of Karachi Meezan Index, an Islamic index traded at Karachi stock exchange, over the period of two and a half years. Karachi Stock Exchange 100 index and Karachi Stock Exchange 30 index was used as benchmarks to find out if there are any significant differences in the returns volatility of KMI30 and KSE 100. The complete period was also divided into bull and flat periods and eac h period is analyzed to further augment the research. Our findings provide strong evidence to reject the notion that Shariah Compliant investment perform poorly than conventional equity investments. In fact our finding supported the assumption that Shariah Compliant Equity Investments can deliver better returns than conventional investments given the same level of risk. Chapter 1 Introduction In the past few years there has been remarkable growth in the field of Islamic finance. New products are being developed on a consistent basis in capital markets which comply with the Shariah. The main distinguishing feature of Shariah Compliant Stocks is their low risk characteristics which has induced many risk averse investors into investment in Shariah complaint stocks and equity funds. According to Ernst Young’s 2010 Islamic funds investment report, currently there are approximately $52 billion fund assets under management in the Islamic fund industry which is still a small proportion of the total assets under global fund management which are worth $22 Trillion in 2010. Total Shariah compliant assets now exceed $1 trillion worldwide because of the fast faced growth in Islamic finance during the current decade. Currently Islamic funds only constitute about 5.5% of total Islamic finance investments which signifies the potential of growth in this industry in coming years. From July 2007 to Nov 2009, MSCI World Islamic Index outperformed the MSCI World Index Standard Core in terms of variability of returns which shows that Shariah complaint stocks generate more returns in high volatility period compare to conventional stocks. In an Islamic equity fund, the amounts are invested in the shares of Shariah complaint stock companies. The profits are mainly achieved through the capital gains by purchasing the shares and selling them when their prices are increased. Profits are also achieved by the dividends distributed by the relevant companies. It is obvious that if the main business of a company is not lawful in terms of Shariah, it is not allowed for an Islamic Fund to purchase, hold or sell its shares, because it will entail the direct involvement of the shareholder in that prohibited business. In September 2008, Karachi Stock Exchange with the collaboration of Meezan Bank launched a new index called Karachi Meezan Index comprising of 30 companies. The distinguishing characteristic of this index is its Islamic nature in which selected companies will be fully Shariah-complaint. Companies will be selected in the index based on their liquidity in the stock market along with compliance with Shariah principles. These Shariah principles are formulated by the Shariah advisory council of Meezan bank which comprises distinguishing Islamic scholars. The objective of KSE-Meezan Index (KMI) is to serve as a gauge for measuring the performance of Shariah compliant equity investments. It may also act as a research tool for decisions in strategic asset allocation according to Shariah besides tracking performance of Shariah compliant equities; its construction will increase investor trust and enhance their participation. Stock Screening Requirements for KMI-30 Index Shariah compliance of stocks shall be done under the guidance of qualified and reputed Shariah experts. For stocks to be Shariah compliant, it must meet ALL the six key tests given below. Business of the Investee Company: Core business of the company must be HALAL and in-line with the dictates of Shariah. Hence, investment in securities of any company dealing in conventional banking, conventional insurance, alcoholic drinks, tobacco, pork production, arms manufacturing, pornography or related un-Islamic activities is not permissible. Debt to Total Assets: Debt to Asset ratio should be less than 40%. Debt, in this case, is classified as any interest bearing debts. Zero coupon bonds and preference shares are, both, by definition, part of debt. Non-compliant Investments to Total Assets: The ratio of non-compliant investments to total assets should be less than 33%. Investment in any non-compliant security shall be included for the calculation of this ratio. Non-complaint Income to total revenue – Purification of Non-compliant: income the ratio of non-compliant income to total revenue should be less than 5%. Total revenue includes Gross revenue plus any other income earned by the company. This amount is to be cleansed out as charity on a pro rata ratio of dividends issued by the company. Illiquid Assets to Total Assets: The ratio of illiquid assets to total assets should be at least 20%. Illiquid asset, here, is defined as any asset that that Shariah permits to be traded at value other than the par. Net Liquid Assets to Share Price: The market price per share should be greater than the net liquid assets per share calculated as: (Total Assets – Illiquid Assets – Total Liabilities) divided by number of shares. *Courtesy of Karachi Meezan Index Brochure retrieved from Karachi Stock Exchange Website Rationale of the Study Islamic equity investment funds pose immense growth potential in the future mainly on account of the following reasons: It attracts risk averse investors who previously ignore equity investments because of Islamic Equity’s low risk characteristics It attracts new Muslim investors who previously were wary of investing in stock markets because of non-Shariah compliance Therefore a study needs to be conducted which examines the risk return behavior of Shariah complaint stocks so that investors and general people will have a better idea about the risks profits which are inherent in Shariah complaint shares. Research Questions The study will help in answering the questions such as: Is there a difference in returns of KMI30 and KSE 100 indices? Is there a difference in the volatility of KMI30 and KSE 100 indices? Is KMI30 index giving more or less risk adjusted returns compared to KSE 100 index? How much variation is explained by KSE 100 index in returns of KMI30 index? Limitations of the Study KMI30 index represents the risk return behavior of only 30 blue chip Shariah compliant stocks. In order to have a better comparison with the KSE 100 index, a portfolio consisting of all the stocks from KSE 100 which comply with Islamic screening principles should be constituted and the return volatility attributes of this portfolio should be compared with KSE 100 index because a difference in returns between both indices can be because of superior judgment in the selection of stocks in KMI30. Chapter 2 Literature Khan (1998) studied the modern practices in commodity, currency and corporate stock trading in the light of Islamic economic framework and stated that under Islamic principles, Mudarabah or Shirakah certificates can be traded in stock exchanges. However there is no concept of preferred equity in Islamic finance as it Riba which is forbidden under