Strengthening Community Resilience Through Disaster Risk Management Environmental Sciences Essay

Strengthening Community Resilience Through happening insecurity Management Environmental Sciences EssayDisasters pose sound threats to developing as it holds put up countrys progress and its achievement towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) composition highlighting, particularly among abject countries, the prevailing poverty situation.Despite billions of budget spent by the governance and nominateer from the inter discipline development organizations for development architectural plans and redacts, interference of contingencys could put these efforts into nothing as incidents could result to enormous physical, economic and psycho-social damages and decades of development could be wiped out in a minute. Disasters destroy infrabody structures, much(prenominal)(prenominal) as roads, bridges, communication satellites, buildings, schools and ho workouts. It can also damage livelihood and agriculture from pest infestations to drouths, extreme rains and fills, whi ch could wreak havoc on the entire residential district livelihood. Moreover, as disaster happens, it displaces people and exposes them to diseases and injuries which could further lead them to hardship, starvation and deprivation. In general disaster can lead to loss of worldly concern and private choices and investments, disruption on the production of intelligents and provision of services, loss of employment for formal and non-formal economy, interruption of development programs and switching of crucial resources to other short-term of necessity much(prenominal) as recovery and emergency response programs, and health concerns (UNDP-DMTP, 1994).These problems on natural disasters ar further compounded by the issues of modality form. Disaster seeks and humor modify argon threats to benevolent well-being and adversely reinforce each other. Disaster take a chance is an intrinsic characteristic of gentleman society, arising from the combination of natural and human fac tors and subject to exacerbation or step-down by human agency (OBrien, 20087). The effects of modality change can increase disaster trys, by ever-changing the magnitude and frequency of extreme stillts. The changes in the average climatic conditions and climate variability, affect the underlying risk factors, and generate new threats, which could create to a greater extent serious consequences to human and the environment (Tearfund, 2008). The increasing global average temperature, occurrence of extreme weather events, changes in precipitation and sea level rises would, likewise, adversely affect human health, agriculture, forests, water resources, and coastal areas. Direct feigns are less pabulum production, increase range of infectious diseases including vector-borne and water-related diseases, decline in fresh water resources and indirect clashings such as increase in prices of goods and services. These last increase poverty. The little, vulnerable and at risk communiti es are broadly speaking affected for they have few options (DAP, 2010).Disaster is thus a development concern in succession despite this recognition, we argue that any(prenominal) disasters are rooted mainly from many development failures (UN-ISDR, 2010). The lack of admit development planning where disaster risk reduction and climate change version are loosely or weakly integrated into the local and national agendum is seen as a weakness to development. And the inadequateness of top-down and one-way approach in dealing with disaster solicitude, is considered ineffective stance in providing rightful and productive solutions among problems encountered at the federation level, frequently, resulting to failure in addressing local necessitate, untapped potential local resources and capacities, consequently, increasing peoples vulnerabilities (Victoria, 2003).Nevertheless, with the shifting paradigm from emergency management to disaster risk management, and the growing recog nition on fraternity participation, this shed another area where parallel effort from the national, local and familiarity levels can be harmonized and replicated. And in line with community participation, the Community Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) emerged to address the needs of vulnerable communities and to rectify their disaster resiliency. It is an approach that emphasizes active link of communities while strongly locates people at the heart of the decision making and implementation of disaster risk management activities (ADPC-CBDRM-11, 2003).Purpose and ObjectivesThe paper aims to desexualise how Community-Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) increases community resiliencies and suffers towards climate change interpretation.The objectives of this study are to explain the features, processes and actors of the CBDRM and how it contributes to community resiliency identify the strengths and weaknesses of the approach at bottom the frame of community participation and participatory development to cite best practices of CBDRM finishings, and to provide recommendations for future policy and research studies.Methodology and LimitationsThe paper explores the effectiveness and potential of CBDRM to address impact of climate change variability. The arguments rendered are mainly based on deskwork and cursory research that is limited to literature review from available case studies, articles and publications from various local, national and international sources.The paper is divided into four parts. First, we link disaster risk management with climate change adaptation by identifying their putting surfacealities and differences. Second, we closely examine what CBDRM is, its feature, processes and actors involved. Third, we determine what would be the possible limitations or challenges in applying community participation in disaster management. Fourth, we give practical examples by listing down some(prenominal) good practices of CBDRM being implem ented in different countries. And fifth, we provide conclusions and recommendations.Linking Disaster Risk Management and climate Change AdaptationAs noted, disasters have enormous impact on human development while changes in climate will further extend the challenges brought by disasters. With the increasing concerns on its impact, this has emphasized the urgent question from disaster response to preventive measures mainly aimed at reducing the likelihood that a natural guess translates into a disaster. The shift to disaster risk management (DRM) from emergency management, implies addressing underlying social, economic and environmental vulnerabilities to reduce the probability of a disaster occurring. Moreover, DRM tries to address hazard risks as an integral part of development. DRM is based on a continuous estimation of vulnerabilities and risks and involves many actors and stakeholders, such as governments, technical experts and local communities. (Sperling, F., et.al., 2005 11).According to ISDR, policy responses concerned with disaster risk management and adaptation to climate change have developed along different tracks (Sperling, F., et.al., 2005 12). The DRM, on one hand, is based on humanitarian assistance efforts the specific response measures are based from accumulated experiences of exposure to disasters. The responses are localized with broader preventive measures with the aim of addressing vulnerabilities. On the other hand, response to climate change, being a global issue, has been mostly top-down process through advances in scientific research leading to international policy responses through the United solid grounds Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Responses to climate change are categorized under mitigation and adaptation which are both inter cipherent mitigation tackling the cause of climate change, while adaptation tackling the effects. (Sperling, F., et.al., 2005).DRM and adaptation to climate change have commonalitie s and differences.On their commonalities, the policies and measures for both areas are concerned with risk management approach with the aim of addressing the underlying vulnerabilities. bandage both acknow takege that the degree of vulnerability is a function of the magnitude of physical exposure and prevalent environmental and socioeconomic conditions thus both depend on evaluating risks, vulnerabilities and possible remedial measures characterized as being continuous process and forward looking perspective. Additionally on dealing climate change risks, the adaptation measures is based on the existing vulnerability to climate variability and extremes hence improving the capacitance of communities, governments or regions to deal with current climate vulnerabilities is likely to improve their efficiency to deal with future climatic changes (Sperling, 200516).On their differences, the time horizons for DRM is concerned more of the present or near term trends, that is 5-10 years, wh ile climate change put upions are usually 20 or even hundred more years. Another is on physical exposure mitigating disaster is different from climate change mitigation. The former is foc employ on limiting the adverse impact of a particular hazard while the latter is a function deep down the qualification of humans to influence their exposure to change, concluding that climate change is largely driven by anthropogenic activities. Lastly, on the scope of disaster, DRM includes not only climate related disasters such as hydro-meteorological (torrential rain, floods, droughts, storms) but also geo-morphological (earthquakes, volcanic eruptions) hazards (Sperling, 2005).Supporting the claim of Sperling (200517), DRM and adaptation to climate change have converging agendas this therefore offers an hazard to build a comprehensive risk management fabric which recognizes current and future vulnerabilities as well as the compound effects of multiple disasters within a given region.This brings us next to a specific DRM approach where its aim is to increase community resiliency through the active participation of community members.The Community-Based Disaster Risk Management ApproachMainstreaming disaster risk reduction (DRR), as part of the DRM framework, into national and local development agenda is among the crucial concerns for many international organizations, national governments, civil society organizations, research groups, and local development actors. The recognition on its importance stemmed out from understanding the link mingled with development and disaster, and disaster intensity and climate change.Under DRR lens, disasters are seen as complex problems that demand collective actions from different fields hence, this locates community at the forefront of disaster management. As defined by Abarquez (2004), communities are group of people that may share one or more things in common such as living in the same environment and similar disaster risk expos ure. Their differentiation in terms of socio-economic aspects, linkages and dynamics are several factors that contribute to their vulnerabilities. By and large, it is the communities who are directly affected by both development and disasters, for being either beneficiaries or victims of the two circumstances. They are the front liners. They understand their local opportunities and constraints and they are the most fireed in understanding local affairs where survival and well-being is at stake. Hence, integrating them within disaster risk management framework entails a promising outcome.Whereas, a growing consensus asserts that most top-down disaster risk management and response programs fail to address specific local needs of vulnerable communities, ignore the potential of local resources and capacities, and may in some cases even increase peoples vulnerability (Abarquez, 200412).Community participation provides opportunities for the poor to air their concerns, and allowing the po or to have more control over development assistance. This ensures that allocation of development funds is responsive to the needs of the poor, better targeting of poverty programs, more responsive government and better delivery of public goods and services, better maintained community assets, and a more informed and involved citizenry that is capable of undertaking self-initiated development activeness (Mansuri, 2003 2). According to World Bank, in general, community driven development aims to (i) enhance sustainability (ii) improve efficiency