Competitive Position Essay

In this assignment we tried to look into the Baja Auto’s own position in Indian domestic market and how it has performed in last year compare to local rivals. In addition, we suggest company to invest directly in America’s automobile industry as America and India is more or less similar in terms of operating multinational organisations. As, it is a long term investment and high risk strategy for company, we clinically analysed new market scenario and different aspects of it. 1.0 Competitive Position Baja Auto is ranked as the world’s fourth largest two and three wheelers production company. It is in two wheelers and three wheelers Indian market since 1945 and recognised brand across Asia, Middle Eastern countries, Latin America. Bajaj Auto shares 26.70% of two wheelers market in India, fairly behind Hero Honda Motors which has 41.35% Indian customers, and ahead of TVS Motor Company which holds 18.14%. But when it comes to three wheelers vehicles, Bajaj Auto clearly control the majority of the market with 58.60%, much ahead then Piaggio Vehicles 32.70%. Bajaj’s closest competitor in two wheelers market is Hero Honda Motors. Hero Honda sold 3.72 million two wheelers units, almost double then Bajaj, who managed to sold 1.28 million units. Bajaj Auto is the country’s largest exporter of two- and three-wheelers. During 2008-2009, Bajaj Auto’s international sales achieved an all-time high of 772,519 units of two and three wheelers, representing a growth of 25% over the previous year. (Sources: Automobile Industry report -2012, India). Though, there is a huge difference in terms of selling units between three major players of India’s two wheelers, their growth rate is almost similar to each other. Hero Honda Motors enjoys 15.4% growth in 2012, and it was followed by TVS Motor and Bajaj Auto with 13.3% and 13.2% respectively. (Sources: Annual reports of Bajaj Auto, Hero Honda Motors and TVS Motors-2012). In plant wise capacity Bajaj Auto clearly out plays its competitors. Bajaj Auto has 4 active plants compare to 3 of each for Hero Honda motors and TVS Motors. Therefore Bajaj has upper hand in terms of number of units’ productions. Bajaj Auto’s plants are capable of producing 5 million units of vehicles compares to Hero Honda’s 4.75 million and TVS’ 4 . 50 million of units. (Sources: Automobile Industry report-2012, India). Adopted from Automobile Industry report-2012, India. 2.0 Market Entry Bajaj Auto is highly recognised company throughout the world and has vastly experienced management team. In addition, it has its own technology labs, engineering colleges and very strong labour power. Apart from having a fair amount of domestic market share, it is a leading exporter of India. Bajaj is famous for manufacturing two and three wheelers which have good fuel efficiency and strong outer body and comes in very cheap prise compares to other manufacturers. It is right time for the company to move forward and make its own base in well developed country like The USA, which help company to reduce the good amount of money spent on exporting its products to Latin America and Africa and moreover, America itself has huge crowd who are struggling with current worldwide economic downfall and looking for cheap available options. 2.1 Reason for Entering Into the USA Market PESTLE analysis is an useful analysis tool to evaluate future plans and it helps organisations like Bajaj Auto who is going to enter in new business environment to understand the risk associated with its next move .PESTLE helps company to analyse its position, potential and direction in new market place. 2.1.1 Political Situation of the USA It is very important to assess political condition of new working field before moving abroad. It helps company like Bajaj to make its business strategy. America is strong democratic country like India the motherland of Bajaj Auto and this will work company’s favour as it knows the pros and cons of such a political environment. 2.1.2 Economy The US has the largest and most technologically powerful economy of the world, with per capita GDP of $49,800. US Business companies have more flexibility than any other part of the world in decision to expand their capita plant. . At the same time, they face higher barriers to enter their rivals’ home markets than foreign firms face entering US markets. It is lucrative industry to enter for foreign company like Bajaj Auto. 2.1.3 Social America’s population is 316,668,567 which consist of 79.96% white, black 12.85%, Asian 4.43%. 40.2% of America’s population is 25-54years old. 82% population is urbanised and an annual urbanisation rate is 1.2%. 99% of total population is literate. 2.1.4 Technological highly diversified, world leading, high-technology innovator, second largest industrial output in world; petroleum, steel, motor vehicles, aerospace, telecommunications, chemicals, electronics, food processing, consumer goods, lumber, mining. Bajaj Auto will enjoy a good amount of success due to technological expansion of the company which is comparably low in India. 2.1.5 Legal America has strong, fast legal system which gives every individual a fair chance to appeal decision of the court. Supreme court is the highest body who makes the final verdict on any legal issue. 2.1.6 Environment Air pollution resulting in acid rain in the US ; the US is the largest single emitter of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels; water pollution from runoff of pesticides and fertilizers; limited natural freshwater resources in much of the western part of the country require careful management; desertification. Bajaj Auto developed the technology in recent years and some of its vehicles run on CNG and LPG which reduce the amount of carbon dioxide. This technology gives company an edge over its competitors to gain confidence of the US government to enter into their market. (Sources: http://www.cia.gov/library) 2.2Market Attractiveness DIAMOND MODEL Source: Porter, M. (1990) 2.2.1 Firm strategy, structure and rivalry As mentioned earlier, Bajaj Auto is famous for producing light weight two and three wheelers vehicles which have good fuel efficiency and strong body and it’s new for American population. There is no strong competitor in market at the present that can threat the position of Bajaj Auto in its production range. Bajaj Auto manufactures couple of motorbikes like Pulsar, Duke, and Discover which is heavy but it will not be a good idea to launch them in America as Harley Davidson, Yamaha motors, Kawasaki motors have strong hold on American customers. Bajaj Auto follows hierarchical strategy which resulted in advantages within industries and it helps company to gain upper hand in competition with major players. 2.2.2 Demand Conditions Light motorcycles, the summary say, will outperform other ICE product types and maintain their position as the largest single segment of the motorcycle market in America. This will be due to several factors, including the fastest population growth of any region, the lowest median age and the lowest (but climbing) per-capita GDP. (Source: world demand motorcycles grow). This is good future aspect for Bajaj Auto to succeed in international adventure. 2.2.3 Factor Endowment America has strong and large factor endowments compare to Western Europe. The US has comparative advantages of skilled workers, infrastructure, open market entry for international companies, natural resource and technology. Romalis (2004) provides a quasi-Rybczynski prediction, â€Å"if a country accumulates a factor more rapidly than rest of the world, then that country’s production and exports will systematically shift toward that more intensively use that factor.† The US has well developed technology when it comes to motorbike industry and that attracts Bajaj Auto to gain an entry in this market. 2.2.4 Related and Supporting Industries The US is rich in producing natural resources like iron, lead, petroleum, natural gas. In addition America has the world largest coal reserve with 491 billion short tons accounting for 27% of the world’s total.(Source: http://www.cia.gov/library). Strong supply chain of motorbikes engines parts, raw material for motorbike body, leather and machineries are always key factors in success of automobile business and America provides all these features to Bajaj Auto. 2.3 2.3.1 Target Market Young, universities’ students, African and Asian immigrants, middle class families and small vendors should be first priority as a target market for Bajaj Auto as they share large number of total American population (see 2.1.3). Above mention customers have limited resources of income and other responsibilities and therefore they always look out for cheap available option. The kind of two and three wheelers Bajaj Auto produces are low in prise and have high fuel efficiency. These two points will work in company’s favour and manage to pull big crowd. Once company get established, it can launch the range of heavy weight vehicles to provide competition to giants like Yamaha, Royal Enfield, Honda and Harley Davidson.

Humanities: Cultural Change Essay

In Babcock’s book, he discusses the ways in which cultural change is influenced by various social pressures (2006). In looking to the concept of cultural change, it is important to note that the ways in which people are pressured within societies is able to be ethical, positive, and constructive as well as unethical, negative, and destructive. There are some people who believe that popular cultural change always flows in a constructive direction, yet without democratic discussion flowing from a moral and spiritual place, there is the ability for popular movements which are harmful for society. It is important to recognize that cultural change is often merely the whims of popular ideological culture, rather than principled and faith driven movements of true justice. Cultural Change Cultural change is influenced by a wide array of people with a wide array of belief systems, and it is important to pay attention to the ways in which extremist and negative beliefs are able to creep into mainstream society. The United States has always been mired in a pool of a variety of many splintered belief systems, and through these beliefs, mainstream culture has often changed in ways which are actually harmful to humanity. It is necessary for morally upright, faithful citizens to stand their ground in professing their spiritual and moral convictions, because without them, popular culture reigns, often without the consideration of God and the true ethical rights of humanity. Conclusion Cultural change is often dominated by selfish and materialistic ideologies, ideas about freedom being equated with irresponsibility. The liberty loving culture of the United States needs to first and foremost recognize that true liberty stems from right action, from relational and social considerations. Without love and care for oneself and one’s neighbor, popular cultural changes are often merely greedy flights of fancy.

Health promotion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words - 2

Health promotion - Essay Example Reflection can be done at an individual level or even in a group scenario (Atkins & Murphy, 1995:2). Reflection is undergoes three stages. The first is when an individual comes to the realization that they are harboring uncomfortable feelings and thoughts on a particular situation. It stems from the realization that the knowledge one was applying in given situation is not sufficient enough to give a concrete explanation to what could have been happening then. This feeling is often characterized by dissatisfaction or uncertainty. The second stage is a critical analysis of the prevailing situation and encompasses an analysis of both feelings and the existing body of knowledge. The most important factor is to avoid feelings that could obstruct rational judgment. The final stage in reflective practice is development of a whole new perspective on the issue of focus. This could be seen in developing better clarification, a new perceptive towards the same issue and of course a new way of thinking about something (Atkins & Murphy, 1995:4). Reflection on action is an afterthought of an event while reflection in action happens while one is in the process of engaging in an activity. With reflection on action, analysis and interpretation is done afterwards to uncover the knowledge used and explain the feelings associated with that particular activity. The practitioner is driven by the urge to speculate on other possible ways of handling the same situation or what other knowledge could have been useful given the same circumstances. Reflection in action is when the practitioner recognizes the situation at hand while in the process of doing the activity and thinks about it while in the process (Atkins & Murphy, 1995:5). Gibb’s model of reflection emphasizes the fact that reflection does not have to an individual undertaking. To better take advantage of the reflective process, one should seek for a different body of opinion so as to reinforce

Movie - essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Movie - - Essay Example It also provides difficult lessons that Robert McNamara learned about modern war when he was the United States’ Secretary of Defense. In addition, it involves a study of moral complexities in conflicts. The documentary can explain common contemporary issues happening in the modern world, especially the Israeli-Palestine war. For example, it focuses on one of the most significant and controversial figures in the government of the United States in the 20th Century (Grothaus 1). The documentary focuses on the war involving Cuba, United States and United Soviet Socialists Union (Grothaus 1). Cuba almost engaged in war with the United Soviets Socialists Union. In addition, the documentary provides methodologies that can be adopted in times when one has to make a quick decision (Grothaus 1). Moreover, Robert McNamara claims that some war situations might be hard and dilemmatic. However, learning is not possible when dealing with nuclear weapons because any mistake made in the process would be highly consequential.As directed by Errol Morris, the film focuses on eleven lessons that can be learned from Robert McNamara’s life. Some of the lessons learned are decisions concerning critical situations in events of war. The first lesson is to empathize with your enemy. Consequently, it is necessary for the Israelis to sympathize with Palestinians and vice versa. Empathy will allow leaders from both divide to acknowledge that civilians are the most affected (Merip 1). The lesson analyses the need to view the world according to enemies’ perspective. The situation help understand their opinions concerning certain conflict situations. The approach also helps in comprehending their thinking and decision making process. For instance, McNamara illustrates one of the major events that took place when he was the Secretary of defense. The Cuban Missile Crisis illustrates the increased likelihood of Cuba exchanging nuclear weapons

FINAL EXAM PLEASE GET ME AN A Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

FINAL EXAM PLEASE GET ME AN A - Term Paper Example counts, narrative fiction and academic studies which delve into the experiences of such journeys refer to a complex process which affects all parts of a person’s life. The person’s language, religion, physical appearance and sexual identity are all framed as problematic in American mainstream culture, and the Latino or Latina individual has to come to some kind of accommodation between conflicting expectations of family, self, and external reality. It is the solving of these contradictions that leads to the construction of a new and vibrant meaning which in turn influences mainstream American culture. Achy Obejas describes the moment of first contact between a Cuban family and the United States in a way which highlights the contradictions which immigrants have to negotiate. She describes the arrival of a ten year old Cuban girl to Miami using two different narrative techniques. The first technique is to use a first person description of the innocent child’s first impressions. The second, contrasting technique is to use a much more ironic perspective on events through the eyes of that child’s adult persona. The child has an instinctive suspicion of attempts by well-meaning officials and volunteers to enforce an acculturation process. The blonde doll and the grey clothing, for example, are rejected as being self-evidently inappropriate for a Cuban girl. There is a spirited defence of the pride and self-respect that the family feels in the face of enforced poverty during the initial months of settling in to the new environment. Second hand clothes are pressed upon the family, but the child notes approvingly that they will never wear them (Obejas, 1994, p. 118). The child clings to the green, synthetic sweater that she wore on the hazardous boat trip to America if it were a lifeline back to her beloved home in Cuba. The excesses of capitalist America are described using the image of a supermarket which is like a flying saucer in this fantastic â€Å"land of

Part of a Marketing Plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Part of a Marketing Plan - Assignment Example In addition to this a SWOT analysis has also been undertaken to analyze the relative areas of strengths and weakness of the company as well as its areas of opportunities and threats. Finally the study concludes with the formulation of a set of SMART objectives that can help the company generate sustainable competitive advantage in the turbulent business environment. The present era of globalization has created a scenario of intense competition among the market players to grab a share of the market. The present study would analyze the business strategy of an Australian Trans National company with regards to the strategic aspects pertaining to business expansion. The organization selected for the study is Foster’s Group Ltd that is a multinational firm based in Australia. Foster’s is a company that is engaged in the manufacture and sale of beer and soft drinks. The company mainly concentrates on its brewing business and is known for being a reputed brand across the world for its quality and perception of the brand. The company since its inception in 1888 has presently grown to about 2300 employees alone in Australia having a dedicated presence in about 45 different nations across the globe. The company is also listed on the bourses of Australian Stock exchanges (Foster’s Group, 2011). Environment plays a crucial role in the functioning and sustainability of any business organization. The mission of Foster’s group is to promote global enjoyment and fun (Funding Universe, n.d.). In this regard the company has a business model that enables in the manufacture and sale of quality beverages with a huge portfolio spanning across varied tastes. The company also has dedicated presence across nations that helps generate a fulfillment of the objectives and mission of the company on a global scale. (Fosters Group-a, n.d.). In addition to beer the company also manufactures other alcoholic and

