In the name of the father Essay

Often a film conveys a message about a character through various film techniques. This is true in the film â€Å"In The Name of the Father†. This story is mainly about a young man who is arrested for a crime he did not commit and how a relationship between father and son deepens throughout the tragedy. The main character, Gerry Conlon, is first portrayed to the viewer as an unruly rebel but is later developed into a more docile and compliant character. The director, Jim Sheridon, uses film techniques such as costume design, dialogue and extended metaphors to convey the development of Gerry as a character. 1st paragraph: -1st time we see gerry, scruffy, uncut -costume design – baggy jeans, long hair, dirty appearance -gives idea that gerry doesn’t care about his appearance or what people think of him -as film progresses he sharpens up appearance -combed pulled back hair 2nd: -change also shown through dialogue -lawyer asks him if he is scared of the court: -he replies â€Å"i just don’t want to be humiliated again† -this brief piece of dialogue shows that he has now changed and does care what others think of him -helps viewer understand how desperate an innocent man can be in the fight for justice 3rd: -use of extended metaphor -viewer sees lawyer gareth pierce driving through a long tunnel while listening to gerrys story -this could be viewed as an extended metaphor for the long dark road gerry has gone down while fighting the legal system -as the story draws to a conclusion she reaches the end of the tunnel, or the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ -could refer to the point in the story where gerry and the others are finally set free

How Men and Women Communicate Essay

Genderlect: How Men and Women Communicate Describe who the participants of the conversation were. Give the age of each person, location of conversation, relationship of participants to each other, etc. If you do not know the participants, then make your best guess about the characteristics of the conversation participants I was having coffee with a friend and her boyfriend. They were both in their mid twenties and were together for a couple of years. They knew each other ever since in college and they are both working in a respectable company. Describe what the conversation was about, and give specific details about how the conversation relates to genderlect. These details may either support or disagree with the concept of genderlect you read about in the linguistic anthropology learning module. My friend told me that they were planning to get married and are trying to resolve some issues between them before they take the vow. They went to see a counselor and confided their relationship problems and tried to resolve them. They consulted few problems especially trying to understand their differences and establish a harmonious relationship and avoiding conflict. One of the problems that they consulted is their communication problem that usually results in conflict and misunderstanding. The communication of the two is related to genderlect theory of communication as they are observing differences in their way of interacting with other people, especially people belonging from the opposite sex. The couple asked questions pertaining to the communication styles utilized by each other. Women want intimacy and human connection, while men want to retain their independence. Women want their connections and communication to be reciprocated. Men, on the other hand, aim for a position as a sign of their competitive nature. What is your interpretation of genderlect? Do you believe that it is common among people you regularly converse with? Is it more common in certain age groups, social situations, etc? Do you think it does not have much validity? Make sure you refer to your research to back up your argument. Men and women are considered to be different in all aspects. One of their differences is in their way of conversing and interacting with other people. Communication is a vital component of society in trying to achieve unity and understanding. It is important in making a connection with other people. But, one of the hindrances in attaining understanding is that when the two people are different in their way of conversing with each other. Genderlect describes the variation of language inherent to one or the other gender. The genderlect also refers to men and women’s way of communication and how the two differ. There is no need to compare the two means of communication because the two methods are entirely different. The communication process of the two is not a matter of who is right or who is dominant, understanding is hard to achieve due to the prevailing difference of the two communication processes (â€Å"Genderlect,† 2008). According to theories such as the sociolinguistic and genderlect theory, the differences in communication and behavior of the two sexes are anchored on their discernible cultural and social experiences (Poole & Hollingshead, 2004). Deborah Tannen claimed that even if the two people of different sexes came from the same culture, they will not still understand each other. The genderlect theory by Tannen discussed the differences in communication of men and women and the difference in the communication styles the two genders are utilizing (Robinson, 2003). One way of looking at the genderlect is seeing them like two different cultures conversing with each other with so many inherent barriers that hinder the attainment of understanding and unity. One of the fundamental differences of the two genders is that women would like to establish connection and for them, human connection is very important. Men, on the other hand, are more attentive to the status in an interaction. (â€Å"Genderlect,† 2008). Men always try to avoid intangible and confusing conversation. Men always seek â€Å"solid facts† and data than hitting around the bush. However, women are more particular with their feelings and emotions in order to create a rapport and connection with the other person in the interaction. The reason behind this is that men tend to view emotion as a sign of weakness and make themselves vulnerable to any type of attack (â€Å"Genderlect,† 2008). Women are also more engaged in private conversations for they seek to establish more individualized relationships. They refuse to talk more in public for the absence of human connection. They were also undermined by men in public, so they talk less. Men prefer more of the public forum where there is the presence of the audience that may recognize and look up to them. Men want authority and superiority (â€Å"Genderlect,† 2008). For women, conflicts reduce the connection that they are trying to establish, so as much as possible they try to avoid them. Men, on the other hand, find conflict as a way of gaining authority. A sharp conversation and fight imposes the positions and status of the involved persons. Thus, the inherent inferiority of women makes women comply than argue. In reality, men initiate more conflict than women (â€Å"Genderlect,† 2008). Due to the cultural and social experiences of the two sexes, their ways of communication may also be affected. In my own opinion and assessment, the theory is quite true through experiences from conversing with various people. The theory did not stress that conflict and misunderstanding will not always arise when two genders try to communicate. Conflict will also arise due to differences in personality, worldview and opinions, not only gender. The only flaw of the theory is that the theory greatly emphasizes on the goal of men to dominate others and the goal of women to establish deep relationship. These two are no longer applicable today since there have been changes in the society in ways of relating to gender issues and the emergence of women’s power and contemporary feministic views altered this proposition in the theory (Carriero, 2008). Do you think the language behaviors of males and females reflect differences in how we expect males and females to behave? Why or why not? Refer to the text in your discussion. The theory attempts to explain the inherent differences in communication that emerged from the differences in gender. The premises of the theory are well-explained. The theory is anchored on the cultural and social construction of an individual. The inherent role of men is to be dominant and superior. They are always up to compete for the hierarchical positions. Women, on the other hand, are expected to behave as inferior and subtle beings. In the contemporary society, as the theory puts greater emphasis on the goals of the genders in their communication and suggests that interaction is no longer applicable as the society, it also attempts to attain parity and equality among genders. References Carriero, H. (2008, July 25).Do Men and Women Speak Different Dialects?. Associated Content. Retrieved October 10, 2008 from http://www. associatedcontent. com/article/906989/do_men_and_women_speak_different_dialects. html? cat=38. Genderlect. (2008). ChangingMinds. org. Syque. Retrieved October 10, 2008 from http://changingminds. org/explanations/gender/genderlect. htm. Poole, M. S. & Hollingshead, A. B. (2004). Theories of Small Groups: Interdisciplinary Perspective. California: Sage Publications, Inc. Robinson, D. (2003). Becoming a Translator: An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Translation. Oxon: Routledge.

Bias Rhetorical Devices

The campaigner calls him a fighting liberal and friend of the working man but gives no examples of why he feels that way. The speech is full of rhetorical devices, using analytical definitions to create emotion in the listeners. Charles Foster Kane points out that his only purpose is to â€Å"point out and make public, the dishonesty and downright villainy of Jim Getty’s political machine†. He is using hyperbole in this statement in order to exaggerate his viewpoint. Also you can read Rhetorical Devices in Night Walker by Brent Staples He states that â€Å"this machine is in complete control of the government of the State† causing the people to react since this is the very situation our founding fathers hoped to avoid when creating the United States Constitution. Kane is also aligning himself with those he knows will be more likely to vote within his party lines such as the working man, slum child, underpaid, underprivileged and underfed. He realizes that by exaggerating the power contained by Jim Gettys and his Administration, he will rally the folks not usually interested into voting for him, by telling them they deserve so much more. He uses the argument from outrage to express how diabolical the existing government is in order to persuade the people that definitive change is needed. Various fallacies are prominent throughout the speech. One of the fallacies is the determination that Kane will be voted Governor based on the polls. However, since the election has not even begun, it is impossible for him to draw this conclusion. Also, we see the group think fallacy where Kane describes himself as the friend of the lower classes, making believe he is one of them. Argument by popularity is used when Kane assumes that the polls indicate his obvious triumph in the upcoming election and reflect him as the winner and most popular choice for voters. He is also using scare tactics when stating that the current Government has complete control over the state, and that they are a dictatorship. In all of the above cases, no information is given to support the claims being made. How did the speaker address arguments and counter arguments? The speaker’s arguments are unclear since he did not use common premise and conclusion statements. There are no comparisons between what Kane feels has already been done versus what he intends to do. However, he is making the claim that he will be elected as Governor based on the poll information. He also makes the biased claims against the Administration of Jim Gettys and the control it has over the State Government at that time. His argument leads to the unspoken conclusion that the existing government does not care for the ordinary people and that he intends to change the focus of the government to care for the decent, the underpaid, underfed, underprivileged, working men and slum children. Therefore, Kane would be the better choice as the Governor for the people of that State. I do not see any evidence of counter arguments since at no point does he state another person’s claim and argue against that. Were the speaker’s arguments effective? Explain your answer. The speaker’s arguments were effective in invoking an emotional response from the listeners and persuade them that they should not vote for the existing Governor. His use of political rhetoric and fallacies were effective in creating doubt about the honesty of Gettys and his Administration. Kane wanted to expose the existing government as corrupt, uncaring and in complete control of all of their lives. He succeeded at this by using statements to invoke anger which is usually substituted for reason. There are no conclusive promises made, other than to indict and convict Jim Gettys. Therefore, the people have no idea what policies or promises Kane intends to put into practice. Although the arguments were effective in persuasive techniques, they were not sound. There were no details or facts to support his claims that Kane specifically, would make a better Governor. Bias Rhetorical Devices The campaigner calls him a fighting liberal and friend of the working man but gives no examples of why he feels that way. The speech is full of rhetorical devices, using analytical definitions to create emotion in the listeners. Charles Foster Kane points out that his only purpose is to â€Å"point out and make public, the dishonesty and downright villainy of Jim Getty’s political machine†. He is using hyperbole in this statement in order to exaggerate his viewpoint. Also you can read Rhetorical Devices in Night Walker by Brent Staples He states that â€Å"this machine is in complete control of the government of the State† causing the people to react since this is the very situation our founding fathers hoped to avoid when creating the United States Constitution. Kane is also aligning himself with those he knows will be more likely to vote within his party lines such as the working man, slum child, underpaid, underprivileged and underfed. He realizes that by exaggerating the power contained by Jim Gettys and his Administration, he will rally the folks not usually interested into voting for him, by telling them they deserve so much more. He uses the argument from outrage to express how diabolical the existing government is in order to persuade the people that definitive change is needed. Various fallacies are prominent throughout the speech. One of the fallacies is the determination that Kane will be voted Governor based on the polls. However, since the election has not even begun, it is impossible for him to draw this conclusion. Also, we see the group think fallacy where Kane describes himself as the friend of the lower classes, making believe he is one of them. Argument by popularity is used when Kane assumes that the polls indicate his obvious triumph in the upcoming election and reflect him as the winner and most popular choice for voters. He is also using scare tactics when stating that the current Government has complete control over the state, and that they are a dictatorship. In all of the above cases, no information is given to support the claims being made. How did the speaker address arguments and counter arguments? The speaker’s arguments are unclear since he did not use common premise and conclusion statements. There are no comparisons between what Kane feels has already been done versus what he intends to do. However, he is making the claim that he will be elected as Governor based on the poll information. He also makes the biased claims against the Administration of Jim Gettys and the control it has over the State Government at that time. His argument leads to the unspoken conclusion that the existing government does not care for the ordinary people and that he intends to change the focus of the government to care for the decent, the underpaid, underfed, underprivileged, working men and slum children. Therefore, Kane would be the better choice as the Governor for the people of that State. I do not see any evidence of counter arguments since at no point does he state another person’s claim and argue against that. Were the speaker’s arguments effective? Explain your answer. The speaker’s arguments were effective in invoking an emotional response from the listeners and persuade them that they should not vote for the existing Governor. His use of political rhetoric and fallacies were effective in creating doubt about the honesty of Gettys and his Administration. Kane wanted to expose the existing government as corrupt, uncaring and in complete control of all of their lives. He succeeded at this by using statements to invoke anger which is usually substituted for reason. There are no conclusive promises made, other than to indict and convict Jim Gettys. Therefore, the people have no idea what policies or promises Kane intends to put into practice. Although the arguments were effective in persuasive techniques, they were not sound. There were no details or facts to support his claims that Kane specifically, would make a better Governor.

