Graduation Speech: Become People With Passion -- Graduation Speech, Co

Christmas Eve in Princeton, N.J, generally satisfies the image postcard guarantee of Christmas. What's more, it was thus, on that one specific Christmas Eve quite a while in the past. A light snowfall kissed the curious Princeton houses, and entryway to-entryway tune artists advanced toward one specific entryway. The musician's home. O little town of Bethlehem, the young men sang, how still we see thee lie... In minutes the entryway opened, and the delicate musician remained in the entryway to welcome the singers. Above thy profound and dreamless rest, the quiet stars go by... The performer dismissed, turned around into the house. Right away he came back with his violin! The incredible man, the delicate old artist, went with the 12 PM choralists on his adored instrument through each refrain of the deep rooted psalm. At that point, without a word, the youngsters dismissed quietly, and the elderly person gradually shut the entryway. What's more, if this genuine story, in the event that it is made increasingly superb, it isn't on the grounds that a prepared violin was brought out of retirement for one final unconstrained presentation, but since the musician himself has the best explanation of all not to praise that blanketed Christmas scene. The extraordinary virtuoso was a Jew, thus loved was he that the very administration of Israel once could have been his. Be that as it may, here is the remainder of the story. Artists will let you know, each extraordinary virtuoso has his deity. This current musician's godlike object was Mozart. Once, a companion requested that the musician remark on present day times. At the point when the artist was a kid, wars were battled with rifles and guns. Presently the whole world may be crushed. I'm not catching that's meaning to the elderly person? The musician wavered, sat back keenly in his seat. It would mean, he said finally, that individuals would no longer hear Mozart. For him, this most profoundly passed on the end o... ...trim for an answer. Be that as it may, individual alumni, you are here now, and I need to disclose to you that you don't need to live with the miserable view that originates from this story. The one thing that Einstein was missing was a relationship with the God I serve, who is Jesus Christ my Savior. In the event that this virtuoso would have permitted Him to address his most profound inquiry, he would have encountered an expectation that would know no finishes. Graduates, colleagues, companions, a similar expectation that Einstein needed is open for you to have. It is a decision you should make, to get it or not, yet I would be a narrow minded, rude individual on the off chance that I didn't impart to you the expectation that I have at the last open door that I will ever need to address all of you. Class of 2012, I supplicate that you will become individuals with energy - enthusiasm for seeking after your fantasies, and energy for the One who can give you trust.

Pets.com Case Analysis Essay

Presentation In this report I will investigate Pets.com’s brief accomplishment as America’s number one online provider of pet nourishments supplies and frill. I will likewise distinguish what really turned out badly and present an invigorated hostile promoting technique to the leading body of the organization. It was fantastic how an open recorded organization drove by a portion of the world’s best business administrators, hung by all the assets that any organization on the planet would envy, collaborated with the world’s number one internet business organization and became America’s pet industry symbol can lose everything in under two years after its first presentation. As I would see it a portion of the main considerations that added to Pets.com disappointment were: 1. Terrible vital choices made by the past administration including thinking little of the expense of tasks and overspending on showcasing. The administration was so fixated snatching the piece of the overall industry and yet losing their attention inside and out on their real objective and targets, which is creating income for the organization and become productive to guarantee manageability. 2. In spite of its accomplishment in building brand acknowledgment, Pets.com overestimated the market pattern and intensity of the web. They were additionally arrogant in assessing the market genuine potential and hazard due shallow and frail statistical surveying. At the point when everybody was hurrying to hop onto the web internet business ensured for-achievement fleeting trend, Pets.com didn't understand pet business was not unreasonably basic but rather in reality progressively muddled contrasted with selling books and garments on the web. After all the expensive showcasing advancements and promotions, short-term notoriety, having the most complete online item contributions and most recent innovation available to them, still at long last Pets.com neglected to show much included worth and differentiators according to the clients. 3. Totally disregarded the intensity of conventional physical plan of action. Pets.com neglected to comprehend their adversaries qualities and shortcomings well. Better client care, fulfilling individual shopping experience and fastâ delivery are a portion of the favorable circumstances physical stores had over online pet gateways. Pet proprietors valuation for these conventional qualities influenced commonplace pet-owners’ preparation and eagerness to totally forsake their agreeable and trusted around the bend neighborhood pet store. Contender ANALYSIS The past organization didn't raise a decent proposition in contradicting its rivals. It was evident to such an extent that they disregarded the way that conventional pet store was a lot of controlling the pet food and supplies advertise. Belittling the qualities and preferred position of their progressively conventional brickand-mortar based opponents like Petstore, Petsmart and Petopia was the primary greatest misstep they had done. Contender Analysis Petopia.com 1. Vigorously supported by Petco, advertise pioneer in pets frill and supplies industry 2. Entrenched physical stores in addition to web based business plan of action 3. Influence on Petco’s great and notable notoriety as provider of value pet items and its promise to creature care. 4. Petopia will increase important access to Petco’s broad system of chain stores which the two organizations can cross-advance one another: a. Have across the nation inclusion with 465 chain stores all over US b. Solid worldwide nearness with 100 stores all inclusive 5. Potential Pes.com future worldwide extension through key coalition with another significant speculator Groupe Arnault (connected to prestigious LVHM Moet Henessey Loius Vuitton) PetSmart.com 1. Effectively a fruitful physical business on its own right. Considered as Petco’s primary physical contender 2. Joint endeavor with online business person Bill Gross of Idealab become direct rivalry to Pets.com-Amazon’s group up. 3. Settled physical stores in addition to web based business plan of action 4. Solid back-end distribution center and conveyance frameworks with effectively 500 stores across the nation and 100 outside US. 5. Solid brand name, showcasing clout, close seller connections andâ efficient item portfolios and satisfaction frameworks that would enormously profit their online business. Petstore.com 1. Supported by investment firm Battery Ventures 2. Depend totally on the intensity of web based business. Work on a similar plan of action as Pets.com, build up an initiative situation with ‘category killer’ space name 3. Much the same as Pets.com, Petstore depended intensely on publicizing and advancements 4. No physical store foundation By the day's end, after the large dotcom bubble burst, just Petopia (presently possessed by Petco) and PetSmart endure. Petstore and Pets.com itself surrendered to the dotcom bubble burst. Two most clear factors that set apart the two victors and washouts are: 1. PetSmart and Petopia had a solid back-end stockroom sponsorship and chains of physical stores that at long last decrease circulation costs, stockpiling, guarantee acceptable conveyance period and worth include conventional shopping experience and fulfillment. In contrast to the two, Pets.com and Petstore.com depended completely on the web of which later undermined essential pet owners’ needs and consumer loyalty. 2. Pets.com and Petstore depended intensely on subsidizing from investment firms while Petopia and PetrSmart as of now have solid frameworks and client arrange they can generally rely upon in the event that anything turns out badly over the web. This demonstrates savage when Pets.com neglected to increase enough added capital infusion to spare them from turning out to be dotcom bubble’s greatest loss. It is significant for us to re-adjust our objective and deliberately repositions ourselves in this industry. The accompanying SWOT examination will investigations our key qualities and shortcomings. Pets.com’s SWOT Analysis Quality 1. Gigantic money to spend. Vigorously subsidized. Upheld by Amazon.com. 2. Direct access to Amazon.com’s arrange assets and web based business aptitudes and mastery, so innovation abilities and expertise isn't an issue. 3. Key partnership with Yahoo!, GO.com (Disney), Discovery TV organize (Animal Planet) and relationship with the American Veterinar Medical Foundation can be a solid system situating procedure. 4. Pets.com is the most unmistakable area name, exceptionally noticeable site with most exhaustive site substance and best plan. Pets.com site is so famous in the web and prevailing press that at one time turns into the most visited pet supplies site on the planet. 5. Most serious cost and administration contributions (in addition to free conveyance). Ready to offer quality results of which turning out to be today’s key in addition to factor to the energetic white collar class and high pay pet proprietors. 6. Biggest stock keeping units (SKUs) in America to guarantee dependable flexibly and on time conveyance to clients. Shortcoming 1. Contenders offer comparable items. Pets.com still couldn't discover key market differentiator. 2. Enormous desire on web based showcasing and advancement. Particular group to keep up-todate and most recent site substance and data may bring about expanding organization costs. 3. Pets.com have feeble brand name when contrasted with increasingly settled adversaries. 4. Pets.com don’t have physical stores nearness across the country and all inclusive. 5. Unwavering quality and security on the web can stop and even devastate online business practically overnight. 6. High transportation expenses and protection risk because of free conveyance strategy to clients in any case area 7. Land factors, distribution center area and separation may result to 2-3 days for requests to arrive at American homes Openings 1. Pets.com can use further on Amazon’s maximum capacity showcase infiltration and dependable online business notoriety 2. Can exploit on normal American pet proprietors enthusiasm and ways of managing money on pet food and supplies 3. The opportune time to take advantage of the world’s quickly developing and worthwhile national and global markets. 4. Can exploit on the way that generally trusted and great pet nourishments are delivered in the US 5. Can exploit on normal American pet owners’ wild way of life. Advance expense and efficient. 6. Normal American pet proprietors are monetarily steady. Cost is certainly not a major issue. 7. Build up own image name and exclusive items Danger 1. There will consistently be a superior competitors’ site substance and contributions 2. Don’t think little of web abilities think about issues at remote destinations and wide open 3. Less difficult easy to understand sites, portable applications and cell phones can supplant site 4. Expanding transportation and delivery costs 5. Transportation chance lost and harm 6. Web client awful experience, troublesome remarks and audits can disrupt any 3â online business that isn't prepared and completely arranged 7.Growing web based business wellbeing concerns can impact web clients to simply peruse and shop at competitor’s outlet 8. Contenders physical stores at nearly US neighborhoods-giving increasingly human methodology (contact and believe) and quicker conveyance time 9. Hard propensity to break-still many pet proprietors favor visit nearby neighborhood stores than purchasing on the web 10. Rivalry by any physical neighborhood foundation Pet supplies are not books. Individuals just request pizzas online-Amazon.com methodology may not work at certain condition and condition. Pets.com need to show betterâ value-include and pull-factor. Division ANALYSIS Pets.com have the best items to offer and the innovation to drive this online plan of action to progress, yet at long last not understanding the consumer’s genuine necessities, conduct and ways of managing money can demonstrate imperative to the company’s endurance and significance. As indicated by study reports by The NPD Group, Inc. what's more, Media Metrix (NASDAQ: MMXI), 75% of pet proprietors who get to the Internet know about online pet stores, up from 55% in September 1999. Twenty-seven percent have shopped at an online pet store, while 14% made a genuine pur