Strategic Management Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Strategic Management - Case Study Example In 2010, Google was considered as the leader of technology that aimed at providing information to the people from any part of the world and the Google maps helped the customers to find directions as per their requirements (Hamilton & Nickerson, 2003). Economic: Google had to spend a lot of money in order to set up its business. The company has hired efficient managers to control the various teams and handle different projects of the company. The managers and the employees are to be paid high salary in order to encourage them to perform well (Elms, 2010). Hence, the financial accounts of the company have to be handled efficiently with proper allocation of the company’s grants for various projects. Further, the company has to use cost-efficient techniques to serve large number of customers. Politics: The impact of the political environment would be beneficial as well as harmful for the company. However, the political environment did not pose any threat to the launch of Google as it is an online search engine that is expected to provide valuable information to the nation. Also, it plays a key role in communication among people from different parts of the globe (Elms, 2010). Socio-cultural: Google acted as a medium for the advertisers who would prefer to promote social events through its online services. Further, commercial e-mails could be sent by various companies who would like to attract target customers to purchase their newly launched products (Barney, 2002). Technology: Google played a key role in bringing technological innovation to the economy by developing online information system. The customers can obtain information regarding any aspect using the Google search engine. The companies can maintain their online databases using Google spreadsheets and thus deal with huge amount of data (Elms, 2010). Legal: Google had to face some legal

Service quality and customer's satisfaction in academic libraries Essay

Service quality and customer's satisfaction in academic libraries - Essay Example A real library contains these along with various instructional and access tools and a high quality customer service. In a library, the fundamental goal of a librarian is to make sure that the service provided is consistent with the mission of the institution of which library forms a part. Service quality of academic libraries: Past and present: Service quality of an academic library is a measure of the customer satisfaction and the extent to which customers feel that their expectations have meet met by the service given. Calculation and management of the customer satisfaction has remained a usual practice in for-profit sector for long. The assessment of service quality in the present age finds its roots in the same old trend of measurement of customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction has frequently undergone many changes in the last four decades as a concept. According to Crosby (1993), the contemporary concept of service quality is significantly influenced by all the approaches m ade to it in that past that include the 1960s’ corporate image studies and the 1980s’ total quality approach adopted by many economies in the West. The corporate image studies formed the very initial stage of calculation of customer satisfaction that emerged in the 1960s. The image surveys included questions about customer satisfaction and customers’ views about the quality of service given. These questions investigated the progressiveness and the company’s level of engagement with the community. In the later half of the 1960s, the commencement of studies about the product quality emerged as the second stage of customer satisfaction measurement. A satisfaction index resulted from the adequacy-importance model which served as the cardinal means of measurement of the customer satisfaction, and played an important role in defining the attitudes of the customers. A revolution in the customer satisfaction measurement occurred in the 1980s when the American aut omobile business increased manifolds in competition and many syndicated studies were made. The measurement of customer satisfaction in the contemporary age is quite similar to the trend introduced in the 1980s. The businesses turned to customer satisfaction as a measurement of their quality of service rather and the process of assessment became more intangible. The Gaps Model of Service Quality: Parasuraman, Berry and Zeithaml (1985) formed a research group to measure the customer satisfaction using the Gaps Model of Service Quality. The Gaps Model made a totally new approach to the measurement of customer satisfaction by determining the gaps between the expectations of customers and their views regarding the quality of service. In this model, customers establish their expectations, as well as the lowest quality of service that would be acceptable to them. Then once the service has been delivered, the customer explains how he thinks about the quality of service he/she was delivered. The equation, thus, goes as follows: Perceived service quality – expected service quality = gap in service quality. According to Hernon and Nitecki (2001), there are four basic perspectives that define the quality of service namely, excellence, value, compliance with specifications, and achievement of expectations. It is the fourth perspective

Apple Inc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Apple Inc - Essay Example The paper outlines the history of the Apple Inc. and describes it. The company operates across the globe through its 317 retail stores established in ten countries of the world. It also runs an online store to sale its hardware and software products to the consumers all over the world. It has surpassed Microsoft and has become the world’s largest and most valuable technology company. The company employs 46,600 people as full time employees whereas 2,800 people work as temporary fulltime for the company in different countries of the world. The annual sales of the company reached the level of $65.23 billion in the financial year 2010 whereas its assets are calculated US$ 75.18 billion. Apple Inc. was established in 1976 in California by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. Steve Job and Steve Wozniak have 45percent of the company’s share each whereas the 10% remaining shares are owned by Ronald Wayne. They created the company with the intention of providing inexpensive and simple to use computers to the consumers. Initially the name of the company was Apple Computer, Inc. It operated with this name for thirty years and in 2007 that word computer was excluded from its name in order to reflect the broad variety of consumer electronic products and services being produced by the company other than the computers. Apple introduced its first system in 1976 with the name Apple I that was sold for $666.66 at the local electronics stores followed by Apple II and Mac. The company continues with the production and released of different models.... Apple introduced its first system in 1976 with the name Apple I that was sold for $666.66 at the local electronics stores followed by Apple II and Mac (Kunkel, 2006, p186). The history of Apple is marked with several important developments and decisions that contributed towards the success of the company at international level however, it has been widely regarded that the success of the company was geared up in 1984 with the production and release of its 1984 commercial directed by Ridley Scott. It was aired during the Super Bowl XVIII. It Big Brother that tell the people what to think and chose giving them no freedom of choice whereas Apple stands as the heroine giving freedom and choice of thinking to the customers. The commercial was interpreted differently however, it played vital role in bringing notoriety to the Macintosh line of computers (Jeffrey, 1988, p32). Apple II was released in 1977 that contained several enhanced features like the BASIC programming language, 16-bit pro cessing using the MOS Technology 6502 1 MHz microprocessor. After the first release they continued working to improve the capabilities and functions of their products and several subsequent models of Apple II were released having improved speed and better designed as compared with the original model of Apple II. The company also released the first ever external 5.25† floppy disk controller, read-only memory (ROM)-based Microsoft-based BASIC language program called AppleSoft and first thermal printer, the SilenType. In 1983, Apple released Apple IIe that became the most popular and best-selling of Apple II model. Some of the initial products of Apple Inc. failed to gain the popularity and success among the masses like the first Apple portable and Newton. However,

Paraphrase Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Paraphrase - Essay Example One inclusive cycle of the waveform, or the time in which it takes to complete, is referred to as a period. Another component of a sinusoid is the amplitude, or the total quantity of pressure variation surrounding the mean of the wavelength. The final specification of a sinusoid is the part of the cycle where the wave progresses relative to a particular fixed point in time, referred to as the phase. Phase is only a crucial aspect to consider for the measurement of continuous sinusoids, because one is forced to reflect upon the relationship between two or more different waves, rather than just a single wave. However, because the vowel is considered to be a complex waveform, it can be evaluated by converting the complex waveforms into a series of sinusoids distinguished by specific frequencies, amplitudes and phases. In doing so, it is determined that a vowel has two difference frequencies, one high and one low. The sinusoids of low frequency lean towards a higher amplitude, while the sinusoids of high frequency are nearly equally balanced in amplitude from the mean. The combination of two sinusoids of two different frequencies results in a complex wave. This is accomplished by adding low and high frequencies, in which the frequency is maintained in the resulting wave. Also, a complex wave can be formed by adding two amplitudes at a suitable point in time. The perceived shape of the complex wave is reliant upon the relative frequency, amplitude and phase of each aspect of the sine wave. Vowel acoustics are examined by the relative results of the formants. According to Benade in the 1976 study, formants are â€Å"the peaks that are observed in the spectrum envelope†. This can be observed through dark bands which appear on a spectrogram, signifying acoustic resonances emitted from the vocal tract. The vocal tract operates as a resonant cavity and the placement of certain facial features, including the tongue, jaw and lips, results in different

Gun Control Essay Example for Free

Gun Control Essay Gun control has been a debatable issue for all times. This essay aims to put forward an argument against gun control. The essay asserts that prevalence of gun control should not be a part of the society. Society should be against gun control because people should be able to protect themselves, the crime rate would decrease, and people have the right to bear arms. Discussion The controversy regarding the gun control is neither a new one nor particular to United States. Majority of the gun control laws make no demarcation between the citizens who are law breakers and those who are law abiding. Gun control laws simply entail that anyone who possess a gun is likely to be a law breaker, which is merely not a case (Reynolds Caruth, pp. 01). The purpose behind the gun control and gun crime laws is to avert the criminals from acquiring guns and using the guns they had acquired. However, the number of armed crimes as well as criminals has amplified during the time when gun control laws have thrived. It appears as if the actual results of gun control have not been the projected ones (Reynolds Caruth, pp. 02). Gun control laws restricts the ordinary citizens from possessing a gun, which implies that at the time of a criminal attack or a robbery, the citizen will not be likely to defend him or herself. The self defense survey conducted by Dr. Gary Kleeck shows that around 2. 1 million times, guns are used for self defense purpose in a year (Krouse, pp. 13). A gun control law will restrain the people from protecting themselves in case of a violent crime attack. This will enable the criminals to be more powerful and confident while attacking people as people would not be armed. For instance pizza delivery boys keep guns to prevent themselves from being robbed. Thus, society should be against gun control because people have a right to protect and defend themselves. Imposing gun control laws do not reduce crimes. However, guns in the hands of those citizens who are law abiding and physically less strong than the criminals, are the best preventions for the crimes (Reynolds Caruth, pp. 02). Criminals are provoked by self-protection and guns can thus be a disincentive. A majority of convicted American criminals have reported that they fear from attacking the victims who are armed. Their fear of encountering armed victims surpasses their fear of being caught by police (Lott, pp. 05). Robbers do not attempt to break into houses after midnight because of the probability of being shot. Thus, society should be against gun control because crimes will decrease. Keeping guns and using them for self defense is a right of the citizens as laid by the constitution. The constitution wants its citizens to possess guns in order to protect and defend themselves from the criminals or the despotism of their own government. Other than the constitutional right, self defense by keeping guns is also an inherent basic human right of the people (Reynolds Caruth, pp. 27-29). Therefore, society should be against gun control as people have a right to bear arms. Conclusion Most of the criminals acquire guns from illegal sources. Gun control laws; therefore, are not able to restrict criminals. They only restrain law abiding citizens from possessing guns which increases the crime violence; therefore, society should be against gun control because people should be able to protect themselves, the crime rate would decrease, and people have the right to bear arms.

Chapter 5&6 Kite Runner Essay Example for Free

Chapter 56 Kite Runner Essay 1. Describe what happened to Amir and Hassan on their way to go and play by the tree. Assef and his two friends, Wali and Kamal first threw a rock and hit Hassan in the back of the head. Amir was instantly scared since Assef and his two friends are the neighborhood bullies. Assef calls the boys fags and starts calling Hassan racial slurs and flat-nose. Amir is excluded from most of the abuse because Baba is his father. Hassan moves slightly behind Amir as if he was expecting Amir to protect him in some way, but Amir doesn’t. Assef tells the boys how the king is now gone and the president is now Daoud Khan, a friend of his father. He plans on telling the president â€Å"man to man† how he believes Hitler was a great leader, a man with a vision, and how if he had succeeded the world would be a better place. Assef tells the boys how people like Amir and Baba are a disgrace to Afghanistan by taking in people like Hassan and his father. He asks Amir how he could be friends with someone like Hassan. Amir doesn’t defend Hassan. Hassan ends up taking out his slingshot and aiming a rock at Assef’s face even though he is scared. He asks Assef to please leave them alone even referring to him as Agha, the way a servant refers to his betters. Assef attempts to further intimidate Hassan but it doesn’t work. Hassan asks again for him to please leave them alone with the same response from Assef. Hassan then threatens Assef that if he does not leave them alone his nick name could change from â€Å"the ear eater† to â€Å"one –eyed Assef†. It works and the boys are left alone after Assef lets the boys know that he will not forget what has happened and will make them face him face to face someday. 2. Describe Assef’s character and his beliefs. Assef is the son of one of Baba’s friends. He is from an affluent family. His mother is German and his father Afghan. Assef towered over the neighborhood kids and was blonde haired and blue eyed. He had earned a reputation for being savage. Assef was famous for using his stainless-steel brass knuckles. He walked the streets of the neighborhood with his two sidekicks as if he  owned them. All three were eager to find a victim for their savagery. He was called â€Å"the ear eater† behind his back; no one was brave enough to call him that to his face. A nickname he earned due to a fight over a kite. Assef is a sociopath. He talks about Hitler as a man of vision and if he had not been stopped the world would have been a better place. He believes that Afghanistan belongs to the Pashtuns and that the Hazaras are polluting his land, that they are dirtying their pure blood. He want’s Afghanistan to be cleansed of the Hazaras in the way Hitler attempted race purificatio n. 3. Explain what happened between Amir and Hassan one day while they were waiting to capture their falling kite. Both Amir and Hassan were running down their kite. Amir was following Hassan through the narrow streets. Hassan a natural athlete was a bit faster than Amir. Amir thinks they are losing the kite because they are going in the opposite direction of the kite but Hassan tells him to trust him and continues running. When Amir catches up with Hassan he is sitting under a tree eating a handful of dried berries and asks him to have a seat. Amir still is questioning what Amir is doing just sitting there in the opposite direction that the kite went. Hassan calmly tells him that the kite is coming, he just knows. When Amir continues to question Hassan he replies, â€Å"Would I ever lie to you?† Amir knows that Hassan wouldn’t but instead of appreciating that he decides to toy with him instead and asks him if he would. Hassan replies, â€Å"I’d sooner eat dirt.† Amir admits that he knows it’s cruel, I think he wants to prove to himself that his father was wrong when he says that Amir doesn’t have a mean streak. Amir questions Hassan by asking him again if he would eat dirt if he told him to. Hassan tells him yes if he asked he would eat dirt as he looked Amir right in the eye. It seems they are testing each other’s loyalty and in my opinion Hassan wins. He is always loyal to Amir regardless of the situation. 4. Describe the relationship between Amir and Hassan. Amir and Hassan are friends even though Amir will not admit it to himself or others. They have been raised together since birth and have a connection to  one another. Hassan loves Amir. He is protective and supportive of him. He encourages him in his interests in stories. Hassan seems content with his life and his place in the world. He has learned from his father to be a kind person. Amir seems to enjoy the attention Hassan pays him and even takes for granted their relationship. Amir seems to be jealous of Hassan and the type of person he is and will knowingly be cruel to him. He doesn’t like to share Baba’s attention with him nor does he like it when Hassan does things unknowingly to remind him of their differences. For example the incident while they were waiting for the kite, knowingly tests Hassan’s loyalty to him. I think Amir can tell Hassan is a better person despite being an uneducated servant who clearly has the approval and love of both Baba and Ali without having to earn it.

