What is the best advice you have ever received?

Everything happens for a reason and this I can prove by looking back at previous experiences which made vital contributions to my personality. My name is (insert name of student here) and I am aiming for a good position in your credible university as a student majoring in Industrial Engineering. My personal and academic experiences made me realize the importance of taking up another level of this field since I can seek for broader opportunities in the future. I came from China and graduated there with a degree in Electrical Engineering and upon graduation, I still long for more knowledge relating to this field. I was too confused at that time of changing my career path since I am also fascinated in studying Industrial Engineering. I seek for a friend's advice and his name is (try to insert a friend's name here) and I was able to get the best advice that made a lot of difference in my life. My friend told me that I should go out of the country and try studying in the United States where they give the best quality of education. My friend gave me a life changing advice since he convinced me to step out of my homeland so I can make my dreams come true of taking up a different field of Engineering. I felt really blessed and relieved since I got the necessary support from my family who agreed to my decision of furthering my education abroad. I started to follow the advice given by my friend by having the necessary courage and never be intimidated by the fact that I will be in a foreign land. I utilized most of his words of wisdom by trying to seek for more details regarding the said country and seek for a credible institution that will help me fulfill my career. I am now in the point of my life were bravery and confidence is at its best. I will never loose hope and I will maintain my optimistic attitude especially when it comes to my future career. Taking the stand and going to the United States is indeed a worthy advice given by my friend. I am looking forward to spending my educational days at (insert name of university here) and learning more about Industrial Engineering. I believe that this University is capable of producing excellent Industrial Engineers in the future. I anticipate my future with success. Impossible is nothing for a person who shows dedication and passion for success. I will never be this confident if not by the help of my friend. He brings out the best in me by means of his encouraging words. I will follow what he told me because I know that it will make a difference in my career path. At the same time, choosing to study at (insert name of university here), will make all my dreams come true since I will be taking up a major in a university that recruits only the best and finest students. In addition there are wide array of academic resources on this university along with professors who are experts in the field of Industrial Engineering. Now is the right time for me to make all my dreams into reality. I am an optimistic person and considers problems as important factors that will make me a person stronger that before and well prepared for tomorrow. I will not let my friend down and I will follow what he told me when it comes to taking up the field of Engineering that I love most.

Ratio annlysis

Current ratio is always larger than quick ratio, it may because that inventory is overstated. Inventory turnover ratio has a relatively slight rise , it also can be an indicator for the overstated inventory.As per the current ratio, overstating inventory allows Santa to avoid booking expenses and reduces the cost of goods sold. It could also indicate obsolete stock problems. Ratio Explanation Account Key assertion The change in current ratio compared with the previous year, supports the idea that inventory could be overstated. As a decrease in inventory lead to a decrease in gross margin, the auditor would be concerned that inventory is overstated.Inventory Existence Overstating inventory allows Santa to avoid booking an expense now and also rates a larger asset base. By overstating inventory. Management can reduce the cost of good sale. In order to overstate inventory, management may book sales for inventory that does not exist or miscalculate costs . Days in inventory The increase in days in inventory inventory Existence and valuation As per the current ratio, overstating allows management to avoid booking expenses and reduces the cost of goods sold, it could also indicate obsolete stock problems.

Similarities and Difference Between Hinduism and Buddhism.

Similarities and difference between Hinduism and Buddhism. Buddhism believes in the process of reincarnation based on deeds of the present life. Hinduism also believes that everyone is a part of an impersonal world and therefore, one's soul reincarnates into another body of any being, based on the deeds of the present life. One has to work for salvation oneself and therefore, cannot blame others for the same. The salvation depends on the good deeds of a person. In Hinduism also, one attains salvation as per one's own fate and deeds. Both of them believe that there are many paths to attain enlightenment such as overcoming through your feelings and desires and controlling over the six conscious senses. Both the schools of thought believe that excessive attachment to things and people in the physical world causes pain and suffering. Therefore, we must get ourselves free from the illusions of ‘Maya' or worldly desires. Both of them gives an emphasis on the practice of meditation and other forms of yoga, which not only helps one to concentrate on the truth of life, but also facilitates the path of enlightenment and liberation. The Hindus believe in 300,000 Gods. Buddhism do follow some rituals but only in the form of meditation, and bowing and different forms of worship while offering prayer in the Buddhist temples. Buddhist practices also do not require any priests. The rituals, being followed by the Hindus are more complex and vary from birth to death of a person. Besides, priests do play important role in all the rituals. The Buddhists do not believe in the stages of life. People can join any of the stages any time depending upon their spiritual preparedness. The Hindus believe in the four stages of life What impact has a religious or spiritual tradition had on your life. I would have to say my parents. They are both Christians and raised me and my brother and sister as Christians. I was baptized and have attended church throughout the years. I have also gone to youth group and to youth camp. We do family devotions. My dad tries to get us all together at night. It is hard we all play sports or do other activities and sometimes we are tired. I like what the devotions say it is just I don’t always want to sit there and do it. I believe in God, it is just sometimes I have a hard time doing what I know I should do. Read the subsection on Mesopotamia and write two or three sentences to summarize it. All the Mesopotamian civilizations to follow – Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian – adopted Sumerian culture and made it their own. The Sumerians were the originators whom everyone copied. In addition to creating the first forms of writing, the Sumerians invented the plow, the wheel, and used bronze tools. Their impact was so great that we feel it today when we hear about the Great Flood. The Amorites were better known as Babylonians – named after the city they founded in central Mesopotamia called Babylon. Babylon became the most well-known city in all of Mesopotamia. The most famous king of the Babylonians was one of its earliest kings Hammurabi. Define or describe each of the following key terms from this section. Civilization- A complex culture in which large numbers of people share basic elements, such as a social structure, religion, and art. Patriarchal- Society in Mesopotamia was dominated by men. Circle the letter of the word that has the closet meaning to the boldface academic vocabulary words from this lesson. 1. A system of codes helped maintain order in early civilizations. C. regulations 2. Early civilizations focused on what the leaders believed were important goals for maintain their social structure. A. concentrated Egypt and Divine Kingship Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower Nile River. Egyptian civilization began around 3150 BC. Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh. The history of ancient Egypt occurred in a series of stable Kingdoms, separated by periods of relative instability known as Intermediate Periods: the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom, and the New Kingdom. Egypt reached a high of its power during the New Kingdom. Egypt was conquered by a succession of foreign powers in this late period. Egyptian monarchs had many titles, but the most common was pharaoh, which means â€Å"great house† or â€Å"palace. † 1. How did King Solomon Help Jerusalem become the capital of Israel? Under King Solomon the Israelites established control over all Palestine. Jerusalem became the capital of a united kingdom known as Israel. He expanded the government and encouraged trade. He is known for building the temple in Jerusalem. 2. How did Judaism give Jews strength? Judaism became a stateless religion. They believed God was not fixed to one place; he was lord of the whole world. It helped them maintain an identity as a people even though they did not have a state. 3. What Jewish beliefs are parts of Western tradition? Human beings are separate from nature and must struggle against it; human beings have a particular relationship to a supreme being, who watches over them. 4. How was Judaism unique among ancient religions of western Asia and Egypt? Asia and Egypt believed in many Gods. Judaism was monotheistic, being one God. It gave all people not just a ruler or priest, access to God. Judaism – People of Judah were Jews and their religion was called Judaism. Monotheistic – Belief in one God. Covenant – A contract with God’s people when lead out of bondage. Prophets – Religious teachers used by God to speak to his people. Ancient India Cast System and Hinduism/Buddhism will be covered. Cast System – Social and religious classification based on discrimination Hinduism – Religion whose followers believe in karma and reincarnation. Buddhism – Religion with a goal of achieving wisdom. Networks – Extended family used in caste system. Ancient China 1. In what way was the â€Å"mandate from Heaven† a powerful ruling force? This political belief said that a ruler was the ruler because Heaven had given the mandate. 2. How did the beliefs of Confucius indirectly support the â€Å"Mandate from Heaven†? He believed people were naturally good and every person could acquire knowledge and virtue if you had a virtuous leader. He believed in obedience to superiors. Confucianism – It was the same thing. He believed people were naturally good and every person could acquire knowledge and virtue if you had a virtuous leader. He believed in obedience to superiors. Core – In Chinese society the family is the core. The fathers place was very high. How did the law codes and religious beliefs develop in ancient civilizations? About 5,000 years ago, the first civilizations began to develop along river valleys. The rich, fertile farmlands of river valleys helped these civilizations to thrive. These early civilizations relied on a traditional economy based on farming. Many developed into cities with systems of government, social structures, and belief systems, laying the foundations for later civilizations. Through warfare and trade, these and other cultural achievements spread to new lands. The Hebrews developed Judaism, a monotheistic religion based on the worship of one God, whose laws are set out in the Torah and the Ten Commandments. In Egypt, the benefits of the Nile River supported the development of early civilization. The history of ancient Egypt is divided into three periods: Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, and New Kingdom. Religious beliefs about gods, values, and life after death affected ancient Egyptian life. India is a land of mountains, fertile plains, and arid regions. In the Indus River valley this civilization was taken over by the Aryans, who invaded India and destroyed many Indus Valley cities. Geography isolated early Chinese civilization, yet the people developed a writing system, literature, silk making, and other arts. They honored nature and ancestor spirits. How did the caste system influence the lives of people in ancient India? The Aryans divided their society into separate castes. Castes were unchanging groups. A person born into one caste never changed castes or mixed with members of other castes. Caste members lived, ate, married, and worked with their own group. At the top of the caste system were the priests, teachers, and, then warrior caste, farmers and merchants, and craft workers and laborers. The untouchables were the outcastes, or people beyond the caste system. Their jobs or habits involved â€Å"polluting activities† including any job that involved ending a life, such as fishing killing or disposing of dead cattle or working with their hides. Untouchables were often forbidden to enter temples, schools and wells where higher castes drew water. In some parts of southern India, even the sight of untouchables was thought to be polluting The Civilization of the Greeks Greek Ideas about Government The Greeks had a lot of different kinds of governments, because there were many different city-states in ancient Greece, and they each had their own government. In addition, people's ideas about what made a good government changed over time. Aristotle divided Greek governments into monarchies, oligarchies, tyrannies and democracies. For the most part, Greece began by having monarchies, then oligarchies, then tyrannies and then democracies, but at each period there were plenty of city-states using a different system, and there were many which never did become democracies or tyrannies at all. All Greek city-states seem to have been monarchies, ruled by kings. Homer's Iliad, and Greek mythology in general, shows us a whole series of kings like Agamemnon and Theseus, and some of their palaces have survived for archaeologists to dig up. Writing About History Persuasive Writing. How was the polis the center of Greek Life? â€Å"Polis† is the Greek word for a city-state. Some city-states were democracies; others were ruled by kings, who in Greek were called tyrants, a tyrant was just a king, not necessarily an evil or cruel. How important was the polis to Greek life? Let's put it this way there was no Greek life outside a polis. The entire Greek history is a history of rivalries between city-states. What was the citizen of Ancient Greece Like? Only Males who had: were 18, owned land, were free and both parents of the male had to be the children of citizens. Females, no matter how high born, could not become citizens. Slaves and Foreigners could not become citizens. Also, man slaves could not be citizens either. Citizens were expected to attend regular meetings, as well as serve in the army or navy. Who ran the Spartan government? They had two kings, hereditary monarchs; the kings were automatic members of the Gerousia, the council of 28 elders picked for life plus the two kings. Five ephors, chosen annually by popular election, had the main power. The final part was the assembly, made up of all Spartan citizens over 18. Why is Athenian democracy considered a model for American democracy? The founders of democracy in Athens exercised decisions through a direct democracy in which all male citizens were allowed to have direct influence on the decisions. Although in the United States today we accept democracy as a form of life it had its early beginnings in the city-states of Ancient Greece. The form of government known as democracy had its early roots in Ancient Greece but its influence has a direct connection with the type of government we have today in the United States. Today in the United States of America we have a representative democracy in which we appoint â€Å"representatives† through election. Define each of the following key terms. Polis – In ancient Greece, an independent city and its surrounding region under a unified government. Usually the town was walled and contained a citadel on raised ground acropolis and a marketplace agora. Tyrant – A tyrant was one who illegally seized and controlled a governmental power in a polis. Democracy – Is a government by the people or rule of many. Oligarchy – Is ruled by the few. Direct Democracy – Is a form of government in which people collectively make decisions for themselves, rather than having their political affairs decided by representatives. Without common goals, a community would have a community would have a difficult time maintaining order. (c. aws) Only adult males could vote in ancient Athens. (a. grown-up) The Greek Love of Wisdom. The ancient Greeks considered wisdom to be an important virtue. Socrates and Plato, philosophy was literally the love of Wisdom. Plato's The Republic, in which the leaders of his proposed utopia are to be philosopher kings: rulers who understand the Form of the Good and possess the courage to act accordi ngly. Aristotle, in his Metaphysics, defined wisdom as the understanding of causes, i. e. knowing why things are a certain way, which is deeper than merely knowing that things are a certain way. Philosophy – Refers to an organized system of thought. Socratic Method- Socrates used it as a teaching method he presumed that all knowledge was already present in each person and after careful questioning could draw out. Foundations – What people build things on like government or religion, like their beliefs. Who lived in the polis? The development of the Greek polis whether a military oligarchy in Sparta or democracy in Athens allowed citizens to participate in political issues. This concept of the â€Å"rule by the people,† mainly in Athens, gave the citizens a sense of freedom and harmony. In order to be a citizen in the polis, one had to be an adult whose ancestors were Greek and from that particular polis. Children, foreigners, and slaves could not be citizens. Citizens had many exclusive rights. How did Athens and Sparta differ? The city-states differed in different regions of ancient Greece. Even though the states kept the concept of the polis, the way in which each was governed differed. Two of the most important city-states were Sparta and Athens. Sparta developed as a war-like polis, while Athens developed as a democratic one. Rome and the Rise of Christianity.

