Thursday, August 27, 2020

Struggles of African Americans in Langston Hughes’ Poems, Mother to Son

Battles of African Americans in Langston Hughes’ Poems, Mother to Son and Lenox Avenue: Midnight The encounters, exercises, and states of one’s life give a wellspring of motivation to one’s imaginative articulations and thoughts. All through life individuals experience circumstances and conditions that subsequently help to shape them into individualized spirits. An individual’s character is an impression of their life. Langston Hughes, an incredibly famous African American artist and self-purported safeguard of African American legacy, strongly opposes the cliché and acknowledged type of verse at his own prudence. Despite the fact that Langston Hughes is a fruitful African American writer, he, in the same way as other different Harlemites, faces impediments and resistance along his excursion through life; nonetheless, Hughes grasps his difficulties and injects his background into poetical works that his kindred African Americans can identify with in some way or another. In the two his sonnets â€Å"Mother to Son† and â€Å"Lenox Avenue: Midnightâ₠¬  Hughes uncovers the consistent battle of an average African American living during the 1920’s. In â€Å"Mother to Son† Hughes communicates the distress of a mother who is on edge for her child to succeed. In the sonnet the mother plans to offer her child urging words and bestow to him the shrewdness and information she increases through driving forward. While in the last sonnet, â€Å"Lenox Avenue: Midnight,† Hughes uncovers the social parts of a city during the Harlem Renaissance and passes on the feelings of a quintessential African American Harlemite dependent on his own his encounters as an African American writer living in Harlem, NY. Hughes uncovered in the two sonnets the genuine nature, as he sees it, of life as an African American in 1920’s white America. ... ...g covered up inside the expressions of his sonnet. Works Cited Harper, Donna. Thomson Gale. 12, March 2003. <http://www.galegroup.com> Hughes, Langston. â€Å"The Harlem Renaissance.† Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. third Compact ed. New York: Longman, 2003. 767-769. Hughes, Langston. â€Å"Lenox Avenue: Midnight.† Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. third Compact ed. New York: Longman 2003. 760. Hughes, Langston. â€Å"Mother to Son.† Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. third Compact ed. New York: Longman 2003. 759. Pinckney, Darryl. â€Å"Black Identity in Langston Hughes.† Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, And Drama. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. third Compact ed. New York: Longman 2003. 772-773.

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Long Beach Municipal Cemetery Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Long Beach Municipal Cemetery - Essay Example hich is comprehended to have been created as a burial ground for Bixby Ranch workers as indicated by the data gave by the City of Long Beach official site. In spite of the nearness of a Bixby Mausoleum on the site, none of the Bixby relatives are said to have been covered there as the assortments of George and Helen Bixby were unearthed on February 27, 1923 and now lay in the Evergreen Cemetery, Los Angeles. The burial ground site is home to some standing gravestones that go back to as right on time as 1900s, while a couple of level tombstones are additionally present, they have gotten so crumbled over the progression of time that it isn't exactly conceivable to peruse the composition on them as the dates and names have gotten blurred. Records recommend that the City of Long Beach accepted the accountability of a dominant part of the ground’s upkeep on tenth of July, 1900, for which the Long Beach Cemetery Association was beforehand responsible for. According to the data gave in the book discharged by Questing Heirs Genealogical Society, INC., the main interment at the burial ground occurred in 1878, which was of a 17-year-old kid named Milton F. Neece. Different well known internments at the burial ground separated from that of Willmore’s are of U.S Congressman Alexander Hamilton Jones, who passed on January, 29th, 1901, Amanda Ellen Wiley Harmon, a hard of hearing designer who kicked the bucket in 1933 and Grace Bush Eads, the principal Long Beach teacher who withdrew in 1944. It very well may be deciphered that the socioeconomics of the network encompassing the graveyard have not experienced a significant change in the course of recent years, with the racial cosmetics containing a lion's share of White populace followed by African American individuals, as per the United States Census Bureau. Despite the fact that, assorted variety in the territory exists with Hispanic and Asian occupants it is hazy and uncertain whethe r they comprised of a significant piece of the network around when the Long Beach Municipal Cemetery was built up. In any case, sign of

Friday, August 21, 2020

Research Paper Assistance Services

Research Paper Assistance ServicesWhen you are seeking to hire a service to assist with your research paper, there are a number of considerations you should be mindful of. It is important that you choose a firm that will be up-to-date on the latest methods and equipment.It may seem like an unnecessary expenditure at first, but time is money and you do not want to waste time on paper that can be completed by your expert. These companies have the appropriate research skills, software and equipment to complete the research and analysis required for the paper. They will be able to explore new ideas and test out alternative methods. They can help you stay on the right track to your final project.Most of us have plenty of things to keep us busy and don't have the time to devote to researching our own jobs. We often end up turning to professionals or freelancers to look for answers. However, if you hire research paper assistance you can ensure that your research is detailed and well thought through before publication.Researching and gathering data is something that we all want to do, but it often takes more than just a search engine. It is good to have a system in place to ensure that your data is collected and collated correctly. A research firm will take this aspect of your research into consideration, and will also know when to stop and go back to check what has been inputted.For those who find themselves getting ahead of their research or need to spend more time on a particular section of the paper, the research paper assistance services are there to help. It is not only important to know what you are doing; it is also important to know when you are done. These companies are aware of what they call the 'hot buttons' of a project. They know that when they push certain buttons and assign certain tasks, it will affect the final product.One of the main benefits of hiring research paper assistance services is that they are very flexible. A good company will work with y ou to achieve the outcome you are looking for, but will also be there for you to let you know if you are going off track. They will ensure that you understand how to use the material you have already created.They will be able to help you maintain the overall appearance of your paper, but will also put into place the aspects that are required. This is necessary in order to get it to where you need it to be. A good service can understand the needs of the client and will devise the documents in such a way that will suit the client.Overall, if you are looking for research paper assistance services then you should look for firms that understand the needs of the client and produce the final work according to those needs. You will then find the work completed to a high standard.