The audit report and internal control evaluation. Apollo Shoes Inc Essay

The audit report and internal control evaluation. Apollo Shoes Inc - Essay Example The auditing process of financial statements and evaluation of internal control systems of Apollo shoes was perfect. This is a report of findings, and recordings of the audit firm as of 31st December 2011. The audit follows the basis on the international Standard of Auditing and general accepted audit standards of United States of America. Key target of the audit is to obtain a reasonable assurance on whether there are any material misstatements on the financial statements. This will lead to drawing an opinion to the shareholders regarding the state of financial records (Ainapure, 2011, p. 26). Background Apollo shoes Inc. is a leading company in the United States of America. In reference to the evaluation conducted by the audit company, the Apollo management team is highly competent with certified employees. The management team comprises of 13 members and an executive committee of three members. The company's revenue of the year ended 31st December 2011 $108 million. This is a 6% in crease in reference to the working papers of previous auditor. It also has over 600 full time employees, 3500 part-time graduates, and 1000 undergraduates. The company has many branches all around the States to increase the net revenue. In this financial year, the company won different awards as a result of its quality management strategies. This has raised the creation of a sustainable business environment in such a competitive economy. It proves to be among the best performing companies in this line. Accounting sampling and testing procedures The audit entailed different sampling and testing procedures. This is to provide material evidence before presenting the opinion to the shareholders and directors. Tracing the flow of transactions and authorization is the crucial task in auditing. This is because auditors will identify transaction initiation and completion by the company. The audit team also made a detailed compliance test seeing whether all guidelines within the company are functional. A test on the control system is pivotal in auditing; its helps the auditor to identify the extent of other tests. In reference to the audit team, it is evident that Apollo shoes management is competent in implementing these tools. This implementation is responsible for immaterial gaps in the company. The auditing team gives all recommendations and management action plans to cover these gaps. Risk Exposure From the audit analysis, internal auditors perform detailed risk analysis targeting all areas of concern of the company. The key target areas are cash inflows, grant activities, operating systems, level of external rules and regulation among others. The objective of evaluating risk exposure through the internal audit team is identifying all entities that should receive audit attention (Ainapure, 2011, p. 32). Scope The main aim of auditing the statements is to represent the shareholders in affirming the fairness of the statements. It also helps in determining whether th ey are in accordance with the accepted accounting standards of USA. The audit includes testing, examining basis, evidence on the supporting information, and disclosing the financial statements to all parties. It also includes a review of administration grant, safety, network security, and service centre. It covers the period from 1st January 2011 and 31st January of the same year. This is in reference to Apollo Shoes financial year. The report has made a combination of analytical review procedures on the financial statements (Ainapure, 2011, p. 36). Opinion In accordance with the financial statements presented by the management of Apollo shoes Company, the company’s financial statements are in line with the USA accounting standard. This is in reference to the financial records of the year ended 31st January

Public Administration 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Public Administration 2 - Essay Example With any career, ethics will always play a crucial role. People come across many ethical circumstances and it trickles down to the individual to decide on how to act. In Tenet’s situation, it was not any different. In his political profession, Tenet faced numerous ethical predicaments. A number of these ethical impasses comprise him acting as a mediator rendering his work politically intricate. Tenet was unable to directly communicate and disagree with the associates within the President Bush’s administration. Tenet would even back the President knowing very well that the President was wrong. This placed George in a cross road between being loyal to the President and executing his duties (Boyle, 2008). Tenet had continually viewed CIA’s role as an â€Å"authentic broker that eluded direct participation in formulation of foreign policy†. In 1998, Tenet acted as a â€Å"mediator† for Binyamin Netanyahu (Israel’s Prime Minister) and Yasser Arafat in a peace dialogue hosted by the Head of state Clinton. This action contradicted Tenet’s statement that the Central Intelligence Agency was the single entity, which both parties could entrust. The CIA acting as a mediator instead of a spymaster, rendered those at the inside somewhat uncomfortable (Stillman, 2000). When the actions of 9/11 transpired, Tenet was aware it was al-Qaeda’s work and he held the full backing from President Clinton to do whatsoever he deemed necessary to have the job completed. The problem arose when Chaney (Vice President) declared at the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) conference, that Saddam Hussein possessed the armaments of annihilation. George did not approve that assessment; indeed, he indicated that the speech had gone fittingly beyond what CIA analysis could hold. Since George had not engaged in that discussion with Chaney (Vice President) concerning his speech, it ignited the

Case Discussion Question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Case Discussion Question - Essay Example Providing state of the art technology at a competitive price and with a high value support system, Altera was able to steadily increase its revenues to staggering $1.4 billion by the first quarter of year 2000. Thereafter, the world scenario, regarding the technology boom, took a downward plunge that threw the whole technology industry into a spin. The year 2000 onwards, saw an unexpected decline in the demand for the hi-tech goods that completely wiped out the small players and left the big manufacturing companies with huge inventory that had far too few customers. ‘Chipmakers and PC companies suddenly found themselves with a glut of inventory and capacity. Networking and telecom equipment makers were particularly hard hit; Cisco, more irrationally exuberant than most, was forced to write off a staggering $2.25 billion worth of gear’ (Teach, 2001). Others also followed suit with huge quantity of unsalable inventory. Altera Corporation too faced the repercussion of the time and had to declare goods worth $115 million as unsalable. One can gauge the extent of loss when Nathan Sarkisian, senior vice president of the company said ‘I’ve been in the chip industry for 20 years and I have never seen anything like this’ (article). The reason for this trend may be attributed to a wide variety of causes but the main being that with the large number of electronics manufacturers and suppliers, it became difficult for the customers and distributors to identify ‘who owns which surplus parts’. While at the same time, the grey markets in the networking equipments in the new emerging economies took a new dimension that threatened the whole industries. At this very time, the PC companies became broiled in an unhealthy cut throat competition of waging price wars. The deteriorating market conditions demanded some hard hitting formulae to restrict the decline while at the same time, create effective strategy to counter the menace of such

Silent Film Music Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Silent Film Music - Essay Example As many composers say, composing music is like using all your skills to bring out what you are thinking, feeling and have in mind, to expose your bare soul the moment of the situation you are composing for. So, music creates emotions that we are already capable of feeling, it is enjoyable and makes us feel good and sometimes makes us want to dance and that is based on a biology theory. Also, music can relate with mathematics as many philosophers said. Music is everywhere, in radios, CDs, films/movies. As people know, films without sound are not understandable. This is the reason why back in the early years of films, the producers soon decided to connect their pictures, movements and ideas with sound. Silent films began to have more meaning through them. The 1920's, stands out of the history because of the radical changes that America underwent. In that decade, America, while being one of the wealthiest countries, had the resources to evolve in almost every field and therefore many ef fective changes in fashion, hairstyles, entertainment and music are recognized. Therefore, all films during that period were acknowledged from the wide public as one of the most powerful factors of the contemporary life. At the beginning of that time, it was found from the industry that the popularity could help with propagate to itself the relative for arts of music. During the influential years of the Silent Films, the musical accompaniment was reinforced by a pianist striking a tuneless mechanical instrument, with the same loud tunes and melodies in the ears of someone, whether the screen showed a romantic scene of two lovers kissing or a villain threatening an innocent civilian. But during the 1920's all this had been changed when large images began to circulate with a specially prepared effective score. Major film industries presented the known deluxe shows with symphony orchestras to accompany films but also involved short presentations on stage in the context of full scale re creational programs which often included actors, singers or a variety of show acts. In the early 1920's, Jazz ruled the background music on films, but regularly films with variety in their music gave the opportunity for popular jazz mitigated by the classical music, both accompanied by the film as part of extra entertainment acts. Many of the best musicians in the country were now playing in film houses and in some theatres the cost of music was the third than the total operating theatre cost. Discerning businessmen searching to optimize cost-effective modalities for the provision of musical background for the films were the motivating power behind the introduction of the organ pipe accompaniment. Pipe Organs that were installed in Churches were changed to respond to the requirements of the film theatres by adding tremolo effects.   2. Silent Film Music â€Å"Where words fail, music speaks, and without music, life is just like a journey through a desert.† (Anderson, 2008) T he beauty of music is found in every soul as everyone can appreciate good music. Music regulates our moods and leads to a healthy life. Music is soothing and music is something to which every ear responds. It is proved through a research that the rate of heart beat changes when music is turned on (What is Music, 2004). It’

ETHICAL CONSUMERS . myth or reality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

ETHICAL CONSUMERS . myth or reality - Essay Example The result was obvious and very predictable. It led to huge scale destruction and exploitation of resources of the planet earth, pollution, human and animal abuse and a long run destruction of everyone at this planet. That was the time when the experts and media people jumped on to the scene and started creating awareness amongst the public. The masses wanted to follow the ethical path and wanted to stop the companies from their unethical actions for making profits. They all agreed that it is the responsibility of all of them to stop this destruction and unethical actions, somehow or other. That was when; the consumers became conscious about their power, about the difference that they could make. They understood the fact that these companies depend of them and they can use this dependency to make these companies work their way. Consumers developed common platforms and came up with useful strategies. It started to work. By boycotting, the products of those companies involved in unethical means of production pressure grew on the companies to change their course of action. Moreover, the decreased profits made the companies to do it so as well. The process of acquiring products that are produced without violating ethical grounds and code of conduct can be termed as ethical consumerism and these consumers are called as ethical consumers (Wetherly, & Otter, pp.12-18, 2008). People were unaware of the term of ethical consumerism before the past three decades. This is after the early 70’s era that the masses became conscious about the violation of moral and ethical standards for more profits by companies. These actions were certainly crossing the limits of patience of the public, that is why the masses had to stand up by themselves for the sake of this planet, its eco-system and betterment of their coming generations and making sure that they leave a better world for their coming generations. Following are some of most notable

