Education Has the Power Essay

A great scholar named Bacon once said â€Å"Knowledge is power.† How do we obtain knowledge? How do we effectively use it? The answer lies in education. The development and maintenance of a country is in the hands of its people. The people need to be educated to make beneficial decisions that would promote economical prosperity for their country. This essay will discuss why education is the single most important factor in the development of a country. First and foremost, a country strives to develop economically and sustainably. There is increasing demands for talented individuals to advance in every field to meet this development objective. These individuals need cultivation to find and develop their talents. Through education, individuals are provided with sufficient information and resources for advancements in their fields; making significant contributions to the economy of the country. Education has a tremendous influence on the civilization of a country. Education provides individuals with knowledge to question conscience, identify the good and the bad, analyze the mistakes of history, and make beneficial decisions. Thus, developing positive character attributes, decreasing the negative road blocks of a country’s development (e.g. crime), and preventing citizens from becoming criminals. As well-educated parents pass on their dignity to future generations, education sustains a system of significant contributions to a country’s society. On the other hand, education could serve as a source of economical growth for a country. Well established educational facilities attract students from all over the world to study in them. These students contribute to local markets by consumerism and by paying tuition. After graduating, many students may choose to stay and contribute to the country because they have settled. By investing in educational facilities, the country is able to profit from young intellectuals who would contribute to the country’s development. Education is the most fundamental factor in the development of a country. When people talk about a country’s development, they often refer to the country’s economical growth, induced by the structures of political, technological, and foreign affair systems. Education inspires intellectuals and innovation that will sustain and advance the country’s economy. There’s a famous proverb stating â€Å"If you give a man a fish you feed him for a day, if you teach the man to fish you feed him for a lifetime†. This proverb supports the fact that knowledge leads to sustainable development. Education is a worthwhile investment in human capitals that consequents to significant contributions for the sustainability and advancements in a country’s technology, health, economics, politics, and culture. In conclusion, education is not only the single most important factor in the development of a country, but it is also the most fundamental factor. After all, you wouldn’t see progress or profit from uncultivated workforces, would you?