Islam. Khan stated that liability towards losses of the organization need to be met which may have accumulated over a period in order to sell or disinvest shares of that organization which implied that each shareholder has a liability for cumulative past losses as well as current losses in proportion to the capital invested. Khan (1998) proposed a model of stock valuation which incorporates the Islamic principles that intrinsic value of shares should provide the prospective investor a fair amount of information about past performance of organization. Iv = intrinsic value of shares Pv = par value of shares Ri = Profits, Reserves etc L = losses S = No. of Share Lewis (2010) examined the current and historic structure and performance of Islamic investment funds and found out that Islamic investments have grown quickly over the past few years and now there are approximately 650 Islamic funds operating globally. Lewis also discovered that in the past Islamic funds have focused more on negative forbidden screening principles instead of focusing on both the negative and positive screening methodologies like socially responsible funds that focus primarily more on investments in companies which play a part in human welfare. However these Socially Responsible Investments (SRI) funds performed slightly poor compared to Islamic funds because Islamic funds invested a significant portion in energy companies who enjoyed profitability because of rising oil prices, SRI funds do not invest large portions in fossil fuel energy companies primarily because of their futile side effects on environment. Nik Maheran and Masliza (2008) analyzed the performance of Islamic mutual funds at Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange to investigate if these funds underperform or over perform the market index using average return on mutual funds, standard deviation of weekly returns, coefficient of variation, Treynor and Sharpe index. They found out that most of the funds achieved a lower return than market from the period 2002 until 2006. However in terms of risk level Islamic mutual funds showed less risky behavior compared to the market since the betas of Islamic mutual funds was less than one. Rennebook, Horst and Zhang (2007) critically reviewed the available literature on socially responsible investments and concluded that a primary reason for low returns from socially responsible funds could be the multi-task nature of portfolio managers who pursue both financial and social objectives. They also found out that if investors avoid investments in unethical/asocial businesses, than they may require a low rate of return than other investors who do not show any similar type of preferences. Hussein (2007) analyzed the returns of FTSE Global Islamic index and Dow Jones Islamic Index from 1993 till 2004 and compared them with the returns of Dow jones world index and FTSE All world index. He found out that application of Shariah screening doesn’t adversely impact on Islamic indices performance as Islamic indices performed as well as their counterparts over the entire period. Hussein (2007) stated that Islamic indices yield statistically positive returns in bull market period though Islamic indices underperform the all world indices in the bear period and in the long run have a superior performance compared with counterparts in entire market period. Abdullah, Hassan and Mohammad (2007) compared the performance of Islamic and conventional mutual funds in Malaysian capital market with the help of Sharpe index, adjusted Sharpe index, Jensen Alpha, timing and selective ability and found out that Islamic funds are less risky than conventional funds and both Islamic and conventional funds have diversification levels which are less than 50 per cent of the diversification level of the market portfolio. They discovered that Islamic funds performed better than conventional funds during bearish periods while conventional funds performed better than Islamic during bullish periods and concluded that Islamic funds can be used as hedging tools. Hussein (2005) compared the performance of Dow Jones Islamic market index and FTSE Global Islamic index and benchmarked it against their counterparts, Dow Jones World index and FTSE Global Index respectively, using parametric t-statistic and non-parametric signed rank test. Monthly returns data had been used ranged from 1996 2004 and the periods had been divided into bull and bear return phases to make more meaningful conclusions from results. Hussein (2005) found out that Dow Jones Islamic Index outperformed its counterpart in the entire period (1996 – 2004) and bull period. The mean monthly return of Dow Jones World Index was higher than the DJ Islamic index over the entire bull period which indicated that the Islamic index has greater volatility in comparison with DJ world index. Contrary to this, Dow Jones Islamic index fails to maintain its better performance over the bear market phase where the DJ world index gives better returns. In case of FTSE indices, FTSE Global Is lamic index outperforms FTSE All world index in the entire and bull periods. However FTSE Islamic index underperforms FTSE world index over bear period. Hussein (2005) also found out that the beta of both Islamic indices is greater than one and higher than their counterparts which imply that both Islamic indices are riskier than their counterparts. Hence Hussein (2005) stated that the application of Shariah screening principles has no adverse effect on Islamic indices performance over the years and concluded that Shariah investing offer superior performance compared to unscreened portfolios. Albaity and Ahmad (2008) examined the performance of KLSI, A Shariah Compliant Index at Bursa Malaysia, and benchmarked it against KLCI which is a conventional stock market index at Bursa Malaysia using measures of risk adjusted returns and found out that KLCI is outperforming KLSI. Albaity and Ahmed (2008) also found out that KLCI has a higher beta as evident from conventional Non-Islamic indices and that in the short run both indices move in the same direction and tend to cause each other. Hence they concluded that there is no significant difference in the returns and movements of both indices. Hakim and Rashidian (2002) applied Islamic equity screening principles on Wilshire 5000 index and created a Shariah Compliant Portfolio and compared the return characteristics of the created Wilshire Islamic portfolio and Dow Jones Islamic market index portfolio with the parent Wilshire 5000 index and found out that the reduced diversification characteristic of newly created portfolio has not adversely affected its performance when compared with parent Wilshire 5000. Hakim and Rashidian (2002) examined the causality between the Islamic index, the Wilshire 5000 and the Tbill rate and found out that the Islamic index is influenced by factors independent from the broad market or interest rates which are contrary to the widely accepted notion that Dow Jones Islamic Index exhibits high correlation with broad market. They concluded that such correlation is temporary and false Sauer (1997) measured and analyzed the average monthly returns and variability, Jensen Alpha and Sharpe performance of the Domini 