and effectiveness (iii) allow poverty reduction efforts to be interpreted to scale (iv) make development more inclusive (v) empower poor people, build social capital, and strengthen governance and (vi) complement market and public sector activities. (Mansuri, 2003 2)The CBDRM provides opportunities for the local community to evaluate their situations based on their own experiences and promotes participation and fusion. They take responsibili ty for all stages of the program including both planning and implementation, and in partnership with local, provincial, and national entities. As defined,CBDRM is a process of disaster risk management in which at risk communities are actively engaged in the identification, analysis, treatment, ob come and evaluation of disaster risks in order to reduce their vulnerabilities and enhance their capacities. This means that the people are at the heart of decision making and implementation of disaster risk management activities. (Abarquez, 20049).Given the existing natural hazards and vulnerabilities of a community, the CBDRM process should lead to progressive improvements in public safety and community disaster resilience. And it should contribute to equitable and sustainable community development in the long term (Abarquez, 200420)As shown in the conceptual framework below, natural hazards such as hydro-meteorological, geo-morphological and climate change induced hazards can interplay with existing community vulnerabilities which in turn could pose high risks to the affected community. As a consequence of a fatal event, people are helpless victims who rely heavily on external assistance for aid. The cost and damage assessment is make by external experts, and recommendations are usually mainly focus on material or physical aid and technical solutions. Due to lack of community plan, outside donors decide on what the needs are. The aim of existing disaster management is to reduce the immediate suffering and meet emergency needs and bring back the situation into normal.With the application of CBDRM approach, people participate in disaster management, where people are involved in planning, decision-making, damage, needs and capacity assessment. The people perceived as active actors in rebuilding their lives and livelihood. The focus is community preparedness and strengthening the organization with the aim of reducing vulnerabilities and increase peoples capacity to better cope with disasters. With the result of safe, disaster-resilient and developed community, this ultimately contributes towards poverty reduction.Figure Conceptual FrameworkThe CBDRM FeaturesIn summary the CBDRM features as according to Abarquez (2004) areRole of community is central in disaster risk management. That is, local people are capable of initiating and sustaining their own development and they are the prime movers in reducing disaster risks in their community.Community is the key resource in disaster risk management. The communities are the main beneficiaries, the same way that they are the key resource and frontline actor in the CBDRM implementation.The aim is disaster risk reduction. The main strategy is to enhance capacities and resources of most vulnerable groups and to reduce their vulnerability in order to avoid the occurrence of disasters in future.Recognition of the link mingled with disaster risk management and the development process. CBDRM should lead to general improvement in peoples quality of life and the natural environment. The approach assumes that addressing the root causes of disasters, e.g. poverty, discrimination and marginalization, poor governance and bad political and economic management, would contribute towards the overall improvement in the quality of life and environment.Application of multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary approaches. CBDRM brings together local community and even national stakeholders for disaster risk management to expand its resource base.CBDRM recognizes that different people have different perceptions of risk, different vulnerabilities and capacities.The CBDRM ProcessThe CBDRM process entails a thoroughgoing(a) assessment of the communitys hazard exposure and analysis of their vulnerabilities as well as capacities. The gathered information serves as the primer for activities, projects and programs to reduce disaster risks. Community participation is required in the process of assessment, pl anning, and implementation to ensure that all needs and concerns felt at the local level are considered and appropriately tackled.Using the nongovernmental organization CBDRM implementation perspective, according to Luna (2007) and Abarquez (2004), generally the processes includeCommunity/site selection and partnership building. Communities that are very vulnerable are selected, based on front experiences in disaster and current threats. Other criteria include the poverty situation, interest and cooperation of the LGU officials, accessibility of the area, the peace and order situation, and the presence of local workers in the community.Formation and educate of Community Disaster Action Teams and Volunteers. Training of the local government officials and community leaders are done to enhance their capacity for disaster prevention, mitigation and response. The provision is done in participatory manner in such a way that after the series of training, the participants would be able t o come out with community assessment, hazards maps, and plan for disaster mitigation projects. The participatory rural appraisal techniques are used for community assessment.Hazard mapping. Actual on-site mapping of the community is done by the volunteers using ocular survey and global positioning system. This is a diagnostic process to identify the risks that the community faces and how people overcome those risks. The process involves hazard assessment, vulnerability assessment and capacity assessment. In doing the assessments, peoples perception of risk is considered. People themselves identify risk reduction measures that will reduce vulnerabilities and enhance capacities. These risk reduction measures are then translated into a community disaster risk management plan.Formulation of the Local Disaster Action Plans. The community assessments and the hazard map became the basis for formulating a local disaster action plan.Plan Integration and Implementation. The plan formulated by the Disaster Action Team is forwarded to the local council for integrating in comprehensive development plan. The Community Disaster Action Teams and Volunteers should lead to the implementation of the community plan and motivate the other members of the community to persist the activities in the plan. shake off monitoring and evaluation by the community, local government and outside evaluators.The CBDRM ActorsUnder CBDRM local community serves as the main actor together with the participation and support from other stakeholders.The actors in the CBDRM are composed of two layers, the insiders and the outsiders. Actors in the inner layer are the exclusives, family, organizations and other stakeholders who are located within the community. The multiple stakeholders such as farmers, fishers, women, laborers, youth and other members of the community that has special concerns and needs, with their differing perceptions, and interests are important to be considered in arriving in a br oad consensus on targets, strategies and methodologies in the community. The outsiders indicate to those sectors and agencies which are located outside of the community. These are external NGOs, national government agencies and other international organizations (Abarquez, 2004).This brings us to a consideration of the shortcomings and limitations of participatory development.Limitations and Challenges of Community participation in Disaster ManagementThough we have argued that community participation in the context of disaster management is imperative, there are still several debates under the context of participatory development that could somehow influence its successful implementation, hence, should be taken into account specially during the planning phase of the CBDRMFirst, the complexity of individual motivations. It is difficult to move a community towards certain direction, particularly if its members have different interests and motivations. As noted earlier, community is a complex social structure comprised of different perspectives, opinions and motivations. Conversely, motivation and willingness to participate is dictated by individual thinking and determined by own underlying interests. Their experiences on disasters could influence their behavior however for community members who have not experienced extreme natural disaster, raising their interest in prevention and capacity building becomes more difficult as it seems abstract for them, unlike physical measures or infrastructure such as installing early warning devices and others. Similarly, exposure to external aids could influence communitys interest to participate this is in particular to urban areas, who have become accustomed to receiving external assistance thus their reluctance to undertake risk management on their own (Solo, n.d.).Another area under this is the personal-driven motivations with vested interests that could influence, hamper or even deviate the result of the participatory d evelopment process. And politicians or soon to be politicians nonplus this kind of natural action personally beneficial for them.Second, participation requires effort and time. The CBDRM implementation is comprised of various activities, such as planning and capacity buildings, that require active and continuous participation from various stakeholders. While these activities involved a considerable time and effort, some community members perceive these series of participation as waste of time and/or economically unproductive activity, thus opt to focus more on their work and earn money, instead. While for the part of the organizer, participatory process such as public consultation is also time consuming. Organizing requires proper and detailed planning for scheduling of activities, identifying stakeholders, sending out invitation and confirming attendance. The quality and productivity of the activity is affected by the possible low turn-out of attendance among target participants. Second, restricted women participation and cultural boundaries. The CBDRM puts emphasis on the different risks and vulnerabilities faced by members of the communities, such that, male perceived risks differently as compared to female, and similar with adult to children. However, some culture restricts participation and voluntarism concrete example is on women participation. There are some cultures that confine womens role within the boundaries of domestic activities. Despite the current effort to gender mainstream disaster reduction, with the consequent enormous household tasks directly or indirectly imposed to them, these offer women less time to interact in social activities and participate in community development actions.Third, local power relation within the community. The dynamics that exists within the community is clearly manifested on the relationship between the rich and poor, elite and commoners, and literate and illiterate. These relationships bring us to the questions o n who can real participate, who can talk and verbalize their opinions during public consultations or workshops. Often times, those who are well-informed and have time to participate dominate the discussion, while leaving tail end the poor and the illiterate who has the greater degree of vulnerability. To put stress further, the UNDP states that the communities who are most vulnerable to natural events are frequently those who have a disproportionately high number of illiterate members (Solo, n.d.).Fourth, local knowledge influenced by local power relations. CBDRM builds on the existing local knowledge to assess community risks, and serve as basis in developing plans. However, local knowledge can be influenced by local power relations, authority and gender (Mosse, 2002). Other personalities or stakeholders may impute their own interests to or influence the local knowledge which would not necessarily resolve the issues of disaster risks or lead for the greater and common interests o f improving community resiliency.Fifth, creating development fatigue among stakeholders. Since participatory development is among the most popular approaches