Consequences of High Interest Rates in the Ghanaian Economy…..

Interest rates are among the closely watched variables in the economy. The media on daily bases record their movement because they affect our everyday lives and have crucial consequences for the health of the economy. They affect personal decisions as whether to consume or save, whether to buy a house and whether to purchase bonds or put funds into a savings account. Interest rates also affect the economic decisions of households or businesses such as whether to put their money in the bank or invest in new equipments for factories.Before continuing, we must understand exactly what interest rates mean. By holding financial instruments , such as loans or bonds. Savers and financial institutions extend credits to those individuals or firms that issue the instruments. The amount of credit extended is the principal amount of the loan or the bond. Those who hold financial instruments do so because they receive payments from the issuers in the form of interest. The percentage return earned is the interest rate or rate of return.Rate of return is the price of credit in financial markets and is usually expressed as a percentage (%) of the total amount borrowed that is to be paid each year (over and above the repayment of the principal, or amount borrowed). Thus, it is the price of credit of the rate of exchange between the present and the future. Rate of returns (r) vary given interest rate (i). It is the value of i that just equates the present value (PV) of the benefits of the extra capital when discounted at i to its cost (Pk). That is, r is defined as : r=MRP/Pk, where: MRP=Marginal Revenue Product Pk= CostWe would however, take a look at how interest rate is calculated, various theoretical analyses that seek to explain the determination of interest rates, distinctions between nominal and real interest rates. Finally, we shall relate it to the case of the Ghanaian economy and look at the consequences of the high interest rates in Ghana. CONCEPTS OF INTEREST YIELD/RA TE Interest yields on financial instruments are thought of in different ways. The most important of these are Nominal Yield Current Yield Yield to Maturity NOMINAL YIELD Assuming that a bond is issued in an amount of 100,000 with an agreement to pay 6000 in interest every year.The annual payment of 6000 is the bond’s annual coupon return. This is simply the fixed amount of interest that the bond yields each year. The nominal yield on a bond is equal to rN= C/F, where rN is the nominal yield, C is the coupon return and F is the face amount of the bond. The annual yield of the 100,000bond with the 6000 coupon yield or return is equal to 6000 / 1000,000=0. 06 or 6 percent. Current Yield The current secondary market price of the bond typically is not the face value of the bond. Bonds often sell in the secondary market at prices that are different from their face value.For this reason, those contemplating on bond purchase often are interested in the current yield of a bond. This e quals to r i =C/P Where ri denotes the current market yield, C is the coupon return and P is the current market price of a bond. For instance, the current market price of a bond with a face value of 100,000 might be 90,000. If the coupon return on the bond is 6,000 per year, then annual current yield on this bond is equal to 6,000/90,000=0. 667 or 6. 7 percent. Yield on Maturity A bond’s yield on maturity is the rate of return if the bond is held until maturity.Calculating this yield can be complicated, however, because the bonds normally differ. Typically, bonds are sold at a discount, below its face value. Hence, other things being equal, the bond holder receives an automatic capital gain if the bond is held to maturity. A capital gain occurs when the value of a financial asset at the time it is redeemed or sold is higher than its market value when it was purchased. Consequently, the bond pays a coupon return. The yield to maturity must account for both the capital gain and the coupon returns that a bond yields to its owner. MEASURING INTEREST RATESThe financial credit market instrument can be classified under four types ?Simple Loan This provides the borrower with an amount of funds (principal) which at the maturity date must be repaid to the lender along with an additional amount known as an interest payment. Supposing, a bank made you a simple loan of 100,000 for one year, you would have to pay the principal of 100,000 in one year’s time along with an additional interest payment of say 10,000 given interest rate to be 10%. Most often, commercial bank loans to businesses are often of this type. ?Fixed payment loan:This provides the borrower with an amount of funds that he is to repay by making the same payment every month, which comprises part of the principal and interest for a given number of years. For example, if you borrowed 100,000, a fixed payment loan might require you to pay 12,600 every year for 25 years. ?Coupon Bond A coupon bond pays the owner of the bond a fixed interest payment every year until the maturity date, when a specified final amount is repaid. For example, a coupon bond with 100,000 face values might pay you a coupon payment of 10,000 per year for 10 years and at the maturity date repays you the face value amount of 100,000. Discount Bond A discount bond is bought at a price below its face value (at a discount) and the face value is repaid at the maturity date. However, unlike the coupon bond, the discount bond makes no interest payment. It just pays off the face value. For example, a discount bond with a face value of 100,000 might be bought for ? 90000 and in a year’s time the owner would be repaid a face value of 100,000. These four types of instruments require payments at different times. Simple loan and discount bonds make payment only at their maturity dates, while fixed payment loans and coupon bonds have payments periodically until maturity.The decision as to which of the instrume nts provides you with more income is difficult since they all make payments at different times. To solve this problem, the concept of present value was invented to provide us with a procedure for measuring interest rate on these different types of instruments, Present Value (PV) approach shows the present value Ao of a known amount An, to be received in ‘n’ years assuming compound interest is at the rate ( i) . The present value (PV) formula is Ao=An/(1+i)n NORMINAL VERSUS REAL RATES OF INTEREST So far we have discussed interest rates only in current cedi terms.There is, however, a problem with this. Inflation can erode the value of interest received when a financial instrument matures. Any individual must take this into account when evaluating how much to save. For instance, supposing that a saver can earn a stated current cedi interest rate or nominal interest rate of r=0. 06(6%) on each cedi that he allocates to a one year bond. Supposing also that the saver expects that prices of goods and services would rise by a factor, ? e=0. 03(3%) Where ? e is expected rate of inflation. This is the rate of inflation that he expects to face.Such inflation would reduce the amount of goods and services that his interest would permit him to purchase. Thus, although the saver earns post interest on the bonds he anticipates the inflation will eat away at that interest and the rate ? e. Hence, the real interest rate that this saver anticipated or his expected inflation-adjusted interest rate is approximately equal r = r-? e r = 0. 06-0. 03=0. 03, Where r = real interest and r = nominal interest rate. In terms of what his savings can buy this saver actually anticipates earnings only 3% on his one year bond.A rate of return in current-cedi terms that does not reflect anticipated inflation is known as Nominal Interest Rate. The anticipated rate of return from holding a financial instrument after taking into account the extent to which inflation is expected to redu ce to the amount of goods and services that this return could be used to buy is termed as Real Interest Rate. The real interest rate is crucial for determining how much the individual desires to save. The reason is that savings is foregone consumption. This individual is likely to give up more consumption if the real rate of return on savings is large.This means that the real interest rate is a crucial determinant of the saving in the nation where this saver is a citizen. Countries with high nominal interest rates often experience very low saving rates because expected inflation is so high. THEORIES OF INTEREST RATES Various theories have been propounded by various economists to explain the determination of interest rates. However we would focus on three main theories namely; †¢Classical theory †¢Neo-classical/Loanable funds Theory †¢Keynesian/Liquidity Preference Theory CLASSICAL /REAL THEORY OF INTEREST RATESThis theory by Marshall and Pigou uses savings and investm ent in determining interest rates. The theory equates investment to demand for capital or supply of bonds (i. e. , sales of bonds). and savings to supply of Capital or Demand for bonds (i. e. purchases of bonds). Hence interest rate is determined when investment equals savings as illustrated below Figure 1. INVESTMENTS – SAVINGS COMBINATION IN THE BONDS MARKET Where B (supply of bonds) = I( investment ) B (demand for bonds )= S (savings) r is the equilibrium rate of interest at where S=IAccording to the classicals, there are only two groups of people in the market to provide bonds; investors and government. Firms sell bonds in order to have capital or funds for investments. The sale of bonds however, depends on the expected rate of returns and the cost in selling the bonds. Hence bond price is expressed as PB=Y/r where PB=Bond Price , Y=rate of returns and r= interest rate, implying an inverse relationship between Bond prices and interest rates, Expected rate of returns is as sumed fixed, and when interest rate rises above the rate of returns, it affects the relationship between investment and interest rate.Assumptions: †¢The classicals assume that, †¢Income is constant †¢The saving-investment schedules are independent of one another Criticisms: †¢Keynes asserts that income is variable and not constant and that the equality between savings and investment is brought about by changes in income and not by variations in the rate of interest. †¢Keynes also states that the saving-investment schedules are not independent of one another THE NEO-CLASSICAL/LOANABLE FUNDS THEORY This theory explains the determination of interest in terms of demand and supply of loanable funds or credit.The theory defines rate of interest as the price of credit which is determined by the demand and supply for loanable funds. According to Prof. Lerner, it is the price which equates the supply of credit or saving plus the net increase in the amount of money in a period to the demand for credit or investment plus net hoarding in the period Demand for Loanable Funds. Three main entities of demand for loanable funds; governments, business men and consumers need them for purposes of investment, hoarding and consumption. Government borrows funds for constructing public works.Business men borrow for the purchase of capital goods and for investment projects. Such borrowings are interest elastic and depend mostly on the expected rate of profit. Individual consumers however may demand loanable funds for the purchase of durable consumer goods like houses. These borrowings are also interest elastic. At lower rates of interest, people borrow more than at higher rates of interest in order to enjoy their consumption now. Supply of loanable funds The supply of loanable funds comes from savings, dishoardings and bank credit.The main sources of supply of loanable funds are private, individual and corporate savings. Savings depend on the level of income. For a given level of income savings will depend on interest rate, and the higher the interest rate the greater will be the inducement to save and vice versa. This saving is referred to as Personal Savings. Corporate savings are the undistributed profits of firms and it also depends on current rate of interest to some extent. High interest rate deters borrowing and thus encourages savings. Dishoarding may also occur when interest rate is high or increases.Thus, one dishoards (ie, releasing hoarded money or idle money holdings), if the cost of holding that money increases as a result of high interest rate. Hence, there is a positive relationship between interest rate and dishoarding. Banks also give credit when the borrowing rate is high. That is when interest rate on credit payable by borrowers is high, hence a positive relationship between interest rate and bank credit. Criticisms: †¢Savings not interest elastic. The theory over emphasis the influence of the rate of interest on savings as interest elastic.Thus, people save not only to earn rate of interest but also for other purposes like precautionary motive, hence savings are interest inelastic. †¢The theory is also criticized for combining monetary factors with real factors making it unrealistic. †¢Equilibrium rate reflects unstable equilibrium. The demand and supply schedules for loanable funds determine the equilibrium rate of interest OR which does not equate each component on the supply side with the corresponding components on the demand side. KEYNESIAN/ LIQUIDITY PREFERENCE THEORYKeynes defines interest rate as the price which equilibrates the desire to hold wealth in the form of cash that is the demand and supply of money determines interest rates. The supply of money is considered fixed and exogenously determined (that is inelastic). Demand for money is also called liquidity preference which is the desire to hold money. In this case, interest rate is the premium which has to be offere d to induce people to hold their wealth in some form other than hoarded money. According to Keynes, speculative demand for money is determined by interest rate and bond prices.He considered the current interest (i) as that which determines the speculative demand for money. The higher the rate of interest, the lower the speculative demand for money. At very low rate of interest people will rather prefer to keep their money in cash than investing in bonds because purchasing of bonds will mean a loss. Determination of interest rates The equilibrium interest rate is determined at a point where the supply and demand for money equilibrates. At the point of liquidity trap, there is the belief that interest rate will not fall but will at a point in time rise hence investors hold money against future rise in interest rate.Criticisms: †¢The theory is considered as indeterminate by Prof. Handson. Keynes asserts the liquidity preference determines the interest rates. The problem is that a new liquidity preference curve would have to be drawn at each level of income. This indicates that income levels will have to be known before otherwise, the supply and demand for money curves cannot tell us what the interest rates will be. †¢Hicks and others were of the view that interest rate is determined by the following; i. Investment demand function ii. Savings function iii. Liquidity preference function iv. Quantity of money function.They are present in Keynes theory but not all are the interest rate analysis. Keynes ignores investment and savings, hence his theory is considered as incomplete. TRENDS IN SAVINGS AND LENDING RATES IN THE GHANAIAN ECONOMY (1994-2004). YEAR19941995199619971998199920002001200220032004 LENDING RATE31. 