Cigar Smoking Trends and Risk Factors

Cigar Smoking Trends and Risk Factors Addiction Nicotine Use Print Cigar Smoking Trends and Risk Factors By Terry Martin facebook twitter Terry Martin quit smoking after 26 years and is now an advocate for those seeking freedom from nicotine addiction. Learn about our editorial policy Terry Martin Medically reviewed by Medically reviewed by Sanja Jelic, MD on January 20, 2020 Sanja Jelic, MD, is board-certified in sleep medicine, critical care medicine, pulmonary disease, and internal medicine.   Learn about our Medical Review Board Sanja Jelic, MD on January 20, 2020 Getty Images/Westend61 More in Addiction Nicotine Use After You Quit How to Quit Smoking Nicotine Withdrawal Smoking-Related Diseases The Inside of Cigarettes Alcohol Use Addictive Behaviors Drug Use Coping and Recovery As of Dec. 20, 2019, the new legal age limit is 21 years old for purchasing cigarettes, cigars, or any other tobacco products in the U.S. It used to be that cigar smoking was an activity that attracted older men, primarily.  It was also a custom in the United States for new fathers to pass cigars out to their male friends when their baby was born.   Why More People Are Smoking Cigars Certainly, these niches still exist, but young Americans are picking up cigar smoking in increasing numbers  today. This growing trend can be attributed to a few factors. 1) Cigars are not taxed as heavily as cigarettes. In some areas in the United States, a pack of cigarettes costs $10 or more, making them difficult to afford on a regular basis. 2) Cigars  are sold in a few different forms, one of which is about the same size as a traditional cigarette. Theyre called little cigars and are sold in packs, just like cigarettes. Additionally, some of them have flavorings added, appealing to younger smokers.   According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a poll of middle and high school students in 2014 revealed that 63% who had smoked a cigar in the last 30 days had smoked a flavored type. 3) The tobacco industrys  efforts to glamorize cigar smoking has been reinforced by the movie industry. The portrayal of stars smoking in movies is influential and usually directly aimed at young people.   Many people are under the misconception that smoking a cigar is a safe alternative to cigarette smoking, but its not. How Cigar Smoking Impacts Your Health Let’s take a look at some of the facts about the dangers of cigar smoking: You Can Become Addicted to Cigars Nicotine is the addictive ingredient in any tobacco product. Cigars have a high level of nicotine in them,  usually many times that of cigarettes. In fact, some premium cigars have as much nicotine in them as an entire pack of cigarettes or more. If cigar smoke is inhaled, nicotine will enter the bloodstream through the lungs. If not, the nicotine is absorbed through the lining of the mouth. Cigar smoke dissolves more easily in saliva than cigarette smoke because its composition is alkaline. This allows for quick absorption of nicotine, producing dependence without inhalation. Cigar Smoking Can Cause Cancer Numerous cancers are associated with cigar smoking: Oral cancer, including cancers of the lip, tongue, mouth.Throat cancerEsophageal cancerLung cancer â€" the risk is less than that of cigarette smokers because most people do not inhale cigar smoke. It has been found, however, that current and former cigarette smokers are more likely to inhale cigar smoke.Cancer of the pancreasBladder cancer Both cigarette and cigar smokers share a similar risk for cancers of the oral cavity and esophagus. People who smoke one or two cigars daily double their risk of oral of  esophageal cancer over nonsmokers. Those who smoke three to four cigars a day increase their risk of oral cancers by 8 times and esophageal cancers by four times that of nonsmokers. Risk factors for people who are occasional cigar smokers (less than daily) are not known. Cigar Smoking Is Hard on the Heart A 25-year-long study published in the Journal of American Medical Association reported that cigar smokers may suffer as much as 27% more risk than that of nonsmokers for coronary heart disease. The study looked at approximately 18,000 men, between the ages of 30 and 85. Over 1500 of them were cigar smokers, and it was discovered that these people suffered more occurrences of heart disease than did their nonsmoking counterparts. Contributes to Lung Disease Cigar smokers are at an increased risk over nonsmokers for chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Most cigar smokers don’t inhale, so the risk of COPD is less than that of cigarette smokers. A U.S. study reports that cigar smokers have up to 45% greater risk of COPD than that of nonsmokers. Bad for Your Oral Health There is evidence showing that cigar and pipe smoking may also lead to early tooth loss according to a study published in the Journal of the American Dental Association. Researchers from Boston University followed 690 men over the course of 23 years and concluded that those who smoked cigars were 30% more likely to lose their teeth than nonsmokers. Pipe smokers were 60% more likely to suffer early tooth loss than nonsmokers. Cigar and pipe smokers are also at an increased risk for alveolar bone loss. A Word From Verywell Cigar smoking is dangerous. All forms of tobacco have risks associated with them, and cigars are no different. Don’t be fooled. There is no such thing as a risk-free tobacco product. Is It Safe to Be a Social Smoker?

The Letter C in French

The letter C in French is very similar to how we use it in English. It can be hard or soft depending on the letters that follow it, it can have an accent, and the pronunciation changes when combined with other letters.   This quick French lesson will walk you through the various ways to pronounce the letter C. There are even a few examples to practice along the way. Pronunciation The French letter C  is a lot like the C in English. The sound will change depending on if it is followed by a hard or a soft vowel. The French C  can be pronounced in one of two ways: Soft pronunciation - In front of an E, I, or Y, the C is pronounced like an SHard pronunciation - In front of an A, O, U, or a consonant, C is pronounced like a K When a C is in front of a hard vowel but has to be pronounced as a soft C, the accent cà ©dille - à § - is added to make it soft. Thus, à § is never found in front of an E or I  because those are soft vowels. French Words With C   With that introduction, lets practice a few C words in French. Given what you just learned, try to pronounce each of these words on your own. Then, check to see how you did by clicking on the word and listening to the proper pronunciation. Run through this exercise as much as needed to perfect your C sounds and expand your vocabulary. cafà ©Ã‚  (coffee)sucre  (sugar)ceinture  (belt)nià ¨ce  (niece)à §a va?  (how are you?)caleà §on  (mens underwear) Letter Combinations With C The letter C is also used in a few common combinations and the C sound will change. As you learn more French, you will come across these quite often, so its good to practice them. CH  - Pronounced like the English SH or like a K.SC  - In front of a soft vowel, it sounds like an S. In front of a hard vowel or consonant, the S and C are pronounced separately and according to their respective rules.As in  sciences  (science) or escargots  (snails).XC - In front of a soft vowel, it sounds like [ks] or the soft X.  In front of a hard vowel or consonant, the X and C are pronounced individually and according to their traditional rules.As in  excentre (outlying) or express (espresso).