in development, many development initiatives have embraced and integrated it within their programs and projects. Consultations and/or collaboration among stakeholders has been repeatedly being undertaken along different stages of one or more different programs and projects, this repeated process could eventually create fatigue among stakeholders, especially when despite of continuing consultations no advancement or progress is achieved.These are some of the limitations and challenges that may be faced by project implementers of CBDRM. And to understand more what CBDRM is as applied to real world, the next part gives us practical examples illustrating how CBDRM could potentially increase community resiliency.CBDRM Good PracticesGlobally, CBDRM has been promoted as an approach to improve community resiliency. International develo pment organizations and non-government organizations strongly lobby CBDRM for policy adoption and mainstreaming in the disaster management framework of national and local governments. Currently, most CBDRM projects are led by local and international NGOs, either in partnership with other civil society organizations, NGOs, international development organizations or local government. The United Nation International Strategy for Disaster Reduction compiled the good practices in CBDRM that illustrates how communities have worked together towards a common goal and benefitted from their undertaking. Below are some of the examples that are considered CBDRM good practices and linked with climate change adaptation being implemented in different countries.Involving community members in increasing public awareness and capacity building through creating information campaigns to enhance the safety of the population at risk. The project stimulates creativeness and forward-lookingness from the lo cal actors and similarly optimizes local knowledge and local resources in a way easily understandable to the local community members. This is a project implemented in Haiti in 22 settlements in coordination with their Local civilized Protection Committees (LCPCs) through the assistance from Oxfam GB.Another is creating access among low income groups to disaster micro-insurance turning away. Taking into account that risk transfer supports sustainable economic recovery, micro-insurance could serve as a cushion to lessen impact of disaster, particularly among the poor victims whom majority have little or no access to risk transfer schemes. Micro-insurance represents an innovative approach to risk identification, pooling and transfer wherein risk is transferred from the individual level to the community or inter-community levels. With the implementation of micro-insurance, this elicit positive feedbacks from the communities claiming that insurance in times of crisis is essential, the affordability of the scheme makes it accessible for the poor households, and which consequently result to reduced dependence from outside relief. This is the approach of the Afat Vimo scheme, a project implemented in India, which is part of the Regional Risk Transfer Initiative (RRTI), an action learning project (ALP) of the Gujaratbased All India Disaster Mitigation Institute (AIDMI).With the long drought being experienced, crop failures and the consequent nourishment shortage, this has led a community in Indonesia to identify a mechanism to prevent food shortage. The community established a monitoring system for food security and livelihood and community early warning system largely based from their indigenous knowledge in combination with modern science. The project has threesome components community awareness and indicator development to monitor food security and livelihood community early warning system and advocacy on appropriate agricultural system such as promotion of crop s suitable for drought-prone land. The project is in partnership with local NGO aiming to increase community resilience from drought in Southeastern Indonesia.Another project where it illustrates that local context of communities can be a dynamic force in reducing risks, is on creating flood and typhoon-resilient homes through employing a cost-effective retrofitting. The program central theme is to make families and the community active players in the process of reducing the vulnerability through the integration of storm resistant techniques in existing and future houses and buildings. It involves local and grassroots consultation and preventive action planning. The project is Development Workshop France (DWF), a program initiated in Vietnam through Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and European Commission Humanitarian aid Office (ECHO)In order to understand local environmental situation, develop awareness and capacity to deal with, and to contribute to relevant polic y formulation, one of the communities in Namibia established an inter-community platform and local-level monitoring as support for local decision making. The plat-form serves as medium for community organization and communication. Moreover, the approach strengthens capacity among the community to coordinate their own activities and preparing their development plans. The local-level monitoring, on the other hand, is used to support information exchange and decision making designed by the communities. The communities identify relevant indicators to monitor their livelihoods including key environmental elements. They discuss the results, analyze them and use them where appropriate for decision making. This provides a tool for identification of environmental changes affecting livelihoods that may be based on management actions, climate variability, policy changes or other factors. The project contributes to capacity building and institutional development among communities so they can en hance their own resource management and livelihoods and thereby enhance their capacity to manage and reduce risks related to drought and desertification and other potential disasters. This is a project implemented in Namibia, where several policy instruments have been influenced by the project and a number of derivative projects are ongoing.The convergence of a community-level approach and city governments participation strengthens sustainability and ownership this is the underlying assumption in one of the CBDRM projects in the Philippines. Wherein, it mainstream community-based mitigation in the city governance through partnering with the local government in the implementation of the project. The project has five (5) components, these are (i) CBDRM participatory risk assessment training of trainers (ToT) for the city officials, who in turn provide training to communities reactivation of the City Disaster Coordinating Council and Barangay Disaster Coordinating Council institutional ization of a school Disaster safeguard Day celebration of the Disaster Safety Day in all schools developing and implementing a City Disaster Risk Reduction Plan. This is a CBDRM project implemented in the P

Theories of Entrepreneurship

Theories of EntrepreneurshipJump tosociological Theories of EntrepreneurshipEconomic Theories of Entrepreneurship pagan Theories of Entrepreneurshippsychological Theories of EntrepreneurshipThis essay aims at re forecasting the development of the first step, enterprisers and entrepreneurship books to date. Comments from conglomerate authors point to the feature that this area, both as an area of study and an area of research, is relatively impertinent when compared with early(a) fields of commercial enterprise much(prenominal)(prenominal) as sparings and business concern. at that place are however a multitude of theories that start out been propounded to explain the developments in the area. These theories, their assumptions and pronouncements will be reviewed and critiqued in this essay. The concepts of enterprise, entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship will be discussed in the first section. The resultant section sh every(prenominal) review major or leading theories in th e area and the third section shall look at the development of the matter guidance industry, the relevancy of entrepreneurship within the area of event counsel and the role entrepreneurship has played in the development of the industry.A supplement to this essay shall look at the skills an entrepreneur should suffer from the perspective of different authors. A brief self assessment of my own skills will be do and indications of how I plan to develop these skills in the future will be highlighted.EnterpriseThefreedictionary.com defines an enterprise as an undertaking especially one of nigh scope and risk (www.thefreedictionary.com). Other online dictionaries on google.com use oral communication and phrases like a b centenarian, a difficult, a dangerous, an important, a business sham, a company, requiring courage, energy, dedication to describe what an enterprise dissembleually is.Veblen (2005) in his book, the theory of business enterprise gives a more subtle description of what an enterprise really is (in the business sense). He notes that the motive of business (an enterprise) is pecuniary gain, the system is essentially purchase and sales agreement the aim and usually the out stick with is the accumulation of wealth (p. 16). This contention about the motive, the method, the aim and the outcome of an enterprise qualifies the former definition. The insight drawn from these phrases is that literally all establishments on the high streets straight off and all the ways in which people try to earn a living is one form of enterprise or another. It could range from plumping businesses much(prenominal) as public companies through partnerships to family businesses and sole proprietorships. The event management industry for example is composed of several event management enterprises. These are mainly partnerships and private limited companies formed and managed with the goal of turning a profit. Examples include OWL Event management LTD and Innovative E vent Management. These correspond organizations where individuals come together to provide a service to individuals and other businesses in return for a profit.EntrepreneursCongruent with the definition of an enterprise, one can contend that an entrepreneur is that person who runs, manages or owns an enterprise. This statement however does not fully describe who an entrepreneur really is. Arthur and Sheffrin (2003) regard an entrepreneur as a person who possesses a radical venture, a new enterprise or a new idea, assumes responsibility for the risks involved in running such a venture or enterprise or pursuing his idea and enjoys the benefits and outcomes from such activity. The re watercourse theme in Arthur and Sheffrins view of an entrepreneur is new which in the literature intimates to base. As the concomitant discussions will indicate, Innovation is a key theme that runs through the entrepreneurship literature and practice. There are other views on this issues which will be expounded on shortly. The act of being an entrepreneur is referred to as entrepreneurship. Both terms are therefore closely related and there is no marked distinction in the literature between them. The discussion on entrepreneurs will therefore be culminated with entrepreneurship for simplicity and clarity.EntrepreneurshipBaron and Shane (2008) contend that there is no single agreed definition of entrepreneurship each as an activity or a field of study. They acknowledged that the definition of entrepreneurship kick offd by Shane and Venkataraman (2000) is one with high popularity. Shane and Venkataraman (2000) define entrepreneurship as a field of business aimed at understanding how opportunities for innovation in terms of new products, services, markets, production process, raw strongs, ways of organizing existing technologies, swot and are discovered (or in fact created) by individuals (entrepreneurs), who develop and exploit these opportunities through different ways to produce a wide range of effects (Baron and Shane, 2008).Baron and Shane, (2008) support this definition by emphasizing that entrepreneurship involves identifying an opportunity that is potentially valuable in the sense that it can be exploited in practical business terms and yield sustainable profits and actually exploiting or developing this opportunity (p. 5). They extend this definition by emphasizing the need to be able to run the resulting business prosperingly after the opportunity is developed. Early entrepreneurs in the event management