400 Social index portfolio and benchmarked it against the performance of two unrestricted portfolios (SP 500 and CRSP value weighted market indexes). Sauer (1997) discovered that the application of socially responsible strategy in stock selection does not impact the investment performance adversely. He concluded that the potential performance costs of implementing socially responsible criteria, as represented by the performance of Domini social index are negligible. Sauer (1997) also stated that the performance of Domini Social equity Mutual fund compares favorably to the performance of Vanguard SP 500 index. Bauer, Koedijik and Otten (2004) analyzed the performance of 103 German, UK and US ethical mutual funds and found no indication of substantial difference in return behavior between ethical and conventional mutual fund returns after controlling for factors like book to market and size. Bauer, Koedijik and Otten (2004) also concluded that ethical mutual funds are typically less exposed to market variability compared to conventional funds. Hamilton, Jo and Statman (1993) studied 32 socially responsible mutual funds and compared their returns with a portfolio of 177 conventional mutual funds. They found out that market do not price social responsibility characteristics so investors can expect to lose nothing by investing in socially responsible mutual funds; social responsibility factors have no effect on expected stock returns or companies’ cost of capital. Derigs and Marzban (2009) analyzed SP, DJIM, FTSE, MSCI and HSBC Shariah Complaint indices and stated that current Shariah compliant strategies result in much lower portfolio performance than portfolios without considering Shariah Compliance. They suggested that the return from Shariah complaint strategies can be increased by making Shariah compliance an attribute of portfolio constructed rather than measuring compliance on as asset level. Derigs and Marzban (2009) argued, Funds are investment vehicles, which are financially independent of the institutions that establish them. Therefore, a fund takes the form of an independent company, such as a limited liability company (Norman, 2004), in which investors act as shareholders. So they proposed that with respect to compliance a fund which itself invests in multiple companies has to be evaluated in the same way as a conventional independent company. Hassan and Antoniou (2006) examined the potential impact of Islamic screening restrictions on investment performance by comparing the performance characteristics of a diversified of Islamic screened stock indices with conventional benchmarks (Data stream Global Index) and the degree of correlation and volatility in price movements between both indices. Hassan and Antoniou (2006) concluded that the impact of stock screens is closely related to the performance of stock markets and further stated that any argument that Islamic equity investments are less profitable than conventional types of investments is questionable which is supported by relatively major differences between Sharpe and Treynor measures and significant positive Alpha over the positive returns period when the Dow Jones Islamic Market Index outperformed the Data stream Global Index. Chapter 3 Methodology This section emphasizes the research methodology and the type of data that has been used in this research. The research is quantitative in nature as statistical and financial models are being used to test the STOCK INDEX time series for volatility and return. The data which is going to be used in the research is secondary in nature and in the form of time series. Daily index values of Karachi Meezan Index (KMI-30), KSE-30 index and KSE-100 index from Karachi stock exchange are being used as secondary data from December 15, 2008 till March 11, 2011. Daily logarithmic returns of all indices are being calculated such that: Where is the raw return for index i for the time t, refers to the price of index i at time t, and is the price of index i at time t-1. A descriptive statistical analysis was performed on the calculated daily logarithmic returns using to calculate mean, standard deviation, standard error, median, variance, kurtosis, skewness, maximum and minimum values of all three indices for the whole period from December 15, 2008 to march 11, 2011. Also Geometric mean for all three indices was also calculated as it contains the effect of compounding. Coefficient of variation is calculated to measure the variation in each index given its return. A correlation matrix was being calculated using excel spreadsheet to find the degree of correlation between KMI-30, KSE-30 and KSE-100 indices. A linear regression analysis has been performed using the returns of KMI-30 index as dependent variable and returns from KSE-100 as the independent variable to estimate the coefficient of determination (R-Square) and beta of KMI-30. Another linear regression was performed using KSE-30 as the dependent variable and KSE-100 as the market independent v ariable to estimate the beta of KSE-30 and coefficient of determination. The regression equations were as follows: Where is the intercept, is the beta of the stock index, and are the returns on KMI30 and KSE30 indices respectively and is the return on KSE100 regarded as the return on the stock market. Risk ratios which are used in the analysis to compare the risk reward profile of KMI30 with KSE 30 and KSE 100 are Alpha, Beta, Standard Deviation, R-Squared, Sharpe Ratio and Treynor ratio. A paired t-test was performed to check the hypothesis of difference in means of KMI30 and KSE 100 index because nearly all of the stocks of KMI30 are part of KSE 100 hence dependent. Also F-test was performed to check the difference in variances of KMI30 and KSE 100 indices assuming that the returns from both indices are normally distributed. The whole period from December 15, 2008 to March 11, 2011 is than divided into two bull periods and one relatively flat period to find out the risk-return profile of KMI30 and KSE 100 in these periods. The first bull period is from January 15, 2009 till October 15, 2009 while the flat period is from October 15, 2009 till October 15, 2010. The second bull period is considered from October 15, 2010 to January 15, 2011. A descriptive analysis was again performed on these bull and flat periods along with similar paired t-tests, F-tests, linear regression and correlation matrices. Sharpe ratio, Treynor ratio, Jensen Alpha, Beta and S. Deviation were also calculated for these bull and flat periods. Chapter 4 Results Analysis Descriptive Statistical Analysis Descriptive analysis shows that KMI30 index showed very good daily mean returns of 0.1014% since Dec 15, 2008 till March 11, 2011. KMI30 index started in September 2008 and considering the mean returns, it is a very good performance by a stock exchange index especially when comparing with geometric mean of KSE 30 returns of 0.0227% and KSE 100 daily returns of 0.0451% in the same period. The standard deviation of KMI30 index daily returns was 1.5051% which is considerably less than its counterpart KSE 30 index however more than the S. Deviation of KSE 100 index as expected because of large diversification effects of stock returns in KSE 100. The