Human Resource Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Human Resource Management - Essay Example Assessing the effectiveness of the HR practitioners, the evaluation of the HR should be paramount in all the employees. The assessment should look at the basic human resource functions including the management of performance, recognition and reward, and compensation. The assessment should also involve the employee handbook and his or her policies, the workforce planning, development and training, work climate and employee engagements among other functions. It should be by interviewing the staffs, using questionnaires to collect data, review of relevant documentation, compiling the data, making a written report, and making recommendations. The assessments above are for managers and employees get to know the impact the organization will have if they pursue the organizational goals in performance. For example, taking the case of Pauline, the management should provide training to employees regarding social matters and its implications to the organizations. Such also applies the case 5 wh ere the company should train employees on the use of office equipments and infrastructure. Question One (b). If the HR practitioners come to the attention to be lacking in strategic skills, the management should come up with incentives that will give such HR practitioners to strive to attain the set standards of the organization. One of the incentives that will give evidence in the effectiveness of the HR practitioners is the recognition and reward, and the compensation or promotion. In addition, the management should demonstrate evidence by offering training and development in the areas the practitioners lack in skills, and devising some plans of employee engagements in order to improve the sharing of skills amongst the workforce. This will also improve the work climate as conducive. The incentives will provide employees with the necessary skills that the organization requires, and for the organization competence. It enables them also to improve in their personal skills that will b e of advantage to them in wherever they purpose to pursue their dreams. A good example from the case studies involves the OZ international, whereby the company is under embroil in employee low morale. This is significant in demonstrating that the employees lack some strategic skills to propel the goals of the company. Therefore, the management should come up with training and development incentives, including coming with incentives such as rewards in recognitions of their efforts in performance. The management should also provide training to the employees concerning the several laws that they might violate if they take should actions like firing the old employees, which in any case will bring negative implications to the company. Question Two. Appraising and Managing Employee Performance This involves the systematic and periodic process in which the assessment takes place in each employee’s performance and efficiency. This is in relation to some pre-established organizationâ €™s goals and criteria. It may also involve the assessing such aspects as organization’s citizenship behavior, strengths and weaknesses, accomplishments, the possibility of future improvements among other aspects. Some of the methods that are in use in the collection of the data include the objective productions, judgmental evaluation

Beethoven Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Beethoven - Essay Example On Beethoven, Neefee asserted that "If he continues like this he will be, without doubt, the new Mozart"(Davies, 108). At the age of 14, he was appointed by the Court of Maximilian Franz, which allowed him to meet several individuals, who continued to love and support him throughout his life. His friends included â€Å"The Ries family, the von Breuning family and the charming Eleonore, Karl Amenda, the violinist, Franz Gerhard Wegeler, a doctor, and a dear friend who also went to Vienna, etc† (Davies, 129). In the year 1787, Beethoven went to Vienna, where he met Mozart. He went to Vienna to enhance his music skills. However, he had to return because of his dying mother; his best friend. In 1792, Beethoven went to Vienna for the second time to learn music. In 1800, he had â€Å"organized a new concert at Vienna including, notably, the presentation of his first symphony† (Davies, 211). From then onwards, he was successful in composing several symphonies including Coriolan Overture and Pastoral. â€Å"May 7th 1824 was the date of the first playing of the ninth symphony and despite musical difficulties, and problems in the sung parts, it was a success† (Davies, 255). In the year 1827, he passed away. Beethoven is considered to be one of the most influential composers and musicians of his times. He had been successful in changing the structure of Western music and his works, continue to influence young musicians and composers of our

Critical Life Experiences that Impacted My Life Essay

Critical Life Experiences that Impacted My Life - Essay Example I must admit that one of the greatest life experiences that have shaped by values and beliefs is having been brought up in a Christian set up. I was born in a family that greatly values Christianity. My parents have always adored and upheld Christian values and taught the same to their children. I grew up to appreciate the importance of church in developing values and beliefs (Branson, 2009; Hunt, 1999). As a small child, I began to learn what is right or wrong by putting everything in the context of Christianity. Being raised Catholic in a small country town in Australia made me develop strong Christian values. I continually developed the values of truth, fairness, care, loyalty, respect, purity, equality among others (Branson, 2009). The catholic community draws values and beliefs from the Bible (Hunt, 1999) and, therefore, I have become a strong believer in biblical teachings. However, all the values that I have gained from being associated with the catholic teachings have been af firmed and cemented by my parents who have always made a follow up on my Christian development. My parents, especially my father, strongly believe that good values are nurtured since childhood. A strong family background is overwhelmingly important in impacting values and motivating children towards their set goals in life (Hunt, 1999). My experiences in a large family that upholds family values have made me grow tremendously in human values. As a family, we have always appreciated the importance of family functions, such as get together ceremonies, weddings, birthday celebrations among other family functions. These diverse family functions have really encouraged me to uphold family values and the importance of the family as a basic unit for the society (Branson, 2009). More importantly, the financial, moral, and psychological support I have received from the large family base have greatly motivated me in achieving my goals in life. Actually, I have been able to achieve much in life especially in academics by the need to meet and exceed the standards that have already been set by my family members (Tysum, 2010). Exposure to different social and cultural set ups across the world have been a great boost to my behavior and values. I have travelled and taught in different parts of the world, especially in the US and London. Admittedly, the exposure to different social set ups have greatly impacted on my behavior in my endeavor to fit in those set ups. For instance, I had to take time to learn new cultural beliefs every time I went to a new society. When I went to teach in London, I had to learn new behavior in order to fit perfectly in the society. Additionally, I had to change my behavior and adapt to the cultural system of the US. This way, I was able to integrate with the society and expedite my duties as a lecturer effectively. I must admit that the exposure to different societal set ups have acted as a great motivation. When I was teaching in the US, I came a cross teachers that are more experienced and more effective in their teaching methods. In the process, I learned to be more competitive by striving to be better than the experts are and this has indeed been a great motivation especially in my career as a teacher. Different societal set ups have different value attached to education among other social tenets (Burton, Smith & Brundrett, 2002; Branson, 2009). For instance, the European and American education systems are slightly different