Monday, May 25, 2020

The Determinants Of Corporate Operating Performance And Institutional Ownership Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 20 Words: 5892 Downloads: 9 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Business Essay Type Research paper Did you like this example? Abstract Purpose The main purpose of this study is to explore the determinants of corporate operating performance and also determine the interrelations between corporate operating performance and institutional ownership structure. Design/methodology/approach Eight year period (2002-2009) panel data of 913 non-financial Malaysian companies listed in Main Board of the Bursa Malaysia was used. We conduct a multivariate analysis and used a combination of time-series and cross-section data. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Determinants Of Corporate Operating Performance And Institutional Ownership Finance Essay" essay for you Create order The Panel data analysis applied by using Eviews software to run two-stage least squares regression analysis due to generalized least square (GLS). Findings Number of all institutional ownership as one of governance variable and other fundamental variable such as leverage, growth, profitability, size, and risk are significant related with the firms operating performance. Moreover, the other two variables which are fraction of shares owned by five biggest institutional investors and liquidity are not significantly impact the firms performance. Practical implications These results provide Malaysian listed companies with an insight on how to increase their corporate control mechanisms so that improve their operating performance. These findings can also serve as a useful reference and guidelines for companies and the academics that concern to the future competitive decision making and competitive strategies for the companies. Originality/value These results confirm the previou s finding that there is significantly positive relation between operating cash flow return of non-financial Malaysian listed companies with the institutional ownership which represent the corporate governance and other fundamental variables. This study further used in order to improve the companys performance especially in operating performance. Introduction There are three forms of business enterprises, one of it is corporation. The corporation comprises three sets of distinct interest which are shareholders (the owners), the directors, and the corporation officers (the top management). Mostly, the companys direction, policies, and activities are controlled by the shareholders. The directors and top management will manage the operation of the company in the best interest of the shareholders. The expansion in the size and activities of corporate organization can cause the corporate managers to add their own interests or accrue benefits to themselves at the expense of their shareholders. To prevent this problem, the board of directors must ensure that the quality and mechanisms for monitoring corporate organizational activities should function effectively. If the company does not control properly, the interest of investors and creditors could be jeopardized. This different interest between shareholders and managers can result in agen cy problems for the company. Actually, there are several mechanisms can be used to reduce the agency problem. One of those mechanisms is through ownership structure. Khan et al. (2005) stated in the study that institutional investors have taken to issuing shareholder resolutions, described by Wilcox (2001) as the institutional owners most powerful tool for influencing corporate governance. Institutional investors have usually willing to increase their ownership in the firm, so that they can used right of the ownership to pressure managers to perform in the best interest of the shareholders. According to M. M Cornett et al. (2005), there has been an increase focus by regulators and researcher on role in the monitoring, disciplining, and influencing of corporate managers when the investors increase their ownership share in the firm. Therefore, concentrated ownership by institutions can increase managerial monitoring and thus improve corporate performance (McConnell and Servaes, 1990). In this study, firstly we examine the relationship between involvement of the institutional investor and the operating performance of the company, especially on how institutional ownership concentration and dispersion affect the performance of the operating activities. According to M.M. Cornett et al. (2007), they find that a significant relationship between firms operating cash flow returns and both the percent of institutional ownership and the number of institutional stockholders. And secondly, this study also contributes to observe the other determinants of operational performance in the Malaysian companies other than institutional ownership. In this case, we used several control variables which can affect the firms operating performance. This paper contributes to the Malaysian listed companies. Two motives support our research. First, our result of this study could have important policy-making implications. For example this study examines the determinants of the corporat e operating performance in Malaysian company through various factors that affect firms operating cash flow return. These could help the company increase their operating performance. Second, the study is likely to be interest to the investors, policyholders, and others concerned with corporate financial strength. In this study we also consider the ownership structure focus on institutional ownership as one of the factor that can affect operating performance. Empirical evidence suggesting a relationship between operating performance and institutional ownership could influence the business decisions of prospective investors and managers. Our study follows the research design of Aloke Goshs (2001) which takes operating cash flows to measure the operating performance of the company. However Aloke Goshs used operating cash flow to find the relationship of operating performance and corporate acquisition. As to the statistical method, panel data occur when observations are available with both a cross-sectional and a time-series dimension. We employ generalized least squares method to conduct the analysis. Using a sample of 928 non-financial Malaysian listed companies which are listed in Main Board of Bursa Malaysia during the eight year period 2002-2009, we find that the result support the hypothesis that the fraction of shares owned by five biggest institutional investors has impact on the corporate operating performance. However, the finding do not support for the view that the number of all institutional investor for Malaysian listed companies has impact on the firms operating performance. Furthermore, for the control variable that we used, all the variables are significantly related with the operating performance except the liquidity. The rest of this paper is presented as follows. Section 2 summaries the recent empirical evidence and hypothesis development concerning of the institutional ownership and operating performance. The research design, including the source of data, the methodology used and definition of the variable are described in Section 3. Section 4 present and discussed of the result of empirical study. And finally, in section 6 conclude the result of the study. Literature review and research proposition Several studies have been done to measuring corporate operating performance. Mostly, the study was being related with companys ownership structures. Demiralp et al. (2010) found new evidence that the monitoring activities from institutional ownership around public equity issues can benefit the company and it is likely to be especially important. Moreover, the improvements in operating performance are also associated with institutional monitoring during the beginning years of following the equity issue institutional investors have an informational advantage that enables them in identifying and investing in firm with better performance. The activity of institutional investor, like forced CEO turnover will also reveal the performance of the firm. For instance, based on Jensen and Murphy (2010), CEOs face pressures to keep open uneconomic factories, to keep the peace with labor unions despite the impact on competitiveness and to satisfy intense special interest pressures. Therefore, the most effective tools in supporting executive and shareholder interest are monetary compensation and stock ownership. Large companies and their shareholders will continue to suffer from poor performance until the directors recognize the importance of incentive and adopt compensation systems that truly link to pay and firm performance. Brickley et al. (2002) suggest that institutions that are less subject to management influence, such as mutual funds, foundations, and public-employee pension funds, are more likely to oppose management than banks, insurance companies, and trusts, which frequently derive benefits from lines of business under management control. Bhagat and Bolton (2008) found that stock ownership of board members can reflect better governance in such company, and separation of CEO-Chair is significant and positively correlated with better simultaneous and subsequent operating performance. Previous study also proved that large shareholders are active monitor in companies, and that direct shareholder monitoring helps boost the overall profitability of firms (Maher and Andersson, 1999). Agrawal and Knoeber (1996) suggested that cross- sectional OLS regressions of firm performance on single mechanisms may be misleading. They found the relationship between firm performance and four of the mechanism. Insider ownership was positively related to firm performance, while outsiders on the board, debt financing and corporate control activities were negatively related to the firm performance. Then, in the expanded OLS regression, the relationship between insider shareholding and firm performance disappeared but nothing else changed. In the simultaneous equations estimation, the effects of insider shareholding, firm debt, and corporate control activity all were statistically insignificant. Only the effect of outsiders on the board of directors persisted. This evidence also agreed by Gà ¼rbà ¼z et al. (2010) whereby there is positive influence of corporate governance and institutional ownership on financial performance. According to Brown and Caylor (n.d.) on corporate governance provisions that have recently been mandated by the three major U.S. stock exchanges but only one of them, nominating committee is comprised solely by independent outside directors, which is significant and positively associated to firm operating performance. The finding confirms that the corporate governance mandated by major U.S. stock exchanges are not more closely linked to firm operating performance than those are not so mandated. On the other hand, Ponnu (2008), by focusing on two governance parameters, board structure and CEO duality on firm performance, in the context of Malaysia is lacking. Using samples of large publicly traded Malaysian companies to examine the relationship between CEO duality and the proportion of independent directors on firm performance as measured by return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE). Results show th at there is no significant relationship between corporate governance structures and company performance. In addition, Ming, Gee and Lee (n.d.) examine the impact of ownership structure on the corporate performance of Malaysian public-listed companies for period 2002 to 2004. They found that Malaysian companies are significantly different as compared to that which was found in earlier studies for American companies, whereby, insider and institutional equity shareholdings do not impact the corporate performance of Malaysian public-listed companies. In the case of Malaysia, since 2000, Malaysian companies had also failed to influence shareholder value creation. The declining of investors confidence in Malaysia was caused by poor corporate governance standards and a lack of transparency in Malaysian financial systems. The results suggest that institutional shareholders had failed in their monitoring role and corporate governance standards. Similar evidence represented by Farooq ue et al. (2007). They suggest that ownership does not have a significant impact on performance (Tobins Q or ROA). However, performance does appear to have a significant negative impact on ownership. Other than that, according Ping (2008) there is an inverse U-shaped relationship between insider ownership and corporate performance. There is significant and negative relationship between government institutional ownership and incorporated companies ownership to the corporate performance. Ping (2009) also added that the tremendous corporate performance means it is unlikely that shares promised by directors and supervisors will meet a situation in which there is a lacking assurance. Therefore, for the reason of improvement of management effectiveness and boost corporate performance, the directors and supervisors will be more willing to make an endeavor in monitoring the company. Demiralp et al. (2010) stated that obtaining the information of managerial effectiveness, means that in stitutional investor will bear the cost on it. As they have large quantity of shares, they can take advantage of the economies of scale in these costs. Moreover, if the institutional investors organize their activities to be more on governance, it will affect the significant enhancement in the corporate performance. However, from another viewpoint, where directors and managers have more shares mortgaged/pledged, they will be more determined to keep the companys share price through depraved means. This may bring to unsteady corporate performance. According to Cornett et al. (2007) there is relation linking the institutional investor participation in and the operating performance of large  ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ rm. They found a important relation between firms operating cash flow returns and both the percent of institutional stock ownership and the number of institutional stockholders. These results confirm that