Multicultural Counseling Critique Essay -- Counseling

Multicultural Counseling Critique: Counseling Utilization by Ethnic Minority College Students In spite of the fact that the act of advising has advanced extensively since its initiation, the idea of multicultural capability stays novel. Immersed in the lives of each clinician are underlined inclinations and biases that go about as channels in which each communication with a customers is influenced. Ebb and flow look into on the subject of multicultural guiding has indicated that albeit multicultural mindfulness is on the ascent there is as yet a momentous hole in inquire about with respect to the utilization of advising administration and results for racial and ethnic minorities (Kerney,Draper, and Baron, 2005). Bits of knowledge, for example, these have urged analysts to explore multicultural advising, on a wide range of levels of conveyance. One such level is that of the college directing focus setting. Kerney, Draper, and Baron (2005) recommend that so as to address the requirement for inquire about on the viability of treatment for minorities, one must look at the present adequacy of treatment on college grounds and the agreeing usage of advising administrations by racial and ethnic minorities. So as to do this the specialists inspected the distinctions among African American, Asian American, Latino, and Caucasian understudies in treatment participation after admission, and the seriousness of misery at both admission and last meeting (Kerney,Draper, and Baron, 2005). The flow paper will study the examination directed by Kerney, Draper, and Baron, so as to increase further mindfulness into multicultural capable strategies for working with ethnic and racial minorities. The ebb and flow look into tended to the issue of ethnic and racial minorities’ usage of directing administrations in a college setting... ...nd racial minorities, an expanded measure of consideration ought to be centered around normalizing advising for ethnic and racial minority understudies. In doing so the shame of directing might be diminished and expanded use of administrations may happen. Endless supply of the present writing concerning multicultural directing, it has become clear that a skilled instructor is an individual both mindful of his way of life, and dually mindful of his client’s social perspective. So as to be an instructor who is capable in his specialty, a comprehension of different societies should initially be cultivated, and coordinated as a major aspect of a guiding methodology that is both adaptable and ready to suit customer worries in whatever way they show. This fuse is critical in turning into an all the more socially mindful and delicate advisor, and is a part worth incorporating into training.

A Comparison and Contrast Discussion between the Reading

Ladies are seen diversely by men in the general public today. There are positively the individuals who can see ladies as sensitive jars while there are the individuals who just consider them to be material slaves who should serve and not be served in kind, these separating perspective on ladies has been the point of convergence of the introduction of the significant issues with sees ladies consideration and treatment according to appeared through the readings arranged by Kincaid and Wright.Comparison and Contrastâ â â â Starting off with Kincaid’s â€Å"Girl†, she called attention to how specific societies treat ladies as minor slaves. Somebody who should be told on the most proficient method to get things done as they are really expected to achieve such obligations for those whom they should serve [including their spouses and their families]. It appears as though, it is through the achievement of these obligations that they are given the legitimate regard that the y are expected in the house and inside the network that they are living in.Everything a young lady is for will be for her family and the ones she adores. Sooner or later, a few ladies today are living in this specific pattern of treatment as got from their mates just as from their families. Unfortunately however, just a couple can understand that ladies should have their own voices, ready to do what they truly need to accomplish for self-awareness while achieving the assignments that they are relied upon to complete.Furthermore, regardless of what custom proposes, ladies should be seen as corresponding people for the achievement that men are especially focusing on and not just the slave headed to adhere to rules and directions for better support of the individuals that they should adore as women.For this explanation, the choice â€Å"Flight† by Wright shows an alternate variant of ladies treatment that is very more satisfying than the past clarification. In this choice, the c reator calls attention to that he is in critical need of his mate that he has made her an amazing wellspring. He really noticed that he yearned for her friendship and would along these lines exchange whatever else just to have her back next to him to impart to him the existence that the two of them wanted to appreciate back then.Sadly however, there are just a couple of sorts of men today who might truly observe ladies thusly. In any case, with the presence of genuine romance and regard, the circumstance turns out to be a lot of tolerable to bargain with.True, ladies are people needing and requiring of consideration and regard. They are very much aware that they are fairly expected to finish various errands in the house for their mates and their families as well.However, this isn't a sign that they are then expected to worry about the concern of being slighted despite the fact that they are as of now doing the best of their endeavors to finish their obligations as ladies of their fa milies and their social orders as well.It is never simple being a lady. Particularly during this period of modernization, everything with respects the job of lady in the general public and the family has just changed. It appears as though the duties have changed.Moreover, the circumstance has just been modified by the way that ladies presently are not just expected to remain at home and do the tasks, rather, they are currently expected to turn out to be exceptionally serious as they are additionally expected to work extended periods of time for cash for their families. Envision the immense measure of duties that ladies especially need to convey upon their shoulders, yet they keep on persevering through the difficult situations of life as it faces them.Overall Reaction to the ReadingsIf watched intently, the works of Wright and Kincaid really relate to a slow example of acknowledgment. Kincaid essentially puts an accentuation on how ladies are prepared to be acclimated with the dutie s that they are to look as they develop towards development while the compositions of Wright utilizes the circumstance to be the premise of the idea of really finding the correct motivations to help a lady and be her quality as a significant wellspring of motivation for her to have the capacity of finishing her undertakings well.ConclusionUnderstandably, the issue relies upon the society’s acknowledgment of how ladies really adds to the advancement of the general public as a mother, as a spouse, a companion and a specialist. Perceiving the significance of women’s presence as such would without a doubt enable the individuals in turning out to be progressively particular and fine-mannered towards the treatment that they infer to the ladies in their own communities.Source:Jamaica Kincaid. â€Å"Girl†. http://www.turksheadreview.com/library/writings/kincaid-girl.html. (January 28, 2008).Franz Wright †Flight. http://pantasyangbayan.blogspot.com/2007/01/franz-wri ght-flight.html. (January 28, 2008).

what I did this summer COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - SIPA Admissions Blog

what I did this summer COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - SIPA Admissions Blog Internship in Country Risk Management at J.P. Morgan Prior to attending SIPA my experience was in banking; however the reason I chose SIPA for my graduate studies was to transition into a role that offers more of a macro and international picture, allowing me to work in a field where macroeconomics, capital markets, and risk meet and of course a role where I am challenged every day and get to learn and apply my skills. I had the chance to work in Country Risk Management (CRM) at J.P. Morgan during the summer. It all started with three representatives visiting SIPA to host an information session in the fall of 2013. What followed was an application process, consisting of four phone and four in person interviews.   I consider myself fortunate that I received the opportunity to be a part of the team and the culture at the bank, because this is a dream job for a SIPA student. It was a 10 week internship, starting in June with a couple of weeks of training. The first week I was part of the Sales Trading (ST) Markets Training group, where a bout 100 interns were trained on basics, such as what is equity, what is a bond through how markets are supposed to behave to how financial derivatives fit into the bank. The second week, I took part in a more risk specific training to be prepared for my eight weeks at the desk. Before the training weeks were completed, students were formed into groups of four to prepare a case study to competitively pitch to senior management. After some valuable training I was excited to finally join my CRM team and to apply my skills learnt and advanced at SIPA. The team in CRM was relatively small on a global basis and therefore I had a chance to work closely with colleagues also based in London and Hong Kong. The eight weeks were packed and I had several deliverables on top of assisting with ad-hoc tasks. However, it was a super learning experience and with the great support of the team I was able to master my objectives successfully. My summer objectives were based around the main work the team does, such as internal ratings of countries and measuring the exposure risk the bank experienced. The summer program was well structured. Each intern had a junior and senior mentor, who assisted the intern throughout the summer. Throughout the program there were also different social and professional events. Social events consisted of visiting a New York Yankee game and having dinner at different places. The professional events included senior speaker series with management from the bank. These were all very interesting; however I would say the highlight was when Jamie Dimon spoke to us and shared his experiences in banking and at J.P. Morgan. My summer experience at the bank has been wonderful and it was great to meet so many professionals with whom I look forward to staying in touch and working together in the future. It may be the fall semester only; however the sooner you start looking for your dream internship, the higher the chances that you will be working there during the following summer. Good luck! by Andreas Maerki, MPA International Finance and Economic Policy Dec ‘14 What I did this summer COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - SIPA Admissions Blog I spent my summer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. My professional and academic interests are on politics and development in Latin America, particularly on innovation in the public sector. My decision to spend my summer in Rio de Janeiro came as a mixture of academic and personal curiosity. On one side, I was familiar with some of the innovation efforts been carried out by the Secretary of Education of Rio and I was eager to learn more about their programs. On the other side, despite its political and economic importance for Latin America I knew very little about Brazil. Hence, the offer to intern at the Secretary of Education of the Municipality of Rio de Janeiro came just in time and I was ready to depart to my destination. The Secretary of Education of the Municipality of Rio de Janeiro (SME) is in charge of the municipal red of schools of Rio de Janeiro, that is, a total of 1.076 schools including kinder garden and elementary level, with 633.449 students enrolled and 42.536 teachers. The challenges of the public system are numerous and diverse, especially for the schools located in dangerous areas. In order to improve the quality of education in public schools and the quality of life of the communities where they are located, the current Secretary of Education, Claudia Costín, along with her team started to implement several very interesting initiatives. One of these initiatives, for which I had the opportunity to work, is Escolas do Amanhã, which was created for schools that were in favelas recently pacified. Given the weak presence of the government in these communities, the program changed the structure of these schools to include services that supported the community, like health and parenting services. Another unique program currently in place is called GENTE, which promotes a new concept of school that fully integrates the new educational technologies and places the student in the center of the learning process. The pilot school for the program is called Escola Municipal Andre Uraní and it is located in Rocinha, the biggest favela of Rio. I also had the opportunity of working with the team from GENTE, visit the pilot school and learn some of the philosophy behind their model. In the case of GENTE, all the students are given a laptop computer through which they do most of their learning. This is possible thanks to Educopédia, an online platform of digital classrooms where students learn the curriculum while teachers follow their progress and evaluation, also included in the platform. I spend a total of two months and a half in Rio de Janeiro. The internship was inspiring and very interesting, as it was the rest of experience in the country. The city is beyond beautiful, the culture is vibrant, the juices are natural and the beaches are amazing. I was lucky enough to be in Rio during the Confederation Coup, the visit of the Pope and the starting of the protests that are still taking place all over Brazil. It was a great summer indeed. Posted by Giuliana Irene Carducci Sanchez, 2-Year SIPA MPA, concentrating in EPD with specialization in Management