MGT499 - Strategic Management Mod 1 Case Assignment Essay

MGT499 - Strategic Management Mod 1 Case Assignment - Essay Example 82% of American households have made at least one purchase at Wal-Mart during an annum. Company’s expansions are very aggressive where there is a new store opening every day. However analyzing the growth and profitability trends over the years, there is a declining trend in terms of same store performance which is currently covered up by the aggressive new outlet openings. This paper aims to assess whether the company’s mission and objectives are well aligned with its stake holder needs that will allow the long term sustaining of the company’s success. Wal-Mart’s mission is â€Å"Saving People Money so They Can Live Better† This is the philosophy of the Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton who stated that â€Å"If we work together, we’ll lower the cost of living for everyone†¦we’ll give the world an opportunity to see what it’s like to save and have a better life.† This is the driving principle of the company’s low cost-low price business model. The company claims that their core principles of 1) respect for the individuals, 2) Service to the customers and 3) Striving for excellence has been the cornerstones of their success as they move forward (Wal-Mart Stores Website 2008). While Wal-Mart has benefited from this business mission of offering every day low prices over the past decade, the trends indicate that the competition has intensified in the market and the competitors have streamlines their own operations, benchmarking against Wal-Mart. They have managed to increase their internal efficiencies and cut back on cost structures, allowing them to bring their prices closer to Wal-Mart but offer more value additions such as greater customer service, better product quality and greater stores ambiance that has increased their appeal to the middle and upper income group strata. While the appeal of the low price offer has kept legions of low income customers loyal to the

Gourmet Products Inc. Essay Example for Free

Gourmet Products Inc. Essay Gourmet Products Inc. (GPI) is a Canadian publicly traded retailer of aged balsamic vinegars, culinary sauces, spices, herbs, and seasonings. Products are sold globally through several Internet sites created and operated by GPI. On August 15, 20X0, GPI completed the acquisition of all the common shares of Abruzzi Oils Inc. (Abruzzi), an Italian producer and retailer of specialty olive oils, for cash consideration of C$6,000,000. The acquisition cost was allocated to the fair value of the identifiable assets and liabilities. The acquisition cost included a bottling machine with a book value of $400,000 and a fair market value of 0,000. However, to avoid any unnecessary reporting complications, the entire purchase discrepancy related to this machine was allocated to goodwill. GPI intends to keep the Abruzzi name and brand intact. Operations in Italy will be maintained, but GPI will import some of the olive oil production to Canada. The Abruzzi line of speciality olive oils will be featured on all of GPI’s Web sites. In preparation for ongoing operations, GPI has temporarily transferred two managers and five employees to Italy to work at the Abruzzi home office for a period of two years to ensure the transition runs smoothly and that the scale of operations can be increased to meet the forecasted sales growth. GPI is recording wages paid as consulting fees and is no longer taking source deductions. One manager has recognized that the move would cause undue stress on his family if they remained in Canada so he has decided to take his wife and children with him for the two-year period. GPI has just negotiated the purchase of a labelling machine in Italy for EUR 200,000. The equipment is expected to be useful for a period of 12 years. GPI has borrowed EUR 200,000 from the Banca Cammerata in Italy to finance  the equipment purchase. The loan, dated July 1, 20X0, is at 7% and is repayable in euros in 15 equal annual instalments, commencing August 1, 20X0. The interest is payable monthly in euros by GPI. The ownership of the labelling machine was transferred to Abruzzi on September 1, 20X0, in exchange for a EUR 200,000 note. The terms of the note are similar to the terms GPI negotiated with the Banca Cammerata, except that GPI is not charging Abruzzi any interest. The CFO of GPI stated this type of structure would minimize the foreign currency risk that GPI is exposed to. On the basis of an extensive review of the relationship between GPI and Abruzzi, Abruzzi has been classified as a foreign operation in accordance with IAS 21. In accordance with IFRS, Abruzzi revalued its land and building asset grouping to fair market value, resulting in an increase to the land and building account of EUR 20,000. Abruzzi’s accountant recorded the offsetting credit as a gain in profit and loss. A revaluation loss of EUR 5,000 had been recognized for land and buildings in the previous year. The corporate tax rate in Italy is considerably less than Canada’s combined provincial and federal rates. Both GPI and Abruzzi have a September 30 fiscal year end. GPI’s usual wholesale markup on its product imported is 60%; however, GPI has been acquiring goods from Abruzzi at 150% above Abruzzi’s cost. The decision to use 150% above Abruzzi’s cost was made by the CFO. As a result, GPI has had a very low profit margin on its retail sales of Abruzzi olive oils. You are Asif Majarani, a senior audit manager working in the assurance department of Majarani Associates, CGAs, a CGA firm in Winnipeg. Majarani Associates has three other specialized departments — advisory, taxation, and transaction services — with three other partners, one managing each  department. Your firm has been engaged to prepare the consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ending September 30, 20X0, for GPI. This is the third year the firm has been engaged by GPI. You recently met with Ed Moore, CEO of GPI, on October 15 to obtain additional information. Moore mentioned that he had some concerns about the upcoming project of converting the existing payroll system to a new technology platform. A new payroll software system has been purchased since the payroll system currently in use is designed for a small company. GPI’s growth has strained the payroll system’s ability to provide timely payroll processing. Delays in payment of payroll have caused frustration for employees, although this does occur on an infrequent basis. The IT director is strongly suggesting that a direct cutover conversion approach be taken so that the new system can be used as soon as possible to realize the benefits. It is also the least expensive approach. Moore is concerned that this is a risky approach and he believes that a parallel conversion would be a better option. He is particularly concerned since he has heard that other companies have found errors during the implementation of this specific software system, although these errors are easily resolved once identified. Furthermore, since this is the first time GPI has been required to prepare consolidated financial statements for its shareholders, Moore is concerned about how the users will be able to differentiate between the financial positions and results of operations for the two separate entities. Required a) In your discussion group, analyze the case as a whole and identify all the issues to be included in the report to the CEO.  Note: Candidates must participate in the online discussion. Failure to post in the online discussion and respond to the posts of others will result in failing the discussion-based communication competencies. b) Prepare a report to the CEO (900 to 1,100 words), listing the adjustments that should be considered in preparing the consolidated statements. You should also address any other issues raised in the case. Complete this report independently of your group and submit it as a hand-in assignment.