Brothers Grimms

German folk literature undoubtedly is of the nationalistic nature, but not in the negative sense that most people usually associate it with. The Brothers Grimms folk tales have been thought of to have greatly influenced the German nationalistic attitude of which was pertinently shown in the twentieth century. Jakob Ludwig Karl Grimm (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Karl Grimm (1786–1859) are German philologists and avid collector of folk tales. They are the brothers who were made famous by the hundreds of children stories they wrote. Their book contains a collection of what probably are still the most famous children’s stories.The Brothers Grimms started taking an interest in fairy tales in 1803. Since then, both began writing down the tales that have been handed down from generation to generation. Most of these were not German, but are in fact of French origin. The Brothers Grimms went to a large extent to modify these stories and add a German touch to each of them. Ther e were a lot of myths regarding how these stories were collected. Only until a few years back had it been known that these stories were collected from the bourgeoisie, instead of what was believed to be from uneducated German peasants.The results of these extensive studies on folklore lead to the publication of their book Kinder- und Hausmarchen (English: Children's and Household Tales) contain the most beloved folktales in the work today. They have been translated to numerous languages – evidence that indeed these stories have interest the world. The first volume of the first edition of the Brothers Grimms collection of Folk tales was published in 1812, which contained 86 stories. The second volume followed in 1814 and contained 70 tales. Much were added and subtracted from the original set of stories in the succeeding editions of the collection.By the seventh edition, the Grimms’ Fairy Tales totalled 211 tales. Among the most popular of these 211 tales are The Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, Sleeping Beauty and Rumpelstiltskin. It would be impossible to fully analyze each one of these stories as there are so many of them. Contrary to what the names suggest, these folktales are not so much about elves and fairies but more on foolish younger brothers, beautiful ladies, vain queens, mighty kings, wicked stepmothers, and anthropomorphized frogs and mice.Trickster figures are also rampant in Grimms’ stories, and most often than not, the heroes must trick these tricksters in order to fulfil their fortunes. The first edition of the Brothers Grimms stories received several criticisms. The book was entitled Children’s and Household Tales. However, critics feel that these stories are not suitable for children. The stories contain in-depth scholastic information that was regarded to be too heavy for children. They also had references to such subject matter such as sex and violence.The Brothers Grimms resolv ed to change some details of their fairy tales to fit suitability for children. Snow White and Hansel and Gretel used to have wicked mothers in the first edition. In the subsequent editions of the story, it was changed to wicked stepmothers. They also removed proofs of Rapunzel’s betrayal to the prince. She was not made pregnant in the later editions. Also, since these stories were not originally German, a lot of terms had to be changed. A fairy is an enchantress. A prince is a king’s son, while a princess should be a king’s daughter.Considerable attempts were also made to reconstruct the stories and make it more German. Many of the stories in Grimms’ fairy tales are considered to be coming-of-age stories. Young boys must prove their worth against the strong forces of nature or their domineering siblings. Young girls must leave their parents behind and learn to live with their husbands. The stories show how a lady or a gentleman should behave, with emphas is on decorum, responsibility and respect for superiors. The stories invoke obedience as reverence and love for the king. Great honor and glory is attributed with serving in the military.Loyalty also played a major part in the plot of the stories, which stress that anything beside a nationalistic spirit is unacceptable. Class separation is also very prominent in the stories. Generally, heroes are of low social status who turned out to be part of the royal family in the end. Heroes are depicted as gentle and compassionate to old women, poor peasants, and even to wounded animals. They are always rewarded with some treasure such as gold and silver, or are provided with a beautiful bride. On the other hand, a foolish character often finds himself a victim of some magic spell.The Brothers Grimms could not have stressed in their Fairy Tales the importance of the above mentioned values. With the over two hundred fairy tales in their collection, these values repeat themselves in all stories . Regardless if that story is about romantic love, filial love, adventure or heroism. These are the values which constantly show in each of the tales. Obviously, the brothers would want their readers to familiarize and apply these onto their daily lives. It is evident in the fairytales that the Grimms would want to teach about good values such as sympathy, kindness, loyalty and bravery.They want to educate by illustrating that heroes are richly rewarded while the villains are severely punished. The stories allow them to impart the values that are necessary for a nation to survive. The Germany we now know is different from what Germany was before 1800. It was only a group of people united together by one language, nothing more. With the publication of Grimms’ fairy tales, they combined fairytales that depicted real German culture and unified Germany. In fact, they have done their jobs perfectly well as Germans have a strong sense of nationalism.The Brothers Grimms, through the ir fairy tales are strong advocates of nationalism in Germany. However, what sets the Grimms’ fairy tales apart from the rest are the violence involved, especially in punishing the wicked. They contain more violence compared to other folk tales. This probably is the reason why the first edition received so much criticism on the stories as being children’s stories. The Brothers Grimms did not intend their stories solely for the children, however. As philologists, they sincerely hoped that their works can be used as resources in the studies of not only German literature but of German history, as well.Needless to say, the Brothers Grimms are granted as their collection of fairy tales have indeed made it to the cultural archives of German philology and are being used by scholars worldwide in understanding the