Competency Goal Functional Areas Essay

To establish and maintain a safe, healthy learning environment. I keep children healthy by monitoring their health daily. I ask if they have any boo boos and if so how they got them and I put them on a daily health list, I also do this by carefully observing children, watching for signs of illness, making sure immunizations are up to date. I also keep children healthy by keeping the room clean. Children are informed and able to make good decisions on how to stay healthy like washing hands after going to the bathroom, blowing their nose or coughing into their hands, when we come in from outside and before after lunch. I also keep children safe by creating and environment where children gain the knowledge that allows then to make appropriate choices. I make sure activities are safe and developmentally appropriate. The children are encouraging to make good choices by having discussions, giving lessons, and reading books that talk about safety issues I try to create a fun and safe environment where children can learn and grow. I provide and age appropriate environment for the children. I do this by preparing a weekly lesson plan, providing activities for children of all developmental levels. I have activities that are for inside the classrooms which are for gross motor skills such as bean bags, musical instruments, dance music, and all sizes of blocks. I also have fine motor activities, such as large and small beads to string, Lego’s, locking flowers, stencils, scissors, crayon and markers. I also allow time for the children to practice writing skills like their names and letters also to draw beautiful pictures. Competency Goal 1 Functional Area 1: Safe In order to help provide an environment which is safe for the children in my care, I do the following to prevent and reduce injuries: I keep all cleaning supplies and chemicals locked up and out of the children’s reach, to avoid poisoning or other injuries. I am also certified in First Aid and CPR which give me the knowledge to handle any injuries or accidents. I am familiar with the classroom and center emergency evacuation procedures in case of a fire or other emergency. I maintain an easily accessible and current list of emergency numbers and also all the parent numbers. I inspect all toys and equipment, frequently throughout the day to ensure that they are safe for use. I teach safe use of playground equipment.Functional Area 2: Healthy In order to provide and environment that promotes health, and prevents illness and which teaches children about good nutrition and practices that promotes wellness, I do the following: I keep the toys and the rooms clean. I wash my hands and wear gloves before and after handling food. I wear gloves if and when children need help when going to the bathroom, cleaning their noses; in order not spread germs. I also teach the children how to wash their hands after using the bathroom, wiping their nose, coming in from outside, while letting them know how important, it is to washing their hands. I also follow centers’ policies for sick children to prevent other illnesses from spreading throughout the center. I also read books about health care and talk about going to the Doctor and Dentist. I also share the importance of healthy foods like fruits and vegetables.

Public Pension Replacement Rates

A social security is a program funded through the taxation of individuals pay. The taxes are deposited into various trust funds depending on the contract. Social security can not sustain all the promised benefits in future if it entirely relies on the current tax rates. This therefore implies that reforms are indispensible. This is due to the calamities that may follow the raising of taxes or a cut on benefits. Replacement income for prior earningsIncome replacement is a pledge by the employer to continue paying an employee’s salary for a given period of time incase he becomes disabled or till the employee becomes eligible to coverage from the social security. The employee in this case is faced with the peril of the employer not honoring the pledge whereas in the agreement the employer is saved the expenses that cold be incurred through the purchase of insurance policies (FirstEnergy Corp, 2010). The salary coverage goes on for a few months but the limit is six months.Causes o f Variance-Between Us and Greece Replacement Income Greece operates various schemes that have a rate of 105% on its gross replacement and 115%on its net replacement. The schemes in operations constitute of main and auxiliary social security programs. The different professions operate varying schemes and the biggest is the Insurance Institute (IKA). Most of the schemes in operation in Greece are absent in the USA. Greece adapted the euro as a national currency in 2001 as its national currency.Due to this, Greece was at liberty to borrow money at a lower interest rate. This money was also made available to its citizens and corporations, whom they borrowed at very low interest rates. The money obtained by the Greek government was use to repay debts and finance its budget. This expenditure made it possible to have a high supply of money in the economy. The US and Greece differ in terms on how their political institution are run. This is in terms of electoral levels and the government.In the US there is the issue of the majority rules while in Greece there is proportional representation. This therefore means that the people involved in making decisions do vary both in number and power. This has an impact on how the income replacement is structured and the guidelines in operations. The structure, size and redistribution of US and Greece differ greatly. Role of Greece’s Public Pension Replacement Rates on Its Debt Burden Currently Greece is being faced with a debt crisis (IMF, 2002).It is understood that very high amounts of debts were accumulated by the Greek government before the crisis struck of liquidity in the capital market. In the recent past these capital markets have become more illiquid thus making Greece to be faced with the possibility of defaulting (FirstEnergy Corp, 2010)). In responding to this problem, the Greece prime minister has emphasized repeatedly on the importance of long term reforms on the structure of Greece economy. Among these refor ms is the reform on the pension scheme.The pension scheme in operation in Greece is one of the most generous schemes in known in Europe. Evasion of contribution to the social security program is a rampant thing and the government has promised to take tremendous actions against the evaders. This will ensure that the contribution rises thus providing the government with money at its disposal to pay some of the debts it owes. The government is also contemplating on the issue of increasing the retirement age of persons from the age of 61years to 63 years.Opposing some of the mode used to calculate the pension scheme in application of five years of worked by some civil service schemes, the calculations will entirely rely on a lifetime. This will in return provide some cash to be used in offsetting debts owed by the government. A crack down on the social security programs and carrying out reforms will prevent misappropriation of funds by corrupt officials (IMF, 2002). References FirstEner gy Corp (2010). Declares Unchanged Common Stock Dividend. Mergers & Acquisitions Business pg. 271. IMF. (2002). Greece, selected issues. International Monetary Fund. 58

Outline the Nature of Supermarkets Power on the High Street and Beyond Essay

Outline The Nature of Supermarkets Power On The High Street and Beyond. This essay is looking at the power of supermarkets and how they use this power. The word power is often used to â€Å"denote influence, control or domination† (Allen, 2009, p. 9) Supermarkets use this power over suppliers, workers, Councils, consumers and other shops and there are conflicting views as to whether this power is used for the good of everyone or at the expense of everyone other than the supermarkets themselves or as Dennis Wrong (1977) calls it Positive Sum Game- â€Å"where all parties involved benefit to some extent† or Zero Sum Game- â€Å"where supermarkets wield their power at the expense of others† (Allen, 2009, p. 70) Supermarkets due to their sheer size and buying power have a huge advantage over the small independent high street shops. They offer a massive choice of products at a low price because they are able to buy in large quantities at discounted prices, sometimes even below cost price. These out of town supermarkets have convenient parking and consumers are able to do all their shopping in one place, from food, clothing, electrical equipment, financial services, gas and electricity etc†¦ This all makes shopping in these retail parks easier and cheaper for the consumer and the smaller independent high street shops are unable to match these prices, choices and convenience and are therefore unable to compete against the giants. As we’ve seen a move towards more out-of-town, car-dependent stores with large-format retail dominating, its driven trade away from town centres which has clearly had an impact on the small shops that are there, and we see approximately fifty small shops, independent shops, closing every week† Helen Rimmer (Friends of the earth) (‘Evidence in the social sciences’, 2009 track 1) The big supermarkets have also introduced small high street Metro and Express stores to put further pressure on the independents and gain those consumers without cars and who are unable to get to the out of town retail park. According to Helen Rimmer (Friends of the Earth) â€Å"There’s been a study of the impact of Tesco Express which is the Tesco convenience store when they’ve moved into an area, that generally led to a decline, in the small shops locally, of about 30 to 40 per cent† (‘Evidence in the social sciences’, 2009 track 1) To keep their prices low, Supermarkets are putting huge pressures on suppliers both in the UK and globally, they are often dictating how much they will pay and even the size, shape and colour of fruit and vegetables. To meet these demands suppliers are being forced to cut their cost to the bare minimum and in many cases are operating at a loss, forcing the smaller suppliers out of business. There is massive wastage, as food is rejected if it doesn’t conform to the set cosmetic appearance that the supermarkets have imposed, often sacrificing taste and flavour for appearance. Farmers have been known to plough crops back into the land when they have been rejected or the supermarket wants to pay a ridiculously low price. The cost of this wastage is usually met by the supplier, as are the ‘buy one get one free’ (BOGOF) deals that the supermarkets offer to entice their customers. This cost cutting is passed onto their workers both in the UK and abroad. In the UK they are more often than not migrant agency workers who pick and sort the salad crops, who are paid very low wages, sometimes below the cost of living. â€Å"There is a high price to be paid for cheap goods and that cost is borne one-sidedly by the weakest and least powerful groups in the supply chain† (Allen, 2009, p. 3) Meanwhile abroad, cheap clothing is produced in sweatshops, with exploited workers enduring poor conditions, long hours and being paid an inadequate wage. â€Å"The true cost of the cheap jeans and trousers, as well as the bargain-priced shoes, which line Asda’s and Tesco’s aisles, War on Want claim, is the absence of a living wage for workers in their supply chain† (Allen, 2009, p. 85) However the fact that this work is being sourced in Asia means that the clothing industry in these countries is expanding rapidly and this means work that was not there previously. These jobs are in demand by the locals as it means a way out of poverty for them, â€Å"the last thing a country like this wants is for the big retailers to stop sourcing their labour from them. That, it is pointed out, would threaten the steadily rising living standards of the garment workers†. (Allen, 2009, p. 91) Supermarkets use their power over local government to persuade them to allow the further development of new stores. This is done by a method called ‘Planning Gain’ in which they pay for civic facilities to be built i. e. : leisure centres and Doctors surgeries, in return for planning permission for a new store. These developments are Sometimes in run down, poor areas and the development of a new store can be interpreted as a good thing in helping the regeneration of the area, creating new jobs for the unemployed and encouraging new business into the area. Again there is controversy surrounding this, many believe it is for the good of the community and other believing it is â€Å"merely the latest in a series of opportunistic moves by them to get stores built at a time when planners and government frown upon out-of–town developments† (Allen, 2009, p. 4) The supermarkets are providing consumers with what they want. Cheap products in the current climate of recession are a necessity for many having to tighten their belts. The ease of having everything in one place makes it convenient to shop for those who have cars and can get to the out of town stores. â€Å"People like what supermarkets do and the efficiencies that come from the scale of their operations, the quality and choice that they’re able to offer, the prices that people find appealing are all reasons why people choose to shop in supermarkets. Richard Dodd (British retail consortium. )(‘Evidence in the social sciences’ 2009, track 1) There is no doubt that supermarkets are powerful and it is very often a zero-sum game for their suppliers, the supplier’s workforce, and the independent shops on the high street, when they wield this power against them. Town centres and the smaller independent shops are in decline, â€Å"12 per cent of town centre retail premises are now vacant compared with 4 per cent last autumn so that’s a threefold increase†. Richard Dodd (British Retail Consortium) (‘Evidence in the social sciences’ 2009, track 1) and many farmers are going out of business. The consumers however are getting what they want, but at what cost! In this consumer Society that we live in they are seduced by the choice and bargains and turn a blind eye to the lengths the supermarkets are prepared to go to give them this. The exploitation of the workers in the sweatshops of Asia, the bullying of the farmers to sell their milk, fruit and vegetables to them at the price they dictate and the small shops being put out of business. Yes supermarkets are powerful but at the end of the day it is the consumer who is enabling them to continue being so. â€Å"If customers like what a retailer is offering, they will choose that particular store or type of store and they’ll use it. If the retailer gets it wrong, the customers won’t show up and that retailer will very quickly go out of business. It is customers who have the power in all of this†. Richard Dodd (British retail consortium) (‘Evidence in the social sciences’ 2009, track 1)

Bilingualism in Hong Kong schools Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Bilingualism in Hong Kong schools - Essay Example In all bilingual communities providing children with appropriate language instruction is a very important issue for governments, educators, schools and finally language learners themselves. Due to contradictory results of studies concerning the association between bilingualism and cognitive functioning, it is very important to develop bilingual skills that will contribute to cognitive performance and, thus, will help students to achieve academic success. In Hong Kong, where being bilingual or trilingual has always been a competitive advantage, it is especially important to raise language skills of individuals and, thus, enable them to meet the needs and challenges of the society. Educational policies play a crucial role in developing additive bilingualism, which allows students to develop proficiency in a second language and maintain a high level of a native language at the same time. Thus, the government together with the Standing Committee on Language Education and Research (SCOLAR ) has adopted several education policies reforms aimed to raise language skills in the community of Hong Kong. The term bilingualism has been defined in several different ways by researchers and theoreticians (Cummins & Swain, 1986). While some authors classified different kinds of bilingualism according to the age at which second language (L2) was learned (early versus late, simultaneous versus sequential), others considered such factors as the contexts of language learning (artificial versus natural, compound versus coordinate) and the domains of its use. Later studies confirmed these findings and showed that bilingual children had relatively low literacy skills (children of Finnish migrants in Sweden), arithmetic competences (English-speaking children educated in Irish-medium schools), vocabulary levels (low class Spanish-English children) and general verbal and academic skills (English-Japanese bilinguals in the United States) when compared with unilingual children.