institutional investors with impending business relations with the firms in which they invest are negotiated as monitors of the  ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ rm. In addition, the empirical results in the paper lead us to validate a positive relation between measures of institutional investor concern and a firms operating cash flow returns. In addition, institutional investors are regularly seen as potentially one of the most vital agents to supervise firm management. However, the variety in their composition, outlooks and goals of these institutional owners result in considerable heterogeneity in their trading manners and their relationship to firm performance (Pallathitta, 2005). In this study, dependent variable that will be used to measure operating performance is operating cash flow which is similar with previous study Wong Shi Yang et al. (2009) and Ghosh (2001). According to Zeitun (2009) that investigates the performance and failure in Jordanian companies during 1989-2006. The empirical evidence in this paper shows that ownership structure and ownership conc entration play an important role in the performance and value of Jordanian firms. It shows that inefficiency is related to ownership concentration and to institutional ownership. Firms profitability ROA was negatively and significantly correlated with the fraction of institutional ownership, and positively and significantly related to the market performance measure. The paper also used ownership structure to predict the corporate failure. The results suggest that government ownership is negatively related to the likelihood of default. Furthermore, a certain degree of ownership concentration is needed to increase the firm chance of default. We adopt the term and schemes used in the literatures above and look at the corporate performance as a function of the number of institutional ownership and other supporting variables. Based on the recent evidence, we come out with the following research proposition: The corporate performance will be positively correlated with the number of institutional ownership in the company and the stockholdings percentage of biggest institutional investor. Methodology Data The data used for this study is non-financial Malaysian companies in eight years periods, during January 1, to 2002 to December 31, 2009. The sample period that we selected provides a focus figure in current economic with using the latest data of Malaysian companies. To enhance the accuracy of empirical results, the list samples used in this study are obtained from the companies which listed in which listed in Main Board of the Bursa Malaysia. Companies in the financial industry had been excluded because of their financial structure different from other industries. Moreover, companies which did not have complete data were also excluded in our sample study. All the data are collected from Datastream. This study has panel data which comprises of 913 companies. The number of effective observations totals 7304 (913 companies x 8 years) for our final analysis. Model In this study, we conduct a multivariate analysis to identify the factors that may influence the corporate o perating performance. The regression also includes the variables related to the corporate governance as an independent variable and a few control variables as determinants of operating performance of the company. We used a combination of time-series and cross-section data. The panel data analysis will be applied. Eviews software was used in this study to run two-stage least squares regression analysis due to generalized least square (GLS). The generalized least squares (GLS) multiple regression model as follow: OCF it = ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ±0 + ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²1ln(NIOWNit-1) + ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²2FIOWNit-1 + ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²3PROFITit + ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²4LIQUIDit + ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²5GROWTHit + ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²6LEVit + ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²7ln(SIZEit ) + ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²8RISKit + ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ µi Where: OCF = Cash flow from operating activities measure operating performance of the company as a dependent variable; NIOWN = ln (the number of institutional investors holding sto ck in firm) lagged one year; FIOWN = Fraction of shares of the firm owned by institutional investors (lagged one year); PROFIT = profitability of the firm; LIQUID = liquidity of the firm; GROWTH = growth of the company represented by percentage growth of total asset; LEV = leverage of the firm; SIZE = company size, measured by ln of total assets; RISK = business risk of the company; The dependent variable used is OCF. This variable is estimated by dividing the cash flow from operating activities to lagged of total assets. This approach is based on study of Wong Shi Yang et al. (2009). On that study, the writer used OCF as one of the control variable. However in our study, we used OCF as dependent variable to measure the sensitivity of operating performance of the company. ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ±0 is the constant, which is assumed to be identical for all panel members. ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²1itÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦.ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²8it are the parameter coefficients to be estimated. The notation ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ µit represent an error term assumed to have a zero mean and constant variance. Variable Independent variable In this study, we include two corporate governance variables as an independent variable to find the relation between institutional investor involvement and the firms operating performance. There is a positive relation between measures of institutional investor involvement and firms operating cash flow performance (Cornett et al., 2006). Kee H. Chung and Hao Zhang (2008) measure firms institutional ownership by the ratio of number of shares held by institutional to the total number share outstanding. The independent variables which we used in this study are according to the study of Qiang Li et al. (2006). We used two variables to represent the institutional ownership, these variables are defined as follows: The number of institutional investors holding stock in firm (NIOWN): this variable was represented a s the total number of institutional investors in the institutional ownership structure (khan et al., 2004). Berle and Means (1932) stated that it accounts for the dispersion of ownership among institutional investors. Fraction of shares of the firm owned by institutional investors (FIOWN): this variable was measured as the percentage of equity owned by the largest institutional investor. Based on Thomsen and Pedersen (2000), previously in studied about the effectiveness of institutional investors in monitoring managers, this variable has been used as one of its measurement. Control variable Our primary focus is on the determinants of the firms operating performance. Previous empirical studies have adopted a variety of control benchmarks. It revealed that not only corporate ownership structure as one of the factors that can affect corporate performance but also board size, dividend payout ratio, advertising and RD expenditure rate, financial leverage (debt-equity ratio), ass et scale and asset growth rate (Lee Shin-Ping et al., 2008) .These are necessary control variables for our analysis: Profitability: We measure the firms profitability by return on assets (ROA). Other approaches usually used to measure the profitability of the company are earning per share (Qiang Li et al., 2006) and return on equity (Karake, Zeinab A., 1996). Liquidity (LIQUID): this variable was defined as cash and cash equivalent current assets over current liabilities. This measurement is based on study of Adams, M. B. et al. (2000) and Abe de Jong (2008). Growth of total assets (GROWTH): asset growth rate can be used to measure the growth opportunities of the companies. Based on Mak and Li (2001) and Chou (2002), a higher asset growth rate indicates that the company has more investment opportunities, so the rate will also be enhance accordingly and it also will affect the firms operating performance. We measure the growth by the percentage growth of total asset. Another way can be used, such as using Tobins Q (market value/assets; Wright et al., 1996) Leverage (LEV): financial leverage can be affected by firm-specific real characteristics that affect the supply curve of debt offered to the firm, or the firms demand for debt (Lee Shin-Ping et al., 2008). Leverage was measure as the ratio of total debt divided by total asset. Karake, Zeinab A. (1996) stated that other measurement of this variable is by ratio of total long-term debt to total assets. Company Size (lnSIZE): this variable was measure as the natural log of total assets. We can eliminate extreme values in the data using the logarithmic transformation (Adams, M. B. et al., 2000). Another approach to determine the company size is by using the logarithm of sales (Khan et al., 2004). Business Risk (RISK): Business risk is also used as one of the control variable of this study. Companys business risk is defined as standard deviation of operating income over the total assets during the sample period. The measurement of business risk of the company is based on the study of Abe de Jong (2008). Multiple regression analysis was used to test the main hypothesis of this study, employing the measure of OCF as the dependent variable, institutional ownership structure as independent variable and controlling for profitability, liquidity, growth, leverage, size, and business risk. Results and Findings Correlation between variables Table I represent the correlation among several variables used in the model. We need to find the correlation between them, especially independent variable, in order to ensure that there is no significant relation among them. This is because if there is high correlation between independent variable, the sample output might result insignificant value. As we can see from the Table I, the independent variable which is growth rate (%) as measured by total asset growth is significant and positively correlated with our dependent variable, operating performance, as measure of the cash flow from operating activities divided by lagged of total asset. The incremental of total asset in a firm to generate sales or revenue can increase the cash flow from operating activities (EBIT), then it can increase the net income to be distributed either to the shareholder as positive signal to them or retained for the investment activities of the firm. In contrast, th e relationship between operating performance with leverage and risk level is negative. High level of leverage can diminish the operating performance because the EBIT will be reduced by amount of interest paid to the bondholders and reduce the amount distributed to the shareholder. In common situation, the firms with very high debt level will provide negative signal to the potential investors. Table I: Correlation matrix between variable Correlation Probability OCF NIOWN FIOWN PROFIT LIQUID GROWTH LEV SIZE RISK OCF 1.000000  NIOWN 0.108811 1.000000 0.0000***  FIOWN -0.022532 0.184856 1.000000 0.1987 0.0000***  PROFIT 0.132623 0.016716 0.010492 1.000000 0.0000*** 0.3404 0.5496  LIQUID 0.030401 -0.027464 -0.020570 0.044656 1.000000 0.0829* 0.1172 0.2407 0.0108**  GROWTH 0.384884 0.095961 0.013815 0.028094 0.013683 1.000000 0.0000*** 0.0000*** 0.4307 0.1090 0.4351  LEV -0.147647 0.166759 0.036129 -0.180007 -0.237201 -0.007190 1.000000 0.0000*** 0.0000*** 0.0393** 0.0000*** 0.0000*** 0.6818  SIZE 0.133359 0.151981 -0.016191 0.125630 -0.101388 0.074725 0.040599 1.000000 0.0000*** 0.0000*** 0.3558 0.0000*** 0.0000*** 0.0000*** 0.0205**  RISK -0.021564 0.120459 0.036150 0.005453 -0.026012 -0.009433 0.158254 -0.135214 1.000000 0.2187 0.0000*** 0.0392** 0.7558 0.1379 0.5906 0.0000*** 0.0000***  Covariance Analysis: Ordinary Sample (adjusted): 2004 2009 Included observations: 3255 after adjustments Balanced sample (listwise missing value deletion) Notes: the statistics reported are the Pearson correlation coefficients between all variables used in tha analysis. *, ** and *** indicate corellation coefficient is significant at the 1%, 5% and 10% confidence level respectively. Descriptive statistics Table II shows the descriptive statistics of the operating performance for 913 companies listed and 3255 observations in Malaysia. As we can see in Table II, we find that the average fraction of all institutional ownership in Malaysian companies is quite lower as compared to companies in US, since the fraction of institutional ownership in Malaysia (18.17%) is triple lesser than in US (59.40%) as reported by Cornett et.al., (2007). Number of institutional investor in Malaysia shows the average of 0.4430. It means the companies in Malaysia have low average of inst itutional holding than Turkish companies that have highly concentration of ownership, which is 0.6201 (Arslan and Karan, 2006). In the fundamental variable, our study finds that the mean value of growth rate of companies in Malaysia during that period is 14.95%. It is sound to point out that Malaysia has favorable economic growth rate in that period. The average level of leverage in Malaysia which is ratio of total debt total assets is 24.35%. This is lower than the mean leverage ratio in Turkish companies, which is 52.07% (Arslan and Karan, 2006). Table II: Descriptive Statistics OCF (ratio) FIOWN (%) NIOWN (%) GROWTH (%) LEV (ratio) LIQUID (ratio) PROFIT (%) RISK (ratio) SIZE (RM MILL) Mean 0.0596 18.1788 0.4430 14.9477 0.2435 2.7435 3.9019 0.08871 2.2472 Median 0.0506 0.0000 0.0000 3.7900 0.2110 1.6890 4.3700 0.03951 0.2366 Max. 3.0085 99.000 29.0000 8990.5400 10.2730 99.1100 771.4500 10.9213 309.2460 Min. -1.0850 0.0000 0.0000 -99.1900 0.0000 0.0000 -137.3200 0.0002 0.0000 Std. Dev. 0.1351 26.4091 2.2226 223.1636 0.3009 3.9555 18.0280 0.4776 13.4158 Obser- vations 3255 3255 3255 3255 3255 3255 3255 3255 3255 