The Modulation And Demodulation In Gsm Marketing Essay

The Modulation And Demodulation In Gsm Marketing Essay GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) is the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world . In GSM signaling and speech channels are digital and data communication is easy to build into the system GSM is a cellular network,and mobile phones connect to it by searching for cells in the immediate vicinity.There are five different cell sizes in a GSM network-macro, micro, pico, femto and umbrella cells. The coverage area of each cell varies according to the implementation environment. GSM networks operate in a number of different frequency ranges (separated into GSM frequency ranges for 2G and UMTS frequency bands for 3G). Most 2G GSM networks operate in the 900 MHz or 1800 MHz bands. Most 3G GSM networks in Europe operate in the 2100 MHz frequency band.900MHz GSM uses a combination of TDMA and FDMA. It uses eight time slots, hence one carrier can support eight full rate or sixteen half rate channels. Channel separation is 200kHz with mobile transmit channels in the range 890 to 915MHz and mobile receive channels in the range 935 to 960MHz. Peak output power of the transmitters depends on the class of the mobile station and can be 0.8, 2, 5, 8, or 20 watts. GSM is based on digital cellular networks which have some advantages as listed below Greater spectrum usage efficiency compared to analogue approaches. Improved service quality for users in the form of improved speech quality, improved security through inbuilt encryption (there is none at present), and higher connection reliability. Larger number of advanced user services and easier linkage to private and public ISDN networks. CHAPTER 2: GENERAL PROPERTIES OF GSM GSM uses multiple access technology like FDMA/TDMA and CDMA TDMA. With time division multiple access simultaneous conversations are supported by users transmitting in short bursts at different times or slots. FDMA. In frequency division multiple access, the total band is split into narrow frequency subbands and a channel is allocated exclusively to each user during the course of a call. One is used for transmission and one for reception. CDMA. Code division multiple access allows all users access to all frequencies with the allocated band. A single user is extracted from the mayhem by looking for each users individual code using a correlator. Although not selected for the current generation of mobile digital technologies, CDMA holds much promise as the future technology of choice for GSM replacement in the next century. †¢ GSM uses frequency division duplexing. †¢ Channel for uplink is from : 890 915 MHz †¢ Channel for downlink is from 935 960 MHz †¢ Distance b/w the frequencies used for uplink and downlink (duplex distance) is 45 MHz †¢ Frequency difference between adjacent allocations in a frequency plan(channel spacing) is 200khz. †¢ Total number of frequencies are equal to 124 †¢ Bit rate of each channel is 270.9 kbit/s †¢ Duration of data frame in GSM is 4.615 msec †¢ Number of time slots are 8 and each slot is of (4.615 / 8) 0.577 m sec Speech bit rate is 13 kbits /sec ARCHITECTURE OF GSM NETWORK The GSM network can be divided into four main parts: The Mobile Station (MS). The Base Station Subsystem (BSS). The Network and Switching Subsystem (NSS). The Operation and Support Subsystem (OSS). CHAPTER 3: BACKGROUND OF GSM The first GSM system specification was published in July 1991 and was immediately followed by several false starts. This was brought about by a combination over-optimism, difficulties in type approval testing, and inevitable changes to the GSM specification. The first terminals appeared on the market in June 1992. A combination of high demand for mobile services and a lack of capacity in the installed analogue network, has made Germany the most advanced country for GSM deployment. In the UK, Vodafone have said that they now cover 60-70% of the UK population with their GSM service and expect 90% coverage by mid 1993. GSM has also been accepted for use by over seventeen European countries and several others including New Zealand and Hong Kong ending a period of diverse and proprietary standards. Some of the problems which were faced by the Europians when implementing these brand new technology were In many countries there is no overt demand or need for GSM. Analogue services are available and under employed. GSM coverage needs to be as wide as analogue before users will swap over. The current generation of GSM hand portables are not as small or as light as analogue variants. This will limit the interest of many users, even though a better service may be provided by GSM technology. Terminal prices for digital technologies are high compared to analogue. It is likely that it will be very difficult to get users to pay higher call charges for an improved service so GSM cannot be positioned as a higher quality/higher price service. CHAPTER 4: IMPLEMENTATION Modulation scheme which is used in GSM is GMSK which is based on MSK.MSK uses linear phase changes and is spectral efficient. Block diagram of GMSK generator: Some of the properties of the GMSK are Improved spectral efficiency Power Spectral Density Reduced main lobe over MSK Requires more power to transmit data than many comparable modulation schemes Before the GMSK can be explained, some fundamentals of Minimum Shift Keying (MSK) must be known. MSK (MINIMUM SHIFT-KEYING) MSK uses changes in phase to represent 0s and 1s, but unlike most other keying schemes we have seen in class, the pulse sent to represent a 0 or a 1, not only depends on what information is being sent, but what was previously sent. Following is the pulse used in MSK Where if a 1 was sent if a 0 was sent To see how this works assume that the data being sent is 111010000, then the phase of the signal would fluctuate as seen below In order to see the signal constellation diagram consider the following equations which can be simplefied as where and Thus the equations for s1 and s2 depend only on andwith each taking one of two possible values. Therefore there are 4 different possibilities therefore the signal constellation diagram will be Advantages of MFSK MSK produces a power spectrum density that falls off much faster compared to the spectrum of QPSK. While QPSK falls off at the inverse square of the frequency, MSK falls off at the inverse fourth power of the frequency. Thus MSK can operate in a smaller bandwidth compared to QPSK GMSK(GAUSSIAN-MINIMUM SHIFT-KEYING) Even though MSKs power spectrum density falls quite fast, it does not fall fast enough so that interference between adjacent signals in the frequency band can be avoided. To take care of the problem, the original binary signal is passed through a Gaussian shaped filter before it is modulated with MSK. The principle parameter in designing an appropriate Gaussian filter is the time-bandwidth product WTb.Following figure shows the frequency response of different Gaussian filters.MSK has a time-bandwidth product of infinity As can be seen that GMSKs power spectrum drops much quicker than MSKs. Furthermore, as WTb is decreased, the roll-off is much quicker In the GSM standard a time-bandwidth product of 0.3 was chosen as a compromise between spectral efficiency and intersymbol interference. With this value of WTb, 99% of the power spectrum is within a bandwidth of 250 kHz, and since GSM spectrum is divided into 200 kHz channels for multiple access, there is very little interference between the channels The speed at which GSM can transmit at, with WTb=0.3, is 271 kb/s. It cannot go faster, since that would cause intersymbol interference CHAPTER 5: FUTURE OF GSM The strong demand for GSM is continuing. Today, GSM is used by 2.3 billion people worldwide and the strong growth is expected to be maintained. Most of the expansion occurs in high-growth markets, where the cost of mobile calls and terminals is crucial. With the success of GSM and to meet the demanding requirements of the subscribers, GPRS, HSCSD and EDGE has been introduced which offer high data rates for the transmission. 3rd Generation (3G) systems will soon be introduced in Pakistan offering new and interesting services to the users and will bring internet to new levels In future strong focus of GSM operators will be on maintaining high quality of service, increasing usage and exploring new revenue streams on value added services, market visibility through various market initiatives to fulfill subscribers satisfaction and demand and above all to increase the value of investment for the shareholders. MATLAB CODE (IMPLEMENTATION OF GMSK) clear all; close all; DRate = 1; % data rate or 1 bit in one second M = 18; % no. of sample per bit N = 36; % no. of bits for simulation [-18:18] BT = 0.5; % Bandwidth*Period (cannot change ) T = 1/DRate; % data period , i.e 1 bit in one second Ts = T/M; k=[-18:18]; % Chens values. More than needed; % only introduces a little more delay alpha = sqrt(log(2))/(2*pi*BT); % alpha calculated for the gaussian filter response h = exp(-(k*Ts).^2/(2*alpha^2*T^2))/(sqrt(2*pi)*alpha*T); % Gaussian Filter Response in time domain figure; plot(h) title(Response of Gaussian Filter); xlabel( Sample at Ts); ylabel( Normalized Magnitude); grid; bits = [zeros(1,36) 1 zeros(1,36) 1 zeros(1,36) -1 zeros(1,36) -1 zeros(1,36) 1 zeros(1,36) 1 zeros(1,36) 1 zeros(1,36)]; % Modulation m = filter(h,1,bits);% bits are passed through the all pole filter described by h, i.e bits are % shaped by gaussian filter t0=.35; % signal duration ts=0.00135; % sampling interval fc=200; % carrier frequency kf=100; % Modulation index fs=1/ts; % sampling frequency t=[0:ts:t0]; % time vector df=0.25; % required frequency resolution int_m(1)=0; for i=1:length(t)-1 % Integral of m int_m(i+1)=int_m(i)+m(i)*ts; end tx_signal=cos(2*pi*fc*t+2*pi*kf*int_m); % it is frequency modulation not the phase modulating with the integral of the signal x = cos(2*pi*fc*t); y = sin(2*pi*fc*t); figure; subplot(3,1,1) stem(bits(1:200)) title(Gaussian Filtered Pulse Train); grid; subplot(3,1,2) plot(m(1:230)) title(Gaussian Shaped train); xlim([0 225]); subplot(3,1,3) plot(tx_signal) title(Modulated signal); xlim([0 225]); % Channel Equalization %load C:CASEDigital_Communicationprojectgmskalichannel.mat load channel.mat h = channel; N1 = 700; x1 = randn(N1,1); d = filter(h,1,x1); Ord = 256; Lambda = 0.98; delta = 0.001; P = delta*eye(Ord); w = zeros(Ord,1); for n = Ord:N1 u = x1(n:-1:n-Ord+1); pi = P*u; k = Lambda + u*pi; K = pi/k; e(n) = d(n) w*u; w = w + K *e(n); PPrime = K*pi; P = (P-PPrime)/Lambda; w_err(n) = norm(h-w); end figure; subplot(3,1,1); plot(w); title(Channel Response); subplot(3,1,2); plot(h,r); title(Adaptive Channel Response); rcvd_signal = conv(h,tx_signal); subplot(3,1,3); plot(rcvd_signal); title(Received Signal); eq_signal = conv(1/w,rcvd_signal); figure; subplot(3,1,1); plot(eq_signal); title(Equalizer Output); subplot(3,1,2); plot(eq_signal); title(Equalizer Output); axis([208 500 -2 2]); subplot(3,1,3); plot(tx_signal,r); title(Modulated Signal); % Demodulation eq_signal1 = eq_signal(200:460-1); In = x.*eq_signal1; Qn = y.*eq_signal1; noiseI = awgn(In,20); noiseQ = awgn(Qn,20); I = In + noiseI; Q = Qn + noiseQ; LP = fir1(32,0.18); yI = filter(LP,1,I); yQ = filter(LP,1,Q); figure; subplot(2,1,1); plot(yI); title(Inphase Component); xlim([0 256]); subplot(2,1,2); plot(yQ); title(Quadrature Component); xlim([0 256]); Z = yI + yQ*j; demod(1:N) = imag(Z(1:N)); demod(N+1:length(Z)) = imag(Z(N+1:length(Z)).*conj(Z(1:length(Z)-N))); xt = -10*demod(1:N/2:length(demod)) xd = xt(4:2:length(xt)) figure; stem(xd) title(Demodulated Signal); OUTPUTS TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 2: GENERAL PROPERTIES OF GSM CHAPTER 3: BACKGROUND OF GSM CHAPTER 4: IMPLEMENTATION MSK GMSK CHAPTER 5: FUTURE OF GSM CHAPTER 6: MATLAB IMPLEMENTATION

Christian Discipleship :: Religion Jesus Christianity Essays

Christian Discipleship Discipleship means ^one who follows^ or ^one who learns^ and this meaning has not changed over the centuries. The first disciples must have felt very special just as do today. Also, the first disciples were not fully understood and were rejected. This is true for disciples today aswell. The Bible is the most important reference for a Christian today. It contains all sorts of stories from the Old Testament and the New Testament. The New Testament concentrates on the life of Jesus which is probably more important to Christians than the Old Testament because Jesus^ death means that everyone has a chance to have all of their sins forgiven. The book I will be concentrating on is the gospel of Mark. Mark ^zoomed in^ on whom Jesus chose to be his disciples and what they were like. When people read Mark^s gospel they realise that you can be a disciple of Jesus no matter who you are. Jesus said, ^It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous but the sinners^ (Mark 2:17) Many people today see this and are inspired. They see that they too can be forgiven for all of their sins and lead a better life. Being a disciple today is nearly the same as being a disciple in the time of Jesus. As a disciple today you still have to have a true belief in God and to follow the word of Jesus. This is also true for disciples 2000 years ago. Christians today do not suffer as much as they did in the time of Jesus but in some countries Christians do get persecuted and even attacked or killed. The first twelve disciples are not so sacrificial and some probably wouldn^t give their life for God. However, there are still Christians who would do anything for God but this is only a small percent of Christians. The first twelve disciples weren^t just Christians straight away, they dropped all of their things to follow Jesus and spent years learning about God. Nowadays, many people wouldn^t just drop all of their things to follow someone they know nothing about. Many people are told about God and Jesus for a long time before becoming a Christian, just like in Emmanuel College in assemblies and in tutor prayer. Jesus told taught crowds of people that they must sacrifice everything to be a proper disciple. Some people want to learn more about Christianity but don^t want to be sacrificial in their living making them unable to be a disciple.

Movie: Tucker - Preston Tucker Essay -- essays research papers

Movie: Tucker - Preston Tucker Preston Tucker was a car-crazy kid who hung around auto speedways and grew up to create an automobile Tucker that was years ahead of its time. He was a man of pioneering spirit, ingenuity, and daring, who revolutionized Detroit in the 1940s with his stunning car of tomorrow. It was streamlined, futuristic, and fast the car every American dreamed of owning, at a price most people could afford. When he wanted to start to produce the car he faces a lot of barriers, an oligopoly. In the movie Tucker, there are only a small number of firms. Like Kaiser-Frazier Automotive Company and Ford Motor Company. Each of the companies holds a large share and the action from each one may have a great affect on the others. The product in this movie is car. Car is similar, differentiated product and this is the characteristics of an oligopoly. There are many problems when Tucker tries to produce his dream car. Since his car is a new one, he needs to use a lot of advertising to promote it in order to attract people to buy it. Like magazine, car shower, and TV. When Tucker tried to produce his car, he faced many problems. First he had the financial problem he needed $15 million to produce the bomber engine. However, he did not have enough money, so he issued 4 million shares to raise his money. Besides, retooling for a model change could cost $20 million and since his car was a new brand, Tucker was lack of support of the big firms, so he needed a lot of money ...

Understanding Computer Networks Essay -- Research Papers

Understanding Computer Networks Each day, students and faculty at State University sit down in front of a PC or UNIX workstation and eagerly check their electronic mail, surf the World Wide Web, or run applications such as word processors and analysis packages. To most users, the magical wire which carries all of this information is nothing more than an electrical construct; two pair of wires twisted together and crimped at the end with phone connectors. Our world today is built on networking in every field from cable television to telephone systems, yet many engineers, old and young alike, have no idea what constructs enable them to communicate seamlessly across the globe. Computer technology is constantly evolving. Fifteen years ago, computers were connected via simple serial interfaces communicating at 9600 bits per second. Today, workstations pump out data at rates in excess of 100,000,000 bits per second, and the road to improvement seems endless. The networking industry is filled with jargon which make it difficult to understand. While the concept of networking is not difficult to grasp, it is often difficult to fully explain. This text will enable the reader to understand the basic hardware that allows a computer network to function. Computer networks consist of five major components. Two of these components are probably familiar to you: the workstation and the network server. When you sit down at a networked computer, the first thing you do is type in your name and a password. This process allows the computer to recognize you, and verify you are who you say you are by means of a password. When the login process is complete, you are connected to a network server; a device that simultaneously manages the disk space and... ...until it finds its final destination. And of course, traffic on the same floor wonÕt be forwarded by the router, since it was already sent to every port on that floor by the switch or repeater. Repeaters, switches, and routers form the basis of computer networks as we know them today. These devices provide connectivity which spans from the desktop to the global internet and back again. The networking industry is growing at an exponential rate, and there are constant challenges to make these devices faster, cheaper, and better. The knowledge presented here is just the tip of a gigantic iceberg with many opportunities for those interested, including opportunities in circuit design, network administration, systems consulting, and more. As networking grows to encompass every aspect of our lives, so will the value of people who know what networking is and how it works. Understanding Computer Networks Essay -- Research Papers Understanding Computer Networks Each day, students and faculty at State University sit down in front of a PC or UNIX workstation and eagerly check their electronic mail, surf the World Wide Web, or run applications such as word processors and analysis packages. To most users, the magical wire which carries all of this information is nothing more than an electrical construct; two pair of wires twisted together and crimped at the end with phone connectors. Our world today is built on networking in every field from cable television to telephone systems, yet many engineers, old and young alike, have no idea what constructs enable them to communicate seamlessly across the globe. Computer technology is constantly evolving. Fifteen years ago, computers were connected via simple serial interfaces communicating at 9600 bits per second. Today, workstations pump out data at rates in excess of 100,000,000 bits per second, and the road to improvement seems endless. The networking industry is filled with jargon which make it difficult to understand. While the concept of networking is not difficult to grasp, it is often difficult to fully explain. This text will enable the reader to understand the basic hardware that allows a computer network to function. Computer networks consist of five major components. Two of these components are probably familiar to you: the workstation and the network server. When you sit down at a networked computer, the first thing you do is type in your name and a password. This process allows the computer to recognize you, and verify you are who you say you are by means of a password. When the login process is complete, you are connected to a network server; a device that simultaneously manages the disk space and... ...until it finds its final destination. And of course, traffic on the same floor wonÕt be forwarded by the router, since it was already sent to every port on that floor by the switch or repeater. Repeaters, switches, and routers form the basis of computer networks as we know them today. These devices provide connectivity which spans from the desktop to the global internet and back again. The networking industry is growing at an exponential rate, and there are constant challenges to make these devices faster, cheaper, and better. The knowledge presented here is just the tip of a gigantic iceberg with many opportunities for those interested, including opportunities in circuit design, network administration, systems consulting, and more. As networking grows to encompass every aspect of our lives, so will the value of people who know what networking is and how it works.