coefficient of variation for KMI30 index is 15.97 compared to 33.36 for KSE 100 and 74.593 for KSE 30 which clearly indicates that KMI30 is less risky when compared to both other indices per unit of return. The excess kurtosis for KMI30 for the complete period is 2.58 compared to 2.13 for KSE 100 and 2.29 for KSE 30 which shows that all three indices are more peaked than normal distribution and are leptokurtic. All three indices are negatively skewed which shows that most of the returns are negative. As indicated by higher standard deviations of KSE 30 index, its maximum and minimum return are greater than KMI30 maximum and minimum returns. The maximum one day return for KMI30 during the whole period was 5.3% while the minimum return was -5.19%. From January 15, 2009 to October 15, 2009, KSE showed a bullish trend. The geometric mean of KMI30 index daily returns during this first bullish period was around 0.31% much higher than 0.24% of KSE 100 and 0.28% of KSE 30. However the standard deviation of KMI30 index is 1.93% less than 1.88% of KSE 100 and 2.35% for KSE 30. This shows that not only KMI30 beat KSE 100 and KSE 30 in returns but also remained less volatile over the bullish period when compared to KSE 100 and KSE 30. The kurtosis of all three indices is slightly over 3 (Excel displays Excess Kurtosis) which shows that all three indices are mesokurtic and have a kurtosis equal to that of normal distribution. KMI30 showed a slight negative skewness of -0.0195, while KSE 100 showed positive skewness of 0.04058 in this bullish period. From October 15, 2009 to October 15, 2010, KSE showed a relatively flat period of returns with KMI30 index showing a mean geometric return of 0.0498% while KSE 100 and KSE 30 showed a geometric return of 0.017% and –0.0249% respectively. The KMI30 again outperformed KSE 100 and KSE 30 in returns over this flat period. KSE 30 had negative mean returns in this period. KMI30 also showed low standard deviation of 1.088% compared to 1.1049% of KSE 100 and 1.3866% of KSE 30. Hence KMI30 again outperformed KSE 30 and KSE 100 index in this relatively flat period in terms of returns and low volatility. KMI30 had an excess kurtosis of 2.18 more than 1.79 for KSE 100 but less than 2.26 of KSE 30. Hence all three indices have leptokurtic distribution with high peaks than normal distribution. KMI30, KSE 100 and KSE 30 all showed negative skewness in this flat period. From October 15, 2010 till January 15, 2011, KSE showed a relatively bullish trend with KMI30 showing a daily return geometric mean of 0.36% against 0.3% by KSE 100 and 0.33% by KSE 30 index. However KMI30 index showed a higher daily standard deviation of 0.86% compared to 0.73% of KSE 100. KMI30 also showed a more leptokurtic distribution compared to KSE 100 as the excess kurtosis of KMI30 was around 0.497 compared to 0.262 for KSE 100. During this bullish period all three indices showed a positive skewness with impressive returns in a short span of time. Over the whole period, from December 15, 2008 to march 11, 2011, KMI30 showed impressive annualized returns of 28.825% compared with KSE 100 and KSE 30 which showed annualized returns of 11.9367% and 5.85% respectively. The annualized standard deviation for KMI30 index was a little higher than KSE 100 but lower than that of KSE 30. Also the total return over this two and a half year period by KMI30 was quite impressive and 2.5 times more of KSE 100. KMI30 had a total return of 75.11% from Dec 15, 2008 to March 11, 2011. Sharpe ratio is only positive for the KMI30 because the other two indices had returns less than 12 month Treasury bill rate. Jensen’s alpha for KMI30 was 16.8687 which indicated the average return on KMI30 over and above the CAPM predicted return of 11.9566%. KMI30 also had a beta lower than one which shows that KMI30 is less volatile than the overall market. KSE 30 had a beta of greater than one showing that it’s more volatile than the market KSE 100 in dex. Correlation matrix shows a strong correlation of 92.933% of KMI30 and KSE 100 over the whole period from December 15, 2008 to March 11, 2011. KSE 30 showed a less strong correlation of 87.48% in the same period with KSE 100. In the first bullish period, KMI30 however had a rather less strong correlation with KSE 100 compared to the whole period correlation described above. In the flat period from Oct 15, 2009 till Oct 15, 2010, KMI30 had a very strong correlation with KSE 100 index. In second bullish period, from Oct 15, 2010 to Jan 15, 2011, KMI30 again had a relatively less strong correlation with KSE 100 as already happened in first bullish period. It looks like KMI30 is showing less strong correlation with KSE 100 in bull markets and very strong correlation with KSE 100 in relatively flat periods which shows that KMI30 shows returns which are less correlated with market in bull periods and give more correlated returns in flat market periods. In both bull periods, Jan 15, 2009 – Oct 15, 2009 and Oct 15, 2010 – January 15, 2011, KMI30 outperformed KSE 100 and KSE 30 index with impressive margins. KMI30 gave a total return of 81.68% in the first bull period, 13.24% in the flat period and 23.67% in the second bull period. KSE 100 gave total returns of 57.3%, 4.34% and 19.92% in the same periods. KMI30 also showed a relatively same standard deviation as the KSE 100 except for the second bull period when there was a large difference in S. Deviation of KMI30 and KSE 100 returns. What this means is that KMI30 is giving higher returns than KSE 100 while having the same risk as KSE 100 also evident by Sharpe ratio. In first bull period, KMI30 had a beta of 0.927 compare to 1.077 of KSE 30. In the flat period, KMI30 had a beta of 0.948 while KSE 30 had a beta of 1.06. In the second bull period, KMI30 and KSE 30 showed an irregular trend when the beta for KMI30 increased over 1 while beta for KSE 30 dropped less than o ne. Regression Analysis A regression analysis was performed on the daily returns of KMI30, KSE 30 and KSE 100 for the complete period to explain the variation in the returns of KMI30 and KSE 30 index by using KSE 100 as the independent market index. The regression equations are as follows: Equation 1 Equation 2 The R-Square for the first model of KMI30 returns come out to be 86.366% which tells us that 86% of the variation in KMI30 index is caused by KSE 100 index. The R-square for the second KSE 30 model was 77% which shows that KSE 100 causes more variation in returns of KMI30 than KSE 30 index. The intercept of first equation is 0.000523179 which shows that when the daily market return is zero, than KMI30 has a daily return of 0.0523179%. The slope of the first equation, beta of KMI30 index, tells us that a one percentage change return in KSE 100 index causes a 0.9752 percentage change return in KMI30 index which shows low volatility in KMI30 compared to KSE 100. The slope and intercept for the KSE 30 model are 1.1018 and -0.0216% respectively which indicates that KSE 30 is more volatile than KSE 100 (has a beta higher than 1) and that a zero return from market will causes a -0.0216% daily return fall in KSE 30 index. Hypothesis testing The first hypothesis was to test that whether there are any significant differences in daily returns of KMI30 