Corporate Performance Of Malaysian Public Listed Companies - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 21 Words: 6433 Downloads: 9 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Statistics Essay Did you like this example? 1.0 Introduction and motivation of study The issues of ownership and corporate governance have been discussed broadly in the prior literature especially in developed markets. However, in emerging economies like Malaysia, the issues received a vigorous impetus when the Asian Financial Crisis (AFC) hit Malaysia with severity in 1997/98. The AFC had depressed the economy to negative 7.5% in 1998, around 84,000 people lost their job and Malaysian capital market lost estimated USD200 billion in term of market capitalization during the crisis (Series of Malaysia Economic Reports). Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Corporate Performance Of Malaysian Public Listed Companies" essay for you Create order At the same time, the value of Malaysian currency had been decrease dramatically from 2.52 ringgit to the US dollar in June, 1997 to a lowest of 4.50 ringgit to the US dollar in January, 1998 (Tourres, 2003), plunging the country into its first recession for many years. Weak financial systems, excessive foreign borrowing and lack of transparency were among factors that contributed to the crisis (Fischer, 1998). Following the AFC, the Malaysian government introduced several reform measures to enhance transparency and accountability to restoring market confidence and encourage more stable and long term international investment. Example of these are the establishment of the Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance (MICG) in 1998, the introduction of Malaysian Code of Corporate Governance (MCCG) in March 2000[1]which codified the principles and best practices of good governance and the launched of Malaysiaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Capital Market Master Plan in 2002 as a comprehensive plan that identifies the strategic positioning and future of the Malaysian capital market. The Minority Shareholders Watchdog GROUP (MSWG) was also setup in 2001 as respond to the AFC. This study focuses on Malaysiaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s capital market mainly because of the confidence shown by the international business community concerning investments in Malaysia especially after the economy has fully recovered from the AFC. Based on The Productivity and Investment Climate Survey, World Bank 2009, which reports firmsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ perceptions of the business environment, suggests that Malaysia is a relatively attractive place for investors. Meanwhile, Report on Doing Business 2010 ranked Malaysia 23rd out of 183 economies for à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“ease of doing businessà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? and recently the World Competitiveness Scoreboard 2010 placed Malaysia 10th of the most competitive economy in the world, up from 18th place in the previous year. The achievement of Malaysia economy to date partly contributing through the active roles plays by the government-linked companies (GLCs) that form the backbone of the structure of the Malaysian economy. GLCs and their controlling shareholders, government-linked investment companies (GLICs), constitute a significant part of the economic structure of Malaysia. GLCs employ an estimated 5% of the national workforce, account for approximately 49% of market capitalization (Ringgit Malaysia 235.5 billion) of Bursa Malaysia Securities, contributes about 17 percent of the nationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s gross fixed capital formation and account for almost 10 percent of Gross Domestic Product (Malaysia Economic Report, 2009/2010). More than that, GLCs also plays an important role in executing government policies and initiatives especially in key sectors and new growth sectors. Even with active divestment and privatization, GLCs remained as the main service providers to the nationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s key strategic utilities and services including electricity, telecommunications, airlines, airports, public transportations, banking and financial services. On top of that, GLCs also on forefront in implementing recommendations of the best practices affirmed in Malaysian Code of Corporate Governance for Malaysian Public Listed Companies (Corporate Governance Survey Report, 2008). In the meantime, Corporate Governance Watch 2007, an annual collaborative study of corporate governance landscape of Asian market undertaken by independent stockbroker CLSA Asia Pacific Markets and the Asian Corporate Governance Association noted general improvement at the GLCs, a function of GLCs reforms and greater openness. Finally, the research on GLCs performance in Malaysia is also very important in order to investigate the real achievement of GLCs Transformation Program, the special program that was launched in May 2004 by Malaysian government to improve the performance of GLCs. Recently, the total shareholder return of a selection of top 20 GLCs, has outperformed the benchmark index of Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) by a compounded annual growth rat e of 2.4 percent since the launch of the program (Business Times, 2009). Motivate by the above reason, part of this study attempts to examine whether or not government ownership lead to better company performance by focusing on the unique characteristics of government ownership in GLCs. The research is an attempt to extend the literature in this field and to provide new insight and understanding on the roles of state in emerging market considering the limited number of research in this area. Hence, the first part of this study attempts to answer the following primary research question: Is there any significant relationship between ownership structure of government- linked companies in Malaysia and firm value? 2.0 Theoretical Foundations of the Study There are number of different theoretical frameworks to explain and analyze corporate governance. Difference frameworks approaches corporate governance in different way, for example; the agency theory arises from the fields of finance and economics and the stakeholder theory arises from social-orientated perspective on corporate governance. According to Mallin (2010, p.14), the main theories that have affected the development of corporate governance are agency theory, transaction cost economics, stakeholder theory and stewardship theory. All these theory from difference disciplines have contributed to the development of theoretical aspects of corporate governance and its frameworks. However, the main theory that generally associated with ownership of the firm is agency theory that widely used in previous researches around the world. Theoretical and empirical researches on the relationship between ownership and firm value was originally motivated by the separation of ownership from control (Berle Means, 1932) and more recently, by agency theory (Jensen Meckling, 1976; Fama Jensen, 1983). In this theory, the basic assumption is that the goals and objectives of the principals (owners) and managers (agents) conflict. The central problem in corporate governance is to construct rules and incentive to effectively align the behavior of managers with the desires of principals (Hawley and Williams, 1996). The problem of agents being responsible to principals is that it compounds the agency costs identified by Jensen and Meckling (1976) with the basic assumption is that managers will act opportunistically to further their own interests before shareholders and one of the main reasons that the desired actions of principal and agent diverge is their different attitude towards risk (Shankman, 1999). Under the circumstances, in Malaysia where there is a high concentration of government ownership in firms (Tam and Tan, 2007) and high percentage of firms affiliated to government (La Porta et al., 1999), the government ownership actually has capacity to provide a control mechanisms to align management personal objectives with firm objectives and eventually increase the firm value. Parts of GLCs in Malaysia are privatized firms during Malaysian Privatization Policy in 1990s. Hence, the firms always related to political variables and in that stance the political view of GLCs conceive that the high level of government interferences resulted of inefficiency to the firm rather than facilitate the operation. 3.0 Literature Review and Research Gaps In Malaysia context, GLCs are defined as companies that have a primary commercial objective and in which the Malaysian government has a direct controlling stake via the GLICs. The GLICs are investment arms of the government that allocate government funds to the GLCs (Putrajaya Committee on GLC High Performance, 2004; Lau and Tong, 2008). Meanwhile, the controlling stake here refers to the governments ability (not just percentage ownership) to appoint board members, senior management and/or make major decisions. The Ministry of Finance (1993) classify GLCs as one in which the Malaysian government had an effective ownership interest of at least 20 percent of equity shares. Twenty percent voting rights in one particular company is considered to be sufficient for effective control and is employed in previous studies on ownership (La Porta et al.,1999; Faccio et.al., 2001 and Setia-Atmaja, 2009). Majority of GLCs under the federal government are under Khazanah Nasional Berhad, one of the most active GLICs in Malaysia[2]. Empirical studies on the relationship between government ownership and firm performance on the whole produced inconclusive results. Study by Ang and Ding (2005) on the relationship between ownership structure of Singaporean GLCs and performance found that GLCs exhibit higher valuations than those of the non-GLCs. In a related study, Ke and Issac (2007) report that governmentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s shareholding is positively related to corporate performance of Chinaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s listed property companies, suggested that the economy sector is matter in the country. The findings however inconsistent with other empirical studies on the government ownership in China where in overall found the negative relationship between these two variables. For example, Sun and Tong (2003); McGuiness and Ferguson (2005); Gunasekarage, Xu and Wang (1999) and Li, Sun and Zou (2009) find that on average, the firms performance is negatively influenced by the governmentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s ownership. Research in Malaysia on the relationship between government ownership and performance is lacking and also show mixed findings. Recently, Lau and Tong (2008) conducted a research on the impact of government intervention on firm value by employed 15 listed GLCs under Khazanah Nasional Berhad from year 2000 to 2005 (90 firm-year observations). They reveal a significant positive relationship between the degree of government ownership and firm value. However, this study has shortcomings as the selected data sets of 15 GLCs a year under Khazanah Nasional Berhad are too small and not robust enough to represent the overall GLCs performance. In fact, there are many more listed GLCs under the controlled of federal government GLICs[3]as well as GLCs under the state government jurisdiction. This research aims to address this issue by providing in-depth examinations and comprehensive study on all GLCs both at federal and state level. In a related study in Malaysia, Tam and Tan (2007) find that the performance of firms associated to government ownership is poor compared to others ownership types namely; individual-owned firms, foreign-owned firms and trust fund-owned firms. The study involved the top 150 listed companies on Bursa Malaysia Securities based on their ranking according to their market capitalization in 2000. The similar results also found in research by Ming and Gee (2008); and Chu and Cheah (2006) that show the negative relationship between government ownership and firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s corporate performance. However, those studies also have limitations as they fail to properly identify the unique characteristics of GLCs ownership in Malaysia. In their studies, they group together all types of GLCs in one group in an attempt to find its relationship to performance without addressing issues of (i) the different type of GLCs controlled by federal government and GLCs controlled by states government an d (ii) the different type of shares in GLCs. With regard to the first issue, distinctions should be made between GLCs controlled by federal government (GLCFGs) and those controlled by state governments (GLCSGs) predominantly because they are difference in aspects of monitoring by federal government machineries and GLICs. GLCFGs subjected to strict supervision and monitoring not only by its GLICs but by ministries concerned under federal government. For example, Tenaga Nasional Berhad, a GLCFG is the largest electric utility company in Malaysia with one governmentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s special share and majority of it ordinary shares owned by Khazanah Nasional Berhad . The Ministry of Finance responsible to the issues pertaining to the corporate matters of the company such as the approval entity for appointment of CEO/board of directors, their contract extension or termination, company performance etc. The selection of company chairman or CEO is carefully chosen based on their capability and suitability to head the organization. In the meantime, matters pertaining to policy such as approval for electric tariff increment and monitoring of company obeying to energy policy of Malaysia are under the responsibility of Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water as a guardian ministry. In addition, National Audit Department also conducting an annual auditing or special auditing to this company to be reported in Auditorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s General Report that eventually to be presented in Parliament. Furthermore, Public Accounts Committee, a committee under Parliament also have right to investigate whatever issues surrounding the company such as mismanagement or issues highlighted in Auditorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s General Report. With all these stringent monitoring systems, the GLCFGs are more cautious in their actions and eventually lead to good corporate performance in the long run. On the other hand, the extent of monitoring and supervision of GLCSGs by respective state governments is weaker. All issues pertaining GLCSGs are to be monitor and solve by State Economic Development Corporation (SEDC), a controlling agency cum main shareholder of GLCSGs. As contended in Agency Theory, lack of monitoring efforts will increase the agency costs that eventually lead to poor firm performance. Furthermore, GLICs at federal government have more systematically systems and incentives in monitoring and improve its GLCs performance compared to its counterpart in state government. For example is the establishment of a special program aims to transform GLCs to high performers entity called GLCs Transformation Program (GTP) that was launched in May 2004. Under this program, 20 larger GLCs (G-20) that controlled by different federal government GLICs has been selected to be transformed