industry recognized the need for a service- event management. The history of humankind is marked with celebrations-man is a social being. People unceasingly come together, mainly temporary, to achieve certain goals under a time limit. This raised the need for in effect(p)ness in these meetings which today is ensured by the event management industry.The growth in entrepreneurshipBaron and Shane (2008) present startling statistics revealing that over a million new businesses were started in the US over a 10 year period with over 10 million people being registered as self expended. The growth in entrepreneurship has been attri thoed to ternary main factors. Baron and Shane (2008) argue that three factors take aim spurred growth in entrepreneurship through the 20th and 21st centuries. These include the media, fundamental swaps in employment contracts and change in basic values (p.9). These conform to theories of social change discussed above. The media has put entrepreneurship in a positive light with many entrepreneurs such as visor Gates, taking up role framework positions in the world. In terms of the employment contract, the writers argue that workers are increasingly seeking for independence and freedom. Employers also employ strategies to hire and fire with ease in order to cut costs. This has made entrepreneurship a safety hob for most individuals.Theories on entrepreneurs and entrepreneurshipSeveral theorie s and a continuum of approaches fork up been developed over the age to describe entrepreneurs and to explain the development of entrepreneurship. Deakins and Freel (2009) surmises major contributions and view points held in the area. Deakins and Feel (2009) contend that an entrepreneur has been considered as an innovator (Schumpeter), an personal organizer of factors of production and a catalyst for economic change (Say, Casson and Cantillon), a highly creative individual (Shackle). Ucbasaran et al (2001) reviews the development of entrepreneurship literature and contends that various themes or lines of doubt can be identified in the building of entrepreneurship theory. These include entrepreneurs personalities, backgrounds and early experiences entrepreneurs traits behavioral aspects of entrepreneurs cognitive processes in decision reservation and heuristics (Ucbasaran et al., 2001). Below, I review some of the early contributions in this area under four different umbrellas so ciological theories, economic theories, cultural theories and psychological theories. This classification is pervasive in the literature (Ucbasaran et al., 2001 Deakins and Freel, 2009, Mohanty, 2005).Sociological theoriesSeveral theories have been advanced to explain how social factors affect the growth of entrepreneurs. Two established theories have been recurrently discussed in the literature the theory of ghostlike beliefs and the theory of social change. These theories explain how sociological factors accelerate the growth of entrepreneurs (Mohanty, 2005).Theory of religious beliefsMax Webber was a famous sociologist and political economist of German origin. His publications in the early 20th century have tremendously influenced sociological, religious and political thinking today. His books have been recompiled and republished. In his book the theory of social and economic organizations edited by Parsons (1964) Webber asserts that entrepreneurship is a function of religious beliefs and the impact of religion shapes the entrepreneurial culture (p. 36). He argues that entrepreneurial energies are exogenous i.e. they are come from external factors, and are fuelled by religious aspects (p.37). Webber argues that the rise of capitalism in Northern Europe was due to the protestant theology which inspired many following to suck up in work, open up enterprises, accumulate wealth and make investments. This he calls the spirit of capitalism (Parsons, 1964). One factor spurring the creation of businesses in his theory is the inducement of profit, where people are motivated by the prospects of making a profit from their enterprise (Parsons, 1964). His theory proposed in a nutshell that, the Spirit of capitalist economy arising from the protestant ethic therefore combines with the motive of profit resulting in the creation of many businesses.Needless to say, this theory has received heavy criticism over the years from contemporary researchers mostly found on the assumptions on which the theory was built (Karotayev et al., 2006). Karotayev eta l., 2006 for example noted that the promotion of literacy, education and learning by the protestant fecal matter rather than the protestant ethic in itself resulted in the capitalism through the development of enterprises.Another yet related sociological theory of entrepreneurship was advanced by Everett E Hagen in his Theory of social change. He asserts that economic growth resulted from political and social change (Karotayev et al., 2006). His model demos that an entrepreneurs creativity was the main ingredient and movement force behind social transformation (change) and economic growth (Karotayev et al., 2006).Other social theories include theory of entrepreneurial bestow advanced by doubting Thomas Cochran and theory of group level pattern propounded by Frank Young (Mohanty, 2005).Economic theoriesSchumpeters Theory of innovationIn his theory Schumpeter describes innovation as the central feat ure of economic development and an entrepreneur as the driver of change (Sweezy, 1943, Mohanty, 2005). He defines an entrepreneur as someone who perceives the opportunity to innovate by forming new enterprises (Sweezy, 1943, Mohanty, 2005). He views innovation as a form of creative destruction which is process of industrial mutation that incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one (Sweezy, 1943, p. 95). The concept of creative destruction has been widely used in practice to refer to a situation where something new and more advanced replaces and destroys its predecessors. For example, Oil replacing Coal. The concept of innovation has been maintained as the core of entrepreneurship today. Innovation has been extended and expanded to include several aspects such as the introduction of new fulls, the modifyment of the quality of existing goods, the introduction of a new (cheaper, faster, more efficie nt) method of production, the discovery or opening of a new market, the discovery of a new source of raw material supply and/or the formation of a new organization (Burns, 2007, 2008, Gray, 1995, Lowe and Marriott, 2006).Schumpeterian theory of entrepreneurship furthered that big companies were mainly behind the drive of entrepreneurship as they had the resources and capital to engage in research and development activities (Sweezy, 1943). Schumpeter later complemented this position by contending that petite companies were also drivers on entrepreneurship because their size allowed for flexibility and agility (Sweezy, 1943). The relationship between size, innovation and entrepreneurship has not seemingly been further established in the empirical literature. His position became controversial when he argued that both big and small companies are in the best position to innovate. This implies that size does not moderate innovation capacity. Some researchers criticize the stance of Schum peter based on his assertion that individual business men as well as directors and company managers were all entrepreneurs. This stance undermines the role of risk, taking, creativity, idea generation, and innovativeness as an total part of entrepreneurship (Baron and Shane, 2008, Shane and Venkataraman, 2000). Again, Schumpeter uses innovation as the foundation of his theory asserting that innovation was the main driver of entrepreneurship. This point is also subject to criticism as it uses innovation as a sole defining quality of an entrepreneur dapple undermining the role of risk taking, technical skills and organization abilities as key factors for entrepreneurship (Ward, 2005). Proponents of sociological and cultural theories of entrepreneurship will argue that this theory is limited in its view of the subject as it does not explain why entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial ability varies greatly crosswise countries.Other economic theories of entrepreneurship include Knights t heory of profit and Hayeks theory of market equilibrium (Mohanty, 2005). In the theory of profits, Knight views an entrepreneur as someone who takes risks and is expose to uncertainty (Mohanty, 2005). FH Von Hayek in his theory of market equilibrium showed that market equilibrium is characterized by the absence of entrepreneurs. Though relevant these subsequent theories have not interpreted the pride of place in the literature.Cultural theoriesThe basic tenet and argument put forward by cultural theorists is that entrepreneurship is a product of culture (Mohanty, 2005). Cultural theories of entrepreneurship explain the differences in entrepreneurial ability and spirit across different cultures. The major attraction of these theories is that they explain why some countries are underdeveloped while others develop and grow so rapidly. Other theorists mentioned above such as Schumpeter and Hagen have no explanation of this occurrence.Hoselitz theory of entrepreneurship supplyMohanty (2 005) noted that Hoselitz theory posits that the supply of entrepreneurship is governed by cultural factors and culturally minority groups are the spark plugs of entrepreneurial and economic development (p. 49). This attempts to explain why certain socio-cultural groups have spurred development and small business growth in many countries Mohanty (2005) quotes the examples of the Jews and the Greeks in Medieval Europe, the Indians in East Africa and the Chinese in South Africa. These culturally minority groups have been at the forefront of enterprise development, entrepreneurship and economic growth in these areas.Hoselitz was one of the earliest theories to contend that managerial skills as well as leadership abilities in adjunct to the drive to amass wealth were key to entrepreneurship (Mohanty, 2005). His theory is also in line with Max Webbers concepts of the protestant ethic and how it drives capitalism. This is through the realization that particular socio-cultural groups or cl asses foster economic growth through entrepreneurship.Hoselitz realizes the role of change as a stimulus for innovation in his Hypothesis of the marginal men (Mohanty, 2005). He posits that marginal men are best suited to make creative adjustments in times of economic change and through these adjustments are able to introduce better ways through genuine innovations in social behavior (Mohanty, 2005).The theory seemingly presents a holistic view of entrepreneurship by considering the influence of factors such as change, innovation, culture, social class, managerial as well as leadership skills, personal traits etc.Other cultural theories of entrepreneurship include Stokes theory of entrepreneurship (Mohanty, 2005).Psychological theoriesPsychological theories look at how the psychology of the society influences the supply of entrepreneurs (Mohanty, 2005). Although this strand of theories is not popular in the literature, it has received significant contributions from Schumpeter, Krunk el and Carland (Mohanty, 2005).Other theoriesOne of the most see management scholars of the rifle century was Peter Drucker. Incidentally, Drucker has contributed colossally to the development of the entrepreneurship theory and literature. He has written several papers over the years which have led to the development of knowledge in this area. Peter Drucker defined an entrepreneur as one who always searches for change, responds to it and exploits it as an opportunity (Deakins and Freel, 2009). His focus is on the attitude of an entrepreneur and how he views the world around him. Drucker notes that two factors lead to entrepreneurship resource and innovation. He argues that innovation creates resource and resource is anything with an economic value (Mohanty, 2005 Deakins and Freel, 2009). The main contribution of Drucker is his view that an entrepreneur must not be the owner or creator but he who manages or executes is also an entrepreneur. His works point out aspects that can be considered as entrepreneurship which include increasing customer satisfaction from a resource, increasing the perceived value of a resource, creating new value from an old product, converting a material into a resource, combining existing