German culture and language better. The Brothers Grimms were not only writers but are also active nationalists. They lived in an era when Germany was still a colony o f the French, and literature proved to be an outlet for them to do their share to preserve the German heritage. They wrote about princes and princesses, of magic and witches.But more than just being bedtime stories, these stories stirred the nationalistic character of their readers. They fought using their stories the promotion of a nationalistic Germany. The stories manage to bring back to life a time when knights were bold and the ladies were fair, when good always triumphed over evil, and when bravery and virtuosity were held in the highest esteem. Under Napoleon’s French rule, the Brothers Grimms strived to preserve what was German. That age was the age of Enlightenment. It was an age where traditional things are done in unconventional ways.France was probably the strongest advocate of the idealogies of Enlightenment at that time. Its ideals launched the infamous French Revolution which affected the whole of Europe. And France brought these Enlightenment ideas with them t o Germany. The brothers were two of those who encouraged their fellow Germans to reject the French ideologies, and instead take pride of their own culture. Through what may probably be thought of as cute bedtime stories nowadays, the brothers rallied to their people an intellectual backlash against the Germans which culminated the War of Liberation unifying the whole of Germany against Bismarck’s rule.This intellectual backlash further presented itself in other areas such as philosophy, science and politics. Other intellectuals resolved to reject the Enlightenment, and instead looked deeper into their culture for inspiration. This movement known as Romanticism spread far beyond Germany. And undoubtedly, our Brothers Grimms made a huge contribution to that development process. People started looking within themselves the attitude and abilities demonstrated in Brothers Grimms characters. People started to place much importance into their own cultural heritage.They were made awa re how important it is for a country to preserve its culture so it can also survive. In a way, whenever Grimms’ heroes fight the wicked spirits, the brothers are also fighting the French colonizers. In an impressive way they participated in motivating the rest of the German people to stand up and fight Napoleon’s rule. It was easy for the French to colonize a Germany that was not unified. Germany at that time don’t recognize themselves as one country. They do not have that sense of pride to be Germans.More so, they don’t as so much care regarding their cultural wealth. The Brothers Grimms changed that. The Brothers Grimms united the German people with the use of their popular collection of folklores. With the publication of the Grimms’ Fairy Tales, Germany now has something they can be proud of, something that was exclusively shared by the Germans. All a country needs to unite as one is to have something in common, and that’s what the Brothe rs Grimms provided. The brothers detailed in their folklores the ideals valued by each German.When the Germans read about these entertaining stories, they were not only entertained but their German pride has been strengthened and their nationalistic character has been awakened. The fairy tales hide in themselves the secret to overcoming the French dominion on Germany. The past was recaptured in entertaining stories of love and adventures. The brothers discovered that Germany had a charming and magical past. This belief helped keep up their enthusiasm to further write their folklores which eventually have affected and influenced the rest of Germany to instil nationalism into their hearts and minds.And the brother could not have chosen a better audience – German children. The children who were brought up with Grimms’ Fairy Tales grew to have a great sense of nationalism within them. The Grimms managed to incorporate into the child’s minds what is expected of him a s part of the Germany. Like the characters of the fairy tales he used to read, this child grew up to be virtuous, responsible, loyal and a great deal of nationalist pride. With all those characteristics, what more can a country need from its countrymen? The Grimm’s Fairy Tales have widespread influence. W. H.Austen regarded it as one of the founders of Western Literature. The Nazis patronizes it, especially among the children as it teaches them to be racist, especially in choosing their marriage partners. With this, the Allied Forces banned the stories as it promoted racial instincts. These tales were also referenced by Holocaust writers, i. e. Jane Yolen in her memoirs Briar Rose. It is simply amazing how a collection of children’s stories can have so much influence, not only in the authors’ hometown but to the rest of the world. Even up to this date, reading a Grimms’ Fairy Tale can still stir up the one’s patriotic side.One can’t help but sympathize with the major character’s plot to fight and defend what is rightfully his. The Brothers Grimms would have been proud to see how their works have affected so much. Nobody can contest the fact how much these cute stories have helped awaken the nationalistic Germans. We are fully aware that Germany is one country who really prided and regarded itself highly. The Brothers Grimms have indeed revolutionized Folk Literature. Folk stories do not only serve as bedtime stories for children but are also believed to inspire nationalists.Indeed, even a country’s fairy tales are reflective of that country’s ideologies. Brothers Grimms have found a most effective way of promoting the nationalistic attitude. They used entertaining fairy tales – subtle but sink deep in the youngest of hearts. References A. S. Byatt, â€Å"Introduction† p. xxx, Maria Tatar, ed. The Annotated Brothers Grimm. Haase, Donald, ed. 1993. The Reception of Grimms' Fairy Tales: Responses, Reactions, Revisions. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press. McGlathery, James, et al. 1988. The Brothers Grimm and Folktale.Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press. Peppard, Murray. 1971. Paths Through the Forest: A Biography of the Brothers Grimm. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Tatar, Maria. 1987. The Hard Facts of Grimms' Fairy Tales. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Tatar, Maria. 2004. The Annotated Brothers Grimm, W. W. Norton & Co. Ward, Donald. â€Å"New Misconceptions about Old Folktales† p 98 James M. McGlathery, ed. , The Brothers Grimm and Folktale. Zipes, Jack. 2002. The Brothers Grimm: From Enchanted Forests to the Modern World, Palgrave MacMillan.