into high performance entity and become regional or global champions. Since the launch the programme, G-20 have made significant improvement especially on their financial aspects with operating cash flow for non-financial G-20 firms grew by 42% from RM14 billion in 2004 to RM20 billion in 2008. At the same time, aggregate earnings for 2008 also 53% higher compared to performance in 2004 and total shareholder returns has outperformed the benchmark index of Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) by a compo unded annual growth rate of 4.8% since the launch of the program (GTP Mid-Term Progress Review, 2009). With regard to this issue, based on above motivations the current study argue that the performance of listed GLCs controlled by federal government are better than it counterparts under the controlled of state government. On the second issue, previous studies with concerned to government ownership and performance have ignored the very important characteristic of GLCs in Malaysia which is GLCs with governmentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s one special share or golden share. As a background, to stimulate economic growth and reduce Government financial burden, privatization policy was introduced in 1983 and a lot of government entities as well as hundreds of government projects had been implemented by private sector. From 1983 until 2003, 474 projects and 457 government entities had been privatized from 1983 until 2005 involving assets sale of RM1.54 billion and equity sales of RM4.94 billion (Economic Planning Unit, Prime Minister Department). Various type of privatization such as sale, leased, management contract and build-lease-transfer have been used. However, in some strategic entities such as ports, main utilities provider (e.g. Tenaga Nasional Berhad) and national carrier (Malaysian Airlines Systems Berhad), Malaysian government directly retained one special share or well known as golden share on top of ordinary shares that possess by GLICs on behalf of the government. In this type of GLCs, the degree of Government interference is excessively. The golden share grant government not only right to control companyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s direction including the appointment/dismissal of Chairman, Board member, CEO and senior management but also make major decisions such as restructuring exercise, mergers and acquisition, assets disposal and even cancel whatever decision make by the firms for the interest of government[5]by the government in 2001 with cost closed to Ringgit Malaysia one billion (Jalleh M., 2005) was a good example of how this type of GLCs being protected by the government. Another prominent case was the bailout of national car company Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional or Proton by state-owned oil company, Petroliam Nasional Berhad (known as Petronas) during the AFC through cash injecte d by instruction of the government (Restall, 2000). Based on the arguments, the present study believed that, this type of firms should be treated separately from other normal GLCs to moderate the impact of government interventions. By group them together into one group of GLCs as carried out by previous studies in Malaysia is inappropriate and may have distorted their studies result. This research basically will address both of these issue by differentiate all GLCs in Malaysia into groups according to their controlling agency at federal or state level and also based on their type of shares to observe their impact to firms corporate performance. This study expected to form a distinctive contribution to the knowledge and provide new facts on some elements of the government ownership in emerging economies by providing in-depth analysis on the issue. To the best of my knowledge, no particular researcher so far focuses on examining government ownership and firm value by make use of these proposed approaches. In addition to that, others variable that related to government ownership such as the role of politicians, government official and ex- government officials as board members in GLCs and also the influence of degree of government ownership in GLCs will also be tested. 4.0 Hypotheses development This present study ultimately intended to test for any association between ownership structures of GLCs and firm value. A total of seven aspects have been identified and the hypotheses developed as to their probable effect and firm performance. 4.1 GLCs under federal and state government and firm performance There were not studies specifically relate this variable with performance in Malaysia, but study by Chen, Firth and Xu (2009) on Chinaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s listed company revealed that the performance of State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) affiliated to central government or in Malaysian context is federal government is outperformed their counterpart which are related to state and local government. They also argued that different form of government ownership have different motivation and objectives on investment and it lead to different performance outcomes for the companies they have invested in. According to Loh (2008), the Malaysiaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s constitutional design clearly favors the federal over the state governments, both in term of legislative jurisdictions as well as in terms of revenue assignments. Based on this argument and motivations on the effectiveness of monitoring systems by federal government as discussed in 3.0, the proposed hypothesis is: H1: The impact of GLCs controlled by federal government on firm performance is stronger than GLCs controlled by states government 4.2 GLCs with governmentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s special share and firm performance As explained in Section 3.0 above, governmentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s golden share providing the government will unlimited power to control company directions and sometimes lead to misallocation of resources by the companies itself or by the government in order to assist them. The holding agency of this share is Ministry of Finance Incorporated, the entity under Ministry of Finance, Malaysia.  Although there is no empirical study so far that investigate the relationship between governmentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s special share and performance in Malaysia, but study by Sun, Tong H.S, and Tong (2002) from Chinaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s privatization experience shows that too much government interference and control of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) was among the reasons of SOEs poor performance. Another argument is that, as of the perspective of minority shareholders, too much intervention from government will jeopardize the companyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s development and resulted poor performance in the long run. Hence, this type of company is not attractive for investors. Therefore, it is hypothesized that: H2: The impact of GLCs without governmentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s golden share on firm performance is stronger than GLCs with governmentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s golden share 4.3 Degree of government ownership and firm performance Like many others East Asian countries, Malaysiaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s corporate sector also experiencing a high level of ownership concentration (Liew, 2007; La Porta et al., 1998). Gunasekarage et. al (2006) in their study on influence of the degree of state ownership on the performance of listed Chinese companies conclude that firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s performance is significant at high levels of government ownership and a balanced ownership structure enhances the firm performance. Study by Ke and D.Isaac (2007) in China listed property companies from 2000 to 2002 also reveals that the government shareholding is positively related to corporate performance. In Malaysia context, Lau and Tong (2008) in their study of 15 listed GLCs in Bursa Malaysia for the period of 2000 to 2005 find a significant positive relationship between the degree of government ownership[6]and firm value. However, this study has limitation in term of selected data sets as laid out in Section 3.0. Therefore the vari able will be re-testing with more comprehensive data sets in order to have more concrete and robust evidence on the influence of this variable to firm performance. In line with agency theory that concentrated ownership in more effective in reducing managerial agency cost, the proposed hypotheses are: H3: There is a significant relationship between governmentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s ownership degree in GLCs and firm performance 4.4 Politicians as director and firm performance GLCs traditionally has some of its boards of directors that had affiliations with the ruling party especially those GLCs that previously under government control and later on involved in privatization. Johnson and Mitton (2003) noted that as of October 1999, 15.8% or 67 out of 424 firms listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia Securities are politically connected to the ruling party. Empirical evidence on the association between politicians as director and its impact to firm value is inconclusive. Study by Xu, Zhu and Lin (2005) on state owned enterprises in China revealed that politicians have incentives to control the firms to achieve economically inefficient objectives for political purposes. In a related study, Shleifer and Vishny (1994) exposed that excess employment and wages are common in public enterprise that control by politicians. This unhealthy phenomenon could lead to wrong managerial investment decisions and result in misallocation of companyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s resour ces that eventually reduce the firm value. Boubakri, Cosset and Saffar (2008) investigate the association between political connections of newly privatized firms and the impact to performance. The study involved 245 privatized firms in 27 developing and 14 industrialized countries and the existence of political connections is based on whether the particular firms have a politician or an ex-politician on their boards. They find that the politically-connected firms exhibit a poor performance compared to their non-connected counterparts. The similar result also found in Fan et. al (2007). Meanwhile, Fisman (2001) in his study in Indonesia and Faccio (2006) in analysis of 47 countries find a significant relationship between these two variables. In the context of Malaysia where business and politics are inter-related (Gomez and Jomo, 1997) indicated that, participation of politicians in GLCs might have effects on firm value as they act as a link between the governmentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s and companyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s management. Therefore, it is hypothesized that, H4: There is a significant relationship between politician as director and firm performance 4.5 Government officials as board member in GLCs and firm performance GLCs are created partly to implement government policy objectives especially those established as a result of privatization exercises in the early eighties. Hence, most of their board of directors are civil servants either still in-service or formal government officials that act as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“eyes and earà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? of government as well as communication bridge between the management and the government. Agrawal and Knoeber (2001) in their study found that the politically experience directors that comprises former government officials benefits the company they served and noted that they are more prevalent in firms compare to others outside directors. In a related study in Singapore that involved 25 GLCs and 204 non-GLCs for the period from 1990 to 2000, Ang and Ding (2006) found that GLCs exhibit higher valuations than those of the non-GLCs in the area of profitability, efficiency and firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s financial performance. Like Malaysian GLCs, Singapore GLCs also compris es government officials in their board. At such, it is hypothesized that, H5: There is a significant relationship between in service government official as director and firm performance H6: There is a significant relationship between former government official as director and firm performance 5.0 Research design and methodology 5.1 Data and sample design The first model in this research is designed to examine the impact of ownership structure on corporate performance of all GLCs listed on the main board of Bursa Malaysia Securities for the period of five years (2004 until 2008). To ensure that the sample clearly represented the population intended for the research and to harmonious the selected sample to the GLCs definition, the sample selection is based on the following criteria: At any time, one specific GLICs either at federal or states government level must be the single largest shareholder with at least 20% share ownership in one particular company on Main Board of KLSE and; The financial and unit trust companies are excluded as they are governed by different set of rules and acts that could affect the end findings of this study. In addition, all required financial data for the study period are to be available in databases (Datastream or Thomson Research) and information on ownership and corporate governance structure from companiesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ respective audited annual report. The study constructs an unbalanced panel data of all GLCs during the study period. This approach has the advantage of attrition biases in correlation (Hu and Izumida, 2008). The observations period of 2004 to 2008 is chosen mainly because the period was the phase of economic stability in Malaysia when the countryà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s economy and capitals market activities fully recovered after the Asian Financial Crisis. The performance chart in Figure 2 below reveals that prior to AFC, the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) in average has been trading in an upward trend. However, the AFC push down the KLCI to below 600 during the peak of the crisis. The post-crisis period has seen steady increase in the value of the KLCI even though until 2006 Bursa Malaysia Securities still has some 200 companies trading at more than 50 percent discount to their book values (James, 2006). Another reason for the chosen period is to evaluate the impact of GLCs Transformation Program that launch in May 2004 by Malaysian government to improve performance of GLCs. Figure 2: Kuala Lumpur Composite Index Yearly Performance 1989 to 2008 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Year Price Crisis Period Post Crisis Period Market Rally Period Source: Datastream 5.2 Methodology 5.2.1 The proposed model The following base model will be used to test the hypotheses that have been defined in the previous section: PERFORM = ÃŽÂ ± + ÃŽÂ ²1FG_GLC + ÃŽÂ ²2SG_GLC + ÃŽÂ ²3GOLD + ÃŽÂ ²4GOV_OWN + ÃŽÂ ²5POL + ÃŽÂ ²6GO_BOD + ÃŽÂ ²7EX-GO_BOD + ÃŽÂ ²8LOG_SIZE + ÃŽÂ ²9LEV + ÃŽÂ ²10BOD_SIZE + ÃŽÂ ²11BOD_MEET + ÃŽÂ ²12BOD_IND + ÃŽÂ µi Where; PERFORM = the dependent variables: proxy by ROA, ROE and