The wembley national stadium

The wembley national stadium   Introduction It was built to be the new ‘home of football; to be one of the largest and magnificent stadiums in the world and designed to be state-of-the-art with a seating capacity of 90,000. Designed by the World Stadium Team led by Mott MacDonald, the Wembley Stadium now stands as the most expensive stadium ever built, the longest single-span roof structure in the world (315m), second largest stadium in Europe and the tallest in the world (133m) with every seat under roof cover.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The concept was to build a state-of-the-art stadium, with none that can compare anywhere else in the world. The new stadium has a partly retractable roof which can be adjusted to allow sunlight to reach all parts of the pitch. During bad weather, the roof can be retracted in about 15 minutes to cover every seat (http://www.designbuild-network.com/projects/wembley/).  £120 million from the Lottery Fund was invested into the stadium with an additional loan of  £426 million through West Deutsche Landesbank. A fixed price contract was reached between the client and contractors. This made provision for a building cost of  £352 million and total project costs of  £757 million (Public Accounts Committee, 2004). However, like most iconic construction projects of national interest, the Wembley project was not spared its own share of controversies, accusations, rumours, anxieties and fascination. The Football Association (FA) must have imagined a spectacular 2006 FA Cup grand finale, the biggest UK soccer championship at Wembley National Stadium. Unfortunately, this important event had to be moved all the way to Wales! What was wrong? Wembley Stadiums extraordinarily ambitious re-development was utterly behind schedule.The project later opened in March 2007, almost a year behind schedule and  £70million over budget and has since then kept some of the finest construction lawyers in constant employment. The Wembley Stadium concept was definitely ambitious and the product stands now impressively. Even more breathe taking is the 133m arch which when lit up at night shinning gloriously, and can even be seen across London. Wembley has indeed become Englands new icon of football. The client for the project was the Football Association (FA) working through its subsidiary the Wembley National Stadium Ltd (WNSL). The main contractor was Multiplex Constructions with Mott MacDonald being the Lead Designers. The project used two project advisors; Tropus at the initial stages (1997-2001) and Capita Symonds (2001-2006). The initial steel contractor was Cleveland Bridge Problems During The Project A litany of problems can be identified that bedevilled the construction of the Wembley Stadium mainly adversarial contracts, unreasonable risk allocation, cash-flow problems, design changes, poor performance, poor site management and litigations. These are presented in details below: Delays and indecisiveness even before the project begun: Plans for a new stadium were beset with delays, management problems and increasing costs since December 1996. The designs were revealed   in 1999 and the stadium should have been completed in 2003 but the work itself started only in September 2002 due to many political and financial problems. The project was finally rescheduled to complete in May 2006 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2119413.stm).   Design Problems: Multiplex argued that ‘Mott MacDonald`s design for the Wembley steel work was not fit for purpose and that the initial designs were not correct, constructible, co-ordinated and consistent. It further stated that Mott MacDonalds deficient design, failure to warn and/or take action is shown in many thousands of individual acts or omissions (Technology and Construction Court (TCC), 2006).   Scope Creep: The initial scope was to accommodate athletics, rugby and football in the same stadium. This later became very controversial and resulted in the removal of athletics from the scheme in 1999, because of the technical and commercial challenges of accommodating the three sports within the same stadium. In December 2001, the scope was further changed with the removal of a hotel from the project, the expansion of hospitality suites and considerable changes to the north side of the stadium bowl. This took the Mott Consortium 7-8 months to redesign. These changes increased the cost of the project especially in steel works (TCC, 2006). Procurement Issues: In the conclusions of Public Accounts Committee (Eighth Report of Session 2003-04), it stated that â€Å"Best procurement practice has not been followed on what is a high profile project Organisations responsible for managing projects should be expected to set out a formal procurement process, which treats all bidders equally to avoid giving any one a potential advantage over the others.† It further criticised Wembley National Stadium Limited for failing to follow a detailed and overt formal procurement process and having dialogue with Multiplex prior to starting the procurement process. A report by former Wembley project manager Tropus, said ‘the appointment was made with undue speed. The James Report also concluded that there had ‘been serious flaws in the procurement policies.'(James Report, 2002) Poor Communication: Apart from the major changes in the scope of the works, Multiplexlamented not given access to vital design information which made them underprice the steelwork. Mott on the other hand thought â€Å"Multiplex was aware of the state of design, having managed the design process and having been intimately involved in the design work.†Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   (Wembley Stadium into Injury Time, 2002) Poor Planning and organisation: A lot of decisions seem to have been made hastily. No wonder several changes had to be made at later stages. When it became a prime objective to finish the project in time for the FA Cup finale in May 2006, efficiency and cost effectiveness became secondary issues. In my opinion, a lot of problems could have been avoided if Multiplex did not have to rush the job to meet unrealistic deadlines. Multiplex claims that it has sustained significant losses as a result of a multitude of breaches of contract and/or acts of negligence by the consultant, which had far-reaching effects for Wembley (TCC, 2006; Baloch, 2008). Disputes and disagreements: Cleveland Bridge (CB), the steel contractor terminated their   contract   in 2004 because they did not believe they would be paid for materials and that there were seemingly insurmountable difficulties between them and Multiplex. A sustained input from a steelwork subcontractor could have greatly influenced the timely completion of the project but eventually CB had to be replaced with all attending problems of a new project team member. Health and Safety problems: In March 2006, a temporary roof support fell by over half resulting in the evacuation of all construction workers and delay of work. Another accident occurred January 2004 resulting in the death of one construction worker and the injury of another when a platform collapsed without warning, trapping the men underneath (http://www.designbuild-network.com/projects/wembley/) Poor Performance by Cleveland Bridge: Delays were caused by CB as not all the steel sent to China could be fabricated in time to comply with the programme. So the steel sent to China was often shipped back to England with   most not fabricated. Furthermore the steel sent to site was often missing crucial pieces (meaning it could not be erected) or else was untagged with the consequence that site staff could not identify the relevant pieces of steel (TCC, 2006). Poor Supervision by Sports England: The Government was less than happy with the level of supervision offered by Sport England. It stated that â€Å"Sport   Englands performance in monitoring the progress of the project has been lack, slovenly and supine.† This ultimately resulted in supply team missing the focal point of the project right from the beginning and before long, a lot was out of hand (Wembley Stadium into Injury Time, 2002). Poor Stakeholder management: In a statement by The House of Commons Culture, Media and Sports Committee, it blamed some of the problems encountered on the project on poor stakeholder management. It said, â€Å"the project had been undermined by the ‘fundamental failure to include all representatives at the outset in planning the redevelopment† (www.publications.parliament.uk). The resignation of Ken Bates in 2001 as chairman of WNSL gives a further hint. He cited a lack of support from the board and that he had been undermined by senior figures within both the government and the FA. He remarkably said, Even Jesus Christ only had one Pontius Pilate I had a whole team of them. (www.forbes.com). The Problems Encountered: The Role Of Project Management Project Management (PM) is the â€Å". . . application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to achieve project requirements.† (PMBoK, 2004). This same theme runs through other standards for PM including BS6079 and ISO 10006. Suffice it for now to say that PM is the managerial responsibility and actions involved in completing a project on time, in budget and to the specified quality standards, in accordance with the traditional performance criteria. The role of PM in the Wembley project will now be appraised under some of the key knowledge areas identified in the PMBoK. Project Scope Management This involves developing a scope statement that will define the boundaries of the project and verify the amount of work to be done. PM uses such tools as brainstorming, fast diagrams, Value Management workshops to define the project. This is because if you have the wrong definition, you may come up with the right solution—to the wrong problem!(Lewis, 2007). If scope definition is not holistically carried out, major changes such as those experienced on Wembley may occur later and cause delays, cost variations leading to claims and litigations. This, I believe, was the ‘akiles heel of this iconic project. Where change becomes inevitable, PM should manage them to protect the project from the effects of scope creep. Wembley failed in this area resulting in the considerable cost and time overruns. Lewis (2007) rightly said, â€Å"I have become convinced that projects seldom fail at the end. Rather, they fail at the definition stage.† Project Time Management PM adorns itself with yet another accolade of being able to effectively estimate time frame for projects realistically and defining work packages and milestone to achieve this target. It employs one of its popular tools of Critical Path Method and scheduling in this respect. Many softwares including Primavera and MS Project have also been developed to helped in the management of time. Kaming (1997), Elinwa (2001) and Aibini (2006) however reveal that the occurrence of time overruns is high and that overruns can occur of projects irrespective of its size. Wembley was no exception. Some of the disputes, changes, cash flow problems, design problems etc. that caused resulted in the project being delivered in 10 months late and the subsequent changing of the FA Cup finals to Wales could have been avoided through effective project time management. PM should have helped to come out with a realistic duration for the project. Project Cost Management This involves estimating the cost of all resources and such things as travel and other support details. After this is done, costs are budgeted and tracked to keep the project within that budget (Rad, 2002). This is very important in PM as the first question most clients ask is ‘how much will it cost? It is the duty of the PM to realistically determine what it will cost to achieve a particular scope. The tough question then arises. Was Wembleys initial cost of  £445million realistic? Why did cost rise astronomically to  £757million at completion? The project even had to be stalled ‘into injury time just to seek additional funding. Why couldnt PM prevent this? Much of the blame lies squarely on PMs failure to realistically estimate cost at conception. Project Communications Management â€Å"This is the processes required to ensure timely and appropriate generation, collection, dissemination, storage, and disposition of project information.† (PMBoK, 2004). Multiplexclaims it was not given access to vital design information and that this led to increased steelwork costs. Mott MacDonald on the other hand dismisses this saying, â€Å"Multiplex was aware of the state of design, having managed the design process and having been intimately involved in the design work† (TCC, 2006). PM is supposed to create a smooth communication interface between all parties to forestall these misunderstandings. Project Procurement Management This helps in selecting the most appropriate contractors and suppliers, administers the contract as well as form the best working relationships between all parties to achieve project goals. The Public Accounts Committee (2003-04), stated that â€Å"Best procurement practice has not been followed on what is a high profile project† PM should have also salvaged the problem between Mott, Cleveland and Multiplex before it got out of hand, resulting in Cleveland walking away from the project with its attending problems. More also, it is known that competitive tendering and cost as a selection criteria has produced poor results in construction over the years and PM should have helped in designing the best procurement approach to prevent the problems (Egan, 1998). The contract used for the project was fixed cost method in which the client cleverly shirks risk to the contractor. This form of contract invariably results in creating an adversarial environment with where each party   involved focuses their attentions on the needs and risks of their businesses as opposed to those of the project (Morriss, P. and Hollis, A., 2005).This may well be another area that grossly affected the results on Wembley and effective PM should have prevented this. Stakeholder Management: Freeman and McVea (2001) describe this function as â€Å"looking out from the firm or project and identifying, and investing in all the relationships that will ensure long-term success.† At concept stage, this is used to collect views of all interested parties, especially those of end users who usually hold vital information that may be critical to the design, function and success of a project. If this was effectively done, it would have prevented the acrimony that grew between some of the contractors and would have saved the project from unnecessary delays and increased cost of replacing Cleveland Bridge. It would have helped to produce the best fitting design as well as sort out the fact that athletics, football and rugby in the same venue would present a lot of technical and functional difficulties at the design stage saving the project from about 8 months of redesign. Site Management: Chan (1997) showed that out of 8 group factors that caused delays in construction projects, poor site management and supervision was amongst the top five. The accusations and counter-accusations during the hearing at the Technology and Construction Court between Multiplex and Cleveland Bridge gives us yet another glimpse into an area of failure of PM on Wembley. The site was poorly managed as it was littered with random pieces of steel that had been delivered in the wrong order and a significant quantity of steel was sitting on trailers adjacent to the site or around the perimeter. This had the potential of disrupting flow of activities and even causing accidents (TCC, 2006). The Actions And Measures That Should Have Been Taken The influential Latham (1994) and Egan (1998) reports called for new approaches to construction- one in which client leadership is key and where there is greater collaborative working between firms within the construction supply chain. Egan summarised five key drivers of change namely committed leadership; a focus on the customer; integrated processes and teams; a quality driven agenda; and a commitment to people. Some of the necessary actions and measures that should have been taken is now presented below: Key Client Leadership: The new Terminal Five at Heathrow is a widely acclaimed example of current construction best practice. The approach was unique and tailored to the very needs of the project i.e. the client took a level of ownership of project thus creating a clear vision for how it wanted the project delivered and also staying close enough to the project from inception to completion (Brady, 2008). Latham (1994) recommended that â€Å"the client should be at the core of the construction process† because â€Å"clients [essentially] drive best practice.† Egan (1998). The Client in the Wembley Stadium project was the Football Association and thus should have: 1. stayed close enough to the project, monitoring it and to make sure things dont go out of hand; 2. ensured that major changes to the scope of works was frozen at a particular point on the project or avoided altogether. These changes often result in dispute, delays and extra expense; 3. made sure that adequate funding was secured for the project before it even begun and that the estimation of both time and cost were realistically carried out; 4. come out with clear, concise, realistic and unambiguous objectives at the conception of the project involving all necessary stakeholders so that major changes, such as those that were experienced, could be avoided; 5. shared in risk of development/construction rather than cleverly shoving it to contractors. The â€Å"Heathrow Method†: Terminal 5 was an audacious development project that involved more than 60 contractors and 16 major projects. British Airways Authority (BAA) adopted a unique approach to the project to make sure it is completed both on time and within budget. It used â€Å"an innovative form of cost-reimbursable contract the ‘T5 Agreement under which BAA holds all the risks associated with the project rather than transferring the risks to external suppliers and guarantees a level of proï ¬ t for suppliers.† (Brady, 2008). The Agreement included an incentive payment for contractors that achieved a certain level of performance. It decided to reimburse the costs of delivery and to reward exceptional performance and punish mediocre and poor performance only in terms of proï ¬ tability. This created some sort of win-win environment for all parties and motivated the contractors to focus their attention   on the needs of the project and collectively so lve problems rather than concentrate on their own business risks and interests. These are the fundamental reasons why T5 achieved the laudable success of staying within budget and cost at completion. Cleveland would not have walked out of the job if it was given firm assurance of re-imbursement of cost incurred. The contracts should have been designed with an approach that offered incentives to all, for improvement in cost, time or quality and not in an adversarial environment associated with fixed cost contracts. Integrating the Supply chain: Both Latham (1994) and Egan (1998) underscored the importance of using integrated teams to realise project goals. The T5 approach used by BAA combined two main principles: the client always bears the risk; and partners are worth more than suppliers. ‘It provides an appropriate environment for integrated team working [†¦] to enable suppliers to work effectively and focus on meeting the projects objectives not only in relation to the traditional time, budget, and quality measures but also in relation to safety and environmental targets (Brady, 2008). ‘By doing that you take away negativity, allow space for innovation and create any opportunity for people to perform at levels they havent been allowed to before (Mylius, 2005). Involvement of end users: End users often hold vital information as they are usually in a better position to comment on the detailed requirements for a building than senior management who may not even be the occupants of the building when it is completed. After all, the users have first hand experience of what makes a building successful or otherwise (Menches, 2008). By the use of such methods as   focus groups, value management workshops and major surveys, the issue of athletics, rugby and football in the same venue could have been resolved even before any detailed design and thus eliminating the extensive delays and cost implications it had on the project (Barrett, P., and Stanley, C., 1999). Use of a Project bank: In an attempt to integrate project teams in an atmosphere of trust, collaboration and openness, the National Audit Office (NAO) of the UK suggested the   use of a project bank account. To ensure better construction, it said, ‘suppliers [require] greater certainty that they will be paid on time to re-enforce the trust that should exist between all parties for collaborative working to operate effectively. This was endorsed by the Specialist Contractors who indicated that ‘payments for the project delivery team should be protected and secure, which would, in turn, significantly reduce disputes and, more importantly, will encourage closer working relationships between all parties. (Parliamentary Newsletter, Issue 3, Spring/Summer 2006). Best Project Management Practice: At the execution level, much of the problems that occurred on the project could have been avoided or its impact attenuated if best project management practice was adopted by all especially Multiplex and Cleveland Bridge. Problems of poor site management practice, poor or incorrect fabrication of steel, design change management and communication could have been arrested with proper planning, organisation and control. Careful Monitoring: Projects rarely stay on track in terms of time and cost. the more likely occurrence is that projects will be behind schedule yet over budget at any point in time. Good project management carefully and critically appraises all factors that a likely to push a project off schedule (Office of Government Commerce, 2005). Monitoring progress carefully and instigating timely corrective actions by both WNSL, Multiplex as well as the FA, would have helped identify the likely impact of any problems so that action can be taken to get the project back on track. Conclusion Experience is a great asset to professionals practicing in any discipline, whether that experience comes from success or failure and whoever fails to learn from his mistakes is doomed to repeat them. Some of the key lessons on Wembley Stadium is thus now summarised below:   Adequate time and effort needs to be invested in the strategic planning phase of every project to come out with clear, realistic, and unambiguous project objectives;   Project team must engage effectively with users and other external stakeholders especially at the concept stage of any scheme to save the project from major changes with its attending problems;   Construction procurement must move away from competitive tendering and cost as the selection criteria and develop procedures that use performance and team partnering and capability;   Contracts must be designed to provide incentive to all for cost and time improvement and also forge a ‘win-win environment between clients and supply chain members;   Enough resources have to be made available for the project based on realistic estimates;   Clients must assume central roles in projects for they essentially drive best practice;   Continual change in project requirements and scope can be very detrimental for the project;   Dysfunctional relationships and fragmentation can turn a perfect project scheme into a complete chaos and thus project teams must operate as a cohesive unit, with clear allocation of roles and responsibilities. Finally, it is evident, at least from the Wembley Stadium project that a poor knowledge and a lack awareness of the fundamental project management skills by the client can lead to failure as clients essentially drive best practice. An effective and successful outcome of project management on any project in most cases will only be achieved if both the client and the contractor or project management organisations are effective in the skills of project management. A poor client organisation, in terms of project management, may well drive a good project manager and his team into poor performance. Agreeably, it may not be a panacea due to many circumstances and occurrences that may well be out of its control. However, Project Management stands the chance of producing laudable results if the construction industry stopped treating it casually and unprofessionally but rigorously apply the great worth of knowledge and experience its gathered over the past years, through both its success and failure stories. References 1. Aibinu, A.A et al (2006), Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, volume 132, Issue 7, pp. 667-677 (July 2006) 2. Barrett, P., Stanley, C., (1999), Better Construction Briefing, Blackwell Science Ltd 3. Brady, Tim(2008)Learning to Deliver a Mega-project: The case of Heathrow Terminal 5. New Challenges to Managing Organisations in Project Business. St Petersberg State University,St Petersburg, Russia,pp.137-158. 4. Briefing Team, Published by Construction Excellence, 2004. 5. Carter, P., (2002) EnglishNationalStadiumReview, FinalReport, A report submitted to the HouseofCommons. 6. Chan, D.W.M., and Kumaraswamy, M.M, (1997) A comparative study of causes of time overruns in Hong Kong construction projects, International Journal of Project Management Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 55-63, 1997. 7. Design and Build Projects, www.designbuild-network.com/projects/wembley 8. Egan, J. (1998) Rethinking Construction, Construction Task Force Report for Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, HMSO, London. 9. Elinwa A.U.,et al (2001), Time-Overrun Factors in Nigerian Construction Industry, Journal of Construction Engineering Management, Vol 127, Issue 5, pp. 419-425 (Sept/Oct 2001) 10. Evan, M., (2005), Overdue and over budget, over and over again, The Economist. 11. GovernmentResponse totheSixthReportfromthe Culture,MediaandSportSelectCommittee Session2001-2002, Wembley National Stadium Into Injury time. 12. House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts, Eighth Report of Session 2003-04, The English national stadium project at Wembley 13. James Report, Cited in Wembley Stadium Into Injury Time(2002), Department for Culture, Media and Sport. 14. Kaming, P.F., et al (1997) Factors influencing construction time and cost overruns on high-rise projects in Indonesia, Construction Management and Economics, 15: 1, 83 — 94 15. Latham, M. (1994) Constructing the Team, Final Report of the Government/Industry Review of Procurement and Contractual Arrangements in the UK Construction Industry, HMSO, London. 16. Lewis J.P., (2007) Fundamentals of project management (3rd Edition), AMAKOM Books 17. Menches, C.L., et al (2008) Impact of preconstruction planning and project characteristics on performance in the US electrical construction industry, Construction Management and Economics, 26: 8, 855-869. 18. Morriss, P. and Hollis, A., (2005), Matching Contract Style to your business, Contract Conference Paper, Snowden Consulting Group. 19. Mylius, A. (2005) ‘A game of two halves Supply Management, 6 October 2005. 20. Office of Government Commerce, (2005), Common Causes of Construction Failure, Best Practice Guide. 21. Project Management Institute, (2004)A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK),(2004 Edition). 22. Rad, P.F., (2002), Project Estimation and Cost Management, Management Concept Inc. 23. The Heathrow Terminal 5 Project, www.airport-technology.com/projects/heathrow5 24. The Judgement, (2006) Technology and Construction Court, EWHC 1341TCC 25. The Wembley Blame Game, www.forbes.com 26. UK Government, Parliamentary Newsletter, Issue 3, Spring/Summer 2006.