An Evaluation Of Studys Of Fund Performance Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 10 Words: 2867 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? The study of Dahlquist, Stefan and Paul (2000) analyzed the fund performance in Swedish. The study was conducted on the basis of Swedish mutual funds from the end of 1992 to the end of 1997. The study estimated the performance of Swedish funds from 1993 to 1997. The estimated the study then evaluated the relation between performance and fund attributes such as: inflows and outflows, size, turnover, etc. The results showed that larger equity funds tend to perform less well than smaller equity funds. On the other hand larger bond funds performed better than smaller bond funds. Similarly the measured performance is negatively related to fees, that is, high fee funds seem not to perform as well as low fee funds. Wermers (2000) conducted a research to analyze the performance of the mutual fund industry from 1975 to 1994. Therefore study used two comprehensive mutual fund databases of the US industry. These two databases were merged to provide a complete record of th e funds existed during the sample period. Study then decomposed fund returns and costs into various components in order to address problematic issues to the study of mutual fund performance. The results indicated that the funds that hold stocks outperformed the market. Stehle and Olaf (2001) conducted a research to evaluate the open-ended mutual funds risk-adjusted performance. Study used a data set that included all German funds sold to the public in 1972. The research analyzed covers the time period of 1973 to 1998. DAX, which included the 30 largest German stocks and DAX100, which included the 100 largest German stocks were used as benchmarks for comparison. First of all researchers examined the rates of return of individual funds with the help of Sharpe (1966) and Jensen measures and then applied the same measures to evaluate the unweighted average rates of return of all funds. In case of the rates of return of individual funds, results showed that the funds underperform the appropriate benchmarks by approximately 1.5 % per year. On the other hand underperformance was reduced by 40 % in case of unweighted average rates of return. Study also concluded that the large German stock mutual funds, on the average, performed better than the small ones. Galagedera and Param (2002) conducted a research to analyze the relative efficiency of Australian mutual funds and examine the sensitivity of the results for various combination of input and output variables. Study employed a sample of 257 Australian mutual funds for the period 1995-1999. After applying data envelopment analysis (DEA) and logistic regression study concluded that when DEA captures funds long-term growth and income distribution than a shorter time horizon more funds show efficient. Study also concluded that funds efficiency depends to a large extent, on the asset allocation score and that the DEA ranking of funds is independent of the time horizon used. Therefore all these observations provide g uidance to analysts in selecting the appropriate input and output variables when using DEA in mutual fund appraisal. In order to identify the determinants of after-tax performance, pretax performance, and tax efficiency, a study was conducted by Peterson (2002). For this purpose a sample of 1,170 diversified U.S. equity funds over the period of 1981-98 was used. Study applied two-step estimation technique in the analysis. The results indicated that funds that were historically tax efficient outperformed comparable funds on an after-tax basis. The results also showed that pretax performance, investment style, risk and expenses were important determinants of after-tax and pretax returns. Study suggested that taxable investors should not make investment decisions with tax efficiency as the sole focus. Instead, study emphasized maximizing after-tax returns (for the chosen risk tolerance). A study was conducted by Cesari and Panetta (2002) to examine the risk-adjusted performanc e of funds. Sample of study was comprised of all the equity funds in existence in Italy from 1984 to 1995. Study analyzed the risk-adjusted performance by using net returns as well as gross returns. Single factor and multifactor benchmarks were used for the purpose of comparison. Similarly managers market-timing ability is taken into account by using the CAPM and multifactor models. The results showed that with gross returns, the performance is always positive. Results also showed that the return on Italian government bonds was slightly higher than the return on Italian equities during sample period. A study was conducted by Otten, and Mark (2002) to compare the performance of European mutual fund industry with performance of United States fund industry. Sample of 506 European open-ended mutual funds and 2096 American open-ended mutual funds was taken from January 1991 to December 19979. Study was restricted the sample to purely domestic equity funds with at least 24 months of data. Results also indicated that European mutual funds had on average a better performance than the American counterparts and that the small cap mutual funds in both Europe and the United States outperformed the benchmark and all other mutual funds. A study was conducted by Artikis (2002) to analyze the risk adjusted performance of equity mutual funds operating in Greek from 1995-1998. For this purpose daily, weekly and monthly returns were calculated and compared with the GIASE. These funds were ranked on the basis of standard deviation, total risk, and techniques of Treynor (1965) , Sharpe (1966), and Jensen. The results showed that coefficient of variations of seven mutual funds were higher than the GIASE whereas the total risk of all the seventeen mutual funds was lower than the GIASE. On the other hand Treynor (1965) s index showed values higher than the General Index of the ASE. Sorros (2003) examined the performance of equity mutual funds. For this purpose a sample of sixteen equity funds was taken for the period 1995-1999. The average daily returns of all the sample funds were calculated and these funds were ranked on the basis of the systematic risk, return, coefficient of variation, and techniques of Sharpe (1966) and Treynor (1965). Results showed that total risk and risk-return coefficient of all the sixteen mutual funds was lower than Athens Stock Exchange (ASE). It also showed that four mutual funds achieved lower return than ASE. The author also concluded that eight sample funds varied to some extent between the techniques proposed by Sharpe (1966) and Treynor (1965). The study of Artikis (2003) evaluated the risk adjusted performance of the ten domestic mutual funds for the period 1/1/1995 31/12/1998. In doing so, the mutual funds under consideration were ranked on the basis of the return, and techniques of Treynor (1965), Sharpe (1966), and Jensen. The ten domestic balanced mutual funds participating in the research had lower retur n as compared to the return of General Index. However, this return appears to be satisfactory since the risk undertaken by these mutual funds was significantly lower than the corresponding risk of the General Index of the ASE. The ranking of the sample mutual funds varied to some extent among the techniques proposed by Treynor (1965), Sharpe (1966) and Jensen. Rao and Ravindran (2003) conducted a research to examine the performance of Indian mutual funds in a bear market for the period of September 1998 to April 2002. Initially study employed a sample of 269 open ended schemes (out of total schemes of 433) for computing relative performance index. But when study excluded those funds whose returns were lees than risk-free returns, only 58 schemes were left. Study computed logarithmic returns from monthly closing NAVs and applied Treynor (1965)s ratio, Sharps ratio, Sharps measure, Jensens measure, and Famas measure to evaluate the performance. The results showed that Out of 269 sc hemes, 49 were under performers, 102 were par performers and 118 were out performers of the market. Study concluded that most of the mutual fund schemes in the sample of 58 were able to satisfy investors expectations by giving excess returns over expected returns. In order to analyze the Performance Selectivity, Market Timing and Persistence of Danish Mutual Fund a study was conducted by Christensen (2005). Study tried to provide evidence on performance evaluation for mutual funds that invest purely in the Danish market as well as mutual funds that invest outside Denmark. For this purpose this study employed a sample of 47 Danish mutual funds consisting of 34 equity funds and 13 fixed income funds from January 1996 to June 2003. Study applied single index model and a multi-factor model to analyze the selectivity. Parametric and non-parametric methodologies were used to examine performance persistence while the timing ability was analyzed with the help of quadratic regression and option approach. The results indicated that net of expenses none of the 47 Danish mutual funds had been able to obtain superior performance. The researchers concluded that Danish mutual funds performed neutrally, returns were non-persistent and Danish mutual funds had no timing ability. Noulas, John and John (2005) evaluated the risk adjusted performance of Greek equity funds during the period 1997-2000. This study is based on weekly data for equity mutual funds and includes 23 equity funds that existed for the whole period under consideration. Mutual funds were ranked on the techniques used by Treynor (1965), Sharpe (1966) and Jensen. Results showed positive returns of the stock market for the first three years and negative returns for the fourth year. The results also indicated that the beta of all funds is smaller than 1 for four-year period. The authors concluded that the equity funds have neither the same risk nor the same return. The investor needs to know the long-term beh avior of mutual funds in order to make the right investment decision. Bauer, Roger and Alireza (2006) conducted a research to analyze the performance of New Zealand mutual funds for the period January 1990 till September 2003. Study employed a sample of 143 open-ended mutual funds, of which 30 were domestic equity, 63 international equity and 50 multisector, respectively. Study used different measures such as Single-factor performance model, Market timing model, Multifactor performance models, and Conditional multifactor performance model to evaluate the performance of the sample funds under period of analysis. The results indicated that New Zealand mutual funds had not been able to provide out-performance and that the balanced funds underperformed significantly. Researchers found no evidence of timing abilities by the fund managers but observed the return persistence for all funds in short term. Researcher also found that the risk-adjusted performance for equity funds is positiv ely related to fund size and expense ratio and negatively related to load charges. A study was conducted by Francis, Kim and Faff (2006) to examine the US mutual funds performance using the multiscaling approach: wavelet analysis. Study collected the monthly mutual fund returns for the US over the period January 1991 to December 2005. Sharpe (1966) ratio was used at various time scales to evaluate the performance of these three groups of mutual funds. Results indicated that since the risk and value (performance) were timescale-dependent therefore any attempt to measure performance must consider the investment horizon effect. Researcher concluded that in case of index fund, the size of funds does not matter in terms of the performance but in case of institutional and active funds, the funds with the higher net asset values consistently performed better than those with the lower net asset values. In order to evaluate the diversification benefits and performance persistence of U. S.-based global bond funds a study was conducted by Polwitoon and Tawatnuntachai (2006). For this purpose a sample of 188 global and 531 domestic bond funds was taken for the period 1993 to 2004. Study compared the performance of global bond funds to performance of domestic bond funds using both unconditional and conditional Sharpe (1966) ratios. The results showed that global funds underperformed broad-based benchmark indexes but concluded that the underperformance was less than the funds expense ratio. Results also indicated that global funds provide higher total return and comparable risk-adjusted return to domestic bond funds. Leite and Cortez (2006) conducted a research to analyze the impact of using conditioning information in evaluating the performance of mutual funds. For this purpose two different samples of Portuguese-owned open end equity funds were built, over the period of June 2000 to June 2004. The first sample contained surviving 24 funds (10 National funds and 14 European Union funds) at the end of June 2004. While the second sample included all surviving and 20 non-surviving funds during the sample period. Both conditional and unconditional models were used to evaluate the performance. The results of unconditional model indicated that the performance of National funds was neutral while the performance of European Union funds was negative. On the other hand conditional models suggested that conditional betas (but not alphas) are time-varying and dependent on the dividend yield variable. A study was conducted by Arugaslan, Ed and Ajay (2007) to evaluate the risk-adjusted performance of US mutual funds. Study employed a sample of 20 largest US-based mutual funds for the period 1995-2004. Study used Quarterly returns for computing the measures of return and risk. Modigliani and Modigliani (M Square) and Sortino Ratio are used to evaluate the performance. Study identified the performance evaluation over a five-year (2000-2004) and ten-year ( 1995-2004) investment horizon. The authors concluded that funds with the highest returns faced higher risk due to which funds lose attractiveness. Boudreaux, S.P., Dan and Suzanne (2007) conducted a study to examine the risk adjusted returns of international mutual funds for the period of 2000-2006. For this purpose a sample of ten portfolios of international mutual fund was taken and risk-adjusted performance was calculated by using Sharpe (1966)s Index of Reward to Variability ratio. US market of mutual funds was taken as the benchmark. The results showed that the performance of nine out of ten of the international mutual fund was higher than the U.S. market. Those portfolios which contained only U.S stock mutual funds underperform on a risk adjusted the funds that contained all international mutual funds. The authors concluded that Investors may not fully take advantage of possible portfolio risk reduction and higher returns if international mutual funds were excluded Abdul lah, Taufiq and Shamsher (2007) conducted a research to analyze the difference in terms of performance between conventional and Islamic mutual funds in the context of Malaysian capital market. For this purpose a sample of 65 funds out of which 14 were Islamic was taken. These monthly returns of these funds were analyzed from 1992-2001 by using Sharpe (1966) index, adjusted Sharpe (1966) index, and Jensen Alpha and KLCI was used as a market benchmark. Results showed that the performance of Islamic funds was lower than conventional funds during bullish economic conditions whereas it performed better than conventional funds during bearish economic trends. Results also showed that the two types of funds were unable to get at least 50 per cent market diversification levels. In order to examine the risk adjusted performance of Slovenian mutual funds, a study was conducted by Jagric, Boris and Sebastjan and Vita (2007). Study employed sample of only those funds which were older than thr ee years in the period 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2003. Weekly returns of all the mutual funds were calculated for the sample period. Study used Ljubljana Stock Exchange SBI20 index (which is a market capitalization weighted average of the 15 largest companies) as a benchmark. Sharpe (1966) ratio, Treynor (1965) ratio, Jensens Alpha, and Treynor (1965) -Mazuy timing measure were used to evaluate the risk-adjusted performance. The researchers found that the rankings obtained by applying both the Sharpe (1966) and Treynor (1965) rules to be almost the same, implying that funds were well diversified and concluded that all analyzed funds outperformed the market. Study also concluded that some of the funds performed extremely well compared to other mutual funds worldwide. Arugaslan, Ed and Ajay (2008) examined the risk-adjusted performance of US-based international equity funds from 1994-2003. The analysis was done for five-year period 1999-2003 and ten-year period 1994-2003. For this a sample of 50 large US-based international equity funds was taken and a new method of measurement Modigliani and Modigliani (M squared) was applied. The performance was compared with both domestic and international benchmark indices. The results showed that the risk has great impact on the attractiveness of Funds. Higher return funds may loose attractiveness due to higher risk while the lower return funds may be attractive to investors due to the lower risk. Fernaacute;ndez, Vicente and Andrada (2008) conducted a research to compare the average return on Spanish mutual funds with inflation, stock market investment and Spanish government bonds. The analysis was done during the period 1991-2007 and Index of the Madrid Stock Exchange (ITBM) was taken as benchmark. Study employed a sample of 935 mutual funds and made the analysis on 3, 5, 10 and 16 years basis. Various tables and charts were used for the purpose of comparison. The results concluded that during the past 10 and 1 6 years, the average return on mutual funds in Spain was lower than the average return on government bonds. Similarly the average return on mutual funds was also lower than the inflation. On the other hand out of 935 only 30 mutual funds outperformed the benchmark and only two of them outperformed the overall Index of the Madrid Stock Exchange (ITBM). Dietze, Oliver and Macro (2009) conducted a research to evaluate the risk-adjusted performance of European investment grade corporate bond mutual funds. Sample of 19 investment-grade corporate bond funds was used for the period of 5 years (July 2000 June 2005). Funds were evaluated on the basis of single-index model and several multi-index and asset-class-factor models. Both maturity-based indices and rating based indices were used to account for the risk and return characteristics of investment grade corporate bond funds. The results indicated that the corporate bond funds, on average, underperformed the benchmark portfolios and t here was not a single fund exhibiting a significant positive performance. Results also indicated that the risk-adjusted performance of larger and older funds, and funds charging lower fees was higher. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "An Evaluation Of Studys Of Fund Performance Finance Essay" essay for you Create order

