Can the World Still Feed Itself Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Can the World Still Feed Itself - Assignment Example those comprised in Europe, regarding enhancing agricultural production for the purpose to augmenting energy sources would eventually take its toll in terms of providing an imbalance in food supply. Likewise, there was also reference to preferences for organic food, abhorrence to GMOs, and relentless indifference to potentially endangering water sources to oblivion. At the onset, one could initially be swayed by the assertions of Brabeck-Letmathe given his credentials and authoritativeness on the subject matter. In the capacity of Nestle’s chairman, he should have the competencies to be holistically equipped with relevant information, updates, and future trends pertaining to food production, the global organization’s thrust, he apparently leads. As such, through the same capacity, he could likewise possess latent bias, in terms of opposing the use of these nations’ alleged pursuance of increasing agricultural production for the objective of augmenting energy sources, instead of being ultimately serving the food needs of the global population. By diverting the purpose, most of the agricultural harvests would be earmarked for energy sources, rather than being considered inputs for his global organization. His fear of apparent raises in food prices should not therefore stem from overabundance in agricultural production, which should supposedly drive the prices down and not up. Likewise, there could be a tinge of ironic tone as exemplified in his arguments that other food alternatives (organic food and GMOs) seem to further imply cuts from the market shares of Nestle, in general, as the food giant in manufacturing, processing, canning, preserving and stocking supermarket shelves. In this regard, one deduces that although there could be points that could be considered valid; such as the continued increase in food prices; but the factors contributory to these increases are varied and not limited to the supposedly diversion to produce biofuel. One has had the

The Tiffany & Co Analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

The Tiffany & Co Analysis - Research Paper Example This article is about Tiffany & Co analysis as a high-end jewelry company. We discuss briefly the history of the company history, its products, pioneers, location and distribution globally, and customer relation. The article also exploits the company’s’ new ventures in the jewelry industry. We also analyze the company position by performing a SWOT analysis to determine the various parameters influencing the company. The company has profound strength in its strong local existence, Positive brand image, well known for its silvery jewelry and strong direct selling strategy. Tiffany has some weakness as a result of declining cash flows and limited product range. Contrary to the weakness, the company prides in a number of opportunities such as Singapore as a luxury retail hub for Asian market and new business venture- Corporation with other companies to expand its market dominance. For the company to maintain its positive growth, it has to address the following threats; Prol iferation of imitation for its items and Economic slowdown This study also expands its analysis by looking at the quantitative variables that influence company performance. Here we scrutinize quantifiable variables of the company like company worth and predictable sales. The method involves analyzing profit and loss accounts, arithmetical state of the financial system, sales and earning histories. The variables discussed in this section are; Financial Ratio Analysis, Industry Specific Metrics and EV/Revenue Valuation. Under the financial analysis, we study the company’s Liquidity, Asset, and Debt Management and Profitability status. For specific company metrics; Sales per Retail Square Foot, Sales per Employee and Capital Intensity are as well discussed. The analysis winds with a EV/Revenue Valuation. The article finalizes by making suggestions which if incorporated can boost the company revenue, increase customer relation and deliver quality products to customers. The change in the company’s old model of management and market strategy will improve its goods and service delivery. We also take a conclusive analysis relating both quantitative and qualitative analysis to give advice to investor, buyers and company management on critical issues that needs to be addressed. We close the study by not recommending major fix within the company, but an advice to investor of the current company position and worthiness of making an investment. The fluctuations in major determining factors do not necessarily mean that the company is on the fall, but rather is responding to a change in prevailing conditions. Tiffany has shown excellent response to change in key determining factors like recession. Introduction Tiffany & Co. is the most popular lavish jewelry corporation in the United States of America.