College Students Cheating on Exams Essay

In today’s age when you look at the word â€Å"Cheating†, you may find many different definitions or meanings. Whether you cheat at work; known as fraud, cheat at home; known as dishonesty, or at school, this act of conduct can lead to many consequences made by ones choice. Cheating as a word to me means to not follow rules or standards brought up as a person. As we focus today on students cheating, the first thing that comes to my mind is cheating on an exam. As much as we hate to believe it, students in these days have followed the path of trying to do anything to get that grade. I believe many students today are driven to cheat when there is too much emphasis to ace an exam from both parents and school staff. It’s difficult to dismiss why students cheat, but I think if you eliminate pressure, students are less likely to engage in such conduct. Cheating leads to breaking the rules in many cases. Sometimes cheating can also lead to students finding someone else to help take one another’. No matter how careful teachers or programs are designed to prevent it, students will always find ways to get around obstacles and cheat at one point. Students may think cheating on an exam might seem like an easy way for a student to get a good grade and get ahead in his or her career, but the end result is when students cheat on exams, everyone is affected in many ways. When a student cheats or decides to cheat on an exam, they forget to think about the consequences that occur as a result of the decision made. Have you ever stopped and thought of the different consequences that occur? Consequences can vary depending on the student getting caught cheating. Some professors may issue a grade of a zero as a standard consequence; other professors may report the cheating to school board depending on the kind of test taken. In most cases, the student will be put on academic probation for repeat offenses which can affect the student’s career development. The student may be able to get a job with more responsibilities and more pay, but they may not be able to keep it, or might even harm people. Whether the student’s career is medical assistant, a teacher, or a lawyer, the exams are supposed to show the level of knowledge required for them to perform well and how can one show that when they are cheating on studies or exams. Another consequence of students cheating is that students, who cheat and get caught, cause other current and future students who do not cheat to become penalized for honesty. When students cheat they change the rules of education in favor of themselves. At the same time changing rules for themselves also cause changing rules for those that choose not to cheat, end result at one point or another someone will be affected. When you think of cheating, the question you should ask yourself should be; â€Å"Are you willing to take a huge risk and possibly affect your future? † The end result to cheating is obviously not a good turnout that leads to many different wrong roads. Many people say once a cheater, always a cheater meanings if you cheat once, are you bound to cheat again or will you learn from your mistakes. On the basis of predictability of human conduct, when you think of exams your first perception would be who is going to cheat on the exam. There are many different reasons why people cheat, just as there are differences in individuals who may cheat. For some, cheating is a way of life, one may cheat for some relief and in other cases others may cheat and be caught off guard causing a momentary slipup, which in end result may never happen again. Now what causes a person to act in that behavior, and determine what caused that behavior. What factors lead a person to cheat is what many ask. Eventually one can make a change and not cheat again. I believe schools should organize speakers, programs and workshops in the framework of â€Å"helping a student to cope with stress†. As part of these programs, parents should be made aware of how they often teach their children to cheat by increasing the pressure or demonstrating that success is the ultimate value in life. Students need to learn that you can cheat your way through school, graduate without learning anything, then get a profession and cause another person to get hurt due to not knowing anything in school due to cheating. Next time if you should cheat to make that extra grade, think again because it may result in hurting yourself and your future or the future of others.

Operations Management at Bajaj

Markets Motorcycles: Overall Two-wheeler sales of Indian players is dominated by the domestic market and, within it, by motorcycles. After growing at a sharp clip from the late 1990s, motorcycle sales witnessed a 7. 8% drop in volume in 2007-08, due to falling domestic demand as a result of rising interest rates and many private sector banks reducing their retail lending exposures. 2008-09 saw a modest increase in motorcycle sales of 4%, driven largely by growth in cash sales. Even so, sales of motorcycles (both domestic and exports) in 2008-09 has been lower than what it was in 2006-07, before the slowdown hit this sector. ABOUT BAJAJ:- The group comprises of 34 companies and was founded in the year 1926. The group's flagship company, Bajaj Auto, is ranked as the world's fourth largest two- and three- wheeler manufacturer and the Bajaj brand is well-known across several countries in Latin America, Africa, Middle East, South and South East Asia. Founded in 1926, at the height of India's movement for independence from the British, the group has an illustrious history. The integrity, dedication, resourcefulness and determination to succeed which are characteristic of the group today, are often traced back to its birth during those days of relentless devotion to a common cause. Motorcycles : Domestic Sales for Bajaj Auto The company classifies motorcycles into three segments, based on consumer categories and approximate price points. These are: a) Entry segment. These are typically 100 cc motorcycles at a price point in the neighbourhood of Rs. 35,000. Bajaj AutoDespite the slight uptick in the industry’s sales volume, Bajaj Auto did not maintain volume growth, for reasons that will be discussed below. From 1. 66 million motorcycles in 2007-08, the company’s domestic sales fell by 23% to 1. 28 million units in 2008-09. Some of this was compensated by a 31% increase in exports to 631,383 units. But it was not enough. Consequently, Bajaj Auto’s market share(domestic and exports, combined) fell from 32. 7% in 2007-08 to 28% in 2008-09. b) Executive segment. This largely comprises 100 cc to 135 cc motorcycles, priced between Rs. 40,000 to Rs. 50,000. We arein this segment with two brands: XCD and Discover. c) Performance segment. These are sleek, high performance, with price points in excess of Rs. 50,000. We are present here with our flagship brand, the Pulsar, and our cruiser, the Avenger. We dominate this space, with a domestic market share in excess of 47%. Using the three-fold classification described above, Chart plots Bajaj Auto’s domestic sales of motorcycles over 2008-09. [pic] Products Avenger Avenger 200 DTS-i Pulsar Pulsar 135 DTS-i Pulsar 220 DTS-i Pulsar 180 DTS-i Pulsar 150 DTS-i Discover Discover 135 DTS-i Discover DTS-i Platina Platina 125 Platina 100 cc NINJA Ninja 250 R Operations Plants Bajaj Auto’s vehicle manufacturing capacity stands at 3. 96 million units — comprising 3. 6 million two-wheelers and 360,000 three-wheelers. The newest plant at Pantnagar (Uttarakhand) has a capacity to produce 900,000 two-wheelers. Table gives the capacity data. [pic] Pantnagar Bajaj Auto’s production at its state-of-the-art Pantnagar plant (Uttarakhand) has been on the rise. In 2007-08, the plant produced 276,925 motorcycles. This increased by 15% to 318,321 vehicles in 2008-09. By end-2008-09, Pantnagar was producing some 40,000 motorcycles per month. To maximise the tax benefits available at Uttarakhand, the company is shifting some of its more profitable products to the Pantnagar plant. After the shift of these products, the plant is expected to produce around 60,000 vehicles by the third quarter of 2009-10. Table gives the data on which products are manufactured in what plant. pic] MAJOR SUPPIERS |SUPPLIERS |PARTS | |USHA |PISTONS,RINGS | |ROLON |CHAIN,CHAIN SPROCKET | |ENDURANCE |FORKS,SHOCKERS,RIMS,ALLOY-WHEELS | |PRICOL |METER CONSOLE |MINDA |LOCKS ,HORNS,SWITCHES | |LUMAX |LAMPS | |SUNDARAM |FASTENERS | |KBX |DISK BRAKE PADS | |BOSCH |SPARK PLUGS | |EXIDE |BATTERIES | |MRF |TYRES | Supply Chain Bajaj Auto’s supply chai n encompasses the process from vendors to the final customers via manufacturing. Therefore, the Company’s supply chain involves as much the vendors and the procurement-to-payment logistics, as it does the manufacturing to selling process, or the order to cash system. Given below are some of the key supply chain initiatives of Bajaj Auto. Vendors Most of the Company’s vendor initiatives, including the Pantnagar operations and TPM have been discussed earlier. What needs to be emphasised is that the 16 vendors clustered within the campus of Bajaj Auto’s Pantnagar plant were a part of a planned process of project development – where the vendors were fully integrated with the plant, starting with basic raw materials, automated paint, plating and powder coating plants. This has ensured that the maximum possible value addition is done within Uttarakhand, so as to maximise the tax advantage and make Bajaj Auto’s motorcycles even more cost competitive. Initial facilities created by vendors at Pantnagar at an aggregate investment of Rs. 5 billion (Rs. 500 crore) are for half million motorcycles per year, which will be increased with balancing investments to roduce one million motorcycles per year to synchronise with the Company’s plans. Dealers Bajaj Auto has adopted a channel policy approach which is unique in the automobile industry. This policy and its linked initiatives are guided by the requirements of specific se ts of the Company’s final customers. 1. The Primary Channel : This comprises 408 exclusive two-wheeler dealers, 75 exclusive three-wheeler dealers, and 98 dealers who deal in both product categories. Bajaj Auto has followed a policy of systematic network consolidation, in which the primary dealerships have been given a larger scale and scope to operate based on their strengths. 2. The Secondary Channel : Much of Bajaj Auto’s recent success can be attributed to policy of rapidly adding to the number of secondary outlets, which provide sales, service and spares support in the vast hinterland of India. These are in the form of 1,500 Authorised Service Centres (ASC), 4,500 Rural Service Outlets (RSO), and 750 Young Engineer Service (YES) centres in the towns and cities. 3. The Rural India Foray : The Company has been aggressively pursuing initiatives to increase two-wheeler penetration in rural India. A large number of rural outlets were added to the network during the year, which not only increased hinterland sales but also gave additional employment in the rural sector. 4. Pro-biking : This initiative sits far away from the rural India play but is no less important. Bajaj Auto believes that young India doesn’t pay to buy motorcycles; it pays to buy excitement and exhilaration. The Pro-biking initiative, which was kicked off with the inauguration of first store in Pune in August 2005, aims precisely at creating this thrill. Owned and operated by Bajaj Auto, Pro-biking showrooms are now operational in Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. ———————– AUTOMOBILE – BAJAJ Assignment on Operations Management Prasad T. P. FN-105 Mahesh R. FK-1895 Jijo Lukose FN-77 Deepu P. FK-1905 Abinash Nanda FK-2010 Anoop B. FK-2005 Manu Korah Mathew Athul Raj Vyshakh P. R. FK-1919 Balaji Vinay Singh FK-1883 PRasad