and KSE 100 indices for the whole period from December 15, 2008 to March 11, 2011. Since all the stocks which are part of KMI30 index are also a part of KSE 100 index which indicates that both samples are dependent hence paired t-test was employed to test the differences between returns of both indices. The null and alternative hypotheses are given as: Ho: The difference in mean daily returns of KMI30 and KSE 100 index for the period from December 15, 2008 to March 11, 2011 is equal to zero H1: The difference in mean daily returns of KMI30 and KSE 100 index for the period from December 15, 2008 to March 11, 2011 is not equal to zero The paired t –test was performed on a 5% level of significance with 552 degrees of freedom. The calculated t statistic was 2.310548072 which was greater than the critical value of 1.96. Hence the null hypothesis was rejected and the conclusion was that the difference in mean daily returns of KMI30 and KSE 100 returns is different from zero. The second hypothesis tested whether there are any significant statistical differences in returns of KMI30 and KSE 100 indices during the first bullish period from January 15, 2009 to October 15, 2009. The same paired t test was employed to test the difference in returns in this bullish period using a significance level of 5%. The null and alternative hypotheses are given as: Ho: the difference in mean daily returns of KMI30 and KSE 100 index for the bullish period from January 15, 2009 to October 15, 2009 is equal to zero H1: the difference in mean daily returns of KMI30 and KSE 100 index for the bullish period from January 15, 2009 to October 15, 2009 is not equal to zero The calculated t-statistic was 1.2773207 less than the critical value of 1.972 at 5% level of significance with 187 degrees of freedom. Hence the null hypothesis was failed to reject and it was concluded that there is no difference in the returns of KMI30 and KSE 100 indices during the first bullish period from January 15, 2009 to October 15, 2009.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Swingers Not Just On Playgrounds Anymore :: essays research papers

Swinger's Not Just on Playgrounds Anymore Dave's marriage had hit the rocks. His wife had lost interest in sex, and Dave did not know how to deal with it. He did not know whether she was bored with him or simply bored with sex. In his search for an answer Dave and his wife attended a swinger's party. This would eventually end Dave's marriage, but it would also lead him to greener pastures. "She did not want to share the lifestyle with me, and sharing is an important part of swinging. Swingers swing to enhance the relationship with their mate, not to destroy it," Dave said. Dave met his second wife more than 15 years ago at a swinger's party. The couple has now turned their lifestyle into their business. For the past nine years Dave and his wife Dawn have run their own swing club in the Chicago suburbs. "We own Couples Choice, and though it's listed as a swing club it's a lot more social than people imagine," Dave said. This socialness includes dances, special theme parties, dinners and vacations. The couples who attend are also interested in learning about relationships, meeting new friends and for exposure to something new. One of the most common misconceptions is that people come just to have sex. However, this is an option at Dave and Dawn's club. Their club is known as an ‘on-site' club. This means that Dave and Dawn provide bedrooms for their members' enjoyment. "Ours is an on-premise club. We have bedrooms where sex does take place, but only if it is consensual. We do not force our activities on anyone," Dave said. Dave adds that having sex is something most people associate with a swing club, but often this is not true. Bob McGinley, whose self-given title is the grandfather of swing, believes many people have misconceptions about swinging. He says swinging cannot be categorized as mate swapping or as group sex. In fact McGinley believes swinging cannot be put into a category at all. "Putting a label on the activity is wrong. People call us swingers because we have sex with someone other than our mate, but you don't call someone a tenniser because they enjoy hitting a ball over a net. Someone involved in swinging is also involved in many other things . . . it's really unfair to label that person a swinger," McGinley said. McGinley has been involved in the swinging lifestyle since 1969. He has since founded Lifestyles Organization in Anaheim, Calif. His organization holds a swing convention every year and this year he expects more than 3,000 to attend.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Branded by Alissa Quart

Alissa Quart’s novel should have had a warning label on the front stating, â€Å"Would you like to know what’s really going on around you or just keep living your life. † While reading this novel I felt like I was being led by Morpheus, showing me the world after ingesting the red pill. Quart explaining the different pressures that society forces on young teens was very eye opening. Quart sparked a lot of childhood memories when explaining brand identification and the pressures peers put on each other. One memory that really sticks out is walking through the mall with my mom and buying clothes for the start of seventh grade. I insisted on only going to Abercrombie and telling her that I wasn’t shopping at Old Navy or Gap any more. Looking back made me realize how silly I was, but I understand why I felt this way. Quart explains how marketers bombarde magazines, commercials, billboards, etc with their advertisements. Back in seventh grade, Abercrombie was cool. Everyone wanted to be one of those sexy models in their ads. Quart did make me feel a little brainwashed; I didn’t choose the clothes because I liked them but only because advertisements told me too. So much of our daily lives has media exposure that its hard not to look, especially at young ages when your open to almost anything. CINEMA OF THE IN-CROWD This chapter was one of my favorites because going to the movies is something I’ve always enjoyed. However, I’ve never thought about how they were affecting me afterwards and the product integration that was taking place. Honestly what Quart describes really works. When you watch a movie your not thinking, â€Å"Oh this must be an advertisement,† or â€Å"There just trying to get me to buy that. The products and the people using them are apart of the movie and its very hard to decipher all of this when all you wanted was to watch a story. It did make me a little disheartened that something I really enjoy is getting provoked by marketers but now I feel a lot more aware and will try to not let them get to me. FACTS She’s All That, Bring It On, Clueless, Legally Blonde,Varsity Blues and Mean Girls. Mean G irls came out after this book was written but it perfectly fits into the mold these movies have created and further shows the power this genre holds. What has made these movies so popular and why were they all a must see when they came out? First, each of these movies has a popular crowd and one of these popular people has a problem. This doesn’t sound like a plot that would grab a lot of attention, but that’s only because its not