THE CRITICAL FAILINGS IN BANKING REGULATION - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 16 Words: 4943 Downloads: 8 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Cause and effect essay Did you like this example? Throughout the history of financial crises, prudential regulators and central banks have been considerably involved in developing a wide spectrum of regulatory tools to ensure the smooth functioning of the banking sector and maintain financial stability. Deposit insurance, Lender of Last Resort (LLR), prudential regulation and supervision have been extensively discussed in academic and literature as the three major components of government financial safety net. In the midst of these regulatory tools, the regulation of bank capital stands out as one of the most critical in the view of fostering banking stability and preventing financial crises. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "THE CRITICAL FAILINGS IN BANKING REGULATION" essay for you Create order Regrettably, bank capital regulation (Basel II) has turned out to be a massive fiasco, probably the one of the most crucial main failings in banking regulation that intensified the severity of the recent global financial turmoil. Firstly, this chapter will discuss the history and rational behind bank capital as regulatory tools, and secondly examine the extent to which Basel II contributed to both the occurrence and the severity of financial crisis 07/08. Finally, we will examine the nexus between financial innovation and systemic risk, and critically discuss how central banks and financial regulators have lost sight of systemic risk control in the light of weaknesses of the incumbent macro-prudential regulatory framework. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF BANK CAPITAL REGULATION The Banking system performs special functions including: asset transformation, liquidity insurance, development of payment systems and transmission of monetary policy impulses, investment monitoring, and risk diversification. The nature systemic banking risk and the pivotal role of banks in promoting economic development have been culminant considerations that underpin the rationality of banking regulation, Goodhart et al (2001, p.10) and Llewellyn (1999). One important lesson policy makers have learned from historical episodes of financial crises is the intrinsic fragility of the banking sector. Asset-liability maturity mismatches, banks runs and stock market crashes or any turbulent financial shocks at macro-level can deplete banks capital, resulting in systemic banking failures and serious disturbances in the financial system. The interconnectedness between banks with derivatives networks and financial linkages intensify the gravity of banking sector problems and eventually resu lt in a widespread of counterparty and systemic risk, leading to severe economic contractions and disruptions as we witnessed during the recent financial turmoil that followed the subprime crisis, Heffernan (2005). The main rationale behind introducing minimum capital adequacy requirement was to ensure that Banks hold sufficient capital to buffer against adverse financial shocks and unexpected losses, thus foster banks solvency and financial stability. Santos (2000, p.1) explained the importance of bank capital from the role it plays in banks soundness and risk-taking incentives, and from its role in the corporate governance of banks.  He argued that bank capital help not only reduce excessive risk taking and moral problems of created by deposit insurance, and but also consolidate the stability of the banking system by reinforcing the stand alone strength of banks in the midst of unexpected brutal financial storms, thus containing the eruption of systemic banking failures and minimizing the cost of government bailouts. Strong capital buffers are meant to absorb bank losses and minimize the occurrence of bank failures. The higher are the risks exposures of a Bank, the higher will be its capital charges; bank capital standards act a disciplinary mechanism that monitor Banks risk taking incentives. According to Allen and Gale (2007.p.193), bank capital plays a key risk sharing function by acting as a buffer that offsets depositors losses and allows orderly liquidation of the banks assets in the worse scenario of a bank failure. They further argued that incomplete markets justifies regulators involvement in setting bank capital to ensure optimal risk sharing and social welfare though appropriate capital rules that effectively mitigate the negative systemic externalities of bank failures. In 1988, G10 Nations signed Basel Accord for international bank capital standards. On December 1992, Basel I capital regulated were implemented to ensure that Banks h old sufficient capital to buffer against their credit risk exposures. Fast pace developments in financial innovations, market-based finance, securities and derivatives trading led policy makers to amend Basel I in 1994 and 1999 to provide more accurate capital provisioning covering wider aspects of financial risks including market risk, interest rate risk and operation risk. In June 2004, as a response to mounting criticisms against Basel I that followed the Asian financial crisis [1997-98], the Basel Committee for Banking Supervision (BCBS) published a new complex framework with three pillars titled Basel II. First of all, Basel I was criticized for inadequately coverage of all bank risks exposures. Secondly, risk calibrations and weightings were too simple and not properly done, thus did not accurately reflect actual underlying risks, Weber (2009). Thirdly, most importantly Basel I framework neglected issues regulatory arbitrage, Jackson et al. (1999). Atkinson et al (2008b, p.70) argued that Basel I allow Banks to easily manipulate their capital requirements using a disintermediation strategy by shifting between on-balance sheet assets with different weights, and by securitizing assets and shifting them off balance sheet. As a result, financial institutions accumulated excess capital, higher than minimum regulatory requirements, which regrettably did not constrain their risk appetite, Blundell-Wignall et al (2008). Basel II was scheduled to be fully operational by the end of 2006. However, the complexity of risk-sensitive capital requirements calibration under Basel II was so complex that it required longer transition periods than previously planned. Many financial institutions had not yet fully implemented Basel II till 2007 when the subprime crisis erupted in the US. Though Basel II cannot be fully blamed for triggering the subprime crisis, the entire financial crisis has thrown significant light on deficiencies of Basel II regime. Consequently, appropria te corrective measures have been implemented in the so called Basel II enhanced framework- 2009 and many other financial reforms are underway to strengthen banking regulation at an international level. UNDERSTANDING THE DEFICIENCIES OF BASEL II SYSTEM PILLAR 1: Risk Measurements Basel II is based on three pillars. The first pillar defines minimum capital level banks should hold as reserve to buffer against unforeseen losses. The calibration of risk adjusted capital adequacy requirements is based on complex risk weights applied separately to different asset classes and then summed up to determine total Risk weighted asset ( risk coverage included: operational risk (OR), credit and market risk (MR)). The basic principle under Pillar I is to assign capital charges based on the size risk exposures. Simply put: the higher the risk exposures are, the higher is the level of capital buffers imposed. Calibration of capital requirements: {RWA= {12.5(OR+MR) + 1.06SUM [w(i)A(i)]} (where: w(i) is the risk weight for asset I A(i)) see: Atkinson et al (2008b, p.72 }. Basel II provided Banks with three options with regard to their risk assessments based on which capital charges are defined. Small financial institutions with no capacity to model their risk and quantify their risk exposures internally could follow either the simplified approach with the fixed risk weights terms defined in Table 1, or a second approach based on external rating provided by Credit Rating Agencies (CRAs). The third option is the internal ratings-based (IRB) approach under which big sophisticated banks are allowed to use their internal risk management model to assess the probability of default (PD) and losses given risk exposures at default (LGDs), Blundell-Wignall et al (2008). The IRB system required not only high caliber internal expertise to gauge risk-sensitive weights with complex aggregation and quantitative risk modeling methods; but also high level of banking supervision to ensure full disclosure, transparency and accuracy of risk inputs in these financial risk models. In all cases, it is critical to properly calibrate risk for capital regulation to be effective. Source: Adrian Blundell-Wignall and Paul Atkinson (2010) BASEL II COMPOUNDED BANKS APPETITE FOR MORTGAGES As we discussed earlier on in the previous chapter, macroeconomic conditions (abundant liquidity and low interest rates between) led financial institutions to seek after higher return. Atkinson, Blundell-Wignall, and Lee (2008a) argued that Basel II stimulated financial institutions appetite for mortgage financing, hence helped fuel the housing bubble. Under Basel I, 50 % capital weight was required for on-balance sheet mortgages and Zero for secruritzed mortgages shifted off balance sheet through SIV, while newly published Basel II (2004) required 35%, and possibly as lower as 15% or 20% for sophisticated banks, depending their ability to use the complex internal ratings-based (IRB). However, under Basel II capital charges will apply for mortgages whether treat on and off balance sheet. The Basel Committee allowed banks to anticipate new bank capital rules (Basel II) before they become fully operational in January (2008) as planned in many countries. It is therefore rational that lower capital weights inevitably made mortgages more attractive for large banking groups such as Citi and Northtern Rock that opted for (IRB), allowing them to aggressively invest in residential mortgage backed securities (RMBS) to generate higher return on capital for low-capital-weighted mortgages, (see: Figure 1, Basel II advance estimates compared to Basel I Minimum Capital for Commercial Banks in the US). Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac (GSEs), main players in the US mortgage market, grew their mortgage portfolios from $160Bn to $1.5 trillion between 1990 and 2003. The Fed did not respond to this systemic threat, but rather stimulated the housing bubble with excessive quantitative monetary stimulus post the 2001 recession. These low interest rate policies triggered a demand bubble for mortgages, resulting in GSEs mortgages portfolio exploding to approximately $3.2 trillion in 2007, Carosio (2010). Blundell-Wignall and Paul Atkinson (2008a) have empirically modeled the impact of Basel II introduction in 2004 on RMBSs acceleration (see Summary of result in Figure 2). In 2004, many other financial institutions which continued to operate under Basel I immediately responded to this regulatory arbitrage opportunity by rapidly accelerating mortgage lending through extensive off-balance sheet securitization vehicles (SIV), while awaiting Basel II to become fully operational. Figure 1 Figure 2: Model-based Contributions to the RMBS Explosion RISK CONCENTRATION AND REGULATORY ARBITRAGE The Basel system defines Risk adjusted Capital requirement based on a mathematical model many assumptions, most notably the portfolio invariance assumption; that is risk adjusted capital charges should depend only on the risk of that loan, not on the portfolio to which it is added Atkinson et al (2008b, p.72). Mathematically speaking, capital charges for credit risk exposures of mortgage loan rises linearly with respect to holdings in that assets type, but remain independent to the exposure size that is, appropriate diversification is simply assumed! Blundell-Wignall et al.