Macroeconomic Cash Reserve Ratio

mrunal. org http://mrunal. org/2012/08/econ-crr. html [Economy] Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) Controversy between SBI & RBI: meaning, implication on Economy Explained 1. What is CRR? 2. What is Scheduled Commercial Bank? 3. Examples of Scheduled Commercial Banks 1. Case # 1: High CRR and SLR 2. Case # 2: Low CRR and SLR 4. Repo Rate 5. Reverse Repo Rate 6. Bank Rate 7. What is the need of all these CRR,SLR,Repo rates? 8. What is the problem with CRR? 9. How much CRR deposit does RBI have? 10. What does SBI want? 11. Deputy Governor of RBI 12. Timeline of Events 13.Mock Questions Before proceeding further, do read the earlier articles on 1. Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) 2. Cost Push Inflation 3. Demand Pull Inflation What is CRR? CRR means Cash Reserve Ratio. Banks in India are required to hold a certain proportion of their total deposits with RBI in cash form. Right now, CRR is about 4. 75% that means if people deposit total Rs. 100 in SBI, then SBI would have to deposit Rs. 4. 75 in RB I. This is CRR or Cash Reserve Ratio. CRR rule doesnot apply to Regional Rural Banks, Non Banking Financial Companies (NBFC), Mutual funds or insurance companies.What is Scheduled Commercial Bank? Scheduled banks are those banks which have been included in the second schedule of the Reserve bank of India act of 1934. The banks included in this schedule list should fulfill two conditions. 1. The paid capital and collected funds of bank should not be less t han Rs. 5 lakhs. 2. Any activity of the bank will not adversely affect the interests of depositors [hahaha, does it mean Non-scheduled banks are allowed to adversely affect the interests of depositors !? ] Examples of Scheduled Commercial BanksPublic Sector Majority of stake is held by the government. 1. State Bank of India (SBI) 2. Punjab National bank (PNB) Private Sector Majority stakes are held by private players. 1. ICICI, 2. HDFC, 3. AXIS Bank Case #1: High CRR and SLR Suppose total deposit deposited in (by you and me) State Bank of India =Rs. 100 Total Deposit CRR: 15%SBI has to park this much amount of total deposit in RBI, without getting any interest. SLR: 38%SBI has to park this much amount of total deposit, in Government securities / treasury bonds. SBI earns around 7. % interest rate on this investment. click me for more on SLR Money left with SBI Rs. 100 -15 -38 100-1538=Rs. 47 Case #2: Low CRR and SLR Total Deposit CRR: 4. 75%SBI has to park this much amount of total deposit in RBI, without getting any interest. Rs. 100 -4. 75 SLR: 23%SBI has to park this much amount of total deposit, in Government securities / treasury bonds. SBI earns around 7. 5% interest rate on this investment. Money left with SBI -23 100-4. 7523=Rs. 72. 25 In either case, as long as you’re running a bank, you’ll have some input costs such as 1.Salary to Bank PO , Clerks, peons and security guards (With rusted guns) 2. Office rent 3. ATM machine’s electricity and maintenance. 4. Newspaper advertizement s. To pay above salary and bills, SBI would need to maintain certain amount of profit margin, no matter what RBI does with CRR,SLR or Repo Rate. In Case# 1, when SBI has only Rs. 47 in the hands, what can it do to keep the profit margin same? Obviously SBI will have to increase the interest rates on car,home,bike,business loans given to customers.In case# 2, when SBI has Rs. 72, what can it do? Here the situation is not that bad. So, SBI chief would decrease the interest rates on car,home,bike,business loans to seduce more customers. We already discussed this- SBI has more money so it can cut down interest rates and suffer temporary reduction in profit, in order to seduce more customers (compared to ICICI) So once SBI has reduced the interest rates, other banks will need to reduce their interest rates, to stay in the competition. Repo RateLet’s continue assuming the Case# 2, that SBI has only Rs. 72. 25 left in its locker. SBI chief comes to know that recently Samsung Company has launched Galaxy S3 mobile so plenty of youngsters may want to buy it because of the advertisements that appear on TV channels 24/7 Thus there will be demand for more personal loans (EMI) or credit card based shopping. But SBI got only Rs. 72. 25. So SBI chief would borrow some more money from RBI @8% interest rate and then re-lend this money to customers as personal loan @16% (and thus aking a killing profit of 16-8=8%) or he can supply money to customers for Credit Card shopping, and in that case he can earn interest rate anything between 16-37% or even more (depending on hidden terms and conditions of credit card. ) This 8% : the rat e @which RBI lends short t erm loans t o client s, is called Repo Rat e. Reverse Repo Rate As the name suggests, Reverse repo rate is â€Å"reverse† of Repo rate. So, if SBI chief feels there is not enough demand for loans and most of those 72. 25 Rupees are sitting idle, he’ll deposit some of that cash, in RBI.RBI will pay SBI chie f 7% interest rate on such deposit. Thus, Reverse repo rate is the interest rate which RBI pays its client s* for their shortterm deposits. Note: Reverse Repo Rate is automatically kept 1% less than Repo rate according to new RBI rules. [Since Nov. 2010, Reverse Repo rate is constantly 1% less than Repo]. Side Question Why would SBI chief put his money in RBI? Because on your normal savings account in SBI, the chief pays you around 4% interest rate, while RBI is giving him 7% Reverse repo rate, so he’s making a profit of 3%. Bank RateBank rate is the interest rate which RBI charges from its clients* for their LONG-t erm loans. Recall that Repo Rate = RBI charge that much interest from its clients on SHORT t erm loans. *Who’re the clients of RBI? 1. Union Government 2. State Government 3. NABARD (through that money goes to Microfinance companies and Regional Rural Banks) 4. Commercial Banks (SBI, ICICI etc) 5. Non Banking Financial Companies (NBFC) like Muthoot Finance and Mannapuram Gold Loans. (^list is not exhaustive. ) please not e: 1. Bank Rate, Repo Rate and Reverse Repo Rate applies to all Clients of RBI. . The CRR,SLR applies to Commercial Banks. (including