Sample: 2002 2009 Liquidity is the ratio of current assets to current liability. We find that mean value of liquidity level in Malaysia is quite high, 2.7435. According to Mike and Adam (2000), high liquidity obviates the need for management to improve annual operating performance. However, high liquidity could increase the probability of higher agency costs for the owners by providing managers with incentives to misuse the excess cash flows by investing in project with negative net present value. Profitability ratio as measured by return on assets shows the mean value of 3.9019 on percentage points. During this period, Malaysian companies are favorable because the average risk level is quite low, 0.0887. Finally, the firm size is measured as adjusted natural logarithm of total assets. The average size of companies in Malaysia is 2.2472 mill denominated in Ringgit Malaysia. Table III presents the regre ssion output that examine whether the governance and other fundamental variables are associated with the firm operating performance in Malaysia. The regression above is estimated using generalized least squares. From Table II, we find that the type of institutional ownership variable has a significant impact on the firm operating performance. The coefficient on the number of institutional investor holding stock in the firm in Malaysia is significantly positive correlated, 0.002935, and significant at a better than a 1% significant level (t-statistic = 11.8769). The increase of the number of institutional investor would increase the firm operating performance by 0.29 percentage points. Our finding is consistent with the hypothesis that the number of pressure-insensitive institutional ownership (NIOWN) that is represented by the investment company holding in the firm has relationship with the firm operating performance. Moreover, the economic impact of percentage institutional o wnership is relatively important. Thus, we also need to measure whether the percentage of institutional investor has an impact on the firms operating performance. The coefficient on the fraction of institutional investor holding stock in the firm is insignificant and effectively zero, -0.000077 (t-statistic = -1.0715). Table III: Regression coefficient of operating performance Coefficient Std. Error t-Statistic Prob.  Ãƒâ€š NIOWN 0.0029 0.0002 11.8769 0.0000 FIOWN -7.73E-05 7.21E-05 -1.0715 0.2840 GROWTH 0.0002 1.53E-05 14.1964 0.0000 LEV -0.1282 0.0051 -25.0485 0.0000 LIQUID -9.69E-05 0.0001 -0.6716 0.5019 PROFIT 0.0003 7.47E-05 3.9049 0.0001 RISK 0.0048 0.0026 1.8897 0.0589 SIZE 0.0107 0.0007 16.2080 0.0000 C -0.0477 0.0074 -6.4285 0.0000 Weighted Statistics R-squared 64.62%   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Durb in-Watson stat 1.8875 Adjusted R-squared 64.49% S.E. of regression 0.1180 F-statistic 519.8852 Prob(F-statistic) 0.0000 Dependent Variable: OCF Method: Panel EGLS (Cross-section weights) Sample (adjusted): 2005 2009 Periods included: 5 Cross-sections included: 642 Total panel (unbalanced) observations: 2572 Iterate coefficients after one-step weighting matrix White cross-section standard errors covariance (d.f. corrected) Convergence achieved after 11 total coef iterations This result is contrary to the previous paper (e.g., M.M. Cornett et.al., 2007) and not consistent with the hypothesis that the fraction of institutional ownership (FIOWN) that is represented by the percentage of biggest institutional investor holding in the firm has relationship with the firm operating performance. Accordingly, the insignificant regression coefficients are not entirely surprising. This may reflect the fact that our sample includes only fir ms listed on Malaysian Stock Exchange. In this study, we also use other control variables (GROWTH, LEV, LIQUID, PROFIT, RISK and SIZE) that are based on fundamental measurement. From Table III, we can see that liquidity (LIQUID) is not significant. It means that liquidity level is not so much significant in explaining the firm operating performance. The other fundamental variables that are significant are LEV, GROWTH, PROFIT and SIZE. Firstly, leverage level has negative and significant relationship with the firm operating performance. The coefficient is -0.1282 at 1% level (t-statistic = -25.0485). The incremental in the leverage level of a firm decrease the firm operating performance by 0.1282 or 12.82% percentage points. This result is contrary with the agency cost hypothesis. The theory suggests that the choice of capital structure may help mitigate the agency costs. It means that high leverage ratio can reduce the agency cost of outside equity and increase firm value b y constraining or encouraging managers to act more in the interest of shareholders (Allen and Emilia, 2002). The greater portion of financial leverage will pressure the manager to work hard in order to entertain the interest of both bondholders and stockholders because they will be paid for that (incentives). Shortly, we can say that higher leverage can control the conflicts between shareholders and managers concerning the choice of investment and also improve the performance of the firms. However, the negatively significant coefficient is not entirely surprising because for high growth firm, normally exhibit a negative relationship between debt financing and performance (Kochhar, 1997). Moreover, high level of leverage also provides a negative signal to the investors. It means, when the leverage become higher, the expected cost of bankruptcy or financial distress will also be higher. Instead, it can raise the conflict between shareholders and bondholders. That is, according to Y ost (2002), stronger firm and industry performance in the period prior to restructuring increases the expected ability of the firm to generate future cash flows to service debt and decrease the probability. Therefore, managers need to control the optimum level of leverage in the company (Chung et.al., 2005). The second variable that significant in explaining the firm operating performance is growth that measures the growth of company. According to Table III, we find that the coefficient of growth level is positive, 0.0002, and significant at better than the 1% level (t-statistic = 14.1964). The increasing of growth level of the firm will increase the firms operating performance by 0.02 percentage points. The positive relation between growth rates to firm operating performance also has similar result with previous study done by Rahman and Limmack, 2004, on measurement of operating performance for corporate acquisition. They also found that rates of growth in operating assets ar e also significantly positive related to the firms performance. This might be due to the time period used, whereby in that period, Malaysia was one of the countries that have high rates of growth in the economy. The other control variables that is significant in explaining the operating performance is profitability level (PROFIT) that represented by return on asset of the company. The ROA is one of the indicators on how profitable a company is relative to its total assets (Investopedia, 2010). This is referred to as return on investment. For public companies, ROA can vary substantially and will be highly dependent on the industry. As we know that the assets of company are comprised of both debt and equity that will be used to fund the firm operation. The ROA figure gives investor an idea of how effectively the company is converting the money it has to invest into net income. The higher percentage of ROA is better. This is due to the company is earning more money on less invest ment. In this study, we find that coefficient of ROA (PROFIT), 0.0003 (t-statistic = 3.9049) that measure profitability is significant at 1% confidence level. Since it has positive relationship, the incremental of percentage of ROA will increase the operating performance by 0.0292 percentage points. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that profitability will impact the overall firm performance. In this study, business risk is perceived as the firms exposure to uncertainty. It can lead to the changes in firm operating cash flow and performance. Moreover, developing or changing a firms operating activities from particular industry to another industry could affect its operating performance. Other than that, we could define the risk in different term. For instance, if the firm increases their sales, it would also face the business risk if it overproduces the product to the customer. But, if the management decides to increase the sales and the customers give positive respon se on that, it can benefit the company and enhance the operating performance. Our finding shows that risk level has significant value to impact the operating performance of a firm. This coefficient (0.0048) is significant at 10% confidence level (t-statistic = 1.8897). It gives us notation that the incremental in risk level of the Malaysian companies will increase firm operating performance by 0.48 percentage points. Finally, the size of company shows positive, 0.0106 (t-statistic = 16.2080) and significant at 1% confidence level. Table III shows that the incremental of company size by 1% will increase its performance by 1.06 percentage points. This finding is contrary with many previous papers (e.g., Cornett et.al., 2007) which suggest that size of company would not so much impact on the performance. Table IV presents the regression of performance on governance and fundamental characteristics. By adopting Ozkan (2002), firstly, we run regression for model (1). Model (1) inclu des all variables whereas in the model (2), we exclude the variable that has insignificant coefficient. The adjusted R-squared for model (1) is 64% whereas 60% for model (2). The parameter estimated and test statistic for significant variables show almost similar result in both models and hence the in the following discussion the result of Model (1) will be used. This means 64% of the firm operating performance is explained by the corporate governance and other fundamental variables. The remaining is unexplained because there are other variable that might influence the firms operating performance. Table IV: Regression of performance on governance and fundamental characteristics Independent variable Model (1) Model (2) Number of ins. owner 0.0029*** (11.8768) 0.0032*** (11.1273) Fraction of ins. investor -0.000077 (-1.0715) Growth 0.0002*** (14.1964) 0.0002*** (11.8712) Leverage -0.1282*** (-25.0485) -0.1172*** (-32.3343) Liquidity -0.0001 (-0.6716) Profit 0.0003*** (3.9049) 0.0002*** (3.7418) Risk 0.0048* (1.8897) 0.0060** (2.4616) Size 0.0107*** (16.2080) 0.0099*** (20.2672) R2 64% 60% This methodology is similar with Ozkan (2002) and Arslan and Karan (2006) and using the lagged variables helps to ease the endogeneity problems. This study confirms our hypothesis and previous finding that there is significantly positive relation between a firm operating cash flow return and the number of institutional stock ownership (pressure-insensitive). In means concentration of corporate ownership could impact the operating performance for Malaysian listed companies. However, we also find that percentage of larger institutional investors is not significantly impact the operating performance for Malaysian listed companies. In addition, institutional investors are often seen as potentially one of the most important agents to monitor firm management. However, the diversity in their compo sition, attitudes and goals of these institutional owners result in considerable heterogeneity in their trading behavior and their relationship to firm performance (Pallathitta, 2005). Summary and Conclusion This study tests empirically the determinants of corporate operating performance of Malaysian listed companies in a viewpoint of institutional ownership. The fraction of shares owned by biggest institutional investor and number of all institutional investor in the company are the corporate governance variables and also completed by other fundamental variable that support the structured model in this study. There is also considerable to support the hypothesis that the number of all institutional investor has impact on the corporate operating performance. However, the findings do not support for the view that fraction of shares owned by five biggest institutional investors for Malaysian listed companies have impact on the firms operating performance. Moreover, the study also finds that there are others fundamental variables that affect the operating performance. Level of leverage has negative and significant relationship with the firm operating performance. This result is contrary with the agency cost hypothesis that suggest higher leverage can control the conflicts between shareholders and managers concerning the choice of investment and also improve the performance of the firms. However, the negatively significant coefficient is not entirely surprising because for high growth firm, normally exhibit a negative relationship between debt financing and performance. For the growth rate, we find that the coefficient of growth level is positive. The positive relation between growth rates to firm operating performance also has similar result with previous study done by Rahman and Limmack, 2004. Then, coefficient of ROA (PROFIT), 0.0003 (t-statistic = 3.9049) that measure profitability is significant at 1% confidence level. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that profitability will impact the overall firm performance. The coefficient of business risk is perceived as the firms exposure to uncertainty. It gives us notation that the incremental in ri sk level of the Malaysian companies will increase firm operating performance by 0.48 percentage points. Finally, the size of company shows positive, 0.0106 (t-statistic = 16.2080) and significant at 1% confidence level. Table III shows that the incremental of company size by 1% will increase its performance by 1.06 percentage points. This finding is contrary with many previous papers (e.g., Cornett et.al., 2007) which suggest that size of company would not so much impact on the performance. In addition, further study on this issue is needed because still there is insignificant relation between number of institutional ownership and corporate operating performance. This awaits future research.