(2010, p.4). Such assumption facilitates the application of mathematical models underpinning Bank capital rules with the convenience of simple additivity. However, not only portfolio invariance rules out the importance of specific risk diversification and its impact on the overall portfolio risk, but it also most importantly fails to consider the concentration risk in the portfolio. This created an arbitrage oppo rtunity created that enable banks to expand their investment in profitable mortgage lending by significantly leveraging their capital without considering the danger of excessive risk concentration mortgage assets. THE NORTHERN ROCK EXAMPLE Northern rock, a key player in the UK mortgage market, was one of the first banks to anticipate Basel II and choose IRB approach. The Bank aggressively concentrated and grew its mortgage assets by excessively rolling short-term debt. Northern rocks rapid expansion of mortgage products in anticipation of Basel II was fully fueled by massive liquidity funding on wholesale markets which regrettably did not properly match with its liabilities. As a result, the explosion of the subprime meltdown (with falling house prices, collapse of CDOs markets and huge default mortgages products, liquidity frozen on financial markets), Northern rock to suffered a bank run; the first bank run recorded in Britain since 1866. Northern rock achieve considerable average annual assets growth rate estimated to 20% and concentrated more than 75 % of its assets in mortgage related assets to lower their capital charges. The regulatory arbitrage opportunity led the bank to forgo an equity building culture for credit expansion culture based on debt building in order to uplift shareholders return on capital and share price, Atkinson, Lee et al (2008, p.9). In June 2007, as the subprime earthquake began to erupt, Northern Rock recorded GBP 2.2bn equity capital and GBP 113bn total assets, making the bank one of the most highly leveraged in the midst of the liquidity turmoil. Their risk weight asset under Basel II was GBP 19bn, equivalent to 16.7 % total assets; while Under Basel I their capital charges amounted to GBP 34bn (a ratio of 30 % to total assets), Atkinson, Lee et al (2008, p.9). Bank of England intervened with  £23 billion liquidity injection; approximately 15times the amount of regulatory capital required by Basel II [ £1.52 billion], Rochet (2008, p.7). MORAL HAZARD AND THE ROLE OF CREDIT RATING AGENCIES In the IRB approach risk inputs are subjective and this exacerbates moral hazard problems in the banking system in the absence of a tight and robust supervisory framework. Off balance sheet and over the counter risk exposures (like CDSs) were not fully observable by financial regulators. Also, the unavailability of sufficient historical data (about new structured financial products) made it a difficult task for quantitative risk managers to model and forecast risk exposures; increasing the tendency of banks to become less transparent in risk disclosure and manipulate inputs in risk modeling to reduce their bank capital requirements, Blundell-Wignall and Atkinson(2008b). According to Bair (2007), Chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦ the key risk inputs that drive the advanced approaches are subjective ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦ unreliable and unproven. In the context of the subprime crisis, financial regulators failed to e xercise higher level of due diligence vis-à  -vis the reliability and accuracy of IRB system of banks. As a result of risk was mispriced and capital charges were inconsistently lower with regard to actual risk. The role of Credit Rating Agencies in the financial turmoil 07/08 has been extensively discussed. External rating by CRAs is a fundamental part of risk assessments approaches under pillar I (Basel II). CRAs, legally authorized risk experts, were trusted enough not only with the potential to advise banks on risk rating and analytics, but also with the capability to provide credible, consistent and accurate inputs to risk ratings, based on which regulatory bank capital are charged. However, this overreliance in CRAs turned to be scandalous, particularly regarding the misprice of risk associated to senior tranches of CDOs that were rated triple AAA, making them seem riskless and very attractive to investors. As matter of fact CRAs boosted the demand CDOs which eventually hel ped boost the housing bubble. Also, the misprice of risk, led to insufficient capital buffers that has significant increased the magnitude of banks vulnerability due to excessive risk concentration in subprime related exposures. PRO-CYCLICALITY EFFECTS Heid (2003), Gordy and Howells (2004), Pederzoli et al (2009) provide substantial evidence of pro-cyclical effects of risk-sensitive bank capital requirement. While asset prices tend to increase the upper phase of the business cycle, in contrast, the riskiness of assets tend to fall, encouraging bank to take on extra risk and aggressively compete to increase their profit in so called good times. Brunnermeier, Goodhart et al (2009, Page xii) argued that competitive forces activates an automatic disciplinary mechanism, causing banks to respond to the dynamics of markets development during economic booms by: (i) expanding their balance sheets to take advantage of the fixed costs of banking franchises and regulation (ii) trying to lower the cost of funding by using short-term funding from the money markets and (iii) increasing leverage. According to Nickell et al. (2000), Bangia et al. (2002), macroeconomic and market conditions are keys drivers of asset values, stock market volatil ity and credits risk factors across the entire business cycle. It therefore becomes rational that risks vary in line or pro-cyclically with the business cycle, increasing the tendency to lax risk judgments in good times and overestimate them is bad times. Dowd (2009, p.161) and Repullo and Suarez (2009) explained how risk inputs in IRB and external rating (CRAs) tends to be less rigorous in times of economic booms as compared to recession times, leading to degrade risk weights in expansion phases of the business cycle. This ultimately resulted in lower capital charges in good times, as we have witnessed during the recent housing bubble, encouraging credit expansion through excessive leveraging of capital when a downturn is most probable. Dowd (2009) argued that the procyclicality of Basel II risk sensitive capital requirement contributed to the severity of crisis. Figure 3 is a perfect graphical illustration of risks fluctuation over the business cycle in the United States. The char t is graphical representation of the trends in aggregate assets as a ratio of risk-weighted assets over the US business cycle (represented by trends in GDP). We could easily observe that risk weighted assets followed a downward trend during the high tech bubble also referred to as the dot com bubble (1998-2000). Oppositely, following the bursting of the dotcom bubble which triggered the 2001 recession, risk weighted asset took an upward sloping trend. The same procyclical effects were also remarkable in the last phase housing bubble with the introduction of Basel II in 2004. Figure 3: US GDP and Total Assets/Risk-weighted Assets Blundell-Wignall and Atkinson (2008b) argued the IRB approach and external rating of CRAs (Under pillar I) exacerbated this procyclicality impact. He explained that neither banks nor CRAs predicted with complete accuracy future asset prices and stock market volatility. They all based their risk rating estimations of probability of default and loss given default based on actual business cycle conditions. Financial innovations (CDOs, CDS) facilitated regulatory arbitrage by making possible for banks to reduce their capital charges by either shifting risk off balance through SIV (motor of securitization process) or transferring credit risks to other financial counterparts by trading CDSs. Faulty risk assessments permitted banks to become highly leveraged, up to 40:1, Blundell-Wignall et al (2008a). Basel II over-relied on both banks internal risk rating models and credit rating agencies risk assessments which unfortunately turned out to be too procyclical. FAILINGS IN BANKING SUPERVISION: PILLAR 2 AND 3 Pillar 2 emphases on the banking supervision process in which prudential supervisors stress test banks soundness and provide them with essential prudential guidance to ensure that they hold sufficient capital buffers for risks that might have been overlooked under Pillar 1. An effective banking supervision review process requires a forward looking approach with dynamic provisioning of capital charges to effectively in counteract all risks misjudgments under Pillar I. The extraordinary complexity large financial institutions and instruments and fast pace nature of financial markets movement makes a challenging task for supervisors to keep themselves updated with dynamic markets practices, structures and complexity, and to forecast with accuracy futures markets volatility and assets prices, Blundell-Wignall (2008a, p75) . The subprime crisis was mainly a sequel of massive supervisory failures. It is interesting to know that Bair (2007), Chair of the FDIC, expressed dubious concerns o n regulators ability to mitigate the shortcoming of risk-sensitive bank capital rules. He argued that the unreliability of capital adequacy standards makes it even more rational to question the ability of ill-equipped financial supervisors in overcoming the defects of capital standards requirements (in Pillar I). Scientists including astronauts, physicians, engineers and mathematicians are now heading quantitative risk modeling teams within large financial institutions. These risk modelers often called quant determine internal risk tolerance using extremely complex mathematical financial models such as Value at Risk models (VaR), (the most widely used risk model, often discredited for being alarmingly sophisticated, inaccurate and grounded in misleading assumptions), Dowd(2009). Dowd (2009, p.148) argued that sophisticated VaR Models used by banks are unreliable due to high level complexity (and so greater scope for error), less transparency (making errors harder to detect), and gre ater dependence on assumptions (any of which could be wrong). Banking supervisor were far behind latest trends of financial innovation, particularly in risk management, and as a result could not match the level of expertise of investment banks quantitative risk modelers. Regulators did not have skills to accurately assess and control risk-taking and dynamically gauge capital charges. Not only supervisors overrated internal risk management models, but their extreme lasses-faire attitude vis-à  -vis banks potential to adequately manage their risk