Defining Terrorism is Difficult Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Defining Terrorism is Difficult - Research Paper Example Hence, defining and addressing the phenomenon of terrorism is in the preliminary stages (Ronczkowski 17). Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the difficulty in defining terrorism because of the different types of terrorist missions confronting governments. The Difficulty in Defining Terrorism There are numerous working definitions of terrorism. According to Jonathan R. White (7-11), terrorism is an abstract concept with no tangible presence; hence a true definition that accounts for all the potential uses of the term is not possible. At the same time however, two common characteristics are that terrorization is done, and terrorists have targets and victims. The definition changes according to the context of the violent activity. This weakness is taken into consideration when examining some popular defitions of terrorism (White 7). Of five official definitions from various United States government agencies, â€Å"three of the more commonly cited definitions come from the FBI, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Department of Defense† (Ronczkowski 18). ... Further, it purposefully intimidates or compels a civilian population to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or terrorist acts affect the performance of a government by assassination or kidnapping. Similarly, the Department of Defense defines terrorism as the predetermined use of violence or threat of violence to create fear, â€Å"intended to coerce or intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological† states Philip B. Heyman (3). The common elements among the above definitions are clear, but it is essential to find out whether only one definition is correct, to determine which is correct, and the reasons for one government having only one definition. The solution to these queries is simple; it is that the missions of the different types of terrorism vary. Hence, instead of an all-inclusive definition of terrorism it would be better to focus on an understanding of the elements that constitute terrrorism (Ronczkowski 18). Heyman (3) adds that numerous attempts to define terrorism as distinctly as murder, robbery, or rape have been unsuccessful. Analytical practitioners as well as law enforcement personnel should receive a foundation for performing their daily duties related to terrorism and terrorist activity, along with an understanding of its history. Donald M. Snow states that the root of the word terrorism is derived from the Latin word terrere which means ‘to frighten’. However, this meaning can also be applied to modern criminal statutes related to robbery and other crimes, consequently causing confusion and debate (Snow 1). Therefore, law enforcement agencies and analysts use a standardized, open definition. The U.S. Code of 22

Business Policy and Strategic Management Research Paper - 2

Business Policy and Strategic Management - Research Paper Example The company makes sure that only the best quality beans are used. Starbucks maintains its standard and perform experiment in order to get appropriate balance of taste, and shape. Starbucks manages various roasting and distribution services. The coffee is baked in a strong gas-fired drum roaster for approximately 12–15 minutes. The computer notifies when beans are completely baked (Kotha & Glassman, â€Å"Starbucks Corporation: Competing in a Global Market†). Starbucks put much emphasis on the undertaking of various innovative and entrepreneurial actions with respect to its marketing aspects for making the firm more competitive in the market. Starbuck has set up cafes in hospitals, offices, banks, supermarkets and shopping centers, hotels, and airlines. Starbucks works directly with many countries which produce best quality green coffee beans. It always controls the distribution channel around the globe. It develops personalized customer service to make the customer†™s experience special. Starbucks launched packaged tea because of growing demand of tea in the year 1995. Starbucks coffee’s joint ventures with Pepsi launched a unique version of Frappuccino in 1996 (Kotha & Glassman, â€Å"Starbucks Corporation: Competing in a Global Market†).

Expand online ASOS retailing into France Market Essay

Expand online ASOS retailing into France Market - Essay Example Also, it has to integrate and closely synchronize its online and offline marketing and communication activities. (Pughe L., march 2006) 13 Johanson & Wiedersheim-Paul, (1975), The Internationalisation of The Firm: Four Swedish Cases, retrieved March 14, 2009, from 18 Pughe L., (March 2006), Marketing Tactics Commonly Used By Small Internet Based Retailers To Sell Specialty Products, University of Oregon, retrieved March 14, 2009, from 18 ASOS cannot afford to be an UK only retailer and has to spread its presence in other geographical markets. While EU countries like France should its most preferred destination for expansion, ASOS also has to take a long term strategic stand and expand to other matured markets like North America, The Oceania or emerging markets like Russia, Brazil, India and China. France represents a great opportunity, but also poses a tough challenge for ASOS. With a very stable political and economical environment and a high degree of internet penetration, France is one of the obvious destinations for expansion for ASOS. However, it might be difficult for ASOS to replicate the kind of growth rates it has achieved in UK in France too. ASOS is a vibrant online fashion and beauty store for men, women and children. ASOS was established in the year 2000 and within a very short period of time it emerged to be United Kingdom’s largest independent online fashion and beauty retailer. It has an unbeatable volume and range of products. Over the years ASOS has been successful in building around 19000 brands and to keep up with it. ASOS also adds about 100- new lines each week. ASOS has a product range that appeal to all in the age group of 16 and 34 years. The website of ASOS sees almost 5 million unique visitors a month and has a whooping 2

Malaysia Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Malaysia - Research Paper Example It is a known fact that Malaysia is considered as an ideal country for manufacturing and other service based operations. Today, Malaysia stands as an export-driven country with a strong economy and holds a potential to excel further in future. Malaysia is the only country with flexible governmental policies which ensure and safeguard the rights and provide opportunities of growth to the multinational businesses. Therefore, we cannot ignore the fact that Malaysia has become widely known for its manufacturing and export services in the region. Government institutions have played a key role in determining the success of international and local businesses within the country due to their commitment in safeguarding and promoting different businesses within the country. Foreign investors in Malaysia can hold up to 100 percent of their equity rights in the manufacturing sector and the projects that allow them to export 80% of their products. However, government has facilitated the foreign investors to now hold 100% of equity rights in all new and existing projects without considering the percentage of their export products (Raman, 2008) Malaysia is known for its young and dedicated workforce on competitive wages in the region. Malaysia is the only country where the human workforce is supported by the government policies due to their commitment and quality of work. The economy of Malaysia is heavily dependent on manufacturing and, oil and gas industry. These industries stand as the backbone of the economy. It has been observed that Malaysian government has played an effective role in industrialization and economic development of the country. Malaysia also stands as one of the ASEAN’s leading exporters of furniture due to the availability of cheap local wood. Malaysian furniture holds a significant place in international market. Malaysia possesses a share of total 37% in US furniture market, 14% in Japanese

Political Economy Essay Example for Free

Political Economy Essay Approaches to study of Politics Falls under Political Science We’re made to do the impossible Summary 1 paragraph will do. Provide the insight -Data -Theory used -approach used use other references to prove your point 3 x 5 Surname all caps first name email address mobile number On approach deals with different meaning of politics Political Science What is Politics its scope ? Banned words Politics is dirt Politics is nothing more than a means of rising in the world Samuel Johnson Systematic organization of hatred Henry Adams Art of governing mankind by deceiving them. BASIS of POLITICS Intellect and Will Man Capable of Thinking Politics as a rational activity Man has the capacity to think and realize his wants, needs and interest which are potentially in conflict with others’ wants, needs, and interests. Man cannot survive on its own. He needs someone else Politics as a social activity 2 or more persons Politics as a social activity 2 or more persons Associate with society Politics is concerned with social dynamics. POLITICS AS THE ART OF GOVt What concerns the state Study of government and exercise of authority Authoritative allocation of social values Framework Definition does not provide David Easton Authoritative binding to all Allocation done by the government Social Values anything held important by society budget allocation, privatization, elections Henry Mayo 3 characteristics that separate the political from non-poitical Politics is focused on the governing function through which are: Limitation on Easton on Mayo’s concept of Politics POLITICS DOES NOT ONLY HAPPEN IN THE GOVERNMENT POLTICS AS PUBLIC AFFAIRS State DIFFERENCE OF GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS PUBLIC PRIVATE State Civil Society Institutions of the State ( apparatus of government, infrastructure, economy, taxes Autonomous bodies (family, kinship groups, private businesses, trade unions Funded at the public’s Expense Set up and funded by individual citizens Responsible for the collective organization of community life Responsible for the satisfaction of own interests rather than the interest of the larger society. Private with this definition EX: RH Bill It should not be affair of the government. Public Sphere vs Private Sphere Restricted to the acitivites of the state itself and the responsibilities that are properly exercised by public bodies Politics should not meddle on personal affairs and institutions POLITICS AS COMPROMISE CONSESUS A daily activity in which differing interests within a given unity of rule are conciliated by giving them a share in power in proportion to their role in the welfare and the survival of the community Bernard Crick Everything will just be fine – for no matter big or small the dispute is, at the end of the day we will just arrive in a compromise. Assumption: Conflict is inevitable Resolving conflict through compromise conciliation and negotiation, rather than violence and coercion. Not limited to government POLITICS IS INEVITABLE LINKED TO THE PHENOMENA OF CONFLICT COOPERATION Politics as master science Why Make use other things to make things in order. Existence of rival opinions- conflict People recognize that they have to work with others cooperation Hannah Arendt- Acting in Concert Otto Von Bismarck- Politics is the art of the possible. POWER AS POWER DISTRIBUTION OF RESOURCES What is power? X has power over Y insofar as Robert Dahl X is able, in one way or another, to get Y to do something That is more to X’s liking And which Y would not otherwise have done. Faces of Power As decision-making – you shape there decisions As agenda setting – You are preventing the person to make a decision As thought control- You are imposing your preference in an indirect or subtle way. Definition of Politics through POWER and allocation of resources FIND THE FOLLOWING QUOTES OF FAMOUS SCIENTISTS Adrian Leftwich- Politics is at the heart of all collective social activity, formal and informal, public and private, in all human groups, institutions and societies. Harold Lasswell Politics is, in essence power: the ability to achieve a desired outcome, through whatever means. Kate Millett â€Å"Politics is a power-structured relationships, arrangements whereby one group of persons is controlled by another. â€Å"POLITICS†- as the constrained use of social power. Robert Goodin Hans- Dieter Klingemann Constrained because there are already laws establish. Politics takes place in all social activities; politics happen at every level of social interaction Politics concern production, distribution and use of resources in the course of social existence. -Ability to achieve a desired outcome, through whatever means . Approaches to the study of Politics Ontology- the nature of being Epistemology -How do you know what we know? Theoretical – concept idea Empirical- Evidence, observation History- both theory and experience Methodology How do we exactly know what we know