Production And Operation Essay Example for Free

Production And Operation Essay 1(a). The word measure is defined as the process of approximating or estimating the magnitude of an object in relation with some units of measurement. I t usually involves the assignment of nun-negative real numbers to the subsets The term productivity is also defined as the measure of the production process output divided by the number of unit of input. For instant, labor productivity is usually measured as the ratio of the labor output per hour and input. Therefore, the quantitative aspects of the input and output are put into consideration (Christopher Voss (1984). Generally, productivity of higher education is defined in terms of how much individuals and the society as a whole are gaining from the educational sector, considering the resources that they employ. It also shows whether the system is wasteful in any way as well. The issue of productivity is looked at in two dimensions. That is, the efficiency perspective and the effectiveness perspective. Efficiency looks at the level as well as the quality of the education services obtained from the available resources. A sector that produces higher quality or greater quantity of outputs using the same resources, then it said to have improved efficiency. On the other hand, effectiveness focuses on the extent which the needs and demands of the customers are met by the providers. The stakeholders in this case include the students, local communities, faculty, the state governments and the nation at large. Therefore, it’s clear that productivity improvement is a multidimensional process which depends on the goals and missions of the particular system at hand. Under measure productivity, the general approach that is employed mostly is the development of measures of both the effectiveness and efficiency. These measures are then employed together so that productivity improvement is measured. Through the use of input and output measures, there could be either the technical efficiency ratios used to measure the physical output per unit input, or the use of economical efficiency ratios that compare and contrast the outcomes to the inputs. However, the present problems that hinder the measure of the input and the output do not make easy for the creation of these measures. Therefore, it is necessary to rely on direct measures where the resources employed by the industry are put across together with the outcome and the quality of the services. In situations where the industry produces multiple outputs, these outputs are always weighted using some criterion and then summed. b). Looking at the relationship between strategy and operations management, we first define the terms. The word strategy refers to the long term plan of actions that is designed to meet the set aims and goals. On the other hand, operations management refers to the process of ensuring that all the activities that are meant to be carried on in the industry are carried on in to achieve the set up goals and regulations. For the operation management process to be successful there has to be the long term goals that must be strategically set. These goals are the key drives of all the processes that take place in the entire industry. Therefore, the strategy used should be the one that is achievable and relevant to the operations at hand. The production management process should also be in line with the long term action plans that are set so that it will be easier to meet the set goals. The process should be handled in a formal manner in order to promote or make the whole production process easier. These set goals as well as the long term actions should be made known to the employees of the company and the public as well so that they can contribute towards the achievement of the same. For instant, in a higher education industry, they should set long term actions to produce the best students or to be the best research institutions. The goals set should be those that are achievable and the community as well as the students, the lecturers and the non teaching staff should all be informed about all these. c). The terms Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ) refers to the costs that are generated due to the production of defective materials. These include those costs that are used in bridging the gap between the desired and actual service quality and products. It also consists of the costs of losses in terms of the opportunities caused by the loss of recourses that are later used to correct the defects. COPQ includes all the labor costs, the rework costs, material costs and the disposition costs. However, it does not include the detection as well as the prevention cost. For instant, in the tourism industry can have the COPQ whereby the services offered to the tourists are not to the standard due to lack of enough accommodation or workers. Hence, to rectify this, they employ more workers and build up or renovate their buildings in order to improve there services. On the other hand the term cost of quality is widely used but mostly misunderstood. It is defined as the cost of not creating a quality product or services. This cost increases every time work is redone. For instant, in the tourism industry, they incur this cost when their workers fail to offer perfect services to the tourists as they may end up being discouraged from visiting the country again. d). A toy market that is ready to sell its new products has to follow different procedures in order to reduce the time that it will re quire to sell these products. First, there will be need for a massive advertisement either in the papers, televisions and live shows so that they can inform the consumers on the products. This in tern will keep the potential customers aware of the products in a manner that they will be encouraged to purchase these products that they will need to purchase. Another main point that the toy manufacturing company should take into consideration is the quality of the toys that they produce and sell to the customers. The toys that of good quality will definitely take less time as compared to the toys of bad quality. The price of the products, that is the price which the toys are disposed at will also affect the time that the products will take in the market. Cheap or affordable products will take short time in the market as compared to the expensive products or unaffordable products. When the company that is manufacturing the toys plans the type of toys that they produce, they should take into consideration the technology at hand and the age that they are targeting. For instant, toys are basically meaningful to the young children hence should be designed in a manner that they will be attractive to the children and can be handled by them as well. This will definitely reduce the marketing time for the new products. 