2440. 5641. 7143. 5838. 536. 54743. 7536. 3632. 7528. 8 DEPOSITE RATE21. 3726. 7532. 2432. 320. 215. 3925. 817. 4312. 4911. 969. 87 INTEREST SPREAD9. 8713. 819. 4711. 2818. 321. 1121. 226. 3223. 8720. 7918. 9 The interest spread was calculated as a difference in the averages of the lending and the deposit rates covering the said period.Between 1997 and 2001, the interest spread increased and subsequently started falling at a slightly varying decreasing rate. This was the period when the lending rates were high 43. 75% in 2001, down from 47% in 2000 because of the high inflation rate and the general turbulence within the economy. The corresponding deposit rate was 17. 43%. Between the years 2001 and 2004, the average interest spread was 23. 66%. This rate of profits of the commercial banks, heralded the spiral influx of foreign banks especially from neighbour Nigeria. It has been taunted that the banking sector is doing very well.In reality there has not been much competition between the existing banks, hence the high lending rate as well as their profits. They tended to act as collusive oligopolies. Recent developments and trends in the banking sector has been that, competition at long last has set in. For instance the Zenit h Bank has unilaterally decided to reduce it’s lending rate 14. 1% with respect to the general rate. This will result in much more innovation in the sector resulting in better banking services and a general reduction in the interest rate as pertained in competitive markets.From the existing trends, especially as indicated in the graph above, other sectors of the economy will take advantages of the low interest rate to boost up investments and hence output with a resultant increase in the GDP. This is the miracle of interest rates. HIGH VERSUS LOW INTEREST RATES IN THE GHANAIAN ECONOMY. In most economies including Ghana, interest rates are largely influenced by the prime rate which is the rate at which the central bank gives over-night loans to the commercial banks. Thus, when Bank of Ghana (BOG) fixes its prime rate, interest rates are adjusted depending on the direction of the prime rate.There is however a positive relationship between prime rate and interest rates. When pri me rate is set high or low interest rates are also fixed relatively high or low. For instance, interest rates followed a declining pattern in 2003. The monetary policy committee of BOG revised the prime rate downwards from 21. 5% in 2003 to 18. 5% in 2004. In line with this downward revision, the commercial banks’ base rates dropped from an average of 29. 0% to 25. 4%. Interest rates for the 91-day treasury bill dropped from 18. 71% at the beginning of the year to 17. 8% at the close of December 2004. The inter-bank interest rate also dropped from 17. 12% in January to 16. 23% at the end of December. Interest rates, however, low or high have both favourable and adverse effects on the economy of a country. During periods of high interest rates investment falls and savings increase and vice versa in the case of low interest rates. The table and graph below shows interest rates, 1998-2004 and interest rate margins respectively. YEAR1998199920002001200220032004 SAVINGS22262929. 2 525. 232319. 25 TIME DEPOSITS914. 7513. 520. 520. 1418. 515. 5Holders of stocks lose during periods of high interest rates and holders of money (cash) gain though money earns zero interest. In periods of economic boom, high interest rates might be needed to check inflation, while low interest rates will be needed to stimulate investments and create employment in recessions. In between these two extremes, interest rates are adjusted up or down depending on prevailing economic conditions. High interest rates will slow down the economy and cripple the private sector. Investors cannot access funds from financial institutions, thus creating low level of investments.It will also be tempting to invest available funds in high yielding bonds than in infrastructural business investments. This will reduce spending, shrink national output and bring down inflation. Low level of investments will therefore create unemployment. The central bank reacts by lowering interest rates using the sight depo sit rate (inter-bank transaction rate with commercial banks also referred to as the key rate). Low interest rates stimulate the economy. Investors can access low-cost capital for investment. Employment increases, and the national output increases.Low interest rates therefore allow for borrowing and spending, but then, inflation will also pick up. As inflation picks up, companies can increase employment, since real wages decrease. Successive increase in interest rate leads to inflation. Inflation however bad for an economy also leads to reducing unemployment rates since there is a negative relationship between inflation rate and unemployment rate. CONSEQUENCES OF HIGH INTEREST RATES IN THE GHANAIAN ECONOMY. High interest rates have certain repercussions in the Ghanaian economy. Prior to 1987, there was a decline in economic growth and development in Ghana due to high interest rates.Current high interest rates on bank loans (over 25%) and treasury bills (17%) have been a serious imped iment to raising capital in the local market. private sector growth in Ghana has been constrained by limited financing opportunity for private investments. High interest rates lead to crowding out of the private sector in the money market; it makes available loanable funds to the government. Thus, lenders of loanable funds shift lending to only the government with the surety that there is 100% safety in retrieving their money since they believe that governments do not die.Studies done in the past show that the growth process in Ghana has been driven mostly by public investments. As a result, some have attributed the lack of accelerated growth to a combination of weak investment and low productivity from the private sector. Hence the current government in its manifesto promised to make the private sector the engine of growth by providing the right socio-economic framework. For example, the government through the monetary policy committee of the bank of Ghana (BOG) managed to reduce t he Bank’s Prime Rate from 21. % in 2003 to 18. 5% in 2004 and currently down from 15. 5% at the beginning of 2006 to 14. 5%. When the prime rate fell, the BOG was expecting a corresponding decrease in commercial bank lending rates but its evident that the private sector is not responding to such developments; commercial bank lending rates have ranged between 18. 5% and 33. 5% as indicated by the Governor of the BOG. This has been a major concern for small and medium scale enterprises that cannot access loans at these exorbitant rates to expand their activities High interest rate may lead to increase in debt ratio that is, when interest rate is set high, cost of governments borrowing increases, interest payments increases and total debt increases. When government wants to finance its debt, it either prints out or borrows money to finance its debt. However if the government wants to avoid the former which usually leads to inflation, it falls on borrowing to finance its debt. Th ese borrowings also attract interest payment which increases the total debt payment in economy.For instance, profile of interest rates in Ghana reveals the real rates ranging from 10% to 21. 7% in 1996 to 1999. The high rates which are more than 100% between 1996 and 1999 worsen the debt burden. It is clear that since1997, borrowing from domestic sources was not even enough to finance the deficit as a result of high interest payments, thus for the last half of the 1990’sthe country had to borrow externally and/or print money to finance the deficit. For instance, in 1995 change in domestic debt was 200. 9 billion cedis but interest payment was 232. billion cedis which is over and above the change in domestic debt. As in year 2000 change in domestic debt was just 855. 5 billion cedis but interest payment was1446. 2 billion cedis over and above the change in debt. Consequently, as a result of the borrowing (i. e. domestic and external) it contributed to a high rate of growth of our debt that led to a state of bankruptcy in which the government failed to honour its debt obligation. As a result, in 2001 the Ghanaian economy was declared H. I. P. C. ?The need for the government to make interest payments on large debt may contribute to inflation.For example ,inflation may result if the government decides to finance interest payment, not by collecting taxes, instead by borrowing. For instance, prior to year 2000, the government of Ghana depended on borrowing to finance its debt as a result inflation recorded at that period was very high ( i. e. 41%). ?At very high rate of interest people hold bonds or save money rather than investing. Inflation occurs as a result of higher prices of goods and services, cost of living become very high, the poor and low income earners suffer economic hardships.Between 1980 and 1983 in Ghana, inflation was very high not forgetting interest rate as well. This led to economic hardships in 1983. ?High interest rate deprives both loca l and foreign investors from investing in the economy. This disturbs economic growth and development. In Ghana, when interest rates are high foreign investors invest in capital goods rather than in productive ventures. In spite of the consequences of high interest rate, there are also some benefits. The truism that high interest rate contributes to high inflation rate reduces unemployment ratio in the economy.In Ghana for instance, the economy has achieved respectable rate of GDP growth averaging over 4% in the 1990s as compared to the negative average growth rate over the period 1970 -1983. However, the average inflation rate fell to about 19% in 1998 relative to 122% in 1983 due to increase in employment levels or a reduction in unemployment levels as one of the factors responsible for this trend. ?High interest rate serves as a tool for monetary control in the economy. Through the use of the open market operation (OMO), where the economy is operating beyond its full employment le vel.That is when it is considered as being hot; the rate of interest can be increased by the central bank in the purchases of previously issued governments bonds. This mops up excess liquidity thereby reducing the money supply in the economy. The result is that demand for money now exceeds money supply thereby bidding up interest rate. This slows down the growth rate to an acceptable level enabling the economy to operate at full employment level. ?During periods of high interest rate, financial institutions records very high turn-overs. Governments tend to earn high tax revenue through taxes charged on banks’ turnovers.The bank of Ghana’s annual report (1997), recorded a high turn-over as a result of high interest rates as shown in the table below . The Central Bank maintained its rediscount rate at 45. 00per cent throughout the year under review. Money market rates were also fairly stable in the year. The 91-day Treasury Bill discount rate for example remained at 42. 80 per cent through November before declining to 42. 48 per cent at the end of the year. The commercial banks’ borrowing rates were also generally stable throughout the year. Rates for savings deposits moved up slightly from 22. 50-31. 0% to 22. 50-32. 00% and the range for call money from 25. 00-31. 00% to 24. 00-34. 00% per annum. The bank’s lending rates however, showed some upward trends. Rates for the Agricultural sector (usually the lowest) moved up from 30. 00 –47. 00% to 35. 00 – 49. 00% per annum while that for the miscellaneous (usually the highest) rose from 41. 50 – 48. 00% per cent to 41. 50 – 51. 00% per annum. INTEREST RATES (Percent Per Annum) 1994199519961997 DecemberDecemberDecemberDecember 1. CENTRAL BANK a. Rediscount Rate (Bank Rate)33. 0045. 0045. 0045. 00 b. Treasury Bill Discount Rate(91days)29. 040. 5042. 8042. 48 2. DEPOSIT MONEY BANKS A. Borrowing Rates. (%) i. Demand deposits4. 00-13. 445. 00-10. 005. 00-10. 005. 00-15. 00 ii. Savings Deposits13. 75-22. 5021. 50-31. 0022. 50-31. 5022. 50-32. 00 iii. Time Deposits 1 month22. 00-26. 5026. 00-32. 5029. 00-37. 0029. 00-37. 00 3 months14. 50-31. 0025. 00-36. 0025. 00-40. 5025. 00-39. 00 6 months14. 75-31. 0022. 75-37. 0032. 00-39. 2532. 00-39. 50 12 months14. 00-31. 0023. 50-36. 0027. 75-39. 5027. 75-39. 75 24 months22. 00-29. 2524. 00-35. 0027. 50-35. 0024. 00-35. 00 36 months26. 50-29. 0035. 0035. 0030. 00-38. 00 iv.Certificate of Deposits13. 75-24. 5023. 50-37. 0025. 00-37. 0025. 00-37. 00 v. Call Money25. 00-33. 5024. 00-34. 00 vi. Any other20. 00-24. 0022. 50-25. 0022. 50-33. 0022. 50-33. 00 B. Lending Rates. (%) i. Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing22. 50-35. 5028. 00-47. 0030. 00-47. 0035. 00-49. 00 ii. Export Trade20. 38-35. 5034. 25-47. 0030. 00-47. 0035. 00-49. 00 iii. Manufacturing26. 00-35. 5033. 00-47. 0039. 00-47. 0039. 00-49. 00 iv. Mining & Quarrying29. 00-37. 5030. 00-47. 5035. 00-47. 5035. 00-49. 00 v. Construction29. 00-37. 5039. 00-47. 5041. 00-47. 5041. 50-49. 00 vi. Other Sector29. 00-37. 039. 00-47. 5041. 50-48. 0041. 50-51. 00 Source: Bank of Ghana During the year under review, total outstanding credit granted by commercial banks to public institutions and the private sector increased by ? 474. 8 billion or 64. 8 per cent to ? 1,207. 2 billion. This compares with an increase of ? 299. 8 billion or 69. 3 per cent in the previous year. The Commerce and Finance sector recorded the highest increase of ? 84. 5 billion followed by Cocoa Marketing sector which registered an increase of ? 78. 2 billion. Significant increases were also recorded in outstanding credit to Manufacturing (? 1. 5 Billion), Construction (? 53. 2 billion), Services (? 49. 7 billion), Mining and Quarrying (? 36. 7 billion) and Import Trade (? 18. 8 billion). Credit for Cocoa financing showed an unusually large increase as a result of financial accommodation given to COCOBOD in the face of a larger than expected crop size. In conclusion, the various levels of interest rate (that is high or low) affect the economy in diverse ways (i. e. positively and negatively). However the optimum benefits derived from those varying levels of interest rates depends on prudent economic management.The interest rate problem does not rest with Government and the Bank of Ghana only but also the commercial banks. The rising rates of interest are acts perpetuated by the banks for more profit and these rates charged by the commercial banks are just too high and that is what hurt investors. In addition, the banks impose charges and commissions which are completely inexplicable. REFERENCES: ?Business and Financial times issue number 689 ?Bank of Ghana Annual report (1997) ?The state of the Ghanaian economy (2004) ?The internet (Nii K. Sowa, CEPA, Inflation and interest rate fixation in Ghana) ?Article by Ampong Owusu Kwabena -Bsc engineering KNUST, Masters in international business (NORWAY), and Masters in Financial Economics (NORWAY). ?Man aging Ghana’s Dept. – Nii K. Sowa, CEPA, Accra ?Henderson and Poole; Principles of Economics ?David C. Colander: Economics ?Miller, R. L and D. D. Van Hoose; Money, Banking and Financial Market ? Miskkin F. S: The Economics of Money and Banking and Financial Markets ? Dr. Henry D. Jackson: An Introduction to Macroeconomics 1999 ? Dr. Henry D. Jackson- McConnell Brue: Economics, 5th Edition.