exposures internally created exorbitant moral hazard problems that eventually ruined institutional risk management systems and corporate governance. For example, in the United Kingdom, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), renown as one of the best highly sophisticated financial supervisors with qualified staffs, authorized Northern Rock adherence to Basel II IRB approach. Though FSA fully understood that this decision would significantly reduce and weaken Northern Rocks capital, but it couldnt exercise supervisory due diligence and prevent the bank from compounding risk taking, expanding lending through leveraging of capital, excessively concentrating its assets in mortgages products to benefit lower capital charges. Pillar 3 places emphasis on market discipline and disclosure and enforce sanctions to ensure sound and transparent risk management practices within banks. Having discussed the shortcomings of the supervisory review process, the unreliability and subjectivity of risk inputs in internal risk management models (under IRB approach), and the procycilaty of risks, it is rational to be skeptical about the accuracy risk reporting. How can supervisors ensure market discipline if they can properly assess risk themselves? Financial markets volatility and bubbles, and the complexity of new structured financial securities make the mark-to-market reporting complicated and inaccurate. In addition, risk reporting fo r OTC traded derivatives and off-balance exposures are extremely difficult and very demanding for both to supervisors and insiders; giving enough room to these last one to manipulate their institutional risk management system to achieve higher return, hence worsening moral hazard problems. KPMGs Audit Committee research survey (2008) indicated out of 1 080 audit committee members (including 150 in the UK), only 38% were satisfied with internal risk reporting, Kirkpatrick (2009, p.11). FINANCIAL INNOVATION AND SYSTEMIC RISK Though deficiencies of the Basel system enable financial institutions to lower their capital requirement and expand mortgage lending to uplift returns, the debate about casual distortions in banking regulation cannot be ended without further elaborating on the key role played by financial innovations both in the housing bubble and the spread of systemic risk. As financial institutions aggressively sought after higher return in the midst of the global liquidity bubble, the crisis recorded an uncontainable explosion of highly complex financial innovations on a global scale. Credit Default Swaps (CDSs) and Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs) are incontestably the most popular structures financial products that have played a critical role in the financial crisis, see Figure 45. In simple terms, CDOs are bonds underlying pools of asset back securities such as mortgages; and CDSs is a credit risk transfer contractual agreement between a buyer and a seller, where by the seller agrees t o compensate the buyer in the event of default in exchange of periodic fee till the CDS contract reaches maturity. The originate distribute model enabled banks off load risks from their balances through structured investment vehicles (SIVs) and facilitated credit risks transfer to a wide spectrum of investors into wider markets. Figure 4 Figure 5: Growth in CDS Before the crisis, many were those who firmly believed that the securitization will strengthen financial stability through effective dispersion of credit risk, making macroeconomic and adverse financial shocks easily absorbable and spread across a diversified pool of investors, Shin (2009). Before the subprime crisis, the IMF (2006,p.51) also believed that the dispersion of credit risk by banks to a broader and more diverse group of investors, rather than warehousing such risk on their balance sheets, has helped make the banking and overall financial system more resilient. When the subprime crisis erupted, everyone i ncluding Financial regulators got to realize that risk transfer through securitization can contribute to financial fragility and increase systemic risk in the absent of adequate supervision. Demyanyk and Hemert (2007) and Keys et al. (2007) provide solid empirical evidence that securitization eroded sound principles of underwriting standards and resulted in very poor credit quality. According to Aloko and Tuson (2010, p.6), the Mortgage Meltdown marked the end of this age of ignorance and lifted the veil on the ugly truth of securitization. It is very regrettable that prudential regulators neglected the simple fact that credit risks transfer will enhance financial stability in the short run but at the detriment of rising systemic risk in the long run. The more risk is transferred through complex and highly leveraged financial instruments (such as CDSs or CDOs), the stronger becomes interdependencies and financial linkages between counterparts within the financial system, hence the h igher level of systemic risk! Regulators overlook the danger of CDOs and CDSs systemic risk exposures and how this exposure could be managed if the worst comes to the worst Chorafas (2009, p. xii). SLUMBERING REGULATORS AND SYSTEMIC RISK Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac (GSEs) grew their mortgage portfolios from $160Bn to $1.5 trillion between 1990 and 2003, and then to approximately $3.2 trillion in 2007, Carosio (2010). The senior tranches of CDOs were rated AAA by CRAs, making them appear very attractive and as safe as US government bonds, while in reality they were very risky junk bonds. The markets for CDOs grew rapidly to approximately $1.2 trillion by the end of 2007 according to IMF statistics. CDSs markets was over the counter, out of control, unlimited and significantly exploded to feed investors natural instincts to mitigate their credit risk exposures to collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). Investment banks heavily traded CDSs to hedge against their excessive risk concentration in mortgage related assets; over $60 trillion CDSs were outstanding in the wake of the subprime meltdown (Dowd 2009, p46). CDSs eventually became a major source of revenues for many financial institutions and large insurance companie s. For example Lehman Brothers had approximately $ 400Bn outstanding CDSs obligations to honor, Brettell Karen(2008). A greater systemic trouble would have evolve if the US federal government did not provide $170Bn immediate assistance to AIG, which was also on the edge of bankruptcy with over a $1.6 trillion in CDSs obligations to counterparts including US large investment banks and many other large financial institutions across the globe. Lehmans bankruptcy in Sep 2008, the greatest of financial story, triggered a systemic spread of credit defaults and financial panic on international financial markets. The fear of counterparties risk severely contracted liquid on interbank markets as banks felt insecure lending to each other, see figure 67. The systemic fallout of Lehman Brothers collapse has exacerbated the liquidity crisis and the international market situation, which had been unsettled for more than a year, see: Bank of France Commission Bancaire (2008). Rapid propagation o f contagion risk led to uncontainable systemic breakdown that undermined global financial stability and exacerbated financial markets distress. The lack of due diligence and inability of financial regulators to impose markets discipline and anticipate the systemic implications uncontrolled financial innovations (complex securitizations, unlimited networks of toxic CDS) compounded systemic risk and resulted in a highly leveraged and fragile banking system. According to Chorafas (2009, p. xiii) financial regulators including FSA, SEC watched this happening in the false belief that markets correct their own excesses. They all got it wrong, and macroprudential regulation inevitably failed. Figure6: Three month and interbank rate Figure7: Financial market liquidity indexes Source: Bloomberg: (e) Lehman Brothers Bankruptcy Source: Bank of England, 2009 POOR MACRO-PRUDENTIAL SURVEILLANCE Based on the experiences of past financial crises, Davis E P (1999) examined financial data and macroeconomic indicators needed for macro-prudential surveillance. The table below show a cross county study that indicates different factors which have led to historical episodes of financial crises across the globe, see Table 2. It is interesting to notice that most factors which caused financial crises in the past as the same which triggered the recent global financial turmoil. There is enough reason to believe that regulators either have chosen to be blind and neglect all early signal of the development systemic risk in financial system, or they were incapable to impose market discipline on banks. The debt bubble originating from both macroeconomic imbalances and extensive securitization, the excessive risk concentration in mortgage products, the housing bubbles, decline in lending standards, faulty risk reporting and supervisory systems, uncontrolled financial innovations, unlimited trade of toxic OTC derivatives (CDSs) were clear symptoms that a financial crisis was under way. These alarming alerts should have been timely addressed to prevent or contain the severity of the recent financial turbulence. Do regulators really learn from their past mistakes, many were the warning signals to the subprime meltdown, debt accumulation financial innovation and risk concentration, unfortunately as the Larosià ¨re report confirm there was no regulatory responses till these embryonic systemic risk signals fully developed and engulfed the entire the financial system. The High-level group on financial supervision in EU (Report 2009, p40) affirmed to have identified macro-prudential risks there was no shortage of comments about worrying developments in both macroeconomic imbalances and the lowering price of risk, for example; [However] there was no mechanism to ensure that this assessment of risk was translated into action. Table 2: Macro-prudential surveillance indicato rs Davis E P (1999) THE UK EXAMPLE In the United Kingdom, macro-prudential regulation failed due defects in the tripartite regulatory system introduced by Gordon brown in 1997 under which the banking supervision functions were separated from Bank of England and delegated to an independent and well structured financial regulator (FSA). In the context of regulatory failures in the UK, it is no longer a secret that the FSA overemphasized on micro-prudential regulation (the supervision of individual financial institutions) and unfortunately paid less attention to systemic risk developments in the financial system (macro-prudential supervision). The FSA not only failed enforce market discipline on banks excessive risk taking and leverage (Northern rock case) but also had no capabilities to gauge systemic risk and stress test the stability of the UK financial system as a whole. The tripartite structure resulted in imperfect information flows between the Bank of England and the FSA, leaving the central bank with no powers over the banks and a bank regulator with no remit to monitor the bigger picture Osborne (2009, p.15). A clear lesson to retain from the financial is that systemic risk has significantly grown in todays globalized financial system and as such a perfect coordination between micro and macro prudential regulation is imperative to ensure financial stability.