Reasons For Choosing Corporate Human Resources Free Essays

The grounds for taking Corporate HR – NCC are because NCC is the Norfolk local authorization where a broad scope of information and cognition is transmitted and managed every twenty-four hours. In add-on, Corporate HR is a squad that supports the bringing of Council services by pull offing, back uping and developing NCC ‘s employees. Therefore, it is convenient to happen out how people interact and learn from each other. We will write a custom essay sample on Reasons For Choosing Corporate Human Resources or any similar topic only for you Order Now Furthermore, the fact that Corporate HR – NCC are willing assistants facilitated the execution of survey in this administration. The visit to NCC was carried out on Thursday, 4 March 2010. Scope of Study ( what will you analyze, what will you cover and non cover ) Since NCC is a big administration with different sections responsible for a assortment of services, it is impossible to detect and cover all activities of it. As a effect, this study simply concentrates on the cognition direction patterns within one unit of NCC – Corporate HR. The countries of cognition direction in NCC studied in this paper are knowledge types, acquisition degrees, cognition making and sharing, and cognition storing. Methodology of Study ( how you studied it and why ) Methodologies used in this survey are detecting how Corporate HR Team communicate and learn from each other in their workplace, questioning an HR officer of Placements – Ms. Sarah Holloway and utilizing secondary informations from NCC web site and the available literature on cognition direction. After analyzing all collected primary and secondary informations, findings and recommendations are presented. Literature Review Definition of Knowledge Knowledge has become a concern of doctrine since the ancient Greek. However, there remains a deficiency of consensus about the nature of cognition. Harmonizing to traditional epistemic Western philosophers, cognition was described as ‘justified true belief ‘ whose indispensable property is truthfulness ( Alexander et al. , 1991 ; Nonaka A ; Takeuchi, 1995, p.21 ) . However, this position appears to be obscure and headlong since things people believe to be true may non be true cognition. Furthermore, it is difficult to warrant cognition claims because no 1 can gauge accurately how much grounds is sufficient to vouch the truth of a cognition claim ( Firestone A ; McElroy, 2003 ) . Another school of idea defined cognition by separating it from information, and informations. ‘Data is a set of distinct, nonsubjective facts about events ‘ ( Davenport A ; Prusak, 2000 ) . Information is meaningful informations that have been processed and organised to accomplish a peculiar intent ( Davis A ; Botkin, 1994 ; Firestone A ; McElroy, 2003 ) . Knowledge, likewise, is an collection of organizational information and expertness ( Firestone A ; McElroy, 2003 ) ; accordingly, it can be stored, manipulated and applied ( Zack, 1999 ) . Again, this apprehension could non comprehensively explicate the significance of ‘knowledge ‘ as cognition and information do non chiefly differ in the content, construction or truth but in the location. As stated by Alavi A ; Leidner ( 2001, p.109 ) , ‘knowledge is information possessed in the head of persons: it is personalized information ‘ . Furthermore, cognition is broader and deeper than information ; it is besides created due to the impacts of external stimulations. As a consequence, towards a clearer working definition of cognition, this paper agrees that: Knowledge is a unstable mix of framed experience, values, contextual information, and expert insight that provides a model for measuring and integrating new experiences and information. It originates and is applied in the heads of apprehenders. In administrations it frequently becomes embedded non merely in paperss or depositories but besides in organizational modus operandis, procedures, patterns, and norms. ( Davenport A ; Prusak, 2000, p.5 ) Knowledge Types and Oganisational Knowledge Creation Different attacks result in assorted categorization of cognition. Harmonizing to Garud ( 1997 ) , there are three types of cognition, consisting of know-what, know-how and know-why. Know-what refers to minimal apprehension of the facts such as cognition of targeted clients of a merchandise ( Neef et al. , 1998 ) . Such sort of cognition is generated by a procedure of ‘learning by utilizing ‘ , largely through interaction between manufacturers and users, Sellerss and clients. Know-how relates to accomplishments and accrued practical experience ; it is the consequence of ‘learning by making ‘ procedure and exists in persons, organizational modus operandis and fabrication patterns ( Garud, 1997 ) . Know-why, on the other manus, involves ‘scientific cognition of rules and Torahs of gesture in nature, in the human head, and in society ‘ ( Neef et al. , 1998, p.116 ) . It is deep cognition found in persons and acquired through ‘learning by analyzin g ‘ . Polanyi ( 1967 ) and Nonaka A ; Takeuchi ( 1995 ) , in contrast, argued that there are fundamentally two types of cognition: explicit and tacit. Explicit or codified cognition refers to knowledge that is easy to pass on, transportation and express in text signifier ( Ahmed et al. , 2002 ) . Tacit cognition, on the other manus, is embedded in human head through practical accomplishments and experiences, hence, is hard to be articulated. It is considered work-related know-how that is merely transferred among people through a long procedure of apprenticeship ( Polanyi, 1967 ) . Nonaka ( 1994, 1995 ) argued that cognition in an administration is created by persons through the interaction of tacit and expressed cognition in four transition procedures, get downing from socialization ( tacit/tacit ) , externalization ( tacit/explicit ) , combination ( explicit/explicit ) to internalization ( explicit/tacit ) . However, as argued by Gourlay ( 2006 ) , this position seemed to be flimsy since the categorization ignored the fact that cognition, in some instances, may non be wholly silent. In other words, whether there is such thing as silent cognition or merely cognition which is silent. Furthermore, the mechanism does non reflect how new ideals are created or how deepness of understanding develops. It is ill-defined why cognition transition has to get down with socialization instead than others ( Gourlay, 2006 ) and besides diffident whether silent cognition is wholly and accurately transmitted from a individual to another by merely observation, repeat and pattern s. Hence, it is said to be barely a representation of cognition creative activity. Degrees of Learning As argued by Argyris A ; Schon, there exist two degrees of acquisition in the administration: single-loop acquisition and double-loop acquisition. Single-loop acquisition is lower degree of larning which concentrates on problem-solving, chiefly detects and corrects mistake, and as a effect, consequences in incremental betterments. Double-loop acquisition is the higher degree one which emphasises on uninterrupted self-reflection and scrutiny of ways the administration defines and solves jobs ( Ahmed et al. , 2002 ) . Consequently, it frequently leads to transformative betterments which are critical to the success of the administration, particularly during times of rapid alteration. Knowledge Codification Knowledge codification, as defined by Cowan A ; Foray ( 1997 ) , is ‘the procedure of transition of cognition into messages which can so be processed as information ‘ . In the epoch of cognition economic system, as cognition residing in the human heads can greatly lend to the sustainability and development of administrations, the codification of cognition, viz. the transition of silent cognition to explicit cognition in a functional signifier, is truly indispensable. Knowledge Management Knowledge direction as presented by Huczynski A ; Buchanan ( 2007 ) is the transition of single tacit cognition into expressed cognition in order to be shared among people in the administration. It is the procedure of identifying, pull outing and capturing the cognition assets of the house so that they can be to the full exploited and protected as a beginning of competitory advantage. In order to better the productiveness of cognition direction, it is necessary for the administration to use information engineering to increase the single and group ability of cognition creative activity and storage every bit good as to beef up the linkages among persons and between groups ( Alavi A ; Leidner, 2001 ) . Knowledge Management in Corporate HR – NCC A Typical Day at Corporate HR – NCC Corporate HR are responsible for all kinds of HR issues, embracing HR scheme and Policy, Learning and Development, Health A ; Safety and the Employee Services Centre. Their purpose is to back up the bringing of Council services by pull offing, back uping and developing the people who work for NCC. A normal twenty-four hours at Corporate HR begins at around 8.00 am when people come to the office and look into all latest electronic mails they received. They answer the electronic mails and if there is any affair that they do non cognize, they email or ask their co-workers for information or their ain HR senior director for advice. Besides, they check assignments in their computing machines, answer the phones, talk to each other about work and how to cover with the undertakings. They besides complete their ain electronic flexitime sheet with the clip when they start working and go forthing. The employees here are encouraged to self pull off their working hours. However, they must non be absent from work during nucleus clip – between 10.00 am and 4.00 autopsy and must work for at least 37 hours a hebdomad. In add-on, HR staff have to go to the scheduled meetings with the whole Corporate HR squad or with people involved in their ain undertakings, or with the directors to info rm about the undertaking processs and advancement, other facets of work and show their feelings at work. During my visit, there was a meeting between HR officer, Corporate HR between Ms. Glenda Bennett – Corporate HR Manager, Ms. Jane Hanrahan – HR and Organisational Development Manager of Learning – Adult Social Services Department and Ms. Sarah Holloway, HR Officer of Placements about Apprenticeships at 10.00 am. After the meeting, Ms. Holloway came back and wrote carefully in her computing machine what she took note while other people continued working at their desk until 4.00 to 4.30 autopsy. Knowledge Types and cognition Creation After one-day detecting how employees work and interact with each other, I recognise that cognition transmitted in Corporate HR is the combination of both expressed and silent cognition. It is clearly illustrated when the HR staff and her senior director discussed how to reply a inquiry she received via electronic mail, when the staff showed an learner how to utilize a photocopier and asked her to show utilizing the photocopier to her, and particularly through the meeting between Ms. Holloway and other two directors about Apprenticeships undertaking. In the meeting, the tacit cognition was externalised into expressed cognition when Ms. Hanrahan explained the content of the Apprenticeships undertaking to Ms. Bennett and Ms. Holloway. Then, the combination procedure occured when Ms. Hanrahan gave them a cusp incorporating some activities of Apprenticeships programme and when Ms. Holloway wrote down the information and apprehension about the undertaking in her notebook. After that, the explicit cognition once more was converted into silent cognition as Ms. Bennett and Ms. Holloway repeated some contents of the undertaking Ms. Hanrahan has merely said to guarantee they understood right and exhaustively. From the world of Corporate HR, it could be said that Nonaka ( 1994 ) was right when asseverating the duologue between tacit and expressed cognition is uninterrupted and dynamic. Nevertheless, in this instance, the cognition making procedure did non purely follow the theoretical account of Nonaka since cognition is produced from the externalization procedure non stiffly from the socialization. This, once more, has strengthened the aforesaid unfavorable judgment of Gourlay ( 2006 ) toward the theoretical account of Nonaka and Takeuchi. Besides silent and expressed, cognition in Corporate HR besides includes know-what, know-how and know-why. Know-what and know-why are generated largely through different preparation classs designed by Corporate HR. For illustration, Corporate HR have cooperated with member co-workers such as UEA and City Colleges in Norwich to supply HR practicians with necessary HR formal makings – CPP ( Certificate in Personnel Practice – degree 3 ) and CIPD ( Postgraduate Certificate in Personnel and Development – degree 7 ) . Additionally, they have developed Learning Hub, a website offering e-courses such as informations protection and client services, and organised seminars and conferences sing some peculiar subjects to assist any NCC staff to better cognition at work. Know-how, conversely, is acquired through ‘learning by making ‘ . Namely, when an employee of a section has grudge and it can non be sorted out by his ain HR section, it will be passed to Corporat e HR to work out. After settling the grudge, HR staff will enter it as ‘a instance jurisprudence ‘ for them to work out similar jobs if go oning. Knowledge Sharing Peoples in Corporate HR use legion ways to interact with each other and with other sections, from face-to-face treatments and meetings, electronic mail, telephone, facsimile to formal authorship. However, the most widely used manner is to portion knowledge electronically via PeopleNet. PeopleNet is an intranet site designed, updated and monitored on a regular basis to supply clear, concise HR information and cognition to all NCC staff. This site holds all HR related information from processs, policies to signifiers and often asked inquiries so that employees can happen the replies for their inquiries as a first point of contact. Furthermore, Corporate HR besides tailored an electronical newssheet called HR Matters. It is produced monthly and emailed to HR community to inform them about impending statute law, assorted undertaking updates and messages from the Head of Human Resource A ; Organisational Development. With other organisations and public, the squad chiefly interacts by uti lizing electronic mail, telephone, meetings and presentation, seting information on the Press or Website ( extranet ) for enrolling or set uping work experience. Information and Knowledge Storing All information and codified cognition of HR are stored in three systems – electronic filing system, paper filing system including papers booklets, books and transcripts, etc. and Outlook Calendar incorporating information of meetings, seminars and conferences. Storing information and cognition is really indispensable for any HR staff to recover if necessary and do it go their cognition indispensable at work. Knowledge Learning Based on the interview with Ms. Holloway, I found that most of larning activities in Corporate HR is merely single-loop acquisition. It is because Corporate HR is merely a unit within NCC. Most of work and undertakings they handle are given by Senior Management in NCC or come from the authorities. Cardinal authorities develops enterprises and as a portion of local authorization, Corporate HR has duty to develop the enterprises that are relevant to them such as Apprenticeships. During the execution procedure of undertakings, if HR staff gain some arising jobs, they will speak to their directors about that. The directors can propose a solution or organize a squad meeting to discourse. Other members, so, will lend their sentiments and recommendations to work out the jobs or develop and hone thoughts of the undertaking. Furthermore, the acquisition activities, different from the theory of Agyris, are still ongoing even when there are no errors and no alterations made to the undertakings. As Ms. Holloway said, the employees continue lending their thoughts and sharing them to other squad members in order to better the quality of the undertakings even when the undertakings are in advancement. This reveals a spread in the theoretical account of Argyris and recommends that larning is a dynamic procedure and should be defined in footings of procedure itself. Summary and Conclusion Drumhead This paper is about how Corporate HR – NCC pull off their cognition. The chief literature reappraisal chiefly refers to knowledge types, cognition creative activity, degrees of acquisition, cognition codification, and knowledge direction. The objects of observation and interview mostly concentrate on the nature of cognition shared, how cognition is created, managed and transmitted and the information system that supports it, how HR staff interact and learn from each other, and how they store information and cognition. Weaknesses in the organizational cognition creative activity theory of Nonaka and Takeuchi every bit good as in larning theoretical account of Argyris and Schon are pointed out and proved by the operations of Corporate HR. Decision Due to the clip bound on observation and interview, all aspects of cognition direction in Corporate HR – NCC could non be wholly discovered and discussed within the range of this paper. Given the fact that the NCC is a big administration with different sections, farther survey could concentrates on happening out more inside informations of cognition making and sharing procedure ; NCC ‘s norms, values, and modus operandis which are affected by the cognition direction as Davenport A ; Prusak ( 1998 ) suggested about administration cognition ; every bit good as the larning procedure of the Corporate HR in peculiar and the NCC in general. How to cite Reasons For Choosing Corporate Human Resources, Essay examples