Urban Cooperative banks but excluding Regional Rural Banks) What is the need of all these CRR,SLR,Repo rates? RBI’s main job = control inflation by controlling money supply in the market. Too much money in the market =easy to get loans= not good. Because It’ll create inflation. [Demand Pull] Too less money in the market= again not good, because businessmen find it hard to get loans, thus input cost of production increases= not good for economy either and it’ll create inflation. Cost push] Therefore, RBI will increase/decrease these CRR, SLR and Repo Rates according to the situation in order to adjust the money supply in market and thus control inflation. [Monetary policy] Nowadays RBI doesn’t touch Bank rate much and mostly relies on Repo rate to control the money supply. CRR and SLR are also not changed as frequently as Repo rate. And Reverse repo rate is automatically kept 1% less than Repo rate, so that makes Repo rate the â€Å"most f requent ly used t ool† in RBI’s monetary policy, in last two years.Apart from that, CRR,SLR and Repo Rate also help those competitive magazine wallas to fill up pages with ridiculously unimportant data tables to make your life more miserable. What is the problem with CRR? How much CRR deposit does RBI have? In July 2012 [all approximate numbers] Total Deposits in all Scheduled Commerical banks (SBI,ICICI etc) CRR: 4. 75%Banks have to keep this much amount of total deposits in RBI. Interest earned by SBI/ICICI etc on CRR deposits made in RBI 65 lakh crores 65 lakh crores x 4. 75%=around 3 Lakh crores sitting idle in RBI lockers. lakh crores x 0% = Rs. 0 If SBI/ICICI etc. could lend these 3 lakh crores (CRR deposits) to customers @10%, they could easily earn Rs. 30,000 crores in interest pa yment. Thus, CRR makes a huge difference in the profit of banks. UK, Canada, Sweden, Australia and New Zealand donot have CRR system in any form. In USA, there is graded system i. e. small banks don’t need to maintain any CRR with their central bank. While â€Å"big† banks would need to maintain CRR Deposit according to their size. Side Question: How â€Å"bigâ€Å"? Answer: no need to do Ph. D on that question trail.By the way, USA’s RBI (Central Bank) is known as Federal Reserve syst em and commonly known as â€Å"Feds†. So sometimes while randomly surfing through BBC/CNN you might come across lines like â€Å"Market boomed /crashed after Feds cut down the rates† they’re talking about USA’s RBI changing their repo, SLR etc. rates Interestingly, USA’s RBI (Feds) pays interest on the CRR deposits, while India’s RBI doesn’t pay any interest on CRR deposits. What does SBI want? Recently SBI Chairman Pratip Chaudha ri said that CRR does not help anyone and it is unfair to apply it only on banks.Even if CRR is required why should it be on banks alone? There are a number of institutions that raise funds from the public – insurance companies, mutual funds and NBFCs so CRR should be applicable to all. Because of CRR, every year we lose Rs. 3,500 crore. Pratip Chaudhari = Chairman of SBI In India, Businessmen get loan @11 per cent while that for a Chinese equipment manufacturer gets loan in his country for only 4 per cent. So CRR= less money in market= higher interest rate= increases the input cost of Indian products. Deputy Governor of RBIOn SBI chief Pratip Chaudhari’s demand for removal of CRR, the Deput y Governor of RBI K C Chakrabart y, replied that if the SBI Chairman is not able to do business as per our regulatory environment, he has to find some other place. On this [rude] comment of Chakrabarthy, SBI chief Pratip Chaudhari replied, (doesn’t matter what anyone says) I wanted to start a debate on CRR in the public domain, so let that debate happen. Timeline of Events Early 90s 1992 1996 1999 2007 CRR used to be as high as 15% and SLR used to be as high as 38. %, thus making life of businessmen and aam juntaa difficult. RBI introduces system of Repo rate. RBI introduces the system of Reverse Repo Rate RBI st art s paying interest rates to banks, on CRR deposits. Sub Prime Crisis in USA RBI st ops paying interest rates to banks on CRR deposits. 2010 Eurozone Crisis. For more on that topic, Click ME High inflation, RBI starts increasing Repo rate to fix it. 2011 Throughout the year, RBI keeps increasing Repo Rate to combat inflation. Repo rates gets as high as 8. 50%. August 2012 SBI chief Pratip Chaudhari demands removal of CRR. He has been doing it since a long time, even in 2011 seminars] So, This CRR removal news topic would have faded away just like it did in 2011, had the RBI deputy governor not replied on SBI chief’s statement. But RBI Deputy governor did, so the media blows the news out of proportion that â€Å"RBI snubs SBI chairman. † And thus the Innocent aspirants of UPSC, bank and MBA exams, are forced to learn one more topic i. e. CRR controversy. By the way, during this time, 1. 2. 3. 4. Bank Rate=9% Repo =8% (reverse repo would be obviously 8-1=7%) CRR=4. 75% SLR=23% Mock Questions Q1.Which of t he f ollowing st at ement s are incorrect ? 1. The NBFCs are required to maintain CRR deposits with RBI. 2. RBI pays interest rates on CRR deposits. 3. An Increase in CRR would decrease the liquidity from the market. 4. At present, Bank Rate > Repo Rate > Reverse Repo Rate. Q2. Which of t he f ollowing st at ement s are correct ? 1. Repo rate is the interest rate paid by RBI to banks on short term deposits. 2. A decrease in repo rate will increase the home loan interest rates. 3. HDFC is a Non-scheduled Commercial bank. 4. SLR is always 20% higher than CRR. Q3.What were the steps taken by RBI in its moneta ry policy during 2011 to control inflation in India. Do you think RBI achieved its objective? Give reasons to justify your stand. (Mains) Q4. If you were the RBI Governor, what steps would to take regarding the CRR issue? (interview) Ref: 1. Indian Economy by Ramesh Singh (Tata McGraw hill Publication) 2. http://moneylife. in/article/cash-reserve-ratio-a-non-performing-asset-forbanks/28066. html 3. http://www. indianexpress. com/news/cut-crr-to-fuel-positive-sentimentchaudhuri/980459/0 4. http://www. allbankingsolutions. com/DATA. htm August 30th, 2012 | Category: Economy