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Comparative study - Coursework Example The major theme of the play is to portray the heroism of women and to portray how women overcome the bullying of the selfish men. The play is a very serious aspect of the society with a comical touch and also excellent use of language across the whole play. The major theme of the play is to provide a view of how women are able to become self respecting and overcome all the hurdles poised by men. Inside I’m Dancing is a very strong story that revolves around freedom, love, friendship. The movie has portrayed a situation of two young men in wheelchairs and how they need to experience all the above stated emotions. The movie has led to a number of controversies for the immaturity that is portrayed and how the individuals have been shown to be naive and emotionally immature. However it is an excellent film with a great script and excellent performances. After examining and analyzing the film, play and the novel, it is clear that all these three have a common factor. All three revolve around the three major elements of life, i.e. love, friendship and freedom. Each of three have portrayed that every culture and every life around the world need all the three above mentioned elements in life. Irrespective of whether people are from different cultures, irrespective of whether they are normal or have any kinds of health issues and also irrespective of the class that people belong to, every person requires the three major elements in life. The freedom of women and the ability of women to overcome all issues across the worlds is a strength that women need to recognize and work towards gaining their complete freedom. Also the love and friendship among friends and the need to share a common interest is another essential aspect that has been discussed. This study has allowed for a clearer view of the various aspects of life which have been ov erlooked in the daily rush of work and other activities. This comparison is an eye opener to understanding the

Literature review (Effectiveness of Web-based Distance Education) Essay

Literature review (Effectiveness of Web-based Distance Education) - Essay Example That is why the web-based distance education has been the first choice to many learners. As web based learning becomes more popular in the modern world, there are issues which must be able to be looked at in order to make sure that learners who use this system are able to learn just as effectively and efficiently as those using he traditional method (Roberts & McInnerney, 2007). Formal education has a very long history and a big part of this history is geared towards the traditional system of learning. In this regard, most of the theories and models of learning which have been developed have been developed around the traditional modes of learning and there is little theory to support the new and upcoming models such as web based learning. In this regard, it is necessary for there to be an understanding of how the web based and other virtual learning systems can be used to deliver knowledge to learners without compromising on the integrity of the education which the learners received. Without doing this, it will be hard to use such learning environments to able to help t he students as well as the tutors to be able to use the system to deliver kind of education required of them. At the same time, it will be necessary to recognize that learning environments are changing and that there is a need to make sure that there are systems as well as theories and models to support the new modes of learning and teaching. The issue of web based learning, or learning as it is referred by some people, is one which has been a major debate. Debate about web based learning or eLearning start from issues as trivial as what can be said to constitute eLearning and how the term should be spelled. However, there are more serious issues which must be looked at. These issues revolve around the credibility and the effectiveness as well as

Coach case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Coach case - Essay Example This model focused on providing indirect sales to other third parties thus increasing the number of sales of products and thus increasing its brand awareness in the market. These two strategies enabled Coach Company to attain its two primary strategic objectives which were to increase the global distribution of its products and to also improve the store sales productivity. Therefore, through these two strategies, the company has been able to attain competitive advantage over its major rivals, however, it was not certain whether the firm could match some of its prime rivals such as Dolce and Gabbana, and Versace. Coach Company has the principal strength of adequately competing with its competitors on its highly unique and superior luxury goods. Besides the company’s products has an innovative styling that has played a huge role in attracting new customers. Comparatively, Coach Company products are available at major outlets and sold at price less than 50% or more than its chief competitors in the luxury industry. In addition, the company has delivered extra services to the customers such as customer care to cater for their queries whenever they occur. As a result, the company has experienced increased customer satisfaction and loyalty from its customers. Equally important, Coach engaged in strategic associations with other major company such as Movado thereby broadening their market segment. This concept of outsourcing has not only enabled them to cut their maintenance costs but to lower their manufacturing costs as well. This has therefore increased their competitive advantages in the luxury industry. The companies has also various internal weaknesses which should be managed appropriately. For instance, the luxury industry is characterized by rampant change in the fashion trends. This has thus led the factory outlet stores to outperform the retail price stores. Therefore, the company’s products and brand are diluted due to the

The Gospel of John Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

The Gospel of John - Essay Example They had a small conversation before the baptism rites. Then immediately after the baptism, the Holy Spirit came to Him in a form of a dove and God's voice from heaven was heard saying that Jesus is his beloved Son and with whom he is very happy. The narration is the same with Mark's Gospel with regard to the descent of the Holy Spirit (in a form of a dove) and the voice from God. However, the conversation between Jesus and John the Baptist is omitted. For Luke's Gospel, the narration is same with the first two Gospels in terms of the descent of the Holy Spirit and God's voice from heaven. The baptismal rites in Luke's Gospel involved groups of people who were also baptized with Jesus. On the other hand, the narration in the Gospel of John is different from the first three Gospels. Jesus' baptism was mentioned by John the Baptist to have happened before. Meaning the actual baptism of Jesus is not narrated by John but it is mentioned through the testimony of John the Baptist to Jesus. The descent of the Holy Spirit is symbolized in John's Gospel as the sign that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God. Another is that, John did not directly mention that John the Baptist is the one who baptized Jesus. As quoted in John's Gospel, John the Baptist mentions the manifestations of Jesus' divinity: "I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky a... Works and Miracles of Jesus John DePoe describes Jesus as a paradoxically Messiah because Jesus performs his miracles as manifestation of him being the Messiah. However at the same time, he commands his apostles and believers not to speak with them. The author asks this question: "Why does he bother with proving himself as the Messiah, if he is only going to hide it" (DePoe, p.4) In the gospel of Mark, the Messianic secret is seen. On Mark Chapter 8, verses 27 to 30, Jesus asked his disciples on their way to the villages of Caesarea Philippi who do the people think he is. His disciples answered him by saying that he is John the Baptist, Elijah, and one of the prophets. Then, Jesus asked Peter of who he thinks Jesus is. Peter answered that he is the Messiah. Upon hearing it, Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone about it. Another occurrence of the Messianic secret is seen on Mark Chapter 1, verses 40 to 45. A man with leprosy approached Jesus and asked him to heal his sickness. Jesus responded by touching the leper and healed his illness. Before the leper left, Jesus warned him by saying that he must not tell anyone, anything but asked him to show to the priests and present an offer for his cleansing. However, the cleansed man still spread what Jesus as done to him which prevented Jesus from entering a town because of lots of people who seek for his miracle deeds. (The New American Bible, Gospel of Mark) On the other hand, John the Evangelist shows the Jesus' marvelous deeds through the Seven Signs. In John Chapter 2, verses 1-12, Jesus did his first miracle in the Wedding at Cana. Even if Jesus was not ready to perform miracles, the request of his mother, Blessed Virgin