Education: The Improvement of Humanity :: Education Essays

"Education in modern society is about power. To ask who is to be educated is to ask who is to rule."(Halls, vii) This same statement could also apply to the eighteenth century; the wealthier families could afford to send their children off to college to further their education to become doctors or lawyers. This form of education progressed until 1760 when the nationalization of the education system became a noticeable progression. They believed that through making education a national topic then they could in turn influence the students to create a better society. The church was even pressing for national education. "Education became an almost universal corrective to human and social ills."(Palmer, 3) While the children were in school this gave the educators an opportunity to install "virtues and desirable attitudes and habits." (Palmer, 3) However, not everyone believed that the only way to create a better society was to train the children from a young age to act a certain way. Many believed that a child is born with a set of morals and virtues to prevent them from doing something that should not be done. If a child is not born with these morals and virtues then even being trained from a young age to act a certain way is not going to prevent them from doing something that the soc iety sees as wrong. Colleges also played into the ideal of creating a better society. "The ideal French college in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was a place of salutary confinement, designed to shield growing boys from the evils of the outside world." (Palmer, 13) Prior to the eighteenth century "Northwestern France, England, and the Netherlands showed about the same rate of literacy and together formed the most literate zone in Europe, until overtaken by Scotland during the eighteenth century." (Palmer, 10) As important as education began to be it didn't change the fact that the best education that one could receive (whether peasant or other wise) was in the city rather than in the more rural areas. "Between the end of the seventeenth century and the revolution, the definitive breakthrough of the majority of peasants in the north into the world of writing and literacy was more common and schools more accessible, in the towns than in the country." (Palmer, 10) As a result, if the family lived in an area that was close to a good school, were above the poverty line, and did not need the children for labor, then each family could have, at the very least, one son that could receive an education. Education: The Improvement of Humanity :: Education Essays "Education in modern society is about power. To ask who is to be educated is to ask who is to rule."(Halls, vii) This same statement could also apply to the eighteenth century; the wealthier families could afford to send their children off to college to further their education to become doctors or lawyers. This form of education progressed until 1760 when the nationalization of the education system became a noticeable progression. They believed that through making education a national topic then they could in turn influence the students to create a better society. The church was even pressing for national education. "Education became an almost universal corrective to human and social ills."(Palmer, 3) While the children were in school this gave the educators an opportunity to install "virtues and desirable attitudes and habits." (Palmer, 3) However, not everyone believed that the only way to create a better society was to train the children from a young age to act a certain way. Many believed that a child is born with a set of morals and virtues to prevent them from doing something that should not be done. If a child is not born with these morals and virtues then even being trained from a young age to act a certain way is not going to prevent them from doing something that the soc iety sees as wrong. Colleges also played into the ideal of creating a better society. "The ideal French college in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was a place of salutary confinement, designed to shield growing boys from the evils of the outside world." (Palmer, 13) Prior to the eighteenth century "Northwestern France, England, and the Netherlands showed about the same rate of literacy and together formed the most literate zone in Europe, until overtaken by Scotland during the eighteenth century." (Palmer, 10) As important as education began to be it didn't change the fact that the best education that one could receive (whether peasant or other wise) was in the city rather than in the more rural areas. "Between the end of the seventeenth century and the revolution, the definitive breakthrough of the majority of peasants in the north into the world of writing and literacy was more common and schools more accessible, in the towns than in the country." (Palmer, 10) As a result, if the family lived in an area that was close to a good school, were above the poverty line, and did not need the children for labor, then each family could have, at the very least, one son that could receive an education.

Salt And Its Uses :: essays research papers

Salt and Its Uses As we know, salt is the most useful resource found on earth. In Ancient Rome, salt was used as part of the salary to the soldiers. From this, we can see that salt was as valuable as gold in the past. In our daily life, besides making nutritious food more palatable, salt is very useful in making bakery products, canned and frozen foods. Salt is a good preservative that retards the growth of micro-organisms to make food storage possible for a long period of timie before refrigeration. Recently, an opinion that is harmful to our health was raised by Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes, Jr,. former comissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Admistration in 1981. The American Heart Dissociation, the American Medical Association also joined the low-salt appeal. They believe that sodium salt is connected with heart disease, circulator disorder, stroke and even early death. By many doctors and researchers are now beginning to feel that salt has gone too far. At the University of Alabama, a short-term research has been done on 150 people on the effect of the intake of salt related to high blood pressure. Result shows that those with normal blood pressure experience no change at all when placed in a extremely low salt diet, or later when salt was introduced, Of the hypertensive subjects, half of those on the low salt diet did experience a drop in blood pressure, which returned to its previous leel when salt was introduced. Of course, these are other researcherswhgich tend to support the findings. A small Indiana study showed that when normal individuals took large amount of salt, the bolld pressure did not consistenly rise into the hypertensive range. Also, study in Israel showed that a low-calorie diet could reduce blood pressure without changing salt consumption. After viewing research statistics, we should know that salt is not exactly harmful to us. In fact, our bodies have a continual need for salt because our bodies need sodium and chloride ions each with a different task. Chloride maintains the balance of water in cells and its environment. It also plays a part of digestion. Sodium assists in regulating the volumn of blood and blood pressure. Also, it facilitates the transmission of nerve impulses and is necessary for heart and muscle contraction. Without this, our bodies could not function properly. Salt And Its Uses :: essays research papers Salt and Its Uses As we know, salt is the most useful resource found on earth. In Ancient Rome, salt was used as part of the salary to the soldiers. From this, we can see that salt was as valuable as gold in the past. In our daily life, besides making nutritious food more palatable, salt is very useful in making bakery products, canned and frozen foods. Salt is a good preservative that retards the growth of micro-organisms to make food storage possible for a long period of timie before refrigeration. Recently, an opinion that is harmful to our health was raised by Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes, Jr,. former comissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Admistration in 1981. The American Heart Dissociation, the American Medical Association also joined the low-salt appeal. They believe that sodium salt is connected with heart disease, circulator disorder, stroke and even early death. By many doctors and researchers are now beginning to feel that salt has gone too far. At the University of Alabama, a short-term research has been done on 150 people on the effect of the intake of salt related to high blood pressure. Result shows that those with normal blood pressure experience no change at all when placed in a extremely low salt diet, or later when salt was introduced, Of the hypertensive subjects, half of those on the low salt diet did experience a drop in blood pressure, which returned to its previous leel when salt was introduced. Of course, these are other researcherswhgich tend to support the findings. A small Indiana study showed that when normal individuals took large amount of salt, the bolld pressure did not consistenly rise into the hypertensive range. Also, study in Israel showed that a low-calorie diet could reduce blood pressure without changing salt consumption. After viewing research statistics, we should know that salt is not exactly harmful to us. In fact, our bodies have a continual need for salt because our bodies need sodium and chloride ions each with a different task. Chloride maintains the balance of water in cells and its environment. It also plays a part of digestion. Sodium assists in regulating the volumn of blood and blood pressure. Also, it facilitates the transmission of nerve impulses and is necessary for heart and muscle contraction. Without this, our bodies could not function properly.

The Broken Healthcare System of The United States Essay -- Healthcare

An issue that is widely discussed and debated concerning the United States’ economy is our health care system. The health care system in the United States is not public, meaning that the states does not offer free or affordable health care service. In Canada, France and Great Britain, for example, the government funds health care through taxes. The United States, on the other hand, opted for another direction and passed the burden of health care spending on individual consumers as well as employers and insurers. In July 2006, the issue was transparency: should the American people know the price of the health care service they use and the results doctors and hospitals achieve? The Wall Street Journal article revealed that â€Å"U.S. hospitals, most of them nonprofit, charged un-insured patients prices that vastly exceeded those they charged their insured patients. Driving their un-insured patients into bankruptcy." (p. B1) The most expensive health care system in the world is that of America. I will talk about the health insurance in U.S., the health care in other countries, Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, and my solution to this problem. The United States health care is structured badly. The insurance companies only look out for themselves; they think of ways they can save money not spend it. When you file for health insurance, companies will look through your application and medical records as if it were a murder investigation. They will try to find any flaw possible in your application just so they would not have to pay for your medical bill. The health insurance companies have an extremely long list of medical conditions you may have that they will deny you for. They will reject you if the surgery is considered experimental,... ...on, which consists of not making tons of money, but in helping people fight their health problems and saving lives. That is why we should have a socialized/publicly funded health care system. To ensure that everyone gets the proper medical care, no more denying people because they do not have insurance. Works Cited Herzlinger, Regina. Who Killed Health Care? America’s $2 Trillion Medical Problem And The Consumer-Driven Cure. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007. Print. Lucette, Lagnado. â€Å"Anatomy of a Hospital Bill,† Wall Street Journal, September 21, 2004, p.B1. Print. Moore, Michael, narr. Sicko. Dog Eat Dog Films Weinstein Company, 2007. DVD. Palmer, Donald. â€Å"Utilitarianism,† Does the Center Hold? An Introduction to Western Philosophy. 5th ed. 264-271. Print. Unkown. â€Å"American Medical Association,† The New York Times, June 15, 2009, p.2. Print.