EXTRA PAYMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

EXTRA PAYMENT - Essay Example It is a mass-based airline, therefore it must adopt a dual strategy by competing in the price segment as well as the premium segment. To achieve this differentiation, it may even develop a new economy brand that offers value for money, while retaining the original BA brand for its premium customers who are willing to pay extra for its services. The brand differentiation will help to create a strong product positioning and sharp market segmentation for BA. It will clear its focus regarding its target customers and define and differentiate their aspirations and priorities, instead of following a â€Å"treat-them-all-the-same† approach. The economy brand of BA will be able to derive great benefit from the strong brand identity of the original British Airways that is focused on premium quality and service. Therefore, within the price segment options, the customer may prefer the BA economy option, considering the BA brand value and the image of reliability that comes along with it. The exceptional quality and services culture of the original BA brand, its investments in training, motivation and employee development, its wealth of learning and experience in creating a service oriented organization, are bound to provide incidental gains to its economy brand. So even within the price market, the BA economy brand could be in a position to stand out amongst other price competitors, with its service-oriented history, reputation, culture and employee orientation. Along with the strategy on pricing, brand differentiation, and service quality, it is equally important to deliver the clear message to the potential customers. Therefore, effective and focused marketing and advertising strategies have to be in place to ensure that the customers get a clear understanding of the unique product offerings of the British Airways. In the airlines industry, as in any services industry, employee development and motivation is