Tobinà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Q; Independent variables: FG_GLC = GLCs under federal government (equal to 1 if a firm is under federal government, and 0 otherwise) SG_GLC = GLCs under state government (equal to 1 if a firm is under states government, and 0 otherwise) GOLD = GLCs which government owned one golden share (equal to 1 if a firm has governmentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s golden share, and 0 otherwise) GOV_OWN = captures the percentage of government ownership in a GLC POL = captures the percentage of politician on the board GO_BOD = captures the percentage of government official in-service on the board EX-GO_BOD = captures the percentage of ex-government official on the board Control variables: LOG_SIZE = natural log of total assets as proxy of firm size LEV = firm leverage (total liabilities to total assets) BOD_SIZE = number of board of directors during the year BOD_MEET = number of board of directors meetings during the year BOD_IND = captures the percentage of independent directors on the board ÃŽÂ µi = error term 5.2.2 Operationalization of variable selection 5.2.2.1 The dependent variable The dependent variable in this study is firm performance that comprises accounting and market based performance namely return on assets (ROA)[8]and Tobinà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Q. They are to be employed in this study to measure the impact of ownership structure on corporate performance. The accounting-based performance is the most common types of performance measurement in assessing business performance. In this approach, annual report, which comprises income statements, balance sheets and statements of changes in financial position are the source of information to analyze companyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s financial performance for one particular financial year. This approach is very important for companyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s stakeholders such as potential investors since the indicator can help them in making investment decisions. It also vital in helping the companyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s shareholders to assess how well the company performed in market place in order to make decisions on management and employees rewards, setting suitable plans to sustain the good momentum or even take drastic approaches for company to remain in business. The accounting-based performance also helps manager to effectively plan and control in order to achieve the objectives of the company. For example, according to Thompson Yeung (2001), return on equity as one of the accounting-based measurements can accommodate the effect of different accounting procedures across industries and can minimize the multi-linearity between companyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s specific characteristics such as size, age and profitability. Both ROA and ROE are the most common measurement used in analyzing financial performance of companies and have been used widely in previous studies (Vafeas,1999; Abdullah,2004; Bhagat Black, 2002; Rahman Haniffa 2006; Ang Ding, 2006; Bhagat Bolton; 2008 and Chu, 2009). Since accounting-based performance measures the past and current performance of the firm, market-based performance, in addition to that, captures the expected future performance of the firm (Omran, 2009). Therefore, this study will use Tobinà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Q as proxy for firm market value. The actual definition of Tobinà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Q is market value of the firm divided by replacement cost of assets. However, since the information of replacement cost of assets is difficult to calculate and not available in Malaysia, the current study will make use of Tobinà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Q calculation formula by Elsayed and Paton (2005)[9]. Based on previous studies, in the last ten years (1999-2009), at least 33 empirical researches have been conducted on the issues of ownership structure and corporate governance structure in developed countries and emerging economies. 21 percent of the researches used accounting based measurement, 24 percent used market based measurement and the rest 55 percent researches used both the accounting and market-based ratio as the performance measures with ROA, ROE and Tobinà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Q are the most popular variables for performance measurement. 5.2.2 The independent variable This study defines GLCs as a firm that government owned at least twenty percent shareholdings and it also has the controlling stake in the company as discussed earlier. In the model, GLCs will be break-up into two main category using dummy variable with a value of one (1) if the GLCs under federal government and zero (0) otherwise. Following it, to test the impact of firms with a golden share, value of 1 is given if the GLC has golden share and 0 otherwise. Then, the impact of degree of shareholdings (GOV_OWN), the influence of politician on the board (POL), the impact of government official in-service (GO_BOD) and ex-government official (EX-GO_BOD) as board members will also be tested based on several statistic techniques. 5.2.3 The control variables In addition to the dependent and independent variables, several control variables that might significantly in explaining the positive relationship between ownership structure and firm performance are incorporated in the model. Natural log of total assets will be used as proxy of firm size that controls for differences in firm size. In general, larger firms perform better than smaller firms as a result of their access to resources and larger economies of scale. Leverage also an important factor that determine the performance of firm because high leverage provided firms with investment opportunities and big capital expenditure that eventually contribute to better performance. These variables also used widely in previous researches on ownership such as by Jackling and Johl (2009), Ivengar and Zampeli (2009) and Demsetz Villalonga (2001). Finally, to moderate and limit the endogeneity problem, several control variables that related to corporate governance structure namely number of boar d member during the year, board meeting frequency and the percentage of independent directors on the board will be utilized. These control variables have been used extensively in previous researches such as by Ivengar Zampeli (2009), Marimuthu, M. Kolandaisamy (2009), Elsayed (2007), Bhagat Black (2002) and Vafeas (1999). 5.2.1 Statistic test method To test the model in main equation above, the research design for this study is based on an ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions and two-stage square regression (2SLS) with dependant variables of ROA, ROE and Tobinà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Q. Obviously, the first empirical in this study will involved regression for three models that based on different dependant variable respectively. The more powerful statistical testing technique such as structural equation modeling (SEM) and the use of instrumental variable will be considered to have more precise findings as well as to resolve the problem of endogeniety. 6.0 Framework for second empirical The second empirical in this research aims to examine the impact of corporate governance structure on corporate performance. Top one hundred (top 100) companies on the main board of KLSE that based on market capitalization for the year between 2004 until 2008 will be used as sample. Similar to the first empirical, firm performance of ROA, ROE and Tobinà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Q will be employed as dependent variables. Meanwhile, corporate governance structures of the sample that involve board of directors and audit committee characteristics will be chosen meticulously as independent variables to ensure the findings will benefit all interested parties such as shareholders and regulators as well as to contribute to the new knowledge on corporate governance area in the context of emerging market. It is quite interesting to explore whether the introduction of Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance in March 2000 and the revised version of the code in 2007 as well as various governance initiati ves to improve the capital market by the regulators (Bursa Malaysia Securities and Securities Commission Malaysia) truly effect firms bottom-line which is good financial performance. 7.0 Outline of proposed thesis chapters Thesis chapters Proposed Outline Chapter 1 Introduction (10000 words) This introductory chapter discusses area of: Background and motivation of the study Statement of the problem à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" GLCs ownership structure and CG structure of PLCs; Objectives and research questions/research gaps; Significance and contribution of the study; Scope of the study; and Organization of the thesis Chapter 2 Corporate governance development in Malaysia (10000 words) This chapter examines the development of CG in Malaysia by focuses on the post Asian Financial Crisis period when the development of CG was hit the highest point. In addition, topic related to GLCs and PLCs as a whole will also be highlighted. Among issues to be discussed are: The evolvement and environment of corporate governance in Malaysia; CG framework in Malaysia à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Malaysian Code on CG (2000 revised 2007), Listing Requirements of KLSE, legislative framework of the Malaysian capital market etc; The review of CG implementation in Malaysia; Definition, background, formation, issues and contributions of GLCs in Malaysia; and Malaysian capital market and PLCs Chapter 3 Literature review (15000 words) This chapter intended to review and examine the existing literature as well as empirical evidence on the relationship between (i) government ownership structure and firm performance; and (ii) corporate governance structure and firm performance. Among subject to be covered are: Definition, frameworks and the linkages between CG and performance; Literature review (LR) on the issue of government ownership structure and firm performance; LR on the issue of corporate governance structure and firm performance; and LR on performance measurement method Chapter 4 Theoretical framework and hypotheses development (10000 words) This is the most important chapter in the current research and aims to investigate in-depth on the theoretical framework underlying the study of ownership and corporate governance. The main theory that will be discussed is agency theory. This theory then will be used to develop hypotheses that will be used in this study. Among matter to be discussed are: Review of CG theories that relevance to the research questions and hypotheses; Hypotheses development on ownership structure; Hypotheses development for CG structure; and Discussion on subject of control variables that to be employed in the current study Chapter 5 Research design and methodology (10000 words) This chapter will explain the research methodology and the rationale of the chosen statistical method that to be used in analyzing the data and testing the model. The model to be tested and method of operationalisation of all variables also to be highlighted in this chapter. Among issues to be discussed are: Sample design and data collection; Descriptive statistic of the data; Methodology; The model for testing; and Operationalisation of all variables Chapter 6 Findings and discussions Ownership structure of GLCs and firm performance (15000 words) This chapter is dedicated to analyze and testing the model related to GLCs ownership structure and its impact to firm performance. Hence, subject to be focused in this chapter are: Hypotheses testing and data analyses univariate and multivariate; Results and analysis; and Discussions of the findings à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" the impact of ownership structure of GLCs on firm performance Chapter 7 Findings and discussions à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Corporate governance structure and firm performance (15000 words) Similar to chapter 6, this chapter also dedicated to analyze and testing the model related to corporate governance structure of Malaysian PLCs and its impact to firm performance. Therefore, subject to be focused in this chapter are: Hypotheses testing and data analyses univariate and multivariate; Results and analysis; and Discussions of the findings à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" the impact of CG structure of Malaysian PLCs on firm performance Chapter 8 Conclusions, limitations and recommendations for future research (10000 words) This final chapter of the research will discusses the main findings of the study and its contribution to CG knowledge in general and to Malaysia in particular. Lastly, limitations of the study as well as suggestions for future research will be outlined. Thus, key point to be discussed are: Major findings of the current study; Contribution of the research to CG knowledge; Limitations of the study; and Recommendations for further research on related issues to the current study 8.0 Proposed research time table Time period Activity description September 2010 To submit PhD confirmation document and 12-month review October à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" December 2010 Data collection and analysis for 1st empirical January à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Mac 2011 (i) reviewing the literature, gaps locating and research question for 2nd empirical (ii) Research design and setting models for testing (2nd empirical) March 2011 18-month review April à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Jun 2011 Data collection and analysis for 2nd empirical July 2011 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" October 2012 (16 months) Writing up the thesis 2 months for each chapter. March 2012 30-month review October 2012 Thesis submission 9.0 Conclusion The first part of this study involves conducting a research on the relationship of various ownership structures of listed GLCs in Malaysia and its impact to firm financial performance. The research is very crucial and timely since the GLCs, as a major government investment arm, contribute significantly to the economic development in Malaysia and holds great influence in capital market. In addition to that, this study expected to form a distinctive contribution to the knowledge and provide new facts on some elements of the government ownership in emerging economies by providing in-depth analysis on the unique characteristics of the GLCs such as the impact of excessive government interferences and the influence of politicians and government officials in running the organization. The second part of the research is to examine the relationship between corporate governance structure and performance of top one hundreds PLCs listed on KLSE that based on their market capitalization for the period beginning 2004 to 2008. It is interesting to find out the relationship of both variables after the introduction of Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance in 2000. This research would also result in great advantages to policy makers like the Security Commissioner of Malaysia and Bursa Malaysia Securities especially in sense of the monitoring process and would ensure total confidence from local and foreign investors towards Malaysian companies.