Change On Management Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Change On Management - Research Paper Example The biggest challenge of every leading organization in the world is to manage and overcome the speed of change. This research paper will analyze and discuss about the optimum implementation of approach method to overcome and manage resistance to change. The change in every organization has become a vital and inevitable factor. The integral component of successful organization is adaptation to the change in the technology, new processes and eventually managing the change. Coca-Cola is one of the most popular and global leader in beverage industry. The competition of Coca-Cola Company is with PepsiCo. The market completion of Coca-Cola Company is both nationally and internationally. The resistance towards change in organization has become pivotal factor and main reason for failure of many organizations. A survey conducted states that employee resistance towards change in organization affected 60% of the reengineering projects. The change management implemented by Coca-Cola Company is to motivate the employees. Intrinsic values and motivational factor provided to employees is also known as the employee engagement. The focal point of Coca-Cola Company is to create brand relationship with every employee and bring efficiency in every sec tor. The area of improvement in Coca-Cola Company is done through the employee engagement surveys. The survey is done twice a year to know the implementation and actions required for the improvement in organization (Burke, 418). The implementation of employee engagement in Coca-Cola Company is to create more committed workforce, provides clear idea to the employees about the level of expectance and the performance of employees can be increased with the aligned of organization objectives. The aligned of company goals provided to any employee can help in waste elimination. Change management is also

Reward Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Reward - Essay Example A system of pay that targets an individual is based on the accomplishments of only one person. In this case, rewards are determined by the results put on the table. Pays based on performance do not necessarily account for knowledge and competence. High performance is rewarded while low performance is ‘punished’. Moreover, progressive performance given in levels can determine what reward is earned at what performance. Where different incentives are used on different individuals, the reward becomes incentive-based, and it is complemented by self-actualization. A team constitutes a number of people working on clearly defined common goals or objectives. The performance of a team can be rewarded in a number of ways, among them team-based rewards, rewarding individuals constituting the team, and group behavior (Levi, 2010). Rewards that are team-based target the team’s totality and productivity. The performance of the team is attributed to each member, and so are the rewards. Team performance can also be rewarded by considering individual contribution of each team member and subsequently determining the appropriate reward. Finally, group cooperation and motivation can be rewarded subject to the team

CTV Building in Christchurch Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

CTV Building in Christchurch - Essay Example This paper approves that it is clear from the above discussion that the CTV building collapsed due to the inadequate quality of the structure and design. Moreover, several issues such as lack of an effective decision making process, poor supervision processes and unethical business and operation practices are responsible for this collapse. After the 2010 earthquake government of New Zealand appointed the Christchurch City Council to inspect the safety standards of the CTV building. There was a chance for survival, but the Christchurch City Council appointed an inexperienced engineering supervision team. The owner and shareholders could have arranged for a better review process. This report makes a conclusion that the CTV building collapse was the major consequence of the Christchurch earthquake in 2011. From the above discussion, it can be stated that several reasons are responsible for this collapse. Inadequate design and quality of structure are the major reasons behind this incident. Government tried to arrange an investigation process in respect of the CTV building by appointing the City Council. However, inadequate decision making of the Christchurch City Council and the poor review process by the inexperienced engineers forced the council to give a green sticker. The Government of New Zealand along with IPENZ and the Royal Commission are trying to find out the real reason behind the collapse of the CTV building through several private investigation processes. ... It is true that the CTV building got a green sticker after the 2010 earthquake despite the critical situation of the building. Although the building was not eligible for a yellow sticker, signalling authorities and the group of engineers gave a green signal to the building in order to achieve a huge profit margin. In any earthquake prone zone, a building is to be designed according to the guidelines imposed by the government of that state. There were a number of people who were engaged in the designing of the building. There were chiefly three main entities: the designer of the building, the company that the designer represented, and the other management individuals of the company. The design component had two parts. The Structural Engineer was David Harding under the brand of Alan Reay Consultants Ltd and Alun Wilke Associates Architects was the architectural firm who had been employed for the construction of the building. Gerald Shirtcliff, who supervised the construction in the na me of William Fisher, did not have a degree in engineering. Harding used to work under the guidance of Alan Reay, the owner of the firm. During the establishment of the building, the CTV building did not meet the standards. On the other hand, the principle engineer and the owner did not follow the regulations or legal aspects during the review process. Alan Ray was the principle engineer of this building. He did poor supervision and passed the review report to the structural engineer. However, the owners and stakeholders did not even bother to review the building plans or rectify the challenges and issues accordingly. The government of New Zealand took one wrong decision by appointing the City Council for the investigation of the property. It was the key

Organizational theory Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Organizational theory - Coursework Example 45) For the best implementation of change towards this model, first, there should be personal and team education, this would help in the proper understanding of the challenges presented and the possible methods to deal with these challenges, for this to go as required the process must start with a self-assessment test. They should then highlight the concepts and the approaches, and then conduct the training sessions (Moretz, 2012, p. 107) The second step towards moving to this model is educating others, in that those who understand the concepts of this model and have enough knowledge regarding strategies and programs can share this information with other staff members and their colleagues. As the information spreads, even the families come to join the process. This may be through professional and personal stories, organizational leadership staff and even peer mentors The third step for the implementation of the model is the development of infrastructure, this helps in sustaining and creating improvements in many institutions. Infrastructure development may be through staff liaison, integration of patient and family advisors and development of action plans (Moretz, 2012, p.

Identitiy Theft Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Identitiy Theft - Essay Example As such, the paper seeks to discuss the impacts of identity theft as well as its impact to affected individuals as well as the society at large. According to Huang & Wang (2009), cybercrime can be described as violation of law which mainly involves abuse of information through the use of the internet in particular. Theft of information is a serious crime that is committed through the use of the internet. For instance, individuals can commit crimes such as identity theft or online stalking with the intention of using the information to commit different other crimes. Hacking is the most common crime related to identity theft through the use of the email system on the internet (Haag, Cummings & Dawkins, 2006). The hackers devise strategies to access individual or company databases with the intention of stealing confidential information. In most cases, the hackers send emails with positive promotional messages to unsuspecting individuals. Once the individuals open these emails or respond to them, their personal information is stolen unknowingly. Some individuals engage in what is known as card cloning where they use ICT to steal individual banking details. Identity theft is a common cybercrime that is committed by different people and it has serious implications on both individuals and large corporations. Crimes such as credit card fraud as well as theft of confidential information belonging to large organizations are often committed. A lot of individuals have lost their hard earned money as a result of crimes that are committed through the use of details that have been fraudulently obtained. Other large organizations have also lost money worth millions of dollars to fraudsters who hack into their systems and steal confidential information particularly their banking details. In some cases, the large corporations often lose confidential information about

Consider the marriage proposals in Essay Example for Free

Consider the marriage proposals in Essay Consider the marriage proposals in Pride and Prejudice and what we learned about the characters and the early 19th Century society in which they lived in. During Pride and Prejudice there are six examples of marriage proposals to consider. Throughout this essay I am going to be commenting on the proposals between Mr Darcy and Lizzie the first time, Mr Collins and Lizzie, Mr Collins and Charlotte as well as Mr Bingley and Jane, Wickham and Lydia and the second proposal of Mr Darcy to Lizzie. Whilst looking at these proposals I will also be analysing the aspects of Love, Money, the relative status and class and the views of others, which might have influence within these proposals. The first proposal I am going to analyse is Mr Darcy to Lizzie. Mr Darcy proposed to Lizzie in Kent at Mr Collins and Charlottes house when Lizzie was visiting them for a few weeks and Mr Darcy was staying with Lady Catherine De Bourgh, his aunt. Mr Darcy and Lizzie were first acquainted with one another at Netherfields, which is the neighbouring estate to Longbourne, Lizzies family house. They met at a ball, which was held by the new lodger Mr Bingley at Netherfields, and Mr Darcy was there as a friend of Mr Bingleys who hosting the ball for his new arrival to the village. Lizzie and Darcy didnt get on at first as Lizzie thought he was arrogant and unsociable. But Mr Darcys dislike for Lizzie gradually grew to love for her. It seems that the continuation of this dislike was all a cover for his real feelings as he did not want to love or marry a woman who was beneath him in every state, money and status and especially the views of others would of discouraged him to act upon his feelings for Lizzie as he was thought of as much more superior to Lizzie and her family and at that time it was thought of as wrong or unheard of to marry someone beneath you. Mr Darcy did not only hide his feelings from Lizzie he also tried to hide them from himself. Mr Darcy gets to a stage where he cant avoid his feelings for Lizzie anymore so he decides to act upon them because Lizzie is so beneath him he assumes that Lizzie will have no other option but to accept his proposal as he feels that she cant resist him as he has enough money and class to set her up for life. Mr Darcy says to Lizzie. In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings for you cannot be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you. However to Mr Darcys surprise Lizzie refuses his proposal as she will only marry for love and she doesnt love Mr Darcy and she also is outraged with Mr Darcy at the insults towards her family. Just before the proposal Lizzie also found out that Mr Darcy had separated her sister and her love, Mr Bingley by persuading him to move back to London, which infuriates Lizzie even more. Lizzie says to Mr Darcy. You are mistaken, Mr Darcy, if you suppose that he mode of your declaration affected me in any other way, than as it spared me the concern which I might have felt in refusing you, had you behaved in a more gentlemen like manner. This quotation showed how much Lizzie really despised him at that moment in time by questioning his gentlemen like manner, which was a big thing for men in those days. The second proposal I am going to look at is Mr Collins to Lizzie. Mr Collins proposed to Lizzie at Longbourne, the family estate. Mr Collins was a clergyman to Lady Catherine De Bourgh. Mr Collins asked Lizzie to marry him as Lady Catherine De Bourgh requested him too and as he is a clergyman he is expected to marry. Mr Collins also wants to marry her for the sake of her family, as Mr Collins is the closest male relative to Mr Bennet being his cousin, which meant that when Mr Bennet died Mr Collins would inherit Longbourne estate and Mrs Bennet and the girls would be kicked out of their own house so by marrying Lizzie they would become a proper family meaning he wouldnt have to kick the rest of the Bennet family out. Mr Collins goes into the kitchen to talk to Lizzie. Lizzie knows Mr Collins will try and propose to her so she tries to get out of being alone with him but Mrs Bennet orders Lizzie to stay and talk to Mr Collins. Mr Collins tries to get Lizzies attention but Lizzie is trying desperately not to acknowledge him. Believe me, my dear Miss Elizabeth, that your modesty so far from doing you any disserve, rather adds to your perfections. Mr Collins takes Lizzies resistance the wrong way as he thinks Lizzie is trying to be modest where as Lizzie is actually trying to get out of this proposal before Mr Collins makes anymore a fool of himself. Even still Mr Collins carries on with the proposal assuming that Lizzie will accept his hand in marriage. Lizzie then says after much need for an answer. You are too hasty- you forget I have made no answer. Lizzie has become very irritated by Mr Collins at this stage, but Mr Collins is still not happy with this answer so he goes to find Mrs Bennet. Mr Collins explains the situation to Mrs Bennet and she is furious with Lizzie for turning down his marriage proposal and tries to reassure Mr Collins that she will change her mind. Lizzie shall be brought to reason. I will speak to her about it myself directly. She is a very headstrong foolish girl and does not know her own interest, but I will make her know it. This quotation shows how infuriated Mrs Bennet is with Lizzie as she turned down such an opportunity. Mrs Bennet is a very shallow woman as she wants her daughters married off as soon as possible because in those days it was thought the sooner all your daughters were married the better they were brought up or the more successful mother you had been. Mrs Bennet speaks to Lizzie about it but she is persistent she doesnt want to marry Mr Collins, as she does not love him, she doesnt have any affection for him. Mrs Bennet talks to Mr Bennet about the proposal to try and get Lizzie to marry Mr Collins but Mr Bennet is also against the wedding. In this proposal money doesnt really play a part as Lizzie and Mr Collins are of about the same wealth. Love plays no role, as neither of them loves another although Mr Collins has great affection for Lizzie. Status plays a minuet role as Mr Collins has contacts, which are high up in society, but this is not enough for Lizzie. The views of others plays the biggest role in this proposal as Mr Collins only looked for a wife in the first place as he was told to be his patron, Lady Catherine De Bourgh. Mrs Bennet also was for the wedding, as she wanted her daughter to be married. The third proposal is Mr Collins to Charlotte. Mr Collins proposes to Charlotte as he wanted a wife and was turned down by Lizzie. He wants a wife because his patron, Lady Catherine De Bourgh requested him to get one, who is not too rich or pretty just a nice friendly woman who she can get along with and invite over for tea or dinner. After the refusal from Lizzie Mr Collins felt awkward staying with the Bennets so when he was invited to stay with Charlotte and her family who was Lizzies best friend he jumped at the chance. Charlotte was very happy about the new arrangements, as she was 27 years old and not married so in those days she was considered as on the shelf which meant this could be her last chance of marriage. Mr Collins proposed to Charlotte at Lucas Lodge, her family home. Charlotte accepted without any hesitation and couldnt wait to make her news known. She went to tell her best friend, Lizzie first but Lizzie didnt approve, as she knew her friend did not love him but Charlotte aired her opinions to her. I am not romantic, you know, I never was I ask only a comfortable home; and considering Mr Collins character, connections and situation in life, I am convinced that my chance of happiness with him is as fair as most people can boast when entering the marriage state. This quotation proves that Charlotte did not marry Mr Collins for love she married him for security. Lizzie is not satisfied with this but congratulates her still. When Mrs Bennet hears the news doesnt believe it as she still thinks Mr Collins still wants to marry Lizzie. God Lord! Sir William, how can you tell such a story? Do you not know that Mr Collins wants to marry Lizzie. Mrs Bennet is very upset that Mr Collins has got engaged to Charlotte rather than Lizzie. In this proposal love doesnt play any role for either of them and status doesnt as they are of about the same class although Mr Collins has higher society connections than Charlotte. Money doesnt influence the marriage, as there are both of about the same wealth where as the influence of others does as he is told be his patrons to find a wife. The next proposal I am going to analyse is Mr Bingley to Jane. Mr Bingley and Jane where a love match from the beginning of the book, when Mr Bingley moved into Netherfields, the neighbouring estate to Longbourne. Their love was blossoming until his best friend Mr Darcy talked Mr Bingley as he felt it was in his best interest. But Mr Bingley and Jane were united again when Mr Darcy saw the error of his ways, thanks to Lizzie Janes sister. The proposal took place in Longbourne estate. Mr Bingley after a few visits since after moving back asks Jane to take his hand in marriage however the actual proposal is not written in the book. Jane is ecstatic about the news and tells Lizzie. I am certainly the most fortunate creature that ever existed! Oh Lizzy, why am I thus singled from my family, and blessed above them all! If I could but see you as happy! This quotation shows how happy Jane is about the marriage but it also shows even though she is so happy she is still sparing thought for her family, as she wants them to be as happy as she is. In this proposal love plays a very big role as that is what drives the relationship forward to marriage, status doesnt play a role although Mr Bingley is of a much higher class than Jane I think their love for each other conquers this. Money doesnt play a role in this, as Jane isnt interested in his money even though he has much more wealth than her. The influence of others does help them as everyone is for the marriage as they can see the true love between them. After Mr Bingley has left Jane speaks to her father about the marriage. Jane I congratulate you. You will be a very happy woman. This quotation proves the support for the wedding from Janes family and it also proves that Mr Bennet has great admiration for Mr Bingley. The next proposal I am going to analyse is Wickham and Lydia. Lydia and Wickham run away together. Wickham is only interested in Lydia because he had been turned down by many woman as they realised he was only after their wealth but with Lydia it is different she doesnt have any money. He run away with Lydia because he wanted someone young he could have a good time with. But when Mr Gardiner, Lydias uncle asked him, to marry her he accepted as Mr Gardiner offered to pay off all his debts if he married her as it would redeem some respect towards them from others as they would be married. Mr Gardiner wrote to Mr Bennet to tell him what had happened, later Mr Bennet talked to Jane about the situation. Yes, yes, they must marry. There is nothing else to be done. But there are two things that I want to know: one, how much money your uncle has laid down to bring it about; and the other, how I am I ever to pay him. This quotation shows that Mr Bennet thinks marriage is the right thing to do but is very concerned about how he shall pay back the money to Mr Gardiner. In this proposal love doesnt play a role for Wickham as he doesnt feel any consideration or affection for Lydia but I think Lydia loves Wickham and is perhaps naive enough to think that he loves her back. Money plays a huge role for Wickham as he is only going to marry Lydia for the money he is going to receive from her uncle, which will pay off all his debts it also means that he will be related to Jane and Lizzie who are married to very wealthy men. Status and the views of others play no role for either of them as they ran away together regardless of what other people thought. The last proposal I am going to look at is the second proposal between Mr Darcy and Lizzie. After the refusal of his last proposal Darcy has done all he can to get back into Lizzies good books. He got Mr Bingley and Jane back together after separating them. Mr Darcy was also really hurt by Lizzies remark to him after she refused his hand in marriage. Had you behaved in a more gentlemen like manner. This hurt Mr Darcy as he felt he was a perfect gentlemen but when he looked back at how he behaved towards Lizzie and her family he realised he had behaved appallingly. However Mr Darcy still felt the same about Lizzie he even felt he loved her more and he now thought that nothing else mattered so he decided he would ask Lizzie for her hand in marriage again. Mr Darcy went to visit Lizzie as his aunt, Lady Catherine De Bourgh had come to see her and warn her off from marrying Mr Darcy although Lizzie didnt intend too as she thought all feelings for her from Mr Darcy were over by then. Lady Catherine De Bourgh tried to stop Lizzie from marrying Mr Darcy. You are determined to ruin him in the opinion of all his friends, and him the contempt of the world. Lizzie was agitated at such a comment as she had no intention in marrying Mr Darcy as she had not spoken to Mr Darcy for months but this made her think about her real feelings for Darcy, she discovered that from hate she had started to like Mr Darcy even love him. Mr Darcy proposed to Lizzie on a lane outside her house. Lizzie accepted his proposal and showed remorse for how she treated him in the past. Mr Darcy was overwhelmed by her answer. The happiness which this reply was such as he had probably never felt before, and he expressed himself on the occasion as sensibly and as warmly as a man violently in love can be supposed to do! This quotation shows how strongly Mr Darcy felt for Lizzie, as he was so happy from her acceptance in his hand of marriage. Lizzie was so excited by the marriage that she went and told her family straight away. She spoke to Mr Bennet and he wasnt so sure if Lizzie loved Mr Darcy as it wasnt so long ago she hated him, he wanted to make sure that Lizzie wasnt marrying him for his or her mothers sake. My child let me not have the grief of seeing you unable to respect your partner in life. You know not what you are about. This quotation is basically Mr Bennet saying to Lizzie that it might be great at the moment but make sure you still will feel the same way in the later future as he is saying that he doesnt want her to end up like him not respecting his partner, Mrs Bennet. This shows how protective Mr Bennet is over Lizzie, as he only wants her to marry if she is sure it is the right thing to do. In this proposal love plays a big role as it alimented all the other aspects as they loved each other so much in the end that it didnt matter how much money they had, what status they were and they definitely didnt care what other people thought about the marriage especially as Mr Darcy was disowned by his aunt Lady Catherine De Bourgh due to his marriage to Lizzie. But Mr Bennet and the family where very pleased for Lizzie as they knew it was for love. Lizzie and Jane had a joint wedding, which made it more special for both of them. In the 19th Century marriage was thought of as a must for women and if you were over the age of 26 years old you were considered as on the shelf, which made it hard for woman to get married over that age. There were also many issues that a woman had to think about before they got married, whether they were in love which wasnt a major issue but it was though of as a bonus if they were. Money and status played a huge role in deciding who to marry, rich men went for women of the same class or a bit higher which made it difficult for woman of a lower class or without much wealth to marry a wealthier or higher classed man. It was thought of as unethical to marry someone beneath you in any state. The influence of others played a big role in those days as people were put under a lot of pressure to get married as soon as possible and to someone higher up the society ladder. As you can see the attitudes to marriage in the 19th Century in which these characters lived in is very different to the attitudes in which we live in today.