Thursday, May 14, 2020

Comparison of Platos The Last Days of Socrates and...

Comparison of Platos The Last Days of Socrates and Hesses Siddhartha The Last Days of Socrates and Siddhartha are sources that reveal information about religious or philosophical ideas in the cultures that they focus on. While vast differences exist between the Greek and Indian values that shape their philosophies, they make similar assumptions as they attempt to make sense of the world. Understanding the dichotomous relationship of the soul and the body is integral to grasping the similarities and differences between the classical Greek and Indian paths because the way in which these concepts are understood defines the very nature of truth. Socrates, the main character in The Last Days of Socrates, and Siddhartha,†¦show more content†¦...I spend all of my time going about trying to persuade you, young and old, to make your first and chief concern not for your bodies nor for your possessions, but for the highest welfare of your souls... (Plato 62). He bases his arguments in an understanding that people can only be wise when their souls are free from their bodies, because the senses interfere with inquiry (Plato 131). Socrates admits, however, that throughout life the body and the soul are connected. They only separate at death, which he explains as ...the separate condition by itself of the soul when released from the body (Plato 108). Based on this assumption, Socrates encourages people to give up bodily pleasures such as food, sex, and fancy clothes so that their souls can be as free as possible from their sensual bodies (Plato 108). Siddhartha uses the term Self to express the concept of the soul and the body . In order to free himself of the influences of the body on his soul, Siddhartha attempts ...to become empty, to become empty of thirst, desire, dreams, pleasure, and sorrow-to let the Self die (Hesse 14). However, he too finds it impossible to completely separate the soul and the body so that he can discover truth. Although Siddhartha and Socrates are both searching for truth by trying to understand the dichotomy between the soul and the body, they approach this quest in very

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Injectable Drug Abuse - 1488 Words