THE COTSWOLDS AREA OF OUTSTANDING NATURAL BEAUTY Essay

THE COTSWOLDS AREA OF OUTSTANDING NATURAL BEAUTY - Essay Example ple and Hall (1992) opines that the heritage based tourism aims at letting the tourists experience the past traditional, social and religious aspects of a destination. In order to give tourists an unforgettable experience in heritage tourism, the management of a tourist destination selected must be perfect. One area that can be used to perfect the management of destinations is through an audit of the destination. An audit of the destination will involve an intensive examination of the destinations available tourism resources (Cooper, 2003). These resources include the amenities, major attractions, activities and other internal aspects of the destination with respect to the targeted market. It also includes the external factors such as threats emerging from competition and economic environment (Woodside 2008). This paper uses the case of Cotswolds Area of Outstanding National Beauty to perform a tourist destination audit. First, an overview of the destination is given. It then proceeds to analyse the internal and internal factors that affect the performance of the destination with recommendations of appropriate actions in the end. The Cotswold area is the largest heritage based destinations of tourism in England and Wales. The geographical area covers an expansive region with different tourist attractions. These include heritage cities, serene and attractive country side, cultural cuisines, and local limestone along with heritage events. Because of its expansive nature, the Cotswold area of outstanding natural beauty has a complex destination management organization. A destination management organization is the hierarchy of groups of persons and bodies that are in charge running tourism affairs in a given tourist destination (Wang & Pizam 2011). Their main task is to constantly examine and improve tourism attraction features and strategically position the destination in the tourism market (Klimerk 2013, p. 1). This study also indicates that the destination

Research project would - Library System Essay Example for Free

Research project would Library System Essay First and foremost I offer my sincerest gratitude to our professor Mr. Marlon M. Sumait who has supported me throughout my thesis with his patience and knowledge. In my daily work I have been blessed with a friendly and cheerful classmate and friends who helped me in the field of data collection and programming my system. Special thanks to my cousin Richard S. Pasuquin (Web developer at IT Easy software Solution at Quezon City Philippines) for the providence in my thesis in the field of codes and some encodings made. INTRODUCTION Schools set the various pedagogical changes to achieve the current level of education in other countries. Because of the growing numbers of computer users, this became an effective medium to demonstrate the knowledge and skills of the students. From the traditional searching process for the books in the libraries, the interactive usage of computers can be now addressed as part of the library system. Background and Problem Statement In the aim of the universities to supply the necessary materials to their students, the idea of library management system is introduces. This involves the utilization for processing, accessing and retrieving the information that can effectively support the process of student’s learning, decision- making and scholastically approaches. Because of the organized approach and systematic management of the information, the accessibility and retrieval in the library can be easy. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER TITLE PAGE Title Page i Acknowledgement ii Table of Contents iii Scope And Delimitation iv I. Introduction 1 1.1 Relevant Findings 2 1.2 Statement of the Problem 3 Objective (Significance of Study) 1.3 Methodology 4 II. Structure of Thesis 1.4 Data Flow Diagram 5 1.5 Case Study(Library System Codings)- 6 1.5.0 LOG IN FORM CODINGS 7 1.5.1 MAIN FORM CODINGS 8-9 1.5.2 BOOK LIST 10-11 1.5.3 ADDING BOOKS 12-13 1.5.4 CHOOSE STUDENT 14-15 1.5.5 BORROWING BOOKS 16-19 1.5.6 EDIT BOOKS 20-21 1.5.7 RETURNED BOOKS 22-23 1.5.7 ADDING USER’S 22-23