2). The three basic capacity expansion strategies include the process focused strategy, the repetitive focused strategy, and the product focused strategy. These are all aimed at improving the production management and control systems as a whole. Under the process focused strategy, the available facilities are organized by the process itself and all the similar processes are put together. There is also the presence of a low volume, but high variety products, as well as the presence of a jumbled flow. This strategy has its merits and demerits in general. The advantages of this strategy are: Availability of great product flexibility that ensures that the products are modified incase of any need. Availability of more general equipment that are used to handle many tasks at a time. And there is room for low capital investment thus even the poor can afford to invest in the business. The disadvantages are: Need for very highly trained personnel which expensive to higher and fire. Availability of more difficulty production planning control process that needs a lot of money to run and consumes a lot of time. And poor equipment control process hence more expense to organization since these equipments may spoil any time or get lost. Under the repetitive focused strategy, the facilities are often organized by the use of assembly lines. It is mainly characterized by the use modules which are combined for many output options (Philip E. Hicks (1919). The advantages of this strategy are that it is seen to be more structured than the process focused strategy and enables Quasi-customization. It also enjoys economical advantage of a continuous process since it makes maximum use of modules. The product focused strategy has facilities that are organized by the products (Jay Hezier (1996). There is also room for high volume, low variety products and is usually found in the discrete unit manufacturing company and the continuous process of manufacturing.The advantages of this strategy include: Lower variable costs per unit which reduce the production costs in general leading to reduction in selling prices. Availability of lower but more specialized labor skills hence production is efficient and meets the demands of the consumer. Possibility of easier production planning and control hence saves time and reduces production cost as well. And the presence of equipment utilization and maintenance. The disadvantages are: High probability of lower product flexibility Need for more specialized equipments that are expensive And need for a very high capital investment thus closes doors for the poor in the society. 3). It is not easy for the jobs to be designed as well as be incorporated in order to meet all the characteristics in the principles. However, it is important to note that jobs should form a coherent whole independently or through involving the related jobs. The whole performance of the job should ensure that there is a significant contribution to the completion the services and the products (Meric S. Gertler (2004). It should also ensure that there is provision of a variety of pace, location, method and skills that are necessary. It should also provide feedback of the performance to the other people directly. Discretion and time control should be given chance as well as the sequence and the pace of work efforts. The job should also ensure that some responsibility for outcomes is included; there is room for learning and problem solving within the competence of the individual. It should also be done in a way that it leads towards a desirable future. The individuals should be free to develop in a way that they find relevant. Job specialization is defined as the process of separation of the organizational activities into tasks that are distinct and involves the process of assigning different tasks to different people. On the other hand, job enrichment is seen as the motivation of employees by giving opportunities to them in order to range heir abilities. For instant, in an institution that deals with learning, there are different departments that deal with different things at a time. Each department has its heads that are the key decision makers. A job that is enriched has a variety of tasks as well as varying challenges in difficulties, a meaningful work, has a feedback, encouragement and good communication. Â  Job enrichment includes the process of turning the employees’ efforts into performance, links the employee’s performance to the rewards directly, and makes sure that the employees are interested in the reward. For instant, in an organization, employees who have performed well in their work are given promotions at the end of a certain period of time in order to motivate them. On the other hand, job specialization ensures that the employees are good in a particular section as compared to the other sections hence can work best when given the chance of working there. In most cases, it does not involve rewards but takes into consideration the ability of the employee and the experiences at hand (Richard B. Chase (1998). Job specialization also ensures that there is decentralization of activities and powers. Decisions here are made at the different levels depending on who is in charge of the area affected. This does not apply to the case of job enrichment since the main aim here is to motivate the employees References Richard B. Chase (1998). Production and Operation Management. McGraw-Hill College, ISBN007517102 Jay Hezier (1996). Production and Operation Management. Prentice Hall PTR, ISBN0132444844. Meric S. Gertler (2004). Manufacturing Culture: The Institutional Geography of Industrial Practice. Oxford University Press, ISBN0198233825. The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of Universal Knowledge, page 484. Philip E. Hicks (1919). Industrial Engineering and Management. McGraw-Hill, ISBN0070288070. Christopher Voss (1984). Research in Production/Operations Management. Gower Pub. Co., U.S.A, ISBN 0566007592

Impact of interest rate changes on bank profitability

Impact of interest rate changes on bank profitability Over the years, banking system in Pakistan shown enormous growth and potential. The performance and stability indicators showed significant improvement in the profitability of banking system. But now a days banking sector going under pressure. Such as liquidity crunch and solvency problem have significant impact on the performance of banking sector and economy. The financial institution could have managed the situation without any trouble if they have sufficient amount of liquidity available to fulfill their obligation. Since they are operating in very tight market conditions. So, they are forces to pay attractive rates to depositors to attract liquidity. Although the State Bank of Pakistan reduced the Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) and Statutory Liquidity Requirement (SLR) on demand and Time Liabilities to ease the liquidity in the market. The governments instead of developing their own recourses empower banks to generate money and then borrow from banks. The huge amount of borrowin g from banks by the government its disturbing the economy. The government not only curtails its borrowing from banks but also put some sort of check on power of money. All these factors have combined to set a stage where lending rates are high and having great amount of burden on banks financials. The amount of non performing loans increased at rapid speed despite of heavy amount of provision created by the bank in recent years. The increasing asset quality concerns would force the banks to book heavy provisions for non performing loans (NPLs). The stability of the banking system is conditional upon the stability of overall economy. A stable macroeconomic environment contributes to effective and efficient growth of saving and investment decision. Appropriate macroeconomic measures should support the functioning of the banking system more specifically in the areas of financial stabilization, transparent fiscal policy and monetary policy. The major contributor role of effective and efficient growth in the economy is played by the State Bank of Pakistan and provides guideline to the financial institution to play their role in the development by mobilizing the resources of the economy and facilitating the investors. The success of a bank also depends on the ability to forecast and avoid risk, to cover the losses brought about by the arisen risk. Profit is the important requirement of a competitive banking institution and the cheapest source of funds. It is essential to see it not simply as a result, but also a necessity for successful banking in a growing competition on financial market. These important facts together are the reason for this to focus on the current topical issue of banks profitability. We