Essay about Personal Challenges - 1053 Words

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I will follow my weekly |homework by enjoying my hobbies such as |assertiveness program so that I can learn | | |schedule and budget time according to |bicycling and going to the movie theaters. I |techniques. I will read self-help books on | | |priorities. I will spend two hours each day |will get adequate sleep and rest. |avoiding procrastination. | | |doing school work. I will learn to be more | | | | |assertive and say no when it conflicts with my |Show MoreRelatedEssay on Personal and Professional Challenges1607 Words   |  7 PagesPersonal and Professional Challenges Mojgan Soltani NURS 391 March 18, 2013 Sharon Thompson Personal and Professional Challenges Challenge is often viewed as a negative and rejecting word. In reality life would not move forward without unfavorable factors. Life is a series of pleasant and unpleasant elements and events combined together to take us to our desired destination. 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Forecasting and New Car Registrations Free Essays

1. There are 3 primary ways to achieve competitive advantage. Provide an example, not included in the text of each. We will write a custom essay sample on Forecasting and New Car Registrations or any similar topic only for you Order Now Support your choices. 2. Why should one study operations management? 3. Explain how higher quality can lead to lower cost. 4. What happens to our ability to forecast as we forecast for periods farther into the future? 5. What are the differences between goods and services? 6. Explain the 3 basic functions of a firm. 7. How must an operation strategy interact with marketing and accounting? 8. Kleen carpet cleaned 65 rags in October, consuming the following resources: Labor Solvent Machine rental520 hours at $13 per hour 100 gallons at $5 per gallon 20 days at $50 per day a)What is the labor productivity? b)What is the multifactor productivity? c)What is the percentage change if Kleen Carpet can reduce the solvent used by 20 gallons? 9. Data collected on the yearly registration for a seminar at GIPS are shown in the following table: Year 1234567891011 Registrations (000)464510879121415 a)Develop a 3-year moving average to forecast registration from year 4 to year 12. )Estimate demands again for years 4 to 12 with a weighted moving average in which registration in the most recent year are given a weight of 2 and registration in the other 2 years are given a weight of 1. c)Graph the original data and the two forecasts. Which of the two forecasting methods seems better? 10. City Government has collected the following data on annual sales tax collections and new car registrati ons. Annual sales tax collections (in millions)1. 01. 41. 92. 01. 82. 12. 3 New car registrations ( in thousands)10121516141720 Determine the following )The least square regression equation. b)Use the results of part a, find the estimated sales tax collections if new car registrations total 22,000. 11. How does the operation management strategy change during a product’s lifecycle? 12. How does fear in the work place or class room inhibit learning? 13. What is the difference between production and productivity? 14. Pepsi is a global product; does it mean Pepsi is formulated the same way throughout the world? 15. Identify how changes in the internal environment affect the OM strategy for a company. For instance discuss what impact the following internal factors might have on OM strategy: a)Maturing of a product. b)Technology innovation in the manufacturing process. c)Changes in product design that move disk drives from 3 1/2-inch floppy disks to CD-ROM drives. 16. Identify how changes in the external environment affect the OM strategy for a company. For instance discuss what impact the following internal factors might have on OM strategy: a)Major increase in oil prices. b)Fewer young prospective employees entering the market. c)Inflation versus stable prices. d)Legislation moving health insurance from a benefit to a How to cite Forecasting and New Car Registrations, Essay examples

Understanding Rhetorical Structures as They Pertain to Audience free essay sample

This paper is about the understanding of the Rhetorical Structures as they pertain to audience, purpose, and context and how they affect the argument of whether taxes should be raised on higher income brackets in order to fund social programs for at-risk and underserved, low income children. We will write a custom essay sample on Understanding Rhetorical Structures as They Pertain to Audience or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I will discuss the relationship between the audience, purpose, and context to the context of the argument. Understanding Rhetorical Structures How do audience, purpose, and context affect the argument of whether taxes should be raised on higher income brackets in order to fund social programs for at-risk and underserved, low income children. I will discuss the relationship between the audience, purpose, and context to the context of the argument. Discussion The goal of this discussion is to see the relationship between audience, purpose, and context of should Taxes be raised for higher income brackets in order to fund social programs for at-risk, underserved, and low income children. The first audience for this group are wealth fortune 500 CEO’s. They are considered the in the higher income bracket in my opinion. They need to be educated on the understanding that even though most lower income families struggle, it is not because they are not trying. The economy has taken its toll on a lot of jobs here in the US over the past couple of years and even though they are working a full time job and sometimes two full time jobs, they cannot afford any kind of social program for their children. The present economy conditions are hurting the lower income families to the point that they struggle to make ends meet and can sometimes barley afford to put food on the table for their children. The higher income bracket would need to see just how little the additional taxes would take from them and what the benefits of those taxes could do for a low income family struggling to make ends meet. They still could possibly not be receptive to the idea, but giving them examples of the cost and benefits of such programs I think they would start to understand. The second audience for this group is the low income families of at-risk, and underserved, low income children. They need to be educated on the benefits that could come from the higher taxes. In my opinion, the higher income bracket can afford the higher taxes to fund some of these programs. The cost of living, food, gas, and housing all affect the income of many families in the US. If they understood what could come from the taxes, they could get some reissuance as to vote on such a bill if it came up to vote for the public. Education on the subject of the current tax laws would be a good example of what the different taxes brackets that are used today in the US. Lower income families would jump on the idea of being able to send their children to a soccer camp, or baseball camp. According to an article on â€Å"Taxing the rich is good for the economy†, raising taxes on the higher income bracket would reduce the taxes on low and middle income families. This would also allow for those families to keep more of their income to use towards these programs. All in all I think it would be a beneficial idea to entertain. The context of the economy, food, and taxes all play an important role in this argument. The higher income bracket would be resistant to the idea until they were presented with facts on the cost and the minimal decrease in income for them. The lower income families would be blessed with some relief with their children’s social experience and the ability to provide more learning resources to them.