Using Service Standards to Meet Customers Needs PowerPoint Presentation

Essays on Using Service Standards to Meet Customers' Needs PowerPoint Presentation ï » ¿ Our Vision 5 Our Promise 5 Our Values 5 Introduction 6 Rights of customers/guests 6 Commitments to the guests 7 Responsibility of the manager in the future in relation to customer service 8 Internal and external customers 9 Identification of guests need 10 Using service standards and procedures to meet customers’ needs 10 How services are measured against standard by Etihad 11 Conclusion 11 Reference 12 Our Vision To be the best airline in the world Our Promise Inspirational experiences provided with warmth and respect Our Values Introduction Customers play a pivotal role in any business organization, whether small or large. Accomplishment of any enterprise depends largely on the level of customer satisfaction. Businesses, therefore, needs to employ qualified staff who strive to ensure that this goal is achieved. All businesses need to come up with appropriate business templates that have all the contents necessary for comprehensive heights of customer satisfaction. It should be conducted with an aim of improving customer satisfaction, improving customer loyalty, maximizing customer value, and obtaining and acting on customers’ feedback. Acknowledging the significant role customers play in a business is a step in the right direction. As such, any findings on improving customers’ satisfaction should not be merely on paper, but should be acted on by senior management. Rights of customers/guests By virtue of provision of services to customers, a business enters into a legally binding contract. The essence of a contract is that, it has certain responsibilities and rights that come with it (Parry, 2012). During my workplace orientation at Etihad Airways, I was able to discover that customers do have rights that must be respected to the latter during business operations. The management ignores such rights at their own peril. In fact, violation of these rights can completely bring down even the largest business organization. It is prudent to recognize that, under the Supply and Services Act, a service provider such as Etihad Airways, must carry out its services with reasonable skill and care and also provide timely services at a fair price, in case the prices are not pre-determined by the customer. This is to say that companies, in the course of service provision, must strive to shun negligence and complacency since this can be very costly in the end and can adversely affect th e overall objective of achieving customer loyalty. Additionally, it is sound that customers are provided with services in compliance with the terms of contract. For instance, Etihad Airway has an option of providing hotel accommodation when clients are making bookings. The company, therefore, has a responsibility of ensuring that this is done without any inconvenience to the customers. Moreover, it is the right of guests to be provided with sufficient information regarding physical and postal address of the company, charges for services and details for terms and conditions for service delivery. Commitments to the guests For a business to win customers loyalty, it must show some commitments to its guests. It is more expensive to acquire new clients, than to keep existing ones. Due to this, Etihad ought to show commitment to maintaining customer loyalty through ensuring quality service provision. This is achievable through hiring of competent and qualified personnel who have excellent communication and public relation skills. Lack of competent staffs can culminate into business loosing potential clientele. Etihad Airway needs to conduct constant staff appraisals and rigorous staff recruitments to ensure that they have competent and highly qualified personnel. The company’s nature of operation is such that it is highly service oriented and hence, quality and impression that the workforce displays to clients is key to its success. The Human Resource Department needs to have structures in place that ensure personal goals are marched with company’s broader objective, skills are consistent w ith the set standards, and that employees are ready and willing to act as a team. The company must commit to conducting a proper market research on key aspects of customer service. This will help to improve and monitor staff performance. The company also needs to give an assurance to its customers that the business is a going concern, and it is not about to curtail its scale of service provision, any time in the near future. Responsibility of the manager in the future in relation to customer service A manager is literally the face of a company and, therefore, his strategic decision acumen is very handy to business success. Drucker says that, as a manager, one need to be very industrious and with immense skills and vast experience on various aspects of the business ( 2009). As a manager, I will give customer service department the weight it deserves. First, I would acknowledge its importance to the company and employ strategies that ensure it is effective and operational. I must have in place a dedicated human resource team that would ensure proper trainings to employees on issues of service delivery and coping with current market trends on customer service delivery. If you train your employees, your customers are satisfied and the business benefits. Motivation plays an important role that cannot be ignored in a business (Bruce, 2006). Employees can be motivated in several ways, through good remuneration packages, provision of good working conditions, and other fringe benefits. Once employees are satisfied, it amounts to quality service delivery and, consequently, a satisfied clientele. The aspect of improved customer service can also be viewed from customer’s point of view, where customers are engaged in effecting decisions that are friendly. Market research is conducted where views of customers are taken into consideration. They can be asked to propose changes that they deem relevant to be introduced and those that they feel aggrieved with removed. This way friendly customers service delivery structures acceptable to customers are designed. Such an arrangement will improve customer satisfaction because they fill part of the decisions and structures implemented. Internal and external customers Any business organization broadly consists of both internal and external customers. Interestingly, these two groups often have conflicting and competing interests. Internal customers compete with the needs of external customers. External customers are the real clients who engage in the purchase of company’s products and utilization of its services, whereas internal customers are the departments within the organizations. Management normally tends to lay more emphasis on promoting and wooing external customers, than it does on internal customers. They are completely oblivious that these two groups of customers are compliments and cannot function to bring the expected results if any group is ignored. External customers are responsible for boosting revenues of a company, but the input of internal customers provided the infrastructure for the company’s operations. Internal customers need to be motivated just the same way as external customers are lured into loyalty to a busi ness output. Etihad external customers include passengers and cargo, while internal customers include departments like sale, finance, and promotions. Identification of guests need Identification of customers’ needs is a sure way of gaining a competitive edge in a murky business arena. The earlier you identify your customers’ needs the better it is for your business. Identification of customers’ needs starts with proper communication channel that engages customers. This will help to find out how their needs can be satisfied better. It also involves designing a structure that allows for recording of feedbacks from customers and then using such information to make important decisions on marketing strategy .Accurate identification of customers’ needs results in attraction of more customers and increase in revenues. Customers’ needs are generally influenced by safety, performance, appearance, comfort, economy and durability (Drucker, 2009). Using service standards and procedures to meet customers’ needs Service deliver standards are always modeled around some principles, which must be met if customers are to derive maximum satisfaction. Empathy is an important standard that should not be ignored in the quest for ensuring that customers are satisfied. The employees should be flexible enough. They should be able to understand customers concerns and act on them accordingly. Additionally, conformity is a key standard and it dictates that management should know the expectation and objectives of customers and align employees to meet these expectations. Moreover, focus also plays a big role. Focus ensures that the workforce stays committed and avoids unnecessary distractions that may hamper their service delivery. Lastly, the benchmark of flexibility is equally important. Employees need to be able to explore new approaches of doing things to adjust to changes in customers’ requirements in time. How services are measured against standard by Etihad Etihad gives priority and values its customers. As such, the interest of their customers is their first priority. Etihad ensures that they operate within the recommended yardstick as far as customer service is concerned. They have a mechanism in place to ensure that all their staff is competent and highly trained and as such, they have the capacity to serve customers with satisfaction. They also have arrangements that guarantee adequate interaction between customers and business to ensure that all their reactions are attended to in good time. Conclusion In conclusion, Etihad has a bright future ahead. It has mechanisms that guarantees highly resourceful and motivated workforce that are highly adaptable to team spirit and possess outstanding personal relations dispositions. The unrivaled quality service delivery has given Etihad an edge over its competitors. However, the company should be in constant competition with itself if the current market share is to be retained and expanded. Reference Bruce, A. (2006). How to motivate every employee. New York, NY: Mcgrow Hill Companies Inc. Drucker, P. F. (2009). Management:Task, responsibility and practice. London: John Willey and Sons. Parry, D. (2012). Consumer law: rights and responsibity. Chicago: Legacy Law Books.