will highlight problems which are influencing on banks effectiveness and efficiency to manage their portfolio such as assets and liabilities in aiming at to achieve profitability and identify the areas where it might have possible room for raising the bank profitability. Banks assets are grouped into two categories earning assets and non earning assets. Earning assets means those on which banks earns interest income and non earning assets means those which used for the purpose reserve requirem ent, fixed assets to run day to day operational activities. In this study we have focus on earning assets. This included Placement and lending to financial institution, investment in securities and loan advances. These assets are the major source of income for bank. Therefore, it is apparent that average income generation ability of these assets has a decisive influence on the banks profitability. As financial intermediary, banks play a vital role in the operation of most economic development. The efficiency of financial intermediation can also affect the economic growth. Banks are different from other firms in that they provide financial services, the reward to which is an interest rate, and the most of the funding are financed by the deposits or borrowing, the expense of which is also an interest rate. Interest margin, the difference between what a bank has earns on its earning assets and what is paid to depositor. It has been on upward trend during the last decade. An increase in the spread would affect the depositor or the borrower or both stand loose at same time. The lack of alternate avenues of financial intermediation aggravates the adverse impact of spread. For example, if the State Bank of Pakistan based on the monetary policy change the interest rate. Then the change in the interest rate influences the cost of capital that in turn affects the level of consumption an d investment decision. If the increase in the spread is due to decrease the rate to depositors then this discourage the saving, and alternatively if due to increase the rate it would have adverse impact on investment. Therefore, these changes in the interest rate have important implication on the economy. Banks are more sensitive to interest rate changes than most of the other institutions. The effect of interest rate changes on banks profitability has been an important issue for banking system. It has been argued that bank exposure to interest rate risk perhaps the most important issue in participating the saving and investment crises. 1.2: Problem Statement The impacts of interest rate changes have a significant impact on the bank profitability. When interest rate changes it would result in increase or decrease in the interest income of the bank and also have adverse affect on depositors saving and borrower investment decision. 1.3: Objective This research aims to study the impact of interest rate changes on banks profitability based on the following variables directly affecting the banks profitability Interest rate Balances with other banks Deposits accounts Lending to Financial Institution Investments Loan Advances 1.4: Research Scope and Limitation The scope of this research is to find out the impact of interest rate changes on banks profitability. There are few limitation involved in the study. The sample selection consists of five major banks. Which covers the 57% market share of the Pakistan banking industry. The basis for calculation of income is KIBOR rate. The banking system starts using as benchmark as KIBOR rate from 2002 onward. Therefore, our study period is 2003 2008. 1.6 Chapter Summary The banking sector shown enormous potential in previous years. Banking sector achieved high profitability and economy was stable. But from 2008 onward banking sector going through a financial crises such as liquidity and solvency problem. To control the uncertain condition of the country. The central bank reduces the Cash Reserve Requirement and Statutory Liquidity Requirement. So, banks have more liquidity to fulfill their obligations. On the other hand Central Bank increases the discount rate to control the money supply in the market. Which result in higher interest rates. Due to the increase in interest rate and financial crises borrowers default ratio increase and financial institution suffer large amount of losses during the period. This increasing amount of asset quality concerns would force the bank to book heavy provision for non performing loans (NPLs). The stability of the banking system is dependant on the economy. A stable macroeconomic condition will contribute to effect ive and efficient growth of saving and investment. Banks play as role of financial intermediary in the development of economy. If the central bank made any change in the monetary policy it will affect the performance of financial institution. Then the changes in the interest rate will affect the saving and investment. If the spread increases due to decrease in the rate to depositor then it will discourage the depositor and alternatively if due to increase in the rate to borrower then it will affect the investment decision. Therefore, banks are more sensitive to interest rate changes then the other institution. The effect of interest rate has been todays most important issue for banking sector. Chapter 2: Literature Review The study of Flannery, (1981) showed that large banking organizations (1978 assets greater than $2 billion) are well hedged against interest rate fluctuations. The large banks made necessary adjustment to avoid interest rate fluctuation by revising the repayment schedule rate as per the agreement with customer to minimize their interest rate risk. The some of the borrower pay quarterly, half yearly and annual payments. So, as per the agreement schedule bank revise the rates which minimize the risk of bank. When market rate change, the large banking organization made necessary adjustments to avoid interest rate volatility in revenue and cost. The mostly organization have mis matched balance sheet such as they borrow from customer and financial institution at shorter period or maturity and give lending to customer and financial institution at longer period. It would create mis match between balance sheet. Therefore, banks are exposing to interest rate risk and liquidity risk. To avoid the liquidity risk the banks develop relationship with financial institution to overcome their liquidity problem on immediate basis and for interest rate they minimize the risk by revising the interest rate of the contract as per the agreement. The finding of this article suggests that most bank posses a sufficient range of assets and liabilities choices to avoid the risk. This study employs annual data from the federal Reports of Income and Condition on individual insured banks in continuous existence from 1960 through 1978. Twelve banks were chosen at random from the national population in each of five asset size categories (based on year-end 1978 assets): less than $25 million, $25- 25-49.9 million, $50-99.9 million, $100-299.9 million, and greater than $300 million. Holding company subsidiary banks were excluded from the first four size million, $100-299.9 million, and greater than $300 million. Holding company subsidiary banks were excluded from the first four size groups; 3 banks above $300 million were included regardless of their subsidiary status, since large independent banks may not be representative of the population Flannery, (1983). In this study data collected from the federal report of income and condition f rom 1960 to 1978. Population of Twelve banks randomly chosen for analysis and break into 5 different assets size categories on the basis of 1978 assets: less than $25 million, greater than $25 and less than $49.9 million, greater than $50 and less than $99.9 million, greater than $100 and less than $299.9 million and greater than $300 millions. In this study holding companys subsidiary excluded from first four groups and greater than $300 million includes the subsidiary banks of holding company and regression techniques had been used in the analysis. The result of the study showed that commercial banks groups are substantial exposed to interest rate risk and individual bank choose alternatives to avoid such risk. Bank possess sufficient amount of funds available in the form of assets and liabilities to minimize those risk and try to get productive results. The study of Barajas et.al (1999) showed that a key variable in the financial system is the spread between lending and deposit interest rates. When it is too large, it is generally regarded as a considerable impediment to the expansion and development of financial intermediation, as it discourages potential savers with low returns on deposits and limits financing for potential borrowers, thus reducing feasible investment opportunities and therefore the growth potential of the economy. The key point of financial institution is the spread between Loan and deposits rate differences. When the lending rate is high and deposits rate is low then which results in higher the profitability for the financial institution but on the other hand it will discourage the depositor. Because the depositors getting low return on their savings and also discouraging for the borrowers because the financial institution charging high interest rate. If the financial institution doing the same then it would red ucing the saving confidence on depositor and borrower will try to avoid to borrow from financial institution. Which resulting in reducing the investments opportunities because the saving money not contributing to the economy. Financial system of developing countries showing larger spread difference as compare to the developed countries. Based on the balance sheet and profit loss information the author derived two data base. One data base developed on basis of quarterly data from 1974-1988 and other on the basis of monthly data from 1991-1996. In the period 1974-1980 the spread between loan and deposits increasing steadily and then start decreasing during the period 1981-1988 reached to 19 percent and again decreased during the period of 1991-1996. The evidence provided by the author clearly suggest that the during 1974-1980 spread increased and then during the 1981-1990 significantly decreased. This showed that the loan quality during the period remained stable and reserve ratio re quirement decreased and consistent spreads and cost lower the productivity of the state bank. A study of Maisal, Robert (1978) showed that financial markets is the degree and rapidity with which financial institution react to new information and shift funds among asset and liability classes so as to equalize marginal cost and returns. Many analysts assume that markets are efficient, that transaction and information costs are negligible or unimportant, and that borrowing and lending hedging and arbitrage are simple and available at or close to risk free rates. As a result, they believe that they can successfully predict the results of all types of markets actions and reactions without concern for institutional forces. The financial markets are so efficient that they get rapidly information and on the basis of information they are making quick decision regarding the fund management such as assets, liability, cost and income. When all the information readily available then it reduces the cost and increase efficiency of transaction such as hedging and arbitrage without taking any risk on the basis of available information analyst predict their results of any market without considering the forces. The study conducted by author on the basis of cost and revenue of cross section banks during the period 1962-1975 estimation made on the basis of net rate of income and cost of book value of assets. The net rate is the difference between the gross revenue from assets minus cost of asset and rates are net of servicing, processing and overhead cost. The result showed that major shift occurred during the period of 1970-1975. Net returns of assets considerably differ when computed on the basis of average. The study of Demirgà ¼Ãƒ §-Kunt, Harry (1999) showed the differences in interest margins and bank profitability reflect a variety of determinants: bank characteristics, macroeconomic conditions, explicit and implicit bank taxation, deposit insurance regulation, overall financial structure, and underlying legal and institutional indicators. A larger ratio of bank assets to gross domestic product and a lower market concentration ratio lead to lower margins and profits, controlling for differences in bank activity, leverage, and the macroeconomic environment. Foreign banks have higher margins and profits than domestic banks in developing countries, while the opposite holds in industrial countries. Also, there is evidence that the corporate tax burden is fully passed onto bank customers, while higher reserve requirements are not, especially in developing countries. The study showed that variation between spreads and profitability comprised of various determinants. Such as economic condi tions, regulations and financial structure. As the banks have a high ratio of asset with respect to gross domestic product and have small profit margin and banks profits. Because of debts and economic conditions. Foreign banks usually have greater margin of profits as compare to the local or domestic bank in the developing countries and different outcome for industrial countries. This study also evidence that corporate tax had a direct burden on the bank customer because bank transfer the tax burden to their customer while reserve requirement of central bank doesnt not have a significant effect on banks. The data collected at the level of banks for 80 institutes and period comprised of 1988-1995 on the size and decomposition of banks spreads and profits. Regression technique had been used to find out the determinate of interest rate spreads and banks profitability. Taxation and regulation have big impact on bank customer and overall bank position. The banking system varies from coun try to country around the world in size and composition and structure. All banks have different influence of macroeconomic conditions, regulation and market conditions. Several countries data had been used for analysis to find out the bank characteristics and conditions which affect the banks performance such as interest margins and profitability. Some variable have positive relationship with each other and some of them have a negative relationship with each other i.e. reserve ratio to profitability. The study of Samuelson Paul A, (1945) showed that the banking system as a whole is not really hurt by an increase in the whole complex of interest rates. It is left tremendously better off by such a change. If a bank were a university, nobody would doubt that it would be made better off by an increase in the interest rate. At worst, it could continue to hold all existing gilt-edge securities to maturity and be no worse off. As these matured, the proceeds could be invested at higher rates with a resulting increase in income. It would be better off in the sense that ceteris paribus it could hire more teachers per year, spend more money on buildings and stadia, and engage in more research. The only exception would be in the limiting and unrealistic case where all its money was invested in perpetuities. But even here it would be no worse off. In every other case it would be better off. The increase in the interest rates usually not affects the performance of bank, its actual effect on th e borrower. When the interest rate increases then borrower will bear the effect of