How to Write a Book Report

How to Write a Book Report How to Write a Book Report School reports demonstrate one’s ability to present information in a clear, definitive and concise way. You, perhaps, think that such kind of essays are quite pointless and do not add anything to your knowledge or skills. This is not true: in our era of internet technologies we are becoming very careless about presenting a piece of information adequately and without distortions. Instead of describing the plot of a movie, for instance, we prefer expressing our personal opinion on it. The same is with books: our descriptions of the books we have read render only a small part of the books’ content. Thus, it happens that when a school student hears the phrase â€Å"book report†, he/she associates it with writing personal opinion or description of a very interesting situation from the book, and that’s all. However, writing a book report indicates good skills to understand the essence of a book and its message, and to present them properly and adequately. How to write a book report – essential tips Understand your task A task has its goal and context. You cannot accomplish it without realizing what is required from you. In such sense, a short conversation with your teacher is never needless. Ask him/her what you should do, in formal (regarding the structure and length of the essay) and substantial (regarding its contents) sense. Don’t be shy and talk freely with your teacher. Prepare yourself You should do this preparation by reading not only the particular book, but also some critical analyses on it. Criticism is very important when you are not familiar with the author’s biography, style, personal beliefs and interests, and so forth. However, you should not go too far in reading secondary literature, as it would enforce the critics’ opinions on your mind. Another flaw of students is to read secondary literature instead of the book in question. This is reasonable, if we take it for granted that it is difficult to read a 500-page book. But then, what is the sense to write a book report at all? You can rather write a report on the secondary literature available. Grasp the message Every work of art has to tell something to its audience. There is no such thing like art without meaning (even contemporary art has a message for us). Different writers have various ways for telling the message; one way is to manifest it through characters’ actions and interactions; second way is through the narrator (who could explain what is happening and why); third way is through writing an afterword. This, let’s say it again, depends on the personal style of every author. Messages are usually very abstract. They concern social (alienation), economical (poverty), political issues (war), or explore existential topics (the meaning of life, love, friendship, loneliness). There may be a series of â€Å"small† messages, and one â€Å"big† message which serves as a basis for the whole book. Brevity is the soul of wit Do not describe too much. Your task is to write a report. Traditionally, school reports are a few pages long. The key is the proper structure of the essay, and particularly, the correlation between its parts. We recommend you the following: 1. Introduction: three or four sentences regarding the topic will do. 2. Main part: information about the author: one short paragraph; plot description: two or three paragraphs. It should not exceed one-fourth of the whole text of the report; characters: take two or three characters as points of departure. Tell about their interactions this may take up to four paragraphs; message: try to connect it logically with the previous point. The length of this part may take several paragraphs (again not more than one-fourth of the report), including references to some critical analyses. Here you can also use short quotes from the book in order to prove that your interpretation is correct. 3. Conclusion: you can recapitulate the main topic of the book and its message. The problem how to write a book report seems to be solved when you have enough knowledge about the book and the author in question. Just be careful with your style of writing and structure of the essay. Revise it carefully and then hand it over to your teacher.

How to Write Narrative Paragraphs in English

How to Write Narrative Paragraphs in English Narrative paragraphs are often used to describe what a person does over a period of time. Read this example narrative paragraph, notice how words like later are used to connect what happens. Yesterday evening I got home from work at 6 oclock. My wife had painstakingly prepared a delicious  dinner which we ate immediately. After I had cleaned up the kitchen, we watched TV show which had been recommended by my friend. Then, we got dolled up for a night on the town. Our friends arrived at about 9 oclock and we chatted for a while. Later, we decided to visit a local jazz club and listen to some bebop for a while. The mad musicians really blew their horns. We really enjoyed ourselves and stayed late only leaving after the band had played their final audacious set.   Tips on Tenses Use the  simple past for succession of events: Narrate with the simple past tense when events follow each other. here are some examples. Notice that each event occurs in succession. I got up and went to the kitchen. I opened the door and looked into the fridge.She arrived in Dallas, took a cab, and checked in to her hotel. Next, she had some dinner in a restaurant. Finally, she visited a colleague before she went to bed. Use the  past continuous for interrupted actions: To express that an action is interrupted, use the past continuous to describe what was happening when there was an interruption. Use the past simple with the action that interrupts what was happening. Finally, as we were discussing the issue, the teacher walked into the classroom. Obviously, we stopped talking immediately.Sharon was working in the garden when the telephone rang. Use the  past perfect for previous actions: To express something that was finished before another event in the past, use the past perfect. This is especially useful when providing an explanation for what happened. We decided to go out and celebrate because we had just finished remodeling our home.Janet didnt join us for dinner as she had already eaten. Use the  past perfect continuous for the length of actions: The past perfect continuous is used to express how long something had been happening up to a point in time in the past. We had been hiking for more than ten hours and it was time to call it a day.She had been nagging him for months to get a better job when he finally was hired. Linking Language Starting sentences with a time expression: Start sentences with linking phrases such as Then, Next, Finally, Before that, etc. to connect sentences and show time relationships in your narrative writing.   First, we flew to New York on our great adventure. After New York, we moved on to Philadelphia. Then, it was on to Florida for some scuba diving.After breakfast, I spent a few hours reading the newspaper. Next, I played softball with my son.   Use time clauses to show relationships in time: Use before, after, as soon as, etc. to introduce a time clause. Pay special attention to the use of tenses with time clauses. Begin a sentence with a time clause, but use a comma before the main clause. OR Begin with the main clause and end with the time clause using no comma. After we had finished our homework, we watched a funny movie.They attended a meeting as soon as they arrived in Chicago.   Descriptive Language   When writing a narration, its a good idea to include descriptive language to help readers get a feeling for what happened. Here are some suggestions on how to make your writing more descriptive. Use adjectives to modify nouns. Nothing is more boring than a sentence such as  We went to the store.  Its easy to modify  store  to be more precise as well as descriptive.  We went to a big box electronics store  is much more interesting.   They bought a car. - They bought a used red Italian car.She planted a tree. - She planted a young oak tree. Use prepositional phrases such as in the corner  and  across from the bank  to give an idea of where something happens, as well as the relationships between objects. After we arrived, we were shown to our table at the back of the restaurant.The car was parked around the corner on the other side of the street.   Use relative clauses to further describe and provide information about important details in your narration. After that, we enjoyed a tasty glass of wine which was grown locally.Next, we took the car which we had rented in Los Angeles and drove to San Francisco.   Written Exercise - Using Past Verbs and Prepositions Write out the following sentences on to a piece of paper to form a paragraph based on the narrative paragraph above. Conjugate each verb in the past and provide the correct prepositions. Yesterday evening Jack _____ (get) home _____ (preposition) half past five.He immediately _____ (make) himself a cup _____ (preposition) coffee and _____ (sit down) to read a book.He _____ (read) the book _____ (preposition) half past seven.Then, he _____ (make) dinner and _____ (get ready) to go out with his friends.When his friends _____ (arrive), they _____ (decide) to go out to see a film.He _____ (stay out) until midnight with his friends.Finally, he _____ (fall) asleep _____ (preposition) about one oclock. Written Exercise - Making Your Writing More Interesting Rewrite the following sentences using descriptive language to spice up your writing.   After that, the man went home.  Later, we drove to a restaurant.  He had finished the report before I gave the presentation.  The children attended the class.My friends asked for help.   Adding Linking Language Exercise Now that you have a good feeling for the form of a narrative paragraph. Fill in the gaps in this paragraph providing appropriate linking language to complete the paragraph. _________ I drove my rusty old car to visit my best friend. _______ I arrived, he had done his best to prepare a tasty meal. ________, we took a long walk through the park next to his home. __________ we had been out for more than an hour, my friend asked me if I could keep a secret. _________, I swore not to tell anyone anything. _________ he recounted a wild tale of a crazy night out on the town __________. ________, he told me he had met the woman of his dreams and that they were to get married ___________. Imagine my surprise!