Ecotourism and Its Impacts in Developing Countries †Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the Ecotourism and Its Impacts in Developing Countries. Answer: Introduction In a systematic study, Bauer (2017) denotes that poverty in many areas of the Global South is the primary driver of environmental and resource degradation. The attempt of the community to adopt socio-economic activities such as mining and agriculture among other economic activities have been identified as the primary causes of environmental degradation and depletion of natural resources. As a result, ecotourism and bioprospecting are pointed as the better alternative approaches of income that can be adopted with the aim of reducing the pressure on the natural resources. Becken (2012) argues that in case the society can generate income from the less environmentally damaging activities that focus on the wilderness, forests, and other natural resources, then there is a possibility of achieving sustainability. This paper hence focuses on evaluating how ecotourism links to development and conservation and whether the linkage is effectively robust in the attempt of achieving the set object ives. Advantages of ecotourism The promotion of ecotourism in the Global South has resulted into positive impacts on both economy and the environment within the developing countries. Carter et al. (2015) point out that ecotourism has been adopted as one of the primary justifications with the aim of preservation of natural resources. The same study denotes that ecotourism has led to the development of designated national protected areas putting ecotourism organizations among the leading movements in environmental preservation. Bauer (2017) also reports that the emphasis and programs on the need of preserving the natural environment with the aim of promoting ecotourism has led to the widespread preservation of forests in many areas. Even though deforestation is still a major challenge for many states in the Global South, the adoption of ecotourism strategies have reduced the level of deforestation over time. In addition of achieving the goals of environmental sustainability, (Rosaleen, 2015) points out that ecotourism in the developing countries has led to the generation of significant economic development in both local and national levels. The same study denotes that since 2000, economic development due to international tourism has grown from $417 million to $737 million. It is a phenomenal growth that has made tourism be recognized as the leading source of foreign exchange in developing countries. Despite its moderately new rise, ecotourism is the quickest developing part inside the tourism business the world's biggest administration industry. This is somewhat because of the rising number of naturally mindful people who have floated towards ecotourism, because of its blend of one of a kind travel encounters and the fulfilment of being socially and earth cognizant (Lisa, 2014). In particular, developing countries have turned into pioneers in the encouraging of ecotourism, as they perceive that safeguarding characteristic assets and scenes might be more financially savvy than clearing the land for other capital-escalated exercises, for example, cultivating, logging, or mining (Rosaleen, 2015).While the business has confronted challenges in orchestrating its natural standards with the developing interest for ecotourism, alongside the enticement of benefit age, the ecological and financial favourable circumstances of ecotourism have far surpassed these weaknesses (Kitchin, Law, 2001). Eco tourism gives new avenues of Employment to Local as pointed out by Carter et al. (2015). More avenues for work are coming up in view of the growing enthusiasm of lodgings, resorts and diverse offices outfitted with talented and arranged specialists, informed tour guides, traders offering loads of essential things, and diners offering a variety of first class foods. Ecotourism has conveyed out collaboration that has prompted cultural knowledge and exchange between communities. According to Imrie (2004), eco-tourism isn't just about examining phenomenal scenes, managing trademark resources, and enhancing the economy of a particular region. It goes with extraordinary socio-social effects. While going to better places, tourists end up interacting with the local communities, an aspect that enable them learn new cultures. In the process, Keen, Perry, and Strand (2012) denote that there are cases where exchange of culture has occurred such as the purchase of cultural products, talents, and works of art. In the process, ecotourism promotes not only the conservation but economic development, cultural exchange, and employment creation to the locals. Disadvantages of ecotourism Despite the advantages that a state may enjoy in adopting stable ecotourism as an alternative source of livelihood to the communities, Carter et al. (2015) denote that it also negative impacts towards sustainability and economic development. The study denotes that in many cases, most of the non-local ecotourism organizations tend to achieve environmental credibility with the Northern consumers despite the local socio-economic or environmental benefits that accompany it. Despite the huge revenue collected by such organizations, most of it is not shared with the locals in a sufficient manner that reduces unequal wealth distribution or minimizes environmental degradation. Rosaleen (2015) also denotes that increase in the revenue collected cannot effectively reduce the pressure on the environmental resources of the revenue is only shared with the foreign companies while avoiding the local communities who directly interact with the environment. In other words, it should be understood that ecotourism is a by-product of development and hence requires the developmental revenue to be accrued locally to with the aim of achieving conservation and sustainable use of environmental resources. According to Tumusiime and Sjaastad (2014), the environmental effects of ecotourism development are serious and needs urgent attentions. The study denotes that is many popular destinations, natural attractions of the areas have been destroyed due to irrational activities and overcrowding leading to lose of aesthetic value of the areas. In Philippines for instance, mining of corals and dynamiting for resort building materials has damaged fragile corals as well as the depletion of fisheries which sustains the local communities. Maria et al. (2011) also denotes that inadequate sewage treatment along the costal tourism areas has led to the pollution of waterways and lagoons thus making the locals waters unsuitable for fishing and swimming among other uses. In most of the popular resorts, Snyman (2012) denotes that overbuilding beachfront hotels contributes to beach erosion, disappearance of natural wetlands, and flooding. It also leads to the generation of mountains of garbage with poor disposal means hence leading to production of bad smell that in the long run makes the areas unsuitable for healthy living. Ecotourism has likewise been related with the interruption smooth peaceful state of the Wildlife (Snyman, 2012). Every sort of tourism meddles with the silent and unique common life. Regardless of groups of progression of eco-tourism, people couldn't think less about the trouble caused to the flying creatures and animals on account of their absurd demands, wishes and direct. They genuinely don't make effort to wind up evidently real eco-voyagers. It definitely powers negative effects on the environment and impacts the organic modify. Because of developments in the natural life destinations prompts uncomfortable life of the creatures like clamours from vehicle which will result to refinement of a few animal categories additionally littering can likewise prompt terrible ecological impacts can likewise make maladies the creatures. Ecotourism has failed to meet the eco standard. As ecotourism is basically a business industry (with the essential target of benefit expansion), there is proof of specific organizations just "green-washing" - which is the procedure of just influencing the occasion to show up eco-accommodating when it is in actuality not. There isn't much substance required for an organization to term an occasion 'ecotourism' and they frequently neglect to get investigated by buyers. For instance, a 'natural life amusement stop' is permitted to term itself as being 'Eco'. There is however a call for control -, for example, a Green Star framework, which signs to shoppers how dedicated the organization is to ecological kind disposition (Maria et al, 2015). Due to the demand of ecotourism most companies in the sector tend to be selfish to a level that they forgo meeting the eco standards for making extensive profits in the expense of environ mental protection and has been a great negative impact to the s ector (Scheyvens, 2007). Conclusion In many studies, environmental protection has become a primary aspect of effective developmental agenda. Eco-tourism has been adopted as a means of resolving tension and challenges between environmental protection and development in the Global South. It has been adopted as an alternative source of income for the Global South in the pursuit of development, it is vital to understand that the attempt of reconciling environmental protection goals often lead to misconception of the objectives leading to more concentration and reduced focus on environmental stewardship. However, there are advantages and disadvantages of adopting ecotourism. As a result, it is essential to evaluate and understand the risks involved in the attempt of pursuing development agenda and environmental protection, an aspect that should be considered both globally and the local communities that directly interact with the environment. References Bauer, I. L. (2017). Improving global health is tourism's role in poverty elimination perpetuating poverty, powerlessness and ill-being?, Global Public Health, 12:1, 45-64, DOI: 10.1080/17441692.2015.1094109. Becken, S. (2012). Shapers and Shifters for the Future of Travel and Tourism. Future Tourism: Political, Social and Economic Challenges, 80-91. Carter, A., Hunt, W.H., Durham, D., Honey, M. (2015). Can ecotourism deliver real economic, social, and environmental benefits? A study of the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 23:3, 339-357, DOI: 10.1080/09669582.2014.965176. Imrie, R. (2004). From universal to inclusive design in the built environment. In J. Swain (Ed.), Disabling barriers, enabling environments (pp. 279-284). Keen, M., Perry, I., Strand, J. (2012). Market-based instruments for international aviation and shipping as a source of climate finance. Kitchin, R. Law, R. (2001). The socio-spatial construction of (in) accessible public toilets. Urban Studies, 38, 287-298. Lisa L. G. (2014). Who wins and who loses? Unpacking the local people concept in ecotourism: a longitudinal study of community equity in Ankarana, Madagascar, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 22:5, 821-838, DOI: 10.1080/09669582.2013.847942 Maria, J. Z. , C. Hall, M., Patricia. L, Vanderschaeghe, M. (2011). Can community-based tourism contribute to development and poverty alleviation? Lessons from Nicaragua, Current Issues in Tourism, 14:8, 725-749, DOI: 10.1080/13683500.2011.559200. Rosaleen, D. (2015). Nature-based tourism and neoliberalism: concealing contradictions, Tourism Geographies, 17:4, 529-543, DOI: 10.1080/14616688.2015.1053972 Snyman, S.L. (2012). The role of tourism employment in poverty reduction and community perceptions of conservation and tourism in southern Africa. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 20:3, 395-416, DOI: 10.1080/09669582.2012.657202. Tumusiime, D Sjaastad, E (2014) Conservation and Development: Justice, Inequality, and Attitudes around Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, The Journal of Development Studies, 50:2, 204-225, DOI: 10.1080/00220388.2013.841886