Doping Behaviors and Prevention in Amateur Sport

Doping Behaviors and Prevention in Amateur Sport Abstract Based on previous research, the purpose of this paper is to give an overview on doping behaviors in amateur sport, actual prevention actions, and to propose a new perspective in doping prevention. Doping is not limited to elite athletes and is increasingly important among amateur athletes. To reduce doping in sport, it seems important to influence young athletes in primary prevention. To date, traditional doping prevention campaigns are ineffective. In recent years, a new model of prevention campaigns based on fear, coming from the Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian countries, has been used notably in France (e.g., prevention campaigns for road safety, tobacco, alcohol, cancer). This â€Å"fear model† has scientific support and has shown a relatively small but still solid effect on attitudes, intentions and behaviors. The fight against doping would benefit from trying the â€Å"fear model† in prevention campaigns. Keywords: doping behaviors, doping prevention, fear appeals Based on previous research, the purpose of this paper is to give an overview of doping behaviors in amateur sport as well as actual prevention actions, and to propose a new perspective on doping prevention. Widespread Doping Behaviors among Amateur Athletes Doping is not limited to elite athletes but is widespread in society and is increasingly important among amateur athletes (Calfee Fadale, 2006; Laure, 1997; Lentillon-Kaestner Carstairs, 2010; Lentillon-Kaestner Ohl, 2011; Sagoe, Molde, Andreassen, 2014; Yesalis, Barsukiewicz, Kopstein, Bahrke, 1997). It is difficult to assess the extent of doping in amateur sport, nevertheless it exists. In his review on 44 studies, Laure (1997) estimated the prevalence of doping in children and adolescents participating in sport at 3 to 5% and in adults participating in amateur sports at 5 to 15%. In France, 6.7% of 8-18 year-olds approved doping in sport (Laure, 2000). Lentillon-Kaestner and Carstairs (2010) showed that young amateur cyclists (Under-23 category) were tempted by doping. The meta-analysis of Sagoe, Molde and Andreassen (2014) on 187 studies showed a global lifetime prevalence rate of anabolic-androgenic steroid use of 3.3 %. Doping varies according to various demographic parameters. It increases with age and can start before the age of 15 years (Laure, 1997; Sagoe et al., 2014). Doping is more widespread among boys than girls (Dunn Thomas, 2012; Laure, 2000); however, the gender gap is decreasing from 10 years old (Yesalis et al., 1997). Doping is more widespread among competitors, and it increases with the level of competition (Laure, 2000). Inefficiency of Current Doping Prevention Programs For several years, the fight against doping has mainly focused on the improvement of detection measures (drug tests), leaving aside measures of doping prevention (Backhouse, 2012; Ntoumanis, Ng, Barkoukis, Backhouse, 2014). To date, tested measures of doping prevention are rare, and doping prevention programs lack solid scientific background (Backhouse, 2012; Johnson, 2012; Ntoumanis et al., 2014). Traditional doping prevention campaigns are often ineffective. They describe substances’ side effects, try to persuade users of the ineffectiveness of performance enhancing substances or promote sports ethics (Barkoukis, 2014; Schaps, Bartolo, Moskowitz, al., 1981). The recent meta-analysis of Ntoumakis, Ng, Barkoukis and Backhouse (2014) showed that implemented anti-doping interventions lead to small changes in individuals’ attitudes towards and intention to engage in doping and had no effect on actual doping behaviors. It seems important to build innovative prevention int erventions that are based on solid scientific theory (Backhouse, 2012 ;Johnson, 2012). The Fear Model in Prevention Campaigns In recent years, a new model of prevention campaign based on fear and coming from the Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian countries has been used notably in France (e.g., prevention campaigns for road safety, smoking, alcohol, cancer). Fear is conceptualized as a negative emotional reaction to a perceived threat. The purpose of the fear model is to show the consequences of an undesirable event (illness, accident, etc.) or to give more or less directly a glimpse of the following unhappiness aiming to bring an attitude change. The fear motivates actions to reduce negative emotion (Gallopel, 2006). In contrast to current measures of doping prevention, prevention strategies based on fear have scientific support (Moscato et al., 2001; Tay Watson, 2002; Witte Allen, 2000). Psychologists and researchers in marketing have tried to understand why a prevention campaign based on phobic emotion resulted sometimes in success (action) and sometimes in failure (defensive reactions). Various theories hav e been developed. The latest and most advanced theory about fear from a theoretical and empirical point of view (Witte Allen, 2000) is the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) of Witte (1992) (Witte, 1992). In this model, individuals first assess the threat contained in the message. Perceived threat is a cognitive construct with two dimensions: perceived severity of the threat and one’s perceived susceptibility to the threat (Popova, 2011). In accordance with other meta-analyses, the meta-analysis of Witte and Allen (2000) suggested that the higher the fear level, the higher the persuasive impact of the message. If the threat is perceived as irrelevant or insignificant, the person is no longer motivated to process the message and simply ignores the fear. In contrast, when a threat is described as significant and relevant, people are frightened. The more people believe themselves vulnerable to a serious threat, the more they are motivated to start the second evaluation of t he recommendations’ effectiveness. The fear motivates the change in attitudes, intentions and behaviors, especially fear accompanied with highly effective messages. Perceived effectiveness comprises two dimensions: perceived response effectiveness (beliefs of how effective a response is in averting a threat) and perceived self-effectiveness (beliefs about one’s ability to carry out the recommended response) (Popova, 2011). Effective messages generating a strong fear encourage behavior change (i.e., danger control), while less effective messages generating a strong fear lead to defensive reactions (i.e., fear control) (Popova, 2011). According to Witte (1992), fear in health campaigns is far more useful to promote prevention behavior than to modify an existing behavior. Witte and Allen (2000) concluded, from their meta-analysis on 98 studies on prevention campaigns based on fear (e.g., sexuality, alcohol, road safety, tobacco), that fear would have a relatively small bu t constant effect on attitudes, intentions and behaviors. They also offered a series of recommendations for the implementation of prevention measures (Witte Allen, 2000). In addition, psychology studies on persuasion showed that a simple message was more persuasive in video than in written or audio forms (Girandola, 2003). The theory of self-affirmation (Steele, 1988) appears as a way to increase the effectiveness of prevention campaigns through a re-evaluation of the self-image, which reduces the defensive reactions and increases the acceptance of preventive message’s recommendations. The manipulation of self-affirmation may be achieved in different ways (e.g., values to rank in importance order, to write an essay on their most important value, to describe a very important thing in their lives) (Barkoukis, 2014). Research has shown that to secure the self through self-affirmation manipulation reduced defensive reactions to threatening health information (Sherman, Nelson, Steele, 2000) and positively influenced healthier behaviors (Harris, 2011). Through the self-affirmation process, prevention campaigns do not threaten the self-image of the person, but only the behavior is threatened (Sherman et al., 2000; Steele, 1988). New Perspectives in Doping Prevention Adolescence is a high-risk period for the development of doping behaviors. Performance enhancing drugs have adverse effects on health (Calfee Fadale, 2006; Maravelias, 2005), but young athletes are tempted by doping and are not afraid on the impact on their health (Lentillon-Kaestner, Hagger, Hardcastle, 2012). Young athletes are priority target as their doping attitudes are in formation and primary prevention seems to be a good solution to avoid the appearance of doping behaviors. To date, there do not exist any doping prevention videos based on fear induction. The fight against doping would benefit from trying fear in prevention campaigns for two main reasons. Firstly, although in recent years doping tests have progressed, preventive measures remain lacunar and should be improved. Secondly, doping prevention lacks standardized, effective and easy tools to use in the sport and academic domains. A doping prevention video could be used during sport events and competitions. Doping prevention is also a topic addressed in some school and university courses, particularly among young students following additional sport modules, or in sport universities. Teachers, often not specialists in doping, need help to address this difficult issue. The creation of a video based on fear could be a good preventive tool in the fight against doping in sport.

Examining Moral Philosophies’ Functions in Business Essay -- values, e

The Moral Philosophies’ Functions in Business Usually the conversation about philosophy in society is centered on the universal structure of values as part of their lives. Conversely moral philosophy relates to certain ideologies or statutes which are used by societies in determining right or wrong. It is imperative to comprehend there is a difference between â€Å"moral philosophies† and â€Å"business ethics†. The â€Å"moral philosophies† pertain to individual’s values, whereas â€Å"business ethics† is centered on groups’ decisions or relate to meeting a business objective. As espoused by Ferrell, et.al, (2013) the moral philosophy is what a person hold as their ethics and beliefs. However, when viewing ethics in the framework of business, ethics are based on what the group considers to be the best or worse approach for the business operation and its objectives. Therefore, it is the responsibility of a company or its managers to create, and instruct, employees on the conformity of ethical in business practices within their organizations. Managers also should understand that their personal moral philosophies can be influential as a guide to other employee. Moreover, it should be understood that moral philosophies offer standards for controlling how conflicts are settled in reference to people life’s concerns. Additionally moral philosophies influence how corporation devise business strategies and resolve specific ethical issues (Ferrell, et al., 2013, p. 153). With that said it should be noted that not one specific moral philosophy is accepted universally. This fact is proven by viewing how moral philosophies is used to are used to endorse certain economic system and the conduct of people in those systems. For the purpose of this paper... ...., Fraedrich, J. & Ferrell, L. (2013), Business ethics & social responsibility. [OMM640 Custom edition] Mason, OH: Cengage Learning Forsyth, D. R. (1992). Judging the morality of business practices: The influence of personal moral philosophies. Journal of Business Ethics, 11(5), 461. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/198100721?accountid=32521 Robertson, C. J., & Crittenden, W. F. (2003).Mapping moral philosophies: Strategic implications for multinational firms. Strategic Management Journal, 24(4), 385-392. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/225010000?accountid=32521 Singh, J., Vitell, S., Al-Khatib, J., & Clark, I. (2007). The Role of Moral Intensity and Personal Moral Philosophies in the Ethical Decision Making of Marketers: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of China and the United States. Journal of International Marketing, 15(2), 86-112.