Difference Between CML and SML Essay

CML stands for Capital Market Line, and SML stands for Security Market Line. The CML is a line that is used to show the rates of return, which depends on risk-free rates of return and levels of risk for a specific portfolio. SML, which is also called a Characteristic Line, is a graphical representation of the market’s risk and return at a given time. One of the differences between CML and SML, is how the risk factors are measured. While standard deviation is the measure of risk for CML, Beta coefficient determines the risk factors of the SML. The CML measures the risk through standard deviation, or through a total risk factor. On the other hand, the SML measures the risk through beta, which helps to find the security’s risk contribution for the portfolio. While the Capital Market Line graphs define efficient portfolios, the Security Market Line graphs define both efficient and non-efficient portfolios. While calculating the returns, the expected return of the portfolio for CML is shown along the Y- axis. On the contrary, for SML, the return of the securities is shown along the Y-axis. The standard deviation of the portfolio is shown along the X-axis for CML, whereas, the Beta of security is shown along the X-axis for SML. Where the market portfolio and risk free assets are determined by the CML, all security factors are determined by the SML. Unlike the Capital Market Line, the Security Market Line shows the expected returns of individual assets. The CML determines the risk or return for efficient portfolios, and the SML demonstrates the risk or return for individual stocks. Well, the Capital Market Line is considered to be superior when measuring the risk factors. Summary: 1. The CML is a line that is used to show the rates of return, which depends on risk-free rates of return and levels of risk for a specific portfolio. SML, which is also called a Characteristic Line, is a graphical representation of the market’s risk and return at a given time. 2. While standard deviation is the measure of risk in CML, Beta coefficient determines the risk factors of the SML. 3. While the Capital Market Line graphs define efficient portfolios, the Security Market Line graphs define both efficient and non-efficient portfolios. 4. The Capital Market Line is considered to be superior when measuring the risk factors. 5. Where the  market portfolio and risk free assets are determined by the CML, all security factors are determined by the SML.