Assessing The Strategic Human Resource Management Preferences Business Essay

Assessing The Strategic Human Resource Management Preferences Business Essay Number of growing organizations believes that Human Resource (HR) provides them competitive advantage. It was understood by many organizations that competitive advantage can be obtained by quality work force/employees and culture. Approach of linking Human Resource Management to Strategic objectives of an organization is called as Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) (Bratton and Gold, 2001). It was cited by Bratton and Gold (2001, p39) strategic management is defined as that set of managerial decisions and actions that determines the long-run performance of a corporation. Strategic HR ensures that employees/human capital of an organization contributes to its achievements with their skills and performance. Traditional HR is concerned with implementation of policies and techniques like recruitment, staffing, remuneration, assessment etc (Klabbers, University of Bergen). But linking the general HRM and the organizations strategy gives HR department more scope to enhance the abili ties of their workforce and concentrate on the vision and mission. This connection is made to improve the organization performance and develop organizational culture which in turn facilitates innovation and flexibility. Overall the key principle of Strategic HRM is to achieve organizations vision and mission. Bratton (2001) describes SHRM as a continuous process that requires constant adjustment in three major areas namely Value of Senior management, the environment and the resources available. Fig 1: Three major poles in strategic planning (Adapted from Bratton and Gold, 2001) Some authors believe that Strategic HRM is an Outcome and some believe that its a process. It was cited by Bratton and Gold (2004) that authors like Ulrich (1997) and Snell et al had different opinion on Strategic HRM. Snell et al believed that its an outcome designed to achieve sustained competitive edge through quality workforce. Ulrich (1997) also stated SHRM as an outcome of mission, vision and priorities of HR department. HR strategies are more concerned about matching the Five Ps that stimulates the employee roles for competitive strategy (Bratton and Gold, 2004, p46 and Cerdin and Ashok Som, 2003). It was cited by Cerdin and Ashok Som (2003) that Strategic HRM is identified in three levels namely Strategic, Managerial and operational level. Strategic level looks to the long term future, Managerial level looks at the mid term and the operation level looks at the short term focus. Different models and approaches were discussed in this assignment to understand the functionality o f strategic HRM and how far the organization able to implement it. Models and Approaches There are several approaches and models by which Strategic HRM can be applied but basic strategic HRM model is widely accepted by many authors, researchers and even critics as well (Kane and Palmer, 1995). This basic model is based on the external and internal environment and basic organization strategies. Fig 2 Basic Model of Strategic Human resource Management (Adapted from Kane and Palmer, 1995) Strategic HRM models demonstrate how an organization links its business strategies and HR function to achieve it goals. Though SHRM adopts resource based philosophy, there are three different models defined by authors (Bratton and Gold, 2004, p49). These models are Control based, Resource based and Integrative model. Control based approach generally deals with control of work place and direct monitoring of employee performance. According to this approach, HR strategies and management structure are used as instruments and techniques to enhance labour productivity and there by increasing profitability. Resource based approach satisfies the human capital requirements of the organization (Armstrong, 2006, p117).It was observed by Bratton and Gold (2004) that sustained competitive advantage is not achieved by external market position but careful assessment of their own skills and capabilities that competitors cannot copy. Main objective of this approach is improving resource capability and effective utilization of resources to achieve the goals set by the organization. Within this model there are three different approaches by which organization can implement strategic HRM practices (Armstrong, 2006, p117) High Performance management approach High commitment management model and High involvement management model High Performance model helps in developing several processes by which employee performance is improved and impacted. This in turn directly effects the organization growth. This model believes enhancing the employee skills and encouraging them to learn continuously. This model involves rigorous recruitment and selection procedures, learning development activities and performance management system. Kemin nutritional technologies in India adopted similar model in implementing their strategies human resource. Kemin is a manufacturer of animal feed ingredients and human food ingredients. Their head quarter is located in Des Moines, US and having operations in over eight countries. Kemin have more than 4000 employees world wide. Kemins vision is to improve quality of Life by touching half the people of the world every day with its products and services. In order to achieve this vision Kemin strategically aligned all its divisions to contribute to the vision. HR division developed strategies to improve workforce capabilities and bring quality workforce into the organization. They have made certain changes in their recruiting process that will indirectly lead them to the vision of the organization. Now their selection process is complex and specifically looks for individuals who are matching to their core values. The recruiting process involves three stages with the initial screening is made to identify the ability of the individual to adapt to the situations and show high levels of resilience. Individuals integrity is also tested during this process. This process is fallowed by the technical assessment of an individual by the concerned department and finally personal interview is done by the HR to speak about his growth in this organization, performance analysis, incentives and learning prospective. Once the strategic planning is done for the year, senior management roles out the goals and responsibilities to the concerned departments. They constantly monitor the proceedings of their departments and analyse how far they have come. For example, Customer Lab Services (CLS) come under the marketing department. This department is evolved to support the marketing department technically. All the employees in the CLS have clear job responsibilities which will contribute the organizations strategic goals. If the organizations (Kemins) strategic plan is to improve one particular product group in this year, all the employees in CLS will have their SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time bound) goals related to that product category. This SMART goals system is implemented by Kemin to align organizational strategy to the HR practices so that they have a competitive edge to their competitors. These goals are set during the beginning of the year and monitored regularly by the senior management/supervisors. These goals are agreed mutually with the concerned supervisor regularly and employees are committed to deliver them. Kemin in 2005 introduced 360 degree appraisal system to analyse the employee performance in the place of regular one to one appraisal system. In 360 degree feedback system, employees are asked to select colleagues, peers or supervisors to rate them in the aspects of adoptability, development, learning, team work and technical etc. Again selection of the ratters should be discussed with the employee and his/her supervisor. All the employees are encouraged to participate in team meetings, ask questions regarding the approach of the organization to achieve certain task. Employees are also encouraged to submit ideas which will lead to a new product or a new business opportunity. Employees are provided with career ladders to understand about the hierarchies and their future growth. This will enable employee to focus more and contribute to the organizational growth and there by obtaining personal benefit. Kemin also identified few employees interested in taking new job roles and provided them with horizontal promotions (Lima and Pereira, 2003). For example an employee who was found efficient in serving customers was identified and offered to serve in marketing department where the employee originally belongs to CLS (Technical). Kemins HR department also incorporated developmental goals in their regular SMART goals so that employees make an effort to develop some personal capabilities which in turn help organization or help the individual to perform the job better. Kemin regularly conduct strategic meetings with the HR personals to understand their core capabilities and competencies. Some of the key points are listed below. Finally all the employees who are leaving Kemin are interviewed in process called Exit interview (Arnold, 1995) to find out their experience with Kemin and know possible areas of improvement. A clear vision and mission Clear job description and SMART Goals Rigorous recruitment/interview process 360 degree appraisal system Developmental trainings Horizontal promotions Encouraged to learn and develop continuously Exit interviews One of the main strategic plans of Kemin is to maximise utilization of resources without increasing the cost structure. Kemin HR had built a strategy to cope up with this task. HR hired few internship students to conduct market surveys and research in different locations so that they avoid cost bared by regular employees and their time and travel expenses. These small things contributed in a big way to companys performance. All the departments worked parallel to each other to achieve the same objective saving time and money. Overall by implementing these strategies Kemins Strategic HRM function aligns with the companys objectives, vision and mission. These strategies deliver high performance environment for the employees and for the management. Kemin also provided opportunities for its employees to work globally and allowed them to participate in seminars, conferences etc where ever they were held. Kemin also made a strategy to retain employees by giving them benefits for staying lon g years. Once the employee of Kemin stays longer than 15 years he/she will join the presidents elite committee which plays a major role in taking key business decisions. The High commitment approach is defines as a focused approach which concentrates on development of career goals and trainability and commitment of employees (Armstrong, 2006, p119). Key points of this strategic approach are developing ownership where employees are given opportunity to speak and involved in decision making. The second aspect is providing clear communication to the employees about the goal they are committed to achieve (Armstrong, 2006, p279). And the initiative of this approach is to develop leadership skills. Commitment can be increased or enhanced by making leaders inside the organization. From this theory it is understood that Kemin also practiced such type of strategies to improve the commitment of the employees. Kemin provide employees with useful trainings like SALT (Strategic accounts and leadership Program) and Project Management (e.g. Stage Gate process).So it seems Kemin strategic HRM is a mix of the two approaches discussed above. The High involvement approach involves treating employees as partners in the organization. In this approach employees are given opportunity to communicate with the managers continuously about the organizations mission, vision, values and objectives. Integrative model characterized by two dimensions namely acquisition and development and the locus of control (Bratton and Gold, 2004, p53). Bratton and Gold explained that Bamberger and Meshoulam (2000) integrate two main models of SHRM. Whatever strategy or approach fallowed by organization it is the aim of the SHRM to obtain competitive advantage and achieve organization objectives. TASK TWO HRM Practices , horizontal and vertical integration Introduction Organization now concerned about their human capital and their competitive advantage. Human resource management (HRM) largely replaced the term Personnel management. Personnel management deals with managing people in the organization who contributes to the organizations performance. Human resource management can be defined as a strategic and coherent approach to the management of people. HRM operates in a coherent way to help organization perform better and achieve target. HR philosophies, strategies, policies, processes, practices and programs are the processes by which Human resource function works. Values and guidelines of principles of people management (Armstrong, 2006, p4) are described in the HR philosophies. HR strategies define the path of the HR function in achieving organizations vision. Key functions of HR department are Improve organizations effectiveness Human capital management Knowledge management Rewarding and employee relationship management All the goals and policies are made by the HR department are finally helps to improve stakeholder value by putting the customer in the first place. HR function will play a major role in creation of an environment for the employees that enable them to utilize their capabilities maximum and benefit the organization (Armstrong, 2006, p54). HR function also supports the management to achieve its vision through the people. HR function also aligns with organizations strategies to achieve vision and it can also be described as vertical integration. Concept of coherence can be described as Horizontal integration which defines developing HR employment and development policies and practices. Different theorists defined several models Human resource management. Some of the models include Matching model, Harvard frame work model and conceptual model. Matching model include four generic processes namely selection, appraisal, rewarding and development. The Harvard frame work model was developed by Beer et al of Harvard University, hence called as Harvard model. s Kemins HR function employed effective policies to serve employees and the organization with benefits. By providing benefits to the employees it is eminent that organizations performance is improved. HR function in Kemin operated in organized way by both horizontal and vertical integration. To integrate HRM successfully its is observed that people in that department should have a good idea about how HRM is different from personnel management (Cathy, 2005). Kemins vision states that Improve the quality of life and touching people, and their mission states that they provide nutritional solution to the customers by continuous improvement in their people, process and products. Every department in the company has been provided with a quality policy for which the department is committed to achieve certain tasks. Kemin HR quality policy is to provide best man power, improve organizational culture, reduce cost to the company, provide healthy and safe environment to the employees and provide c ompetitive edge to the company. Some of the key HR policies and practices adopted by Kemin are listed below. Code of Conduct Appraisal and promotions Internet and email policies Selection of employee and referral program Dress code and corporate clothing Salary increase, increments and incentives Leave and transfer policies Equal opportunities These policies make sure that HR function deliver best value to the employees. Horizontal integration of HR policies in Kemin was done with precision so that employees feel satisfied about the efforts of organization in treating them. Selection of employee was done with great importance. The interview process includes analysing the persons ability to adjust to the culture, capability to deliver job and respect the vision of the company. Salary negotiations were done in the HR interview to meet the organizations requirements. Important HR policies regarding transfer, promotions, transfers, relocation were circulated to the employees to make them aware of the organization policies and avoid any kind of confusion. It is important for the HR function in Kemin to protect and preserve companys valuable information within. The code of conduct and internet email policies serves as the protective strategies for Kemin. All the Kemin employees were asked to maintain professional relationship w ith internal and external customers and maintain the organization culture. One more basic function which was employed by Kemin was providing trainings to the employees for defined hours in a year. All the employees are eligible for the trainings and the trainings were selected based on the department and job roles. These training are provided to employees for their personal development and to make employee take care of his own career instead of looking for promotions (Ben, 1998) Employee referral system was found to be effective in Kemin. Every employee can refer a friend, past colleague or any he knows for any available position in Kemin and when the referred persons is successful and joins the company, employee will get a monitory benefit. This will encourage employees to bring new talent to the organization. Kemins HR department takes good care of the new employee in a way that he/she will get familiar with the organizations flow, roles and responsibilities of the job. An induction program will be provided for the new employee and mentor for the new empl oyee also assigned to monitor the progress. All the employees were provided with career ladder so that employee knows where he stands and understand the organizations hierarchies. Employees performance was measured twice in a year. Performance was measured in terms of SMART goals. Every goal set was given with some weightage and employees bound to achieve those goals. Performance will be measured in ratings/marks gained on the scale of 5. For example if an employees performance was analysed as meets the requirement, it means he/she achieved 3 on the scale. If the employee exceeds expectation it is measured as 5 on the scale. If the employee attains 5 on the scale, he/she will be eligible to climb up the career ladder. Increment and incentive schemes were rolled out to all the departments to reward the employees according to their performance. Vertical integration of HRM deals with the alignment of HR strategies with business strategies. This kind of integration encourages everyone in the organization to take responsibility of HRM, not just the HR department (Cathy, 2005). It was cited by Cathy (2005) that HR role also requires a business partner role along with the HR manager. Kemins HR manager was effective in delivering tasks related to people and controlling business process as well. Kemins HR manager was involved in many operation meetings and board meetings and developed ideas to achieve the strategic goals. This can be explained by an example by which HR manager made a difference in reducing cost to company and helping the strategic goal achievement. Kemin wanted increase the customer retention and satisfaction by 5 percent, increase the product sales by 25 percent during the year 2005. To achieve the task all the product managers had to work collectively in mobilizing the sales force. But achieving 25 sales growth was something difficult without the help of HR manager or department. It was difficult for the sales people to travel all over India as it consumes lot of time money. HR manger then employed internship students from different backgrounds to serve different departments in different location. This saved enormous amount of time and money for the company. The other concept of HRM vertical integration is to provide organizational learning/work based learning. Every employee has been provided with 40 hours training. It was cited by Bratton and Gold (2001) that formal and informal trainings can act as lever for the organization in terms of sustained core competencies. Trainings such as SALT (strategic account and leadership trainings) and Project management trainings make the difference in the employees in terms of competency and leadership which are most important for the organization. Kemins strategy is to produce innovative products with best processes. One of the Kemins HR policies includes Idea generation by which employees can submit an idea to improve, develop a product or a process. Each Idea will be considered after a careful investigation and analysing the feasibility. If the idea is unsuccessful initially, it is recorded for future use or reference. Once any idea is successful, idea generator is recognized and rewarded so that it motivates the other employees to contribute in the same way. Retaining the quality staff always been a difficult task for organizations. Reducing employee attrition rate/ worker turnover ( Ing-chung Haung et al, 2006) was one of the important goals for Kemin. Kemins HR employed a new strategy to retain the skilled employees. Kemin offered overseas assignments to the employments where they can work for sometime out side the country of origin. This lead to belief and trust of the employees on Kemin and lot of employees anticipated and shown positive approach to it. To improve the performance analysis of employees Kemin incorporated 360 degree feed back mechanism by which employees are rated based on their performance and behaviour. One of the main functions of the HR is to manage change in the organization. Change management is the process of continuous renewal of organization structure, direction and capabilities (Moran and Brightman, 2001). To improve the working condition Kemin even changed its office location to Chennai (India) city from a r ural area. HR played a major role in facilitating the change. He handled the people resistance (Waddel and Amrik, 1998) to the change in way that it had a very little impact on the organization performance. This change was anticipated by Kemin to achieve corporate goals and improve working conditions for the employees. Kemin seemed to effectively integrating its HR strategies to its business strategies. Recommendation Although Kemin appeared to be functioning well in the area of HR management, there are some areas of concern for the Kemin. Its is suggested that Kemin could use best fit model or the mix of culture fit and best fit models to manage the strategic HR function. Kemins employees had a dissatisfaction regarding the company salary policy and employee welfare. Though Kemin appear to be well function strategically, its bit neglected the Horizontal integration part. Kemins employees were unsure about the increment and incentive packages. In their policies it was mention that how and who are eligible for incentive and increments but it was not clearly mentioned that what is the percentage of raise they will get if their performance is above expectation. Few of the recommendations are listed below. It is suggested to document and communicate the reward and incentive policies accurately. Conduct regular audits to improve HR function and performance. It is suggested to Kemin that it employs strategies to improve employee satisfaction in terms of salary and compensation policies. Kemin should continue its practices in analysing the performance of employee and look for continuous improvement of the process. Kemins recognition system also needs improvements as they does not involve lower level employees. Often people from those levels hesitate to come forward and submit an idea. Kemin is suggested to have some strategies to motivate the lower level employees and come forward to participate in developmental programs. Kemin also should engage employees in some cultural activities that enhance team building and group working culture. Kemin also should employ job rotation (Huang, 1999) policy to enhance the learning capabilities and change to routine job responsibilities. These recommendation might help Kemin in improving the quality of life of their employees and help organization to perform better. Overall Kemin seem to be in good condition in employing HR policies and practices both in horizontal and in vertical integration. REFERENCES Armstrong Michael (2006), A hand book of Human resource management practices, 10th edition, Cambridge University Press, London. Arnold Kransdorff (1995) Exit interviews as an induction tool, Management Development Review, Volume 8  · Number 2  · pp. 37-40,  © MCB University Press Ben Ball (1998), Career management competences the individual perspective Librarian Career Development, Vol. 6 No. 7, pp. 3-11,  © MCB University Press Bob Kane and Ian Palmer (1995), Strategic HRM or managing the employment relationship, International Journal of Manpower 16,5/6, pp. 6-21, © MCB University Press. Bratton J, Gold J, (2001), Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Routledge, Publications. 2nd edition. Cathy Sheehan (2005), A model for HRM strategic Integration, Personnel Review Vol. 34 No. 2, pp. 192-209 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited Cerdin Jean-Luc Ashok SOM (2003),Strategic Human Resource Management Practices: An Exploratory Survey of French Organisations, Strategic human resource management practices: exploratory surveys on French organization, Groupe ESSEC CERNTRE DE RECHERCHE / RESEARCH CENTER, ESSEC Working Papers DR 03024 Huang, H. J. (1999). Job Rotation from the Employees Point of View, Research and Practice in Human Resource Management, 7(1), 75-85. see at http://rphrm.curtin.edu.au/1999/issue1/rotation.html, accessed electronically on 14th May 2008. Ing-chung Haung, Hao-chien Lin, Chih-Hsun Chuang, (2006) Constructing factors related to worker retention, International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 27 No. 5, pp. 491-508 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited Klabber Jan H.G, Enhancing corporate change: The case of strategic human resource management, University of Bergen, Norway, KMPC Netherlands, See at   http://www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/mcn/pdf_files/part9_1.pdf, accessed electronically on 8th May 2008. Lima F and Pereira P T (2003), Careers and wages within large firms: evidence from a matched employer-employee data set International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 24 No. 7, pp. 812-835 q MCB UP Limited Moran J.W and Brightman B.K (2001), Leading organizational change, career development international, vol.6 No.2, pp 111-118, MCB University press. Ulrich, D. (1997), Human Resource Champions: The Next Agenda for Adding Value and Delivering Results, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA, . Waddell Dianne and Amrik S. Sohal (1998), Resistance: a constructive tool for change management Decision, Management decision, 36/8, MCB University Press, pp 543-548

Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member Essay -- Biography B

Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member    "Where I came from, in order to be down you had to be 'in'" (Shakur, 226). This quote, taken from Sanyika Shakur's (aka Monster Kody Scott) Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member relates the mind set of those growing up the concrete jungle of South Central L.A. This powerful account of the triumph of the human spirit over insurmountable odds brings the reader into the daily battles for survival. His story starts at the beginning of his gang life (being initiated at age 11), moves through his teen years (mostly spent in various correctional facilities) and ends up with his transformation in a member of the New Afrikan Independence Movement.    When Kody Scott was 6 years old, the gang wars started in Los Angeles. It started out as a battle between the Crips and the Bloods, but by the late 70's and continuing today, the biggest killer of Crips is other Crips. The Crip Nation was divided into different divisions, which Monster compares to the U.S. Army. "For instance, one who is in the army may belong to the F... Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member Essay -- Biography B Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member    "Where I came from, in order to be down you had to be 'in'" (Shakur, 226). This quote, taken from Sanyika Shakur's (aka Monster Kody Scott) Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member relates the mind set of those growing up the concrete jungle of South Central L.A. This powerful account of the triumph of the human spirit over insurmountable odds brings the reader into the daily battles for survival. His story starts at the beginning of his gang life (being initiated at age 11), moves through his teen years (mostly spent in various correctional facilities) and ends up with his transformation in a member of the New Afrikan Independence Movement.    When Kody Scott was 6 years old, the gang wars started in Los Angeles. It started out as a battle between the Crips and the Bloods, but by the late 70's and continuing today, the biggest killer of Crips is other Crips. The Crip Nation was divided into different divisions, which Monster compares to the U.S. Army. "For instance, one who is in the army may belong to the F...

The Meaning of Fahrenheit 451 :: Fahrenheit 451 Essays

The Meaning of Fahrenheit 451 Â   This book depicts a story about a futuristic world in the middle of a nuclear war. The government of this future forbids its people from reading or taking a part in individual thinking. During this time, the law against reading is new and the government is taken on a task of destroying all of the books. This is where we meet or main character named Guy Montag. He is a fireman. Him and his crew go around and burn books in libraries, and homes. Â   Â  I think the theme of the story is that there are many facets to a personality than is first visible. The book is narrated in third person. At the beginning of the book we see Guy Montag as a ruthless man who enjoys his job very much. Later on he discovers that he does not enjoy his life, it is merely a fake mask. He slowly discovers this in himself when he meets a teenage girl named Clarisse who is his new neighbor. She awakens a love and desire in Montag to enjoy the simple things in life. He also discovers that his happiness is fake when he discovers that he does not love his tranquilizer addicted wife who cares more about her television relatives than real life. Guy Montag slowly becomes unhappy with his life when he learns of Clarisse's death in an automobile accident and when he had to bun an old lady alive in her house because she refused to let them burn her books. Â   When we discover that Guy Montag is unhappy with his life, we start to respect that he is trying to change his way of life. When Montag goes to talk to his wife about the disadvantages about being a fireman, she offers no sympathy and tells him to stay away from her because all she knows is that books are unlawful. After awhile, Captain Beatty has a talk with Montag because he is suspicious of Montag's behavior. He tells Montag that the ideas in books are not real and they cause a dispute in people's minds. He says that ridding the world of controversy puts an end to dispute and allows people to live happy. Later on, Montag confesses that he had not just stolen one book but yet a small library.

Napoleon Essay -- essays research papers

In 1797, Napoleon Bonaparte became first consul after overthrowing the Directory and establishing the Consultate. He had many achievements for France under educational, financial, administrative, legal and religious reforms. However, these achievements are often exaggerated. Napoleon was indeed the ‘heir’ of the revolution as he completed much of the work that the revolution had started, such as the creation of a Civil Code and the reforming of the education system. Despite this, he also destroyed much of the revolution’s work. He ignored and betrayed some of the revolution’s beliefs and much of his achievements were incomplete. Napoleon’s achievements in Europe were mainly for his own purposes – he wanted to enhance his prestige and make France a great nation. He appears to have had little interest in helping the European people. Napoleon, although his main achievements centered on areas such as administration, had other remarkable, although minor, achievements in France. He improved the appearance of French cities such as Paris by building bridges and canals and by planting trees at the sides of roads to protect them from the sun. This aided the beauty of Paris as it is today. Napoleon also reformed the tax system, which meant that no one was tax exempt. One particular achievement, which may rank on the same level of importance as the Napoleonic code, but appears to be often overlooked in textbooks, is Napoleon’s founding of a national education system from primary to university. The focus of his attention was secondary schools, of which he opened more. Higher education also became more available in major cities. Napoleon spent more money on education than anything else during his time in power. However, Napoleon was somewhat inefficient in this achievement. The educational system discriminated against females. Napoleon saw education as being “not suitable'; for girls. Female students were to learn the very basics of education – how to read and write, and also how to do traditional female work such as nursing and embroidering. Pupils had little choice over their career – most were forced into a military career. What is considered to be Napoleon’s most significant achievement for France was his establishment of the ‘Napoleonic Code&... ...id so in order that France would be the beneficiary'; Napoleon went against the French revolution’s belief in freedom of speech. He reduced and suppressed newspapers in France and the newspapers that remained were threatened or bribed in to supporting him. It has been claimed that “his genius owes more to propaganda than to deeds';. Napoleon did wish to continue revolutionary reforms. Although it can be argued that he did not continue all of its aims, this was because many of the revolution’s goals and believes were impractical: “we must see what was real and politically possible in it’s principles, instead of grasping at their speculative and hypothetical side.'; After 1815,France lost all of the territory she had acquired in the Napoleonic wars. The monarchy was restored in France and Germany and Italy were still not united. Therefore, Many of Napoleon’s achievements did not last. Napoleon was the ‘heir’ of the revolution but his achievements are exaggerated because the revolution had al ready done much of his work for him: “…he found the work already three-quarters done for him';.