Me :: essays research papers

I read the essay â€Å"Anorexia Nervosa† by Nancie Brosseau, it is a true story of her battle with anorexia and how looking just right pushed her too far. Body image is a growing epidemic in society among girls and even boys. Everywhere you go, I think the perception of looking a certain way and being a certain size is faced. Teens will push themselves as far as they possibly can until they look just right and even after they get there, they are so controlled by it all, that they can’t stop.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The story is about a fourteen-year-old girl who decides that she wants to lose weight. It starts off with her only wanting to lose about ten pounds. But when she realizes how good and freeing it was to lose the weight, she wants to lose more. She starts to lose large amounts of weight, and because of this her body starts to change dramatically. Brosseau describes what the eating disorder did to her body, how it changed everything physically and mentally about her body and her mind. It changed the appearance of her body from head to toe. The disorder made her so weak and brittle that her bones would break instantly when she did something. I think the most wrenching thing she described was when she could see her heart beating through her shirt.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the story Brosseau also describes about what the disorder did to her mind, and the games it played with her. Anorexia caused her to lie, sneak around, and become depressed. She would lie to her parents, teachers, doctors, and even herself. She would have to force herself to throw her food away and make up excuses on how she had already eaten. Brosseau would have to sneak around behind the backs of people she loved and hurt them, all because of what the disorder was doing to her. I think the worst effect the disorder caused was the how depressed it caused Brosseau to be. It brought her to such a low that she had no clue what she was doing to her body. The extent she was going to just to make herself look and feel a certain way. It pushed her to punish herself for being the size she was and made her beat herself up for it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Anorexia is a serious disorder; I think everyone has their own views on what

A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller :: Papers

A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller The following essay is about how people reacted to Arthur Miller's play and what his intentions where and if he got the desired effect on people. Firstly let me start of by telling you about the intentions of writers, Arthur Miller's intentions in particular. A writer intends to grip the audience so people will read or view there work. Arthur Miller intended to grip the audience by telling you a story of illegal immigrants and how they could affect a person's life. He also intended to show us how Italians deal with people who inform on others. He wanted to show us the emotions and behavior a working class person who had to deal with the fact that the girl who "belonged" to him for such a long time was being "stolen" from him and he was losing her. For Arthur Miller this was "A dangerous and mysterious world at the edge of the water that drama and literature had never touched" (Time Bends) Arthur Miller intended this to be a modern version of a Greek tragedy in which a main character is led by fate towards an unavoidable destiny. Arthur Miller tells us what happens in the beginning but leaves us wanting to know how it happened. Most of Arthur Miller's plays are based on serious issues in which he tries to show us how people think and react in situations which threaten to defeat and overcome them. So by showing us all this how does Arthur miller want us to react? Arthur miller wants us to walk away with an understanding that "Some times it's better to settle for half" He also wants us to get an insight into the lives of people like Eddie, placed in situations which are uncomfortable. Miller tries to show us how people like Eddie think and react. He wants us to understand that we can only protect our little ones for so long and then we must let them go. He also tries to show us there emotions, the

Overview of the Social Security Scheme in India: ESIC Scheme Essay

Social Security is both a concept as well as a system. It represents basically a system of protection of individuals who are in need of such protection by the State as an agent of the society. Such protection is relevant in contingencies such as retirement, resignation, retrenchment, death, disablement which are beyond the control of the individual members of the Society. Men are born differently; they think differently and act differently. State as an agent of the society has an important mandate to harmonise such differences through a protective cover to the poor, the weak, the deprived and the disadvantaged. The concept of social security is now generally understood as meaning protection provided by the society to its members through a series of public measures against the economic and social distress that otherwise is caused by the stoppage or substantial reduction of earnings resulting from sickness, maternity, employment injury, occupational diseases, unemployment, invalidity, old age and death. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) defines Social Security as â€Å"the security that society furnishes through appropriate organization against certain risks to which its members are perennially exposed. The ILO concept of social security is based on the recognition of the fundamental social right guaranteed by law to all human beings who live from their own labour and who find themselves unable to work temporarily or permanently for reasons beyond their control. At the international level, the preamble of the Constitution of ILO also referred to the need and protection of workers against sickness, disease and injury arising out of their employment, pension for old age, and protection of the interests of the workers who were employed in countries other than their own. Thus, the right to Social Security was recognized officially for the first time. Subsequently, the UN General Assembly, while adopting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights also recognized the right to Social Security by stating that every member of the society has a right to social security. â€Å"Social Security† has been recognised as an instrument for social transformation and progress and must be preserved, supported and developed as such. Furthermore, far from being an obstacle to economic progress as is often said, social security organised on a firm and sound basis will promote progress, since once men and women benefit from increased security and are free from anxiety, will become more productive. There is considerable controversy about the social and economic effects of social security, and most of the current debate is focused on its supposedly negative effects. Social Security is said to discourage people from working and saving to reduce international competitiveness and employment creation, and to encourage people to withdraw from the labour market prematurely. On the other hand, social security can also be seen to have a number of very positive economic effects. It can help to make people capable of earning an income and to increase their productive potential; it may help to maintain effective demand at the national level; and it may help create conditions, in which a market economy can flourish, notably by encouraging workers to accept innovation and change. Social security measures are generally income, maintenance measures intended to provide a minimum living to the people when they are deprived of the same due to invalidity, unemployment or old age. The two basic elements of social security are provision of a ‘minimum living to those who are deprived of the same and ‘selective redistribution of income’ to a target group to reduce inequalities. Thus Social security is an instrument for social transformation and good governance. According to the ILO- World Labour Report-2000, the total security expenditure in India as percentage of GDP in 1996 was 1.8 whereas for the corresponding period the Social Security expenditure in Sri Lanka was 4.7, Malaysia 2.9 and China 3.6. In Argentina, the social security expenditure for the same period as a percentage of GDP reached the level of 12.4 and in case of Brazil 12.2. In comparison to Argentina and Brazil, the expenditure on social security in India is much less. The expenditure on social security cannot be directly related alone to the economic development. Intervention of the State would be essential and a co-relationship may have to be established for faster economic d evelopment. Social Security in India was traditionally the responsibility of the family/community in general. With the gradual process of industrialization/urbanization, breakup of the joint family set up and weakening of family bondage, the need for institutionalized and State-cum-society regulated social security arrangement to address the problem in a planned manner in wider social/economic interest at national level has been felt necessary. Currently, on-going measures towards transformation process for trade and industry, increasing role of market forces and increase in longevity, in general world over has added a new dimension to the issue and enhanced the requirement further towards a planned and regulated institutionalized measure in the form of social security in its common understanding. Social Security in Organised Sector in India The social security schemes in India cover only a very small segment of the organised work force, which may be defined as workers who are having a direct regular employer-employee relationship within an organization. Out of an estimated work force of about 397 million, only 28 million are having the benefit of formal social security protection. The Social Security Laws in India at present can be broadly divided into two categories, namely, the contributory and the non-contributory. The contributory laws are those which provide for financing of the social security programmes by contributions paid by workers and employers and in some cases supplemented by contributions/grants from the Government. The important contributory schemes include the Employees State Insurance Act, 1948 and the Provident Fund, Pension and Deposit Linked Insurance Schemes framed under the Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1948. The three major non-contributory laws are the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923, the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 and the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972. Social Security in Unorganised Sector in India. As already mentioned, the coverage under Social Security is about 10% of the working population mostly in the organised sector. The vast majority of the workforce is in the unorganised sector, which includes agricultural labour, cultivators, small traders and hawkers, artisans and other self-employed persons, porters, auto-rickshaw drivers and other transport workers etc. Bringing them under formal social security coverage has been found difficult due to the following reasons: a) Seasonal and intermittent nature of work, leading to difficulties in meeting the qualifying conditions. b) Low level and irregular pattern of earnings and employment; c) Absence of employer-employee relationship leading to difficulties in determining the principal employer and in assessing and recovering contributions. d) Relatively weak administrative structure, particularly in rural areas. Under the Employees State Insurance Scheme and Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme a very small segment of workers in the unorganized sector are covered. The huge gap in coverage in the unorganized sector requires for a fresh strategy to extend coverage of both the schemes to the unorganized sector. The unorganised workforce is characterised by scattered and fragmented areas of employment, seasonality of employment, lack of job security, low legislative protection because of their scattered and dispersed nature, lack of awareness and high unemployment levels, perceived mis-match between the training requirements and the training facilities available, low literacy levels, outmoded social customs like child marriage, excessive spending on ceremonial festivities leading to indebtedness and bondage, etc., primitive production technologies and feudal production relations are further impediments not facilitating these workers to imbibe and assimilate higher technologies and better production relations. The unorganised Labour can be categorised broadly into four categories as follows:- a) Occupation : Small and marginal farmers, landless agricultural labourers, share croppers, fishermen, those engaged in animal husbandry, in beedi rolling beedi labelling and beedi packing workers in building and construction, etc. b) Nature of Employment: Attached agricultural labourers, bonded labourers migrant workers, contract and casual labourers come under this category. c) Specially distressed categories: Toddy tappers, scavengers, carriers of head loads, drivers of animal driven vehicles, loaders and unloaders belong to this category. e) Service categories: Midwives, domestic workers, fishermen and women, barbers, vegetable and fruit vendors, newspaper vendors etc. come under this category. The unorganised nature of the workforce, dispersed nature of operational processes and lack of institutional back up reduces their bargaining power and their ability to take full benefits from the Acts and legislations enacted for their benefits. Further, low skill levels of this workforce provides little scope for them to move vertically in the occupational ladder to improve their financial situation. The growth of informal, unprotected work with shrinking formal employment compels the workers to bear an increasing direct burden of financing social needs, with adverse effects on their quality of life. That burden may also undermine the capacity of enterprises to compete with global economy.