European History-The Later middle Ages Essay Example for Free

European History-The Later middle Ages Essay Black Death was a plague that swept across Europe in the 14th century resulting in an irrevocable change to Europe’s religious structure which was highly dominated by the Roman Catholic Church. Besides, Black Death resulted in harassment of minority groups such as Jews on not only grounds of religious detestation but also a way of attacking the church or the kings who were perceived to protect them. This was heightened by feelings that the church as an institution had failed to provide social guidance equally among all people. The Pope condemned the killings and tried to stop it but to no avail resulting in renewed religious fanaticism and fervor amid Black Plague. This resulted is weakening of the old connection between the society and the religion (Tuchman 20-50). The fact that the clergy were not able to banish or cure the disease and explain its causes resulted in cynicism toward church. At the time of Black Death the Pope was based in France and was seen to have abandoned church leadership for French monarchy hence leaving its people at the time of need. This compounded disillusionment among people towards the church and embraced other religious outfits such as Order of Flagellants. Subsequently, as the disease caused death in monasteries, few years later there was a shortage of clergy. New clergy members replaced those who had died but did not have life-long convictions hence resulting in more abuses and weakening of church position in the society (Tuchman 50). 2. The Hundred Years’ War occurred in the years between 1336 and 1453 and it was mostly between France and England. England traded with Flanders in exchange of its fleece for wine in the Southern France. This was a triangular-like trade in which English traded with France indirectly through Flanders. However, the king of France was persistently struggling to regain control over the wealth in Flanders as a result the English could not let it go as it could have meant their only source of foreign exchange is gone. In these misunderstandings, a civil war broke out whereby the English supported the manufacturing companies whereas the French supported land-owning nobility. Besides, the English had a control over duchy of Guienne in France. In this regard, King Edward III became disappointed with King Phillip IV’s broken promise to restore a part of the Guienne to the English. Additionally, King Phillip went against English wish and supported Scotland which angered England. This war became more complex as the right over the territorial control –dynast conflict- was coupled with conflict over succession of throne. For instance, King Edward III who had risen to the throne in 1327 could have claimed to succeed Charles IV of France after he died in 1328 without any heir. Some years later, King Edward declared himself the King of France to provoke France so that he can attract resistance from them (Allmand 20-50). The war resulted in paradigm shift in terms of tactics, weapons, and technology employed in military war. For instance, the use of cavalry which by then was powerful machinery was abandoned for longbow. Other weapons introduced during the war include gunpowder and cannons. The war revealed the extent to which royal authority in England could be questioned especially in the succession lapse when King Edward III died. The Peasant’s revolt in 1381 witnessed an uprising against the throne by peasants leading to the King (Richard III) giving in to their demands. The war rekindled patriotism and nationalism among the French nationals. The country transformed from being a feudal monarchy to being a centralized state. Besides, the growth of French as a royal and commerce language disappeared during the war (Anne 5-20). 3. It is in the fourteenth century that majority of European countries experienced some of the worst natural disasters and social upheavals. The first disaster is the Little Ice Age, a climatic disaster. During this period, epidemics, famine and heavy rains became evident resulting in weakened agricultural productivity. The second natural disaster during the fourteenth century was The Black Death, a plague that nearly brought life to a standstill in Europe. Social upheavals include the hundred years’ war (1337-1450), internal church wrangles in the Catholic Church, and rise up of Islam militants. As a result of The Little Ice Age, France experienced heavy rains around 1315 that culminated into famine in the later years. All these disasters had a large impact on drastically reducing the overall population of Europe as many individuals died. It is also important to note that a lot of minorities for instance Jew were killed or extradited for Europe especially during Black Death. It is also during this time that the highly dominant Catholic Church received much criticism from the society. Additionally, the Church differed with the monarchy when taxes were imposed on its officials resulting into ‘Babylonian Exile’. In 1377 amid the crisis, Pope Gregory XI relocated to Rome for Avignon, France (Tuchman 25-70). 4. In the 14th century, Italy like many other European countries experienced a lot of hardships economically, socially, politically, and in religion. Besides, in the mid 14century, Italy undergone rebirth what is popularly referred to as ‘renaissance’. In the cities where the feudal system was not strong for instance in the northern frontier –Venice, Florence, and Milan- a strong economical and political atmosphere became dominant and their political structure ruled surrounding regions impacting significant influence over them. In the same period, south of Italy became highly dominated by Papal administration especially in Rome. The papal administration exerted a lot of rivalry to the Northern cities as well as influencing to a large extent the Italian politics and lifestyles. During the 14th century, the political elite advocated for the principle of humanism by arguing that a person can achieve considerably while in this world in terms of politics and life among others. Therefore, the medieval perceptions that people had changed drastically as they geared towards showcasing their talents (Jackson 310-320). 5. In the fourteenth century, the Roman Catholic had strong influence on the political and social life in most parts of Italy whereas Germany was under monarch rule. For instance, Germany was ruled mostly by the Habsburgs with power centering around three houses of dynasty: Habsburg, Wittelsbach, and Luxemburg. Therefore most parts of Germany were controlled by the emperor. It is also during the fourteenth century that Germany flourished although it was hit by the Black Plague. In Italy the papal administration and secular leadership was not totally in agreement in terms of managing economic resources and to develop central governments. Subsequently, around the year 1300, the well established Holy Roman Empire failed to maintain its centralized form of governance across Europe resulting into war between different states such as the barbaric German tribes that invaded Italy. This culminated into having a power vacuum until in 17th century. In Italy for instance, the independence of some of its states in the North coupled with wrangles between the in the Papacy prevented realization of a strong centralized governance (Tuchman 50). 6. It is in the 14th century that the Church experienced faced difficult times and gradually lost its prestige and power in the society. The Church failed to provide moral and spiritual guidance to the people and it can be explained in three distinct stages. First is the Avignon Papacy of 1305 to 1378. During the time pope was located in Avignon, France and officials were seen to monarch’s puppet. They were corrupt, disregarded social morals, were left out in condemning the hundred years’ war, and failed in their responsibility during the Black Plague. A lot of groups also criticized the Church for owning wealth and property as this was against God’s teaching because Jesus owned nothing. Some people also claimed that Church should consist of members only and not be led by a single individual. At this time papacy defended its righteousness persistently as well as attacking its critics but it is evident that papacy lost its moral authority and credibility to the people (Jackson 322). The second event that degraded credibility of papacy was the great schism of between 1378 and 1415. After Gregory XI died, the College of Cardinals in Rome was forced by an angry Roman mob to choose a pope of Italian origin. Urban VI was chosen and immediately after, French cardinals protested by fleeing Rome into Avignon where they chose another French pope as they claimed the election was not free and fair. This culminated into having two papal administrations at Rome and at Avignon hence resulting in financial crisis. Besides, the notion that Church was autonomous from state and secular sanctions failed to be realized. Wrangles existed between the two centers of power leading to excommunication claims by either of the side for receiving sacraments. Third is the Council of Pisa that met in 1408 and resolved to elect a new pope thereby dismissing the two rival popes. They based this on the principle of conciliarism. However, this was not adhered to by the two rival popes and resulted in having three popes. This complicated the matters more in regard to who had supreme power to elect pope leading to the Holy Roman Emperor backing the Conciliarists in holding another council to resolve the issue in 1415 (Jackson 323). . 7. The religious rift which occurred in the Church around 11th century A. D. is what widely referred to as the Great Schism. The Roman Catholic Church and the Geek Catholic also known Greek Orthodox Church separated during the p[period which lasted between 1378 and 1415. The acrimony between the West patriarchate in Rome and East patriarchates in Jerusalem, Antioch, Byzantium, and Alexandria was on of the cause. This was heightened more by language differences because the West spoke Latin whereas East spoke Greek. Besides, the rift grew more when Emperor Constantine considered transferring the capital from Rome to Byzantium. Additionally, during the same time German tribes invaded Europe leading to political instability (Jackson 323). This political turmoil coupled with geographical distances and economic hardship lead to ultimate separation of West from the East. As a result it is only a few theologians from West who could speak the predominant Greek language in the East. Communication broke lose among the west and east clergy. There was decreased literacy in the West as compared to highly educated East populace. Thus the church had significant influence among the East populace. The clergy in the East was capable of translating the Bible into local languages and with time it became mature enough to establish self governance. The occurrence of the Great Schism was also a sign of failure in leadership among the church officials in the 14th century (Jackson 324). Works Cited Allmand, C. T. The hundred year’s war: England and France at war, c. 1300-c. 1450. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 1988. Anne Curry. The Hundred Years War. 2nd ed. UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. Tuchman, Barbara W. A Distant Mirror. New York: Knopf, 1978. Jackson, Spielvogel J. Western Civilization. 7th ed. Cengage Learn