Leadership Plan Addendum Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Leadership Plan Addendum - Research Paper Example Leaders have to go through different stages of learning which will help to avoid the errors that one may encounter in the initial stages when one takes up leadership position. This paper will develop a greater understanding of risk issues that will have an impact on Simcenter, Inc. and their leadership styles. SimCenter, Inc. is one the nation’s leading pilot training facilities in the United States and is privately owned by the George Family from its headquarters in Miami, Florida. SimCenter has been providing flight training instructions for over ten years and has built is reputation on providing the airline industry well trained and highly experienced pilots. Air carriers seek pilots trained by SimCenter both nationally and internationally because of their professionalism. Although SimCenter has primarily been a training center for commercial carriers that have large aircraft such as Airbus300 series, Boeing 737s, and Boeing 757s; it is uniquely positioned to profit from both current pilot shortages and hiring requirements of National and International carriers by leasing pilots and creating a charter airline to the Bahamas. This new venture is based on Porter’s Value Chain Theory, which explains the need of producers to provide products and services at the same level of customer demands (Value Chain, 2005). Value chain of any organization reflects its history, the strategy and the approach to implementing the strategy, and the economics of the activities. The purpose of a value chain is to create a process or product that would generate profits. According to Porter, adding value is a strategic means to achieve profit and competitive advantage. Traditionally different business functions perceived and created value differently. Under Porter’s model profitability and market control can be maintained if an organization controls all aspects of the buying experience including supplies,

Eyvonne's Theory's Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Eyvonne's Theory's - Essay Example This theory attempts to explain different masculinities by questioning what was taken for granted in existing understandings of nature and society, they revealed such knowledge as male knowledge which gave a spurious legitimacy to women's inferiority. This theory could help to change the role of men as national leaders and sport stars. By redefining the most intimate of human relations as political, rather than as private, radical feminists politicized sexuality and exposed men's normal, everyday behavior as a widespread social problem. The approach is to revise the status of women in the society and gives them more freedom and independence in political and social spheres (Reinharz and Davidman 23). Social constructivism allows a researcher to explain and examine how social processes develop in social environments. Applied to masculinity, this theory helps to examine gender differences as social constructed phenomena and social interaction. This theory attempts to explain different masculinities to explain how people make sense of experience in everyday interaction or in problem-solving activities. Social constructivism ought to be useful in predicting how any given set of circumstances might be changed to improve the opportunities of persons who wish to learn in such situations. Masculinities can be thought of as a social process of making sense of experience in terms of what is known. To improve social relations, therefore, a n individual might consider how to improve the quality of each of the four components (i.e., social process, making sense, experience, extant knowledge). Social constructivism might offer a solution to such problems as socialized gender roles and health related problems. This theory can help men to think in terms of improving the quality of their health, providing a range of meaningful experiences to each learner, and making it possible for each one to become aware of their relevant prior knowledge and apply it to the process of healthy life style. The solution is to change traditional gender roles based on real life experience and knowledge (Reinharz and Davidman 38). Part 2 "Fear of Falling" vividly portrays social and personal problem s faced by middle class women in modern society. Liberal feminism could help to analyze and examine problems and roots of social identity and professional development. Many women have followed a long tradition of campaigning for improved rights and opportunities for women without seriously questioning the existing organization of society (Orenstein 53). Gender socialization of adolescents is influenced by modern social relations which are concerned primarily with concepts of justice and equality. Women suffer injustices because of their sex and are organized around campaigns for equality and redistribution: equal pay, equal civil rights, equal access to education, health and welfare, equal access to the democratic political process (Reinharz and Davidman 102). A research plan would aim to test the main concepts and notions which influence professional life of women and their social relations. The hypothesis would be based on the idea that women are widely discriminated against because of their gender, but does not identify the relations between the sexes as specific power relations. The hy