Zappos-Amazon Acquisition

Amazon’s Acquisition of Zappos Acquisition regarding Amazon and Zappos Companies that want to be among the elite competitors in their particular fields have to be able to adapt and evolve in an always changing market place. In order to do so many large companies initiate mergers or acquisitions with smaller or similarly sized companies. They believe they can leverage and collaborate with each other in order to create more company value.The main difference between a merger and an acquisition is a merger is a situation in which two firms agree to unite as one single company rather than remain two separately operating firms owned by one company. The firms are usually the same size, and both companies’ stocks are surrendered creating new company stock issued in its’ place. An acquisition is when one company completely buys out the selling companies stock and makes itself the new owner of the company. Legally the selling company still exists as an independent legal en tity, but overall control is in the hands of the parent company.In July 2009 CEO of Zappos, Tony Hsieht made the announcement of Amazon’s acquiring of Zappos. In a lengthy e-mail Tony eloquently explains the future of Zappos and what will take place in the near future at Zappos. Throughout Amazon’s reign as online shopping powerhouse, they have been consistent in one of the most important aspects–growing and developing as a long-term contender in the online shopping world. Amazon has adapted and involved in the always changing markets by expanding market share through acquisitions.In 1998 Amazon expanded itself into new markets with three key acquisitions. Two of the acquired companies, Bookpages and Telebook, were bought to expand Amazon’s market share into Europe; and the third acquisition, The Internet Movie Database (IMD), was bought to expand Amazon into a new developing market of online video sales. Amazon has always stressed customer service and cu stomer ease as a main objective throughout their development. Zappos is a company known to be a customer service company since its inception.In fact, Tony Hsieh stated in a Harvard business review article that he does not think of Zappos as a shoe company, but rather a customer service company. On the surface this acquisition seemed like a good fit for both parties, but the reality of high failure rates of acquisitions signifies there are many things to think about when considering acquiring a company. Our team will give a brief analysis on pre-acquisition activity within both companies, analysis of the acquisition itself, and give an overview of the success or failure of the acquisition.The key aspects to consider in this acquisition are as follows: the simplest and most underestimated factor is what are the specific goals of each company in regards to a possible acquisition, can the two separate companies effectively leverage each other’s strengths to create a greater compa ny value, and do these two companies align with one another in order to carry out their objectives and grow long-term. A History Of Zappos Zappos is an online selling shoe company founded in 1999 by Nick Swinmurn, Alfred Lin, and Tony Hsieh.The company’s key concept is that they are in the customer service business, not a shoe company. Customer service is Zappos’ main asset. They do everything a little bit differently than any other company. Tony Hsieh encourages company culture which is the core of the company allowing them to be so successful. Before the acquisition, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh had to make sure that the company will remain unchanged. Many people thought it would be end of Zappos and their culture after Amazon bought them. Amazon took over Zappos, but allowed them to run separately, keeping their company name and culture.Zappos’s goal for the future is to deliver happiness to their customers and acquisition by Amazon allowing them to leverage each ot her’s strengths. Now with the merger Zappos has much better cash flow than before. Now they can refund people’s credit cards much faster than they could before and improve their customer service even more. With the acquisition they also gained lot of experience from senior staff of Amazon and vice versa. Prior to the acquisition, Zappos had to discuss their independence with Amazon.Zappos tried to stay unchanged by the acquisition as much as possible while keeping all the benefits from the acquisition as long as they could. Zappos had big plans before the acquisition, and now with Amazon they are still focusing on their goals, but with resources from Amazon they can achieve them much faster. Zappos’ net sales in the first quarter of 2010 were almost 50% higher than the same quarter of the previous year. To ensure Zappos can grow at this fast pace they had to hire the right people. Zappos’s way to make sure that their employees really want to work at the f irm is quite nontraditional.After few weeks of training they offer their trainees money to leave. This price constantly raises and after the acquisition it was at $3000 not to take the job. Zappos didn’t change immediately after the acquisition, but now few years later we see some changes happening, but Zappos still keeps their culture untouched. The biggest change that happened in Zappos was handing over their Kentucky warehouse to Amazon. Tony Hsieh explained it as necessary move due to legal obligations. Zappos employees in Kentucky had to be transformed under Amazon with all their benefits changing.Usually during acquisition many people will get laid off due to efficiency for both firms. Zappos has actually grown since the acquisition and no one lost their job as a result of it. It was a risky move for Tony Hsieh, because in one interview he admitted that Amazon can technically sell Zappos at any time. Some of their agreement works on mutual trust and so far it works for both Amazon and Zappos. A History of Amazon Amazon. com Inc. sells just about everything, and lots of it. What drives Amazon is the desire to enhance the consumer experience, whether it's shipping or product availability or price.Over the past decade, Amazon has moved from strictly retail to both selling goods and then executing the orders, for itself and for third parties. Amazon, as much as people like to think of it as an e-commerce provider, is becoming a direct-to-consumer fulfillment company. How did Amazon become so successful so quickly? Strategy! Investing in the right plans at the right time and staying the course. Amazon embraced what is known as a â€Å"design school model† of strategy development. Despite the title, the model is simple to understand and can be highly effective.It is the one used most by professors and consulting organizations. Organizations often struggle in finding a compelling competitive position. Successful organization can begin to drift awa y and total fail at what it takes to be successful. This tool can begin to help an organization get into the game. The design school model calls for both external and internal appraisals. An external appraisal helps an organization to understand threats and opportunities that are out there in the market. The internal assessment helps the organization to understand its strengths and weaknesses. The â€Å"Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities andThreats† (SWOT) tool is one that most people are familiar with and stems from the design school model. Amazon conducted the external analysis using the following analysis frameworks: PESTEL Analysis, Industry and Competitor Analysis, Competitor Analysis, Global Internet Trends and GE Matrix. The â€Å"PESTEL† framework helped Amazon to identify trends that could impact them in six key areas: (P) Political factors: areas to focus on include political direction, taxes, trade restrictions. (E) Economic factors: includes GDP, inflatio n, interest rates, exchange rates and other macro and micro economic factors. S) Social factors: includes social trends, population growth rate, age distribution, career expectations, etc. (T) Technology factors: includes equipment, information technology, R;D. (E) Environmental factors: Includes weather and climate. (L) Legal factors: include health, safety, employment, discrimination, consumer and antitrust laws. Political, economic, social, technological progress indicates an increasing and attractive market? to be exploited by Amazon. com. The external appraisal includes Amazon looking at its competitive position to determine opportunities and risks and where it should focus.To do this, they used Porter’s 5-force tool that helped them to understand the strengths and weakness of its competitive position, and where they might consider moving forward. The competitive rivalry amongst the e-retailing industry is intense. From some of the largest to the smallest companies, dotc om businesses are abundant, making? competition intense. Amazon. com competes directly with big firms such as Barnes and? Noble and Ebay. In simplest terms, the model looks assumes there are five important forces that determine competitive power. Amazon has hundreds of competitors.The challenge is what ones to focus on. They focused on large-scale Internet retailers that offer a broad range of products. This exercise helped Amazon to better understand who their competition is. Ebay and Wal-Mart are examples. Global Internet Trends The Internet is Amazon’s key channel. The 20 top countries in Internet usage, and grow patterns were identified. A GE Matrix has been used to identify the attractiveness and competitive position of the? markets that Amazon. com operates in. GE Matrix: This is a matrix used to screen portfolios of business units.Both the attractiveness of the industry and the strength of each business unit within the industry are plotted. Industry attractiveness is d etermined by the following factors: Growth rate, Size, Demand, Competition, Profitability and Global opportunities. Business unit strength is determined by: Market share, Market share growth, Brand, Distribution channels, Production capacity and Profit margin comparisons. Knowing, constructing, and fully leveraging strengths in the best manner possible is an important key to creating long-term competitive advantage.Amazon is a great, leading-edge company that has successfully developed and implemented compelling strategies that we can learn from. Most large organizations conduct strategic planning, but in many cases real â€Å"strategy† and â€Å"planning† are missing. Instead too many strategic planning exercises are nothing more than budget positioning exercises. Not so with Amazon. Amazon has developed common sense as an organization. Becoming clear as to what will provide you a competitive advantage is paramount. We chase after the hot new industries where the risk is highest. The key is to sustained focus on smart strategies.There are three simple tools that Amazon focuses on as part of its internal appraisal process. They include: Value Chain, Resources Based View and Financial Analysis. Amazon developed a value chain of itself to internal it can operationally best add value and maintain a competitive advantage. The value chain analysis undertaken examines the operational effectiveness of activities that? enable Amazon. com to perform better than its competitors; i. e. the distinctive value chain activities that are difficult to imitate. This analysis focuses on ‘value creation’ and ‘transaction cost economies’; where Amazon. om? configures its value chain activities to create unique value for customers, reduce its costs of? carrying out these activities and reduce the cost of its customers’ transactions. Some of Amazon’s competitive advantages from a value chain perspective include: Strong technologi cal infrastructure with a single platform, High investments in technology development (e. g. , Kindle) to best leverage digital products, Great product forecasting system, Print on demand, Constantly soliciting suggestions on new products, Easy and fast payment system, 24 hour operations and Free returns within 30 days.The resource based view helps an organization to determine where to invest in critical resources to have a competitive advantage. The more valuable and rare the right resources are in the right places, the more likely the firm may have a long-term advantage over its competition. A firm utilizes its resources and capabilities to create a competitive advantage. The organization’s resources and capabilities combined together constitute its distinctive competencies. Amazon successfully identified the right resources and developed its capabilities in key target areas.These investments resulted in: Sophisticated online retailing technologies, Personalization features for customers on its websites, Reliable and easily scalable IT systems all one platform, New products (100 different products in seven major geographic markets), Top customer relationship system, State of the art warehousing, New products (100 different products in seven major geographic markets). Gearing, Debt and Capital Structure Amazon’s investments are paying off. Their net sales continue to grow, their cost of goods decreases as a % of sales and their net income continues to increase.And, they continue to invest in initiatives that provide them a longer-term competitive advantage. Goals: The acquisition of Zappos by Amazon is equally beneficial in the long run for the two companies. Zappos’ goals after the acquisition are mainly focused on its own growth internally and externally. As their own independent firm they want to pursue their vision of delivering happiness to customers, employees, and vendors; and now they will be able to get their much faster.Amazon h as the capacity to help them grow at a pace they would not be able to by themselves. Zappos is going to remain its own independent entity and it will be run by the same owners the way they see fit. This is beneficial because one of Zappos’ best qualities is its unique culture and brand. Financially, Zappos wanted a shareholder and partner that thinks long term and will also do what is best for their existing shareholders. Amazon’s goals for Zappos are very similar to what Zappos themselves want. They like Zappos because they have a lot of growth potential.Zappos is very popular, however they are not as large nor do they have the capacity for shipping, storage, or personnel that Amazon does and they want to leverage their capabilities to help Zappos grow. Amazon wants to leverage the intangible assets that Zappos possesses; the people and the culture of the company. The Culture of Zappos is one of its best qualities that no other company can easily replicate; working to gether the companies can share and learn from one another to improve the workplace culture in both companies.Customer service is what Zappos hangs its hat on and Amazon can learn from them about their policies and even help them to provide better service. Metrics: It will take some time for Amazon and Zappos to be able to measure the effectiveness of the acquisition mainly because both firms emphasize the long term. The main focus for both sides is to grow the Zappos brand and their effectiveness in their goal to help customers. Zappos should see increased sales, more efficient distribution, and faster response times when customers have issues. Methods: Aligning the two companies and leveraging each company’s strengths to better each other.Amazon has resources, technology, and operational experience that Zappos does not. Zappos can leverage all of these to make their own operations faster and more efficient by bringing people in from Amazon and learning from them. Amazons imp roved technology will help Zappos fill orders faster and improve logistics. Zappos has a very large distribution center in Kentucky fairly close to the UPS shipping hub. Amazon now has a very important strategic advantage with access. They can now move product faster and easier making their own distribution faster and less expensive.Post- Acquisition Turnout On Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009, Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos. com, emailed all of his employees to share the great news of their acquisition with Amazon. His board approved and signed a definitive agreement, in which all of the existing shareholders and investors of Zappos will be exchanging their Zappos stock for Amazon stock. After the exchange took place, Amazon became the sole shareholder of Zappos stock. Post-acquisition, Zappos continued to run their operations the same, doing what they believe is best for their brand, their culture, and their business.By leveraging each other’s strengths, Zappos reached their visio n even faster—delivering happiness to customers, employees, and vendors. By merging with Amazon, Zappos was able to accelerate the growth of their brand and culture. Amazon supports Zappos in continuing to grow their vision as an independent entity, under the Zappos brand with their unique culture. Hsieh also aligned his company with a shareholder and partner that think long term, just like Zappos. Zappos continued to run as an independent entity. In legal terminology, they became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amazon.Therefore, all of their jobs were as secure as they were pre-acquisition. The Zappos brand continued to be separate from the Amazon brand. Although they now have access to many of Amazon’s resources, they continued to build their brand and their culture just as they always have. Zappos has continued to grow their headquarters out of Las Vegas, attracting the right talent for each of their departments. After acquiring Zappos, Amazon has seen more profitabili ty, more market share, greater growth and revenue, and most importantly, a better brand image.By encompassing the unique customer service aspect of Zappos, Amazon has become one of, if not the biggest, online company. Amazon has seen substantial growth in net revenue since acquiring Zappos in 2009. Online business is a growing industry—the percentage of households with at least one computer has gone up from 64% in 2004 to 87% present day. In 2009, Amazon’s revenue was $24. 5 billion. This past year, they finished with total revenue of $61. 09 billion. In 2009, Amazon’s cost of goods sold was $18. 97 billion. This past year, it has grown to $45. 97 billion, a growth of $27 billion in just three years.In 2009, before the acquisition of Zappos, Amazon’s gross profit was $5. 5 billion. Three years later, it has escalated to a staggering $15. 1 billion. Although debt as a percent of total capital increased at Amazon. com Inc. over the last fiscal year to 34. 8 7%, it is still in-line with the Internet and Catalog Retail industry's norm. Additionally, even though there are not enough liquid assets to satisfy current obligations, operating profits are more than adequate to service the debt. Accounts Receivable is typical for the industry, with 17. 78 days worth of sales outstanding.Last, inventory levels, relative to its Cost of Goods Sold, are typical for the industry and have shown a consistent decrease during the last 4 years. This implies that management is becoming more efficient. Amazon’s acquisition of Zappos was clearly a smart move on both ends. Zappos and its employees were compensated fairly, and Amazon has seen a steady increase on the balance sheet and income statement. There is no limit to Amazon’s potential, now that they have acquired the amazing and unique company that is Zappos. Closing Remarks It is clear from our analysis that Amazon’s acquisition of Zappos is a good fit for both parties.Each company ’s goals of the acquisition were made clear through pre-acquisition negotiations. Zappos wanted to expand their operations through the use of Amazon’s large market share and also be able to use Amazon’s large array of assets to create a better costumer experience. Amazon wanted to learn the intangible and effective costumer service methods that have proven to be Zappos competitive edge. So far, each company has been able to effectively leverage each other’s strengths to achieve their goals. Furthermore, these companies align with each other in moving forward to achieve long-term growth.