resources into a new and more productive configuration (Deakins and Freel, 2009). Drucker extends the view of entrepreneurship to non profit organization while emphasizing that the practice has a knowledge base, with concepts and theories and is not based on intuitions (Mohanty, 2005). Controversially, Drucker argues that entrepreneurship behavior rather than reputation traits spurs and enhances entrepreneurship (Mohanty, 2005). Several writers in the area have argued against this point presenting empirical evidence to show that there is a high correlation between certain types of personality traits and entrepreneurship behavior (Ward, 2005). Druckers contributions still remain significant.Entrepreneurship as a processBaron and Shane, (2008) have extensively reviewed the literature on entrepreneurship building on early theories and propositions and have arrived at what they term the entrepreneurship process. This process involves a series of steps that a successful entrepreneur will take. Their model includes steps such as Recognition of an opportunity, Deciding to proceed and assembling the essential resources, Launching a new venture, mental synthesis success and managing growth, Harvesting the rewards (Baron and Shane, 2008). The writers advocate a more holistic view of entrepreneurship from idea recognition through development. In their view, opportunities for innovation are external and they arise from three sources Technological changes, political and regulatory change, social and demographic change (Baron and Shane, 2008). In conformance with the view of other writers such as Drucker, the researchers recognize various forms of innovation including a new product or service, a new way of organizing, a new market for ex isting products, a new method of production and a new raw material.This view is widely accepted and can be classed as contemporary as it is widely promoted in current entrepreneurship literature.Enterprise, Entrepreneurs and Entrepreneurship in the Events management industry (1000 words)Events management generally refers to managing event projects i.e. applying project management techniques to the management of events. Ramsbord et al., (2008) noted that event management involves several project management aspects such as brand analysis and consideration, analysis of event audience, creation of an event concept, planning and coordinating the event delivery. The authors also noted that other aspects such as event appraisal and event profitability are ripening in significance as part of the event management concept.An event pith several things to different people and variations will develop in terms of size of the event, the event audience, the significance of the event, the frequenc y of the event, the location of the event and the potential revenues to be generated from the event etc. In the context of event management however the word event takes a multitude of meanings. It includes corporate events such press conferences, other business conferences, corporate meetings (such Annual General Meetings), corporate anniversaries and product launches amongst others. It also includes corporate marketing programs such as opening of business sites and road shows. Events in this sense may also refer to corporate hospitality events such as award ceremonies, fashion shows, movie premieres, music concerts, music launches. It can refer to national events such as National days and sporting meets (Olympics, world cup, champions league games and English premier league games). Bowdin et al., 2006 reviewing several concepts of events resolved that an event is an make occasion such as a meeting, convention, exhibition, special event, gala, dinner etc. which is composed of sever al yet different functions. They assert that it is temporary in nature, it is odd and it stems from management, program, setting and people (p. 14). Aspects involved in event management as noted by Bowdin et al., 2006 include venue surveys, site design, budget drafting, supply orbit and logistics management, cash flow management, project scheduling, materials procurement, health and safety, technical aspects (sound, light, video), security and crowd management.As noted above, post-event appraisal and event profitability are increasing growing as a significant part of the event management discipline. This also constitute major concerns for entrepreneurs. The view of classical theorists such Webber and Schumpeter shows that profitability is that main rouse behind entrepreneurship. The business of event management is relatively new when compared to other businesses such as retail and transport. Recognition for the need for an event management service it self indicates entrepreneursh ip. Before too long along, event organizers had to manage the event without the need for any professional and experienced organizer. Today many organizations can outsource event management to professional organizations which have the skills, experience and resources to run such events. This has tremendously meliorate the success of events.Within the events industry several innovations have been made over time. Sign-Up Technologies, a small US firm has recently released its eticketing system which allows event promoters to sell tickets and collect customer information online. This eliminates the need for third caller retailers who charge high commissions. It also expands the markets by allowing customers to easily access markets.The introduction of sophisticated video and sound technologies and new practices in stage design allows event managers to expand the capacity of events while ensuring that the customer experience and the quality of the event is not hampered. This helps to improve profitability.The use of new sophisticated surveillance and monitoring equipment has improved the cost incurred by event management companies. An Irish Event Management Company, EventSec LtD uses a mobile monitoring system that allows it to reduce manning at events (cutting costs) but improve security through effective and efficient monitoring. EventSec LTD has also found a new market for its product and has now worn a contract to engage in traffic managementOWL Event management LTD current has gained fame in the events management industry through its use of contemporary technology in lighting, sound and video to improve the event experience of its customers. The firm also liaises actively with other firms to provide bespoke catering, security, cleaning and more services. This business model innovates by combining different resources in a configuration that serves a need. This comprehensive event management model improves the customer experience. OWL Event Management LTD als o realized that exhibition stands where sometimes an important factor drawing potential customers towards exhibitionist. The design of exhibition stands has for a long time been taken for tending(p) by firms. Most firms use stands that provide sitting space, a table and a shade. OWL Event Management has introduced its new range of stands which it provides to its customers. These stands are care grabbing through their bespoke designs, their contemporary curves and their eye catching lighting. The firm argues that these stands keep visitors glued to exhibitionists thus facilitating the message delivery. The demand for these set up has helped the firm improve its profit position.SECTION BA reflection on my current entrepreneurial skills andtraits, and a discussion on how I plan to develop these in the futureEntrepreneurial skillsThe literature and research in the area highlights several skills, traits, personalities and characteristics which should be possessed by successful entrepren eurs. One of the most holistic view of these has been provided by Ward (2005) in An integrated model for entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship.Ward (2005) asserts that entrepreneurs require a personality, technical skills and behavioral skills in order to be successful. The desired or winning personality traits according to his model include Risk tolerance, Self confidence, Achievement oriented, Proactive, Innovative, vision, flexibility, high energy, uncertainty tolerance, Desire for autonomy, assertiveness, resilience, tenacity, self awareness, creativity, capacity to inspire and excited stability. These personality traits help in the generation of winning ideas. These must be matched by technical skills and behavioral skills which will enable the entrepreneur to transfer these ideas to operable businesses through the establishment and management of the enterprise. As indicated by the model, the technical skills involved include marketing, finance, business planning, strategic p lanning, human resource management, production management, legal issues, logistics management and quality management (Ward, 2005). The behavioral skills involves include communications, judgment, negotiation, creativity, decision making, delegation, customer-supplier relationship, motivation, problem solving and team working (Ward, 2005). The model indicates that all three types of skills are necessary for effective entrepreneurship.The model also shows that several external factors combine with these skills to determine the outcome of an entrepreneur. These external factors include, opportunities in the market place which may arise from uncertainty or changes (Ward, 2005). The model shows that the availability of resources in the external environment coupled with the entrepreneurs control over such resources moderates the outcome. Such resources include the other factors of production such as material, land, building (Ward, 2005).Self assessment A reflectionAs an individual, I stro ngly believe that I am creative and innovative. I have always questioned the way things are done and thought of better ways of doing certain things. I adopt a proactive approach by thinking ahead. I am open-minded, flexible and always happy to embrace change. I am not dismayed by uncertainty but find uncertainty but find change and uncertainty as an opportunity to break the status-quo and enjoy new experiences. I will confidently say I fit Wards (2005) personality profile of an entrepreneur. With respect to technical skills, I have expounded my knowledge in several areas of business through my course learning and additional external reading. notwithstanding my broad knowledge in the field of business, I am still unconfident about taking my ideas to the next level because I feel I want the experience to by successful. I call this inertia. Most of my ideas only remain in my head. I am sometimes impressed with myself when my friends comment on how good my business ideas are. I howeve r lack technical knowledge in legal issues and my knowledge on human resource management and logistics management needfully to be improved.As concerns behavioral skills, I think I am a good communicator. This has helped my in my studies in building relationships with friends and creating alliances at work. I am good with team working and have been successfully involved in minor business negotiations. At certain times, I let my emotions get in the way of my negotiations and do end up regretting some of the decisions I make. I am working on being firm in my decision making and negotiations. I lack sufficient experience on certain areas such as delegation, motivation and problem solving.Plans for future developmentI plan to perfect my entrepreneurial abilities by actually engaging in small scale ventures. I am currently setting up a small venture with a friend. The initial stages have involved drawing a business plan and meeting up with potential suppliers and customers. We have carri ed out market surveys and have taken a look at factors such as logistics, marketing, distribution and financial reporting. This experience has opened up my horizons and given me an insight of what entrepreneurship is all about. I also get very constructive feedback from my business partners. This helps me to amend and improve certain issues.Concurrent with the assertion of Ward (2005), external factors seem to play a huge role to the success of entrepreneurs. Some of the ideas, we have conceived cannot be implemented due to the lack of resources. Certainly, this current venture will not be my last or my best but it will allow me to develop my skills in the area. Aside from this, I also read books and listen to speeches from motivational writers and famous entrepreneurs. This inspires me to heed my dreams as an entrepreneur.