about the plot. These movies bring large crowds because it’s the people in it. With out Alicia Silverstone’s smile in Clueless or Reese Witherspoon’s long blonde hair the movies would have definitely been different. So I am convinced that the first thing you need to make a blockbuster movie is attractive people. Second you need them to wear revealing or designer clothes. This is showcased in Bring It On when basically all they wear throughout the movie is revealing cheering outfits and workout wear. The Third aspect is particularly showcased within these films because of The Breakfast Club and the infamous Ally Sheedy transformation at the end. This aspect is the makeover. I never caught on to this until reading this chapter. Each of these movies has the main character go through some sort of change and of course the change only makes them better looking and more popular. The third aspect isn’t new but the film always tries to mask it as something that you wouldn’t expect. I feel that this is done so people, especially young people, don’t catch on. VALUES These movies â€Å"also has the ring of a diary entry, of what life is really like when our parents or teachers leave the room† (Quart 78). This is the key element when trying to decipher what the value is amongst these movies. What is really going on here when you strip the stars of their makeup, clothes, and posh attitudes? Sadly, it’s popularity, only because these teens will do anything to be popular. This is what motivates them throughout the entire movie and in fact is what gets them into most of their trouble. Also popularity is the one thing that they will throw away everything for. â€Å"If your not popular, your nothing† is the message young teens are coming away with. These movies get away with a value like this because there is so much covering it up. Amongst the comedy, drama, and violence it’s hard to figure out what all of this is means. I don’t feel like popularity is a good value for a movie to have. Before reading this chapter I pictured these movies as great, some even as a must see. But now I’m disgusted and look at them as shallow. Popularity is meaningless; however if I was writing this paper in middle school or high school I wouldn’t be agreeing with myself. This leads me to the question, â€Å"Do you only see the stupidity of it all when it’s over? † Right now I would have to say yes, because when these movies came out I was at the age they were targeting and this is very silly to say but, I admired all of the main characters in these movies. I once thought Elle Woods in Legally Blonde was courageous, it made me want to be a lawyer. But now I realize that I only looked at her this way because she was popular and she needed to maintain her popularity by going to law school. PRINCIPLES These movies need to be applied to Kant’s categorial imperative. What these movies have are good looking people. However, because their attractive people don’t look at what they are doing as much as just looking at them. In turn because their hot they get away with a lot more. When you apply Kant’s philosophy it tares down these movies even more. This is because Kant states that its not whose doing it but what the action is in itself. So take away Alicia Silverstone, Reese Witherspoon, Lindsay Lohan, Kirsten Dunst, Rachael Leigh Cook, and James Van Der Beek. Now all you have are their actions trying to uphold their value. Since their value is popularity most of their actions are aimed towards how to become more popular. This is the most apparent in Mean Girls and the lead Lindsay Lohan. Taking Lindsay Lohan out of the picture and only reading the script it is very apparent that the main character Cady Heron is a liar. All of these lies are aimed towards trying to make herself more popular than Regina George. At the end Cady gets sort of a wake up call but everything still comes together for her. When this movie came out it was huge; it was all over TV, the internet, and in school. For this movie to have such a big opening I know it impacted alot of teenagers and I know it influenced them to do what ever it takes to be popular. Especially when there was a string of movies right before it that glorifies popularity its nearly impossible to tell teenagers that popularity doesn’t matter. These movies have created a society of young adults that only care what others think of them and completely twisting their feelings regarding themselves. If a student isn’t viewed as popular among their peers they are going to dislike their body, their clothes, or whatever it is that they feel is holding them back from being well liked. LOYALTIES Each main character has one main loyalty, this is themselves. All of them throughout the movie try to better themselves, sometimes through buying designer clothes, wearing makeup, or the extreme of going to law school. The conceited nature in all of these characters makes the viewers very aware that this is acceptable. None of these movies help others in a way that is selfless. Yes, Cher in Clueless tries to make over Ty, Brittany Murphy’s character, but Cher admits that its only for her own enjoyment, she even goes far enough to call Ty her project. The characters loyalties also extends to their brand names they use, but I feel that this loyalty is only to uphold their loyalty to themselves because the brand names make them cooler. I feel that these movies have been a catalyst for plastic surgery. When someone gets plastic surgery it is to better themselves. These movies showcase that it’s acceptable to do this through the characters actions. Most of the characters go to the mall to make themself feel better or they start putting on makeup so their peers like them more. The characters even backstab each other to make themself more popular. I feel that these story lines not only increase plastic surgery but also fights in school. I feel like students pay more attention to what each other are doing than the school work. Young minds are easily influenced and its especially hard to erase the well put together images that these movies create. Although teenagers wouldn’t openly admit that their using these characters as role models its hard to argue their not. Most teenagers actions are completely mimicking the main characters of these movies and honestly I feel like its not their fault, especially because I used to do the same thing. CINEMA OF THE IN-CROWD CONCLUSION Overall not every movie is like this but the handful that are do a lot more damage than the society realizes. Although, of course, if these movies were removed from theaters teenagers will always act sort of like this but I strongly feel that these movies don’t help the situation. These movies also glorify the actions that teenagers are supposed to be learning not to do. Since these movies are teaching kids to be popular no matter what and to only think of yourself I’m not surprised about the reports of what happens in todays middle and high schools. The bottom line is teenagers need to be educated on what is right and wrong. If they are aware that you should lways try to be themselves and to help others selflessly these movies messages won’t be brainwashing them as badly as they could. UNBRANDED/ DIY KIDS This section of the book was particularly interesting because I wasn’t aware of all of the ways kids are rebelling. I thought this section was a nice conclusion to the first half because it gave me hope that some students do think for themselves. It actually mad e me really proud that some had the courage to stand up to their own principles and faculties. I know that I wouldn’t have had the guts to do something like that, especially alone. I thought it was really cruel the way they were teased by their peers. When did conforming start to be cool? I also has no idea about students going to schools with no grading system. I think this is great and I really liked the quirky concepts that the home schooled students had. It was a very relieving section, the contrasts between the way the kids conform to other nonconformists could be it’s own book. FACTS â€Å"An estimated 850,000 American kids or 1. 