The Host Chapter 50: Sacrificed

The Seeker scrutinized my face while Mel and I fought. No, Wanda, no! Don't be stupid, Mel. You of all people should see the potential of this choice. Isn't this what you want? But even as I tried to look at the happy ending, I couldn't escape the horror of this choice. This was the secret I should die to protect. The information I'd been desperate to keep safe no matter what hideous torture I was put through. This was not the kind of torture I'd expected: a personal crisis of conscience, confused and complicated by love for my human family. Very painful, nevertheless. I could not claim to be an expatriate if I did this. No, I would be purely a traitor. Not for her, Wanda! Not for her! Mel howled. Should I wait? Wait until they catch another soul? An innocent soul whom I have no reason to hate? I'll have to make the decision sometime. Not now! Wait! Think about this! My stomach rolled again, and I had to hunch my body forward and take a deep breath. I just managed not to gag. â€Å"Wanda?† Jeb called in concern. I could do it, Mel. I could justify letting her die if she was one of those innocent souls. I could let them kill her then. I could trust myself to make an objective decision. But she's horrible, Wanda! We hate her! Exactly. And I can't trust myself. Look at how I almost didn't see the answer†¦ â€Å"Wanda, you all right?† The Seeker glared past me, toward Jeb's voice. â€Å"Fine, Jeb,† I gasped. My voice was breathy, strained. I was surprised at how bad it sounded. The Seeker's dark eyes flickered between us, unsure. Then she recoiled from me, cringing into the wall. I recognized the pose-remembered exactly how it felt to hold it. A gentle hand came down on my shoulder and spun me around. â€Å"What's going on with you, hon?† Jeb asked. â€Å"I need a minute,† I told him breathlessly. I looked straight into his faded-denim eyes and told him something that was most definitely not a lie. â€Å"I have one more question. But I really need a minute to myself. Can you†¦ wait for me?† â€Å"Sure, we can wait a little while more. Take a breather.† I nodded and walked as quickly as I could from the prison. My legs were stiff with terror at first, but I found my stride as I moved. By the time I passed Aaron and Brandt, I was almost running. â€Å"What happened?† I heard Aaron whisper to Brandt, his voice bewildered. I wasn't sure where to hide while I thought. My feet, like a shuttle on automatic pilot, took me through the corridors toward my sleeping room. I could only hope that it would be empty. It was dark, barely any light from the stars trickling down through the cracked ceiling. I didn't see Lily till I tripped over her in the darkness. I almost didn't recognize her tear-swollen face. She was curled into a tight, tiny ball on the floor in the middle of the passageway. Her eyes were wide, not quite comprehending who I was. â€Å"Why?† she asked me. I stared at her wordlessly. â€Å"I said that life and love go on. But why do they? They shouldn't. Not anymore. What's the point?† â€Å"I don't know, Lily. I'm not sure what the point is.† â€Å"Why?† she asked again, not speaking to me anymore. Her glassy eyes looked right through me. I stepped carefully past her and hurried to my room. I had my own question that had to be answered. To my great relief, the room was empty. I threw myself facedown on the mattress where Jamie and I slept. When I'd told Jeb I had one more question, that was the truth. But the question was not for the Seeker. The question was for me. The question was would I-not could I-do it? I could save the Seeker's life. I knew how. It would not endanger any of the lives here. Except my own. I would have to trade that. No. Melanie tried to be firm through her panic. Please let me think. No. This is the thing, Mel. It's inevitable anyway. I can see that now. I should have seen it long ago. It's so obvious. No, it isn't. I remembered our conversation when Jamie was ill. When we were making up. I'd told her that I wouldn't erase her and that I was sorry that I couldn't give her more than that. It wasn't so much a lie as it was an unfinished sentence. I couldn't give her more than that-and stay alive myself. The actual lie had been given to Jared. I'd told him, just seconds later, that I didn't know how to make myself not exist. In the context of our discussion, it was true. I didn't know how to fade away, here inside Melanie. But I was surprised I hadn't heard the obvious lie right then, hadn't seen in that moment what I was seeing now. Of course I knew how to make myself not exist. It was just that I had never considered that option viable, ultimate betrayal that it was to every soul on this planet. Once the humans knew that I had this answer, the one they had murdered for over and over again, it would cost me. No, Wanda! Don't you want to be free? A long pause. I wouldn't ask you for this, she finally said. And I wouldn't do it for you. And I sure as hell wouldn't do it for the Seeker! You don't have to ask. I think I might have volunteered†¦ eventually. Why do you think that? she demanded, her tone close to a sob. It touched me. I expected her to be elated. In part because of them. Jared and Jamie. I can give them the whole world, everything they want. I can give them you. I probably would have realized that†¦ someday. Who knows? Maybe Jared would have asked. You know I wouldn't have said no. Ian's right. You're too self-sacrificing. You don't have any limits. You need limits, Wanda! Ah, Ian, I moaned. A new pain twisted through me, surprisingly close to my heart. You'll take the whole world away from him. Everything he wants. It would never work with Ian. Not in this body, even though he loves it. It doesn't love him. Wanda, I†¦ Melanie struggled for words. Still, the joy I expected from her did not come. Again, this touched me. I don't think I can let you do this. You're more important than that. In the bigger picture, you are of much more value to them than I am. You can help them; you can save them. I can't do any of that. You have to stay. I can't see any other way, Mel. I wonder how I didn't see it sooner. It seems so completely obvious. Of course I have to go. Of course I have to give you yourself back. I already knew we souls were wrong to come here. So I don't have any choice now but to do the right thing, and leave. You all survived without me before; you'll do it again. You've learned so much about the souls from me-you'll help them. Can't you see? This is the happy ending. It's the way they all need the story to finish. I can give them hope. I can give them†¦ not a future. Maybe not that. But as much as I can. Everything I can. No, Wanda, no. She was crying, becoming incoherent. Her sorrow brought tears to my eyes. I'd no idea that she cared so much for me. Almost as much as I cared for her. I hadn't realized that we loved each other. Even if Jared had never asked me for this, even if Jared did not exist†¦ Once this path had occurred to me, I would have had to proceed down it. I loved her that much. No wonder the success rate for resistant hosts was so low here on Earth. Once we learned to love our human host, what hope did we souls have? We could not exist at the expense of one we loved. Not a soul. A soul could not live that way. I rolled myself over and, in the starlight, I looked at my body. My hands were dirty and scratched, but under the surface blemishes, they were beautiful. The skin was a pretty sun-browned color; even bleached in the pale light, it was pretty. The nails were chewed short but still healthy and smooth, with little half moons of white at the bases. I fluttered my fingers, watching the muscles pull the bones in graceful patterns. I let them dance above me, where they became black fluid shapes against the stars. I ran them through my hair. It was almost to my shoulders now. Mel would like that. After a few weeks of shampoo in hotel showers and Health vitamins, it was glossy and soft again. I stretched my arms out as far as they would go, tugging against the tendons until some of my joints cracked. My arms felt strong. They could pull me up a mountainside, they could carry a heavy load, they could plow a field. But they were also soft. They could hold a child, they could comfort a friend, they could love†¦ but that was not for me. I took a deep breath, and tears welled out of the corners of my eyes and rolled down my temples into my hair. I tensed the muscles in my legs, felt their ready strength and speed. I wanted to run, to have an open field that I could race across just to see how fast I could go. I wanted to do this barefoot, so I could feel the earth beneath my feet. I wanted to feel the wind fly through my hair. I wanted it to rain, so that I could smell it in the air as I ran. My feet flexed and pointed slowly, to the rhythm of my breathing. In and out. Flex and point. It felt nice. I traced my face with my fingertips. They were warm on my skin, skin that was smooth and pretty. I was glad I was giving Melanie her face back the way it had been. I closed my eyes and stroked my eyelids. I'd lived in so many bodies, but never one I loved like this. Never one that I craved in this way. Of course, this would be the one I'd have to give up. The irony made me laugh, and I concentrated on the feel of the air that popped in little bubbles from my chest and up through my throat. Laughter was like a fresh breeze-it cleaned its way through the body, making everything feel good. Did other species have such a simple healer? I couldn't remember one. I touched my lips and remembered how it felt to kiss Jared, and how it felt to kiss Ian. Not everyone got to kiss so many other beautiful bodies. I'd had more than some, even in this short time. It was just so short! Maybe a year now, I wasn't completely sure. Just one quick revolution of a blue green planet around an unexceptional yellow star. The shortest life of any I'd ever lived. The shortest, the most important, the most heartbreaking of lives. The life that would forever define me. The life that had finally tied me to one star, to one planet, to one small family of strangers. A little more time†¦ would that be so wrong? No, Mel whispered. Just take a little more time. You never know how much time you'll have, I whispered back. But I did. I knew exactly how much time I had. I couldn't take any more time. My time was up. I was going anyway. I had to do the right thing, be my true self, with what time I had left. With a sigh that seemed to come all the way from the soles of my feet and the palms of my hands, I got up. Aaron and Brandt wouldn't wait forever. And now I had a few more questions that I needed answered. This time, the questions were for Doc. The caves were full of sad, cast-down eyes. It was easy enough to slip unobtrusively past them all. No one cared what I was doing right now, except maybe Jeb, Brandt, and Aaron, and they weren't here. I didn't have an open, rainy field, but at least I had the long south tunnel. It was too dark to run flat out the way I wanted, but I kept up a steady jog. It felt good as my muscles warmed. I expected I would find Doc already there, but I'd wait if I had to. He would be alone. Poor Doc, that was usually the case now. Doc had been sleeping alone in his hospital since the night we'd saved Jamie's life. Sharon had taken her things from their room and moved them to her mother's, and Doc wouldn't sleep in the empty room. Such a great hatred. Sharon would rather kill her own happiness, and Doc's, too, than forgive him for helping me heal Jamie. Sharon and Maggie were barely a presence in the caves anymore. They looked past everyone now, the way they used to look past only me. I wondered if that would change when I was gone, or if they were both so rigid in their grudge that it would be too late for them to change. What an extraordinarily stupid way to waste time. For the first time ever, the south tunnel felt short. Before I thought I'd gone halfway, I could see Doc's light glowing dimly from the rough arch ahead. He was home. I slowed myself to a walk before I interrupted him. I didn't want to scare him, to make him think there was an emergency. He was still startled when I appeared, a little breathless, in the stone doorway. He jumped up from behind his desk. The book he was reading fell out of his hands. â€Å"Wanda? Is something wrong?† â€Å"No, Doc,† I reassured him. â€Å"Everything's fine.† â€Å"Does someone need me?† â€Å"Just me.† I gave him a weak smile. He walked around his desk to meet me, his eyes wide with curiosity. He paused half a step away and raised one eyebrow. His long face was gentle, the opposite of alarming. It was hard to remember how he'd looked like a monster to me before. â€Å"You are a man of your word,† I began. He nodded and opened his mouth to speak, but I held one hand up. â€Å"No one will ever test that more than I will test it now,† I warned him. He waited, eyes confused and wary. I took a deep breath, felt it expand my lungs. â€Å"I know how to do what you've been ending so many lives to discover. I know how to take the souls from your bodies without harm to either. Of course I know that. We all have to, in case of an emergency. I even performed the emergency procedure once, when I was a Bear.† I stared at him, waiting for his response. It took him a long moment, and his eyes grew wilder every second. â€Å"Why are you telling me this?† he finally gasped. â€Å"Because I†¦ I am going to give you the knowledge you need.† I held up my hand again. â€Å"But only if you will give me what I want in return. I'm warning you right now, it won't be any easier for you to give me what I want than it will be for me to give you what you want.† His face was fiercer than I'd ever seen it. â€Å"Name your terms.† â€Å"You can't kill them-the souls you remove. You must give me your word-your promise, your oath, your vow-that you will give them safe conduct on to another life. This means some danger; you will have to have cryotanks, and you will have to get those souls onto shuttles off-planet. You have to send them to another world to live. But they won't be able to hurt you. By the time they reach their next planet, your grandchildren will be dead.† Would my conditions mitigate my guilt in this? Only if Doc could be trusted. He was thinking very hard as I explained. I watched his face to see what he would make of my demand. He didn't look angry, but his eyes were still wild. â€Å"You don't want us to kill the Seeker?† he guessed. I didn't answer his question because he wouldn't understand the answer; I did want them to kill her. That was the whole problem. Instead, I explained further. â€Å"She'll be the first, the test. I want to make sure, while I'm still here, that you're going to follow through. I will do the separation myself. When she is safe, I'll teach you how it's done.† â€Å"On who?† â€Å"Kidnapped souls. The same as before. I can't guarantee you that the human minds will come back. I don't know if the erased can return. We'll see with the Seeker.† Doc blinked, processing something. â€Å"What do you mean, while you are still here? Are you leaving?† I stared at him, waiting for the realization to hit. He stared back, uncomprehending. â€Å"Don't you realize what I'm giving you?† I whispered. Finally, comprehension slammed home in his expression. I spoke quickly, before he could. â€Å"There's something else I'm going to ask you for, Doc. I don't want to†¦ I won't be shipped off to another planet. This is my planet, it truly is. And yet, there's really no place for me here. So†¦ I know it might†¦ offend some of the others. Don't tell them if you think they won't allow it. Lie if you have to. But I'd like to be buried by Walt and Wes. Can you do that for me? I won't take up much space.† I smiled weakly again. No! Melanie was howling. No, no, no, no†¦ â€Å"No, Wanda,† Doc objected, too, with a shocked expression. â€Å"Please, Doc,† I whispered, wincing against the protest in my head, which was getting louder. â€Å"I don't think Wes or Walt will mind.† â€Å"That's not what I meant! I can't kill you, Wanda. Ugh! I'm so sick of death, so sick of killing my friends.† Doc's voice caught in a sob. I put my hand on his thin arm, rubbed it. â€Å"People die here. It happens.† Kyle had said something to that effect. Funny that I should quote Kyle of all people twice in one night. â€Å"What about Jared and Jamie?† Doc asked in a choked voice. â€Å"They'll have Melanie. They'll be fine.† â€Å"Ian?† Through my teeth. â€Å"Better off without me.† Doc shook his head, wiping at his eyes. â€Å"I need to think about this, Wanda.† â€Å"We don't have long. They won't wait forever before they kill the Seeker.† â€Å"I don't mean about that part. I agree to those terms. But I don't think I can kill you.† â€Å"It's all or none, Doc. You have to decide right now. And†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I realized I had one more demand. â€Å"And you can't tell anyone else about the last part of our agreement. No one. Those are my terms, take them or leave them. Do you want to know how to remove a soul from a human body?† Doc shook his head again. â€Å"Let me think.† â€Å"You already know the answer, Doc. This is what you've been searching for.† He just kept shaking his head slowly back and forth. I ignored that symbol of denial because we both knew his choice was made. â€Å"I'll get Jared,† I said. â€Å"We'll make a quick raid for cryotanks. Hold off the others. Tell them†¦ tell them the truth. Tell them I'm going to help you get the Seeker out of that body.†