Credit Appraisal Process

TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapters 1. INTRODUCTION * Reason for selecting the project * Scheme of the project * Research Methodology * Limitation of the study 2. CREDIT POLICY OF COMMERCIAL BANK * Commercial banks and its objectives * Recent policy developments regarding bank credit * Changing phase of bank credit * Trends of bank credit in India * Procedure for providing bank credit * Credit Appraisal 3. THE PROFILE OF THE ORGANIZATION OF PNB * Indian banking sector & its major challenges * Punjab National Bank at a glance * Mission and Vision * Organizational structure of PNB 4. CREDIT PHILOSOPHY & POLICY WITH REGARDS TO PNB Credit philosophy * Credit policy * Introduction to loans * Classification of loans * Building up of a proposal * Requirements as per constitution of borrower * Financial Appraisal 5. ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA * Credit Appraisal techniques * Process of credit appraisal for providing cash credit * Appraisal techniques for retail loans 6. CONCLUSION * Conclusio n * BIBLIOGRAPHY Introduction The last year financial crises have become the main cause for recession which was started in 2006 from US and was spread across the world. The world economy has been majorly affected from the crisis.The securities in stock exchange have fallen down drastically which has become the root cause of bankruptcy of many financial institutions and individuals. The root cause of the economic and financial crisis is credit default of big companies and individuals which has badly impacted the world economy. So in the present scenario analysing one’s credit worthiness has become very important for any financial institution before providing any form of credit facility so that such situation doesn’t arise in near future again. Analysis of the credit worthiness of the borrowers is known as Credit Appraisal.In order to understand the credit appraisal system followed by the banks this project has been conducted. The project has analysed the credit appraisa l procedure with special reference to Punjab National Bank which includes knowing about the different credit facilities provided by the banks to its customers, how a loan proposal is being made, what are the formalities that is to be satisfied and most importantly knowing about the various credit appraisal techniques which are different for each type of credit facility. Before going further it is necessary to understand the need and basic framework of the project.Therefore this chapter provides an introduction to the topic, objective of the project, reasons for selecting the project and the basic structure and framework how the project proceeds. In order to understand the importance of the topic selected an introduction to the overview of the commercial bank , its functions, and present trends and growth in bank credit are required and it is covered in this chapter. Reasons for selecting the project Whenever an individual or a company uses a credit that means they are borrowing mone y that they promise to repay with in a pre-decided period.In order to assess the repaying capability i. e. to evaluate their credit worthiness banks use various techniques that differ with the different types of credit facilities provided by the bank. In the current scenario where it is seen that big companies and financial institutions have been bankrupted just because of credit default so Credit Appraisal has become an important aspect in the banking sector and is gaining prime importance. It is the incident of credit defaults that has given rise to the financial crisis of 2008-09.But in India the credit default is comparatively less that other countries such as US. One of the reasons leading to this may be good appraisal techniques used by banks and financial institutions in India. Eventually the importance of this project is mainly to understand the credit appraisal techniques used by the banks with special reference to Punjab National Bank. Scheme of the project It covers the o bjective and structure of the project which is discussed as follows:- Objective of the project The overall objective of this project is to under stand the current credit appraisal system used in banks.The Credit Appraisal system has been analysed as per the different credit facilities provided by the bank. The detailed explanation about the techniques and process has been discussed in detail in the further chapters. Structure or Plan of the project The project first of all makes a study about the commercial banks- its important functions. Then it highlights on the concept of Bank Credit & its recent trends. The project then proceeds towards the lending procedure of banks and here it highlights about credit appraisal being the first step in building up of a loan proposal.Then it discusses the bank credit policy with respect to Punjab National bank where the project was undertaken. The project then proceeds with the review of literature i. e. review of some past work regarding credit appraisal by various researchers. The project then moves towards research methodology where it covers the information regarding the type of data collected and the theoretical concepts used in the project are discussed in detail. Then the project proceeds with the next chapter consisting of the analysis part which covers the analysis of various techniques used by the banks for the purpose of credit appraisal.Then the project moves to its next chapter i. e. findings where some results found out are interpreted and then moving on to the last and the final chapter i. e. the suggestions and conclusions where some steps are suggested to be implemented to increase the work efficiency and to reduce to work pressure Commercial banks and its objectives A commercial bank is a type of financial intermediary that provides checking accounts, savings accounts, and money market accounts and that accepts time deposits.Some use the term â€Å"commercial bank† to refer to a bank or a division o f a bank primarily dealing with deposits and loans from corporations or large businesses. This is what people normally call a â€Å"bank†. The term â€Å"commercial† was used to distinguish it from an investment bank. Commercial banks are the oldest, biggest and fastest growing financial intermediaries in India. They are also the most important depositories of public savings and the most important disbursers of finance. Commercial banking in India is a unique banking system, the like of which exists nowhere in the world.The truth of this statement becomes clear as one studies the philosophy and approaches that have contributed to the evolution of banking policy, programmes and operations in India. The banking system in India works under constraints that go with social control and public ownership. The public ownership of banks has been achieved in three stages: 1995, july 1969 and April, 1980. Not only the public sector banks but also the private sector and foreign ban ks are required to meet the targets in respect of sectoral deployment of credit, regional distribution of branches, and regional credit deposit ratios.The operations of banks have been determined by lead bank scheme, Differential Rate of interest scheme, Credit authorization scheme, inventory norms and lending systems prescribed by the authorities, the formulation of credit plans, and service area approach. Commercial Banks in India have a special role in India. The privileged role of the banks is the result of their unique features. The liabilities of Bank are money and therefore they are important part of the payment mechanism of any country.For a financial system to mobilise and allocate savings of the country successfully and productively and to facilitate day-to-day transactions there must be a class of financial institutions that the public views are as safe and convenient outlets for its savings. The structure and working of the banking system are integral to a countryâ€℠¢s financial stability and economic growth. It has been rightly claimed that the diversification and development of Indian Economy are in no small measure due to the active role banks have played financing economic activities of different sectors.Major objectives of commercial banks Bank Credit The borrowing capacity provided to an individual by the banking system, in the form of credit or a loan is known as a bank credit. The total bank credit the individual has is the sum of the borrowing capacity each lender bank provides to the individual. The operating paradigms of the banking industry in general and credit dispensation in particular have gone through a major upheaval. * Lending rates have fallen sharply. * Traditional growth and earning such as corporate credit has been either slow or not profitable as before. Banks moving into retail finance, interest rate on the once attractive retail loans also started coming down. * Credit risks has went up and new types risks are surfaced Types of credit- Bank in India provide mainly short term credit for financing working capital needs although, as will be seen subsequently, their term loans have increased over the years. The various types of advances provide by them are: (a) Term Loans, (b) cash credit, (c) overdrafts, (d) demand Loans , (e) purchase and discounting of commercial bills, and, (f) instalment or hire purchase credit. Volume of Credit-Commercial banks are a major source of finance to industry and commerce. Outstanding bank credit has gone on increasing from Rs 727 crore in 1951 to Rs 19,124 crore in 1978, to Rs 69,713 crore in 1986, Rs 1,01,453 crore in 1989-90 , Rs 2,82,702 crore in 1997 and to Rs 6,09,053 crore in 2002. Banks have introduced many innovative schemes for the disbursement of credit. Among such schemes are village adoption, agriculture development branches and equity fund for small units. Recently, most of the banks have introduced attractive education loan schemes for pursuing studies at home or abroad.They have introduced attractive educational loan schemes for pursuing studies at home or abroad. They have moved in the direction of bridging certain defects or gaps in their policies, such as giving too much credit to large scale industrial units and commerce and giving too little credit to agriculture, small industries and so on. The Public Sector Banks are still the leading lenders  though growth has declined compared to previous quarter. The credit growth rate has dipped sharply in foreign and private banks compared to previous quarter. In all, the credit growth has slipped in this quarter. Credit (YOY Growth)March 28 2008  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   March 27 2009| Public Sector Banks| 22. 5| 20. 4| The rates have gone down compared to previous quarter when it was seen that there was no changes in loan rates in private and foreign banks. But then compared to rate cuts done by RBI, they still need to go lower. Table 16: Reduction in Deposit and Lending Rates | (October 2008 – April 2009*)| (Basis points)| Bank Group| Deposit Rates| Lending Rates (BPLR)| Public Sector Banks| 125-250| 125-225| Private Sector Banks| 75-200| 100-125| Five Major Foreign Banks| 100-200| 0-100| | | |BPLR| Oct – 08| Mar – 09| Apr – 09| Change (from Oct to Apr)| Public Sector Banks| 13. 75-14. 75| 11. 50-14. 00| 11. 50-13. 50| 125-225| Private Sector Banks| 13. 75-17. 75| 12. 75-16. 75| 12. 50-16. 75| 100-125| Five Major Foreign Banks  Ã‚  Ã‚  | 14. 25-16. 75| 14. 25-15. 75| 14. 25-15. 75| 0-100| Sector-wise credit points credit has increased to agriculture, industry and real estate whereas has declined to NBFCs and Housing. A bank group wise sectoral allocation is also given which suggests private banks have increases exposure to agriculture and real estate but has declined to industry.Public sector banks have increased allocation to industry and rea l estate. There is a more detailed analysis in the macroeconomic report  released before the monetary policy. Sector| As on February 15, 2008|   | As on February 27, 2009|   |   | % share| Variations| % share | Variations| | in total| (per cent)| in total| (per cent)| Agriculture| 9. 2| 16. 4| 13| 21. 5| Industry| 45. 2| 25. 9| 52. 5| 25. 8| Real Estate| 3. 1| 26. 7| 8. 5| 61. 4| Housing| 7. 3| 12| 4. 7| 7. 5| NBFCs| 5. 7| 48. 6| 6. 6| 41. 7| Overall Credit| 100| 22| 100| 19. 5| To sum up, the credit conditions seems to have worsened after January 2009.The rates have declined but lending has not really picked up. However, the question still remains – whether credit decline is because banks are not lending (supply) or because  people/corporates are   not borrowing (lack of demand). It is usually seen that all financial variables as lead indicators say if credit growth (along with other fin indicators) is picking, actual growth will also rise. However, it is actuall y seen the relation is far from clear. In fact, the financial indicators  hardly help predict any change in business cycle. Most rise in good times and fall in bad times.Most financial indicators failed to predict this global financial crisis and kept rising making everyone all the more complacent. Recent policy developments Regarding Bank Credit Bank lending was done for a long time by assessing the working capital needs based on the concept of MPBF (maximum permissible bank finance). This practice has been withdrawn with the effect from April 15th 1997 in the sense that the date, banks have been left free to choose their own method ( from the method such as turnover , cash budget, present MPBF , or any other theory) of assessing working Capital requirement of the borrowers.The cash credit system has been the bane, yet it has exhibited a remarkable strength of survival all these years. In spite of many efforts which were direct in nature, only a slow progress has been made to red uce its importance and increase bill financing. Therefore a concrete and direct policy step was taken on April 21, 1995 which made it mandatory for banks, consortia, syndicates to restrict cash credit components to the prescribed limit , the balance being given in the form of a short term loan, which would be a demand loan for a maximum period of one year, or in case of seasonal industries , for six months.The interest rates on the cash credit and loan components are to be fixed in accordance with the prime lending rates fixed by the banks. This â€Å"loan system† was first made applicable to the borrowers with an MPBF of Rs 20 crore and above; and in their case , the ratio of cash credit (loan) to MPBF was progressively reduced(increased) from 75 (25) per cent in April 1995 , to 60 (40) percent in September 1995, 40 (60) per cent in April 1996 , and 20 (80) percent in April 1997.With the withdrawal of instructions about the MPBF in April 1997 , the prescribed cash credit and loan components came to be related to the working capital limit arrived in banks as per the method of their choice. With effect from September 3, 1997, the RBI has permitted banks to raise their existing exposure limit to a business group from 50% to 60%; the additional 10% limit being exclusively meant for investment in infrastructure projects. The term lending by banks also has subject to the limits fixed by RBI. In 1993, this limit was raised from Rs 10 crore to Rs 50 crore in case of a oan for a single project by a single bank, and from Rs 150 crore to Rs 200 crore for a single project by all the banks. The latter limit was subsequently raised to Rs 500 crore in the case of general projects and Rs 1000 crore for power projects. From September3, 1997 these caps on term lending by banks were removed subject to their compliance with the prudential exposure norms. The banks can invest in and underwrite shares and debentures of corporate bodies. At present, they can invest five perc ent of their incremental deposits in equities of companies including other banks.Their investment in shares/ Bonds of DFHI, Securities trading Corporation of India (STCI), all Indian financial institutions and bonds (debentures) and preference shares of the companies are excluded from this ceiling of five per cent with affect from April 1997 . From the same date banks could extend loans within this ceiling to the corporate against shares held by them. They could also offer overdraft facilities to stock brokers registered with help of SEBI against shares and debentures held by them for nine months without change of ownership. CHANGING PHASE OF BANK CREDIT-A study group headed by Shri Prakash Tandon, the then Chairman of Punjab National Bank, was constituted by the RBI in July 1974 with eminent personalities drawn from leading banks, financial institutions and a wide cross-section of the industry with a view to study the entire gamut of Bank's finance for working capital and suggest w ays for optimum utilization of Bank credit. This was the first elaborate attempt by the central bank to organize the Bank credit. Most banks in India even today continue to look at the needs of the corporate in the light of methodology recommended by the Group.The report of this group is widely known as Tandon Committee report. The weaknesses in the Cash Credit system have persisted with the non-implementation of one of the crucial recommendations of the Committee. In the background of credit expansion seen in 1977-79 and its ill effects on the economy, RBI appointed a working group to study and suggest- i) Modifications in the Cash Credit system to make it amenable to better management of funds by the Bankers and ii) Alternate type of credit acilities to ensure better credit discipline and co relation between credit and production. The Group was headed by Sh. K. B. Chore of RBI and was named Chore Committee. Another group headed by Sh. P. R. Nayak (Nayak Committee) was entrusted th e job of looking into the difficulties faced by Small Scale Industries due to the sophisticated nature of Tandon ; Chore Committee recommendations. His report is applicable to units with credit requirements of less than Rs. 50 lacs.The recommendations made by Tandon Committee and reinforced by Chore Committee were implemented in all Banks and Bank Credit became much more organized. However, the recommendations were perceived as too strict by the industry and there has been a continuous clamor from the Industry for movement from mandatory control to a voluntary market related restraint. With recent liberalization of economy and reforms in the financial sector, RBI has given the freedom to the Banks to work out their own norms for inventory and the earlier norms are now to be taken as guidelines and not a mandate.In fact, beginning with the slack season credit policy of 1997-98, RBI has also given full freedom to all the Banks to devise their own method of assessing the short term cre dit requirements of their clients and grant lines of credit accordingly. Most banks, however, continue to be guided by the principles enunciated in Tandon Committee report. Trends of Bank Credit in India The face of Indian banking has changed radically in the last decade. A perusal of the Basic Statistical Returns submitted by banks to the Reserve Bank of India shows that between 1996 and 2005, personal loans have been the fastest growing asset, increasing from 9. per cent of the total bank credit in 1996 to 22. 2 per cent in 2005. Of course, this is partly due to the huge rise in housing loans, which rose from 2. 8 per cent of the bank credit to 11 per cent over the period, but ‘other personal loans’ — comprising loans against fixed deposits, gold loans and unsecured personal loans — also rose from 6. 1 per cent to 10. 7 per cent. Other categories whose share increased were loans to professionals and loans to finance companies. In contrast, there has been a sharp decline in the share of lendings to industry. Credit to small scale industries fell from 10. per cent of the total in 1996 to 4. 1 per cent in 2005. Reasons for declining trend of bank credit * A major share of the economic growth has been led by the expansion of the service sector * Capital intensity and investment intensity required for growth in the current economic context may not be as high as it used to be in the past. * In manufacturing sector more efficient utilization of existing capacities contributed to the sectoral growth rather rather than any large addition of fresh capacities. The consequential increase in the demand for credit was also subdued. Greater and cheaper avenues for credit resulted in a bigger share of disintermediation being resorted to by large borrowers. The other trend has been the substantial drop in the share of rural credit, while the share of metropolitan centres has increased. While bankers say that up gradation of rural centres into semi- urban could be one reason (the share of semi-urban centres has gone up), it is also true that the reforms have been urban-centric and have tended to benefit the metros more. The number of rural bank offices fell from 32,981 in March 1996 to 31,967 by March 2005.The states have been the main beneficiaries of bank credit are the northern region as it has increased its share from 18. 