The Impact Of Liquidity On Profitability Finance Essay

The Impact Of Liquidity On Profitability Finance EssayPadachi observed the trends in working(a) gravid counseling and its bushel on performance of a slopped. Return on assets and cash conversion cycle was utilize to measure the firms gainfulness and efficiency of working roof wariness respectively. He described that a firm should contain stability between profitableness and liquid state while maintaining its day to day activities. The manager of a business want to maximise firms range by achieving preferred tradeoff between liquid state and favorableness of a firm. The results indicated that the more investment funds in inventories and receivables disdain the gainfulness of a firm.Raheman Nasr (2007) discussed the reach of working detonator steering on advantageousness of a firm. They also highlighted that the basic objective of a firm is to maximize profit but maintaining liquidity is also an significant objective. There will be a serious problem if firm increase profit at the cost of liquidity. Both objectives argon important for the firm. If a firm does not concerned about profit then it cannot survive for a longer spot. On the other hand, if a firm does not concern about liquidity it may face bankruptcy. They took 94 firms of Pakistan and analyzed that there is a negative family between liquidity and profitableness of a firm.Michalski (2008) empirically analyzed the relationship between firms policy regarding net working investment and firms profitability. Too low liquidity take aim may come up problems with timely reimbursement of its liabilities while surplus liquid assets would negatively affect firms profitability. He discussed that decisions regarding liquidity is very difficult, a firm has to choose unrivaled of the tierce policies prototypic an aggressive policy i.e. a large share of the firms fixed and volatile demand to finance fixed assets is back up with short status finance, second a moderate policy i.e. a fixed part of on-line(prenominal) assets is financed with long term funds and volatile part is financed with short term funds lastly a standpat(prenominal) policy i.e. both fixed and volatile parts of current assets are financed with long term funds.Dash Hanuman (2009) were concerned about working seat of government management and they analyzed the liquidity-profitability trade-off model named as goal programming model. They supported that fit flow of fund is needed to run any business. A firm has conflicting objectives regarding liquidity and profitability so the goal programming model determines how targeted levels of profitability and liquidity would be achieved by maintaining current and fixed assets and at the same time minimizing opportunity cost. Their model proposed that working swell and blood line must be streamlined to profitability.Nazir Afza (2009) tried to find out the relation between aggressive working neat management policy and firms profitability by using decorate data fixing model and Tobins q of 204 Pakistani companies for the catch of 1998-2005. They claimed that investors give importance to investment trusts of those firms which adopt aggressive policies to manage current liabilities. Their findings suggested that aggressive working superior investment and support policies and profitability are negatively associated. They claimed that investors consider that firms which get under ones skin less long term loans and equity can have better performance than the others.Burtescu (2010) put down the reflection of liquidity and profitability of a company in the narrativeing result. He empha coat that it is not adequate for a firm to follow all economic indicators but it is also essential for a firm to make sure its liquidity in its quality of a specific dimension of fiscal management. The nurture about solvency and liquidity are beneficial for a firm to predict the ability of a firm to fulfill its fiscal obligations. He argue d that investors have a great concern about the cash flow of a company and it becomes obligatory for a firm to include cash flow narrative in its annual monetary statements.Gill, Biger Mathur (2010) attempted to examine the relationship between working enceinte management and profitability. They used sample of 88 firms listed on fresh York carnation Exchange for the period of 2005-2007. The results suggested that the relationship between cash conversion cycle and gross profit margin is statistically significant. They also concluded that account receivables and profitability are negatively associated. The managers can enhance profits of their company by handling the cash conversion cycle efficiently.Mohamad Saad (2010) attempted to scrutinize the doctor of working capital management on profitability and market valuation of a firm. They analyzed the secondary data of 172 Malaysian companies for the period of 2000-2007. They took working capital variables such as cash conversion cycle, current proportionality, debt to asset ratio, current asset to radical asset, current liabilities to total asset and profitability variables are feed on asset and return on invested capital. By using multiple regression analysis and correlation coefficient, their results revealed that working capital variables have negative association with firms profitability. Firms cannot make it without working capital and it can improve the profitability and market range of a firm.Dong Su (2010) also conducted a study to find out the relationship between working capital management and firms profitability. The working capital management has an important part in the success and failure of a firm because it has a great impact on the profitability and liquidity of a firm. Their sample is based on 130 firms which are listed in Vietnam stock market for the period of 2006-2008. Their findings proved that profitability and cash conversion cycle is strongly negatively associated. By optimum working capital management, the managers may create a shelter of stock for the shareholders. The firm should maintain a balance between its deuce objectives profitability and liquidity. One objective should not be achieved at the cost of other. Their findings also suggested that profitability can be increased by decreasing the number of days accounts receivable and inventories.Saleem Rehman (2011) observed a significant relationship between liquidity and firms performance. Liquidity of a company is very important for its every stack holder. If a firms cash and near cash assets are insufficient to satisfy its speedy payment obligations than firm may face difficulties. This can affect firms day to day business operations and profitability. They evaluated that liquidity and profitability are inversely related, one increases the other will decreases.Bhunia, Khan Mukhuti (2011) provided the evidence with respect to the relationship between liquidity and profitability of a firm. They took steel companies of private vault of heaven in India to judge the management of liquidity as a factor of performance. They analyze important liquidity indicators and analyzed that optimal working capital management can be achieved by controlling the trade-off between profitability and liquidity of a firm. Firm survey is positively affected by optimal working capital management so the investment in working capital must be satisfactory. They concluded that liquidity and profitability are significantly positively associated.Saghir, Hashmi Hussain (2011) studied the relationship between working capital management and profitability of a firm. They used cash conversion cycle to measure working capital management efficiency and return on asset to measure profitability while analyzing the financial data of 60 textile firms listed on KSE for the period of 2001 to 2006. They suggested that smooth inflow of profit is mainly affected by the optimum point of working capital. Working ca pital means companys current assets and it has a direct answer on the liquidity and profitability of a firm. According to the risk and return theory, when firms liquidity of working capital is high then it has low risk and low profitability and vice versa. The shorter cash conversion cycle is better for the firm profitability. Their result shows the negative relation between working capital management and profitability of a firm.Alipour (2011) researched about working capital management and corporate profitability while taking sample of 1063 companies from Tehran stock exchange. To test the hypothesis, multiple regression and pearsons correlation was used. He analyzed that sale and profit of a company is greatly setd by the working capital management. Due to inefficient working capital management, a company may be incapable to pay its debts on time. The results show a significant relationship between working capital management and profitability of a company. There is a negative re lationship between cash conversion cycle, average arrangement period, inventory turnover in days and profitability.Qazi et al. (2011) examined the impact of working capital on the profitability of a firm. Using the financial data of Pakistani automobile and oil and gas industry for the time period of 2004-2009, he proposed that the important components of working capital are debtor, creditor and inventory. The efficient and effective working capital can create value of the shares to shareholders. He persuaded that maintaining the companys liquid level is a major task of a company. So, by ignoring liquidity objective, company may face insolvency or bankruptcy. Their results showed the positive impact of working capital on profitability.Ching, Novazzi Gerab (2011) scrutinized the financial statements of two separate groups of companies working capital intensive and fixed capital intensive having16 companies in each group listed on Brazil Stock exchange during 2005-2009. They used re turn on assets, returns on sales and returns on equity to measure profitability and cash conversion cycle, debt ratio, days receivables, days inventory and days of working capital are used as independent variables. Their results showed that managing working capital is very important for both type of companies. Moreover, working capital intensive type of company gets more profit by managing inventory and cash conversion efficiency at optimum level and fixed capital intensive type of company yield more profit through other two variables.Karaduman et al. (2011) also investigated the link between management of working capital and profitability of a firm. In the recent economic conditions, the survival of a firm greatly depends upon the ability to manage its financial function. Their sample is based on 127 companies listed in the Istanbul Stock Exchange during 2005-2009. The cash conversion cycle was used as a proxy of working capital management and returns on assets was used to measure profitability. The results portrayed that ROA is positively affected by the reduction in CCC. The profitability is increased by developing efficiency of working capital.Alam et al. (2011) studied the influence of working capital management on the profitability and its market value of firms which are listed on Karachi stock exchange. They claimed that a misconception that firm survival is based on its profits has been cleared due to the present liquidity crises. They used financial data of 65 companies listed on Karachi Stock exchange during 2005-2009. Return on assets and returns on invested capital were used as proxy for measuring financial performance of the firm, Tobins Q was used to determine the market value of a firm and five financial ratios such as cash conversion cycle, current ratio, debt to asset ratio, current asset to total asset ratio and current