How useful is the psychological contract in managing staff in the Essay

How useful is the psychological contract in managing staff in the police service - Essay Example Even though the psychological contract was initially identified by Schein, Levinson, and Argyris to delineate the subjective character of employment relationships, the current formulation puts emphasis on the individuals’ ideas in and understanding of a promissory contract. Dissimilar to implicit or formal contracts, the psychological contract is innately affective or perceptual, and hence the interpretation of one individual of the agreement may not be shared by the other (Herriot 2001). Recent progresses in the concept of psychological contract are mostly led by Rousseau. Rousseau claims that the psychological contract is based on promises and, in due course, assumes the form of a psychological paradigm which is reasonably stable and resilient. Rousseau clearly differentiated between perceptions at the individual level and at the relationship level, putting emphasis on her assumption of the personal ideas of individual employees about employment relationship. Significantly, the employee and employer may not have the same perception regarding the premises of the contract, which can encourage thoughts that assurances have been breached, or, as it is more commonly known, the violation of the psychological contract (Rousseau 1996). Psychological contracts, involving assumed responsibilities, should be differentiated from expectations, which are common ideas believed by employees regarding what they will encounter in their employment relationship and the organisation (Calo 2006). For instance, a newly promoted manager could expect to be highly compensated, to be respected, to be fond of his new position, or to see his new office painted with an impartial shade. These expectations originate from a broad array of sources, encompassing personal experience, social standards, observations by significant others, and so on. On the contrary, psychological contracts involve

Strategic Business Planning portfolio Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Strategic Business Planning portfolio - Essay Example The assignment comes in two portfolios labeled portfolio A and portfolio B by the writer. Whereas the portfolio A generally touches on the strengths and limitations of the plan and the degree to which it meets the needs of its target audience, the portfolio B critically evaluate the financial content of the plan, in particular: evaluate the extent to which the financial content meets the needs of potential investors. The writer find the assignment extremely important because as much as it serves as guiding tool for the organizations involved, it could also sharpen the writer’s skills and knowledge in building and assessing business plans for future needs. The company under scrutiny is Vusion Inc. Summary of Vusion Inc’s Business Plan Writing a business plan is an integral part of the administration of businesses, corporate bodies, organizations and companies (Bawuah, 2004). To a larger extent, getting the rubrics right is like an examination paper to a student. Though n ot an academic document, in order that writers of business plans achieve the desired aim for generally writing a business plan, there are certain criteria that need to be met. When summed, a workable business plan should have the capacity to tell a potential investor every good thing about a company and why the company is viable for investment. According to the Centre for Business Planning (2011), â€Å"Vusion is developing a chemical analyzer and Sensor Cartridge, based upon the Electronic Tongue TM technology, which can instantly analyze complex chemical solutions†. The central intention of the organization to pursue its current business plan sterns from the fact that the organization has realized that â€Å"many liquid processing industries do not have the technology available for real-time measurement of product quality† (Centre for Business Planning, 2011), To this end, the organization wishes to take advantage of the situation by introducing an analyzer and Senso r Cartridge that â€Å"will enable economical, real-time analysis of many complex chemical solutions, instantly identifying the presence and quantity of multiple chemicals within a mixture† (Centre for Business Planning, 2011). The core marketing and distribution strategy held by the organization is to merge with existing companies who are in related trade and who have already established themselves as giants â€Å"process control original equipment manufacturers (OEM) that supply instrumentation to fine chemical manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, and biotechnological companies.† The company’s initial capital for its venture is $1,500,000, which is hoped to $8m in the following year and $12m in the third year. With all these investment, â€Å"Vusion projects $57 million in revenue with $11 million in net income by Year 6† (Centre for Business Planning, 2011). Portfolio A This portfolio is limited to evaluating all aspects of the business plan except the financial aspect. The organization in question for this portfolio is Vusion Inc. To achieve a well organized and coherent evaluation, the writer is conducting the evaluation under specific themes, created out of Blechman’