7 per cent of the total credit in 1996 to 22. 2 per cent in 2005. As it was seen that Delhi’s share went up from 9. 5 per cent to 12. 1 per cent over the period. This is not due to food credit, the account of which is maintained in Delhi. Clearly, the national capital has gained a lot from liberalisation. Trends for the year 2008-09 The aggregate deposits of scheduled commercial banks have expanded during 2008-09 at a somewhat slower rate (19. %) than in 2007-08 (22. 4%). Within aggregate deposits demand deposits have shown an absolute fall (-Rs 4,179 crore) in contrast to the sizeable increase (Rs 94,579 crore or by 22%) in 2007-08,. On the other hand, time deposits have shown an accelerated increase of 22. 6% (or Rs 647,806 crore) as against 21. 8% (Rs 512,844 crore) in the previous year. In the investment portfolio of banks, the expansion during 2008- 09 at Rs 194,031crore has been much lower than the expansion of Rs 340,250 crore as increase in net bank credit to government under onetary data for the same period. This has happened because the latter has a sizeable amount of RBI credit to government following the increased open market operations. Finally, there has occurred considerable slowdown in bank credit expansion. Because of relatively higher procurement of foodgrains, food credit has expanded by Rs 1,812 crore during 2008-09 as against an absolute fall of Rs 2,121 crore in 2007-08. Non-food credit growth at Rs 406,287 (17. 5%) has been slower than in the previous year at Rs 432,846 (23. 0%).Procedure for providing Bank Credit- Banks offers different types of credit facilities to the eligible borrowers. For this, there are several procedures, controls and guidelines laid out. Credit Appraisal, Sanctions, Monitoring and Asset Recovery Management comprise the entire gamut of activities in the lending process of a bank which are clearly shown as below: Source- Self constructed From the above chart we can see that Credit Appraisal is the core and the basic function of a bank before providing loan to any person/company, etc.It is the most important aspect of the lending procedure and therefore it is discussed in detail as below. Credit Appraisal Meaning – The process by which a lender appraises the creditworthiness of the prospective borrower is known as Credit Appraisal. This normally involves appraising the borrower’s payment history and establishing the quality and sustainability of his income. The lender satisfies himself of the good intentions of the borrower, usually through an interview. * The credit requirement must be assessed by all Indian Financial Institutions or specialised institution set up for this purpose. Wherever financing of infrastructure project is taken up under a consortium / syndication arrangement – bank’s exposure shall not exceed 25% * Bank may also take up financing infrastructure project independently / exclusively in respect of borrowers /promoters of repute with excellent past record in project implementation. * In such cases due diligence on the inability of the projects are well defined and assessed. State government guarantee may not be taken as a substitute for satisfactory credit appraisal.The important thing to remember is not to be overwhelmed by marketing or profit centre reasons to book a loan but to take a balanced view when booking a loan, taking into account the risk reward aspects. Generally everyone becomes optimistic during the upswing of the business cycle, but tend to forget to see how the borrower will be during the downturn, which is a short-sighted approach. Furthermore greater emphasis is given on financials, which are usually outdated; this is further exacerbated by the fact that a descriptive approach is usually taken, rather than an analytical approach, to the credit.Thus a forward looking approach should also be adopted, since the loan will be repaid primarily from future cash flows, not historic performance; however both can be used as good repayment indicators. Indian Banking Sector ; Its Major Challenges It is well recognised by the world that India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Evidence from across the world suggests that a sound and evolved banking system is required for sustained economic development. The last decade has seen many positive developments in the Indian banking sector.The policy makers, which comprise the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Ministry of Finance and related government and financial sector regulatory entities, have made several notable efforts to improve regulation in the sector. The sector now compares favourably with banking sectors in the region on metrics like growth, profitability and non-performing assets (NPAs). A few banks have established an outstanding track record of innovation, growth and value creation. This is reflected in their market valuation. However, improved regulations, innovation, growth and value creation in the sector remain limited to a small part of it.The cost of banking intermediation in India is higher and bank penetration is far lower than in other markets. India’s banking industry must strengthen itself significantly if it has to support the modern and vibrant economy which India aspires to be. While the onus for this change lies mainly with bank managements, an enabling policy and regulatory framework will also be critical to their success. The failure to respond to changing market realities has stunted the development of the financial sector in many developing countries.A weak banking structure has been unable to fuel continued growth, which has harmed the long-term health of their economies. In this â€Å"white paper†, we emphasise the need to act both decisively and quickly to build an enabling, rather than a limiting, banking sector in India. Indian banks have compared favourably on growth, asset quality and profitability with other regional banks over the last few years. The banking index has grown at a compounded annual rate of over 51 per cent since April 2001 as compared to a 27 per cent growth in the market index for the same period.Policy makers have made some notable changes in policy and regulation to help strengthen the sector. These changes include strengthening prudential norms, enhancing the payments system and integrating regulations between commercial and co-operative banks. However, the cost of intermediation remains high and bank penetration is limited to only a few customer segments and geographies. While bank lending has been a significant driver of GDP growth and employment, periodic instances of the â€Å"failure† of some weak banks have often threatened the stability of the system.Structural weaknesses such as a fragmented industry structure, restrictions on capital availability and deployment, lack of institutional support infrastructure, restrictive labour laws, weak corporate governance and ineffective regulations beyond Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs), unless addressed, could seriously weaken the health of the sector. Further, the inability of bank managements (with some notable exceptions) to improve capital allocation, increase the productivity of their service platforms and improve the performance ethic in their organisations could seriously affect future performance.India has a better banking system in place Vis a Vis other developing countries, but there are several issues that need to be ironed out. Major challenges of Indian banking sector are mentioned below. Interest rate risk Interest rate risk can be defined as exposure of bank's net interest income to adverse movements in interest rates. A bank's balance sheet consists mainly of rupee assets and liabilities. Any movement in domestic interest rate is the main source of interest rate risk. Over the last few years the treasury departments of banks have been responsible for a substantial part f profits made by banks. Between July 1997 and Oct 2003, as interest rates fell, the yield on 10-year government bonds (a barometer for domestic interest rates) fell, from 13 per cent to 4. 9 per cent. With yields falling the banks made huge profits on their bond portfolios. Now as yields go up (with the rise in inflation, bond yields go up and bond prices fall as the debt market starts factoring a possible interest rate hike), the banks will have to set aside funds to mark to market their investment. This will make it difficult to show huge profits from treasury operations.This concern becomes much stronger because a substantial percentage of bank depo sits remain invested in government bonds. Banking in the recent years had been reduced to a trading operation in government securities. Recent months have shown a rise in the bond yields has led to the profit from treasury operations falling. The latest quarterly reports of banks clearly show several banks making losses on their treasury operations. If the rise in yields continues the banks might end up posting huge losses on their trading books.Given these facts, banks will have to look at alternative sources of investment. Interest rates and non-performing assets The best indicator of the health of the banking industry in a country is its level of NPAs. Given this fact, Indian banks seem to be better placed than they were in the past. A few banks have even managed to reduce their net NPAs to less than one percent (before the merger of Global Trust Bank into Oriental Bank of Commerce OBC was a zero NPA bank). But as the bond yields start to rise the chances are the net NPAs will al so start to go up.This will happen because the banks have been making huge provisions against the money they made on their bond portfolios in a scenario where bond yields were falling. Reduced NPAs generally gives the impression that banks have strengthened their credit appraisal processes over the years. This does not seem to be the case. With increasing bond yields, treasury income will come down and if the banks wish to make large provisions, the money will have to come from their interest income, and this in turn, shall bring down the profitability of banks. Competition in retail bankingThe entry of new generation private sector banks has changed the entire scenario. Earlier the household savings went into banks and the banks then lent out money to corporate. Now they need to sell banking. The retail segment, which was earlier ignored, is now the most important of the lot, with the banks jumping over one another to give out loans. The consumer has never been so lucky with so man y banks offering so many products to choose from. With supply far exceeding demand it has been a race to the bottom, with the banks undercutting one another.A lot of foreign banks have already burnt their fingers in the retail game and have now decided to get out of a few retail segments completely. The nimble footed new generation private sector banks have taken a lead on this front and the public sector banks are trying to play catch up. The PSBs have been losing business to the private sector banks in this segment. PSBs need to figure out the means to generate profitable business from this segment in the days to come. The urge to merge In the recent past there has been a lot of talk about Indian Banks lacking in scale and size.The State Bank of India is the only bank from India to make it to the list of Top 100 banks, globally. Most of the PSBs are either looking to pick up a smaller bank or waiting to be picked up by a larger bank. The central government also seems to be game ab out the issue and is seen to be encouraging PSBs to merge or acquire other banks. Global evidence seems to suggest that even though there is great enthusiasm when companies merge or get acquired, majority of the mergers/acquisitions do not really work. So in the zeal to merge with or acquire another bank the PSBs should not let their common sense take a back seat.Before a merger is carried out cultural issues should be looked into. A bank based primarily out of North India might want to acquire a bank based primarily out of South India to increase its geographical presence but their cultures might be very different. So the integration process might become very difficult. Technological compatibility is another issue that needs to be looked into in details before any merger or acquisition is carried out. Impact of BASEL-II norms Banking is a commodity business. The margins on the products that banks offer to its customers are extremely thin vis a vis other businesses.As a result, for banks to earn an adequate return of equity and compete for capital along with other industries, they need to be highly leveraged. The primary function of the bank's capital is to absorb any losses a bank suffers (which can be written off against bank's capital). Norms set in the Swiss town of Basel determine the ground rules for the way banks around the world account for loans they give out. These rules were formulated by the Bank for International Settlements in 1988. Essentially, these rules tell the banks how much capital the banks should have to cover up for the risk that their loans might go bad.The rules set in 1988 led the banks to differentiate among the customers it lent out money to. Different weightage was given to various forms of assets, with zero percentage weightings being given to cash, deposits with the central bank/govt. etc, and 100 per cent weighting to claims on private sector, fixed assets, real estate etc. The summation of these assets gave us the risk-weighte d assets. Against these risk weighted assets the banks had to maintain a (Tier I + Tier II) capital of 9 per cent i. e. every Rs100 of risk assets had to be backed by Rs 9 of Tier I + Tier II capital.To put it simply the banks had to maintain a capital adequacy ratio of 9 percent. The problem with these rules is that they do not distinguish within a category i. e. all lending to private sector is assigned a 100 per cent risk weighting, be it a company with the best credit rating or company which is in the doldrums and has a very low credit rating. This is not an efficient use of capital. The company with the best credit rating is more likely to repay the loan vis a vis the company with a low credit rating.So the bank should be setting aside a far lesser amount of capital against the risk of a company with the best credit rating defaulting vis a vis the company with a low credit rating. With the BASEL-II norms the bank can decide on the amount of capital to set aside depending on the credit rating of the company. Credit risk is not the only type of risk that banks face. These days the operational risks that banks face are huge. The various risks that come under operational risk are competition risk, technology risk, casualty risk, crime risk etc. The original BASEL rules did not take into account the operational risks.As per the BASEL-II norms, banks will have to set aside 15 per cent of net income to protect themselves against operational risks. Over the last few years, the falling interest rates, gave banks very little incentive to lend to projects, as the return did not compensate them for the risk involved. This led to the banks getting into the retail segment big time. It also led to a lot of banks playing it safe and putting in most of the deposits they collected into government bonds. Now with the bond party over and the bond yields starting to go up, the banks will have to concentrate on their core function of lending.The banking sector in India needs t o tackle these challenges successfully to keep growing and strengthen the Indian financial system. Furthermore, the interference of the central government with the functioning of PSBs should stop. A fresh autonomy package for public sector banks is in offing. The package seeks to provide a high degree of freedom to PSBs on operational matters. This seems to be the right way to go for PSBs. The growth of the banking sector will be one of the most important inputs that shall go into making sure that India progresses and becomes a global economic super power. Products and Services Corporate banking * Personal banking * Industrial finance * Agriculture finance * Financing of trade * International banking * Home loan * Auto loan * ATM/Debit card * Deposit interest rate * Credit interest rate * Other services: lockers facility, internet banking, EFT ; Clearing services etc Review of Literature Literature review provides available research with respect to the selected topic of the project or the research findings by an author which has been done with respect to the research topic. This chapter provides the overall view of the available literature with respect to the topic of the project.The review of the related research works are described as under:- 1. A research work on the topic â€Å" On the appraisal on consumer credit banking products with the asset quality frame: A multiple criteria application. † done by Panagiotis Xidonas, Alexandros Flamos, Sortirios Koussouris, Dimitrious Askouins ; Ioannis Psarras from National Technical University of Athens in 2007 says that Asset quality refers to the likelihood that the bank's earning assets will continue to perform and requires both a qualitative and quantitative assessment.Decision problems like the â€Å"internal appraisal of banking products†, are problems with strong multiple-criteria character and it seems that the methodological framework of Multiple Criteria Decision Making could provide a reliab le solution. In this paper, the Asset Quality banking indicators are the, so called, â€Å"criteria†, the value of these indicators are the, so called, â€Å"scores† in each criterion and the P. R. O. METH. E. E. [Preference Ranking Organization Method of Enrichment Evaluations, Brans & Vincke (1985)] Multiple Criteria method is applied, towards modelling banking products appraisal problems.A Multiple Criteria process, strictly mathematically defined, integrates the behaviour of each indicator-criterion and utilizes each score in order to rank the so called â€Å"alternatives†, i. e. categories of banking products. 2. The research Paper on â€Å"Evaluation of decision support systems for credit management decisions† by S. Kanungo, S. Sharma, P. K. Jain from Department of studies, IIT Delhi have conducted a study to evaluate the efficiency of decision support system (DSS) for credit management. This study formed a larger initiative to access the effectiven ess of the I.T based credit management process at SBI. Such a study was necessitated since credit appraisal has become an integral sub-function of the Indian banks in view of growing incidence of non-performing assets. The DSS they have assessed was a credit appraisal system developed by Quuattro pro at SBI. This system helps in analysis of balance sheets, Calculation of financial ratios, cash flow analysis, future projections, sensitivity analysis and risk evaluation as per SBI norms. They have also used a strong Quassi experimental design called Solomon’s four group design for the assessment.In the experiment the managers of SBI who attended the training programme were the subjects the experiment consisted of the measurements that were taken as pre and post tests. An experimental intervention was applied between the pre-tests and the pro-tests. The intervention or stimulus consisted of DSS training and use. There were four groups in the experiment. The stimulus remained con stant as the they took care to ensure that the course content as well as the instructors remained the same during the course of the experiment. Two were experimental groups and two were control groups.All four groups underwent training in credit management between the pre and the post tests. Results from research shows that while the DSS is effective, improvement needs to be done in the methodology to assess such improvements. Moreover such assessment frameworks while being adequate from a DSS-centric viewpoint do not respond to the assessment of DSS in an organizational setting . In the concluding section they have discussed how this evaluative framework can be strengthened to initiate an activity that will allow the long term and possibly the only meaningful evaluation framework for such a system. . The research paper on the topic â€Å"Towards an appraisal of the FMHA farm credit program: A case study of the efficiency of borrower by S. Mehdian, Wm. McD. Herr, Phil Eberle, and R ichard Grabowski† have studied that the a production frontier methodology is used to measure the overall efficiency of a sample of farmers home administration(FMHA) compared to non participants. The study did not find evidence that the efficiency FMHA farms improved between a time period Results indicated that overall efficiency of FMHA borrowers is associated with selected financial characteristics of the farms.A review of the literature shows that agricultural finance specialists have not been successful in evaluating whether FMHA pro- grams improve the efficiency and income of probability of success. Liberal loan policies Eligible borrowers. Inadequate evaluation of the FMHA program occurs partly because of because the difficulty of adequately deter-mining the impacts of changes in the econ- borrowers in a more normal period of the loan.This study addressed these difficulties by utilizing a nonparametric production frontier technique to measure overall efficiency and a matc hed pair statistical procedure to measure how efficiency of farms receiving FMHA credit changed relative to a Non-FMHA farmers. 