The venture capital and private equity industry

diary of Indian condescension Research Emerald phrase act groovy and tete-a-tete fair-mindedness in India an synopsis of enthronisations and exhalations Thillai Rajan Annamalai, Ashish Deshmukh Article schooling To cite this muniment Thillai Rajan Annamalai, Ashish Deshmukh, (2011), take chances bang-up and hidden paleness in India an epitome of enthronization investiture trustss and egests, diary of Indian ancestry Research, Vol. 3 Iss 1 pp. 6 21 aeonian link to this writ x document http//dx. doi. org/10. cx8/17554191111112442 Downloaded on 24-09-2012References This document contains references to 25 separate documents To copy this document emailprotected com This document has been transfered 365 meters since 2011. * Users who downloaded this Article as well downloaded * Vedran Vuk, (2008),Taking advantage of disaster conju pro portholeionalityn of housing shortage for political put ace a nonplus, International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 35 I ss 8 pp. 603 614 http//dx. doi. org/10. 1108/03068290810889224 Doru Tsaganea, (2011),Tension reduction by military cause equalization the USA-USSR suit, Kybernetes, Vol. 0 Iss 5 pp. 778 788 http//dx. doi. org/10. 1108/03684921111142313 Guihe Wang, Ligang Qu, Limin Fan, Tianbiao Yu, Wanshan Wang, (2009),Web- g calendar method system for assiduity using in phaseation and communication technologies, Kybernetes, Vol. 38 Iss 3 pp. 533 541 http//dx. doi. org/10. 1108/03684920910944254 Access to this document was minded(p) make an Emerald subscription cand by For Authors If you would uniform to bring with for this, or any other Emerald publication, and so amuse use our Emerald for Authors service.Information ab out(p) how to contain which publication to write for and submission guidelines be use qualified for all in all(a). Please visit www. emeraldinsight. com/ reasons for much information. About Emerald www. emeraldinsight. com With over forty age experience, Emerald host Publishing is a leading(a) freelancer publisher of global dowerigate with concussion in line, society, public policy and education. In bring, Emerald publishes over 275 journals and much than 130 apply series, as well as an panoptic range of online products and serve. Emerald is almost(prenominal)(prenominal) COUNTER 3 and TRANSFER compliant.The organization is a checkmate of the Committee on Publication moral philosophy (COPE) and excessively works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. *Re riped con 10t and download information correct at conviction of download. The authoritative issue and generous text archive of this journal is avail adequate at www. emeraldinsight. com/1755-4195. htm JIBR 3,1 supposition expectant and private right in India an compend of coronations and travels 6 Thillai Rajan Annamalai and Ashish Deshmukh section of anxiety Studies, Indian Institute of applied science Madras, Chennai, India AbstractPurpose The jeopardy smashing and private fairness (VCPE) intentness in India has grown signi? piece of asstly in young social classs. During ? ve-year design 2004-2008, the intentness result calcu novel in India was the fastest globally and it rose to plunge the procedure trio s standoff world-wide in foothold of quantum of enthronizations. However, academic seek on the Indian VCPE attention has been limited. This makeic seeks to ? ll the gap in look on the late trends in the Indian VCPE exertion. Design/methodology/ hail Studies on the VCPE minutes obtain traditionally foc utilise on ace and yet(a) of the comp cardinalnts of the enthronement lifecycle, i. e. nvestments, monitoring, or endure. This bailiwick is based on analyzing the enthronization silver life cycle in its entirety, from the succession of enthronement by the VCPE strain till the measure of guide. The compend was based on a entireness of 1,912 VCPE legal proceedin g involving 1,503 ? rms during the days 2004-2008. Findings a rhythm VCPE enthronisations were in late layer ? nancing and as wellk place galore(postnominal) yearn cartridge clip laterward the internalization of the investee ? rm. The sedulousness was excessively characterized by the short du proportionn of the investings. The character reference of issuing was well visited by the vitrine of industry, ? nancing ramification, sphere of enthronization, and symbol of VCPE fund.Originality/ honor This write up bring outs some of the key argonas to mark concord suitable gain of the industry. Early story keep opportunities should be cast upd to ensure that in that location is a rugged pipeline of investment opportunities for late deliver investors. VCPE investments should be seen as wide-term investments and non as readily ? ips. To achieve this, it is important to energize a strong house servant VCPE industry which nonify await invested in the portfolio fraternity for a eight-spot-day term. Keywords Venture capital, Equity capital, India, Investments, backing Paper flake Research stem . Growth of the Indian VCPE industry over the stand up few years, India has become bingle of the leading destinations for estimate capital and private equity (VCPE) investments. though the concept of VCPE investment prevailed in the country in one form or another since the 1960s, the maturation in the industry was primary(prenominal)ly later the economic reforms in 1991. Prior to that, n un convicti all of the VCPE patronage was from public sector ? nancial institutions, and was characterized by low levels of investment activity. In recent years, VCPE commitments and investments in India acquit grown at a rapid pace.Venture economics entropy destine that during the limit 1990-1999, Indias rank was 25th out of 64 and assorted VCPE monetary resource embossed $945. 9 trillion for investments in India however, during the next decade, 2000-2009, Indias rank rose to 13th out of 90 countries and the currency elevationd $16,682. 5 one thousand thousand for investments in India. Journal of Indian Business Research Vol. 3 no. 1, 2011 pp. 6-21 q Emerald host Publishing Limited 1755-4195 DOI 10. 1108/17554191111112442 The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge the ? nancial support provided by the Indian Council of Social Sciences Research and IIT Madras for this research.They would excessively like to acknowledge the support of M. B. Raghupathy and V. Vasupradha for this research. This represents a crop of 1,664 pct over the old decade. The trend is make up much than supercharge for the nigh recent ? ve-year completion 2005-2009, during which Indias ranking was 10th out of 77 countries, and various funds raised $15,073. 6 million for VCPE investments in India. Funds raised during 2005-2009, represented a maturation rate of 837 per centumage as comp atomic form 18d to funds raised over the previous ? ve-year extent 2000-2004. The harvesting rate in investments made by various VCPE funds has been equally strong.During the ? ve-year period 2004-2008, the industry increase rate in India was the fastest globally and it rose to occupy the number three slot worldwide in impairment of quantum of investments1. The add up invested by VCPE funds grew from US$ 1. 8 million in 2004 to US$ 22 billion in 2007 onwards tapering come to to US$ 8. 1 billion in 20082. During the ? ve-year period windup 2008, VCPE investments in India grew from 0. 4 portion of GDP in 2004 to much(prenominal) than 1. 5 pct of GDP in 2008 (Annamalai and Deshmukh, 2009). The rest of the paper is structured as espouses Section 2 fences the mark of the paper.Section 3 provides details on the info repair utilize for analysis and the sources of info. Section 4, which bounce backs the results and discourse, is split up into sestet sub-sections. The sub-sections ar in the sp ar- prison term activity order corpulent new analysis of investments, time of incorporation and ? nancing salute, intervals mingled with reenforcement completes, investment electrical outlets, date of investment, and a statistical analysis of investment time and persona of expiry. Section 5 provides a digest of the paper. 2. Objective of the paper Research on VCPE has not been in tune with the ingathering seen in the industry.Past research on the Indian VCPE industry substructure be in e preciseday classi? ed into the following categories studies that examined the evolution and the current status of the industry (Pandey, 1996, 1998 Verma, 1997 Dossani and Kenney, 2002 Singh et al. , 2005) multi country studies which besides acceptd India (Lockett et al. , 1992 Subhash, 2006 Ippolito, 2007) survey studies of VCPE industry practices in India (Mitra, 1997 Vinay Kumar, 2002, 2005 Vinay Kumar and Kaura, 2003 Mishra, 2004) and studies which lowlife be considered as subject studies of VCPE investments (Kulkarni and Prusty, 2007).The objectives of this paper atomic number 18 as follows ? rst, research that has focused on the recent result phase of the VCPE industry in India has been limited. Most of the papers that possess canvass the Indian industry were each onward the ontogeny phase (pre-2004) or did not cover the harvest-tide phase in full, jump from the on score of harvest-festival in 2004 until the deceleration in 2008, caused by the global ? nancial crisis. This paper is an attempt to meet the gap in research on the recent trends in the Indian VCPE industry. Second, in that respect pre bunk been legitimate limited studies that looked at the lifecycle of investments, i. . from the time of investment in the familiarity until their electrical outlet from the investment. at that place get hold of been several studies that suffer looked at welkins related to investments much(prenominal) as investment decision making, st ructure of investments, and rating. Similarly, in that respect kick in been studies that take looked at topics related to surmisal clogs. However, there lead been limited studies that looked at the entire investment life cycle. The main contri just nowion of this paper is to look at the investment lifecycle in its entirety.Third, this paper aims to highlight some of the less(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal)er cognise features of the Indian VCPE industry much(prenominal) as the characteristics of the investee ? rm at the time of VCPE investment, the epoch of VCPE investments in the ? rm, and the measure and mode of leave behind by the investors. The objective of this paper is to provide an holistic catch of the Indian VCPE industry to enable the foot of a policy milieu to sustain the adjoin of the industry. VCPE in India 7 JIBR 3,1 8 3. Data set used and sources This theatre uses VCPE investment transaction data during the years 2004-2008.The prize for the perio d of analysis was driven by dickens considerations. First, it was during this period that the industry witnessed signi? banking connection growth and India emerged as one of the leading destinations for VCPE investments. Therefore, a detailed subject ara of this industry growth would be of general research pursual. Second, the choice of period was to a fault governed by practical considerations. Data on VCPE investments in India in the first place 2004 were not lendable in a form that can be used for a research learning. Therefore, it was decided to begin the starting period of the instruction at year 2004, the year from which we had access to data.It was felt that a ? ve-year study of minutes would be a clean time frame to overcome the per annum ? uctuations. This ? ve-year period to a fault coincided with a full ? nancial cycle in the global ? nancial trades, a period tag by outstanding growth and equally dramatic fall. The data for the study were obtained from d ual sources. To start with, regard data on the various investments and communicates were obtained from cardinal database sources Venture apprehension India3 and Asian Venture jacket Journal4 database. The data from both these databases were feature to form a comprehensive data set.The data set was then appropriately examine for data repetition and duplication data points were removed ? rst. Second, whenever there was a difference in the information granted for the same deal, the correctness and accuracy was checked by self-supporting veri? cation from other sources, such as newspaper authorships and association wind vane sites. Information that was not gettable in these databases was then resolvely sourced from the mesh sites of the item-by-item companies. Admittedly, with the lack of a strong database on Indian investments, developing such a data set involved a lot of effort.The comprehensive data set that was developed provided various details on the VCPE investme nts and exits that happened in India during 2004-2008. It consisted of a f be of 1,912 VCPE transactions involving 1,503 ? rms during the period 2004-2008. From these 1,503 ? rms, 1,276 ? rms had only investment transactions while another 129 ? rms had only exit transactions during the ? ve-year period. The abideing 98 ? rms had both VCPE investment and exit transactions. To facilitate a to a greater extent detailed analysis, the investments were classi? ed into ten industry categories and four ? ancing symbolizes based on the lifecycle acquaint of the investee ? rm and the objectives of the investment. military issues were classi? ed into deuce categories, to wit initial public offer ( initial public offering) and merger and acquisition (M) or trade sale. 4. Results and discussion 4. 1 roach-wise analysis of investments Firms seeking to raise VCPE investments usually receive the investment in multiple ravishs (Sahlman, 1990) or else works apply provided several expla nations for this trend. Gompers (1995) evidences that the staging of capital infusions allows gage capitalists to gather information and monitor the be on of ? ms, while retaining the picking to periodically cast aside projects. Admati and P? eiderer (1994) direct that such an option to abandon is essential because an entrepreneur bequeath almost never quit a failing project as long as others be providing capital and the brat to abandon creates incentives for the entrepreneur to maximize apprize and meet goals. Neher (1999) indicates that multiple cycle per flecks of ? nancing overcome the potentiality authority con? icts in the midst of the entrepreneur and investor as previous rounds create the substantiative to support the later rounds. part the arrangecoach of ? ancing is determined by the objectives and timing of investment, the round of ? nancing simply indicates the number of instances of VCPE investments in the ? rm. Thus, for example, turning 1 ? nancing is the ?rst instance of the ? rm acquire VCPE investment, but it carry not be ceaselessly primaeval stage ? nancing. Depending on the ? rm lifecycle and the objectives of investment, expound 1 ? nancing can happen in any of the four ? nancing stages. Similarly, there could be multiple rounds of investment happening in the same stage. In a muchoverional round of livelihood, there may be many investors jointly commit in the company.For example, when there is a co-investment by more than one VCPE investor at the same time, it is considered as a single round of investment. By the same token, when the same investor makes investments in the ? rm at distinct times at incompatible valuations, each investment is considered a separate round of supporting. Funding rounds ar considered to be disparate when there has been a corporeal time gap from the previous round of ? nancing and/or the investment happens at a polar valuation from the previous round of bread and butter. range 1 shows the results from the round wise analysis of VCPE investments.The results indicate that 82 percentage of the nub VCPE investments were in en tremendous 1, i. e. ?rst time VCPE investments in the company. kayoed of the check amount of investment, follow on investments account for only 18 percent. It can be notice that investments decrease sharply with resultant backup rounds. One feasible reason fuck this could be because of the constitution of data most of the investment has happened during the later years of the study period5, indicating that suf? cient time great power not see elapsed for the next round of investment.However, these results indicate the possibility that VCPE investments atomic number 18 happening at a much later stage in the ? rm lifecycle and the ? rm is not in strike of an surplus financial backing round for reaching a critical size that is unavoidable for an initial offering or for ? nding a buyer. This susceptibility also be explained by the grandstanding opening (Gompers, 1996), where VCs argon keen to exit more readyly from their investments. Second, this trend can also indicate that the companies that require standard the ? rst round mogul not impart been able to achieve a strong profuse deed to attract the next round of investment from investors. only studies are pick uped to see to it this pattern in detail. panel I indicates that the number of rounds of reinforcement received by companies in different industries was 1,912 from a issue forth of 1,503 companies. This indicates that the ordinary number of rounds in a company was 1. 