Ireland UK It British Journal Of Psychiatry -Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Ireland UK It British Journal Of Psychiatry? Answer: Introducation This relates to legal and ethical issues that relate to your work environment at the youth centre. As it is with any new role, it is important to familiarise yourself with policies and procedures up front so you know what to do if a critical incident occurs. Write down at least three issues you need to respond to immediately, in order of priority. Priority 1. Calm Marcus down and get his suicidal thoughts in control. Priority 2. Arrange help for Julie so that she can overcome her auditing. Priority 3. Arrange cheaper house under homelessness Act. List two people (include their roles) at the youth centre you could ask help from in order to provide immediate support to Marcus. Head Counsellor- to provide counselling to people suffering from emotional and psychological imbalances. Housing consultant- to counsel people with cheaper housing options and save homelessness Using all of the information in the scenario complete the risk-assessment in Appendix 1. Page 10. Make sure that the information is clear, accurate and written in a comprehensive manner. (Such changes often are related to recent loss or threat of loss of significant others or of positive status and operations. They also may stem from sexual, physical, or substance abuse. Negative feelings and thoughts often are expressions of a sense of extreme loss, abandonment, failure, sadness, hopelessness, guilt, and sometimes inwardly directed anger). Is there a lack of a significant other to help the young person survive? Does the young person feel alienated? History Of Risk-Taking Behavior Does the young person take life-threatening risks or display poor impulse control? Use this checklist as an exploratory guide with the young person about whom you are concerned. Each yes raises the level of risk, but there is no single score indicating high risk. A history of suicide attempts, of course, is a sufficient reason for action. High risk also is associated with very detailed plans (when, where, how) that specify a lethal and readily available method, a specific time, and a location where it is unlikely the act would be disrupted. Further high risk indicators include the young person having made final arrangements and information about a critical, recent loss. Because of the informal nature of this type assessment, it should not be filed as part of a young persons regular school records. Once a risk assessment is completed what would be the appropriate action (next steps) to take to help prevent an escalation of Marcus and Julies issues? Julie shall have to make to quit her addiction, for which Marcus shall have to understand the plan of action to be followed. Once she is in a controlled environment, Marcus can helped to focus on himself and his studies. Another task is to help them with a cheaper home with help of other organizations providing homeless people cheapest possible houses. Marcus shall also be helped with a part time job to arrange for daily necessities(McGorry, Bates and Birchwood 2013). How do the following legal and ethical considerations relate to your work role? Please note that you will need to identify the name of the legislation that applies to your state/territory and source the information that you have found (e.g. website link, chapter of a textbook). You can review the Academic Referencing Guide in your student handbook. Name of the legislation (state specific) Your responsibilities in the workplace Source (e.g. link, chapter of a textbook) Child Protection Act 1999.To ensure that the child gets healthy environment to grow and his family supports him. Queensland Government, 2017. Child protection legislation. [online] Child Safety Services, Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services (Queensland Government). Available at: https://www.communities.qld.gov.au/childsafety/protecting-children/about-child-protection/child-protection-legislation Who would you report this to? This issue shall be reported to the head counsellor and Youth Protection Officer. Mandatory reporting Child Protection Act 1999. To ensure that the mandatory reporters including me and school personnel, timely identify and report any vulnerable case. Queensland Government, 2017. Mandatory reporting. [online] Child Safety Services, Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services (Queensland Government). Available at: https://www.communities.qld.gov.au/childsafety/protecting-children/about-child-protection/mandatory-reporting Who would you report this to? This issue shall be reported to the Youth Protection Officer. Duty of Care Youth Justice Act 1992 To ensure the proper disposition of my duties as a mentor, reporting timely to my seniors and helping the client to best of my abilities. Queensland Government, 2017. View - Queensland Legislation - Queensland Government. [online] Legislation.qld.gov.au. Available at: https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/html/inforce/2017-07-01/act-1992-044 Who would you report this to? This shall be reported to My Senior Mentor and Supervisor. What is your role within the context of delivering services to those experiencing or are at risk of homelessness? My role is to evaluate the safety of the people experiencing homelessness and make appropriate referrals for them to ensure they meet their safety requirements. I shall refer them to appropriate people in the organization to provide them direct help and also counsel them to keep positive approach towards the problem. I shall support them in case of any discrimination and help them address issue at higher levels (Parsell, Jones and Head 2012). What are the housing options for Marcus and Julie? Identify at least three options. Supported accommodation is a short-term option that can help Marcus and his mother to get back onto his feet. Independent living option shall help Marcus and his mother owning his home. Supervised group housing shall allow Marcus and his mother with his daily needs, living skills, and paying bills. List two services that you can contact and liaise with to help Marcus and Julie with their various issues. The two services which can be contacted and liaised with to help Marcus and Julie are Homelessness Australia and Brisbane Youth Service. These two work on the same issues which are faced by the two of them (Homelessness Australia, 2017). The services provided by them includes help to young parents, young women, advocacy, management relief in the time of crisis, health services either free of cost or at very minimal charges and housing facilities. These facilities shall help Marcus and Julie deal with their issues and get a better life (Brisbane Youth Service, 2017). What is the role of the youth centre as an organisation within the context of the housing sector? As an organization, the youth centre acts as an intermediary between various housing service providers and the people facing issues of homelessness. The youth centre can plan the housing of various unprivileged people and help construct a community which can help themselves with the minimum help from service providers in the community. Further, the centre can maintain a pool of housing service providers and help the people who need such service in planning of the service they shall avail(Parsell, Jones and Head 2012). Describe three case management activities that would be required to help Marcus and Julie. Be aware of your own personal values and attitudes when planning and implementing those activities. Provide counselling to both - this shall enable them evaluate their current scenario and plan their future accordingly. Both shall revive their faith on life. Marcus wants to commit suicide, while Julie sees no hope in her life and has thus succumbed to drinking alcohol. Counselling shall help Marcus develop positive attitude towards his problems. On the other hand, Julie shall be convinced to come out of her grief of the past and focus on her childs and her future. Plan rehabilitation for Julie Rehabilitation facility would help Julie overcome her alcohol addiction. It shall be combined with regular counselling and other therapy sessions to make sure that she is improving and getting back to her normal self gradually. It shall also make her overcome the years of abuse faced by her. She shall also be motivated to work and sustain her family to earn a better life. Plan school and part time job management for Marcus Marcus has not been attending school frequently. Despite being good at his subjects, he has not been performing well. To overcome this, the teachers shall focus on him for a time being. Along with his studies, Marcus shall also work part time to earn his daily bread till Julie is recovering from her addictions. With Julie doing well in her treatment, Marcus shall be able to focus on his life and career better(McGorry, Bates and Birchwood 2013). References Brisbane Youth Service, 2017. Brisbane Youth Service | Helping Homeless and At-Risk Youth. [online] Brisbane Youth Service. Available at: https://brisyouth.org/ [Accessed 6 Oct. 2017]. Homelessness Australia, 2017. About us | Homelessness Australia. [online] Homelessnessaustralia.org.au. Available at: https://www.homelessnessaustralia.org.au/about/about-us [Accessed 6 Oct. 2017]. McGorry, P., Bates, T. and Birchwood, M., 2013. Designing youth mental health services for the 21st century: examples from Australia, Ireland and the UK. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 202(s54), pp.s30-s35. Parsell, C., Jones, A. and Head, B., 2012. Policies and programmes to end homelessness in Australia: Learning from international practice. International Journal of Social Welfare, 22(2), pp.186-194. Queensland Government, 2017. Child protection legislation. [online] Child Safety Services, Department of Communities, Child Safety business Disability Services (Queensland Government). Available at: https://www.communities.qld.gov.au/childsafety/protecting-children/about-child-protection/child-protection-legislation [Accessed 6 Oct. 2017]. Queensland Government, 2017. Mandatory reporting. [online] Child Safety Services, Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services (Queensland Government). Available at: https://www.communities.qld.gov.au/childsafety/protecting-children/about-child-protection/mandatory-reporting [Accessed 6 Oct. 2017]. Queensland Government, 2017. View - Queensland Legislation - Queensland Government. [online] Legislation.qld.gov.au. Available at: https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/html/inforce/2017-07-01/act-1992-044 [Accessed 6 Oct. 2017].

The effectiveness of the transformation of the Desert Scene from text to screen Essay Example

The effectiveness of the transformation of the Desert Scene from text to screen Essay Baz Luhrmann has used many very effective film techniques in transforming the Mantua scene from text to screen. Through the choice of specific setting, music and camera techniques, he has emphasised the role of fate and haste in the lovers tragedy. The setting of Mantua in a barren, desert environment reinforces the isolation of Romeos banishment. With the harsh, unrelenting sun engulfing the scene with a strong orange light, it provides a stark contrast to earlier scenes where the love between Romeo and Juliet blossomed. The desert is a sterile environment, where in the absence of water, life ceases to exist. Baz Luhrmann has effectively employed the visual juxtaposition of water and desert to convey Romeos isolation. Even the caravans, a temporary residence, are situated far apart. But the desert does not only convey a literal setting, it is also symbolic of Romeos emotional desert. Without Juliet, Romeos life is barren and sterile. This metaphorical setting highlights the depth and true love between Romeo and Juliet. Romeos love for Juliet is not an infatuation, but rather having known her, his life becomes meaningless without her. We see Romeo writing in his isolation, and his emotions are clearly conveyed through the use of voice-over monologue. Him half mouthing the words makes what he is writing more natural and realistic. Yet the words themselves are ominous and foreshadowing death, where Romeo dreamt that he had died and yet been revived by Juliet. These innocent dreams are so close to the truth that it builds up tension in the film. Music and sound effects play a vital role in conveying emotions and affecting how audiences react to visual images. Baz Luhrmann uses music in the scene to further highlight Romeos isolation and build up tension. We will write a custom essay sample on The effectiveness of the transformation of the Desert Scene from text to screen specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The effectiveness of the transformation of the Desert Scene from text to screen specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The effectiveness of the transformation of the Desert Scene from text to screen specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The scene begins with Romeos theme music, a haunting, single-note melody. The music reverberates around the empty desert to emphasis the isolation. This music also takes the audience back to when we were first introduced to Romeo, in a similar melancholy mood as an unrequited lover. We come to associate this music with loneliness, despair and rejection. The music intensifies to a crescendo as another character, Balthasar, approaches the scene. It builds up to a climax for the fateful news, yet the scene is silent as Romeo receives the misinformed news. The silence allows Romeo to absorb the revelations, yet the audience is drawn into the action with this dramatic irony and we watch in anguish at the consequences of Balthasars mistake. The music changes again near the end of the scene, where it becomes a throbbing, relentless pulse. The strong beat forewarns of the actions that are going to take place, and builds up tension in the audience. The scene begins with the camera slowly sweeping across the desert and the next shot is a close-up focus on Romeos face. This close-up shot is very important as it reveals many small details. We are able to clearly identify with Romeos emotions, but more importantly, we are reminded by the scar and ring of dominating issues in the film. The scar is a remnant of Romeos fight with Tybalt and symbolises the violence and hatred in Verona. Violence and social decay is one of the main ideas explored by Baz Luhrmann in the film and the scar shows that even in isolation, Romeo can never completely escape from the realities of Verona society. This violence is further reinforced by the fleeting image of Romeo reaching for his gun as he sees the approaching car. Violence is so predominant and there is such mistrust in the society that weapons are used without a thought. The other important element seen in this close-up shot is the chain around Romeos neck, given to him by Juliet with her crucifix and her wedding ring. This reminds us of their love and Romeos connection with Juliet even in banishment. Yet this image is ironic in that once again, there is the juxtaposition of opposites, where the chain symbolises the love between Romeo and Juliet, but the scar, symbolic of the hatred between the families, forbids and restrains this love. This image relates to the foundations of the tragedy, where love is forbidden because of the feud. There is a dramatic change in mood as Romeo is told of the terrible news, and the camera reflects this with a high-angle shot of Romeo collapsed on the ground. This angle from above emphasises his vulnerability and despair. He is pushed to the lowest and as his body is silhouetted against the setting sun, Romeo faces a life of hopelessness without Juliet. The long angle shot afterwards show Romeo and Balthasar as tiny figures in a vast expanse of desert and lead to the idea of fate in the tragedy. It seems almost as if Romeo is overpowered by external forces, a small puppet on a large stage where he has no control over events. The central idea of fate is further reinforced by Romeo treading over the urgent telegram. The audience sees clearly how close the film was to a happy ending and fate is encapsulated by the final dramatic irony, where the mailman watches Romeo speeding off in haste, moments too late. The terrible timing of events show haste to also be a deciding factor in the chain of events, with the first shot of Balthasar overtaking the mail-van in his haste to reach Romeo and ending with Romeo speeding off, leaving the consequential telegram behind. Baz Luhrmanns has very successfully conveyed the ideas in the Shakespearean text through the use of effective film techniques. His choice of a desert environment, use of camera angles and music reinforces the role of fate and haste in the tragedy and reminds us that the juxtaposition of love and violence is never far away.