4. The book named â€Å"Financial Analysis for Bank Lending in Liberalised Economy† by Sampat. P. Singh and Dr. S. Singh have discussed the subject financial analysis for bank lending has assumed considerable importance, particularly since early 1990's when, like most of the countries, India opted for the policy of liberalisation and globalisation after 1991.The present volume is meant to be a standard reference as well as text book on the varied facets of financial analysis with reference to credit management by Banks and Financial Institutions. The book consists of three parts. Part I discusses the concepts and tools of Financial Analysis; Part II explains various concepts of working capital in its historical context; while Part III demonstrates the application of these tools in the changing context of liberalised economy by focusing on new concept s like ‘Credit Worthiness', Risk-Analysis, Credit Rating, Products-Differentiation, Pricing-Differentiation, Asset-Liability Management, etc.The book contains- Bank Lending and Industrial Finance in India ,Basic Economics for Bankers and Business Managers ,Introduction to Fundamentals Accounting Principles ,Profit and Loss Account (Operating Statement) ,Analysis of Profit and Loss Account (Operating Statement) ,Structure and Analysis of Balance Sheet ,Ratios as Tools of Financial Statements Analysis ,Accounting Flows : Income, Cash and Funds ,Break-even Analysis and Margin of Safety ,Appraisal of Capital Projects ,New Conceptual Framework for Analysis, Liberalised Era and New Focus of Bank Lending ,Managing Working Capital by Strategic Choice , Financing Working Capital : Conceptual and Historical Exposition,Creditworthiness and Credit Rating : At Centre stage Nucleus of Credit Appraisal , Working Capital Management-I : MPBF System of Appraisal and Bifurcation of Fund-Based Li mit in Two Components Working Capital Management-II : Alternative Methods of Appraisal ,Working Capital Management-III : Follow-up and Supervision , Appraisal of a New Project Involving Term Loan , Management of Problem Accounts , Management of Non-Performing Assets (NPAs), Rehabilitation of Sick Industrial Units, Working Capital Management : Concepts and Techniques , 1st Committee on Financial Sector Reform and the 2nd Committee on Banking System Reform (Known as Narasimham Committee Report, 1998). 5. The research paper on the topic â€Å"Competitive analysis in banking: Appraisal of the methodologies† by Nicola Cetorelli has discussed about the U. S. banking industry has experienced significant structural changes as the result of an intense process of consolidation. From 1975 to 1997, the number of commercial banks decreased by about 35 percent, from 14,318 to 9,215.Since the early 1980s, there have been an average of more than 400 mergers per year (see Avery et al. , 1997, and Simmons and Stavins, 1998). The relaxation of intrastate branching restrictions, effective to differing degrees in all states by 1992, and the passage in 1994 of the Riegle. Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act, which allows bank holding companies to acquire banks in any state and, since June 1, 1997, to open interstate branches, is certainly accelerating the process of consolidation. These significant changes raise important policy concerns. On the one hand, one could argue that banks are merging to fully exploit potential economies of scale and/or scope.The possible improvements in efficiency may translate into welfare gains for the economy, to the extent that customers pay lower prices for banks. services or are able to obtain higher quality services or services that could not have been offered before. 1 On the other hand, from the point of view of public policy it is equally important to focus on the effect of this restructuring process on the competitive co nditions of the banking industry. Do banks gain market power from merging? If so, they will be able to charge higher than competitive prices for their products, thus inflicting welfare costs that could more than offset any presumed benefit associated with mergers.In this article, analysis of competition in the banking industry is done highlighting a very fundamental issue: How market power is measured and how do regulators rely on accurate and effective procedures to evaluate the competitive effects of a merger. Credit Philosophy ; Policy with regards to Punjab National Bank An ideal advance is the one given to a reliable customer for an approval purpose with adequate experience, safe in knowledge that the money will be used to advantage and repayment will be made within a reasonable period from trade receipts or known maturities due on or about given dates. Credit philosophy – â€Å"To achieve credit expansion required for sustaining the profitability of the bank and emphas is on quality assets, profitable relationships and prudent growth. † CREDIT POLICY Bank follows following broad policy imperatives:- Reduction in dependence upon short term corporate loans, especially unsecured exposures. * Aiming to achieve more sanctions at levels closer to the customer. * Changing the mix of the portfolio in favour of better diffused and higher yielding credit. * Building competencies in credit management through training ; promotion of self directed learning. Objectives of credit policy 1. A balanced growth of credit portfolio, which does not compromise safety. 2. Adoption of a forward looking and market responsive approach for moving into profitable new areas on lending which emerge, within the pre determined exposure ceilings. 3. Sound risk management practices to identify measure, monitor and control risks. 4.Maximize interest yields from credit portfolio through a judicious management of varying spreads of loan assets based upon their size, credit rati ng and tenure. 5. Leverage on strong relationships with existing long-standing clients to source a bulk of new business by addressing their requirements comprehensively. 6. Ensure due compliance of various regulatory norms including CAR, income recognition and asset classification 7. Accomplish balanced development of credit to various sectors and geographical regions. 8. Achieve growth of credit to priority sectors / subsectors and continue to surpass the targets stipulated by reserve bank of India. 9.Using of pricing as a tool of competitive advantage ensuring however that earnings are protected. 10. Develop and maintain enhanced competencies in credit management at all levels through a combination of training initiatives, promotion of self directed learning and dissemination of best practices. Objectives in Credit To maintain healthy balance between- * Credit volumes * Earnings * Asset quality within the framework of regulatory prescriptions, corporate goals and bank’s soc ial responsibilities. Introduction to loans Loans are advances for fixed amounts repayable on demand or in instalment. They are normally made in lump sums and interest is paid on the entire amount.The borrower cannot draw funds beyond the amount sanctioned. A key function of the Bank is deploying funds for income-yielding assets. A major part of Bank’s assets are the loans and advances portfolio and investments in approved securities. Loans ; Advances refer to long-term and short-term credit facilities to various types of borrowers and non-fund facilities like Bank Guarantees, Letters of Credit, Letters of Solvency etc. Bill facilities represent structured commitments which are negotiable claims having a market by way of negotiable instruments. Thus, Banks extend credit facilities by way of fund-based long-term and short-term loans and advances as also by way of non-fund facilities.Loans/Advances Classification of Loans Loans/Advances Pre-shipment Finance Post shipment Financ e Letter of Credit Bank Guarantee Term Loan Export Finance Bill Discounting Cash Credit Retail Loan Non-Fund Based Fund Based Fund Based Bank provides credit in various forms. These are broadly classified into two categories- Fund based and Non –Fund Based. Fund based refers to the type of credit where cash is directly involved i. e. where bank provides money to the seeker in anticipation of getting it back. Where as in a Non-fund Based, Bank doesn’t pay cash directly but gives assurance or takes guarantee on behalf of its customer to pay if they fail to do so.In case on Fund Based there are different categories of loans which are discussed as follows I. RETAIL LOANS- Retail banking in India is not a new phenomenon. It has always been prevalent in India in various forms. For the last few years it has become synonymous with mainstream banking for many banks. The typical products offered in the Indian retail banking segment are:- * Housing loans * Consumer loans for purc hase of durables * Auto loans * Educational loans * Credit Cost. * Personal loans Retail loan is the practice of loaning money to individuals rather than institutions. Retail lending is done by banks, credit unions, and savings and loan associations.These institutions make loans for automobile purchases, home purchases, medical care, home repair, vacations, and other consumer uses. Retail lending has taken a prominent role in the lending activities of banks, as the availability of credit and the number of products offered for retail lending have grown. The amounts loaned through retail lending are usually smaller than those loaned to businesses. Retail lending may take the form of instalment loans, which must be paid off little by little over the course of years, or non-instalment loans, which are paid off in one lump sum. These loans are marketed under attractive brand names to differentiate the products offered by different banks.As the Report on Trend and Progress of India, 2007- 08 has shown that the loan values of these retail lending typically range between Rs. 20, 000 to Rs. 100 lakh. The loans are generally for duration of five to seven years with housing loans granted for a longer duration of 15 years. Credit card is another rapidly growing sub-segment of this product group. In recent past retail lending has turned out to be a key profit driver for banks with retail portfolio. The overall impairment of the retail loan portfolio worked out much less then the Gross NPA ratio for the entire loan portfolio. Within the retail segment, the housing loans had the least gross asset impairment.In fact, retailing make ample business sense in the banking sector. Basic reasons that have contributed to the retail growth in India are- * First, economic prosperity and the consequent increase in purchasing power has given a fillip to a consumer boom. Note that during the 10 years after 1992, India's economy grew at an average rate of 6. 8 percent and continues to grow at the almost the same rate – not many countries in the world match this performance. * Second, changing consumer demographics indicate vast potential for growth in consumption both qualitatively and quantitatively. India is one of the countries having highest proportion (70%) of the population below 35 years of age (young population).The BRIC report of the Goldman-Sachs, which predicted a bright future for Brazil, Russia, India and China, mentioned Indian demographic advantage as an important positive factor for India. * Third, technological factors played a major role. Convenience banking in the form of debit cards, internet and phone-banking, anywhere and anytime banking has attracted many new customers into the banking field. Technological innovations relating to increasing use of credit / debit cards, ATMs, direct debits and phone banking has contributed to the growth of retail banking in India. * Fourth, the Treasury income of the banks, which had strengthened the botto m lines of banks for the past few years, has been on the decline during the last two years. In such a scenario, retail business provides a good vehicle of profit maximisation.Considering the fact that retail’s share in impaired assets is far lower than the overall bank loans and advances, retail loans have put comparatively less provisioning burden on banks apart from diversifying their income streams. * Fifth, decline in interest rates have also contributed to the growth of retail credit by generating the demand for such credit. According to K V Kamath, the changing demographic profile and a downward trend of the interest rates will propel retail credit in India. â€Å"There is a huge retail credit opportunity that is surfacing. Banks have low penetration in this segment currently. But it is the one area that is providing the momentum in the banking business now,† India has among the lowest penetration of retail loans in Asia.Though the sector has been growing at arou nd 15 per cent, there is still a huge opportunity to tap into. Middle and -high-income homes in India has increased to 2. 57 crore (25. 7 million). Interest rates on retail loans have been dropping rapidly too. For instance residential mortgages slumped by 7 per cent over the last four years. â€Å"The entry of a number of banks in India in the last few years has helped provide increased coverage and a number of new products in the market,† says Kamath. II. WORKING CAPITAL / CASH CREDIT Cash credit is a short-term cash loan to a company. A bank provides this type of funding, but only after the required security is given to secure the loan.Once a security for repayment has been given, the business that receives the loan can continuously draw from the bank up to a certain specified amount. The bank provides certain amount to the company for its day to day working keeping certain margin in hand. III. TERM LOANS A bank loan to a company, with a fixed maturity and often featuring amortization of principal. If this loan is in the form of a line of credit, the funds are drawn down shortly after the agreement is signed. Otherwise, the borrower usually uses the funds from the loan soon after they become available. Bank term loans are very a common kind of lending. Term loans are the basic vanilla commercial loan. They typically carry fixed interest rates, and monthly or quarterly repayment schedules and include a set maturity date.Bankers tend to classify term loans into two categories: * Intermediate-term loans: Usually running less than three years, these loans are generally repaid in monthly instalments (sometimes with balloon payments) from a business's cash flow. According to the American Bankers Association, repayment is often tied directly to the useful life of the asset being financed. * Long-term loans: These loans are commonly set for more than three years. Most are between three and 10 years, and some run for as long as 20 years. Long-term loans are c ollateralized by a business's assets and typically require quarterly or monthly payments derived from profits or cash flow. These loans usually carry wording that limits the amount of additional financial commitments the business may take on including other debts but also dividends or principals' salaries), and they sometimes require that a certain amount of profit be set-aside to repay the loan. Appropriate For: Established small businesses that can leverage sound financial statements and substantial down payments to minimize monthly payments and total loan costs. Repayment is typically linked in some way to the item financed. Term loans require collateral and a relatively rigorous approval process but can help reduce risk by minimizing costs. Before deciding to finance equipment, borrowers should be sure they can they make full use of ownership-related benefits, such as depreciation, and should compare the cost with that leasing. Supply: Abundant but highly differentiated.The degr ee of financial strength required to receive loan approval can vary tremendously from bank to bank, depending on the level of risk the bank is willing to take on. IV. BILL DISCOUNTING While discounting a bill, the Bank buys the bill (i. e. Bill of Exchange or Promissory Note) before it is due and credits the value of the bill after a discount charge to the customer's account. The transaction is practically an advance against the security of the bill and the discount represents the interest on the advance from the date of purchase of the bill until it is due for payment. Bills of exchange- A bill of exchange or â€Å"draft† is a written order by the drawer to the drawee to pay money to the payee.A common type of bill of exchange is the cheque (check in American English), defined as a bill of exchange drawn on a banker and payable on demand. Bills of exchange are used primarily in international trade, and are written orders by one person to his bank to pay the bearer a specific sum on a specific date. Prior to the advent of paper currency, bills of exchange were a common means of exchange. They are not used as often today. A bill of exchange is an unconditional order in writing addressed by one person to another, signed by the person giving it, requiring the person to whom it is addressed to pay on demand or at fixed or determinable future time a sum certain in money to order or to bearer.It is essentially an order made by one person to another to pay money to a third person. A bill of exchange requires in its inception three parties–the drawer, the drawee, and the payee. The person who draws the bill is called the drawer. He gives the order to pay money to third party. The party upon whom the bill is drawn id called the drawee. He is the person to whom the bill is addressed and who is ordered to pay. He becomes an acceptor when he indicates his willingness to pay the bill. The party in whose favor the bill is drawn or is payable is called the paye e. Promissory Note- A promissory note is a written promise by the maker to pay money to the payee.Bank note is frequently transferred as a promissory note, a promissory note made by a bank and payable to bearer on demand. A maker of a promissory note promises to unconditionally pay the payee (beneficiary) a specific amount on a specified date. A promissory note is an unconditional promise to pay a specific amount to bearer or to the order of a named person, on demand or on a specified date. A negotiable promissory note is unconditional promise in writing made by one person to another, signed by the maker, engaging to pay on demand, or at fixed or determinable future time, sum certain in money to order or to bearer V. EXPORT FINANCE- This type of a credit facility is provided to exporters who export their goods to different places.It is divided into two parts- pre-shipment finance and post-shipment finance. * Pre Shipment Finance is issued by a financial institution when the seller w ant the payment of the goods before shipment. * Post Shipment Finance is a kind of loan provided by a financial institution to an exporter or seller against a shipment that has already been made. This type of export finance is granted from the date of extending the credit after shipment of the goods to the realization date of the exporter proceeds. Exporters don’t wait for the importer to deposit the funds. Non Fund Based loans generate income for the bank without committing the funds of the bank. Bank generates substantial income under this head.There are two types of credit under this category which are discussed as follows:- I. BANK GUARANTEE- A bank guarantee is a written contract given by a bank on the behalf of a customer. By issuing this guarantee, a bank takes responsi