Marketing Plan for Book Publisher Essay

‘Knowledge Hub’Publishers is a provider of latest academic and research material, the best literary material in Urdu and English by quality writers both local and international. Our customers rest assured that when they purchase a publication of Knowledge Hub they receive the optimum value for their money or as we call it ‘your money well spent’. Our publications are free of plagiarism and we endeavor to stay a step ahead in providing academic material which is the most recently proven by researchers instead of re-publishing the same material in a different manner. We are a sole proprietorship and our office is located at Urdu Bazar, Lahore. Being a startup in an industry already being served by a huge number of brands, we shall initially target the Lahore market with intent to move into other cities throughout Punjab within 5 years time. Our focus shall remain to continually research and analyze customer needs, wants, reading trends and preferences to ensure that we provide only the most needed and sought after books with the latest content. Knowledge Hub shall provide its client authors with editing, proofreading, layout and design, promotion and authentication services. Whereas, we shall be outsourcing the printing and distribution of our books. Our long term focus is to motivate the culture of e-books and printing on demand in order to safeguard our natural resources for our future generations. Print on demand (POD) is a printing technology and business process in which new copies of a book (or other document) are not printed until an order has been received, which means books can be printed one at a time. Rationale of this Product: Books are priceless source of knowledge, wisdom and education the best company in times if solitude. Our affiliation with books and knowledge is further promoted by our religion which encourages us to gain knowledge and preaches us to respect books. In today’s fast paced world, where information and knowledge is continually increasing and modifying, the need for books containing the latest of information are always required. As soon as a book or article is publishes a chain of evaluation, testing and research on the published material starts which eventually leads to modified material ready to be published and the cycle continues. This causes a never ending need for high quality books available at easy to access touch points and at affordable prices. And this is exactly what we offer our customers as our product. Strategic Focus and Plan Mission: Knowledge Hub is the premium publisher of academic and illustrated books, novels, best sellers and e-books in Pakistan. We at Knowledge Hub believe that knowledge is a service to be provided to our nation so that we may progress in this fast paced world. The purpose of our affordable and easy to access products is to ensure availability of knowledge to all Pakistanis who seek for it. Goals: Non Financial Goals: Knowledge Hub seeks ensure availability of knowledge to all Pakistanis who seek for it. We at Knowledge Hub believe in a cleaner, safer tomorrow and in a ‘Paper Free World’ in which our natural resources are savored for our future generations to enjoy. Knowledge Hub’s comprehensive website holds the key to a better tomorrow. Our online e-books, research articles, audio and visual resources provide you easy and instant access along with it being environmentally beneficial. Financial Goals: We have targeted to publish 70 books by authors within a year’s time. Moreover, to a customer base of at least 200,000 readers at the end of year one which is approximately 10 percent Market Analysis: International Book Publishing Market: The worldwide book industry has been forecast to exceed revenue of $90 billion. The industry recorded yearly growth of 1% over the past four preceding years, and is expected to accelerate to a yearly rate of almost 4% between 2011 and 2016. Sales by music, video,books and stationery retailers represented the leading segment of the global book market in 2011, generating more than $50 billion and representing 56% of the overall market. Pakistan Book Publishing Market: Book publication is a business very closely related to the literary scenario since books are nothing if they don’t get a publisher or a printer. Like every other thing in Pakistan,the printing industry is with its own sets of problems the initial ones being the unfavorable socio-economic conditions, lack of mass education and the development of local languages. Constraints: Low Literacy Rate: The publishing industry in Pakistan is hampered both by a low literacy rate (48%) and the fact that the national language, Urdu, is written in the right-to-left Arabic script unlike the official language, English, which is written left-to-right. Pakistan has had its share of poetry and prose writers in Urdu, English and other regional languages. Incentives for Writers: Those who don’t reproduce work and are genuinely interested are hardly encouraged. The government, the NGOs and the intellectuals hardly ever take the initiative to encourage young and budding  writers of the country. These results in most of the young authors getting their works published under foreign publishers. At least they get the recognition they warrant in foreign waters. Yet, there are a few committed souls who work tirelessly to make a place for themselves in the literature-deprived country. Market Growth: The publishing industry has been steadily growing despite the many hurdles like the low purchasing power of the masses and the lack of facilities. The principle centers of publishing are Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar. Lahore stands out with its numerous publishing houses and has been the hub of the industry from the pre-independence era. Even now, getting a book published from Lahore is much easier than elsewhere. Pakistan’s publishing industry has a lucrative market for Urdu and religious books abroad. A considerable number of books and periodicals are exported to countries like Malaysia, East Africa and the Middle East. Also, a very large number of books is imported in Pakistan mainly from UK and USA. The Inter-Media Growth program of Pakistan and USA have signed an agreement whereby Pakistan can import books and still pay for them in its local currency. Market needs: In the Pakistan scenario, there is need for up-to-date information available at affordable prices and easily accessible via easy to access retail outlets and via e-books. Trends: The following trends are emerging in the publishing industry: E-books Online book stores Reading clubs Book fairs Mobile bookshops Print on Demand These trends are discussed in detail in the ‘Opportunities’section. Customers Analysis: Following is a detailed description of Knowledge Hub’s client authors, intermediate customers and ultimate customers: Client Authors: Our client authors shall include all local authors who have quality material to offer and who fall within in our product range. Intermediate Customer: Our Intermediate or trade customers include: Wholesaler Book Stores Ultimate Customer: Out ultimate customers include: 25534400 school/ college going children in Pakistan 1,349,000 university going individuals in Pakistan 57. 7 % of our adult population which is literate in Pakistan Needs of the Target Customers: Knowledge Hub endeavors to cater to these basic needs of the target consumers: Academic needs Literary/ information needs Entertainment needs Consumer Touch Points: Our target consumer shall purchase our product via the following channels: Book Stores: Knowledge Hub shall have its products available at book stores including academic and literary book stores book shops in schools, colleges and universities. Gift Shops: Our books shall also be made available on gift shops. Libraries: One of the major sources of contact with the target market are libraries. We shall endeavor to establish relations with the local libraries to allow the usage of our products there. Website: Our comprehensive website will also serve as a major source of interaction with our customers. Our website will display our catalogue of books and shall provide the viewers with an option to get access to our products in the form of both paper editions and electronic versions on-line. Customers would be able to be directed to bookstores for the paper version and they may send an order directly to us. They would also be able to unlock and access an on-line edition instantly by making an online payment. Our website viewers would also be able to opt to receive periodic catalogs of our products online via e-mail. Customer Value Proposition: Like they say â€Å"A book is man’s best friend†, Knowledge Hub shall serve to provide its target consumers with books that serve as their best friends in all their walks of life. Knowledge Hub is a provider of latest academic and research material, the best literary material in Urdu and English by quality writers both local and international. Our customers rest assured that when they purchase a publication of Knowledge Hub they receive the optimum value for their money or as we call it ‘your money well spent’. Our publications are free of plagiarism and we endeavor to stay a step ahead in providing academic material which is the most recently proven by researchers instead of re-publishing the same material in a different manner. Knowledge Hub believes in a cleaner, safer tomorrow. We believe in a ‘Paper Free World’ in which our natural resources are savored for our future generations to enjoy. Knowledge Hub’s comprehensive website holds the key to a better tomorrow. Our online e-books, research articles, audio and visual resources provide you easy and instant access along with it being environmentally beneficial. Constraint: The long term vision of Knowledge Hub is to provide all of its resources online so that the environment and our natural resources can be saved. However, due to low levels of computer literacy in Pakistan, this is not possible immediately and shall take efforts from our end to promote education and reading so that our country can move forward past its literacy barriers. Competitor Analysis: Our competitors include: Local Competitors: Sang-e-Meel Publications Ferozsons Awesome Publishers Association for Academic Quality AFAQ Fact Publications Idara-e-Islamiat Kiran Publications Azeem Academy Publishers & Book Sellers Hassan Publishers 2 The Point Publishers 7th Sky Publications A to Z Publishers A-One Publishers Adara Talifat Khatm-e-Naboat Adara-Ul-Tahreer Adara-e Saadad Advanced Publishers A. H. Publishers Affaf Publishers Al Raza Publishers Al Quraish Publications Al Mashriq Publishers A. S. Publishers Adabistan Publishers Adan Publications A. N. Publishers Al-Asad Publications Al-Badar Publications Al-Bilal Publishing House Al-Hamd Publications Al-Madina Publications Al-Mezaan Publishers & Book Sellers National Competitors: Iqbal Sons Educational Publishers – Karachi, Pakistan New Century Education – Karachi, Pakistan Baitul Qalam – Karachi, Pakistan Electronic Journals of Academic Research and Reviews(EJARR Publishing) – Islamabad, Pakistan Library Promotion Bureau – Karachi, Pakistan World Trade Publishers – Karachi, Pakistan U. S. Publishers (pvt) Ltd. – Karachi, Pakistan Children Publications – Karachi, Pakistan Jumbo Publishing – Karachi, Pakistan 3KBioXML Publishers Pakistan – Haripur,Pakistan Strengths of Competitors: Our competitors have the following strengths: Well established brand names. Extensive market experience. Widely available and accepted products. Strong relations with distributors. Huge chains of retail outlets. Weaknesses of Competitors: Our competitors have the following weaknesses: Most of them are obtaining very high profit margins. They provide less incentive for local authors. Re-publishing of material similar to the one already in the market. Low on-line presence. Most of them do not have their own websites. Well established chain throughout Pakistan. Some competitors are also exporting books. Mahwish: SWOT Analysis: Strengths: Well established relations with authors,editors and media personnel Comprehensive website Up-to-date content of book Our mission is in itself a strength Weaknesses: New brand name thus requiring massive promotion Yet to establish credibility with the target customers Initial focus which is only on the Punjab market Opportunities: The emerging trends are opportunities which Knowledge Hub seeks to take advantage of: Time and Technological Advancements: Time and technological advancements play a pivotal role in shaping the trends over the passage of time. As Pakistan is also entering the digital age, traditional distinctions in media become blurred. It can be seen as furthering the book culture. E-books: The biggest contribution of the internet in the book industry would be to digitize books and grant them a wider readership. A number of online websites have sprung up in the last few decades. Quite a lot of these sites are free and others charge a very nominal fee and provide unlimited access to e-books. They can either be downloaded or read on screen. These obviously have become popular because of easy accessibility and the low cost. In Pakistan,a huge majority of people cannot afford the expensive original foreign titles. Hence,these customers can download the electronic versions at much cheapers rates. Some Urdu websites have started to offer online versions of books for foreign readers. This helps in promoting one’s culture as well as to help the expatriate Pakistanis and is a viable opportunity that Knowledge Hub can take advantage of. Online Book Stores: Closely related to e-books are the online book stores, another wonder of the internet and an opportunity for Knowledge Hub. An extension of the traditional book stores, online book stores give the option to search and read reviews of books, browse through categories, view the covers, author information, reader ratings and then order these books online. Although they are not free and even charge a shipping fee, it’s very convenient to search and order books online saving the hassle. Reading Clubs: Reading clubs are a breath of fresh air into the dying book culture. There are a number of book clubs/reading clubs online and offline. People sit and discuss their favorite books or simply talk about what they are reading these days. Readers’ Club is an exemplary example is of a â€Å"Readers’club† at the University of Karachi, which is moderated by a teacher who is Lecturer at the Department of the International Relations. This is also an opportunity that Knowledge Hub seeks to avail in the future. We plan of starting our own reading club in different cities throughout Pakistan to encourage the reading culture amongst the people of Pakistan. Book Fairs: The first International Book Fair was held in Karachi and Lahore last year at the expo centre and it was well received by the public at large despite the fact that all the books were originals and were highly priced. Knowledge Hub also seeks to participate in such book fairs at both national and international level in the future. Mobile Bookshops: The concept of a Mobile Bookshop was first used by the Welcome Book port some years back. Recently, Oxford started its own mobile book shop and it has been touring the city for quite some time now. Set on a truck, with the back converted into a small book shop with shelves and a counter set snugly at the end, the book shop attracted people outside various schools and universities. Threats: Threat of New Entrants: The threat of new entrant is always present in our industry and Knowledge Hub shall endeavor to keep track of the latest practices and customer trends and preference in order to stay ahead of our game ahead of competition. Plagiarism Another threat is the problem of plagiarism. That is, either simply copying out whole extracts or stealing the idea or characters. Plagiarism is an old problem and a big worry for authors who spend time and money on writing a piece of good writing and then someone else copies it and sells