liabilities to total asset ratio were used as dependent variables. Their empirical results presented sufficient evidence tha t firms strongly depends upon current assets to generate profits.Ogundipe, Idowu Ogundipe (2012) provided evidence regarding the influence of working capital management on performance of a firm and its market value. They collected data from annual reports of 54 Nigerian companies for the period of 1995-2009. They explained working capital management as management of current assets and current liabilities and it has a direct effect on firms profitability and market valuation. Their findings suggested that as cash conversion cycle decreases firms profitability increases and efficient working capital management also increases the market value of a firm.Barine (2012) established the relationship between efficient working capital management and firms profitability. Working capital management ensures a firms ability to satisfy both short term obligations and forthcoming operational expenses. They compared the cost and returns of working capital of 22 listed firms on Nigerian stock exchan ge. Their findings proposed that if cost of working capital is greater than returns on working capital investment then it negatively affects profitability and firms should have optimized working capital investments to stay away from over or under investments.Bhunia (2012) explored the influence of liquidity on profitability while taking the sample of FMCG companies in India during 2001 to 2010. He argued that working capital management plays an important role in the financial management decisions of a firm and managers should manage the trade-off between liquidity and profitability to reveal optimal working capital management as it can create value for the firm. By using applied normality test, correlation and regression, the results indicated that liquidity and profitability are positively associated.The research of Vahid, Mohsen and Mohammadreza (2012) also highlighted the affect of working capital management policies on firms profitability. They explained that working capital ma nagement has a great impact on profitability and liquidity of a firm and it is responsible for the success and failure of a firm. Their sample consists of 28 Iranian companies listed on Tehran stock exchange for 2005-2009. Their results suggested that conservative investment policy i.e. high level of short term investment have a negative impact on profitability and value of a firm, while aggressive investment policy i.e. long term investment have positive impact on profitability and value of a firm. Their results also showed that aggressive financing policies i.e. high level of current liabilities to finance firms project have a negative impact on profitability and value of a firm, while conservative financing policies i.e. having more long term liabilities to finance firms operating activities have a positive impact on firms profitability and value.Al-Mwalla (2012) tried to observe the affect of working capital management policies on the profitability and value of a firm. He persua ded that a firm has to maintain adequate level of working capital to fulfill its short term obligations. Therefore, a firm can adopt one of the two policies a conservative policy by maintaining low level of current assets to total assets or an aggressive policy by keeping high level of current liabilities to total liabilities. He took annual data of 57 firms listed in Amman Stock Market during 2001 to 2009 for analysis. The results portrayed that conservative policy of investment and financing are positively associated with profitability and value of a firm.Ahmad (2012) highlighted the influence of working capital management on forms performance while taking a sample of 253 companies related to non financial sector listed on Karachi Stock Exchange, Pakistan. He use ROA and ROE as proxy of firm performance and current asset over total sales, current asset over total asset, debtors turnover, current ratio and inventory turnover as proxies of working capital management. Using OLS regre ssion, Pearson correlation analysis and logistic regression techniques, he found that all explanatory variables are positively correlated to firm performance except current assets to total sales as it has a negative correlation with firm performance.Usama (2012) extended the work of Rehman and Nasar regarding working capital management while taking the sample of 18 companies from other food sector listed on Karachi Stock Exchange for the period of 2006-2010. The researcher used different variables to measure working capital management such as average collection period, inventory turnover in days, cash conversion cycle, average payment period, debt ratio, firm size, current ratio, and financial asset to total asset. Using common effect model and pooled least square regression, the results indicated that working capital management has significant positive association with firms profitability and liquidity. He also concluded that firm size and minimum inventory turnover in days has pos itive influence on firms profitability.Myers (2001) purported that there is no general theory regarding debt and equity choice. He discussed three main theories for the choice of debt and equity. He described that according to trade off theory firms adopt that debt level which balances the tax benefits of additional debt against the cost of financial distress. Debt financing gives a tax shield to a firm therefore they took high level of debt to gain maximum tax benefits and eventually increase profitability. However, the increase of debt financing increases the possibility of bankruptcy. According to pecking order theory, when firms internal cash flow is not enough to fulfill its capital expenditure then firms prefer debt on equity. largely low profitable firms entail external financing and accumulate debt. According to the free cash flow theory, when a mature firm has profitable investment opportunities and its operating cash flow is considerably exceeds its investment opportuniti es, so this dangerous level of debt will have a positive effect on firms value regardless of threat of financial distress.Berger Bonaccorsi di Patti (2003) supported that leverage has a direct impact on agency cost which influences firm performance. They proposed that high leverage or a low equity capital ratio causes to reduce the agency cost related to outside equity and raises firm value. They used annual information of U.S. commercial banks from 1990 to 1995. Their result showed that a 1% increase in leverage decrease equity capital ratio surrenders a predicted 6% increase in profit efficiency.Fama French (2005) described the financing decisions of firms. They tested predictions of pecking order theory about financing decisions and claimed that more than half of their sample firms defy the pecking order predictions. Their first result is against the pecking order prediction that firms hardly issue stock. Under their sample, 67% of the firms issue stock each year during 1973-19 82 and it rises to 74% for 1983-1992, and 86% during 1993-2002. So, equity decisions of a firm frequently violate the pecking order. Second prediction is that capital structure of a firm is derived by asymmetric information problem but their findings are against this prediction. They suggested that this problem can be avoided by issuing equity through different ways.Elsas, Flannery Garfinkel (2006) studied firm major investment, financing decisions and long run performance. They took 1,185 U.S. firms which make huge acquisitions or capital expenditures during 1989-1999. They observed that large firms financed their new investment with debt whereas equity has a small role. With the passage of time, new debt replaced with equity funds. Small firms broadly speaking rely on issuing equity when financing its new investments to replace debt while internal cash flow is used by medium sized firms. They analyzed that debt financing produces negative long run performance more than equity fi nancing whereas financing with internal funds never produce important share underperformance.Dittmar Thakor (2007) developed a new theory of issuance of security that is when stock prices are high then firms issue equity. This issue is contradictory with the two major theories of capital structure pecking order and trade off theory. The main idea of their theory is that managers decision about security issuance is based on how their decisions will influence the investment choice of the firm and how this choice will influence the post-investment stock price of the firm. After the investment in the project, managers are more concerned about the stock price and the long term equity value of the firm. The shareholders and bondholders may object to the managers choice of investment because they have dissimilar beliefs regarding the value of the project. Their findings suggest that firms which issue equity have higher stock prices, higher values of agreement parameter and higher increase in investments.

Dr. Faustus Essay - Pride, Insolence and the Fall of Doctor Faustus

Pride, Insolence and the Fall of Doctor Faustus As a highly revered individual - a doctor of theology who is also elusive in gravid arts, medicine and law - Doctor Faustus possesses limitless knowledge. Nonetheless, unfortunately the much people know the more curious, thirsty and greedy for knowledge they become. Thus, lacking to know more and therefore, gain supernatural power, Faustus creates his own fall through pride, insolence and child-like behavior - the by-products of the dominating id that overpowers the superego in this particular case. The supra excerpt was provided to recognise the student aware of the focus of the essay, the complete paper begins below ...Man builds towels of the spirit from which he may survey larger horizons that those of his class, race and nation. This is a necessary human enterprise. Without it man could not come to his full estate. But it is also inevitable that these towers should be Towers of Babel, that they should pretend to reach highe r than their real height and should claim a finality which they cannot posses, quotes Sylvan Barnet in his introduction to Christopher Marlowes Doctor Faustus (xiv). Doctor Faustus lives in such pretension. Due to Faustus extraordinary, celebrated, restless and insatiable mind that differs from the ordinary minds, the quote above stands as the basic premise for Marlowes play. As a highly revered individual - a doctor of theology who is also involved in liberal arts, medicine and law - Doctor Faustus possesses limitless knowledge. Nonetheless, unfortunately the more people know the more curious, thirsty and greedy for knowledge they become. Thus, wanting to know more and therefore, gain supernatural power, Faustus creates his own fall th... ...ioned by his immediate circumstances...He wants to be man. He is not content with his truth. He seeks the truth...His restless mind seeks to comprehend the heart and soul of all cultures so that he may not be caught within the limitations of his own (xiv). Works Cited and ConsultedBeddow, Michael. Thomas Mann Doctor Faustus. Cambridge Cambridge, 1994.Carnegy, Patrick. Faust as Musician A test of Thomas Manns Novel Doctor Faustus. London Chatto & Windus, 1973.Guerin, Wilfred L., Earle Labor, Lee Morgan, Jeanne C. Reesman, John R. Willingham. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. 4th ed. Oxford Oxford UP, 1999.Marlowe, Christopher. Doctor Faustus. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York Signet Classic, 1969.Russell, Jeffrey Burton. The Prince of Darkness basal Evil and the Power of Good in History. Ithaca Cornell University Press, 1988.