MEMORANDUM INJECTABLE DRUG ABUSE: GROWING CHALLENGE IN NORTH-EASTERN PART OF INDIA FROM: AE28697 TO: Ministry of development of north east affairs, India RE: Scenario C-Health and harm reduction DATE: 19 October 2013 Introduction North-east (NE) India is connected to remaining part of India through a constricted passage known as Siliguri Corridor squeezed between Nepal and Bangladesh (Hussain, 2011). It comprises of seven sister states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. The region shares more than 4500 km of international border with China, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan. The region is presently facing acute problem of drug addicts who operate in groups and prefer administration through†¦show more content†¦Sources reveal the trans-border smuggling routes starting from Khamti (Myanmar) to Noklak and Mokokchung in Nagaland (India), from Mandalay (Myanmar) via Tamu to Moreh in Manipur (India) and from Homalin (Myanmar) to Kohima (India) (Dolabhai, 2003). Recommendations The present scenario of drug abuse in NE India is very alarming as the future of the states is in ruin. Three simultaneous actions are recommended to resolve the problem. These are checking the trans-border smuggling of drugs, tackling the existing drug users and deterring fresh case. These can be implemented through strict vigil, Systematic De-addiction and Rehabilitation Programme (SDRP) and by generating scope for healthy livelihood. Strict Vigil The very first challenge is to impose strict check at the international borders again drug trafficking. The second challenge is to increase awareness regarding the adverse effect of drug abuse through mass campaigning. Young Mizo Association (YMA), a local organization created by the youths of Mizoram observed that drug abuse cases in the state in decline. Since 2004, 143 drugs related death case has been reported and by June 2008, the same has come down to only four. However, harsh punishment method employed by YMA called Supply Reduction Service drew flak from many quarters including the local media the human rights activists. (Outlook India, 2008) Systematic De-addiction and Rehabilitation Programmes Withdrawal symptoms ofShow MoreRelatedThe Main Purpose Of This Research Paper Is To Provide Information928 Words   |  4 Pagesmain purpose of this research paper is to provide information on how drugs affect the brain and body of a person. Reports of drug related crimes are common in the media mainly on news reports. 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Forty-two states in the US offer Medicaid coverage of Vivitrol ®, however, the Preferred Drug List (PDL) of Kansas does not include this drug. The current debate of whether Kansas Medicaid program (KanCare) should cover Vivitrol focuses on the cost-effectiveness and feasibilityRead MoreAnabolic Steroids: and the High School Athlete1528 Words   |  7 PagesAnabolic Steroids: And the High School Athlete Anabolic steroid abuse has become a national concern among high school athletes. There has been a dramatic increase in the number of athletes using these performance enhancing drugs in high school almost double the number using since the 1980s. These athletes feel that steroids gives them the competitive edge that they think they need to boost themselves past the competition. 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Substance abuse disorders have increased the levels of morbidity and mortality and with a consequent significant increase in HIV spread across the globe. Heroin increases psychiatric disorders, especially with mood anxiety, impulse control, and imbalance –related disorders. According to a survey by Maremmani et al. Annals of General PsychiatryRead MoreHeroin Use And Addiction Has Historically Been A Problem1680 Words   |  7 Pagesheroin users have a different demographic profile than older heroin users in that area. There are many factors that may have contributed to the heroin epidemic such as prescription opioid use that was replaced with a cheaper and more readily available drug, heroin. In this literature review, four scholarly, peer reviewed journal articles were evaluated and compared. 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By 2012Read MoreThe Agent For Optum Health Behavioral Program1593 Words   |  7 PagesRoger Turner, an agent for Optum Health Behavioral Program (OHBP) alleges Dr. Arturo Taca over utilizes drug screen services, opened a substance abuse rehab facility under a different TIN, known as â€Å"Insynergy† which operates as cash only or by providing â€Å"member’s† financing in the form of signing them up for credit cards. Mr. Turner also alleges Dr. Taca failed to notify OHBP of his affiliation with Insynergy, submits claims for injections for upwards of $2200 per injection as an Out of Network expenseRead MorePrescribing Drugs1711 Words   |  7 Pagesprescription-drug monitoring programs (2015). Many patients were abusing prescription p ain relievers such as OxyContin and Vicodin. Since this was discovered doctors became less willing to prescribe these types of easily abused pain relievers. 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Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Information Technology And Consumer Travel - Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss about the Information Technology And Consumer Travel. Answer: Introduction The report helps in analyzing the definition of the consumer behavior in the context of an organization. The consumer behavior is the study of the different individuals, groups as well as different processes that are used in order to dispose the different products and services to satisfy the different requirements of the customers. The main aim and purpose of the report is to identify the different importance of the consumer behavior in the organization. The organization that has been taken in the particular report is Coles Supermarket that is based in Australia. The identification of the interest of the organization is essential in nature, as this will help in segmenting the different customers. The structure of the report includes definition of the consumer behavior, importance of consumer behavior in the organization as well as the identification of the organization interest. The different issues faced by the consumers have to be highlighted to solve such issues with proper insight. Overview on consumer behavior The consumer behavior is the study of different individuals along with organizations that include different activities that are associated with it for disposal of goods and services to the individuals in the entire society (Lantos, 2015). There are different factors that are considered in order to satisfy the requirements of the customers in the society that includes marketing campaigns, purchasing power of the individuals and personal preferences. There are different models of consumer behavior that has to be considered, as this is essential to understand the buying decisions of the consumers (Martin Bateman, 2014). Consumer behavior is influenced with the different personal factors that are essential in nature that includes occupation, age, economic conditions, lifestyle of the individuals as well. The economic model of the consumer behavior is the oldest model of the consumer behavior that includes as well as explains the likely behavior of the consumers in buying decisions that are applied by them. This model helps in including the monetary conditions of the individuals regarding their purchasing power. In the economic model, the money is the crucial factor that is required to be analyzed, as this will help in influencing the behavior of the consumers (Madzharov, Block Morrin, 2015). On the other hand, there are different other models of the consumer behavior such as Engel, Kollat and Blackwell Model as well as Black Box Model that has different implementations. However, there are different factors that influence the behavior of the buying of customers such as psychological factors that include motivation, perception along with attitude and beliefs. Consumer buying behavior is the total of the attitude and behavior of the customers and this helps in analyzing the preferences of the customers while buying different goods and services (Jerath, Ma Park, 2014). Importance of consumer behavior in organizations There are different importances of the consumer behavior to the different marketers in the organization. It is essential for the different marketers to understand the consumer behavior in such a manner that they can understand the preferences of the consumers and satisfy the different requirements in an effective manner as well. The importance of the consumer behavior in the organization is explained as follows: The main importance of the consumer behavior in organizations is to understand the buying patterns of the consumers by creating and retaining different customers through online stores (Krishna, 2015) The consumer studies helped in making the marketers understand about the post purchase behavior of the customers in the entire market. This will help the different organizations in the market to become fully aware about the process of consumption in a detailed manner (Li, Linn Muehlegger, 2014) This will help in increasing the knowledge of the sales person, as this will help in influencing the behavior of the consumers while buying different goods and services. Effective kind of marketing of different kind of products and services will help in delivering the right product to the different customers (Napoli et al., 2014) The behavior of the customers is essential in nature as this will help in optimizing the sale of product and this will create focus on the different strategies of marketing. The salesperson of the different markets will help in gaining knowledge on the consumers buying patterns (Oliver, 2014). The consumers are the heart of the business, as this will help in increasing the sales of the customers (Zeugner-Roth, Ã… ½abkar Diamantopoulos 2015). The marketers are responsible for satisfying the different requirements of the customers and this will help in influencing the decision of the customers. The marketers need to analyze the