T4A(OAS) Tax Slips for Canadian Income Tax Returns

T4A(OAS) Tax Slips for Canadian Income Tax Returns A Canadian T4A(OAS) tax slip, or Statement of Old Age Security, is issued by Service Canada to tell you and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) how much old age security income you received during a tax year and the amount of income tax that was deducted. Deadline for T4A(OAS) Tax Slips T4A(OAS) tax slips must be issued by the last day of February the year after the calendar year to which the T4A(OAS) tax slips apply. Sample T4A(OAS) Tax Slip This sample T4A(OAS) tax slip from the CRA site shows what a T4A(OAS) tax slip looks like. For more information on what is included in each box on the T4A(OAS) tax slip and how to deal with it when filing your income tax return, click on the box number in the pull-down menu  above the sample T4A(OAS) tax slip. Filing T4A(OAS) Tax Slips With Your Income Tax Return When you file a paper income tax return, include copies of each of the T4A(OAS) tax slips you receive. If you file your income tax return using NETFILE or EFILE, keep copies of your T4A(OAS) tax slips with your records for six years in case the CRA asks to see them. Missing T4A(OAS) Tax Slips If you do not receive your T4A(OAS) tax slip, contact Service Canada at 1-800-277-9914 during regular business hours. You will be asked for your Social Insurance Number. Even if you havent received your T4A(OAS) tax slip, file your income tax return by the deadline anyway to avoid penalties for filing your income taxes late. Calculate your OAS income and any related deductions and credits you can claim as closely as you can using any information you have. Include a note saying what you have done to get a copy of the missing T4A(OAS) tax slip. Include copies of any statements and information you used in calculating the income and deductions for the missing T4A(OAS) tax slip. Viewing and Printing T4(OAS) Tax Slips Online If you wish to view and print your T4(OAS) tax slips online, you can make arrangements through the My Service Canada Account. For detailed information, see the following Service Canada pages: Get Your Tax Information Slips Online, andTax Information Slips in My Service Canada Account. Other T4 Tax Information Slips Other T4 tax information slips include: T4- Statement of Remuneration PaidT4A- Statement of Pension, Retirement, Annuity, and Other IncomeT4A(P)- Statement of Canada Pension Plan BenefitsT4E- Statement of Employment Insurance and Other BenefitsT4RIF- Statement of Income From a Registered Retirement Income FundT4RSP- Statement of RRSP Income

Readings are from Robert Nozick's The Examined Life Essay

Readings are from Robert Nozick's The Examined Life - Essay Example The philosopher offers to two of lives with the same amount of happiness. The first (A) slopes upwards with an increasingly amount of happiness as the individual ages while the second (B) slopes downwards with a decreasingly amount of happiness as the individual ages. In this case, Nozick is of the opinion that most people would prefer (A) over (B) despite the fact that all have an equal amount of happiness. Nozick asserts that (A) lives with the expectation of better things and more happiness in the future while (B) lives with the memories of the past happiness though his happiness continues to decline with age. Nozick concludes that human beings want happiness to have direction and contours as they age this is because people expect good things in the future (Nozick 86). In the second thought experiment of the experiment machine, Nozick demonstrates that pleasure does not lead to happiness. Nozick questions whether human beings would be willing to be hooked up in technology advances whereby virtual reality machines would allow them feel any experience they wish. According to his experiment, people would not be willing to remain in the machine since it is not real and lacks connection with reality matters such as growing. These feelings of experiment machine would only be false evaluations. According to Nozick, people can be happy for seeing numerous things realized such as World Peace thus feelings are directed connected to individual values that are realized such as academic success (Nozick 99). Happiness is a state of consciousness rather than illusions. Nozick focuses on the reality principle by asserting that happiness is seeing that something has been accomplished. Happiness is focusing at one moment in life that your life is better like what people feel when taking a walk. The third form is focusing on the whole life through reflection on the standard of life that an individual hoped to live. Happiness will entail emotions on events such as friendâ€℠¢s promotion in the workplace. Happiness is based on individual evaluations and beliefs concerning the future, the world, and prospects of success based on standards of expectations. Happiness is more than an emotional response (Nozick 102). Nozick demonstrates this using direction of happiness and experience machine. People would start their life unhappy but end it happy. People desire to live a meaningful life and undergo real experiences in their lives. For a person still hooked up to the experiment machine, being happy would not be the same as having a meaningful life. Living a meaningful life will entail having a positive effect on the surrounding people like family members and society. For one to have a meaningful life, repeated good experiences must be balanced with negative experiences. If people lived in the experiment machine, they would never have any opportunity to grow or establish any meaningful relationships with others. According to Nozick, experiment machine would e nable the individual to have the life desires and pleasures they wish but they would incur some costs since they would need to sacrifice their physical bodies in order to enter in the imaginative world that is reality. Nozick states that human beings should not use such machines since they are capable of living a meaningful life, but the machines destroy the idea of self as well as the ability to establish relationships with others (Nozick 101). Nozick advocates assert that human beings are

Case Analysis (Continued 2) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Case Analysis (Continued 2) - Essay Example So, in the remainder of the present segment, we shall attempt to determine Otis’s position on the Global Integration / Local Responsiveness Grid to determine the extent of the veracity of the statement. So, it is evident that Otis in Russia is influenced both by global as well as local factors. Thus, from this perspective, the notion of Otis being solely Russian does not hold. It is true that local factors play an important role, but the impact of global integration factors is not insignificant enough to validate the statement. However, if we consider the facts that the Russian operation is self financed with all employees and traditions being Russian, along with the strength of the local responsiveness factors, the statement cannot be so easily invalidated. The most important part is that Modernization, which is the most important part of the business, was invented and introduced by Otis in Russia, the statement does seem to be at least partially true. To facilitate an enhanced perception of the possible areas that can be focused upon to increase the extent of value created, the value creation at various stages is presented in the following table. The accorded comments for each stage in resources, assets and competencies are explained thereon through a more detailed narration. Otis’s prime strength lies in its R&D capabilities. Being a part of United Technologies Company (UTC), Otis strives on its constant innovations which in fact account for a significant part of the company’s budgets. UTC has a considerable number of engineering centers spread all over the globe and the culminated know how is efficiently utilized for all major subsidiaries. As a result resources, assets as well as competencies, all are significantly value generating for the R&D stages. Particularly in case of Otis-Russia, it benefits from not only this

Any topic that includes microeconomics Term Paper

Any topic that includes microeconomics - Term Paper Example Tariffs have adverse effects on an economy. However, governments continue imposing them on investors who import commodities from foreign nations (Gregory 2000 p 16). This essay is a critique of the economic implications of tariffs. It highlights the major reasons why governments impose tariffs on imported goods, which include; protection of the emerging as well as aging and incompetent local firms from unhealthy foreign competition, to enhance sustainability of local companies through prevention of dumping effect from foreign companies which may offer their products locally at an extremely low price that leads to losses by domestic firms (Mansfield and Yohe 23). The essay also presents the negative views of tariffs in regard to promoting trade and economic growth, which have been supported by various organizations such as the WTO and Word Bank. The double impact of tariffs on the economy imposing the tariffs as well the economy on which the tariffs have been imposed is highlighted. The impact of tariffs on the prices of locally manufactured goods, changes in demand for the goods and employment in the economy imposing the tariffs has been illustrated using the United States as an example of an economy imposing tariffs on foreign products from china (Swire 2009), and the Republic of Korea which illustrates an economy that does not impose taxes on foreign products in the domestic market. The essay also indicates the invisibility of the negative impacts of tariffs on the economy compared to the projected advantages. It also indicates the areas that need further research regarding tariff imposition, whereby researchers can search for information from published sources. One of the major reasons why governments impose tariffs on imports is to enhance the development of the emerging domestic industries to attain a size that able to cope with foreign competition. In other words it is one of the