increase interest rate. But it would not affect the bank performance .The reason is that the bank pay low return to depositors and charge more to borrower as interest rate increases. So, both depositor and borrower will bear the cost. In this article author taken the example of university. If this loan given to the university it certainly impact on the university performance because of increase in the interest rates. As the interest rates increases it would become more costly for the university and difficult to pay to the bank on time. The increase in the interest rates would not hurt university as its decreases capital value. This change would have a better impact on university. The study of Coleman George W, (1945) showed that the banking system would recover these losses over a period of time, the length depending upon the maturity distribution. During that period, it would be frozen in to a given maturity pattern. The earnings of the banking system upon the existing portfolio would increase. He states that immediately after interest rates have risen and capital values have scaled down, all parts of the portfolio, old as well as new, began to earn the higher rates. The rise in the interest rates bank can come up with some loss on the portfolio such as investing in the securities of longer period. The bank can recover this cost over the period of time and get desired returns and also increase in the capital of the bank. When the investment is carried at cost then it would amortize cost. It means banks amortize the investments over the period of agreement until it becomes zero. When the interest rate rise it would have immediate effect and bank re-prices the portfolio on the current interest rate and gets benefit of the opportunity. The objective of the study to find that increase in interest rate would not a sufficient impact on banks. Its directly influence on the saver or borrower. Which ultimately result in decrease in saving and investment. The management of bank continuously monitoring and updating their portfolio policies to minimize such risk. The study of Khawaja, Musleh, (2007) showed that Interest spread of the Pakistans banking industry has been on the rise for the last two years. The increase in interest spread discourages savings and investments on the one hand, and raises concerns on the effectiveness of bank lending channel of monetary policy on the other. The interest rate spreads in banking sector on the upward move. When the interest rate increases its discourages the depositor and borrower. Such as saving and investments. Banks giving low returns to depositors which results in discouragement and getting high return from borrower by charging high interest rates inclusive of spreads. Spreads are much high in Pakistan. When spreads taken into account ultimately the interest increase and banks gets high returns on lending and investments. The depositor not has any other option to save his money and also the strict requirement of SBP capital requirement. The industry has rapidly merger and acquisition. This results in decrease in the option for saving. In this study author used data of 29 banks. Variant model had been used to check variables relationship. The results showed that inelasticity in deposits supply have positive impact on interest rate spreads. To lower the spread margin central bank play a vital role to reduce the spread and other alternative would be the financial intermediary which lower the spreads. The study of Chirwa, Montfort, (2004) highlighted the importance of financial liberalization in facilitating economic development and growth. While there is no complete agreement on the removal of financial repression, usually characterized by control of interest rates, imposition of credit ceilings, and credit rationing, leads to significant amelioration of growth prospects, the dominant view is that financial liberalization and growth usually go together. Financial liberalization had a great influence on improving the economy and increasing growth. There is no certain agreement made on the financial repression. The management made certain tool and polices to control the interest rate impact on credits. Such as by applying tool of checking limits and there purpose of credit extension. The good control over the interest rate would have a significant on the performance of economy and growth of the country. Financial liberalization and growth of the economy work to gather and run head to head and boost the development of economy. The determinants of interest spread and bank profitability have been often used in the model. In portfolio choice bank trying to maximize their good portfolio. This maximizes the profitability of the banks. Bank usually made feasible choice of assets and liabilities with respective tenor interest rate. This study used monthly panel data from banking system between 1989-1999.the findings of that study showed that the after liberalization the interest rate significantly increased. The main cause of that increase was the increase in nonfinancial cost, provision for doubtful debts, taxation and variation in the inflation rates. The study of Marisel Peter, (2002) showed that in the world of endogenous money, the central banks role in monetary policy is reduced to the setting of a very short term official rate of interest, which indicates the price at which it will make liquidity available to the banking system. However; it is changes in market rates that affect behavior; and so the ability of the central bank to influence anything at all depends, first, on the interaction between official and market rates. In this paper, we use a vector autogressive error correction model to explore the response to changes in the central bank rate of three short-term market rates that have been featured previously in this journal in debates about the demand for endogenous money. The main responsibility of the state bank is to control or reduce the rates which affect the price and liquidity of the banking system and affect the availability of liquidity of the banking organizations. The fluctuation in the market interest rates will affect the function of the banking system and as well as the behavior of the consumer and economy. In this study autoregressive correction model had been used by the author to find out the responses of interest rates changes and its effect. When spread between Corporate Government bond increases then the market assume that the risk on the bond increases. When they see then they try to predict the coming slowdown and recession in the economy. After testing they have found that it would have a positive effect on the economy. They have used the Autoregressive model to test the fluctuation in prices and interest rates. The result of the paper showed that the short term interest rates have a significant impact on the banking system as compare to the long term interest rates. Short term interest rates were the major instrument of the monetary policy of the central bank. In monetary policy central bank advice the interest rates which would affect the banking system as well as the ov erall economic activities of the country. 2.1: Chapter Summary The impacts of interest rate changes have a significant impact on the bank profitability. When interest rate changes it would result in increase or decrease in the interest income. The Pakistan banking industry use Karachi Interbank Offered Rate (KIBOR) for earning assets to find out the interest income. The major portfolio reprice on 6 M KIBOR. Bank is exposing to interest rate risk. But usually bank hedge against interest rate risk to minimize its impact on bank performance. The major impact of interest rate changes would affect the depositors and borrowers. Because when interest rate changes it would discourage the saving and investment decision.