Othello is certainly an overlay of the features th Essays

Othello is certainly an overlay of the features that define tragedy as explained by Aristotle, Hegel, Nietzsche and Eagleton. Hence, to say that the play is Hegelian does not necessarily mean it is not Aristotelian. While Aristotle focused on tragedy Hegel focused on the tragic. Both features of tragedy and the tragic are to a great extent available in the Shakespearean tragedy of Othello. Hegel's theory on the tragic helps us to a great extent analyze the tragic conflict in this play. He focuses on the tragic vis--vis tragedy. And for me, Hegel is the best whom can we depend upon analyzing Shakespeare's Othello. Not only that but also he uses other supportive techniques of increasing the tragic conflict. Hegel, neither judges nor indicates that the Greek tragedy is better than the Shakespearean , or the Shakespearean is better than the Greek as Professor Carl Friedrich states that it is not Greek tragedy, ultimately, but the Shakespearean dramatic world which Hegel exalts as the ver y pinnacle of aesthetic achievement.' To Hegel suffering does not mean tragedy. The cause of suffering is more important than suffering itself. In this way Hegel gives stress not on the suffering of a person but on the cause of suffering. He relates it to "a special kind of action which born out of the conflict of the spirit". In Hegel's view the suffering of a tragic hero is due to the conflict of the spirit. The reason why the tragic conflict thus appeals to the spirit is that it is itself a conflict of the spirit. It is a conflict, that is to say, between powers that rule the world of man's will and action - his "ethical substance". Hegel says that discordant of two forces always produces a tragic conflict. It is not essential that conflict always be between good and evil but it can be between good and good. One tries to prove the rejection of other and the result is collision. "The essentially tragic fact is the self - division and intestinal warfare of the ethical substance , not so much the war of good with evil as the war of good with good." Hegel describes tragedy not merely a story of suffering but that of inexorability of law of fate of necessity'. The tragic hero involves in every action without knowing it good or bad or differentiating between them. Therefore, he is followed by the wrong action, makes a sacrifice of his entire life and ultimately reaches to his room. All the main characters of Shakespearean tragedies meet their end by following the same theory. Hegel gives the idea of reconciliation'. It means the realization of follies or mistakes done by the character on each and every step. Although he wants to improve it, he is too late to escape from the consequences. Ultimately, he prepares himself both physically and mentally to accept his defeat and destruction. Thus, according to Hegelian theory, the incompatibility between two forces _ good and evil or good and good, produces a tragic conflict. Othello may be interpreted on the basis of this theory. In the play we find that both Othello' and Desdemona' are good characters. But Iago's personal jealousy involves them in the evil game. He feels jealous for Othello and Cassio professionally and suspects his wife Emilia has illegal relationship with them. The combination of this professional and sexual jealousy leads Iago to ruin the life of the poor characters. He provokes Othello against his wife Desdemona and makes him to suspect on her chastity. He convinces him that Cassio and Desdemona have an affair: O beware, my lord, of jealous!/ It is green eyes monster; which doth mock./The meat it feeds on. That cuckold lives in bliss/ Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger?/ Provoked by him without trying to find out the reason Othello involved in every wrong action and loses the balance of his mind and emotion. Othello, who has a deep faith in sexual purity, becomes excited to know about his wife's unfaithfulness and violation of her chastity. On the other hand, Iago continuously persuades his rage: "Lie with her? Lie on her? We say lie on her when

Book Genres List of Book Genres with Examples, Word Counts, More

Book Genres List of Book Genres with Examples, Word Counts, More Book Genres: List of Book Genres with Examples, Word Counts, More As a writer (or author) knowing the different book genres is vital to your overall knowledge as a professional, and for your books success.Not only is labeling your genre correctly important butNot doing so can result in low book sales, negative book reviews on Amazon, and unsatisfied readers overall.When youre writing a book, the genre you write in is super important because it will dictate the different literary elements within your book.Heres a list of the different book genres:NOTE: We cover what you need to know about selling in your specific genre in all of our Self-Publishing Programs. Learn more about it hereKnowing Your Book Genres is ImportantAs an author, its important to know the differences in genres so youre well informed about what youre writing.Obviously, your audience may change from genre to genre.Not only that, but the rules for writing also vary depending on which genre you write in, which means youll have to understand them in order to get it right.How many book genres are there?There are more book genres than you might think. In this blog post, well cover 22 of them, however, there are upwards for 40 genres and even more if you count sub-genres for books.For example, you can have a book thats a dystopian fantasy novel.Dystopian and fantasy can be genres on their own but if you have a dystopian story that involves magic, your book will then have two genres.This is also important to keep in mind when you have subplots within a novel that might fall into a separate genre.Youll see this most often with romantic sub plots in broader genres like fantasy or sci-fi.What are the main book genres?There are such a large number of book genres that we cant cover them all in this post, though we will cover 22 of them for you.That being said, being familiar with the most common can help you identify which your book will fall under.These are the main book genres:FantasySci-FiMysteryThrillerRomanceWesternsDystopianContemporaryLets go into more detail with these and nonfiction book genres as well.List of Book Genres All Authors Should KnowIf youre looking to sharpen your knowledge as an author or are just trying to find which genre your book fits in specifically (perhaps to decide which Amazon categories to go after), weve got you covered.Here are 22 book genres, both fiction and nonfiction, to help you understand which is which and how you should label your novel.#1 FantasyFantasy encompasses a huge part of the book world. Its one of the most popular book genres out there- a personal favorite of mine to read and write.Fantasy is a genre thats identified by the use of magic within it.Overall, fantasy is the genre of possibility. You can write in a little magic, like Jenna Morecis The Saviors Champion or you can write a book where magic is the forefront of the plot, like with J.K. Rowlings Harry Potter.To take this a step further, lets look at the different categories within this genre that has more specific characteristics.Young Adul t Fantasy Genre:Young adult is typically meant for readers between the ages of 13-17. However, adults enjoy this category of writing just as much as teens.One thing to keep in mind when writing young adult fantasy is that the themes and messages within the literature will often revolve around teen-aged problems, like coming of age and exploration of identity.Average word count for this book genre: 60,000 90,000 wordsAdult Fantasy Genre:When you think of adult fantasy, think Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings versus Harry Potter or Children of Blood and Bone.The main plots or themes in adult fantasy will likely revolve around more grown issues like the difference between right and wrong, death, adult relationships, and more.Average word count for this book genre: 70,000 110,000Epic Fantasy Genre:An epic fantasy novel is characterizes by the overall lengthy and grandiose nature of its plot, characters, setting, or theme.Books that tend to call into this book genre are Game of Thro nes and Lord of the Rings, like we mentioned above. Most often, epic fantasies will also fall under fantasy adventures.Average word count for this book genre: 100,000 200,000 +#2 AdventureWriting a novel in the adventure category will require a trip, journey, or quest of some kind as the overall plot.Your average adventure novel often focuses on both the characters physical journey as well as the journey they go through as a person throughout the novel.Average word count for this book genre: 90,000 130,000Epic Adventure Genre:As stated above for an epic fantasy, any genre thats epic is characterized by the magnitude of the plot, character, or themes themselves.An example of an epic adventure novel is Moby Dick, which stands at about 190,000 words and 720 pages long.Average word count for this book genre: 120,000 200,000#3 RomanceRomance authors have one specific goal when it comes to their books: to make you fall in love with the characters just as much as the characters fall i n love with each other.In this book genre, the romance is the center point of the plot. The entire novel moves around the relationship, though other plot points may be present.A classic example of a romance novel is The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks.When used as a sub plot:Romance can also be used a subplot in many novels, and is, in fact, used quite often as a complementary element in books.When romance is used as a sub plot, the main plot does not have to do with the relationship but rather, is something completely different. The romance simply adds to the plot in order to increase conflict or intrigue.Average word count for this book genre: 70,000 100,000#4 ContemporaryThis book genre is among the most popular, though most writers arent sure of what this category even is.The contemporary book genre is simply books written in the current time period with most of the parts of the novel revolving around common issues in a characters life.But really, this genre is actually more of th e absence of a genre. You may have heard this genre lumped in with others, like Contemporary Fantasy or Contemporary Romance.The term is used to tell readers that this book takes place in current times, though it might cover other genres as well.Average word count for this book genre: 60,000 90,000#5 DystopianThis is a newer book genre thats really been picking up popularity within the last 5 to 10 years.Though many stories of this nature have been published prior, the term dystopian was recently coined to describe a book genre in which the current government or society has been destroyed and the book centers around the aftermath.The dystopian genre can also be used as a secondary genre label in order to clarify the contents of the book, much like with contemporary.For example, you can have a Dystopian Fantasy novel as well as a Dytopian Science Fiction novel.Here are some examples of dystopian novels:The Hunger GamesYoung WorldHandmaids TaleAverage word count for this book genre: 60,000 110,000#6 MysteryWeve all heard of the mystery book genres. Its an extremely popular genre, and for a good reason.This book genre is defined by the plot focusing on solving a mystery, most often with the mystery impacting the main character to the point where theyre the ones involved in solving it.Many other genres can have mysteries within them (in fact, most do), but what makes a book specific to this genre is the fact that the mystery is the main plot and point of the book.Writing a mystery novel requires the MOST planning of all the other genres in order to get the effect right.Click To TweetAverage word count for this book genre: 60,000 90,000#7 HorrorHorror novels are characterized by the fact that the main plot revolves around something scary and terrifying.Oftentimes, you can find that Horror and Thriller describe the same book, though well touch more on why thrillers are not always horror novels in the next section.Average word count for this book genre: 60,000 90,000#8 ThrillerIf youre writing a thriller novel, the book will focus around a high suspense and action-packed plot.This book genre most often deals with danger and dread instead, with high emotional impact involving fear.Here are some examples of popular thriller novels:The Girl With The Dragon TattooThe Woman in Cabin 10The ShiningItAverage word count for this book genre: 60,000 110,000#9 ParanormalParanormal books are characterized by including paranormal activity, like ghosts, clairvoyance, mediums, demons, vampires, and more.The difference between fantasy and paranormal is the elements within. Paranormal doesnt typically have magic like witches or fantasy-specific beings like unicorns, mermaids, and more.But the paranormal book genre includes a current or real-life setting and is not often set in another world, like fantasy sometimes can be.However, keep in mind that you can have a paranormal fantasy novel if your book covers both types of abnormal occurrences.Average wor d count for this book genre: 60,000 90,000#10 Historical FictionThis book genre is exactly as it sounds: a fictional story that takes place in the past.Usually, historical fiction centers around known events or problems that take place in a time significantly prior to the present.Average word count for this book genre: 60,000 90,000#11 Science FictionSci-fi is among the most popular book genre there is. With movie adaptations like Star Wars and Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, this genre has exploded and is abundant in the book world.Science fiction novels are those that take place in a futuristic society with advanced technology and occasionally otherworldly beings.This is another genre that can add to another, like with Sci-Fi Fantasy, which would include a futuristic world with advanced technology and some sort of fantastical being or magic.The word count for this novel genre can be extensive depending on the storyline.Average word count for this book genre: 60,000 90,000#12 MemoirOn to the nonfiction writing portion of these book genres and first up is memoirs.When writing a memoir, youre essentially telling the reader about the most defining moments in your life that have led you to where you are and who you are today.Memoirs differ from autobiographies in the sense that an autobiography is more of a timeline of your life, events, and accomplishments whereas a memoir is more of a collection of the most significant moments, pulled together by a theme or message you wish to share with readers.Average word count for this book genre: 45,000 80,000 #13 CookbookYou already know what a cookbook is.Cookbooks are those featuring recipes and directions for making the dishes correctly. Not only that, but many cookbooks features stories about why the dish was created and the inspiration behind it.Average word count for this book genre: Cookbooks vary greatly and are more dependent on number of recipes instead of total words.#14 ArtThis book genre encompasses several different types of books. However, all of them require the same thing: a focus on something art-related.There are many ways a book can qualify to be in the art genre.Here are a few ways your book would be a part of the art genre:it covers art-factsit teaches specific art methodsit discusses are in detail (art history)art is a primary focus of the bookAverage word count for this book genre: 10,000 60,000#15 Self-help / Personal DevelopmentIf youre writing a book aimed to aid someone in their personal life, as well as lift them up to make positive change, its likely youre writing in the self-help or personal development book genre.Essentially, if your book helps others have a better life by empowering them, it will fall under this genre.Keep in mind, this book genre is one that encompasses many other genres as well. You can have a health self-help book in additional to a relationship self-help.Average word count for this book genre: 30,000 70,000#16 MotivationalThis book genre is on the rise significantly as of late. If you write in this genre, your book will center around empowering people to do whatever it is theyre struggling with.Essentially, motivational books focus on problems that can prevent people from accomplishing their goals and dreams, and how to solve them.Most often, motivational books can be lumped in with other book genres like health, fitness, business, and self-help.Average word count for this book genre: 30,000 70,000#17 HealthThe health book genre is vast and covers a wide variety of different topics.Your book will fall under this wide genre if it features anything health-related. This can be topics ranging from fitness, holistic healing, to more complex medical topics and in-depth coverage of different health conditions.Average word count for this book genre: 30,000 70,000#18 HistoryAny book covering historical facts of any kind would fall under this category. And since this is nonfiction, they all have to be accurate.Many history books are much different than what you might have read in school. In fact, there are several books simply covering different events in history written in a more entertaining fashion versus a factional play-by-play textbook.Those books still fall under this book category.ï » ¿Average word count for this book genre: 30,000 70,000#19 TravelWhether youre writing travel guides or an in-depth review of different travel destinations, this book genre will cover all of them.Your book would also fall under this genre if youre writing about travel-hacks or ways to travel for cheap or even free.Average word count for this book genre: 20,000 50,000#20 Guide / How-toThere are so many guide books and how-tos out there that its fairly easy to know if your book fits this genre.The way to know if your book falls in this genre is to think about the core purpose. Is your book written in order to show someone how to do something specific?The biggest giveaway is in the book title. If your ti tle features how to then its in this genre!Average word count for this book genre: 3,000 50,000#21 Families and RelationshipsYou can write a book about how to build a stronger familial foundation or a book about improving your relationship. Either way, those books would fall under this category.Oftentimes, books in this genre will fall under a smaller, more specified genre as well, like family bonding or romantic relationships or even fostering friendships.The relationships genre is not to be confused with the fiction romance genre.Average word count for this book genre: 30,000 50,000#22 HumorIf youve ever read a joke book or a book revolving around a humorous endeavor of some sort, it falls under this book category.Books in this genre are also often gag gifts or are meant to be facetious.Average word count for this book genre: 10,000 50,000Are you writing a book? Get ahead of the game here ↓If youre ready to take your idea to the next level, this training is where you s hould start so that you can get ahead of the game and set you (and your book!) up for success.