27. As can be seen from Table I, a commodious absolute studyity of the ? rms vex received only one round of VCPE investment. This result accompanies the results in throw 1 well, which indicate that 82 percent of the total dishonour 3 1,061. 85 (2. 6%) Round 2 5,394. 11 (14%) VCPE in India 9 Round 4 391. 25 (1%) Round 5 170. 6 (0. 4%) Round 1 2,961. 47 (82%) build 1. Round-wise VCPE investments (in US$mn) during 2004-2008 JIBR 3,1 pains 10 Table I. ascertain of companies for different keep rounds Computer hardware technology and verbal expression monetary services health care IT and ITES Manufacturing no.-? nancial services Others Telecom and media Transportation and logistics Grand total Count of companies for different financial support rounds 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 36 137 110 92 295 214 133 65 93 51 1,226 5 21 30 19 53 25 12 10 15 8 198 1 6 5 6 12 6 5 3 4 3 51 1 1 3 2 3 3 2 1 1 17 1 2 8 1 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 2 2 number companies 43 167 151 one hundred twenty 364 250 153 9 112 64 1,503 investments were Round 1 investments. Only 13 percent of companies imbibe obtained two rounds of financial backing, and approximately 5 percent of the total companies that oblige received VCPE investments during the period have obtained more than two rounds. The ratio of companies that have received the second round of accompaniment in different industries is more or less the same as what we saw for Round 1 investments, take out in the ? nancial services category. The phenomenon of some industries macrocosm more successful in getting Round 2 investments could not be cl archean observed in our analysis.In a way, this is a surprise trend. For example, information technology (IT) and information technology-enabled services (ITES) companies imprint 24 percent of the total number of companies that have received financial support, 24 percent of the companies that have received the ? rst round of funding, and 25 percent of the companies that have received more than one round of funding. This indicates that IT and ITES companies, seen as one of the engines of growth in India, have not had high ratioal success than companies in other industries in attracting multiple rounds of funding.The ? nancial services companies constitute 10 percent of the total companies that have received funding, 9 percent of the companies that have r eceived one round of funding, and 15 percent of the companies that have received more than one round of funding. This indicates that ? nancial services companies have a better track demonstrate of getting excess investment rounds. The reasons could be numerous the larger funding requirements created the need for funding to happen in multiple rounds and companies that had obtained the ? st round of funding would have been able to show issue a strong performance track record to attract the incidental rounds of funding. The industry itself was in an upswing in India during the study period and this office have carryd to investor interest in investing in subsequent rounds. It could also be due to the institutional and regulatory features of private equity (PE) investing in India. For example, funding could be through with(p) in multiple rounds because of the procedural issues in foreign investments in certain sectors. supercharge studies are needed to identify the determinants of funding rounds.One would jolly expect that multiple rounds of funding would be observed in more capital intensive industries. Among the ten industry categories, engineering and twirl and manufacturing sectors are really capital and summation intensive. However, it can be seen that the analogy of companies receiving supererogatory rounds of funding in these sectors is not more than the proportion of companies that have received ? rst-round funding. On the contrary, the proportion of companies receiving additional rounds of funding in manufacturing is less than that of their proportion in Round 1 ? ancing. several(prenominal) explanations are possible for this trend, which needs to be substantiated with further research. Companies are receiving VCPE funding at a much later stage in the lifecycle and they do not need additional rounds of funding before providing an exit to the investor. It is possible that, because of their asset intensive nature, they are able to get access to debt funding thereby limiting the possibility of additional rounds of VCPE ? nancing. VCPE in India 11 4. 2 season of incorporation and ? nancing stage It is well known that VC investments happen premature in a ? rms life.It is during the primeval stage that companies have limited misbegottens to raise specie from conventional sources and look to sources like VC for shock the funding requirements. Table II provides the results from our analysis of the interval amid the year of incorporation of the company and the ? nancing stage. The results indicate some enkindle trends. Early stage funding should normally happen inside the ? rst couple of years after the incorporation of the ? rm. But in our analysis, we ? nd that 17 percent of the ? rms have received their early stage funding as much as ten years after they were incorporated.While the highest frequency of early stage funding can be seen in the one- to three-year category, a large proportion of companies get their early stage funding even until the ? fth year from the time of incorporation. This indicates the waver of the VCPE investors in India to make investments in very early stages. A majority of the growth stage investment happens amongst ? ve and eighter from Decatur years from incorporation. However, the second highest percentage of growth stage funding happens after 15 years after incorporation. While growth stage ? nancing during the ? e- to eight-year period seems reasonable (though it is sleek over more than that which is normally associated with growth ? nancing), growth ? nancing happening after 15 years from incorporation needs to be examine in detail. It could either be a question of willingness or readiness. Either the investors are not willing to invest before or the companies are not relieve oneself to receive VCPE funding in their early years. The companies power have explored funding from family, banks, or friends before taking investment from VCPE investors. funding sta ge Early Growth tardy Pre-IPO metre since incorporation (in years) ,1 20 13. 6% ,3 22 9. 3% 7 2. 3% 7. 7% 1-3 51 34. 7% 3-5 26 11. 0% 15 5. 0% 0 0. 0% 3-5 37 25. 2% 5-8 68 28. 8% 25 8. 3% 6 15. 4% 5-8 13 8. 8% 8-10 36 15. 3% 19 6. 3% 3 7. 7% 8-10 1 0. 7% 10-15 31 13. 1% 61 20. 3% 13 33. 3% Total . 10 25 17. 0% . 15 53 22. 5% 173 57. 7% 14 35. 9% 147 236 ccc 39 Table II. repress of VCPE deals for different ? nancing stages vs time since incorporation of investee companies JIBR 3,1 12 analysis of late stage investment deals, as can be expected, show an increase trend with time from incorporation. However, more than one-half of the late stage deals that have been studied are seen in companies more than 15 years after their incorporation.This again re-con? rms the preceding ?ndings that VCPE investors have been more inclined to invest in companies that have a womb-to-tomb track record and operating history, and have a suf? cient size. From the perspective of companies that are rec eiving VCPE funding, such late stage funding, could indicate that these companies might have been part of a larger business group, which provided the ? nancial support in their early years. Further studies need to be through to netherstand the antecedents of ? rms that receive late stage investment.But one of the most compelling observations which attracts present(prenominal) attention is that about 75 percent (541 out of 7226) deals are in companies that are more than ? ve years old. Almost 60 percent (429 out of 722) VCPE deal investments are made in ? rms that are eight years old or more. This supports the earlier inferences that VCPE funds in India are more inclined to invest in ? rms that have a track record of performance. While this investment trend might not be very different from that which is seen in other appear economies such as Brazil (Ribiero and de Carvalho, 2008), it is much more marked in India.Therefore, it is felt that most of the VCPE investments in India are i n the nature of PE investments rather than VC investments, which are typically investments made in early stage companies. 4. 3 Intervals between funding rounds Table III presents average time intervals in months between different rounds of PE funding (for Rounds 1-3)7 across industries. The average time interval across industries between Round 1 and Round 2 funding is 13. 69 months, which is just slightly more than year. The average time interval between Round 2 and Round 3 funding is 10. 1 months, which is less than a year. The median values for the above intervals are 12. 17 and 11. 17 months, respectively. The closeness of the mean to median values indicates that there is no signi? cant skew in the time interval between different funding rounds. get winds 2 and 3 show the diffusion of time intervals between rounds. These indicate that the deals are well distributed in the initial periods, with a slightly higher frequency roughly the mean value, and tapering down in the later p eriods. Since it takes about three to six months from the date of the ? rst signi? ant meeting with the investors to wee-wee an investment, the low time interval between nonparallel Industry Table III. ordinary time interval between in series(p) rounds of VCPE funding (in months) R2-R1 R3-R2 Computer hardware Engineering and construction Financial services Healthcare IT and ITES Manufacturing no(prenominal)-? nancial services Others Telecom and media Transportation and logistics Total 14. 43 17. 13 12. 28 14. 89 15. 64 11. 58 13. 93 8. 46 11. 16 9. 54 13. 69 16. 72 4. 88 7. 44 14. 22 12. 43 10. 14 16. 57 6. 03 15. 23 9. 63 10. 91 VCPE in India 50 45 Number of deals 40 35 30 13 25 20 15 10 5 0 3 3 to 6 6 to 9 9 to 12 12 to 18 18 to 24 24 to 36 ? 36 sequence (months) foreshadow 2. Time between Round 2 and Round 1 investments 14 12 Number of deals 10 8 6 4 2 0 ?3 3 to 6 6 to 9 9 to 12 12 to 18 18 to 24 24 to 36 Duration (months) ? 36 ?nancing rounds indicates that the top manage ment of the company might be continuously devoting their energies in raising capital. This might not be good enough for business, as spending more time on raising ? nancing is possible to affect their attention to business operations. Our results also indicate that in the Indian context the pace of ? nancing increases with time.This result is somewhat surprising as, under normal circumstances, the size of funding increases with every additional round of funding and is expected to meet the needs of the company for a daylong duration even after accounting for the higher specie burn rates due to the increase in company size. Analysis of time intervals for different industry categories indicates that the engineering and construction sector had the largest time interval between the ? rst and second round of funding. Some explanations, which need to be followed with further research, for this trend include being capital intensive.They raise large sums which Figure 3. Time between Rou nd 3 and Round 2 investments JIBR 3,1 attention the companies to sustain the operations for a longer period. They are able to get additional funding from other sources such as debt. Cash ? ows from operations would also contribute towards the ? nancing requirements. However, the time interval between second and third round is the lowest for this sector, which indicates that this could be due to the pre-IPO nature of funding. 14 4. 4 Investment exits Venture exit has been an area where there has been limited research (Gompers and Lerner, 2004).The VCPE investor after a certain period has to exit the investment to recover the same as well as to earn a return on it. The different possible exit routes play a major role in VCPE ? nancing and the presumable availableness of favorable exit opportunities in lesser time is one of the key criterions used by investors while evaluating investment opportunities. Though there are several exit routes for the VCPE funds such as IPO, subsidiary s ale of shares, M, management buy outs, and liquidation. Exit by IPOs and trade sale through M are the more familiar methods of exit in Indian VCPE markets.Of the total 252 exit events that were recorded during the ? ve-year period ending 2008, 84 events were IPOs and the remaining 168 were M. Thus, the ratio of exits of IPOs and M is exactly 0. 5, indicating that an exit by M is twice as likely as that by IPO. However, an analysis of this ratio across different industries provides an evoke picture. The ratio is less than 1 for all but two of the industry categories engineering and construction, and transportation and logistics. Companies in this sector tend to be capital intensive industries with a large asset base and largely dependent on the Indian market.Since companies in this sector are much larger in terms of revenues or assets, it becomes comparative degreely easier to achieve an exit by means of an IPO. For sectors, that are not so asset intensive, M seem to be a common f orm of exit for VCPE investors. Computer-hardware, IT and ITES, and healthcare all traditionally attractive industries for VCPE investments show a strong inclination towards M exit routes with the ratio of IPO-M exits being less than 0. 4 (Figure 4). The choice of exit route is also in? uenced by the state of the capital markets. The ratio of IPO-M exits in each of the ? e years during the study period is shown in Figure 5. Figure 4. Ratio of exits by IPO to M across industries Co En m gi pu ne te er r-h in g ar an dw d ar co e ns tru Fi na ct io nc n ia ls er vi ce s H ea lth ca IT re an d IT M ES an N uf on ac -fi tu na rin ci g al se rv ic es Te O le Tr th co er an m s sp an or d ta m tio ed n ia an d lo gi tic s 1. 6 1. 4 1. 2 1 0. 8 0. 6 0. 4 0. 2 0 VCPE in India 0. 9 0. 8 0. 7 0. 6 0. 5 0. 4 15 0. 3 0. 2 0. 1 0 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Figure 5. Ratio of exits by IPO to M during 2004-2008 While the overall ratio of IPO-M exits is 0. 5 for the ? e-year period ending 2008, the ratio varies in line with the state of the capital markets. The ratio ranges from 0. 3 to 0. 6 for all years, except 2006, when it is signi? cantly high (. 0. 8). This can probably be attributed to the ? ourish in the IPO market in India during 2006. This is consistent with the ? nding that IPOs are more likely to occur when equity values are high (Lerner, 1994). In addition to the oddball of exit, the capital markets also in? uence the time taken for an investor to exit. The pattern of variation in an average number of rounds for the two exit methods over the years is shown in Figure 6.It can be noted that there are large variations for those companies that provided exits through IPOs. The number of rounds of VCPE funding before the IPOs are cast down during the years 2006 and 2007, when the capital markets were active. Such variations could not be seen in those cases where the exits were from M. The number of rounds of funding before an M has been gradually increase over the ye ars, indicating that the size needed before an exit from an M has also been increase over the years. But a more interesting inference could be for companies that exit from anM the circumstances in the capital markets do not have a signi? cant effect. On the other hand, if the conditions are favorable, companies tend to make their IPOs in a shorter period to take advantage of the momentum in the capital markets. This is also supported by the fact that the average numbers of funding rounds are nearly equal for both the exit emblems during 2006 and 2007. 3. 5 mediocre number of rounds 3 2. 5 2 IPO 1. 5 Trade sale M 1 0. 5 0 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Figure 6. Average number of funding rounds before exit during the ? ve years JIBR 3,1 16 4. 5 Investment durationThe duration of a VCPE investment is de? ned as the interval between the time of investment and exit8. It is generally considered that VCPE funds are not short-term investors, and stay invested in the ? rm between three and ? v e years however, our analysis tells a different story. Table IV provides the investment duration for investments in different ? nancing stages. To make our analysis more accurate, this praxis was done only for those companies for which complete data on both investments and exits were available. A total of 110 transactions in 98 companies were include in this analysis.The main ? nding from Table IV is the overall short-term duration of VCPE investments in India. For 63 percent of the investment transactions, the average investment duration is less than one year. Even in those investments which can be classi? ed as growth stage, 75 percent of the investments have less than two years duration. For late stage investments, the proportion of exits within two years increases to 87 percent. Overall, the average duration of investment stands at just 17 months. In comparison, the investment duration for an IPO exit in the USA and Canada is 4. 7 and 5. 86 years, respectively.The investment du ration for an exit through the acquisition route for the USA and Canada is 5. 