Corporate Governance and Financing Decisions by Saudi Companies

Corporate Governance and Financing Decisions by Saudi Companies Ali Al-Nodel College of Economy and Administration, Qassim University, P. O. Box 4667, Burydah 51412 Al-Qassim, Saudi Arabia. Email: [email  protected] edu. sa Khaled Hussainey Ain Shams University, Egypt Accounting & Finance Division Stirling Management School Stirling University Stirling FK9 4LA United Kingdom Email: Khaled. [email  protected] ac. uk 1 Abstract Purpose: This paper aims to contribute to the corporate governance literature in emerging economies by examining the effect of some corporate governance mechanisms on financing decisions in Saudi Arabian listed companies.Methodology: A multiple regression model is used to examine the association between financing decisions and corporate governance mechanisms for a sample of 37 listed Saudi companies. In particular, we examine the effect of board size; ownership concentration and corporate governance reporting on the debt-to-equity ratio. Corporate governance reporting is measured by the content analysis approach. Findings: After controlling for companies’ profitability and their growth opportunities, we found that both board size and ownership concentration are positively associated with debt-to-equity ratio.Research limitations: We limit our analysis to a small sample of firms that use the internet to communicate corporate governance information between October 2005 and January 2006. Practical implications: The findings suggest that managers are likely to choose higher financial leverage when they have stronger corporate governance (large number of directors on the board and higher ownership concentration). However, we did not find any statistical association between corporate governance disclosure and debt-to-equity ratio.This suggests that firm’s asymmetric information is not an important driver of the financing decision of Saudi Arabian companies. This might be due to the nature of the Saudi business environment. Orig inality: We strongly believe that this paper provides a novel contribution to the existing literature as we are the first to examine this issue in Saudi Arabia. Keywords: Corporate governance, financing decisions, emerging economies, Saudi Arabia. Paper type: Research paper. 2 1. IntroductionThis paper aims to contribute to the corporate governance literature by examining the effect of corporate governance characteristics on financing decisions in Saudi Arabian listed companies. In particular, it examines the effect of board size; ownership concentration and corporate governance reporting on the debt-to-equity ratio. The investigation of these research issues in Saudi business environment could extend prior research and give different explanations to those carried out in more developed countries Research related to determinant of corporate capital structure is a well established part of the accounting and finance research.Modigliani and Miller (1958) is the first to study this area of research. They also provided another study in the same area of research after modifying some assumptions such as relaxing the prefect market assumptions and considering corporate tax into their models (Miller and Modigliani, 1963). In their later study, they suggested that firm value will be enhanced if the level of debt increases because interest rate is a tax deductible and consequently companies would enjoy debt tax shield when funding their activities by long-term debt. Further accounting and finance research studies were more expressive.Those researches were concentrated on examining some determinants of corporate capital structure. For example, the association between board size and capital structure decisions have been suggested by a number of empirical studies (see for example Mehran 1992, Berger et al. 1997, Wiwattanakantang 1999, Wen et al. 2002, Du and Dia 2005, Abor and Biekpe 2005 and Al-Najjar and Hussainey 2010a and 2010b). Another determinant of capital structure decision which received significant attention is the ownership concentration (see for example Wiwattanakantang 1999, and Al- 3 Najjar and Hussainey 2010a and 2010b).More recently, number of studies have, also, investigated the association between asymmetric information and corporate decisions (see for example Li and Zhao, 2006 and Bharath et al. 2009). The results of these research studies suggest that firm value will be enhanced if the level of debt increases, board size and ownership concentration are associated with capital structure decisions and firms with higher levels of information asymmetric are more likely to use debt in financing their activities than equity. Unfortunately, the results of these research studies cannot be generalized for number of reasons.First, these results provided mixed evidence. For example, Mehran (1992), Berger et al. (1997), and Abor and Biekpe (2005) found a significant negative association between the size of the board of directors and debt-to-eq uity ratios, while Jensen (1986) found a positive association between higher debt ratios and larger board size. Further, other researchers found that there is no significant association between board size and debt-to-equity ratios (i. e. Wiwattanakantang, 1999; Wen et al. , 2002; and Al-Najjar and Hussainey, 2010). A second reason for the difficulty behind generalizing the results of these esearch studies are that the majority of them were carried out in most developed countries such as U. S and European continental. More precisely, in developing countries the conclusions of this line of research are likely to be challenged due to the business environmental differences between those of developed and those of developing countries. In another words, in a different business environment such those of the Middle Eastern countries, there are significant environmental factors that may affect corporate capital structure decisions.Hove (1986 and 1990) asserted the importance of political, ec onomical, and social systems on corporate decisions. 4 Third reason for the difficulty of generalising the evidence of prior research examining determinants of corporate capital structure is that there are very limited numbers of studies that have examined determinants of capital structure in developing countries and even fewer such studies may be found in the Middle East countries, leaving significant doubt about the applicability of these evidence in the business environment of Middle east countriesAccordingly, a natural area of extending the lines of the accounting and finance research related to determinant of corporate capital structure decisions is to explore other drivers of corporate capital structure decisions and to consider suggested drivers within a different business environment. In the present paper, we aim to examine the degree to which corporate governance affect the financing decisions of Saudi Arabian listed companies. We focus only on three corporate governance me chanisms.These are board size; ownership concentration and corporate governance reporting. The main reasons for concentrating on these issues are the possibility of making comparison with other studies because these are the most studied issues in the literature, the availability of data regarding these issues1, and the importance of advising regulators whom are more concern about these issues in the process of regulating corporate governance in Saudi Arabia.To help us in focusing on a group of firms that report corporate governance information on their websites, we utilised a sample of 37 companies listed in Saudi Stock Market in January 2006. This was based on a recent paper by Hussainey and Al-Nodel (2008) who collected their sample from Saudi listed companies’ websites 1 Cost of capital is an important factor in corporate capital structure decisions; however data for capital structure was not available. 5 etween October 2005 and January 2006 representing a total number of 77 companies listed in the Saudi Stock Exchange at that time. We found that both board size and ownership concentration are positively associated with the debt-to-equity ratio. However, we did not find a significant association between corporate governance reporting and the debt-to-equity ratio. The findings seem to suggest that managers are likely to choose higher financial leverage when they have stronger corporate governance (large number of directors on the board and higher ownership concentration).However, firm’s asymmetric information seems to be not a driver of the financing decision of Saudi Arabian companies. A possible explanation is that decisions relate to capital structure are affected by the Islamic view of financing which prohibits interests and in turn to the public view who disrespects such practice. This is enhanced by the weakness of the business reporting practice in Saudi Arabia which could provide pave for a different mean of getting information by parti es related to loan agreements.The results of this paper may be of use to the Saudi Arabian Capital Market Authority (SACMA, thereafter) who issued a guidance in 2006 that recommends all listed companies to disclose corporate governance information to the public. This would help SACMA to explore the attitude of companies to voluntarily report corporate governance rather than being enforced to do so. The paper proceeds as follows. Section 2 reviews prior research on the determinants of corporate capital structure. In Section 3, a description of the Saudi business environment is provided.Sections 4 and 5 discuss the development of the research hypotheses and the research model. Section 6 is the data description. The 6 main regression results are presented in Section 7. Section 8 concludes and suggests areas for future research. 2. Literature Review Although the relationship between corporate governance and capital structure has been the subject for an extensive research in developed co untries2, a limited research has been carried out to investigate the issue in business environment of developing countries.The association between board size and capital structure decisions have been well established in prior accounting and finance research. In particular, Mehran (1992), Berger et al. (1997), Wiwattanakantang (1999), Wen et al. (2002), Du and Dia (2005), Abor and Biekpe (2005) and Al-Najjar and Hussainey (2010a and 2010b) examined the association between board size and corporate capital structure decision, but the results are mixed. Mehran (1992), Berger et al. (1997), and Abor and Biekpe (2005) reported a significant negative association between the size of the board of directors and debt-toequity ratios.However, Jensen (1986) revealed a positive association between higher debt ratios and larger board size. Other researchers found that there is no significant association between board size and debt-to-equity ratios (Wiwattanakantang, 1999, Wen et al. , 2002, Al-Naj jar and Hussainey, 2010). 2 Examples include the UK (see, for example, Demirag 1998; Ezzamel and Willmott 1993; Writer 2001; Vinten 2001), The Netherlands (Groot, 1998), and Canada (Elloumi and Gueyie, 2001). Other researchers compared the corporate governance practice between developing countries.For instance, Vinten (2000) compared the corporate governance practice between the UK and the US. Another comparative study is Charkham (1994) which found significant differences in the corporate governance practices in five countries: Japan, Britain, France, the United States and Germany. 7 Ownership concentration is considered as one of the key determinants of capital structure decision. Wiwattanakantang (1999) reported that managerial shareholdings have consistent positive influence on family-owned firm leverage.In addition, Al-Najjar and Hussainey (2010a) found that insider ownership is positively and significantly associated with the debt-to-equity ratio. However, Al-Najjar and Hussai ney (2010b) did not find the expected significant results. A relatively recent and growing number of studies have investigated the association between asymmetric information and corporate decisions (see Li and Zhao, 2006 for more details). For example Bharath et al. (2009) used a novel information asymmetry index and examined the extent to which information asymmetry is a determinant of capital structure decisions.They found that information asymmetry affects capital structure decisions of US companies. In particular, they found a significant positive association between information asymmetry and debt-to-equity ratio. In other words, their results suggest that firms with higher levels of information asymmetric are more likely to use debt in financing their activities than equity. On the other hand, other research found that voluntary disclosure is negatively related to asymmetric information. For example, Hussainey et al. 2003) found higher levels of voluntary disclosure reduce info rmation asymmetry between the firm and investors and hence increase investors' ability to better anticipate future earnings. Research investigating corporate governance in developing countries is much beyond in considering the impact of issues of corporate governance on corporation capital structure. A review of research investigating issues of corporate governance revealed that most such research approach the issue whether to describe the state of 8 orporate governance from an official perspective or from the perspective of what should the practical applications of its principles be. For example, Al-Motairy (2003) explored the state of corporate governance practices in Saudi Arabia. He concluded that there is a vital need for (1) a review of these regulations to reflect the current practices of corporate governance, (2) the issuance of guidance for best practices for management and financial affair in corporations and (3) the establishment of an organisation to accelerate the adopt ion of best practices of corporate governance.Similarly, Fouzy (2003) evaluated the practices of corporate governance’s principles in Egypt. He recognised the development in Egyptian official regulations toward the application of best practices of corporate governance. He then argued that these developments are not met enough by Egyptian companies in their practical applications. Another example is the study which was carried out by Oyelere and Mohammed (2005) investigating the practices of corporate governance in Oman and how it is being communicated to stakeholders.They recommend enhanced regulation and communication for the Omani stock market to keep pace with the international developments. Finally, a research paper by the Centre for International Private Enterprise (CIPE, 2003) examined the corporate governance practice in four Middle Eastern countries (Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Lebanon). It found that corporate governance practice is approached differently by each cou ntry depending on the sophistication of the financial market in each country. The research paper further provided several 9 ecommendations to improve the application of the principles of corporate governance in the region as a whole. The impact of the corporation attitude toward their corporate governance on their financing decisions needs further investigation giving the unique of the Saudi business environment and the mixed results of the accounting and finance research relating to the determinants of corporate capital structure. This is evident by the unique aspects of the business environment of Saudi Arabia which will be discussed in the following paragraph. 3.Saudi business environment This section provides a general description of the environment of the Saudi business practices. The discussion will be directed to the most important environmental factors, as suggested by the literature. The main aspects of the Saudi business practices that will be discussed are the social, eco nomical, and political systems. Also, some highlights will be given to the 1965 Company Law that regulates the practice of Saudi businesses and the guidance of corporate governance issued by SACMA in 2006 which regulates corporate governance reporting.As a conservative society, a significant number of Saudis are adherent to Islamic values such as avoiding loan interests. This does not mean there is no such type of transactions but to mean that the majority of Saudis do not openly accept such transactions. Saudi society is also characterized by the impact of the personality and power of particular individuals, the role of family and friend relationships over regulations, privilege given to personal relationships over tasks, and the existence of a high level of secrecy (Al-Rumaihi 1997; Al-Nodel 2004). 0 The economy of Saudi Arabia is an oil-based economy and government exercises strong controls over major economic activities. Since the discovery of oil in 1938, oil revenue represents the biggest contribution to the economy. In 1990s, it accounted for around 35% of nominal GDP, about 75% of government revenues, and 85% of export receipts (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2003). Table 1 presents the country’s budgetary revenues, expenditures and net surplus or (deficit) for the last three years.Insert Table 1 here Similar to most developing countries, Saudi businesses are characterized by the domination of family businesses, the deep involvement of the government in the private sector, and the existence of a number of foreign-owned and controlled companies based on joint venture agreements with domestic companies. Al-Nodel (2004) reported that joint-stock companies represent only 1. 14% of the total number, and account for less than 40% of the total capital of the registered businesses.Since the type of businesses is mostly small to medium size companies, there was an apparent need for more foreign investors and involvement of the government in the private sec tor to carry some important activities which cannot be carried out or provided by local companies. This has left the country with significant number of foreign-owned and controlled companies based on joint venture agreements with domestic companies and significant involvement of government in some major business activities (Presley, 1984; Aba-Alkhail, 2001).The political system of Saudi Arabia is a monarchy, headed by the King. Within the political system, there are three legislative bodies, which have the authority to initiate and/or approve policies, regulation or rules: the Council of 11 Ministers, the Consultative Council, and various individual Ministries (Al-Amari, 1989; Al-Rumaihi, 1997). The legal system of Saudi Arabia is derived from Islamic law (Shariah; Alqur’an Alkareem and Sunna Alsharifah3), and coded laws for a number of specific fields, such as commerce, tax and labour.Al-Amari (1989) reported that Islamic law prevails in legal disputes. Two of the most impor tant aspects of the Islamic values relating to corporate financing are that Islamic law prohibits loan interests whether giving or taking by individuals or business institutions and obligation of Zaket4 which should be giving, calculated based on the capital of the business or individual, and given to specific groups as mentioned by Alqur’an Alkareem and Sunna Alsharifah.Taxes duty is imposed on non-Saudi or Gulf States companies operate in Saudi Arabia. There are some differences between Zaket and Taxes whether on whom to impose, the manner of collection, or calculation. For example, Zaket is based on the wealth of the business with some specific deductions for specific items as indicated by Shariah; Alqur’an Alkareem and Sunna Alsharifah, while Tax is based on the net income with some deduction according to the law of Taxes. The 1965 Company Law regulates the practice of businesses in Saudi Arabia.It sets conditions for several aspects of businesses such as legal fra meworks through which business companies can be established, the registration requirements, minimum capital to be maintained, number of partners, number of directors, accounts, the 3 Alqur’an Alkareem is the Holly book of Islam and Sunna Alsharifah is the interpretations, speeches and actions of prophet Mohamed Peace be up on him. Alqur’an Alkareem and Sunna Alsharifah provide the main of Islamic instructions. 