Factors Effecting Erp Implementation In Smes Management Essay

Factors Effecting Erp Implementation In Smes Management Essay Information systems gained popularity as these automate all management related function that an organisation needed. Large organisations implement ERP information systems that integrate all data and processes together. With increase in popularity of SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) and their collaboration with large enterprises, SMEs needed an ERP system which at first can automate all of their business functions and secondly they can work with large enterprises. However their successful implementation in SMEs remains an issue. As SMEs are short of resources and financially weak so they need to install an ERP system successfully so that they can avoid chances of failure. For this reason this research has been conducted to critically analyse success factors of ERP adoption. Case studies will be selected and analysis has been made on them to find out the successful elements of their implementation. At last in conclusion a general frame work will be made to help SMEs to implement ERP system successfully. Background: Today the whole world has become a global village in which organisations are competing with each other to improve their productivity and generate profits. This is not generalised to only large organisations as it has been observed from last decade that small and medium size organisations are also taking part in this race (Chen, 2001). Organisations are moving fast to adopt a package that can help their management and functional needs. They require an Enterprise package that can fulfil their demands. ERP is the solution for the enterprises, in current case for small and medium size organisations. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) gained its popularity in 1990 as an integrated application. Its functionality is to integrate different functions together and provide a common database to users and departments, with many advantages more specific to reduced inventory and improved profits. ERP evolution starts in earlier 70s when manufacturing companies were using MPS (Master Production Schedule) technique. Function of this technique was to specify the end or finished product that is required in planning period. This type of technique only did the production and scheduling of final product. Whereas manufacturing organisations required not only final product planning but they also needed planning and scheduling of raw materials associated with that final product. Therefore firms obtained MRP (Material Requirement planning) that can differentiate between final product, its parts and raw material. This technique performed production planning and inventory control in the manufacturing p rocess. Basic functionality of this system was planning and scheduling of manufacturing process. This technique became popular and in 1980s MRP systems were expanded and MRP II was introduced, it was not only production planning technique but it also integrated primary functions like (production, finance and marketing etc) into planning process. Because of this technique popularity and effectiveness in planning and production process organisations tend to move to this technique. In 1990s MRP II was further expanded into ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning). The main difference between ERP and MRP II is that ERP plans and schedule supplier resources by keeping customer service in mind (Chen, 2001 and Gupta, 2000). The purpose of the research is to identify success factors of ERP adoption in SMEs. Researches done in this area were deficient of some of the key points. From last couple of years research has been conducted to critically identify success factors of implementing ERP in SMEs. (Kale et al, 2010) did study in identifying success factors of Indian SMEs and their research was based on both qualitative and quantitative. (Snider et al, 2009) studied on five Canadian SMEs but some of their critical success factors lack cultural issues. (El Sawah et al, 2008) and (Woo, 2007) both did research in SMEs, in which they covered only one country and further they intended to enhance their research by taking more SMEs of different countries. (Woo, 2007) explained in study that if cultural differences were given then considered success factors can be same to case studies in China and case studies of Western organisation. (Doom et al, 2010) used Belgian SMEs to research success factors. (Muscatello et al. 2003) did their research on four US manufacturing companies but the companies they choose were linked to large organisations and had annual revenues more then SMEs .(Loh and Koh, 2004) carried out their research in UK and their target was SMEs, they conducted interviews and distributed questionnaires. Their research is found to be more competent as compared to others but still they did not cover demographic issues.(Yusuf et al, 2004) conducted their research on Rolls Royce and found out answers of few success factors. From above studies it is obvious that most of the work has been done in large organisation and little researches were carried out on SMEs. Although, those studies considered SMEs for the research but covered only one region and were short of justification that how success factors of some specific part of world could be implemented in rest of the world. Key issues in successful implementation of ERP Key issues are the problems that arise during the implementation process. There are lot of problems that can affect ERP implementation process in SMEs which are detailed as below (Chen, 2001). Cost is one of the main issues that can fail ERP implementation. As ERP package requires huge finances and companies fail to successfully implement ERP package so they find it difficult to continue with their project. To choose right ERP package is another issue that SMEs have to take into account before implementation. Hershey Food Corp accounts SAP for their failure so choosing right ERP package is a big issue. ERP in SMEs requires some time complex customization because it focuses mostly on corporate giants. So customization is another big issue that can effect ERP implementation. Another main issue is analysis, which projects are failure and which are successful. Project failure and success all depends on judgment and analysis. Fox Meyer as mentioned below, states that their ERP systems did not fulfil their functionality and they marked that project as failure. It is explained in detail in literature review section. Likewise some enterprises termed their project failure because of cost. Project can be termed as success if they meet these criteria. It should be delivered on time It should meet project cost The project should deliver the functionality which that organisation wants. Research aim and objectives The main aim of this study is to propose a frame work for effective implementation of ERP in SMEs. This requires in depth study of literature review and case studies to critically evaluate success factors. The research will be based on the following research question: What are the key issues and problems being faced in the successful implementation of the ERP in small and medium enterprises (SMEs)? To what extent the ERP software contributes to the success factors in SMEà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s? In order to answer the above stated research questions the following stages will have to be achieved: To review and carry out in depth analysis of literature review while focal point will be ERP adoption. Critically analyse and identify success factors from different case studies. Match and analyse success factors of literature review with the case studies Develop a frame work of success factors which can help in implementing ERP successfully for Small and medium size organisations regardless of their region and cultural issues. SMEs case studies will be taken who have generally less level of employees. Case studies will be taken from different regions so that more in depth analysis will be done and cultural and demographic issues will be covered in that. This point is explained in much more detail in method of analysis section. Companies who have successfully implemented ERP application will be considered. Literature review According to (Snider et al, 2009) ERP uses common online database whose functionality is to share common database among users and enterprise functions. ERP is an integrated information system that is composed of information system and managerial thinking. One of its core purposes is to integrate all the dependent and independent information systems together and optimise systems performance. ERP system comprises of a database which is online and shared, an application with an integrated interface which means different interfaces are incorporated into one interface. (AL Mashari et al, 2003). ERP achieved its level of popularity in large manufacturing enterprises in 1990s. Large enterprises implemented it to automate their functions and to integrate all processes and data together. On the other hand as SMEs were getting popularity so after implementing ERP systems in large organisations ERP vendors now moved towards SMEs. There are many factors that can encourage SMEs to accept ERP systems. Poston and Grabski (2001) believed there are certain factors that motivate SMEs to adopt ERP systems: It can reduce cost as computer systems increases the efficiency process It can make decision making process accurate. (Oliver and Romm, 2000) suggested these reasons for ERP adoption in SMEs: Data and processes integration Avoid critical business risk Improvement of ongoing business operations. ERP adoption in SMEs is a challenging task especially when cultural issues arise. Cultural issues can occur at organisational values, means it can impact organisational structure and management or at individual value where it can impact how job works and how employees will conduct themselves if they belong to certain culture. (Straub et al., 2001). Developing countries face many problems when they use western technologies from developed countries. ERP encapsulates best business reusable practices in it. For this reason it became a demanding technology that it can use (Sawah et al, 2008) outlined cultural issue to be an important factor responsible for high demand of ERP in SMEs. With these motivational factors that attract SMEs to adopt ERP there is terrible side of this adoption as well where many ERP enterprises fail to adopt ERP systems. Below mentioned are cases of large enterprises but small and medium size enterprises can learn lesson from them by not to adopt that type of implementation. Fox Meyer Drug, a multi billion pharmaceutical company which files for bankruptcy and they blamed ERP system for their down fall. In its case, problems in ordering system leaded as system generated excessive orders more than demand which lead company to down fall. Renowned companies like Dell scrap their mega expensive project as they found system inflexible for their business. These are not only two examples of ERP failures but many other companies like Hershey, Boeing, Dow chemical etc faced same situation (Chen, 2001). In all these companies ERP systems leaded to failure and this was due to not having proper planning before installation. Above mentioned companies a re all large organisations whereas in case of small and medium size organisations, these can not bear the cost of ERP systems failure. This leads this research to critically analyse and find out the success factors in ERP adoption so that SMEs can avoid these failures. Difference Between SMES and Large enterprises: Significant amount of differences can be noticed between large and SME organisations. SMEs have informal structure and culture, their top management are found to be involved in day to day activities (Mintzberg et al., 2003,) while large organisations have structured departments and processes and their top management is not involved in daily activities (Buonanno et al, 2005). At the same time SMEs have limited resources in terms of research development, finance, human resource with limited clients and operates only in small scale (Kale et al, 2010). Due to these limited resources they find it difficult to implement projects that can be reengineered (Mc Adam, 2002). Besides these limited resources they are generating profit very well and for this reason many multinational companies in recent years collaborated with SMEs which have ERP systems installed in them. This collaboration made SMEs to adopt ERP package so that they can operate in parallel with these organisations (Rao, 2000). The major factor which can affect SMEs more as compared to large organisation is the cost as their limited resources donà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢t allow them to bear high cost of implementation. This is one of the main reasons that SMEs do not want implementation to be unsuccessful. Large organisation can somehow bear the cost as large number of stakeholders bank credits etc but SMEs do not have enough resources. (Mabert et al, 2003). This research is conducted so that it can help SMEs to implement ERP successfully. Proposed research method Most of the researches conducted are in large organisations and only few of them were for SMEs. Out of these researches some used only one case study while some used different case studies and their research method remained different as well because they used questionnaires and interviews to find out success factors. After brain storming and critically analysing previous literature review I decided to use the case study approach. For this reason I decided to identify critical success factors in SME while using multiple case studies. (Stuart et al, 2002) suggested that using case study is the best approach when previous research does not find to be inline with new context while taking multiple case studies can provide even more in depth analysis and portray clear picture of critical analysis(Snider et al, 2009). In case of our research qualitative analysis will be used. First thorough literature review will be studied by means of online journals, electronic books etc. It will help to find previous critical success factors of ERP adoption in SMEs. To give practical edge to research eight different case studies will be searched and from them critically analysis will be done to find out success factors of successfully implementing ERP project. These case studies are selected with relevance to the project title and literature review. They will provide in depth analysis of ERP adoption success factors. With the help of literature review and case studies a framework will be formed of successfully implementing ERP project. Method of analysis For this research case study analysis will be used. Data will be collected from previous research that has been done in this sector and also from small and medium size enterprises that have implemented their ERP application successfully. Case studies will be collected from different parts of the world so that no demographic issues can affect our final framework of success full factors. Then final analysis will be done in between success factors of United Kingdom and rest of the world case studies to observe how much variation is there if different regions are selected. This will be the final analysis and framework of the critical success factors. Research Limitations: This study is limited to small and medium size organisations and in some cases some arguments can be taken from the large organization in order to clarify them. This research is self explanatory as it focuses in ERP adoption system of SMEs. In addition to this study concludes with the framework of ERP critical success factors which if SMEs follows can lead their implementation to success. A provisional Timetable Gantt Chart

Bible Defines Human Nature Essay

                    According to the book of Genesis, man was created in the image of God. â€Å"God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.† Genesis 1:27   This means that man’s nature is godly. Because our almighty God is a holy God, man is also expected to be blameless before Him. But how come sin became inevitable to human nature? Isn’t it that man by nature is greedy and self centered? Other than that, the New Testament says that all have fallen short to God’s standard. Does it mean that the bible contradict itself?                  Meanwhile, western philosophers believe in the concept to tabula rasa. It’s a thesis that says that human beings are born without an inborn personality. Human personality is just a product of pile of experiences and is influenced by his surroundings. If a man doesn’t grow up in a good environment, it follows that his nature is not that good too. In other words, man was born as innocent creature without any sense of morality. We can say that being innocent is close to being blameless. Does it mean that the idea of tabula rasa supports the famous idea taken from Genesis?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   When we look at the Christian concept of salvation, we can conclude that the Gospel presents a clear explanation regarding this long time debate. Although the bible gives a seemingly contradicting explanation regarding the nature of human beings, still it supports each other when view it from Christian perspective.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   When we were born, we can’t deny the fact that we are innocent. Just like Adam and Eve, we don’t have any knowledge of sin. And as we look back on the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve became aware that they were naked when sin entered their life. Therefore we can conclude that our sinful nature starts when we lose our innocence.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As we grow old, our values are being by our family, community, church and media. Other than that, our personalities were shaped by our experiences. For those people who experienced rejection, they are more likely to develop pride and insecurities. It is also inevitable for them to hold grudges and bitterness. As we look at the bible, we can see that pride and bitterness are sin. Like pride and bitterness, greed is also a product of life experiences as well as family background and community involvement.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It means that sin is an inevitable part of life. As we grow old, they more we can acquire sin which is too far from having a godly nature. But the good news is that God made a way so that human can return to their blameless nature. He sent Jesus for us to be like his image again. Because of Jesus’ blood that was shed on the cross, we are forgiven of our sin and purified to become new creations. â€Å"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come.†Ã‚   2 Corinthians 5:17  Ã‚   This idea of Christ’s way of salvation supports the concept of sanctification.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   But sanctification is not a one time experience for Christians. They are experiencing a lifetime of sanctification as they grow in their relationship with Christ. If experiences can cause us to sin, our experiences can also be used by God to mold our characters. Our life is a preparation of our character, a way of sanctification until we meet Christ. It is the reason why the bible always compares Christ and church relationship with that of a groom and a bride. Bibliography The Bible League. The Devotional Study Bible. USA: Zondervan Corporation, 1987.