What’s a Good New 2016 SAT Score for Your Target School

What’s a Good New 2016 SAT Score for Your Target School SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips You might have heard that a new SAT was released in March2016! What’s it out of? How do you know what a good score is? How do you determine what new SAT score you need to be accepted toyour target school? I'llcover all of this information below. New SAT Score Range The new SAT isscored out of 1600. There areonly be 2 sections instead of 3: Math and combined Writing and Language (instead of Math, Critical Reading, and Writing). Each of the 2 sections isscored from 200 to 800, making the new composite SAT score range 400 to 1600. Conversion Between the Old SAT and New SAT While we don’t yet know what the exact conversion will be, you can generally predict what the new approximate SAT score wouldbe by multiplying the old SAT score by 66.6% (since the new SAT isout of â…” as many points as the old SAT). If you're given separate scores by section (Math, Critical Reading, and Writing), you can use a different prediction method: Math section score + [(Critical Reading score + Writing score) / 2] In layman's terms, average Critical Reading and Writing and then add that average to the Math score. This method is more exact because it accounts for the fact that Mathisweighted more heavily on the new SAT(1/2 of your new composite score versus 1/3 of the old composite score). In 2014, the national average SAT score was 1497. Using the 66.6% calculation method mentioned above, I estimate the new average SAT score will be approximately 998. The national 75th percentile is about 1700, so the new 75th percentile score will be about 1133. The national 90th percentile is about 1900, so the new 90th percentile score will be about 1267. However, a good score is not just better than the average. A good SAT score depends on whatcollege you hope to attend. Colleges’ SAT Score Ranges and What They Mean for You To find out what a good new SAT score is for your target schools, you should look at colleges’ SAT score ranges. The score range shows what SAT scores admitted students received. Normally, schools show the scores from the most recent applicant pool, so the scores will likely be in terms of the old SAT (2400 scale). You'll need to convert the scores using the calculation above. The score range will be written in one of two ways as a 25th/75th percentile or an average. The 25th percentile SAT score means 25% of admits scored at or below that number (or 75% of admits scored higher). The 75th percentile SAT score means 75% of admits scored at or below that number (or 25% of admits scored higher). The average SAT is the average of all admits’ SAT scores. Knowing the score ranges will make you understand what kind of score you need to be a competitive applicant to that schoolsince you'll know what SAT scores admits received. Before figuring out your target, you need to figure out your target colleges. Make a List of Target Schools If you don’t have a list of target schools already, make one! This list should not include your safety schools. Asafety school is a college that you're almost certain you can get into with the SAT score and GPA you currently have. This list should include the more selective colleges that you hope to attend. You should exclude safety schools from this list because you want to plan your target SAT score for the colleges with the highest SAT criteria. If you meet or exceed their SAT criteria, you will almost certainly be admitted to your safety schools. After you have created your list of the more selective colleges, draw a table with 3 columns with the following titles: College Name 25th Percentile or Average SAT 75th Percentile / Target Score Fill in your target colleges under college name as I did below: College Name 25th Percentile or Average SAT 75th Percentile / Target Score UC Berkeley Yale University Under the 25th percentile or average SAT, you'll write either the 25th percentile or average SAT score for that college. As I mentioned earlier, colleges will only provide you with one. Whichever they give you, write that number in the middle column (you'll need to re-calculate it for the new SAT, which I will explain in detail below). Under 75th percentile / target score, you put the college’s 75th percentile score (if they provide it). For colleges that only give average SAT, you'll be calculating a target score. I'll explain how to calculate the target score later on. How to Find Your Target College’s New SAT Score Range Once you have your list, finding those colleges’ SAT score ranges is very simple. You just need to Google search â€Å"[College Name] average SAT† or â€Å"[College Name] SAT 25th/75th percentile.† That will should lead you to the Freshman Admissions Profile for your target college. If you're unable to locate a Freshman Admissions Profile for your target school,check out our college admission requirementsdatabase to see if we have the SAT information for your target school. This is a screenshot from Yale’s admission site: Yale provided the 25th/75th percentile SAT score for their freshmen admits. To approximate the 25th percentile composite SAT score for the new SAT in spring 2016, you need first to calculate the current 25th percentile composite SAT score. Average the 2 lower numbers for Writing and Verbal/Critical Reading together (which separately represent the current 25th percentile SAT scores for those sections): (710 + 720) / 2 = 715 Then, add that number to thelower number for the Math section (the 25th percentile SAT score for Math) 715 + 710 =1425, rounds to 1430 (the SAT is scored in units of 10) Do the same math with the higher numbers (75th percentile score) to figure out the composite 75th percentile SAT score. NOTE: certain colleges call the 25th/75th percentile the middle 50% scores. However, the 2 numbers they provide are the 25th/75th percentile scores. They call it the middle 50% since the 25th/75th percentile scores represent the middle 50% of SAT scores of admits. Add this new information to your chart: College Name 25th Percentile or Average SAT 75th Percentile / Target Score UC Berkeley Yale University 1430 1590 As I said before, other colleges will provide you with only the average SAT score for admits (asUC Berkeley does): Since UC Berkeley only provides an average, you can’t know how many students scored above and below it, but let’s assume about 50% scored above and 50% scored below. Let’s do the same math as above to figure out the approximate average SAT score for the new SAT: (686 + 698) / 2 =692 710 +692 = 1402, rounds to 1400 Fill that numberin under 25th Percentile or Average SAT, and leave the 75th Percentile / Target Score blank for now. I'll explain how to determine atarget score for school's with averaged scores later on. College Name 25th Percentile or Average SAT 75th Percentile / Target Score UC Berkeley 1400 Yale University 1430 1590 How to Calculate Your New SAT Target Score For the colleges that provide the 75th percentile, your target score should be at or above the 75th percentile. (That is why I had you list the 75th percentile in the same column as target score. The 75th percentile is your target score!) For the colleges that only tell you an average composite SAT, I would aim for a score 100 points above the re-calculated average. For example, for UC Berkeley, your target score should be 1500. Fill in that number (the average SAT plus 100 points) to your chart under 75th percentile / target score: College Name 25th Percentile or Average SAT 75th Percentile / Target Score UC Berkeley 1400 1500 Yale University 1430 1590 Why can’t you target a lower score near the 25th percentile or closer to the average? A non-negligible number ofstudents are clearly accepted with those scores. However, mostof the students accepted with lower scores are special applicants, including athletes, legacies, children of significant donors, or students with exceptionaltalents (such as the winner of the national science fair). If you aren’t in the â€Å"special† category, you’ll want a higher SAT score to boost your chances of being admitted.The higher your SAT score, the more likely you will get in.For more proof, check out Brown University’s admission data: For students with the highest score (800), 22.8% were admitted, which is much higher than the overall Brown admit rate, 8.7%. As the scores begin to decline (score between 750 and 790), the student’s chance of admission drops by 5.7%, from 22.8% to 15.1%. The same pattern holdsacross the other twosections and the composite.You now know the higher your score, the better chance you have of being accepted. If you have a discrepancy in the â€Å"Target Scores† on your list (as I do above), which should you aim for? Aim for the highest target score on your list.That way when you reach the highest target score, you will have the best chance of admission at all of your target schools. If you get a 1580 and apply to Yale and UC Berkeley, you have an excellent chance of being admitted to both schools. However, if you got a 1480 and applied to Yale, you would now be less likely to get in, as you would fall short of the 75th percentile score and be in the middle 50% of admits scores. How Exact Is the Conversion? What Does the Variation Mean for You? It's difficult to predict how students will perform on this new test since there are many changes(the College Board has not released data on the March 2016 test). Thus, the new SAT conversions I've given above may be slightly off. Writing and Reading iscombined into a single section,Evidence-Based Reading and Writing. The types of questions asked havechange. There areno more fill-in-the-blank vocabulary questions; instead, there are more critical thinking questions. Math iswithout a doubt more important on the new SAT. As you can see in the conversion above, Math now counts for half of your score as opposed to a third.For this reason, thebest method for converting current scores to the new format is to add the Math score to the average of the Reading and Writing scores rather than simply multiplying the composite score by 66% method. The first method ensures that the appropriate weight is given to each section in the context of the new score format. Based on this change in weight, you need to change your SAT preparation plan. With Math being more heavily weighted, if you struggle in Math, you'll need to focus more time preparing for the Math section to make sure you have a strong Math score. If Math is your strong suit, you'll have an advantage on the new SAT. Want to learn more about the SAT but tired of reading blog articles? Then you'll love our free, SAT prep livestreams. Designed and led by PrepScholar SAT experts, these live video events are a great resource for students and parents looking to learn more about the SAT and SAT prep. Click on the button below to register for one of our livestreams today! How to Plan Your Prep for the New SAT You need to have an excellent preparation plan to achieve your target new SAT score! Make sure you learn all you can about the new SAT. If you took a practice SAT and were unhappy with your initial score, think about taking an SAT class, hiring an SAT tutor, or using an online SAT program such as PrepScholar. Make sure the tutor or class/program is familiar with the changes tothe new SAT. If he/she/it is not, find help elsewhere! At PrepScholar, we figure out your strengths and weaknesses, and we personalize the practice to your needs. For more information, read How to Ensure Online Tutoring from PrepScholarTutors is Right for You? If you can’t afford these study options and/or want to try preparing by yourself, look at our study plan guides for sophomore, juniors, seniors and for students, who plan to study for a year or more. Stay focused on your goal, work hard, and you'll reach it! What’s Next? Worried about the SAT? Learn more about the content on the new SAT. Need help studying for the new SAT? Read our complete SAT study guide. Taking the test really soon? Learn how to cram for the test. Need help with your college application? Learn how to write about extracurriculars on your college application and get ideas to help you start your essay. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points?We've written a guide about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Javascript Sanboxing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Javascript Sanboxing - Essay Example Recent statistics has proven that the sandboxing application is essential in offering security and prevention of malwares to the computers. Sandboxing keeps the privileges of any attack or threat low. Any malware cannot execute on a system without authorized permissions. During installation or uninstallation of any new software in the computer, there are no traces left likely to harm the computer. In addition, it allows restoration of the computer to the original state after some changes have been made. It is also safe to browse on the internet, as the application does not remember the malicious sites visited (Resig 2013, pg. 28). Contrary to the immense benefits the system offers, the application is also at risk of attacks by malwares since it is not secure in all angles. In essence, the advanced threats do bypass the security controls; hence, it is not very efficient in its functions. One cannot have total trust on its operations. Therefore, all an attacker needs to do is to escalate the privilege of a vulnerability, then exploit the system (Saxena et al. 2010, pg.