Analysis The Three Sisters English Literature Essay

Analysis The Three Sisters English Literature Essay Review of Three Sisters Three sisters is a fictional Russian drama. The play was written and produced in 1900s.anton Chekhovs three sisters is produced specifically for Moscow art theatre .the writer has also written two other plays, the seagull and uncle vanya .the captivating drama has extra ordinary characters. The Three Prozorov sisters who are in their twenties namely Olya, Masha and Irina And their only brother Andrey .solders in a nearby camp are the supporting characters. Its about three unhappy prozorov sisters who despise the life of small town in Russia which is miles away from the nearest railway station .the town is enlivened by the presence of a military facility. The all yearn to go to Moscow where they previously lived. The fictional drama starts with commemoration of the sisters father first anniversary which coincides with Irinas baptismal day. Soldiers and the family members pay tribute to the late father. Olga the eldest sister gets elevated to a headmistress position. Olga is presented as a teacher in this act but later in the play shes is promoted to a Headmistress position. Masha, the middle sister, is a trained pianist married to a younger and witty teacher Feodor Kulygin.. Irina, the youngest of the three sisters is obsessed about to visit Moscow. Andrey is only boy in the family is in love with Natasha who is naive .the three sisters becomes unhappy with the marriage of their only brother who goes ahead and gets a child. In the twist of events Natalie is extra marital affairs with Andrey boss, Protopopov. Strong bond starts to form between Masha and lieutenant-colonel Vershinin secretly. Two solders, Tuzenbach and Solyony compete for Irinas love. Masha, Olga and Irina are angry with their only brother, Andrei, for mortgaging their house, spending money on gambling debts and relinquishing all his authority to his infidel wife Natasha. the eldest sister, Olga, is not interested with teaching career and longs quietly for an out, but her dreams for marriage are slowly fading away; Masha, the middle sister, so unhappy with her husband. She seeks extra marital affair from married soldier, the youngest, Irina, moves from one soul-crushing job to another. She resists getting married to noble man. More adrenaline is released in the climax the play. There are bloodshed and friendship bonds in this scene. Solders have created an everlasting bond with the three sisters. Aristocratic Tuchenbach is murdered by his lover Solyony competitor in a challenge. This section reveals that Masha and Vershinin get married after a brief stint of romance. Natasha maintains her hatred nature and Andrey is stuck in the maternal led marriage with two children. The play ends on a happy note. Olga embraces her two sisters as the band music is playing. She encourages her sisters. Anton Chekhov has managed to point out the major theme to his audiences. The Major theme that is emerging is the uncomplaining nature of women in the Russian society. The play brings out vividly the loneliness and desperation of the three sisters. They therefore, accept their situation without complaining. According to the play Moscow is symbolic to three sisters. Each of the sisters is yearning to go back to Moscow. The city is associated with happy and perfect life. However, their aspirations to go back to Moscow remain only mere dreams. Irina initially believes by going to Moscow she will get her true love there The play lacks a flowing story line at some point as an audience I got lost along the way. The story development is complicated such that audience can be confused. Conflict has not been maturely developed. On the first scene, a delicate tone is constructed as the three sisters celebrate the anniversary of their deceased father which coincides with Irinas baptismal day. Unfortunately, the tone is not maintained the rest of scene one. The play has been translated from Russian to English. Therefore, the rich meaning of the plot has been diluted by the translation. Three sisters is a story that cannot get old. This is because it echoes what is happening in the contemporary time. The very same issues such as infidelity, romance, gambling, and marriage are still happening in the contemporary times. The roles of Andrey and the three sisters are brought out clearly. Andrey is supposed to relinquish his intellectual ambitions. He is trapped in very complicated marriage. The three sisters yearn for Moscow is well introduced in the plot of the story. The costumes of the play are supposed to be a combination of military wear for the solders and the 1900 civilian clothes. This is well depicted in the play. However, the aristocrat Baron Tuchenbach costumes have no large difference with the other cast. The baron should have expensive clothes in order to bring out the issue of bourgeoisie and proletarians. The costumes did manage to convince the audience the play was a staged in 1900s.The lighting and sound of the overall play were excellent. the audience enjoys the band music that plays at the climax of the play. In my views, Anton Chekhovs three sister play is a very captivating. The play has managed to bring out the traditional picture of the modern day Russia. The choice of characters is excellent. They have managed to communicate the intended message from Chekhov. Symbolism has been brought forward as a tool to glue the audience to the play. The play should improve on conflict and flow of the storyline.

An Analysis of Babi Yar :: Babi Yar Essays

An Analysis of Babi Yar Yevtushenko speaks in first person throughout the poem. This creates the tone of him being in the shoes of the Jews. As he says in lines 63-64, "No Jewish blood is mixed in mine, but let me be a Jew . . . " He writes the poem to evoke compassion for the Jews and make others aware of their hardships and injustices. "Only then can I call myself Russian." (lines 66-67). The poet writes of a future time when the Russian people realize that the Jews are people as well accept them as such. If you hate the Jews, he asks, why not hate me as well? True peace and unity will only occur when they have accepted everyone, including the Jews. Stanza I describes the forest of Babi Yar, a ravine on the outskirts of Kiev. It was the site of the Nazi massacre of more than thirty thousand Russian Jews on September 29-30, 1941. There is no memorial to the thirty thousand, but fear pervades the area. Fear that such a thing could occur at the hands of other humans. The poet feels the persecution and pain and fear of the Jews who stood there in this place of horror. Yevtushenko makes himself an Israelite slave of Egypt and a martyr who died for the sake of his religion. In lines 7-8, he claims that he still bars the marks of the persecution of the past. There is still terrible persecution of the Jews in present times because of their religion. These lines serve as the transition from the Biblical and ancient examples he gives to the allusions of more recent acts of hatred. The lines also allude to the fact that these Russian Jews who were murdered at Babi Yar were martyrs as well. The next ezza reminds us of another event in Jewish history where a Jew was persecuted solely because of his religious beliefs. The poet refers to the "pettiness" (line 11) of anti-Semitism as the cause of Dreyfus' imprisonment. Anti-Semitism is his "betrayer" (line 12) when he is framed, and anti-Semitism is his "judge" (line 12) when he is wrongly found guilty. Lines 13-14 claim that even the fine and supposedly civilized women of society shun Dreyfus because he is a Jew and fear him like they would fear an animal. In ezza III, Yevtushenko brings himself to the midst of the

Isaac Asimovs Foundation - Validity of Science Fiction Essay examples

Isaac Asimov's Foundation and the trilogy named after it represent a pinnacle in science fiction. Science fiction lovers from every walk of life have joined together to praise Asimov and Foundation. Furthermore, this series has been awarded the first Hugo Award for Best Science Fiction Series. Not before or since the publication of Foundation has this award been given. Despite this recognition, the mainstream literary critics ignore works of science fiction as candidates for more prestigious awards. Instead, science fiction is often dismissed as technology-dependent literature, immature in character development, theme, and structure. A large portion of the literary world still levels a sniff and a scoff toward Foundation and indeed the entire genre of science fiction. Asimov's Foundation can be seen as an archetype demonstrating the validity of science fiction and refuting these criticisms. It is argued that the writings of Asimov are the foundation upon which much of science fiction is built upon. From the outset Asimov maintained a strong faith in the genre, believing that its status will be enhanced with time. "If enough people read science fiction or are, at least, sufficiently influenced by people who read science fiction" he wrote, "enough of the population may come to accept change†¦."(Asimov 4) Several differences between Foundation, and therefore science fiction exemplified by Foundation, and the other divisions of literature must be considered before judging the genre. First, a whole different approach must be taken before judgment. Foundation deals with a nearly limitless range of possibilities. Therefore, the mind must be adapted to put aside incredulity and disbelief. Secondly, Foundation deals with event... ...elope into unknown territory. This constitutes change. Historically, change is slow to come. The negative and judgmental reactions to Foundation and science fiction come from those who resist change, however unfounded their criticism may be. Science fiction is the one branch of literature that accepts the fact of change, the inevitability of change. Without the initial assumption that there will be change, there is no such thing as science fiction, for nothing is science fiction unless it includes events played out against a social or physical background significantly different from our own.(Asimov 4) In our view, science fiction, particularly as represented by such works as Asimov's Foundation, is a valid form of literature, and time will see it through. Works Cited: Asimov, Isaac. Foundation and Empire. Garden City, NY: Double Day & Company,. 1952.

Essay --

People all around the world have dreams of opening a business by creating a service, or product that is consumed by customers. Opening a new business requires a lot of hard work, patience, and extensive planning in order to operate a successful and legal business. However, before a person attempts to open a business, they must be sure they are up for the challenge, and they must be guaranteed that they have the right tools, personality, and experience to be a successful entrepreneur. Pick a mentor that owns a business who can give you advice. They can advise you of things you never knew, or things you should be aware of. Having this kind of person can save you a lot of trouble, and encourage you on the way. When opening a business you must have motivated, strong-minded, and goal oriented people that will provide the proper effort, planning, organization, funding, and structure of the entire business. To begin, creating a business plan for your company is essential for the future of y our company, and how it intends to create revenue 3-5 years down the line. It is the most important step, and the first step of beginning your business. A business plan is an essential roadmap for business success; it is a formal statement of a set of goals for your business, the reasons they should be completed, and how you plan on reaching those goals for further success. Your business plan should contain an executive summary. An executive summary includes what you want out of your business, where you plan on taking it, and why it will be successful. Also, if you are seeking financing to get a loan, an executive summary is a great way to grab the investor’s interest. It shows the investor your intensions with your business, the structured guidelines... ..., it must be registered with the appropriate authorities in order to maintain everything legal. This process is knows as â€Å"Doing Business as† (DBA name), which is a business that is named something different than your personal name. â€Å"For example, consider this scenario: John Smith sets up a painting business. Rather than operate under his own name, John instead chooses to name his business: â€Å"John Smith Painting†. This name is considered an assumed name and John will need to register it with the appropriate local government agency.† (www.sba.gov) Not all states require registering a business under â€Å"DBA†, which is why it is imperative to conduct precise research. Generally, every business must have an Employer identification number, which is used to identify the entity of a business. In order to be assigned an (EIN), you must apply for one. One way to apply is online.