4 Zaket is a financial religious duty and represents the third pillar.Alqur’an Alkareem and Sunna Alsharifah explain to Muslim the compliance with the Zaket duty. 12 annual audit of the accounts, and so on. Shinawi and Crum (1971) asserted that the origin of the 1965 Saudi Company Law goes back to the British Companies Act of 1948. The similarity between the 1965 Saudi Company Law and the UK acts issued in 1948, 1967 and 1976 was also reported by Kahlid (1983). The reporting requirements which are imposed by the 1965 Company Law represent the only rules th at should be observed.It requires the issuance of a balance sheet, a profit and loss account, and a report on the company’s operations and financial position every fiscal year. It further stipulates that all corporations and limited liability companies must issue annual financial statements audited by an independent auditor licensed to practice by the Saudi Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Similar to stock markets in developing countries, the Saudi stock market is new and small. In 1984, the Royal Decree No. 81230 was issued as an attempt to officially regulate the stock exchange (Abdeen and Dale, 1984; El-Sharkawy, 2006).Under this Royal Decree, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) was given actual control over the stock exchange through national commercial banks. The significant change was in 2003 when the Saudi Arabian Capital Market Authority (SACMA) was established to oversight the exchange of Saudi stocks (Ramady, 2005). This period observed significant increase o f the number of listed companies, regulations for the market in general and reporting in specific. Table 2 compares some key numbers of the Saudi stock market between 1996- 2005. Insert Table 2 here 13For example, in 2006 SACMA issued a draft for reporting requirements of corporate governance for listed companies. The draft provides recommendations of the criteria for the best corporate governance practice that should listed companies counsel. It has covered to some extent the main five principles issued by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): the rights of shareholders, the equitable treatment of shareholders, the role of stakeholders in corporate governance, disclosure and transparency, the responsibility of the board of directors.According to the recommendations of SACMA, listed companies are required to report to SACMA about their compliance with the criteria of corporate governance as issued by SACMA or reasons for uncompliance if any. The disclosu re contains, for example, the board of directors’ functions, responsibilities, formation, committees of board of directors; audit committee; Nomination and Remuneration Committee; Meetings of the Board and Remuneration and Indemnification of Board Members5.Finally, SACMA asserted that the criteria for the best corporate governance practice mostly constitutes the guiding principles for all listed companies unless any other regulations, laws or rules require such requirement. 4. Research hypotheses To examine the effect of corporate governance characteristics on financing decisions in Saudi Arabian listed companies we formulated three research hypotheses; 5Detailed information about these regulations is discussed in the following articles (SACMA, 2006): Article 9: Disclosure in the Board of Directors’ Report; Article 10: Main Functions of the Board of Directors; Article 11: Responsibilities of the Board; Article 12: Formation of the Board; Article 13: Committees of the B oard; Article 14: Audit Committee; Article 15: Nomination and Remuneration Committee; Article 16: Meetings of the Board; Article 17: Remuneration and Indemnification of Board Members. 14 he effect of board size; ownership concentration and corporate governance reporting on the debt-to-equity ratio as following. Board size hypothesis Given that prior research investigating the association between board size and debt-to-equity ratios gave mixed result (see section 2), we also revisited this research area and examined the association between board size and capital structure for Saudi Arabian companies. We set the following first research hypothesis for the impact of board size on capital structure:H1: Ceteris paribus, there is a relationship between board size and debt-to-equity ratio. Ownership concentration hypothesis Given the results of the prior research are – to some extent – mixed, we also revisited this research area and examined the association between ownership concentration and capital structure for Saudi Arabian companies. We set the following second research hypothesis for the impact of ownership concentration on capital structure: H2: Ceteris paribus, there is a relationship between ownership concentration and debt-to-equity ratio. Corporate governance reportingTo examine the role of the information environment on capital structure decision in Saudi Arabian companies, we used a corporate governance voluntary disclosure index as a measure of a firm’s information environment and set the 15 following third research hypothesis for the impact of corporate governance reporting on capital structure: H3: Ceteris paribus, there is a relationship between corporate governance reporting and debt-to-equity ratio. 5. Model Development In order to test the above hypotheses, we regress debt-to-equity ratio on some corporate governance characteristics and some control variables.The study will investigate the following model: Levit = ? + ? ? X it + ? it Where: Levit is defined as long term debt to equity ratio; ? is the intercept. ? ? is the slope coefficient estimates of regressors. X it is the corporate governance variables (and control variables) for firm i at time t. Dependent variable: The dependent variable ( Levit ) is defined as the long term debt to equity ratio. Independent variables: We have three independent variables and two control variables. We identified three types of corporate governance variables: 1) Board size (BOARD): This represents the number of executive and non executive directors on the board. (2) Ownership concentration (OWNERSHIP): This represents the total percentage of the company’s shares that owned by owners. 16 (3) Corporate governance reporting (DISCLOSURE): This is calculated as the number of sentences that include at least one corporate governance related information. Control variables: (1) Profitability (PROF): we used return on total assets as a measure for firms’ profitab ility. (2) Growth opportunity (MB): we used share price to book value ratio as a measure for firm’s growth opportunity. . Data Our data collection is based on a recent paper by Hussainey and Al-Nodel (2008). This helped us to focus on a group of firms that report corporate governance information on their websites. We focused on firms that disclose information through internet because prior research argued that internet reporting is one of the most important sources of voluntary disclosure and this source is more likely to complement published annual reports (Aly et al, 2010). Hussainey and Al-Nodel (2008) collected their sample from Saudi listed companies’ websites between October 2005 and January 2006.At that time, the total number of companies listed in the Saudi Stock Market was 77 representing eight sectors: agriculture, services, cement, industrial, banks, electrical, telecommunication and insurance. They used TADAWUL website (www. tdwl. net) and Google website (w ww. google. com) to access every company's website. They deleted some companies from their analysis for a number of reasons. These include 11 firms without websites; one firm with a website under construction and one firm with a restricted website. This reduced their sample to 64 companies. We also further excluded 27 firms because of missing corporate 7 governance and accounting information. This led to a sample of 37 listed firms for the current study. Data on debt-to-equity ratio, Board size, ownership concentration, profitability and price-to-book value ratio were collected from TADAWUL website. Following Hussainey and Al-Nodel (2008), we used the content analysis approach to measure the number of sentences that contain corporate governance information. Accordingly we used the corporate governance disclosure index developed by Hussainey and AlNodel (2008) to analyse the content of every company's website. 7.Empirical Results This section discusses the descriptive analysis, the c orrelation analysis and the empirical results. Descriptive analysis Table 3 shows the descriptive analysis (mean, minimum, maximum and the standard deviation). It shows that on average the number of directors on board in Saudi Arabia companies is around 8, with a minimum of 4 members and a maximum of 11 members. Mean ownership concentration is 35. 6 and the mean corporate governance disclosure is 5 sentences with a minimum of zero corporate governance sentence and a maximum of 21 corporate governance sentences.A broad range of variation in financial variables is also evident in our sample. The debt-to-equity ratio ranges from 0 to 97 with a mean of 24. 52 and a standard deviation of 32. 576. The return on total assets ratio ranges from -37. 3 to 71. 74 with a mean of 8. 8535 and a standard deviation of 13. 81767. The share price to book value ratio ranges from 0 to 21 with a mean of 5. 03 and a standard deviation of 5. 336. On 18 average, our sample covers large firms as the mean fi rm size is 23240077. 81.Finally, our sample covers nine sectors as follows: Banks (9 firms), Chemical (8 firms); Cement (6 firms); Retailers (2); Energy (I firm); Agriculture (7 firms); Telecommunication (2 firms); Advertising (1 firm) and Insurance (1 firm). Insert table 3 here Table 4 shows the correlation analysis. The correlation between each of the independent variables is not too high. The highest correlation found between corporate governance disclosure and share price to book value ratio (MB) is 43. 5, which is acceptable. This confirms that no multicollinearity problem exists between the independent variables. Insert table 4 hereTable 5 shows our empirical results. It shows that the coefficient estimate on board size is positive significant with a p-value of 0. 059 (see model 4). This is consistent with Jensen (1986) who also found a positive association between higher debt ratios and larger board size. Our finding indicates that larger board size puts Saudi Arabian firms i n a good position to finance their activities by using debt. This is consistent with the fact that higher quality of corporate governance improves companies’ financial performance (Bhagat and Bolton, 2008) and hence leads increase the ability of the company to obtain debt.Liang and Zheng (2005) provided an explanation for this positive sign. They argued that boards with a large board size are more likely to have a difficulty in getting an agreement because of different and conflict opinions and views. Accordingly, firms with large number of directors on board might not choose equity financing which requires high transaction cost to resolve communication and coordination dilemma. In addition, they argued that 19 directors would choose debt for financing their activities because this source of finance will not dilute the equity of current shareholders and change their current position.This leads us to accept hypothesis 1. Table 5 also shows that the coefficient estimate on owne rship concentration is positive significant with a p-value of 0. 005 (see model 4). This result is consistent with Wiwattanakantang (1999) Al-Najjar and Hussainey (2010a). This indicates that when the total percentage of the company’s shares is concentrated internally, managers will prefer to use debt to finance their companies’ activities. This is because – as mentioned in Liang and Zheng (2005) – debt will not dilute the equity of current shareholders and change their current position.This leads us to accept hypothesis 2. Insert table 5 here Finally, corporate governance disclosure as a proxy for asymmetric information between managers and investors is expected to be negative and statistically significant. However, Table 5 shows that the coefficient estimate of DISCLOSURE variable is positive, indicating that firms with higher levels of corporate governance disclosure (less information asymmetry) has higher debt-toequity ratio. This finding is statistic ally insignificant and not consistent with prior research. This leads us to reject hypothesis 3. . Conclusion The aim of this paper was to examine the effect of corporate governance mechanisms on capital structure for Saudi Arabian listed companies. Our results show that the corporate capital structure decisions in Saudi Arabia is driven by some of the same corporate governance determinates suggested in prior research. Based on 20 a sample of 37 Saudi Arabian listed companies, our results show that the number of directors on boards and ownership concentration are the main drivers of Saudi companies for capital structure decisions.Our results, however, show that corporate governance reporting was not an important driver of Saudi companies for capital structure decisions. This might be due in part to the nature of the Saudi business environment where there is a weak reporting requirement of the practice of corporate governance in the country. This fact could have encourage parties to loan agreements approach different means to get the needed information rather than the traditional reporting mechanisms which is likely to be practical in a small community of businesses.This is also likely to be affected by the characteristics of Saudi society whereas the impact of the personality and power of particular individuals, the role of family and friend relationships prevail over regulations, and tasks, and the existence of a high level of secrecy. The main limitation of the study is that it did not cover the whole market so the sample may not be representative of the population of Saudi companies. This, however, is justified by the nature of the study, which relied on the availability of data needed. Further recheck was carried for companies which are not included.We found that these companies are in general small and less likely to affect the results. 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Corporate governance and capital structure decisions of the Chinese listed firms†, Corporate Governance, 10 (2), 75-83. Wiwattanakantang, Y. (1999). â€Å"An empirical study on the determinants of the capital struct ure of Thai firms†, Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, 7, 371–403 Wikipedia website (2006) http://www. Wikipedia. Com (Accessed on 10th July 2008). 24 Table (1): Saudi Arabia budgetary revenues, expenditures and net surplus or deficit 2005-2007 Annual government budgeting ( estimates ) Million Saudi Riyals ($1= 3. 75 SR) Total Non-oil Total (Deficit)/ Oil revenues revenues revenues expendituresSurplus Amount Amount % Amount % Amount Amount 2005 280000 220000 79% 60000 21% 280000 0 2006 390000 320000 82% 70000 18% 335000 55000 2007 400000 330000 83% 70000 17% 380000 20000 Source: SAMA (Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency) annual report (2007). 25 Table (2): Key Figures of Saudi Stock Market between 1996-2005. YEAR 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 NO. OF TRANSACTIONS (THOUSAND)) 284 460 377 438 498 605 1,034 3,763 13,320 46,607 TRADED STOCK (MILLION) 138 314 295 528 555 692 1,736 5,566 10,298 12,281 Source: TADAWUL website accessed on 29th September 2006 26 MARKET VALUE ($MILLIAR ) 46 59 43 61 68 73 75 157 306 650 INDEX 1,531 1,958 1,413 2,029 2,258 2,430 2,518 4,438 8,206 16,713 Table (3) Descriptive Statistics ; Industry Classification a) Descriptive Statistics N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation Lev 37 0 97 24. 52 32. 576 Board 37 4 11 7. 89 1. 822 Ownership 36 .0 82. 7 35. 550 27. 7875 PROF 37 -37. 30 41. 74 8. 8535 13. 81767 MB 37 .00 66. 87 9. 9181 10. 56721 Total assets 37 0 Disclosure 37 0 136950480 23240077. 81 21 b) Industry Classification Sectors Number of firms Banks 9 Chemical 8 Cement 6 Retailers 2 Energy 1 Agriculture 7 Telecommunication 2Advertising 1 Insurance 1 27 5. 03 3. 888E7 5. 336 Table (4) Correlation analysis Disclosure Board Ownership Lev MB PROF 1. 000 .077 .246 .301 .435** -. 139 .649 .149 .070 .007 .410 37 37 36 37 37 37 Pearson Correlation .077 1. 000 .234 .395* .083 .212 Sig. (2-tailed) .649 .170 .016 .626 .207 Disclosure Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N Board N 37 37 36 37 37 37 .246 .234 1. 000 .504** . 097 .064 .149 .170 .002 .574 .711 36 36 36 36 36 36 Pearson Correlation .301 .395* .504** 1. 000 .109 -. 062 Sig. (2-tailed) .070 .016 .002 .520 .716 37 37 36 37 37 37 .435** .083 .097 .109 1. 000 -. 019 .007 626 .574 .520 37 37 36 37 37 37 Pearson Correlation -. 139 .212 .064 -. 062 -. 019 1. 000 Sig. (2-tailed) .410 .207 .711 .716 .910 37 37 36 37 37 Ownership Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N Lev N MB Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N PROF N **. Correlation is significant at the 0. 01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0. 05 level (2-tailed). 28 .910 37 Table (5) Regression analysis 5. 1 Model summary R Square Adjusted R Square 1 .617 a .380 .277 28. 002 2 .616b .379 .299 27. 565 3 .602c .363 .303 27. 492 4 .576d .332 .291 27. 726 Model R Std. Error of the Estimate a.Predictors: (Constant), PROF, MB, Ownership , Board , Disclosure b. Predictors: (Constant), PROF, Ownership , Board , Disclosure c. Predictors: (Constant), Ownership , Board , Disclosure d . Predictors: (Constant), Ownership , Board 29 5. 2 ANOVA analysis e ANOVA Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Regression 14436. 181 5 2887. 236 3. 682 .010a Residual 23524. 187 30 784. 140 Total 37960. 368 35 Regression 14405. 109 4 3601. 277 4. 739 .004b Residual 23555. 258 31 759. 847 Total 37960. 368 35 Regression 13774. 798 3 4591. 599 6. 075 .002c Residual 24185. 570 32 755. 799 Total 37960. 368 35 Regression 2592. 380 2 6296. 190 8. 190 .001d Residual 25367. 988 33 768. 727 Total 37960. 368 35 Model 1 2 3 4 a. Predictors: (Constant), PROF, MB, Ownership , Board , Disclosure b. Predictors: (Constant), PROF, Ownership , Board , Disclosure c. Predictors: (Constant), Ownership , Board , Disclosure d. Predictors: (Constant), Ownership , Board e. Dependent Variable: Lev 30 5. 3 Coefficient estimates Coefficients Unstandardized Coefficients Model a Standardized Coefficients t Sig. -1. 839 .076 .315 2. 079 .046 .181 .400 2. 619 .014 1. 064 1. 032 .174 1. 031 .311 MB -. 101 .507 -. 0 32 -. 199 .844 PROF -. 311 .352 . 132 -. 886 .383 -39. 272 20. 901 -1. 879 .070 Board 5. 669 2. 696 .312 2. 102 .044 Ownership .475 .178 .401 2. 672 .012 Disclosure .971 .906 .159 1. 072 .292 PROF -. 315 .346 -. 134 -. 911 .369 -38. 586 20. 831 -1. 852 .073 Board 5. 185 2. 637 .285 1. 967 .058 Ownership .466 .177 .393 2. 630 .013 Disclosure 1. 113 .890 .182 1. 251 .220 (Constant) -35. 046 20. 814 -1. 684 .102 Board 5. 196 2. 659 .286 1. 954 .059 Ownership 4 .519 .173 .438 2. 990 .005 21. 252 5. 721 2. 752 .474 Disclosure 3 -39. 090 Ownership 2 Std. Error Board 1 B (Constant) (Constant) (Constant) a. Dependent Variable: Lev 31 Beta