Jonathan Edwards and the Puritan Mind Essay example -- essays papers

Jonathan Edwards and the Puritan Mind If one were to study the idea of Puritan thought through only the reading of these three works of Jonathan Edwards, one could probably gather a good idea of the inner workings of the Puritan mind. These three works do well to disclose to the reader the inner and outer workings of Jonathan Edwards. The Personal Narrative displays to the reader Jonathan Edwards' view of himself as he progressed through life, and the ideals and the things that were most valuable to him, and the things that were a hindrance to himself. The sermon A Divine and Supernatural Light exhibits the nature of Jonathan Edwards' intellectual mind, and the view of expository preaching that he and the Puritan mind may have held and endorsed. Finally, Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God shows Jonathan Edwards' passion for people to come to the same understanding of God as he (and most other Puritans) held. Through these three literary pieces we will see how the Puritan mind struggles with the goals of inner and oute r piety, and how they concern themselves with the eternal position of their soul. Jonathan Edwards, as a model of Puritan life, lived a life that concerned itself greatly with appearing and feeling godly. Most of the Personal Narrative shows Edwards in a struggle between delighting in God, and returning "like a dog to his vomit," (176) and going the way of sin. It seems, though, as Edwards grew in his faith, his concern for piety grew even further. At several points in his life he decided to "part with all things in the world for an interest in Christ" (177). Edwards struggled to delight himself in the things of God and surround himself with those things, often shutting other things out in order that he ma... ... salvation as some liberal theologians would suggest to us. In conclusion, Edwards paints a very unmistakable picture of how a Puritan mind works through these three essays/sermons in this book. Puritan thought is seen as very pious, reflective, spiritual, works-based, concerned about their salvation, and exclusive in nature. Edwards offers a three-dimensional view of how his mind works through the narrative of his personal life (Personal Narrative), the work of his intellectual mind (A Divine and Supernatural Light), and the passion of his soul (Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God). Being a student of theology, I found it an interesting insight into how his mind worked, in seeing Edwards' view of God. I am a firm believer in understanding people and their motivation by looking at their understanding of God. Edwards was an excellent example of the Puritan mind.

Native Americans Essays -- essays research papers

Native Americans culture is unique for many ways. Living on the reservations they were in touch with nature as well as their ancestors. Native Americans are disputed in the country, diverse among tribes, culturally mixed, and recognize their own political stands (Bordewich, 1996, p. 71). These have changed over the years, but before the reconstruction of the Native Americans the people were identifiable and knew who they were. Before the Europeans came and changed their living they felt one with the land. They believe the land was not to be owned by anyone. The Wakon’da, a god, who in there words related to all things, made the land. Also, they expressed their feelings for nature as in peace confidence. Before the ‘whites’ took over the land the Native Americans had their own laws, as they do know, but one of the most important laws was to respect and keep peace with the dominant race and others around them. This meaning the Natives had never wanted to start fighting with the other races (Brophy, 1966, p. 24-25). They wanted to keep to themselves and keep the land clean and healthy. They did everything in and for nature.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Indian dances were a spiritual way for the Indians to express themselves. Handed down from generation to generation the dances are not a form of their own movement. They do the steps of the ancestors exceptionally in the religious ceremony dances. The only time a dancer will go outside of the steps is when it’s a personal ex...