Asset Liability Management in Banks

5 Asset and Liability Management (ALM) 29. There are different organizational and governance models that guide the management of bank asset and liability activities. The models reflect fundamentally different risk philosophies that tend to evolve with the growing sophistication and depth of financial markets together with the position and activities undertaken by a bank in the market. The terms ‘ALM unit’ and ‘treasury unit’, can be confusing as they are often used by organizations who assign different responsibilities to them – this will be explained below. 5. 1 Key aspects that influence a banks approach 0. The evolution of models is driven by differing philosophies about the role of the treasury or the ALM unit and banks in markets at different stages of development often regard the treasury unit differently. 31. In emerging markets the treasury function is usually simplistic and a support function mainly focused on liquidity management and basic f oreign exchange activity. In these banks, it is not uncommon to have a prohibition on involvement in more sophisticated capital markets transactions such as derivatives due to lack of knowledge and suspicion about the instruments. Such markets can suffer from poorly developed capital markets that provide little capacity to offset the risks assumed from the customer franchise. The result is often that these banks are slow to evolve and run risks, without knowing it, which can threaten their very survival. 32. In developing markets the treasury function usually begins to take on more structure, more activities and a broader mandate. At the simpler end of the spectrum it can assume full balance sheet management responsibility, involving itself in more complex analytics and hedging activities. At the more complex end it can assume trading and market making responsibilities for a range of capital market products that are used in hedging but also are provided to customers. This can often be referred to as an ‘integrated treasury function’, with profit making as well as hedge management the central themes. 33. In developed markets the model usually evolves by separating out the trading and market making functions into a more customer centric unit such s a capital markets or institutional banking division, with a subsequent refocusing of the core ALM functions on more detailed analysis, and management of the banks’ assets, liabilities and capital base. Treasury becomes more of a service centre in these banks, providing assistance and support with pricing and analytics to customer facing divisions. The ALM or balance sheet can often be managed aggressively through the use of 11 | P a g e derivative contracts. Funds transfer pricing mechanisms are used extens ively to create economic transparency and to immunize business units to risk. 4. In all models the ALM function reports to either the CEO / CFO with the CFO generally having the day to day responsibility for the ALM core functions. Under all models it is important to establish a clear understanding of activities and risk thresholds in the Treasury function and ensure the risk framework is aligned to the operating structure and market realities. Establishing a governance structure within which the board of the bank is fully informed and cognisant of the risks being run is a critical and mandatory component. 35. It is in the more developed markets that the Chief Risk Officer function has developed and come to represent the single independent point of oversight both internally and externally. 5. 2 Focus on some key ALM activities 36. Successful ALM units create a properly aligned risk and return management process. The right mix between skills and risk appetite must be identified, expected outcomes of activities known and appropriate metrics established. The approach adopted needs to be aligned to the realities of the market the bank is operating within and to its desired risk appetite. 5. . 1 Mismatch Management and Performance Measurement 37. A bank needs to decide whether it wants to take a relatively neutral approach to ALM risks or is prepared to take a more aggressive approach and target higher long term earnings and an increase in economic value. Irrespective of the choice made, a bank needs to realise that the right level of skills and resources need to be committed to support the fun ction. Failure to do this can result in a poorly managed operation characterised by volatility in; core earnings/margin; economic value, and; unpredictable economic results. 8. The mismatch position of the balance sheet represents the interest rate and liquidity risk profile inherent. Assuming a single portfolio without hedges, a large and well diversified bank, with transactions weighted broadly across all market segments, will find that its balance sheet will naturally take on countercyclical characteristics as the business environment consolidates through the economic cycle. This makes sense as the bank is effectively providing customers with solutions they are demanding as they operate in the external environment. The market itself will also provide limitations and one of the areas where this can manifest strongly is on the liability side of the balance sheet. Various techniques are used to examine the mismatch in a bank’s balance sheet and it can be a difficult process if not supported with adequate systems. Depending on systems and analytical support the ALM process will undertake a number of analysis designed to identify; static and dynamic mismatch; sensitivity of net interest income; and, market value under multiple scenarios -including under high stress. 39. The majority of banks set net interest income (NII) limits as a main measure of performance with the more advanced banks also using market or economic value as a secondary measure. NII has become the industry benchmark simulation tool because; it is relatively easy to understand and implement; it’s a single period measure that does not require many assumptions, and; it is easy for investors to relate to because it is directly linked to reported financial results. On the negative side, it is limited as it does not provide a full view of the risks run by a bank or reflect fully the economic impact of interest rate movements. Market value or economic value simulations on the other hand, offer a more complete assessment of the risk being run but require significantly more 12 | P a g e detailed analysis which is out of reach of many banks at this point. The process requires multiple assumptions that are difficult to form in some cases and is less intuitive and more difficult to understand. Notwithstanding the difficulties of the latter, both metrics are important in the measurement and management of embedded risk in banks. In less developed ALM units, the time it takes to collect and analyse information can render much of it useless for active management as by the time it is available markets have moved making hedging ineffective. 40. Access to timely and accurate data is critical in support of any form of ALM activity. 5. 2. 2 Funds Transfer Pricing (FTP) 41. The funds transfer pricing system has become a fundamental ALM tool in a bank. It creates the ability to immunize business units from risk and provides the basis for economic and product transparency. 42. The process of FTP is designed to identify interest margins and remove interest rate and funding or liquidity risk. Looking at it from the business unit perspective, it effectively locks in the margin on loans and deposits by assigning a transfer rate that reflects the repricing and cash flow profile of each balance sheet item – it is applied to both assets and liabilities. From the ALM unit’s perspective, it isolates business performance into discrete portfolios that can be assigned individualised metrics and facilitates the centralisation and management of interest rate mismatches. A by-product is that it effectively allocates responsibilities between the organizational business units and the treasury department. 43. In more developed banks, the FTP mechanism can also be used as a tool to assist with management of the balance sheet structure with FTP rates adjusted to either encourage or discourage product and customer flows. The associated analytical process leads to greater understanding of a bank’s competitive advantage, assisting with asset allocation and protection of the franchise. Similarly, in smaller and/or less developed banks it is of equal value as both a management and strategy tool. 4. The methods used by banks are generally consistent – FTP rates are structured to include both interest rate and funding liquidity risks with the derived transfer yield curve constructed to include appropriate premiums. Such premiums should capture all elements associated with the banks funding cost. These should include the cost of items such as; holdi ng liquidity reserves; optionality costs, where pre-payment rights exist; term funding program costs; and, items such as basis risk. 5. 2. 3 Liquidity Management 45. The main liquidity concern of the ALM unit is the funding liquidity risk embedded in the balance sheet. The funding of long term mortgages and other securitised assets with short term liabilities (the maturity transformation process), has moved to centre stage with the contagion effect of the sub-prime debacle. Both industry and regulators failed to recognise the importance of funding and liquidity as contributors to the crisis and the dependence on short term funding created intrinsic flaws in the business model. Banks must assess the buoyancy of funding and liquidity sources through the ALM process. 46. Banks are in the business of maturity transformation to meet their customers’ requirements and these result in liquidity, interest rate and currency mismatches which need to be managed. ALM 13 | P a g e units have traditionally analysed and ‘managed’ liquidity within pre set limits; however it is only the recent crises that have brought its true importance into focus. Failure to manage effectively can have dire results but the events of recent times have demonstrated that liquidity impacts can be cataclysmic to a bank. 47. Like all areas of risk management, it is necessary to put a workable framework in place to manage liquidity risk. It needs to look at two aspects: 1) Managing liquidity under the business as usual scenario, and 2) Managing liquidity under stress conditions. It also needs to include a number of liquidity measurement tools and establish limits against them. Some of the tools that have become industry standard are shown in Table 2. Table 1 – Selection of Liquidity Measurement Tools Liquidity Management Tool Description / Aim Static Funding Gap Defines the short fall in maturing liabilities required to service maturing assets– it is usually calculated on a maturity bucket basis and is calculated as the net asset osition over total liabilities. Dynamic Cash Flow Gap This includes a measurement based on maturing assets and liabilities plus assumed marketable asset liquidation over a given period. Liquidity Asset Ratios This is the ratio of liquid assets to total liabilities with liquids defined to include items such as cash and cash equivalents, trading account securities, repos investme nts into government securities, etc Concentration Ratios This is an important ratio that reassures the funding from a particular source compared to assets /liabilities or capital. Liquidity Stress Measurement A number of ratios can be examined here looking at multiple low stress and high stress scenarios Source: Modified from GARP 2008 Best Practices presentation. 5 48. At the governance level, boards need to recognise liquidity risk as the ultimate killer. This means a board needs to clearly articulate the risk tolerance of the organization and subject the balance sheet to regular scrutiny. Guiding principles need to be included as part of this process. The following 5 principles are valuable: 1. Diversify sources and term of funding – concentration and contagion were the killers in the recent crisis. . Identify, measure, monitor and control – it is still surprising that many banks do not fully understand the composition of their balance sheet to a sufficient level of detail to allow for management of the risks. 3. Understand the interaction between liquidity and other risks – e. g. basis risk – the flow on impact of an event in on e area can be devastating to others. 4. Establish both tactical and strategic liquidity management platforms – keep a focus on both the forest and the trees. 5. Establish detailed contingency plans and stress test under multiple scenarios regularly.