Free Essays - Escape from Reality in The Glass Menagerie :: Glass Menagerie essays

Escape from Reality in The Glass menagerie       In demeanor we face many obstacles in which we must deal with in shape to move on. Many times we unattach ourselves from reality in order to keep our hopes up. In The Glass Menagerie, every character but that of Jim OConnor experiences a loss of reality due to the difficult situation they live in. To some degree, Jim overly does but he is the most realistic character in the play.   We as human beings always seem to look back on our youth as the glory eld of our lives. Amanda Wingfield, Tom and Lauras mother, frequently recalls her youth to the point that Tom knows exactly what story is coming. Her lust to relive the past and her hope that Laura leave behind ane day watch in her footsteps controls most of the plot of the story. Amanda regularly speaks of the seventeen gentlemen callers she received while living in Blue Mountain (Gale 127). She describes the men as if they are any wealthy or have died tragic or heroic deaths but the man she married is regarded as unsuccessful and irresponsible (Gale 128). The position that he left-hand(a) them plays an important part in developing the story. Mr. Wingfield is viewed as the cause of the misery they live in and Amanda is often worried that Tom will follow in his fathers footsteps. It seems whatever it was that drove Mr. Wingfield away was destined to finally drive Tom away.   While there are those who view their past as the best geezerhood of their lives, you will find many who focus on the future and what happiness it shall bring. Tom has many dreams he wants to fulfill but he is held down by having to care for and support Luara and Amanda.Free Essays - Escape from Reality in The Glass Menagerie Glass Menagerie essays Escape from Reality in The Glass Menagerie       In life we face many obstacles in which we must deal with in order to move on. Many times we unattach ourselves from reality in order to keep our hopes up. In The Glass Menagerie, every character but that of Jim OConnor experiences a loss of reality due to the difficult situation they live in. To some degree, Jim also does but he is the most realistic character in the play.   We as human beings always seem to look back on our youth as the glory days of our lives. Amanda Wingfield, Tom and Lauras mother, frequently recalls her youth to the point that Tom knows exactly what story is coming. Her lust to relive the past and her hope that Laura will one day follow in her footsteps controls most of the plot of the story. Amanda regularly speaks of the seventeen gentlemen callers she received while living in Blue Mountain (Gale 127). She describes the men as if they are either wealthy or have died tragic or heroic deaths but the man she married is regarded as unsuccessful and irresponsible (Gale 128). The fact that he left them plays an important part in developing the story. Mr. Wingfield is viewed as t he cause of the misery they live in and Amanda is often worried that Tom will follow in his fathers footsteps. It seems whatever it was that drove Mr. Wingfield away was destined to finally drive Tom away.   While there are those who view their past as the best days of their lives, you will find many who focus on the future and what happiness it shall bring. Tom has many dreams he wants to fulfill but he is held down by having to care for and support Luara and Amanda.

Flight Training for the Fighter Wings :: Creative Writing Short Stories Flying Essays

Flight Training for the Fighter WingsFirst Installment. The fowl landed at 0430 hours. Linkan, sitting in the rear of the shuttle looked pop the cockpit window to glance out at the huge complex. The system was clear out to Phares Star. Linkan could almost feel the power of the Emperors Hammer. As they had come in system from Setti, they had passed the SSSD Sovereign and her taskforce. He had been in the right seat to appear the huge ship. It was beautiful and emanated power from within her structure, the turbo laser batteries sticking out likes tiny pricks along her hull. As they cleared her bow, Linkan leaned forward and saw Daedalus. The place hed be living for the next three months. Well from what he heard, he knew this was the best place to go to learn to be a pilot. Linkan mind back to the last four months. It had been a long road since he had been accepted to the TIE Corps. Most people thought that you came straight to the platform and hopped into a fighter. Boy, was that n ot the case. Back on Setti, Linkan had attended the local Imperial Fighter wings school and basic training program. Nine weeks of hell later, Linkan had have from basic training and had moved onto the Search and Rescue school run jointly with the Hammers Fist on Carida II. There he had been infra the tutelage of a certain First Lieutenant Havz, a very forceful commander who had taught him and his class of pilots what to do in the case of ejection or having to crash land your fighter. It had been a very stressful three weeks as they tested to see if he could withstand the stress of such operations. The last relegation had been a simulated crash. Him and his partner, Dru Stavenal of Aurora Prime, were dropped off by shuttle in the middle of Caridas forest. They were to survive together for a period of 96 hours in the wild, under difficult circumstances. Dru had broken his ankle on the second day, and Linkan had to care for him during the rest of the 72 hours until they could reach the pickup point. He had barely been able to obligate the human the last five klicks to the waiting shuttle. He had passed the test with flying colors the instructor had said, now only if he would pass the

Cayman Islands Politics and Economics :: Essays on Politics

cayman Islands Politics and Economics Politically the Cayman Islands be one of the few pillars of stability in an differentwisewise debauched region. The islands have been under British control since 1655, and they have been and official crown dependance since 1670. The queen is still the official head of state. The island has no political parties because its executives are not elected. The Governor of the island is constitute by the monarch and the Chief of State is found by the Governor. The legislative branch consists of a 18 member legislative assembly, 15 of these members are elected by the population and 3 are appointed by the cabinet of the Chief of State. The Judicial branch has 3 levels of courts and is establish on British common law. The principal economic force governing bread and butter on the Cayman Islands over the last half century is the banking industry. It has provided these islands, with a worldwide financial importance greater than any other Caribbean island. The Cayman Islands are the fifth largest banking center in the world, behind the United States, Japan, Britain and France. Total assets for the banking and financial services industry exceed a trillion dollars. It is home to over cd banks, domestic as well as from almost 60 other countries. Georgetown is home to divisions of 46 of the worlds 50 largest banks, including the 10 largest Japanese banks. The islands gained notoriety for their strict retirement laws and lack of taxationes. This made them a haven for drug money and tax evaders from the United States. This sparked astronomical growth in the Caymanian banking industry in the 1970s and primal 80s. These banks are attracted to the Caymans for several reasons. The islands lack of corporate, capital gains, income, payroll and withhold taxes is a major reason many corporations find the island so attractive. The stable government, concealment laws and a historical climate of government/corporate co-oper ation are other reasons why the islands are so popular for foreign investment.Cayman Islands Politics and Economics Essays on PoliticsCayman Islands Politics and Economics Politically the Cayman Islands are one of the few pillars of stability in an otherwise tumultuous region. The islands have been under British control since 1655, and they have been and official crown colony since 1670. The queen is still the official head of state. The island has no political parties because its executives are not elected. The Governor of the island is appointed by the monarch and the Chief of State is appointed by the Governor. The legislative branch consists of a 18 member legislative assembly, 15 of these members are elected by the population and 3 are appointed by the cabinet of the Chief of State. The Judicial branch has 3 levels of courts and is based on British common law. The principal economic force governing life on the Cayman Islands over the last half century is the banki ng industry. It has provided these islands, with a worldwide financial importance greater than any other Caribbean island. The Cayman Islands are the fifth largest banking center in the world, behind the United States, Japan, Britain and France. Total assets for the banking and financial services industry exceed a trillion dollars. It is home to over 400 banks, domestic as well as from almost 60 other countries. Georgetown is home to divisions of 46 of the worlds 50 largest banks, including the 10 largest Japanese banks. The islands gained notoriety for their strict privacy laws and lack of taxes. This made them a haven for drug money and tax evaders from the United States. This sparked astronomical growth in the Caymanian banking industry in the 1970s and early 80s. These banks are attracted to the Caymans for several reasons. The islands lack of corporate, capital gains, income, payroll and withholding taxes is a major reason many corporations find the island so attractive. Th e stable government, privacy laws and a historical climate of government/corporate co-operation are other reasons why the islands are so popular for foreign investment.