Ideas in management - ANZ Banking Corporation case study Assignment

Ideas in management - ANZ Banking Corporation case study - Assignment Example The business strategy of ANZ is based on three different pillars namely, balancing the growth in the domestic and international front, building super regional capabilities and focusing on customer to gain competitive advantage. The purpose of this paper is to focus on issues of corporate governance and ethics of ANZ bank. The idea is to explore the sustainable ethical and corporate governance practices of banking industry in general and compare them to the practices that have been adopted by ANZ. The issue of corporate governance has become an integral part of governing the success of banks. The importance of banks in the economy is fundamental as banks play the role of allocating resources effectively and propels expansion of almost every sector of the economy. Following healthy corporate governance practices, is important for retaining the trust of the investors and conducting business for banks. The paper first provides a picture of the current corporate governance practices adopted by ANZ and then critically evaluates the same in the light of abuse of ethical issues by the banking sector. ANZ have committed itself to the continuous development of corporate governance practices by embracing a system of continuous disclosure to its key stakeholders. The corporate governance of ANZ is based on adopting the best practices in the banking industry that has been accepted internationally, to be the first mover in case of adopting ethical practices and take a proactive role in formulating best practices of corporate governance. The wide scale of geographic operations of ANZ makes it necessary for it to follow corporate governance standards of multiple nations like Australia, New Zealand and Asian countries (ANZ Bank, 2013). In order to ensure that the business follows ethical business practices, the ANZ board of directors follows a detailed ethics policy framework that covers fraud policy, anti-bribery and anti-corruption policy, policies against employee harassment,

WG 5 Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

WG 5 - Coursework Example I also agree with the statement that women’s deadliest disease is poverty. It is for this reason that the United States government has put in place measures and policies aimed at alleviating poverty amongst women. Other nations have followed suit as well. I must say I am proud to be a lady. I feel whole in a woman’s body and sometimes I feel like I would not be equally contented with life if I were a man. There are no specific illustrations for this thought but I still like I am better off as a lady as opposed to as a man. The fact that I am able to wear makeup and be obsessed about my good looks makes me feel good about my body. When I fall sick, I immediately feel fatigue and nausea inconsiderate of the illness. However, when I am healthy, I am always enthusiastic about virtually everything. The health issue that is most prevalent in women in my community is cancer, especially breast cancer. This is mostly seen in older women though. For younger women, body weight is a serious issue in my locality. Most ladies always want to lose weight as compared to those who want to lose some

BANCO CALL CENTRE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

BANCO CALL CENTRE - Essay Example The issues included that of the procedures of recruitment and the pays offered. It also included the timing of the job and had learning and resourcing problems along with employee relations. The Banco Call Center struggled from the very first day. The bank actually had transferred many of the banking executives to the call center operation which at all did not suite the purpose of the call center. The centralised human resource policies were missing which ultimately led to high attrition rate at the center at approximately around 35%. The rate was quite normal in respect to the call centers but for a Banco unit it was exceedingly high. Also, the management did not have fair experience in handling the call center operations. The banking executives could not understand and meet the requirements of the call centre executives and operators. In organisations like that of the call center which involves high degree of human value as the executives have to answer the calls personally, centralised human resource policies would have worked well. The centralised policies would have treated all the employees at par and also could have taken the requisite measure to keep the work force motivated and charged up. Also, in order to yield better results the bank could have hired experts to handle the call center operations as the organisation suffered from the inadequate experience. The centralised human resource policies also should have developed an all round policy that would have taken care of all the important factors like recruitment, reward management and also the training and development (Scullion & Collins, 2006). Employee resourcing has been a major issue in the present day organisation. With the increasing competition in the industry, the companies try and attract the best of the talents that are available in the industry. It is observed that in case of the

International Marketing Case Study Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

International Marketing Case Study - Coursework Example The marketing strategy while strengthening the global brand should have a customized appeal for the customers of the markets of the developed economies. Customers of developed markets are usually more quality conscious rather than price conscious unlike their counterparts in developing economies. Chinese brands need to invest more on Research & Development if they want to market themselves successfully in developed economies. Capabilities in research and development can be acquired by building research & development centers in the developed markets. Li Ning has built such Research & Development Centers in Hong Kong and United States. There are also differences in consumer tastes and preferences. Incorporating these differences in the products is critical for the success of internalization of any Chinese brand. Another dynamic capability that is extremely important is to have the right distribution network so that the target segment in the developed economies can be easily accessed to. Besides the product issues there are also issues related to customer service. Every product has a service component attached to it. In comparison to China the level of customer service is quite high in the developed economies of the West. Therefore, when foraying into markets of the developed world, Chinese companies need to make their customer service more customer oriented and friendly. Last but not the least the differences in culture and business are significant between China and the more developed West (Philip Kotler, 2008). The Chinese companies need to incorporate such cultural aspects of the West like transparency, individuality and a strong sense of commitment towards the customers as stakeholders, if they want to make a mark in the developed economies. For building a sports brand like Li Ning or Nike, there can be no better brand ambassador that a national sports icon. Li Ning has done so by using the name of its founder Li Ning, a former Olympic gold medalist in