The Market Coverage Strategies

INTRODUCTION While company has differentiated several market segmentation. Company need to select a suitable and profitable segment to enter it. But, how company identify which segment is most valuable to itself and compatible with its current resource and facilities. So, company may use market coverage strategies to solve this problem and choice the best segment to enter it. Market coverage strategic is a method that helps in evaluating the various segments of the marketplace and deciding which segment to cover in the marketing of a particular product.BODY There are 3 types of general market coverage strategies which will generally adopted by marketer. There are undifferentiated marketing, differentiated marketing, and concentrated marketing. For undifferentiated marketing, is a market coverage strategy whereby company using single product to attack whole market without concern differences within market. Undifferentiated marketing obtain to mass distribution and mass advertising, wh ich aiming to give the product a superior image in the minds of consumers.It helps in cost saving as single production line, inventoried, distributed, and advertised. So when it comes to market research and product management, costs usually to be lower as only focusing single product. For example, Nestle company produce MILO to attack to whole market without differentiate market segmentation. This is a milk beverage with chocolate and malt, it has successfully attract wide segment of market likes children, teenager, adult and even old folk. MILO has become part of daily necessary of consumer.For differentiated marketing, this is multi-segment marketing which market coverage strategy while a company attack to two or more market segment by selling product and unique marketing strategy which tailored to each different segment. It would help company to obtain revenue from different market segment whereby attacking every single market segment. However, it also increases the costs of prod uction, inventoried, distributed, advertise, market research and product management.For example, Mc-Donald, it sells various type of burger to target different type of market segment such as fish burger, chicken burger, and beef burger and happy meal (target children). So, customer will feel company able to serve what they need and other alternative choice even their taste change. Besides that, Mc Donald also sells fried chicken to satisfy those customers who has bored with burger. So, by targeting different type of market segments, it makes Mc Donald becomes successfully in the fast food industry.For concentrated marketing, it is one of the market segmentation which company produce product to market for a very well-defined, specific segment of the consumer population. This marketing strategy is highly focusing to the needs of that specific market segment. This strategy is particularly effective for certain company. As limited resources, it enables the company to achieve a strong ma rket position and becomes specialist in the specific market segment. Concentrated strategy helps in controlling cost effectively while avoiding mass production, mass distribution and mass advertising.So, company might use the fund from these aspects to invest R&D for its product development which will help company to sustain in the long run business within the specific industry. For example, ROLEX Company which produces luxury watches to specific market segment, it has created the branded and luxury image to customer and highly focusing on the technical part of watches function development. ROLEX only targeting to higher-income customer segment, it creates higher profit margin as well although the market share is small.When company has understood about 3 types of general market coverage strategies, company should only choose one strategy out of these 3 due to resource limited and risk concerns. So, what are the factors need to be considered between company status and strategy in ord er to ensure company will choose the best market coverage strategy. The factors need to be considered are company resources, product variability, product’s stage in the life cycle, market variability, and competitor’s marketing strategies. Firstly, company resource is crucial in choosing whether the company should go for undifferentiated, differentiate and concentrated.As these 3 strategies are requiring different level of resources to company, it needed to compatible with company current resource availability. For example, a new market entrant usually has limited resource and capital to invest its product to tailor with every different customer segment. So it might choose undifferentiated marketing in the early time of business to achieve economies of scale for cost saving and avoid risk and, as differentiated and concentrated strategies require more resource and capital to invest on it.Secondly, Product variability, company need to consider its product changeability while making decision to market coverage strategy. If the product changeability is low, it might be difficult to use differentiated marketing strategy for the company. So, it only goes for either undifferentiated marketing or concentrated marketing, as these two strategies focusing on single product producing to satisfy the market. For example, SUNKIST Company is using undifferentiated marketing strategy to target its market segment.The reason is because the product of SUNKIST is orange and it has limited the variability to target different market segmentation. So, differentiated marketing strategy is not appropriate in this case. Thirdly, Product stage in the life cycle, company might apply different market coverage strategy while different stages of life cycle. When the product under stage of â€Å"introduction† in the product life cycle, it should apply undifferentiated marketing or concentrated marketing instead of using differentiated marketing.It is because when product under this stage, there are lots of unforeseen risk along the time. Company should more focus the major customer and instead focus whole customer segment as it will be costly. For example, Old Chang Kee started its business with selling handmade curry puff to customer at the early stage of business. When its business has picked up, it started diversify its product to serve variety customer segment by introducing new product likes sotong ball, chicken wing and up to 28 types of products.Fourthly, Market variability, when the time of market changeability is high, it will affect the market coverage strategy to apply. These product usually famous and decline by customer in a very short of time due to the trend. So, differentiated marketing strategy might not be suitable for these product, company would not be benefit to target all segment of customer and product life cycle is too short. For example, toy likes YOYO and TRANSFORMER become famous and high demanded by customer as the fashi on and movie affection.So, company should not apply differentiated marketing and concentrated marketing as it is no worth to invest to the product which product life cycle is too short. Lastly, competitor’s marketing strategies, company should consider other competitors strategies moves before determine market coverage strategies. It is too risky to have same strategies with own competitors and market share also will be reduced. Company should look for the latent market and enjoy the higher profit margin. For example, HERMES bag is targeting luxury market by using concentrated marketing.It helps to make higher profit margin from this specific market instead targeting mass market segment as there are too many competitors within the industry. Conclusion Company should understand which market coverage strategies appropriate to apply. It related to company product and future targeting customer segment. At the same time, Company need to compare with own current resource, micro and macro environment. Because these factors will affect the determination of market coverage strategies and also will decides the profitability of the product in the business.

Picture & musical instrument Essay

In this picture, it showcases a man playing a musical instrument called bagpipes which are prominent and widely used in Scotland and Ireland. Based on the composition of the image, the man is probably a musician from an average social class because his choice clothing is typically worn by commoners probably during the Renaissance period. Generally, this illustration depicts an ordinary event in a musician’s life in the early periods. There are many components in this image that can tell the story of this single picture. Lines, shapes, color, shading and proportions are the elements that give life to a portrait. For the hat, it is a simple head ornament made from a plain fabric. The color gray with touches of brown suggest that it must had been used numerous times. The color combination gives it an aged look making it in a way look stylish. More so, the flower with a hint of light purple and baby pink colored petals that is surrounded by a couple of olive green leaves provided a natural component in the musician’s head cover. At first, it may seem that the beautiful flower is wilting probably because of its downward position but if viewers would look closely, the loveliness of the flower resides on its perfect color combination which exudes harmony. Additionally, a two-toned colored feather is also present on the hat. It is seamlessly intertwined with the flower. The feather added life on this very minimal hat through the blending of the colors gold and cream. Furthermore, the soft brushstrokes on the strands of the feathers give a sense of movement. It contrasted the stiff but delicate position of the flower. Moreover, the feather and the flower can be considered as accents of the hat that showcases the creativity of the musician and his love for things that possess simple yet striking beauty. On another note, hats are usually are worn outdoors during sunny days to protect the face from the rays of the sun. But on this picture, the black background suggests that the time was around in the evening or he was probably indoors which justifies the dark backdrop. Meanwhile, the relatively large brim of the hat had cast a shadow on the musician’s face. In a way, his wrinkles were partly concealed from the viewers’ line of sight. But if it will be examined closely, the series of lines on the forehead and on the mouth area can be considered as the focal points of the facial features. These lines indicate that the musician is probably in his late 40s or early 50s. On the other hand, the eyes tell a different story. It is hard to tell whether the arch of the left eyebrow and the roundness of the eyes signify an emotion. He can either be feeling tired or impassive during his performance. The semi-closed mouth with ripples of lines along the cheek area also adds up to the anonymity of the musician’s emotions. No outstanding feature can really be distinguished making it hard to determine the prominent mood of the painting. Overall, the musician’s face was painted in details. The realistic skin-toned color of the face accented by a small blush of red on the cheeks, the protruding nose, big black eyes, arched eyebrows, nude lips and the fine facial lines made an accurate representation of a male’s physical appearance. Furthermore, the layers of wardrobe added more personality into the painting. The musician is wearing three layers of garments. In the first layer is a white collared long sleeve shirt which is covered by a red V-shaped long sleeve with a wide collar. The bottom of the red shirt is tightened by a garter producing sections of scrunched up fabrics. Also, it seems that there is a set of embroidery at the bottom of the red shirt which serves as the accents to this plain piece of clothing. It is evident from the collar line to the sleeves that the musician is wearing layered clothes. Also, the combination of red and white complements very well. The simplicity of the white is balanced off by the intensity of the red. The third layer is a coat which has the same color as the hat with a dominant grayish tone but with touches of light brown and white. Also, the utilization of dark colors gave a slimming effect on the musician which made him look less stocky. The lining of the coat has a similar shade with the red shirt but more on the orange side. Probably this was intended to give continuity and proper blending of the colors used in the outfit. The whole look of the clothes did not seem stiff because of the folds seen all over the layers of clothing. The folds were intricately added to add movement in order for the clothes to look like as if they were moving with the musician. More so, these folds or lines contrasted the heaviness of the coat which gave a fluid quality to the whole picture. An unusual element was present on the left sleeve of the coat. This object has a circular shape with three layers of different sizes ranging from small to large. At one end is a hole where a red ribbon was tied which was pinned into the coat. Most likely this object is a type of medal that represents the musician’s profession or his achievements or this could just be an ornament used for fashion purposes. Regardless of its function, the circular object adds a touch of splendor to the whole garment. Moreover, the layers of clothing suggest that the weather was cold and that the musician needed the three levels of shirts to provide heat in order for him to properly play his bagpipes. Meanwhile, the bagpipe was illustrated in a neutral mocha brown color. Four pipes of varying heights and appearance were strategically strewn all over the irregularly shaped leather bagpipe. Because of the different sizes of pipes, it gave an illusion of elevation giving some dimension to a flat medium. Also, the creases on the bagpipe added some movement and tension to the image. Furthermore, the hands of the musician holding the main pipe were precisely demonstrated. The veins, the nails and even the lines on the knuckles were accurately portrayed. The viewers can really notice these details which suggest that these hands have been through a lot of experience in playing musical instruments. Despite the rigidity of the details on the hands, the way the hands were positioned displayed softness and finesse which is a true mark of a talented musician.