Vodafone Planning Principles in competition

Vodafone Planning Principles in competition Introduction Marketing is the core of all business. To outperform the competition requires solid marketing knowledge and precision in marketing decision making. To market companys product or service, it is necessary to get positioning, positioning of its products and services depend on the formulation and implementation of intelligent and aggressive strategic marketing plans. As this assignment requires choosing an organization which fosters strategic marketing management process; therefore, Vodafone: multi-national UK-based mobile network operating company has been picked. About Vodafone The Vodafone group is a mobile network operator headquartered in  Newbury, England. They made their first phone call just minutes after  midnight  on the 1st  of January in 1985. In 1987 it was already recognized as the largest mobile network in the world. Today it is the biggest telecommunications network provider in the world by turnover and has a market value of about one hundred billion pounds. It is a FTSE 100 company and is ranked 3rd overall just behind Royal Dutch Shell and the BP group.   Vodafone currently has equity interests in twenty-five countries and has other partner networks with assets in another forty one countries. It is the second largest mobile telecom group in the world behind China Mobile and has more than ten million customers in the  United Kingdom,  Germany,  India,  Italy,  Spain,  Turkey,  Egypt  and the  United States. At a glance of Vodafone [1]: Type : Public Limited Company (PLC) Industry : Telecommunications Founded : 1984 Headquarters : Newbury, United Kingdom Area Served : World wide Website : www.vodafone.com [1] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vodafone Task 1 1.1 Vodafone Marketing Planning Principles Vodafone market planning involves deciding on marketing strategies that will help the company attain its overall strategic objectives.  Ã‚  A detailed marketing plan is needed for each business, product, or brand. It has external and internal environments where plenty of strategic elements are involved. As part of marketing planning principles, macro-environmental scanning will be conducted by analyzing significant macro factors affecting the telecom industry while Porters five forces, SWOT analysis (SW-for micro environment and OT-for macro environment) will be utilized to assess the micro-environment surrounding telecom industry. Later, BCG matrix as part of Vodafone portfolio analysis technique is explained. 1.2 Vodafone Plan Development Using Analytical Tools and Techniques 1.2.1 Macro-environmental factors: To analyze the macro factors of the Vodafone Plc, PESTEL analysis, SWOT analysis (OT is detailed in macro environmental issues) is described. 1) PESTEL analysis: Political factors: Regulations- Mobile phones licenses are tightly controlled and are very expensive. In some cases tight measures are implemented by the government in order to decrease mobile phone use for children because of health issues. Infrastructure- To build up an infrastructure to support the network usually requires permission from the government and other regulative bodies. Economical factors: The recession has decreased the amount of money customers are willing to spend, therefore there is a price war between leading network providers to drive down costs of calls and SMS to attract more customers. Cost of licensing-When the technology of 3G was introduced there was a bid war amongst leading companies which ended up in a high expenditure of acquiring this technology Social-cultural factors: Fashion- In some countries especially in  Europe  it is in fashion to have a mobile phone. The market in  Europe  is so big that all kind of phones are being sold here. These days in iphone by Apple has conquered most of the market and is the best seller in the  UK  at the moment Demographics- Mobile phones tend to be used by the younger members of society.   In a country where the population is ageing, which is the trend across the EU, the demographics may shift to a more aged population who may have less use for mobile phones. Technological factors: 3G (3rd Generation)-The introduction of this technology have helped Vodafone to interact easier through their phone and they were able to offer services like the mobile internet or famous social networking sites like facebook directly accessible from the phone. It is now much easier for business customers to arrange meetings and get information directly on their handset. Vodafone also offers tailored price plans for business customers. GPS (Global Positioning System) It is now possible to get a navigation programme on the handset where supported. Instead of buying expensive navigation systems the customer can pay one off fees and use the system The technology advancement in general will help Vodafone to cope with the growing competition all over the worked and will help them increase to attract more customers through these technology developments. Environmental factors: Vodafone have established a recycling programme for phones in order to help the environment and recycle and reuse the materials used in the handset. They give incentives in terms of money to customers hand in their old phone in exchange for a new one. Legal factors: Law-There are some laws which regulates the actions of business e.g. The Sales of Goods Act 1974 stating all products must be fit for the purpose they are intended. A mobile phone must therefore work. These laws are created to regulate particular industries for example the ban on mobile phones while driving. This significantly increased the sale of headsets. 2) SWOT analysis (PART 1: OT under macro environment): Opportunities: Emerging markets offers Vodafone to introduce their unique services to that market where the market has high rate of growth. They can become a market leader as they are the biggest network provider in the world and their experience could help them to achieve that. At the moment having a mobile phone is a necessity for many people and the trend is going up that people are tending to have one or more mobile phone. This could turn out positive for Vodafone as the market tends to increase by size and volume in terms of sales. Threats: Competition could be a threat organization as more different products and services are being offered by different companies. The iphone for example introduced by o2 has significantly decreased sales of other products and services because they reserved the rights to be the only distributor of the phone in the  UK. The effect of rules and regulation by the government can also be threat to Vodafone as they could ban or set price regulations. 3) Marketing Mix Vodafone uses its advantage as being a large global organization and implements differentiation and cost leadership strategy as they benefit from economies of scale. This allows them to have a competitive advantage and adding more value to their range of services to the customers compared to other competitors. The marketing mix consists of many different factors, which are grouped together into four main categories: product, place, price and promotion. Product-Vodafone offers different type of products to different type of customers and so can segment their market in this field. Since the introduction of 3g services they can offer more than just voice calls and messaging. Customers are able to access he internet and other multimedia applications on the go and can benefit from the unique quality of Vodafone. Price-They are able to offer different services for different customers like pre pay phones, pay monthly contracts and business solutions for businesses. This allows them structure their pricing method towards different needs of the customer. Place-Vodafone operates mainly through their retail stores all over the  UK. There are over 300 retail outlets and they also offer their services through independent retailer like Phones4u. Promotion-Vodafone affectively operated a solid marketing structure which includes advertising poster on the street, TV campaign and also use famous celebrities like David Beckham to advertise their products. This ensures people are aware of their special offers and discounts. 1.2.2 Micro environmental factors: 1) SWOT analysis (PART 2: SW under micro-environment): Strengths: The size of the organization plays an important factor when we are speaking about their strength. Their global presence and network makes it easy for them to be more competitive even on a global scale. Vodafone is reputable company and there are famous for being the best in their field. Their brand image is very important when it comes to sales and increasing them. Standardized customer relation management is also a feature of Vodafone.   The company is developing a group-wide standard in customer relation management to ensure an awareness of its customer base and their preferences in order to help the efficient sales of its new services and products. Weaknesses: Developing new technologies can turn out very expensive. If these technologies fail to succeed in the market this could end up in a huge loss which would be hard to recover from. They can not introduce new technologies where it is not possible this could be because they are facing the legal issues within that country. 2) Porters 5 forces: By using the five forces model of completion, competitor analysis network   by understanding how the threat of new entrants, the bargaining power of buyers, the bargaining power of suppliers, the threat of substitutes and the competition of other firms and how they affect the company directly. Competitive Rivalry   The competition in the  UK  for example is very much intense and big organizations like O2,  Orange and T-Mobile have a significant impact on revenues. Bargaining power of buyers   Customers have the choice of many different type of product at present time due to the high level of competition. In terms of different type of packages and different prices people tend to go for other companies and buy their product. Bargaining power of suppliers   Vodafone is one of the largest network providers in the world and therefore they are able to use the benefits of economies of scale and reduce their production costs. This allows them to increase their profit margin compared to other companies and offer better a price to value ratio to the customer. Threat of substitutes   There is a low risk of substitutes for Vodafone as they have established a good brand image. Apart from that as they benefit from economies of scale they can sell their services at the same price like their competitors. Threat of new entry   As there is no threat for other companies to enter the market because of rules and regulations and the high cost of licenses required to operate a network, Vodafone has to continue being efficient and reducing costs in order to price match their competitors. Threat of New Entrants Bargaining Power of Buyer Competitive Rivalry (O2, Orange, 3 mobile, T-mobile) Bargaining Power of Supplier Threat of Substitution Figure 01: Porters 5 forces of Vodafone [Figure Source: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_08.htm] 4) BCG (Boston Consultancy Group) Matrix: Question Marks Stars Dogs Cash Cows High Market Growth Low Low Market Share High Figure 02: BCG (Boston Consultancy Group) Matrix of Vodafone   Stars   The star of their products which is the main product they offer are the monthly contracts they offer as these are very popular amongst the customers. Cash Cows   this is the product which generated revenue but is at a stage where it does not grow. The messaging services they offer generate good revenue for them and as there is no opportunity to expand as that this service is their cash cow. Dogs   This would be their analogue services as they do not really generate revenue because of too much competition. Question Mark   This product is the one with high growth potential and low market share. In this case it would be the 3g serves they offer. As there are other companies offering the same services it hard to gain a higher market share. Task 2 2.1 Strategic Marketing Options for Vodafone Marketing strategy always considers options where it can be applied. In Vodafone, the following marketing strategy options can be applied though both matrixes have got some advantages and disadvantages as well. General Electric/McKinsey (GE) Matrix: GE matrix is used mainly for market attractiveness. The examination and understanding of market attractiveness is very important in determining investment strategies in a country of operation. The advantages and disadvantages of GE matrix are given as follows: Advantages Disadvantages Thorough competitive analysis provides a basis for ranking relative strength of business units in their particular environment. Formal definition of components is not clear or simple (Johnson 1985) Analysis is difficult for outsiders to reproduce (Johnson 1985). Determinants: Industry attractiveness and business strength. The following figure shows the concept of GE Matrix. Figure 03: General Electric (GE) Matrix [Source: www.marketingteacher.com] Shell Directional Policy Matrix [2]: The Shell Directional Policy Matrix is another refinement upon the Boston Matrix. Along the horizontal axis are  prospects for business sector profitability, and along the vertical axis is a companys competitive capability. As with the GE Business Screen the location of a Strategic Business Unit (SBU) in any cell of the matrix implies different strategic decisions. However decisions often span options and in practice the  zones  are an irregular shape and do not tend to be accommodated by box shapes. Instead they blend into each other. Advantages Disadvantages Considers both, international capabilities of the company and competitors capabilities. Market Position is restricted to market share.  Ã‚  Assumes countries have stable political, social and economic environments.  Ã‚  Only regulatory aspects pertaining to Shells products have been addressed. Determinants: Companys competitive capabilities and business sector prospects. The following figure shows the concept of SDP Matrix. Figure 04: Shell Directional Policy Matrix [Source: www.marketingteacher.com] [2] http://www.mbaknol.com/strategic-management/shells-directional-policy-matrix/ 2.2 Evaluation of Marketing Strategy Options for Vodafone Despite the shortcomings of previous studies and models, attempts at reaching an understandable model for determining international business strategy have been ongoing.  Ã‚  The marketing literature presents a number of models designed to guide managers in making strategic investment decisions for Vodafone Plc.  Ã‚  Included in that number are matrix approaches such as Shell directional policy matrix (Robinson, Hichens, and Wade 1978), and GE/McKinsey (Taylor 1976).  Ã‚  These models have each provided a unique contribution to the strategy process but each also has distinct disadvantages.  Ã‚  The advantages and disadvantages of each are, particularly; concerned for firms interested in the international market is the fact that these models do not take into consideration the international environment.  Ã‚  Many multinational companies still confront the problem of integrating environmental assessments into decision making in a systematic and objective manner.  Ã‚  The task facing them is how to translate recognition of the business situation into action.  Previous models are limited in their generalizability across different types of industries and actual environments worldwide. Task 3 3.1 Current Changes in the Marketing Environment in Vodafone As Vodafone is a worldwide company and operates in over 27 different countries, this makes analyzing the external environment fairly difficult using a PEST analysis. The PEST analysis in this report is mainly directed at Vodafones UK external environment in terms of strategic marketing management policy. PEST analysis: Political Political factors can have a direct impact on the way businesses operate. Decisions made by the government  affect  our everyday lives and can come in the form of policy or legislation.   The Governments introduction of a statutory minimum wage affects all businesses, as do consumer, Health Safety laws and so on. The current increase in global petrol prices is having a profound impact on major economies, it is estimated that  £200bn has been added to the global fuel bill since the price increases started. Another political factor is OFTEL, the telecommunications regulator in the UK whose purpose is to ensure phone companies, meet their obligations under telecoms and competition laws and regulations.  Ã‚  The UK government regulates this industry through OFTEL.   Economical All businesses are affected by economical factors nationwide and globally. Interest rate policy and fiscal policy will have to be set accordingly. Within the UK the climate of the economy dictates how consumer may behave within society. Whether an economy is in a boom, recession or recovery will  also affect consumer confidence and activities. Economies internationally also have an impact on UK businesses, cheaper labor abroad affects the competitiveness of UK products nationally and globally.   An increase in interest rates in the USA will influence the share price of UK stocks. A truly global player like Vodafone has to be aware of economic conditions across all borders and ensure they employ strategies and tactics that guard their business and marketing investment. Socio-cultural: Within society forces such as family, friends, and media affect our attitude, interest and opinions. These forces shape who we are as people and the way we behave and what we ultimately purchase. The end users of wireless products are becoming increasingly aware of quality and expect a product that is reliable during use. GSM has been an unqualified success because it works, offers definite advantages over first generation and is at a price where everyone can access the technology. One problem that has been apparent over recent years is the high market exposure given to new features and technologies, which are not well proven and tested before launch. WAP was a prime example of this. A great deal of effort has been injected into WAP to make sure the early teething problems have been overcome, but the public can sometimes demonstrate memory akin to an elephant and changing opinions is a much harder marketing nut to crack. The market expectation for Bluetoothà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ and 3G has been raised considerably so now we are at a critical stage in fulfilling the advertised dream. Technological Advanced technology is changing the way businesses operate. The Internet is having a profound impact on the marketing mix strategy of organizations. Consumers can now shop 24 hours a day, comfortably from their homes. Vodafone has been using the Internet for advertising like a lot of other organizations trying to sell their business. There is renewed interest by many governments to encourage investment in research and development and to develop technology that will give their country the competitive edge. The one-stop-shop customer need, and the manufacturers success in integrating cellular, cordless and internet user applications into a single unit has meant that a wireless test company has to consider all major technologies and review each for their commercial benefits. In some instances some technology advancements will not create a profitable business in isolation. Vodafone has introduced new technology such as Vodafone Live, and now the introduction of the new 3G mobile phones means Vodafone will implement the new technology into their system to bring the service to the customer. 3.2 Analyzing Vodafones Potential Responses to the Strategic Marketing Changes 3.3 Recommendation and Conclusion