Understanding Geospatial Data in Development Assignment

Understanding Geospatial Data in Development - Assignment Example A band ratio approach can be used by diving band 5 by band 2 in order to separate the water line from the clouds. The rate of change of the coastline can be calculated for transects greater than 16000 and generated at intervals of 50 m along the coastline and the main islands. This can be done using the End point Rate technique in the Digital Shoreline Analysis System in ArcGIS. Bangladesh is located at the mouth of Brahmaputra and Ganges which are the two largest rivers in the world flowing from the Himalayas. A large part of the country is located in the Bengal basin which is an extensive geosyncline and has a large population of about 14.2 million people. Most people live in the low lying plains floodplains and delta plains which are usually very vulnerable to flooding during the monsoon season (Alesheikh et al, 2007). As a result, Bangladesh is normally considered as one of the most risky countries in the world due to exposure to the effects of climate change and sea level rises. The coastline of Bangladesh covers an area of about 47,201square kilometers and this region is inhabited by about 46 million people. River Ganges drains about 1114000 square kilometers of catchment area and the River Brahmaputra drains 935000 square kilometers of catchment area and these supplies billions of tonnes of sediments every year in the Bengal basin. This rapid increas e in sedimentation results into a very rapid accretion in the estuaries (Goodbred, 2003). In other sections of the coastline where rapid erosion is experienced due to strong tidal currents and strong waves action, rapid subsidence can be noted with a recession of about 3-4 km of the shoreline from its original position. If we compare the Landsat images between 1973 and 2000, the recession rate of the shoreline and the time frame can be established (Benny, 2000). By comparing the satellite images