Mastering Teacher Leadership Business Research Essay

This case presents a situation that is quite common in the education field and addresses the responses by institutions to new legislation imposed upon them. As is often the case, the legislators do not address the impacts to organizations, leaving the actual implementation to the end user (i.e., public and private schools). In this particular case, Wittenburg University (WU) is faced with the decision of whether to develop and deliver a Master of Arts degree in classroom leadership. 1.) Build the management-research question hierarchy for this opportunity. The initial step in the research is the creation of a management-research question hierarchy, to formalize the process. For this case study, the management-research hierarchy is presented in Appendix A. The purpose of this hierarchy is to examine the various stages of the research question and present a logical sequence of increasing focus that will allow the development of a survey instrument that can be delivered to potential pro gram applicants. The initial stage is to identify and state the management dilemma, which in this case is the impending new legislation. The State of Ohio intends to require all licenced teachers to have, or complete, a master’s degree before obtaining their second licensure to teach. Given that this is new legislation and WU is not obligated to offer a program, the â€Å"management dilemma† actually presents an opportunity for WU to develop a new degree program, thereby increasing revenue for the university. The second stage of the process is to identify the management questions. In this case, WU needs to decide what purpose would the new program serve?; would this program duplicate teacher development courses?; what format should the new program utilize (e.g., part-time, distance)? The third stage addresses the particular research questions: Does WU have the faculty/administrative capacity to offer the full program?; is there sufficient return on investment to offer the program?; and if all is positive, should WU develop and offer the program. Investigative questions, as part of a survey instrument should examine the demand for the program, what is the potential market, what other competition exists, and what would the program-costing model look like. One other variable that should be explored is the potential of Ohio teachers moving to  another state to avoid the legislation. On a similar scale, movement within the policing industry is often impacted by similar factors, so this question should be examined. The final stage of the process is that actual measurement component, whereby researchers will examine the demographic information, correlate and analyze the data collected from the surveys. In order to increase the confidence level of the analysis, survey questions should utilize appropriate ranking/rating scales, and ensure open-ended questions are avoided. Once the data has been analyzed, researchers will be able to provide WU administrators with sufficient information upon which to base a decision on whether to pro ceed with the program. 2. Evaluate the appropriateness of the exploratory stage of the research design. As noted earlier, the new State of Ohio legislation presents an opportunity for WU to implement a new graduate study program, and increase their enrollments. Before proceeding to the program development stage, however, WU needs to conduct exploratory research to guide their decision making process. An initial step in the process is to conduct secondary research, utilizing available resources, to identify similar programs (i.e., competition) and responses to similar legislation in other states. Given that the majority of this secondary data will be discovered via internet searches, the researchers should conduct a source evaluation. The course text identifies five factors to evaluate secondary data: â€Å"Purpose – the explicit or hidden agenda of the information source Scope – the breadth and depth of topic coverage, including time period, geographical limitations, and the criteria for information inclusion. Authority – the level of data (primary, secondary, tertiary) and the credentials of the source author(s) Audience – the characteristics and background of the people or groups for whom the source was created Format – how the information is presented and the degree of ease of locating specific information within the source.† (Cooper & Schindler, 2008, p. 109) Sources of appropriate data could include alumni surveys from WU, State of Ohio statistics related to post secondary institutions, national data bases, and a study of existing Master of Education (MEd) programs. By utilizing the above noted filters to secondary information, the researchers will be able to ensure they have considered all variables and factors in making a  decision. 3. Evaluate the sampling strategy. In this case study, WU mailed the survey to all of the 1,600 identified teachers residing in Clark County, which is the home county of WU; essentially this is not a sample, but rather a census. The remaining 400 surveys were then mailed to â€Å"systematic sampling† to teachers in the surrounding counties. I see an issue with this, as the parameters of the systematic sampling are not detailed; for example, were teachers who already completed a MEd degree included in the sample? I would suggest that the 400 surveys were mailed to a convenience sampling rather than a proper probability sample. Factors such as these may have contributed to the low response rate from the survey. Given the implementation time line of the new legislation, it would have been valuable to survey potential teachers (i.e., those currently in an undergraduate program), as they would likely form the WU MEd cohort. This would give a clearer picture of the market potential of the program. 4. Prepare a preliminary analysis plan for this study. Which variables do you want frequencies on? Why? The initial stage of the data correlation and analysis would be the proper coding of the data and entry into an appropriate software database. For this case study, the data was presented as an Excel file, so the exploratory data analysis would include a complete descriptive statistical calculations and frequencies for applicable questions. I would suggest questions that create nominal or ordinal data are the most appropriate for frequency tables, and provide a clearer picture of the survey respondents. The data sets may be utilized to confirm if the teacher sample is representative of the overall population, and cross tabulations conducted to draw correlations between categories. I would suggest that data specifically addressing respondents who require a master’s degree, or those contemplating pursuing higher education would be of particular interest, as they represent the p otential student market. Researchers will also need to account for non-response errors and missing data within the coding and analysis stages 5. Which variables do you want to cross-tabulate? Why? Given the nature of the research questions, it would be beneficial to identity, through crosstabulations, those teachers who have not yet applied for their second licensure to teach and what level of education those teachers currently have. This would clarify the potential  market for the WU program. In addition, cross-tabulations to identify potential teachers relative to their home counties would give a clearer picture of those teachers who could/would realistically attend the WU program over another program closer to their homes. A final cross tabulation that may prove beneficial is the number of teachers who currently are not impacted by the new legislation, but may look to the WU MEd. program for professional development courses. As noted earlier, the new legislation presents an opportunity for to expand upon their graduate level programs, but given the costs to initiate a new program, the decision to proceed  must be based upon valid and credible research data. Therefore, the exploratory research undertaken is critical, as it will form the foundation for any decisions made by the university administration. References Cooper, D. R., & Schindler, P. S. (2008). Business research methods. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Leedy, P. D., & Ormrod, J. E. (2010). Practical research planning and design. Upper Saddle River, NY: Pearson Education Inc. 6