17 and 6. 94 years, respectively, (Cumming and MacIntosh, 2001). For VCPE investments, which are generally considered median(a) to long-run investments, the observed duration in India is very low, indicating that most of the investments are late stage or pre-IPO types of investments. While Indian VCPE investors would generally indicate that they are long-term investors, the data corroborates that which many entrepreneurs have endlessly felt that VCPE funds need to be invested in the long term and not focused on quickly exiting from the investment.While these results are interesting, they also suffer from two limitations the try size and the ? ve-year time frame for analysis. Further con? rmatory studies that cover a longer time frame with more deals are needed. 4. 6 Statistical analysis of investment duration and type of exit As a part of this study, statistical analysis was done to determine whether a ny of the variants were able to explain the duration of VCPE investment and the type of exit. For this analysis, Investment duration and type of exit were taken as the dependent varyings. independent uncertains used in the study were industry, ? ancing stage, region, and type of VCPE fund. Bivariate statistical regressions (Table V) indicate the relative in? uence of each independent variable on the dependent variables. As it can be expected, duration of investment can be best explained by ? nancing stage. The high f-ratio and the fi sissy stage Early Growth juvenile Table IV. Duration of VCPE investments Pre-IPO ,1 0 0. 0% 14 48. 3% 35 61. 4% 20 90. 9% Duration of investment (in years) 1-2 2-3 3-4 4-5 2 100. 0% 8 27. 6% 15 26. 3% 2 9. 1% 0 0. 0% 6 20. 7% 6 10. 5% 0 0. 0% 0 0. 0% 1 3. 4% 1 1. 8% 0 0. 0% 0 0. 0% 0 0. 0% 0 0. 0% 0 0. 0% .5 Total 0. 0% 0 0. 0% 0 0. 0% 0 0. 0% 2 29 57 22 R S. no. Dependent variable Independent variable(s) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Duration of Industry inve stment financial backing stage Region figure of VCPE fund Exit mode Industry Stage Region Type of VCPE fund R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate 0. 318 0. 387 0. 159 0. 278 0. 544 0. 429 0. 221 0. cxv 0. 101 0. 150 0. 025 0. 077 0. 296 0. 184 0. 049 0. 013 0. 007 0. 118 0. 011 0. 066 0. 212 0. 154 0. 014 0. 001 10. 853 10. 157 10. 876 10. 453 0. 423 0. 439 0. 474 0. 477 ANOVA p-value F-ratio (Sig. ) 0. 938 4. 755 0. 696 6. 952 3. 506 6. 093 1. 389 1. one hundred five 0. 498 0. 004 . 557 0. 010 0. 001 0. 001 0. 252 0. 296 VCPE in India 17 Table V. Results from bivariate regression analysis low p-value indicate the signi? cance of the regression. This can be easily explained as those investing in the early stage would remain invested for a longer duration and those investing in late stages would remain invested for a shorter duration. High f-ratio and low p-values are also noted for the bivariate regression that had a type of VCPE fund as the independent variable. In this study, VCPE funds were reason into two domesticated and foreign. The fact that this has an in? ence supports the argument that domestic VCPE funds stay invested for a longer duration as compared to foreign funds. It was also noted that industry and stage of ? nancing have more in? uence on the exit mode as compared to other variables. These results can also be explained. Some industries could be more worthy for exiting with IPOs because of the market bias. Similarly, many of the late stage and pre-IPO investments are made just before the company goes for an IPO. When these investments are being made, the investee company has a candid road use for going for an IPO.Therefore, the exit route in such late stage and pre-IPO investments are more or less clear at the time of the investment itself, unless there is an adverse change in market conditions. We performed a discriminant analysis in SPSS (Table VI) to predict the probable exit route for an investment, tending(p) the independent variable s. Discriminant analysis Dependent variable (Y), i. e. exit method Original Count % Cross-validatedb Count % Predicted group membershipa 1 (IPO) 2 (M) Total 1 (IPO) 2 (M) 1 (IPO) 2 (M) 49 5 87. 5 17. 2 7 24 12. 5 82. 8 56 29 100. 0 100. 0 1 (IPO) 2 (M) 1 (IPO) 2 (M) 5 6 80. 4 20. 7 11 23 19. 6 79. 3 56 29 100. 0 100. 0 Notes a85. 9 percent of real grouped cases right on classi? ed and 80. 0 percent of cross-validated grouped cases correctly classi? ed bcross-validation is done only for those cases in the analysis in cross-validation, each case is classi? ed by the functions derived from all cases other than that case Table VI. Results from the discriminant analysis on exit method classi? cation JIBR 3,1 18 is typically used for the prognostication of categorical or non-metric variable being classi? ed into two or more mutually exclusive categories.The independent variables used in the discriminant analysis were industry, ? nancing stage, region, and type of VCPE fund. The propor tion of cases correctly classi? ed indicates the ef? cacy and relevance of the application of discriminant analysis for predicting the dependent variable, which in this case is the type of exit. Discriminant analysis was done on the investment and exit data for 85 out of 98 companies (for which all necessary details were available). Out of the 85 companies, IPO exits were observed for 56 companies and M for 29 companies. Table VI indicates the results from the discriminant analysis.It can be seen that 49 out of 56 IPO exits and 24 out of 29 M exits were correctly classi? ed, thus passing an error of 12 out of 85 cases. Overall, 85. 9 percent cases are correctly classi? ed. To augment the validity and reliability of the ? ndings, a cross validation was done. In a cross validation, each case is classi? ed using a discriminant function derived from all cases other than the case being classi? ed. The cross validation results indicate that 45 out of 56 IPO exits were correctly classi? ed and 23 out of 29 M exits were correctly classi? ed. Overall, 80 percent of the cases were correctly classi? d. Both these results points towards the good predictive power of the available data in prediction of exit method choice. The results also indicate that it is possible to predict the type of exit based on the information available at the time of making an investment, i. e. industry, ? nancing stage, region of investment, and type of VCPE fund. This could indicate that investors are reasonably clear about the type of exit that they might get from a stipulation investment. While the timing of exit might be uncertain, the type of exit seems more or less evident at the time of investment.More research needs to be done to determine whether the variables identi? ed in this paper are a good predictor for exit type or not, even in other markets. 5. thick The growth and vibrancy in the Indian VCPE industry has attracted global attention. This paper highlights some areas of concern that need to be communicate for the long-term growth in the country. First, there has to be a creation of an ecosystem that encourages early stage investments. It would be such early stage investments that would spur innovation and provide the pipeline for growth and late stage investments.Venture economics data indicate that of the total PE commitments made to India, VC commitments9 accounted for 90 percent during 1990-1999, 55 percent during 2000-2009, and 51 percent during 2005-2009. This indicates that though there has been an overall growth in funds committed to India, the proportion of VC commitments that originally fund early stage investments have been gradually decreasing. In the absence of early stage investments, many PE funds would ? nd it dif? cult to ? nd new opportunities for follow on investments. The result would be a funneling of investments in established companies with increasing valuations.In the long run, the industry would fall apart under the burden of su ch high valuations leading to an exit of investors from India. To prevent this from happening, it is important to ensure that there is adequate early stage investing. Since domestic VCPE investors invest more actively in early stages10, this points to the need for creating a more stronger and active community of domestic VCPE investors in India. Second, the short duration of VCPE investment does not bode well. A recent World Economic Forum report indicates that PE investors have a long-term self-control bias nd 58 percent of the PE investments are exited more than ? ve years after the initial transaction. So-called quick ? ips (i. e. exits within two years of investment by PE funds) account for only 12 percent of deals and have decreased in the last few years (Lerner and Gurung, 2008). Seen from this perspective, most of the VCPE investments in India could come under the category of quick ? ips. This trend, if it continues, would be a cause of real concern. It is expected that VCPE investors would do a lot of hand holding and participate in value-adding activities in their portfolio companies.However, contributing to the investment in such ways would happen only if the investors remain invested for a long term. short investments deny the portfolio companies the opportunity to leverage the management expertise of the VCPE investors. Since the investment duration is also in? uenced by the source of VCPE funds, there is a strong need to promote the domestic VCPE industry in India11. The domestic investors would stay invested for a longer duration and this would give more opportunities to the investor to add value in the portfolio companies.Third, the time intervals between successive funding rounds should increase. Frequently, approaching the investors means that the top management attention gets diverted from the business operations. It would be bene? cial if the entrepreneurs and companies raise capital in such a way that the portfolio company can sustain the operations for at least two years. While they might feel that raising a large round would deprive them the bene? ts of valuation increases if funding is raised in multiple rounds, it would de? nitely second to keep the transaction costs lower.The issues of valuation increases can be addressed by incorporating suitable incentive structures in the shareholders agreement. The investors too should support the idea of a larger funding round for the companies and engage in co-investing with other VCPE investors if required. Given the exploratory nature of this study, further research and con? rmatory studies are needed to corroborate the ? ndings of this paper. It is felt that many of the results in this paper are suf? ciently interesting to warrant further studies. Notes 1.Based on Subhash (2006) and PricewaterhouseCoopers world(a) occult Equity get overs 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. 2. Investment data from the PricewaterhouseCoopers orbicular insular Equity Reports might not match with that of the funds committed data from think economics as we feel that many investments might have been made outside of a evening gown VCPE fund structure. In addition, several funds locally set up in India might not have been captured in the venture economics database. However, both the reports indicate the strong growth in funds committed to various VCPE funds and substantial investments made in companies. . Venture Intelligence can be accessed at www. ventureintelligence. in 4. Asian Venture bully Journal database can be accessed at www. avcj. com 5. Out of the 1,503 companies that received funding from VCPE investors, 866 companies, i. e. 58 percent of the companies received their funding during the last two years of the study period. 6. Information on time of incorporation was readily available only for 722 out of the 1,503 companies. 7. Since there are very few companies that have received more than three rounds of ? nancing, Round 4 and above have not been inclu ded for this analysis.VCPE in India 19 JIBR 3,1 20 8. stringently speaking, it would dif? cult to determine when the investor factually exited from the investment, either partially or completely. One could ? nd that information by studying the one-year reports as well as crease exchange ? lings of the company, which was not done in this study. Exit in this paper is meant to be understood as the time of situation of an exit event, which may or may not be the time of actual exit. 9. A distinction can be made between VC and PE commitments. VC commitments are generally targeted at the early stage and growth stage investment opportunities.PE commitments are mainly targeted at the late stage opportunities. Average investment in deals by PE funds is usually larger than those made by VC funds. 10. As per the India Venture Capital and surreptitious Equity Report 2009, 70 percent of the early stage investments are by domestic VCPE investors during 2004-2008. 11. India Venture Capital and Private Equity Report 2009 indicates that foreign investors have contributed nearly 73 percent of the total amount invested in VCPE transactions during 2004-2008. References Admati, A. and P? eiderer, P. (1994), Robust ? ancial contracting and the role of venture capitalists, Journal of Finance, Vol. 49, pp. 371-402. Annamalai, T. R. and Deshmukh, A. (2009), India venture capital and private equity report 2009, unpublished report, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai. Cumming, D. J. and MacIntosh, J. G. (2001), Venture capital investment duration in Canada and the fall in States, Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Vol. 11, pp. 445-63. Dossani, R. and Kenney, M. (2002), Creating an environment developing venture capital in India, BRIE Working Paper 143, The Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy, Berkeley, CA.Gompers, P. A. (1995), Optimal investment, monitoring, and the staging of venture capital, Journal of Finance, Vol. 50 No. 5, pp. 1461-89. G ompers, P. A. (1996), Grandstanding in the venture capital industry, Journal of Financial Economics, Vol. 42, pp. 133-56. Gompers, P. A. and Lerner, J. (2004), The Venture Capital Cycle, 2nd ed. , MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. Ippolito, R. (2007), Private equity in China and India, Journal of Private Equity, Vol. 10 No. 4, pp. 36-41. Kulkarni, N. and Prusty, A. (2007), Private equity investment strategy in Indias port sector, Journal of Private Equity, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 71-83. Lerner, J. (1994), Venture capitalists and the decision to go public, Journal of Financial Economics, Vol. 35, pp. 293-316. Lerner, J. and Gurung, A. (2008), The Global Impact of Private Equity Report 2008, World Economic Forum, Geneva. Lockett, A. , Wright, M. , Sapienza, H. and Pruthi, S. (1992), Venture capital investors, valuation and information a comparative study of the US, Hong Kong, India and Singapore, Venture Capital An International Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance, Vol. 4 No. 3, pp. 237-52. Mishra, A. K. 2004), Indian venture capitalists (VCs) investment evaluation criteria, ICFAI Journal of use Finance, Vol. 10 No. 7, pp. 71-93. Mitra, D. (1997), The venture capital industry in India, Journal of Small Business Management, Vol. 38 No. 2, pp. 67-79. Neher, D. V. (1999), Staged ? nancing an agency perspective, Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 66, pp. 255-74. Pandey, I. M. (1996), Venture Capital The Indian Experience, Prentice-Hall, New Delhi. Pandey, I. M. (1998), The process of developing venture capital in India, Technovation, Vol. 18 No. 4, pp. 253-61. Ribeiro, L.L. and de Carvalho, A. G. (2008), Private equity and venture capital in an emerging economy evidence from Brazil, Venture Capital, Vol. 10 No. 2, pp. 111-26. Sahlman, W. (1990), The structure and governance of venture capital organizations, Journal of Financial Economics, Vol. 27, pp. 473-524. Singh, S. , Singh, S. J. and Jadeja, A. D. (2005), Venture investing in India? appreciate twice, Journal of Private Equity , Vol. 8 No. 4, pp. 35-40. Subhash, K. B. (2006), How to teach the big minor to walk case of the Indian venture capital industry, Journal of Private Equity, Vol. No. 4, pp. 76-91. Verma, J. C. (1997), Venture Capital Financing in India, Sage, London. Vinay Kumar, A. (2002), Venture capital ? nance in India practices, perspectives and issues, Finance India, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 247-52. Vinay Kumar, A. (2005), Indian VCs involvement with investee ? rms an empirical analysis of board composition, expectations and contribution, ICFAI Journal of Applied Finance, July, pp. 28-39. Vinay Kumar, A. and Kaura, M. N. (2003), Venture capitalists screening criteria, Vikalpa, Vol. 28 No. 2, pp. 49-59. About the authorsThillai Rajan Annamalai is an Associate Professor in the Department of Management Studies at IIT Madras. His research interest includes VC, PE, infrastructure, and corporate ? nance. Thillai Rajan Annamalai is the corresponding author and can be contacted at emailprotected ac. in Ash ish Deshmukh was an MBA student at the Department of Management Studies at IIT Madras. To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail emailprotected com Or visit our web site for further details www. emeraldinsight. com/reprints VCPE in India 21