Agriculture Insurance in India , Problems and Prospectus Essay

Agriculture production and farm incomes in India are frequently affected by natural disasters such as droughts, floods, cyclones, storms, landslides and earthquakes. Susceptibility of agriculture to these disasters is compounded by the outbreak of epidemics and man-made disasters such as fire, sale of spurious seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, price crashes etc. All these events severely affect farmers through loss in production and farm income, and they are beyond the control of the farmers. With the growing commercialization of agriculture, the magnitude of loss due to unfavorable eventualities is increasing. The question is how to protect farmers by minimizing such losses. For a section of farming community, the minimum support prices for certain crops provide a measure of income stability. But most of the crops and in most of the states MSP is not implemented. In recent times, mechanisms like contract farming and future? s trading have been established which are expected to provide some insurance against price fluctuations directly or indirectly. But, agricultural insurance is considered an important mechanism to effectively address the risk to output and income resulting from various natural and manmade events. Agricultural Insurance is a means of protecting the agriculturist against financial losses due to uncertainties that may arise agricultural losses arising from named or all unforeseen perils beyond their control (AIC, 2008). Unfortunately, agricultural insurance in the country has not made much headway even though the need to protect Indian farmers from agriculture variability has been a continuing concern of agriculture policy. According to the National Agriculture Policy 2000, â€Å"Despite technological and economic advancements, the condition of farmers continues to be unstable due to natural calamities and price fluctuations†. In some extreme cases, these unfavorable events become one of the factors leading to farmers? suicides which are now assuming serious proportions (Raju and Chand, 2007). Agricultural insurance is one method by which farmers can stabilize farm income and investment and guard against disastrous effect of losses due to natural hazards or low market prices. Crop insurance not only stabilizes the farm income but also helps the farmers to initiate production activity after a bad agricultural year. It cushions the shock of crop losses by providing farmers with a minimum amount of protection. It spreads the crop losses over space and time and helps farmers make more investments in agriculture. It forms an important component of safety-net programmes as is being experienced in many developed countries like USA and Canada as well as in the European Union. However, one need to keep in mind that crop insurance should be part of overall risk management strategy. Insurance comes towards the end of risk management process. Insurance is redistribution of cost of losses of few among many, and cannot prevent economic loss. There are two major categories of agricultural insurance: single and multi-peril coverage. Single peril coverage offers protection from single hazard while multiple –peril provides protection from several hazards. In India, multi-peril crop insurance programme is being implemented, considering the overwhelming impact of nature on agricultural output and its disastrous consequences on the society, in general, and farmers, in particular. Agricultural Insurance market is on the threshold of a spectacular growth. The support measures proposed by the government in the horticulture sector; potential of organic farming; growing clout of aromatic and medicinal plants; Bio-diesel plants; contract farming; corporate farming and integrated insurance (supply chain and ware housing) etc are likely to put agricultural insurance on high pedestal. The government underlined its priorities for agriculture in 2004 by setting a target of doubling agricultural credit in next three years. A large chunk of credit for agriculture would be supported by insurance collateral. Considering consumers? preference for branded agricultural products; big corporate houses too have taken up corporate farming, increasing the demand for insurance. Agricultural insurance in future though is likely to be largely demand driven, the efforts of the government to support and finance insurance products and / or facilitate congenial environment as meaningful risk management tool would further enhance the potential and credibility of agricultural insurance. Despite progress of irrigation and improvement in infrastructure and communication the risk in agriculture production has increased in the country. The risk is much higher for farm income than production, as is evident from lower risk in area and higher risk in production. State wise results show that only in the states where irrigation is very reliable, it helped in reducing the risk. Those states where irrigation is not very dependable continue to face high risk. In some states farmers face twin problem of very low productivity accompanied by high risk of production. As, with the passage of time, neither technology nor any other variable helped in reducing production risk, particularly in low productivity states, there is strong need to devise and extend insurance products to agricultural production. Despite various schemes launched from time to time in the country agriculture insurance has served very limited purpose. The coverage in terms of area, number of farmers and value of agricultural output is very small, payment of indemnity based on area approach miss affected farmers outside the compensated area, and most of the schemes are not viable. Expanding the coverage of crop insurance would therefore increase government costs considerably. Unless the programme is restructured carefully to make it viable, the prospects of its future expansion to include and impact more farmers is remote. This requires renewed efforts by Government in terms of designing appropriate mechanisms and providing financial support for agricultural insurance. Providing similar help to private sector insurers would help in increasing insurance coverage and in improving viability of the insurance schemes over time. With the improved integration of rural countryside and communication network, the Unit area of insurance could be brought down to a village panchayat level. Insurance products for the rural areas should be simple in design and presentation so that they are easily understood. There is lot of interest in private sector to invest in general insurance business. This opportunity can be used to allot some target to various general insurance companies to cover agriculture. To begin with, this target could be equal to the share of agriculture in national income. Good governance is as important for various developmental programmes as for successful operation of an agriculture insurance scheme. Poor governance adversely affects development activities. With the improvement in governance, it is feasible to effectively operate and improve upon the performance of various programmes including agriculture insurance. Crop insurance program works as collateral security, therefore also benefit banks. When claims are paid, banks first adjust the claim against their outstanding dues, and balance if any is credited to the farmers. Therefore, the Crop Insurance Scheme also benefits the banks. In Philippines, banks are made to share a part of the premium burden. For rice where the premium is 10. 81 per cent, borrowing farmer pays only 2. 91 per cent, while the government pays is 5. 90 per cent and the lending institution, 2. 00 per cent. A similar arrangement can be recommended for participating banks in India. Such arrangement would also bring non-loanee farmers into the fold of banking network, thus institutional lending of crop loans. Remote sensing is the emerging technology with potential to offer plenty of supplementary, complimentary and value added functions for agricultural insurance. The present technology available shall not only provide the insurers with tools like crop health condition, area-sown confirmation, yield modeling which are very important, but also strengthen the position of insurers vis-a-vis re-insurance market. Some of the possible applications of for agricultural insurance could be as follows: 1. Estimating actual acreage – sown at insurance unit level to check the discrepancy of „over-insurance? (area insured being more than area sown). 2. Monitoring crop health through the crop season, and investigation on ground for advance intimation of yield reduction. 3. To check adequacy and reliability of CCE data. 4. Developing satellite based crop productivity models for cereals and other crops. There is a need to promote private sector participation in agriculture insurance. First license for the private sector, was issued in October 2000. As of today, there are ten private sector insurers in the general insurance business: Reliance, Tata-AIG, Royal Sundaram, IFFCO-Tokio, Bajaj-Allianze, ICICI-Lombard, HDFC- Chubb, Cholamandalam, ECGC and Star Health. The latter two, are limited to only a few lines of general insurance. The fact remains that these insurers have not yet undertaken agricultural insurance to a significant extent. Only two companies in the private sector have initiated crop insurance, albeit on a small scale. ICICI-Lombard was the first company to experiment with rainfall insurance in 2003. The concept is further extended to weather insurance since 2004. IFFCO-Tokio General Insurance (ITGI), the second company in private sector, started piloting rainfall insurance, since 2004. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has stipulated that every new insurer undertaking general insurance business, has to underwrite business in the rural sector to the extent of at least 2 per cent of the gross premium during the first financial year, which is to be increased to 5 per cent during the third financial year of its operation. Crop insurance is included in the rural sector insurance for this purpose. The business targets stipulated in rural insurance apparently are very small. Those who do not meet even these small targets, are getting away by paying penalties of nominal amounts. If private insurers are to be spurred to enter the rural insurance market in a significant manner, the business targets have to be raised substantially by IRDA. The experience of government supported and subsidized crop insurance and the recent entry of private insurers, raise questions about the co-existence of government and private agriculture insurance. One view is that the private sector will be unable to compete with government insurance, given the subsidies and access to the administrative machinery for delivering insurance. An alternative view is that given only 15 per cent coverage by government insurance, the private sector can carve out a reasonable market for itself based on improved efficiency, better design and superior services. Here one can even think of public-private partnership in providing agriculture insurance as against public-private competition. However, it is possible only when crop insurance can be run in a more professional manner with clear objectives. Providing Government help to private sector insurers would help in increasing insurance coverage and in improving viability of the insurance schemes over time. There should also be insurance provided by seed companies so that farmers who paid high prices for seeds such as GM crops did not suffer in case of crop failure. In order to promote public – private participation in agriculture insurance GOI should follow the USA model to work out premium rate through an exclusive technical agency, and offer the product to all insurers. Insurers can implement the product, enjoying the same level of support and subsidy. As a variation from the USA method, the government would not provide reinsurance support and reimbursement of administrative and operating expenses, as these costs would be loaded in the actuarial rates. The government can decide whether or not different insurers compete in the same area, or allocate specific crops and areas to a particular insurer (Planning Commission, 2007). With increased commercialization of agriculture price fluctuations have become highly significant in affecting farmers? income. Accordingly, market risk is now quite important in affecting farmers? income. We feel that implementation of market insurance to cover price risk is much easier than yield insurance. This can be done by requiring interested farmers to register their arketable surplus with insurance agency or market committee at the time of sowing of crop. The insurance agency should offer insurance cover to include price guarantee which could be minimum support price in some cases or market based price from the past. Farmers should pay premium for this kind of price insurance and initially government should share some burden of the premium. During harvest if price in the notified market falls below the guaranteed price then insurance agency should pay indemnity. Modalities to be worked out for implementation of this kind of model. The farming community in India consists of about 121 million farmers of which only about 20 per cent avail crop loans from financial institutions and only three fourth of those are insured. The remaining 80 per cent (96 millions) are either self-financing or depend upon informal sources for their financial requirements. Most of the farmers are illiterate and do not understand the procedural and other requirements of formal financial institutions and, therefore, shy away from them. Therefore, while the institutional loanees are insured compulsorily under the NAIS, only about 15 per cent of the non-loanee farmers avail insurance cover voluntarily. This is quite indicative of the enormous insurance potential that exists for addressing the needs of the farming community and enhancing the overall efficiencies as also the competitiveness of the agriculture sector. This also signifies the tremendous potential of agriculture insurance in the country as a concept, which can mitigate the adverse impacts that such uncertainties would have on the individual farmers.