7 percent of U. S. students from five to seventeen† (Quart 203) are home schooled. Or as John Holt calls it â€Å"unschooling. These unschooled kids are not a big part of the population and most of them never go to mainstream schools. I thought that the contrast between their outlook on schools and the Logo U chapter was very appealing. Both sides were extremes and I being in the middle realized how silly they both were being. I don’t think its healthy to be either of them. I think kids should be enrolled in school because they get interaction with other kids their own age. On the other side, when you are enrolled in a mainstream school the child needs to be aware of what’s going on around them and not get stressed out like the Logo U kids. I especially feel this way about unschoolers because I’ve met home schooled kids and their usually out there. You can easily tell that these unschoolers aren’t the normal. Now this isn’t bad now when their young but will an employer higher them. Since these unschoolers need to go out into the world eventually they will have to conform one way or another. Also, these days, you need a college degree so never going to college just because you’ve never gone to a regular school has it’s set backs when trying to find a career. Quart also explains the punk scene. I have never been into punk but I’ve always liked the way they rebelled. I think that doing your own thing. if thats how you feel, is very healthy and schools should be more accepting to this. Especially when this rebelliousness only lasts during the youth years. There’s no reason to stifle something like ripped jeans, flannel, and loud music; it doesn’t hurt anyone. VALUES The core value that both of these unschoolers and punk kids have is to be yourself. Which is the complete opposite of the blockbuster movie value, popularity. I have to give both the unschoolers and punks credit because in a world where mostly everyone wants to be Alicia Silverstone or Freddie Prince Jr. its takes a lot of courage to do your own thing. I feel that in alot of ways its easier to just conform and not go against the grain. Quart entitled this chapter â€Å"do it yourself kids† because thats what these two groups have in common. When everyone else goes off to school the unschoolers stay home and do it themselves. On the other hand the punks may go to school but they do their own look, their own music, their own lifestyle; which completely contradicts the mainstream preppy is cool mantra. In a lot of ways these kids are going to turn out as better adults. This is because they will be better parents. I feel strongly about this because my parents were punk like in a lot of ways when they were young. When they were teenagers in the 70’s it wasn’t called punk, it was hippie. Hippie and punk are basically the same thing except two different generations labeled it with different names. My parents were always telling me to be myself, and as a public school student I feel this took some pressure off of growing up. I knew that they would back me no matter what. Also, when it came time for college they told me straight out you don’t have to go if you don’t want to. This was completely contradicting what my friends parents were saying and it took a lot of anxiety off of my shoulders when acceptance letters came in. LOYALTIES The loyalty that each group has is to their own cliques that they have created. I think this because unschooled kids look at schooled kids as different and by them not wanting to be in a clique they have created their own. Through the home schooled kids i have known, they told me how they would meet other unschoolers and would create their own groups within that. So actually they are forming what they tried to avoid. Home schooled kids in some ways can have pompous attitudes, acting like their better because they don’t do what everyone else does. I’ve even met unschooled kids here, at MU. When I asked him what high school he went to he cockily stated â€Å"I didn’t go to high school, I didn’t have to. † It’s not fair to say that all home schooled kids are like this but its definitely out there. For the punk kids they have their own loyalty to each other. It was very apparent in my high school because they would always walk together in the hallways and smoke cigarettes in large groups on the curb. No one bothered them but they made it very obvious they were their own group and they all identified with each other. This is something Quart didn’t discuss. She made each group sound very independent but in fact they are dependent within each other. PRINCIPLES John Stuart Mill’s utility principle can better explain the do it yourself kids perception. The utility principle emphasizes the outcome. The outcome that both groups want is to not have a mainstream. Also stated in the utility principle is an act’s rightness and how this is determined by it’s contribution to a desirable end. I feel that both groups have a desirable end in mind. The punk kids, especially just want to do their own thing. Their basement concerts show this because they are just trying to have fun, theirs no marketing involved, no celebrities, just kids in a band. I have gone to a few local shows like this and its a completely different vibe than at a mainstream high profile band. The local shows shows the joy of music with out all of the fluff the mainstream music throws in. The outcome is more genuine than anything I’ve seen at Madison Square Garden. Unbranded showed me that it is possible to live within this society and not be lured into everything you see. These kids show how you can think for yourself and do what you want. All of my life I have been a basically mainstream person. However, this book as a whole as taught me to open my eyes and realize what’s going on around me. it truly is a lot more evading than I thought. At times while reading this book I felt like I was completely brainwashed. I think every parent should read this book so that their aware of what’s going on around their children. It’s a lot different then when my parents grew up and most of the time they don’t realize the impact of these changes. I feel that the most important lesson a parent can learn from this book is to be aware and don’t be afraid to talk about it. Communication is defiantly what kept me grounded in my household and I plan on sharing that with my children as well.