it at a lower cost. Then there are one-time authors who just reproduce material from some international author and make money by claiming it as their own. Incentives for Writers: The government, the NGOs and the intellectuals hardly ever take the initiative to encourage young and budding writers of the country. This has resulted in most of the young authors getting their works published under foreign publishers. Decline in Reading Habits: There has been a visible decline in reading habits in last few decades. This can be attributed to a number of factors like television, internet and other means of entertainment. Product Market Strategy: Segmentation: Our initial target market for the first five years of operations includes: 10623380 school/ college going children in Punjab 3,683,920 college going individuals in Punjab 3034350 individuals going to universities or acquiring diploma in Punjab Literate individuals above the age of 25 in Punjab This overall customer base has been divided into segments on the following bases: Step No. 1- Geographic Segmentation: As of now we are catering to the consumer base in Lahore. Step No. 2 – Segmentation on the Basis of Consumer Age and Needs: From within this customer base our market is further divided into the segments on the basis of the ages and needs of the different customers. Books needs of consumer vary with age and needs such as academic, literary, entertainment or information, etc. Hence we have divided our Lahore consumer base into the following segments: Children below the ages of 10 for their academic, literary and entertainment needs. Children between the ages of 10 – 18 who seek to cater to their academic, literary/ information or entertainment needs. Individuals between the ages of 18 – 25 who seek to cater to their academic, literary/ information and entertainment needs and for research purposes. Individuals and professional from the ages of 25 and above for their academic, literary/ information and entertainment needs and for research purposes. Targeting: Knowledge Hub is provider of books to all the mentioned segments. The reason being that the market is already filled with book publishing brands that have had their names recognized and sought after. If we chose to cater to a narrow segment, chances would have been that our brand would not have attained quick popularity in the overall Lahore Market. Hence, Knowledge Hub is catering to all these segments. We shall target the abovementioned segments with the following products: Academic books for primary level Academic books for secondary level Academic books for university level Illustrated books Novels Best Sellers Our focus shall remain on the publishing of quality and up-to-date material. Positioning: Knowledge Hub will position itself as provider of latest academic and research material, the best literary material and best sellers in Urdu and English by quality writers i. e. both local and international. Knowledge Hub endeavors to position itself as a provider of high quality material at affordable prices. Brand Name: ‘Knowledge Hub’ represents the firm as being a provider of various different sources of knowledge, be it academic or in the form of beautiful pieces of writing to enrich our minds and groom our personalities. Marketing Mix: Product: Our products include: Academic Books for Primary Level: These further include English and Urdu language, mathematics, science, general knowledge, geography, national and international history, Islamiat,social studies and arts and crafts. Academic Books for Secondary Level: These further include English and Urdu language, advanced mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, geography, national and international history, Islamiat, social studies, sociology, business studies and arts and crafts. Academic Books for University Level: These further include books for business studies, information technology, social sciences, media studies, engineering, commerce, law, pharmacy and medicine. Illustrated Books: These books include books on history, local and international cultures, wildlife, politics, etc. Novels: These include prices of writing by local, national and international writers. Our focus always remains to ensure that only quality material which does in fact impart some type of knowledge or provides quality entertainment and grooming to the readers. Best Sellers: This category includes the best selling stories and novels of today’s age and over the decades. E-Books: All of our publications shall be available online in the form of e-books. Price: High Value but Varying Purchasing Power of Consumers: Books are of tremendous value to readers. Readers of the same types of book belong to drastically varying income levels. Competitors’ Pricing: The prices that prevail in the market are not rigid. It an original book is priced high; its copy is prices at very low prices. Our competitors vary in terms of their size, market shares and prices. Consequently their prices also vary. Some competitors are charging premium pricing with tremendous profit margins due to attractive designing, book cover and page and printing quality. Penetration Pricing Strategy: Since the purpose of the creation of Knowledge Hub is to ensure availability of knowledge to all Pakistanis who seek for it, we use penetration pricing strategy. Knowledge Hub believes that knowledge is not a product to be sold but a service to be provided to our nation so that we may progress in this fast paced world. Knowledge Hub has priced its products so that they are easily purchased by the masses. Knowledge Hub will use penetration strategy to penetrate in the market which is already filled with numerous providers. Knowledge Hub has made a point to publish original books at affordable prices and only attain profits sufficient to achieve our vision of making knowledge accessible to all. The attainment of our vision requires periodic expansions first with in Punjab then throughout the country. Since, Knowledge Hub is a sole proprietorship; the profits shall be retained and reinvested in the expansion of the business. Knowledge Hub has priced its products a bit cheaper and more affordable as opposed to its competitors while maintaining high quality in terms of designing, book covers, page material and printing. We strive to position ourselves as the provider of high-quality material at reasonable prices. The prices of our products shall fall in the following ranges: Sr. No. Product Line Price Range (Rs). 1 Academic Books for Primary Level 200  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ 500 2 Academic Books for Secondary Level 250 –800 3 Academic Books for University Level 300 –1200 4 Illustrated Books Up till 1500 5 Novels 200 –1500 6 Best Sellers 300 – 1800 7 Primary Level Academic E- Books 150 – 400 8 Secondary Level E- Books 150- 650 9 University Level E- Books 200 –850 10 Illustrated E- Books Up till 850 11 E- Novels 150 – 900 12 Best Seller E- Books 200 –1000 Price Sensitivity of Customers: In the Lahore market, the customers are highly price sensitive. The customers shall most willingly opt for a provider of quality books at low prices. Distribution Strategy: Our office shall be located near Urdu bazaar, Lahore. Our products shall move from us to our distributor who will supply our books to retailers and from these retailers our books shall reach our consumers. Our distribution network is as follows: Distributors: Since book stores no longer order directly from most publishers and prefer fewer vendors and quicker service. We shall enter into a contract with our distributor and allow us to reach the book trade (independent bookstores, chain bookstores, wholesalers and libraries) is with a distributor. Our Distributor will have sales reps who visit book stores and libraries, show your book catalogs and take orders. We shall use the following touch points to provide our products to the target market: Book Stores: Our products shall be made available in book stores throughout Lahore. Initially our books shall be available at the following book stores: Defence Book Store Readings Classic Book Store Ferozsons Kitabistan Liberty Books Readings The Last Word Variety Books Books Bank and Gift Shop Ravi Book Store Mavra Books. Libraries: We shall also have our books placed in the following libraries throughout Lahore: Quaid-e-Azam Library Environment Data Resource Centre (EDRC) Defence Public Library Complex Punjab Public Library Atomic Energy Minerals Centre Library Islamia College Library, Islamia College Government College Library, Government College University Lahore University of Management Sciences Library, Lahore University of Management Sciences National Library of Engineering Sciences Dyal Singh Trust Library Provincial Assembly of the Punjab Library, Lahore People’s Bank Library, Lahore Pakistan Administrative Staff College Library, Lahore The Ewing Memorial Library Babar Ali Library – Atchison College, Lahore Punjab University Library, Lahore Dr Baqir’s Library, Lahore Gift Stores: Gift stores will also be a touch point of Knowledge Hub. It is often noticed that people gift good illustrated books, novels and best sellers as gifts on various occasions. Hence placing our products in gift stores shall cause an increase in the number of sales and the popularity of our brand name. Places like Illusions will serve as an ideal place for placing our products. Gift Baskets: We shall also enter into mutual agreements with gift shop owners to form ‘gift baskets’ which will include different items to be placed in the form of a gift basket and including one of our books. An example of this can be a pen/ a diary or note pad along with a small teddy bear and a novel or best seller placed in a beautiful gift basket and covered with a net and tassels. Fiction and Poetry Books: Fiction and poetry can be sold better in gift stores as opposed to book stores. Website: Knowledge Hub shall maintain a comprehensive website containing electronic versions of all its books. We will use this website to display our catalogs of books and to sell those books in both paper editions and in electronic versions on-line. Customers would be able to be directed to bookstores for the paper version and they may send an order directly to us. They would also be able to unlock and access an on-line edition instantly by making a online payment. Our website viewers would also be able to opt to receive periodic catalogs of our products online via e-mail. Retail Outlet: By 2014, we plan to open our own retail outlet in H – Block Defence with the name of Knowledge Hub. Our outlet shall contain all of our publications. Tahira: Promotion Strategy: Knowledge Hub will use the following promotional techniques to promote its products: Newspaper and Magazine Advertisement: Knowledge Hub shall have the following print advertisement placed in the newspapers and magazines including Sunday Times, Zarnigar, Weekly Pulse,Pakistan Textile Journal Magazine ,Herald ,Defence Journal Magazine (DJ),etc. Book Promotion: Knowledge Hub will use tools like book reviews, news releases and a limited amount of highly targeted direct mail advertising. Book reviews and news releases result in free (editorial) publicity while direct mail (Postal and email) delivers your sales message directly to potential customers. Book Reviews: Book reviews are editorial copy that is far less expensive and much more credible than space advertising. The huge number of magazines, newsletters and newspapers columns that are in the market will receive review packages. These reviews will be published for the trade wholesalers and bookstores and libraries. These reviews tell the trade what is coming so they can order the books before the public reads the post-publication reviews in the popular magazines and newspapers. News Releases: We shall follow the review copies with news releases and articles every month to the very same magazines, newsletters and newspapers. These news releases allow opinion-molding editors know what you are doing and why your book has the information their readers need. Direct Mail Advertising: Direct mail advertising of our catalog and books will provide us with the opportunity to get our complete sales message to a specific potential buyer. Our mailing list for direct mails shall remain selective and include only our main buyers. Broadcast E-mail to Main Buyers: This method will is even better than direct postal mail and eliminates printing, stuffing and postage while getting a quick response. Knowledge Hub will assemble email addresses from customers and potential customers and alert them pertaining to our books. Radio & TV Interviews: Radio/TV interviews are an easy way to have the masses asking and searching for an upcoming book. Knowledge Hub shall arrange radio and television interviews of authors hose books are about to be published with us. If the book gains popularity so do we. Radio and television talk shows need interesting guests to attract listeners and viewers. Most people feel that authors are experts and celebrities, so most of the guests booked on such shows are authors. While advertising products on the air is expensive interviews are an editorial matter. People listen to editorial matter. Interviews are more effective than advertising and they are free. Hence, they will serve as an inexpensive way to sell our books. Autograph Parties: Knowledge Hub will arrange autograph parties or book signings in our client bookstores, both chain and independent to draw potential customers into their stores. Best Sellers: Knowledge Hub will endeavor so that its books are labeled as bestsellers. This would drastically improve our brand image. Book fairs: Knowledge Hub will organize book fairs are where publishers traditionally show their books but there are several different kinds. There fairs will be for bookstore buyers, libraries, the general public and so on. Initially these book fairs will be local but they will be replaced with book fairs in other cities as our business expands. Specific Category Promoting: From time to time Knowledge Hub shall also indulge in specific category book promotion. Where we shall promote our different products like children’s books, illustrated books, etc in schools, universities, etc. Audible Books: Some of our potential customers may commute or travel a lot and hence will not have time to read our book. This constraint can be overcome by forming audible books. E-Books: One of the very rapidly emerging trends in the book publishing industry is that –f electronic books. Knowledge Hub shall take complete advantage of this means of reaching to the targeted audience. Public Relations: Knowledge Hub will endeavor to maintain good relations with the distributor, retailing chains,gift stores, editors who write book reviews and leading authors. Sales Promotions: Knowledge Hub will provide sales promotions to retailers and libraries such as books at discount prices when purchased in huge bulks to motivate them to purchase our products and help the company penetrate into the target market. Implementation Strategy: Our primary function as book publishers is to procure books and make them available for sale. Procurement of books will involve soliciting and accepting marketable manuscripts, contracting with the author for selling rights, and getting them copies printed and distributed. The selling of our books will involve making contacts with industry retailers and distributors, and selling directly through your own website. We shall make a percentage of each sale and pay the balance to the author. Operational Plan: For works written independently of the publisher, writers shall first submit a query letter or proposal directly to a literary agent or to a publisher. Submissions sent directly to a publisher are referred to as unsolicited submissions, and the majority come from previously unpublished authors. We shall accept these unsolicited manuscripts, and place it in the slush pile, which our readers will sift through to identify manuscripts of sufficient quality or revenue potential to be referred.