preferences of the customers by conducting different surveys through questionnaires as this will help them in knowing the requirements of the customers (Gruber Schlegelmilch, 2014) The psychology of the customers has to be analyzed by the marketers in an effective manner, as this will help in improving the marketing techniques that can solve such issues with the implementation of effective strategies. Lastly, the sales of the different organizations will be increased with the analysis of the purchases of the consumers. This will help the marketers in increasing their sales and knowing the likes and dislikes of the customers (Chiu et al., 2014). For instance- Suppose in a respective market, there are different customers who are the target customers of the company. There is a launch of a new product in the market purchased by different customers on that day; it is the duty of the marketers to analyze the different preferences of the customers. This will help in understanding the popularity of the product and this will help in analyzing the profits that has been generated from the particular product as well. This example helps in analyzing the preferences of the customers and this is providing proper importance to the customer behavior in the entire competitive market as well. Overview of Coles Supermarket Coles supermarket is the Australian supermarket, retail as well as consumer service chain that is headquartered in Melbourne ("Coles Supermarkets", 2018). The entire company is owned by parent company Wesfarmers that was founded in the year 1914. There are 801 supermarkets throughout Australia having 100,000 employees and they are operating online as well. The total asset that has been generated by Coles is $1 billion and the net revenue that is generated from the company is around $33 billion. The CEO of the respective supermarket Coles is John Durkan and the respective company is performing well in the different operational activities as well. Primary and secondary Customer Profile for Coles Supermarket Primary Customer Profile Brand Loyalists Value for money buyers Taste Seekers There are different buyers who are indifferent in nature. These are the ones who are loyal to single brand and the age group is around 29-35 years of age and usually not married in nature. The main target is the different kind of refreshments and other soft drinks The price is the essential factor and the age group targeted is more than 40 years. The income of the entire family has to be12000-15000 per month. The preferred brands are the different kinds of healthy foods, fruits as well. The taste is the essential factor that is considered and the age group that is targeted is less than 39 years of age. The female customers are the main target customers as they have huge knowledge relating to the different products that are required in the day-to-day life. The main target are the different oil, fruits, vegetables and other necessary ingredients that are required in the day to day life Secondary Customer profile Restaurant Owners School/College Canteens These are the secondary customers as they are the ones who require different kind of ingredients that are required for their restaurant. The age group varies from 29 years and above and this will help in sale of the different goods and services such as for the different vegetables and other spices sale will increase These are the secondary customers as well who purchase different ingredients that are required to prepare the snacks and other items in the canteens. The main age group varies from 25-35 years of age and they help in increasing the sales of the business Identification of issues and solving such issues in consumer behavior There are different issues that are faced by the consumers in the entire competitive market relating to the purchase of different goods and services. The issues that are faced by the consumers while purchasing goods from Coles Supermarket are as follows: There are different internal influences such as attitude of the customers along with the marketers will be one such reason. There can be different situation in the market that is related to the behavior of the marketers in the organization towards the consumers. The marketers may not be able to understand the requirements of the customers and they deliver goods and services that are not essential in nature (Carrington, Neville Whitwell, 2014) Secondly, when a new product is launched in the market, it is the duty of the marketer to guide the customer thoroughly relating to the characteristics of the product. When wrong information is generated to the customers, it will create a wrong impression on the individuals in the entire competitive market Thirdly, when the customer is not satisfied with the product that is provided by the respective supermarket. The situation can be such that the customers demanded a product, however such product was not available in the market and the marketer provides the replacement to the customer that did not meet the expectations that is required in the market (Xiang, Magnini Fesenmaier, 2015). However, there are different ways and processes through which the issues relating to the consumer behavior can be solved with proper implementation of different theories and models. The theories and models will help in analyzing the importance of the customer behavior in such a manner that this will help in solving such issues relating to the marketing strategies. The Maslows hierarchy theory helps in analyzing the different requirements of the customers that include: Physiological Needs Safety Needs Social Needs Esteem Needs Self Actualization Needs The requirements of the consumer behavior has to ascertained in an effective manner as this will help in solving the different issues that are faced by them. The different needs have to be ascertained that will help in solving the matters. Social marketing is essential in nature, as this will help the marketers in understanding the preferences of the customers in the market. The purchase decision of the customers has to be analyzed, as this will help the organization in preparing proper availability of the goods and services in such a manner that this will help in understanding the importance of the consumers. The different steps that can be followed by the marketers in the organization are as follows: The social marketing is essential in nature as the company will help in introducing new products in the market that will increase the marketing of the different goods and services (Couture et al., 2015) The choices of the brand has to be analyzed by the marketers in the respective organization as this will help in influencing the customers towards a particular brand as this will increase the marketing activities (Zhao et al., 2014) The psychology of the customers has to be understood by the marketers in the organization that will help in differing the marketing strategies for selling of different range of goods and services Conclusion Therefore, it can be concluded that proper ascertainment of the consumer behavior is essential in nature, as this will help in understanding the alternatives that can be adopted to make the customers satisfied. It has been seen that it is the duty of the different marketers in the organization to analyze the requirements of the customers as this helped them in delivering the goods and services in a proper manner. The behavior of the customers played an essential role as this helped in influencing the decisions in an effective manner. Lastly, the marketers require adopting different strategies to improve the marketing campaigns as this will help in implementing the strategies in an effective manner in the future. References Carrington, M. J., Neville, B. A., Whitwell, G. J. (2014). Lost in translation: Exploring the ethical consumer intentionbehavior gap.Journal of Business Research,67(1), 2759-2767. Chiu, C. Y., Kwan, L. Y. Y., Li, D., Peng, L., Peng, S. (2014). Culture and consumer behavior.Foundations and Trends in Marketing,7(2), 109-179. Coles Supermarkets. (2018). Coles.com.au. Retrieved 6 January 2018, from https://www.coles.com.au/ Couture, A., Arcand, M., Sncal, S., Ouellet, J. F. (2015). The influence of tourism innovativeness on online consumer behavior.Journal of Travel Research,54(1), 66-79. Gruber, V., Schlegelmilch, B. B. (2014). How techniques of neutralization legitimize norm-and attitude-inconsistent consumer behavior.Journal of Business Ethics,121(1), 29-45. Jerath, K., Ma, L., Park, Y. H. (2014). Consumer click behavior at a search engine: The role of keyword popularity.Journal of Marketing Research,51(4), 480-486. Krishna, A. (2015). The effect of deal knowledge on consumer purchase behavior. Lantos, G. P. (2015).Consumer behavior in action: Real-life applications for marketing managers. Routledge. Li, S., Linn, J., Muehlegger, E. (2014). Gasoline taxes and consumer behavior.American Economic Journal: Economic Policy,6(4), 302-342. Madzharov, A. V., Block, L. G., Morrin, M. (2015). The cool scent of power: effects of ambient scent on consumer preferences and choice behavior.Journal of Marketing,79(1), 83-96. Martin, W. C., Bateman, C. R. (2014). Consumer religious commitment's influence on ecocentric attitudes and behavior.Journal of Business Research,67(2), 5-11. Napoli, J., Dickinson, S. J., Beverland, M. B., Farrelly, F. (2014). Measuring consumer-based brand authenticity.Journal of Business Research,67(6), 1090-1098. Oliver, R. L. (2014).Satisfaction: A behavioral perspective on the consumer. Routledge. Xiang, Z., Magnini, V. P., Fesenmaier, D. R. (2015). Information technology and consumer behavior in travel and tourism: Insights from travel planning using the internet.Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services,22, 244-249. Zeugner-Roth, K. P., Ã… ½abkar, V., Diamantopoulos, A. (2015). Consumer ethnocentrism, national identity, and consumer cosmopolitanism as drivers of consumer behavior: A social identity theory perspective.Journal of international marketing,23(2), 25-54. Zhao, H. H., Gao, Q., Wu, Y. P., Wang, Y., Zhu, X. D. (2014). What affects green consumer behavior in China? A case study from Qingdao.Journal of Cleaner Production,63, 143-151.

Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Support Assessment for Learning free essay sample

Understand the purpose and characteristics of assessment for learning AC1. 1 Compare and contrast the roles of the teacher and the learning support practitioner in assessment of learners’ achievements. The main responsibility of the teacher is to monitor and assess how each pupil is progressing and report this information back to other staff and parents or carers. The teacher will plan the lessons and schemes of work that will set out clear intentions so that the childrens’ progress can be monitored. At RAAS our teachers always have the lesson title and learning objective on the board and this enables both the children and LSA to be aware of what the content of the lesson is and also what is expected of them. In some instances teachers will advise the LSA in advance and may give them a copy of the lesson plan. As the LSA is clear on what is expected this enables them to offer assistance to any pupils who require it. We will write a custom essay sample on Support Assessment for Learning or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It is the responsibility of the LSA to ensure that the pupil with which they are working is able to meet the learning objective and if they are struggling to ask the teacher to differentiate the work for them. If a situation arises where the pupil has been unable to achieve the learning objective then it may be necessary for the LSA to report this back to the teacher. AC1. 2 Summarise the difference between formative and summative assessment Using ongoing methods of assessment within the lesson is known as formative assessment and this enables both the teacher and LSA to determine if the pupil has been able to achieve the learning objective. Some of the methods used in formative assessment are as follows: Using open-ended questions Observing pupils Listening to how pupils describe their work and their reasoning Checking pupils’ understanding Engaging pupils in reviewing progress The other method of assessment used by teachers is known as summative assessment and this is usually done at the end of a scheme of work or end of term. Generally it will be in the format of an end of topic test or may be at the end of a Key Stage. At RAAS, for the majority of year groups, both interim and full end of year reports are sent home to parents and carers. Parents’ Evenings also occur once or twice a year at which time the teacher is able to give more in depth feedback. AC1. 3 Explain the characteristics of assessment for learning Assessment for learning informs and promotes the achievement of all pupils and inspires them to take responsibility for their own learning. This involves learning objectives being explained to pupils’ and they are then given feedback on their progress which in turn aids them in developing their self-assessment skills so that they are able to reflect on what they have been able to achieve. At RAAS many teachers use peer assessment as this is a good way to get the children to build up these skills and, in some cases, the LSA may also be involved by asking the student what they think has gone well during the lesson and what could be improved upon if they feel that they have not achieved the learning objective. AC1. 4 Explain the importance and benefits of assessment for learning Research has shown that there is a clear association between being part of the process of assessment and pupil motivation. Pupils who are actively involved with their progress will feel invested in their work and therefore will want to improve their performance, as they will feel that they have more ownership of their learning. This will help to boost their self-esteem and motivation. Students who feel that they are not part of the learning process are more likely to become disengaged and this will, in turn, lead to them losing interest in their learning. Effective feedback also ensures that adults are supporting more able as well as less able learners by giving them the tools to achieve to the best of their potential. Assessment for learning is a method which enables pupils to understand the aim of what they are doing and what they will need to do in order to reach their aim. In most cases SEN pupils are more likely to receive lower grades than their peers and this can be disheartening for them and could lead to a dip in their self-esteem. LSAs can be of great benefit in the assessment for learning process by giving the pupil continuous positive support and helping them to set an achievable goal. By doing this the pupil’s self-esteem will grow when they see themselves achieving the results they want to achieve and will continue to work positively. Explain how assessment for learning can contribute to planning for future learning carried out by: a. The teacher – effective assessment for learning enables them to pass on the responsibility to the pupil over time for managing their own learning, so that they will become more actively involved in the process. As the pupils move up the school it becomes imperative that they take this on board, particularly from Year 10 when the GCSE courses begin and through to Years 12 and 13 where much of the learning is done independently. b. The pupil – the process will inform them about how they approach learning and tackle areas on which they need to work. They will be able to consider areas for improvement by looking at the assessment criteria and develop their ability to self-assess. By taking this on board the pupils will also begin to realise when they need support and in turn ask the relevant member of staff to assist them. c. The learning support practitioner – assessment for learning informs the LSA how to approach pupil questioning based on how the pupil learns. When an LSA works closely with an SEN pupil they are usually able to see where the pupil needs support and prompt them so that they ask for support themselves. The LSA may need to pace the progress of the pupil depending on their needs, so that they are given the opportunity to return to areas that may not have been clear to them before. Be able to use assessment strategies to promote learning AC2. 1 Obtain the information required to support assessment for learning When we talk about assessment opportunities and strategies this refers to the occasions, approaches and techniques used for ongoing assessment during learning activities. The information that is required is as follows: The learning objectives for the activities The personalised learning goals for individual learners The success criteria of the learning activities The assessment opportunities and strategies relevant to own role in the learning activities Pupils will need to be clear about what they are going to learn and how they will be assessed, at the start of any activity. The learning objective will be clearly displayed on the board by the teacher at the beginning of the lesson and if they are to do an assessment this will also be explained to the pupils. The LSA will ensure that the pupils who have SEN assistance have written down the learning objective and that they know how to go about completing the task. As well as the learning objective, pupils will need to think about their own personalised learning goals, which can be found on IEPs for SEN children, so that they can include them in this process. As pupils take on more responsibility for their learning they will also find it easier to look at the learning objectives to see whether they have been able to achieve them during the lesson or assessment. The majority of subjects do have target/achievement sheets which are put in to the pupils book so they are able to record all this information in one place. This is extremely beneficial to the student as they have everything in one place and are able to see what they may need to do to improve. AC2.2 Use clear language and examples to discuss and clarify personalised learning goals and criteria for assessing progress with learners As previously mentioned, most children in secondary school will have target sheets that are fixed into their exercise books which enables them to keep track of how they are progressing. Where an LSA is working with a child who requires additional assistance, they will make sure that the child understands what is required of them and what the outcome of the activity should be. Should they still be confused then the LSA will give further explanation or the teacher may give differentiated work for them. Targets will normally be updated half termly. AC2. 3 Use assessment opportunities and strategies to gain information and make judgements about how well learners are participating in activities and the progress they are making To be able to keep track of how pupils are progressing, it would be useful to have a checklist which might include the some or all of the following. Ensure pupils understand the learning objectives and any individual learning targets so that they can assess their own progress to meeting these as they proceed. Talk to pupils about what they have to do and if they are required to hand any work in. Inform pupils how they will be assessed and ensure that they understand. If you are able to, give examples of work completed by other students so that the learner is able to see what format the assessment will take. Give individual support and positive feedback all the time that the pupils are working. Make sure that there are opportunities for self-assessment or peer-assessment. Encourage the learner to reflect and comment on their work before handing it in or discuss it with their teacher. Often, during the maths lessons at RAAS students will have a regular times’ tables test and this is a prime example of a good opportunity to monitor a student’s progression. Depending on the result they have achieved one week the LSA is able to encourage them to aim for a higher mark the following week. Should they achieve a better result in that following week, this should be met with lots of positive feedback. If they have not achieved the result that they wanted then the student should be encouraged to look at where they went wrong and then offer them suggestions as to how this could be rectified in time for the next test. AC2. 4 Provide constructive feedback to learners to help them understand what they have done well and what they need to do to develop So that assessment for learning is effective, it is vital that children receive useful feedback from adults which focuses on strengths as well as supporting and guiding them through any difficulties they may have. Feedback should give them information concerning their performance, is delivered in a positive manner and is factual. There are different types of feedback which should be given to pupils during and after learning activities. Affirmation feedback – this should be delivered as soon as possible: â€Å"Well done, you have remembered to include all the points we discussed! † These positive comments boost the learner’s confidence and will help to motivate them. Developmental feedback – this lets the pupil know what they will need to do next time, for example: â€Å"Try to remember to get all the equipment you will need before starting the activity. † Both types of feedback can be written or oral, but it must be given as soon after the activity as possible for it to have the most benefit to the child. If it is fed back to the child after a long period of time the child will find it more difficult to apply to their learning, and they may even have forgotten what was said. AC2. 5 Provide opportunities and encouragement for learners to improve upon their work An important part of assessment for learning is that student’s progress will be measured against their own previous achievements rather than being compared with those of other students. Their learning should be set at a level which makes sure that they are building on what they learn. They should be starting from a point of previous understanding and then expanding their learning to take in new information. It will be beneficial for students to discuss previous learning experiences to amalgamate what they know and reinforce their understanding before moving on to take in new concepts and ideas. The LSA is in the perfect position to encourage and motivate pupils, especially if they are struggling to understand. It is also vital that you show that you believe in them and that you are there to support them in everything they do. The LSA may need to differentiate what the pupils have been asked to do in order to help them if they have low self-esteem, or need to learn in a way which has been adopted previously and worked for them. Be able to support learners in reviewing their learning strategies and achievements AC3. 1 Use information gained from monitoring learner participation and progress to help learners to review their learning strategies, achievements and future learning needs It is assumed that reviewing of learning will be done at the end of the lesson or scheme of work, however it is more beneficial if this can be more of an ongoing process and done throughout the learning sessions. Obviously, depending on how the teacher has planned the lesson it may not be feasible for the LSA to review the work with the student during the activity. Additionally, the LSA may have more than one child to support during the lesson and this is where timing difficulties can arise. Pupils need to become independent learners as they reach years 7, 8, 9 and upwards and so must be able to check their work against the learning objectives. Open ended questions are also a great way for pupils to recognise their progress in relation to their own previous achievements. AC3. 2 Listen carefully to learners and positively encourage them to communicate their needs and ideas for future learning There are several methods that can be used to check on pupils’ learning, and some of these are listed below: Traffic light system – for children who have special educational needs this system works well, and we encourage children at RAAS to use it. Our students are all given a prep diary and within it are pages coloured red, orange and green and depending on how the child is getting on they will display the relevant page. This is most useful as it means they can alert the LSA without disturbing the teacher. Foggy bits – students are given the opportunity to write down or express the parts of the lesson which they have struggled with. Write a sentence – pupils are able to put a summary sentence together at the end of a learning activity or scheme of work that contains all the key points that they have learned. Some children at RAAS will struggle with this and therefore the LSA will assist with this. Talk/partner review – pupils talk to their partner about their learning and parts of the work that they enjoyed or found challenging. They can also do this at the beginning of the lesson to see what they already know. Post-it Notes/whiteboards – pupils can write down on Post-it Notes or whiteboards what they have learned, what they have found easy and what they have found hard. AC3. 3 Support learners in using peer assessment and self-assessment to evaluate their learning achievements If pupils are aware why they are doing something it is far more likely that they will want to learn. The learning objectives must be clear and written in language that is age and ability appropriate. Older children can find self-assessment challenging, however it is important that they understand that assessment is part of a process which they need to be involved in. It is beneficial to start using peer assessment to encourage learners to think about their learning aims. It is important that the LSA makes it clear to the pupil why they are taking part in the peer or self-assessment and they should be asked what they think they are doing and why it will be beneficial to them. This often takes place at RAAS, mainly in English lessons, and the children have to write a â€Å"what went well† statement followed by an â€Å"even better if†¦.. † statement. This is of great help to the student as they are able to get a picture of whether they are in line with their peers and also if they are achieving what the class teacher is asking of them. AC3. 4 Support learners to: AC3. 4a reflect on their learning – pupils will need to be encouraged to think about and reflect on their learning while it is taking place and not just when they have completed their work. This is due to the fact they, and also the LSA, need to be aware of how they are to tackle the activity at hand in the best way. By using effective questioning the LSA is able to check that the pupil understands what the objective is and the best way in which to achieve it. AC3. 4b identify the progress they have made – it is important that the LSA or class teacher check that the pupil is able to recognise the progress that they have made and this can be done by using peer or self-assessment, as already mentioned, or they could question the child on what they feel they have learnt. It may be a good idea to set aside a few moments at the end of the lesson where a discussion can take place with the child about this or to look back to previous assessment results to see what improvement has been made. AC3. 4c identify their emerging needs – if the peer and/or self-assessment process takes place then the child should soon be able to see what areas they need to work on in order to achieve better results, however it may be evident to the LSA that they need some support to realise this and a helping hand should be given in these situations. AC3.  4d identify the strengths and weaknesses of their learning strategies and plan how to improve them strengths and weaknesses can be discussed with the pupil by looking at incorrect ideas and asking them how they decided upon this method and what led them to the answer that they gave. This can be challenging for some and by taking a more positive approach the child will hopefully see it as more of an opportunity as to what they can do next time rather than thinking that they will never get it right. Where the child has not struggled and achieved well, positive feedback must always be given. Be able to contribute to reviewing assessment for learning AC4. 1 Provide feedback to the teacher on: AC4. 1a learner participation and progress in the learning activities – at RAAS we are able to work quite closely with the majority of the teachers, and so have opportunities to talk to them about how best to present the learning activities to the children. I have had very recent experience of this with a PSHE lesson whereby both the teacher and I realised that the activity that was planned for the next week’s lesson would not be suitable for them and so the teacher amended the activity to something more appropriate. When the next lesson took place the children responded brilliantly to the activity. Being able to have this dialogue with the teacher is so valuable and means that we are both supporting the children in the best way possible. Some LSA’s at RAAS do take children out of lessons for a 1 to 1 session on a regular basis and being able to see how the child works within this time, for example what works and what doesn’t work, can be fed back to the teacher to help them with their planning. This is generally with statemented children and so is valuable when that statemented child is present in the mainstream lesson as it will enable them to achieve more within that lesson. AC4. 1b learners’ engagement in and response to assessment for learning – as mentioned above in 4. 1a this can be achieved by the LSA having a discussion with the class teacher at the end of the lesson to advise on how well the child engaged in the activity. It may not be possible to speak directly with the teacher after every lesson so; perhaps, a quick email as soon after the lesson may suffice to advise on any difficulties encountered. AC4. 1c learners’ progress in taking responsibility for their own learning in due course children will be expected to be responsible for their own learning, however this does not come easily to all in the early years of senior school. You will find that in year 7 children will find it a lot more difficult and require a lot more support, from both teachers and LSA’s, than a child in year 11 or 12/13. At RAAS the LSA’s run a â€Å"prep support† club every afternoon once school finishes. This enables those younger students, who may be struggling to get their work done at home, to spend time with LSA’s who are able to support them and guide them in the right direction to achieve their tasks to the best of their ability. As the students’ move up the years it is found that they require this assistance less and less until they are able to organise themselves independently. Use the outcomes of assessment for learning to reflect on and improve own contribution to supporting learning Once the learning activities have been completed it is vital that the outcomes of assessment for learning are reviewed so that you can judge whether the way in which the process has been approached was successful. You should be able to check that it has helped pupils to become more independent in their learning and has had an impact on what they have learned. This is also a good point at which the LSA should look back on what has been learned whilst supporting pupil learning, so that their approach can be amended, if necessary. If it is deemed that some changes should be made then the LSA may wish to think about the following points: How the pupils were questioned and encouraged them to look closely at the assessment criteria How feedback was given to the pupils How the LSA supported the pupils with both peer and self-assessment It is also a good idea to discuss the pupils’ responses to the process with the teacher to see how they have managed, as some will have found it easier than others: the teacher may have some ideas as to how this may be developed. Depending on the ages and needs of the learners, the use of peer or self-assessment may need to be changed.