Net Present Value is the most realistic technique for evaluation

Net Present Value is the most realistic technique for evaluation Introduction Drury (2000) stated, The theory of capital budgeting reconciles the goals of survival and profitability by assuming that management takes as its goal the maximization of the market value of the shareholders wealth via the maximization of the market value of ordinary share. Capital budgeting decisions may be defined as the firms decision to invest its current funds most efficiently in the long term assets in anticipation of an expected flow benefits over a series of years. (Pandy, 2005) According to the above definitions of capital budgeting, following features can be identified, I. Exchange current funds for future benefits II. Funds are invested in long term assets and III. Benefit will occur to the firm over a series of years. Therefore main objective of the capital budgeting decisions are to maximize the wealth of the shareholders by, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Determining which specific investment projects to be undertaken à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Determining the total amount of capital expenditure which the firm should be obtained à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Determining how this portfolio of projects should be financed. In capital budgeting process different investment appraisal techniques are used to evaluate the investments. They are mainly traditional and Discounting Factor (DCF) methods. In traditional method consist of Payback and Accounting Rate of Return (ARR) which dont have the time value adjustment. But in DCF method Net Present Value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) are included and they are adjusting the time value of money to the cash flows. These techniques give different benefits and limitations in investment evaluation process, although as per the theoretical view DCF analysis may give more benefit to the organization. However successful completion of a project mainly depends on the selection criteria adopted while choosing the project in the initial phases itself and the choice of a project must be based on a sound financial assessment and not based on impression. DCF techniques are being widely used in both public and private sector. This is the method recommended for evaluating investment proposals. In this method, the incremental cost and benefits of proposals are discounted by a required rate of return in order to obtain the net present value of the proposal. Investment decisions are essential for a business as they define the future survival, and growth of the organization. The main objective of a business being the maximization of shareholders wealth. Therefore a firm needs to invest in every project that is worth more than the costs. The Net Present value is the difference between the projects value and its costs. Thus to make shareholders happy, a firm must invest in projects with positive NPVs. We shall start this essay with an explanation of investment appraisal, NPV, then compare this method with other investment appraisal methods and finally try to define, based on the works of Tony Davies, Brian Pain, and Brealey/Myers/Allen, which method works best in order to define a good investments. What is Investment Appraisal? A means of assessing whether an investment project is worthwhile or not Investment project could be the purchase of a new PC for a small firm, a new piece of equipment in a manufacturing plant, a whole new factory, etc Used in both public and private sector Types of investment appraisal: Payback Period Accounting Rate of Return (ARR) Internal Rate of Return (IRR) Profitability Index Net Present Value (discounted cash flow) Why do companies invest? Importance of remembering investment as the purchase of productive capacity NOT buying stocks and shares or investing in a bank! Buy equipment/machinery or build new plant to: Increase capacity (amount that can be produced) which means: Demand can be met and this generates sales revenue Increased efficiency and productivity Investment therefore assumes that the investment will yield future income streams Investment appraisal is all about assessing these income streams against the cost of the investment Capital budgeting versus current expenditures A capital investment project can be distinguished from current expenditures by two features: a) Such projects are relatively large b) a significant period of time (more than one year) elapses between the investment outlay and the receipt of the benefits. As a result, most medium-sized and large organizations have developed special procedures and methods for dealing with these decisions. A systematic approach to capital budgeting implies: a) The formulation of long-term goals b) The creative search for and identification of new investment opportunities c) Classification of projects and recognition of economically and/or statistically dependent proposals d) The estimation and forecasting of current and future cash flows e) A suitable administrative framework capable of transferring the required information to the decision level f) The controlling of expenditures and careful monitoring of crucial aspects of project execution g) A set of decision rules which can differentiate acceptable from unacceptable alternatives is required. The classification of investment projects a) By project size Small projects may be approved by departmental managers. More careful analysis and Board of Directors approval is needed for large projects of, say, half a million dollars or more. b) By type of benefit to the firm  · An increase in cash flow  · A decrease in risk  · an indirect benefit (showers for workers, etc). c) By degree of dependence  · Mutually exclusive projects (can execute project A or B, but not both)  · complementary projects: taking project A increases the cash flow of project B.  · substitute projects: taking project A decreases the cash flow of project B. d) By degree of statistical dependence  · Positive dependence  · Negative dependence  · Statistical independence. e) By type of cash flow  · Conventional cash flow: only one change in the cash flow sign e.g. -/++++ or +/-, etc  · Non-conventional cash flows: more than one change in the cash flow sign, e.g. +/-/+++ or -/+/-/++++, etc. Brief Introduction to Discounted Cash Flow and Methods This section would give a briefing on the mentioned topic and explain them thoroughly later on in this report. Discounted cash flow (DCF) DCF focuses on the time value of money, Rs.1 is worth more today than Rs.1 in the future. The reason being that it could be invested and make a return (yes, even in times of low interest, so long as interest rates are positive). So thats the discounting methodology, DCF has two methods. Net Present Value (NPV) The annual cash flows are discounted and totaled and then the initial capital cost of the project is deducted. The excess or deficit is the NPV of the project, it goes without saying that for the project to be worthwhile the NPV must be positive and the higher the NPV the more attractive is the investment in the project Internal Rate of Return (IRR) The IRR or yield of a project is the rate of return at which the present value of the net cash inflows equals the initial cost, which is the same as the discount rate which produces a NPV of zero. For an investment to be worthwhile the IRR must be greater than the cost of capital. Due to the following reasons, DCF method is identified as a best method for Investment appraisal processes, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ They give due weight to timing and size of cash flow à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Thy take the whole life of the project in to irregular cash flows do not invalidate the result obtained. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Estimate of risk and uncertainty can be incorporated à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Use of discounting methods may lead to move accurate estimating and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ They rank projects correctly in order of profitability and give better criteria for acceptance or rejection of projects than other method. Because of that in theoretically said that DCF analysis is best method to evaluate the investment over its rivals. A survey carried out by the Arnold Hatzopolous (2000) and Graham Harvey (2000) to identify the practical usage of investment appraisal techniques among the large manufacturing firms of UK had revealed that NPV and IRR are less behind its rivals in practically. Therefore they have commented that there is a gap between usages of appraisal techniques in practically and theoretically. The economic evaluation of investment proposals The analysis stipulates a decision rule for: I) accepting or II) rejecting Investment projects The time value of money Recall that the interaction of lenders with borrowers sets an equilibrium rate of interest. Borrowing is only worthwhile if the return on the loan exceeds the cost of the borrowed funds. Lending is only worthwhile if the return is at least equal to that which can be obtained from alternative opportunities in the same risk class. The interest rate received by the lender is made up of: The time value of money: the receipt of money is preferred sooner rather than later. Money can be used to earn more money. The earlier the money is received, the greater the potential for increasing wealth. Thus, to forego the use of money, you must get some compensation. The risk of the capital sum not being repaid. This uncertainty requires a premium as a hedge against the risk; hence the return must be commensurate with the risk being undertaken. Inflation: money may lose its purchasing power over time. The lender must be compensated for the declining spending/purchasing power of money. If the lender receives no compensation, he/she will be worse off when the loan is repaid than at the time of lending the money. Internal Rate of Return The internal rate of return (IRR) is another widely used method of investment appraisal. It calculates the rate of return, where the difference between the present values of cash inflows and outflows, the NPV, is zero. Thus when would a company undertake the project? Simply when the expected rate of return, the IRR, exceeds the target rate of return of the company. This is called the IRR rule. When the IRR is superior to the target rate of return, the NPV is positive. When IRR is equal to the target rate of return then NPV is equal to 0, and when the IRR is inferior to the target rate of return, then the NPV is negative. IRR can easily be determined through interpolation, which assumes a linear relationship between the NPVs of a capital investment project obtained using different discount rates. The exact rate is calculated algebraically using the theorem of Thales. we would have to compute a complex weighted average of these rates to be able to compare it to the IRR. This very much complicates the task, and gives us yet another reason to stick to the simple NPV method to better appraise investments. It has been shown that NPV proves to be much more reliable and simple of use than IRR. IRR is indeed subject to many pitfalls developed above. Nevertheless, a very important proportion of managers still use the IRR method to define attractive investments. Why could this be? It can be argued that managers do not trust the cash flow forecasts they receive. In the case of two projects A and B having the same NPV, IRR plays an important role. Project A requires an investment of 8,000 and project B necessitates an investment of 80,000. As said earlier both NPVs are the same. In such a situation where the NPVs are similar, managers would go for the project, whose initial investment is the lowest. If the project were to be dysfunctional, it is always easier to recover from a small initial loss than from a bigger one. By looking at the IRR the choice is quickly made. The project with the highest IRR is the one with the less risk. To summarize we have seen that although easy to use when used correctly, there are many drawbacks to the use of the IRR. IRR ignores the size of investment projects. That is two projects may have the same IRR but one project can return many times the cash flow returned by the other project. If the project cash flows are alternatively positive and negative, then we obtain two or more IRRs, or even no IRR, which can be disconcerting for interpretation. IRR should not be used to make a choice between mutually exclusive projects because it proves to be unreliable when it comes to ranking investment projects of different scale. So Forth, the IRR rule is difficult to apply when the discounting factors used over the years are different. Indeed, it is not easy to define what opportunity cost IRR should be compared to. Modified Internal Rate of Return (MIRR) Modified internal rate of return (MIRR) is a financial measure of an investments attractiveness. It is used in capital budgeting to rank alternative investments. As the name implies, MIRR is a modification of the internal rate of return (IRR) and as such aims to resolve some problems with the IRR. Problems with the IRR While there are several problems with the IRR, MIRR resolves two of them. First, IRR assumes that interim positive cash flows are reinvested at the same rate of return as that of the project that generated them. This is usually an unrealistic scenario and a more likely situation is that the funds will be reinvested at a rate closer to the firms cost of capital. The IRR therefore often gives an unduly optimistic picture of the projects under study. Generally for comparing projects more fairly, the weighted average cost of capital should be used for reinvesting the interim cash flows. Second, more than one IRR can be found for projects with alternating positive and negative cash flows, which leads to confusion and ambiguity. MIRR finds only one value. Calculation MIRR is calculated as follows: , Where n is the number of equal periods at the end of which the cash flows occur (not the number of cash flows), PV is present value (at the beginning of the first period), FV is future value (at the end of the last period). The formula adds up the negative cash flows after discounting them to time zero, adds up the positive cash flows after factoring in the proceeds of reinvestment at the final period, then works out what rate of return would equate the discounted negative cash flows at time zero to the future value of the positive cash flows at the final time period. Spreadsheet applications, such as Microsoft Excel, have inbuilt functions to calculate the MIRR. In Microsoft Excel this function is =MIRR. Example If an investment project is described by the sequence of cash flows: Year Cash flow 0 -1000 1 -4000 2 5000 3 2000 Then the IRR r is given by . In this case, the answer is 25.48% (the other solutions to this equation are -593.16% and -132.32%, but they will not be considered meaningful IRRs). To calculate the MIRR, we will assume a finance rate of 10% and a reinvestment rate of 12%. First, we calculate the present value of the negative cash flows (discounted at the finance rate): . Second, we calculate the future value of the positive cash flows (reinvested at the reinvestment rate): . Third, we find the MIRR: . The calculated MIRR (17.91%) is significantly different from the IRR (25.48%). Lefley and Morgan have developed a financial appraisal model, which has extended the traditional appraisal methodologies so as to provide more considered comparison for individual investment projects. The Lefley and Morgan model creates a profile, which combines the uses of NPV, Discounted payback period, and the discounted payback index, (DPBI). The discounted payback period is interesting to take into consideration as the entity proceeding with the investment might be lacking money and would prefer having a quick return of the funds invested. DPBI is used to assess the number of times the initial cost of the investment will be recovered over the projects life. It is calculated by dividing the accumulated present values by the initial capital cost. Combined these methods give a fairly accurate view of an investment. Net present value vs internal rate of return Independent vs dependent projects NPV and IRR methods are closely related because: Both are time-adjusted measures of profitability, and their mathematical formulas are almost identical. So, which method leads to an optimal decision: IRR or NPV? a) NPV vs. IRR: Independent projects Independent project: Selecting one project does not preclude the choosing of the other. With conventional cash flows (-|+|+) no conflict in decision arises; in this case both NPV and IRR lead to the same accept/reject decisions. NPV vs. IRR Independent projects If cash flows are discounted at k1, NPV is positive and IRR > k1: accept project. If cash flows are discounted at k2, NPV is negative and IRR Mathematical proof: for a project to be acceptable, the NPV must be positive, i.e. Similarly for the same project to be acceptable: Where R is the IRR. Since the numerators Ct are identical and positive in both instances:  · Implicitly/intuitively R must be greater than k (R > k);  · If NPV = 0 then R = k: the company is indifferent to such a project;  · Hence, IRR and NPV lead to the same decision in this case. b) NPV vs. IRR: Dependent projects NPV clashes with IRR where mutually exclusive projects exist. Example: Agritex is considering building either a one-storey (Project A) or five-storey (Project B) block of offices on a prime site. The following information is available: Initial Investment Outlay Net Inflow at the Year End Project A -9,500 11,500 Project B -15,000 18,000 Assume k = 10%, which project should Agritex undertake? = $954.55 = $1,363.64 Both projects are of one-year duration: IRRA: $11,500 = $9,500 (1 +RA) = 1.21-1 Therefore IRRA = 21% IRRB: $18,000 = $15,000(1 + RB) = 1.2-1 Therefore IRRB = 20% Decision: Assuming that k = 10%, both projects are acceptable because: NPVA and NPVB are both positive IRRA > k AND IRRB > k Which project is a better option for Agritex? If we use the NPV method: NPVB ($1,363.64) > NPVA ($954.55): Agritex should choose Project B. If we use the IRR method: IRRA (21%) > IRRB (20%): Agritex should choose Project A. See figure below. NPV vs. IRR: Dependent projects Up to a discount rate of ko: project B is superior to project A, therefore project B is preferred to project A. Beyond the point ko: project A is superior to project B, therefore project A is preferred to project B The two methods do not rank the projects the same. Differences in the scale of investment NPV and IRR may give conflicting decisions where projects differ in their scale of investment. Example: Years 0 1 2 3 Project A -2,500 1,500 1,500 1,500 Project B -14,000 7,000 7,000 7,000 Assume k= 10%. NPVA = $1,500 x PVFA at 10% for 3 years = $1,500 x 2.487 = $3,730.50 $2,500.00 = $1,230.50. NPVB == $7,000 x PVFA at 10% for 3 years = $7,000 x 2.487 = $17,409 $14,000 = $3,409.00. IRRA = = 1.67. Therefore IRRA = 36% (from the tables) IRRB = = 2.0 Therefore IRRB = 21% Decision: Conflicting, as:  · NPV prefers B to A  · IRR prefers A to B NPV IRR Project A $ 3,730.50 36% Project B $17,400.00 21% See figure below. Scale of investments To show why: The NPV prefers B, the larger project, for a discount rate below 20% The NPV is superior to the IRR a) Use the incremental cash flow approach, B minus A approach b) Choosing project B is tantamount to choosing a hypothetical project B minus A. 0 1 2 3 Project B 14,000 7,000 7,000 7,000 Project A 2,500 1,500 1,500 1,500 B minus A 11,500 5,500 5,500 5,500 IRRB Minus A = 2.09 = 20% c) Choosing B is equivalent to: A + (B A) = B d) Choosing the bigger project B means choosing the smaller project A plus an additional outlay of $11,500 of which $5,500 will be realized each year for the next 3 years. e) The IRRB minus A on the incremental cash flow is 20%. f) Given k of 10%, this is a profitable opportunity, therefore must be accepted. g) But, if k were greater than the IRR (20%) on the incremental CF, then reject project. h) At the point of intersection, NPVA = NPVB or NPVA NPVB = 0, i.e. indifferent to projects A and B. i) If k = 20% (IRR of B A) the company should accept project A.  · This justifies the use of NPV criterion. Advantage of NPV:  · It ensures that the firm reaches an optimal scale of investment. Disadvantage of IRR:  · It expresses the return in a percentage form rather than in terms of absolute dollar returns, e.g. the IRR will prefer 500% of $1 to 20% return on $100. However, most companies set their goals in absolute terms and not in % terms, e.g. target sales figure of $2.5 million. The profitability index PI This is a variant of the NPV method. Decision rule: PI > 1; accept the project PI If NPV = 0, we have: NPV = PV Io = 0 PV = Io Dividing both sides by Io we get: PI of 1.2 means that the projects profitability is 20%. Example: PV of CF Io PI Project A 100 50 2.0 Project B 1,500 1,000 1.5 Decision: Choose option B because it maximizes the firms profitability by $1,500. Disadvantage of PI: Like IRR it is a percentage and therefore ignores the scale of investment. The Payback Period (PP) The CIMA defines payback as the time it takes the cash inflows from a capital investment project to equal the cash outflows, usually expressed in years. When deciding between two or more competing projects, the usual decision is to accept the one with the shortest payback. Payback is often used as a first screening method. By this, we mean that when a capital investment project is being considered, the first question to ask is: How long will it take to pay back its cost? The company might have a target payback, and so it would reject a capital project unless its payback period was less than a certain number of years. Example 1: Years 0 1 2 3 4 5 Project A 1,000,000 250,000 250,000 250,000 250,000 250,000 For a project with equal annual receipts: = 4 years Example 2: Years 0 1 2 3 4 Project B 10,000 5,000 2,500 4,000 1,000 Payback period lies between year 2 and year 3. Sum of money recovered by the end of the second year = $7,500, i.e. ($5,000 + $2,500) Sum of money to be recovered by end of 3rd year = $10,000 $7,500 = $2,500 = 2.625 years Disadvantages of the payback method It ignores the timing of cash flows within the payback period, the cash flows after the end of payback period and therefore the total project return. It ignores the time value of money. This means that it does not take into account the fact that $1 today is worth more than $1 in one years time. An investor who has $1 today can consume it immediately or alternatively can invest it at the prevailing interest rate, say 30%, to get a return of $1.30 in a years time. It is unable to distinguish between projects with the same payback period. It may lead to excessive investment in short-term projects. Advantages of the payback method Payback can be important: long payback means capital tied up and high investment risk. The method also has the advantage that it involves a quick, simple calculation and an easily understood concept. Discounted Payback Method Some companies require that the initial outlay on any project should be recovered within a specific period. The discounted payback appraisal method requires a discount rate to be chosen to calculate the present values of cash inflows and then the payback is the number of years required to repay the initial investment. Yet payback can give misleading answers. Project Year 0 Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 A -4,000 2,500 500 5,500 B -4,000 2,500 1,800 0 C -4,000 3,180 500 0 The cost of capital is 10% per annum Project A Year Net cash Discount factor Present Cumulative flow at 10% values present values 0 -2,000 1.00 -2,000 -2,000 1 500 0.91 455 -1,545 2 500 0.83 415 -1,130 3 5,000 0.75 3,750 2,620 Project B Year Net cash Discount factor Present Cumulative flow at 10% values present values 0 -2,000 1.00 -2,000 -2,000 1 500 0.91 455 -1,545 2 1,800 0.83 1,494 -51 3 0 0.75 0 -51 Project C Year Net cash Discount factor Present Cumulative flow at 10% values present values 0 -2,000 1.00 -2,000 -2,000 1 1,800 0.91 1,638 -362 2 500 0.83 415 53 3 0 0.75 0 53 The payback rule does not take into consideration any cash inflow that occurs after the cut-off date. For example if the cut-off date is two years, project A, although clearly the most profitable on the long term will be rejected. Thus if a firm uses the same cut-off regardless of project life then it will tend to accept many poor short lived projects and reject many good long lived ones. The Accounting Rate of Return (ARR) The ARR method (also called the return on capital employed (ROCE) or the return on investment (ROI) method) of appraising a capital project is to estimate the accounting rate of return that the project should yield. If it exceeds a target rate of return, the project will be undertaken. Note that net annual profit excludes depreciation. Example: A project has an initial outlay of $1 million and generates net receipts of $250,000 for 10 years. Assuming straight-line depreciation of $100,000 per year: = 15% = 30% We here see that ARR is based on profits rather than cash flows and that it ignores the time value of money. It therefore just gives a brief overview of a new project, and should not be recommended as a primary investment appraisal method. As said earlier the impact of cash flows and the time value of money are essential in making an investment decision. Another disadvantage of the ARR is the fact it is dependent on the depreciation policy adopted by the business. Disadvantages It does not take account of the timing of the profits from an investment. It implicitly assumes stable cash receipts over time. It is based on accounting profits and not cash flows. Accounting profits are subject to a number of different accounting treatments. It is a relative measure rather than an absolute measure and hence takes no account of the size of the investment. It takes no account of the length of the project. It ignores the time value of money. The payback and ARR methods in practice Despite the limitations of the payback method, it is the method most widely used in practice. There are a number of reasons for this:  · It is a particularly useful approach for ranking projects where a firm faces liquidity constraints and requires fast repayment of investments.  · It is appropriate in situations where risky investments are made in uncertain markets that are subject to fast design and product changes or where future cash flows are particularly difficult to predict.  · The method is often used in conjunction with NPV or IRR method and acts as a first screening device to identify projects which are worthy of further investigation.  · It is easily understood by all levels of management.  · It provides an important summary method: how quickly will the initial investment be recouped? limitations of NPV when evaluating alternative investment proposals NPV is not that flexible and only uses information available at the time of the decision. It does not account for changes to the projects after the initial decision is made. NPV factors in risk by using a single discount rate, but in reality choices in the future concerning the project will likely change its payoffs and risk. Try real option analysis instead if you want to get around this problem. NPV only evaluates tangible and quantifiable projects. Some projects with negative NPVs are carried out anyway because they have some kind of strategic value, e.g. it shows the firm in a good light, builds goodwill or allows access to as yet unknown earnings in the future. Conclusion In conclusion it can thus be stated that only discounted cash flow methods should be used for appraising investments. This leaves us with the discounted payback method, the IRR, and the NPV. The Discounted payback method, ignoring cash flows that occur after the payback point, cannot be used on its own as it simply provides an overview. Concerning the IRR, although easy to understand it has many pitfalls that have been developed above. Thus the NPV rule proves to be the safest and most reliable. Yet the ideal