Friday, November 8, 2019

Process Performance and Quality at Starwood HotelsResorts

Process Performance and Quality at Starwood HotelsResorts Quality management Dimensions of Customer Satisfaction Starwood Hotels and Resorts employed the Six Sigma model to measure its performance and offer quality services to its clients. It had all the necessary inputs to ensure customers got what they wanted.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Process Performance and Quality at Starwood HotelsResorts specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More However, it was unable to define or classify them and this means that customers were sometimes unable to get what they wanted yet the company had the potential of providing all the customer requirements. Therefore, the first stage involved defining or identifying the problem that customers were experiencing. This company managed to do this by introducing phones that contained the information about the services that clients wanted (Goldratt and Cox 2010). Guests were required to dial the numbers stored on the phones and hotel attendants woul d be on their doorsteps to serve them. The numbers were coded to represent various services. Secondly, the introduction of call logs enabled the company to track the efficiency of employees that handled specific tasks. The third stage involved the use of Pareto charts to analyze what employees could do within 15 minutes after receiving calls from clients. The fourth stage involved the introduction of improvement strategies that ensured clients got quality services from the company. This included improving how telephone operators handled requests from customers. In addition, it involved procedures that were used to determine the person to call when a client requests the services of this hotel (Krajewski, Ritzman and Malhotra 2012). Moreover, this organization faced serious challenges like engineering workloads, but it ensured that qualified people were assigned different roles in the control room to check technical issues that may affect communication between clients and employees.Ad vertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Lastly, it was necessary to establish effective ways of controlling and measuring the performance of the telephone system. This ensured that this service produced the expected results within the specified time. The services were monitored for 12-18 months and the managers were supposed to be given monthly reports to ensure the Sheraton Service Promise program improved the quality of services offered by this company. Costs of Process Performance and Quality The costs included service delivery, time, quality and products. There was the need for the new program to facilitate coordination among these aspects to help the company to achieve its targets. This was important in helping the company to offer its services properly and eliminate the chances of being unable to supply products that were available due to poor communication syste ms (Krajewski et al., 2012). Secondly, the company saved time because clients were introduced to mobile phones and how to use them to request for room services. The use of phones ensured that clients got what they wanted because these gadgets offered a list of the services and products offered by the company. Customers did not waste time deciding where to get what they wanted. They were very happy that they could get the services of this company without struggling to ask or wait for long before being assisted. The Six Sigma Model The Six Sigma model is an efficient tool of measuring performance in an organization. However, it has various disadvantages that make it unsuitable in the hospitality industry. First, this model requires a company to define key factors that are necessary for problem resolution (Krajewski et al., 2012). This creates ambiguity and does not place the company in a good position to know its problems. Therefore, it becomes difficult for a hotel to know its challe nges because this process does not limit a manager’s scope of defining the speed and efficiency of employees and services offered (Sherwood and Barnsteiner 2012).Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Process Performance and Quality at Starwood HotelsResorts specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Secondly, the measures used to determine the efficiency of workers and services are abstract. There is no guarantee that short call durations mean that employees offer efficient services. The use of Pareto charts is an effective way of measuring performance; however, it falls short of defining the meaning of a reasonable time employees are supposed to use to serve their clients. Lastly, the time taken to measure the performance of a service is very long and this creates room for other inefficiencies that affect productivity (Krajewski et al., 2012). This model requires employees to submit responses to their managers or head s of departments, but the duration required to do this is too long. There is the need for hotel changes to produce immediate results because this is a delicate industry. In addition, this will limit the chances of creating room for customers to be fed up with inefficiencies because it enables employees to make immediate changes to their products or services. Case Study Implementing the Six Sigma Model in Starwood It is not easy to implement the Six Sigma program to improve and track the performance of employees and services offered in the hotel industry. This program required Sheraton hotel to employ the Top-Down Commitment model that required all employees to work together to improve the performance of this company. The hotel developed the Black Belts team to ensure it supervises the roles played by managers and subordinates to improve its efficiency. The measurement systems used to track progress involved giving clients research questionnaires (Guest Satisfaction Survey) to expres s their views regarding the services offered by the hotel. In addition, the Sheraton Service Promise program was established to help guests to report any problem regarding the quality of services offered by the hotel. The management had set high goals to compel employees to work hard to promote the image of this company. This was not an effective way of improving performance because it sets unrealistic goals for workers (Sherwood and Barnsteiner 2012). Education was an effective way of promoting performance because it enabled workers to acquire new knowledge and skills on how to do their jobs.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Lastly, customers may be stubborn and thus affect the attitudes of employees. This hotel managed to establish ways of knowing how customers and employees treat each other. It is necessary to explain that this was an indispensable aspect that helped the management to know how to train its employees (Goldratt and Cox 2010). The New Sheraton Service Promise Process Prevention of poor process performance is a key aspect in all organizations. The new Sheraton Service Promise process enabled employees to predict the possibility of service failure and inform the management. Early preparation enables organizations to prepare to solve problems before they escalate to unmanageable levels (Krajewski et al., 2012). In addition, employee and service assessment were successful because the new process forced workers to be transparent and accountable. Internal failure was managed by developing a team that was responsible for periodic assessment and evaluation of the new program (Goldratt and Cox 20 10). This process ensured appropriate measures were taken to solve problems in good time. Lastly, the possibilities of external failures to affect this company were minimized. The questionnaires used to evaluate the response of guests regarding the quality of services offered; therefore, they helped it to train workers and improve its services (Sherwood and Barnsteiner 2012). Alternative Strategies Most organizations and individuals do not know the existence of the Six Sigma model of measuring performance. Moreover, most of them do not pay attention to theories and this makes them reluctant to use performance models. In addition, they are usually not ready and comfortable to use information from their clients to measure the performance of their employees (Krajewski et al., 2012). Lastly, they need quality assessment procedures that produce immediate results; therefore, this discourages them from using the Six Sigma model. Starwood Hotels and Resorts can use performance appraisal, ma rket penetration and the value of its shares in the stock market to measure the quality of its services. References Goldratt, E. M. and Cox, J. (2010). The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement. New York: Wiley. Krajewski, L. J., Ritzman, L. P. and Malhotra, M. K. (2012). Operations Management:  Processes and Supply Chains. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Sherwood, G. and Barnsteiner. (2012). Quality and Safety in Nursing: A Competency  Approach to Improving Outcomes. New York: McGraw-Hill.