Virgin Blue Strategic Competitiveness

Table of Contents Introduction Strategic Management and Strategic Competitiveness External Environment Internal Environment Business Level Strategies Conclusion Reference List Introduction Strategy is about achieving competitive advantage. A company can achieve this by being different, delivering a unique value addition to the customer and by having a clear and enact-able view of how to position itself uniquely in the industry. This essay uses Virgin Blue as a case study to find out if it has successfully achieved strategic competitiveness in the Australian airline industry. The I/O and the Returns-based models of above average returns are central in classification of external and internal environment elements.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Virgin Blue Strategic Competitiveness specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Strategic Management and Strategic Competitiveness Strategic management is the systematic analysi s of the external and internal environment to form a basis of re-evaluating the current management practices with the aim of achieving better alignment of corporate policies and strategic priorities. Strategic competitiveness is achievable when a company formulates strategies that give it an edge over its competitors. The strategy formulated should be rare, that current and potential competitors are unable to duplicate because it is costly, and in that way the firm achieves sustainable competitive advantage. The 21st century competitive landscape is rapidly changing because of technology and uncertainty. This means that managers have to adopt new ways of thinking. Managers have to value flexibility, innovation and speed in responding to existing competitors and new entrants to remain in business. These characteristics may have affected the entry and survival of Virgin Blue into the Australian airline industry. In order to enter the market, Virgin Blue had to introduce low cost and t ake measures to keep the costs low and using imaginative tactics of thinking outside the box to remain innovative. External Environment External environment consists of factors outside the control of the firm that affect the ability to meet customer demands and that face the whole industry. These factors based on resource-based model include political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, and legal. They determine the laws to apply in running business, the economic conditions that the firm will have to operate in, the characteristics of the market, and the technology determines the way the product should be (Millmore, 2007). In the case of Virgin Blue, the economic aspect of external environment can be considered to have crucial importance. The rising fuel costs, increasing operating costs, and increasing terminal costs are some of the economic challenges the Virgin Blue faced as it pursued its low cost services strategy. Additionally due to the economic slowdown in 2008, Virgin Blue recorded a loss of $160 for the financial year 2008-2009. This loss must have had a great influence on how the firm was to be run to survive this period until the economic recovery period in 2010 when Virgin reported a profit of $21.3 million.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Internal Environment Internal environment encompasses elements that are specific to a firm and affect its ability to meet customer. Financial resources, organizational resources, physical resources and technological resources are the tangible elements considered to affect the internal environment of a firm in Resource-based model of above average returns. On the other hand, the intangible elements are human resources, innovation resources, and reputational resources (Michael and Hitt, 2010). Virgin Blue being in the service industry depends more on its intangible resources. The friendly crew has b een known to greet passengers as boys and girls, entertain them with rock music on takeoff and landing, make jokes and read horoscopes in-flight. This good customer relation enhances customer loyalty therefore enabling the firm to attract new customers while retaining the current ones. Financially the firm has been able to cut down costs by the improved scheduling system, self check-in kiosk’s, outsourcing of catering, managing catering wastage, maintenance agreements and a fuel efficiency program (Carnal, 2007). Business Level Strategies Business level strategy is the strategy a firm chooses in order to gain competitive advantage in the market or industry it operates. This is critical when a firm operates in an industry with intense competition like the one Virgin Blue operates in. Managers therefore have to formulate a strategy geared towards creating and implementing a strategy that gives it the competitive advantage over the other players in the industry (Christensen, 200 6). There are five business level strategies; cost leadership, focused cost leadership, differentiation and focused differentiation. Firms make a choice whether to be a cost leader which means it will focus on competing for customers based on the pricing while still being able to report more than average returns. Alternatively, a focused cost leader meaning that it will not only compete in terms of price but also will segment it and market its products to a particular market. On the hand, firms have a can differentiate products. Firms choosing just to differentiate by providing unique characteristics and features do so through high quality advanced technological features and customer service. A firm that differentiates and chooses a market segment to provide goods and services uses focused differentiation (Hanson et al. 2011). Virgin Blue evidently from the national point of view has chosen the cost leadership strategy by delivering services that are of acceptable standards to custo mers at a cost considered lowest among the competitors in the Australian market.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Virgin Blue Strategic Competitiveness specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The firm has cut down costs and trimmed unnecessary ones to achieve its strategy. It has done so by paying its staff less than Qantas, all in-flight meals and entertainment are provided at a cost, outsourcing catering, managing catering wastage and using one type of aircraft. A cost leadership strategy helps a firm survive since it is able to remain profitable even in the face of rivalry, new entrants, suppliers’ power, substitute products, and buyers’ power (Bowles, 2011). Conclusion Virgin Blue has successfully achieved strategic competitive in the 8years it has been in the market. It has been able to survive the economic downturn in 2008-2009 and bounce back to reporting profits a year later in 2010 while still ma intaining its cost leadership strategy. Additionally Virgin has introduced competitive moves that include the introduction of a frequent flier program, a member lounge, and strengthening marketing and code sharing alliances with international airlines and by so doing remaining in the market when other airlines like Ansett went under (Beer, 1999). Reference List Beer, M. (1999). Readings in Human Resource Management. New York: Free Press. Bowles, M. (2011) External Environment. The Institute For Working Futures. Web. Available from:  http://www.marcbowles.com/publications.html   . Carnal, C. (2007) Managing Change in Organizations. Essex: Pearson Education. Christensen, R. (2006) Roadmap to Successful Strategic HR Management. New York: American Management Association.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Hanson, D. et al. (2011) Strategic Management: Competitiveness and Globalisation. Southbank, Victoria: Cengage. Michael A. Hitt, R. D. (2010) Strategic Management: Competitive and Globalization , Concepts. London: Wiley. Millmore, M. (2007) Strategic Human Resource Management: Contemporary Issues. Essex: Pearson Education. This report on Virgin Blue Strategic Competitiveness was written and submitted by user Jayla Rich to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

brain structure differences essays

brain structure differences essays Maggie Tulliver: Divided Needs Represented in Diverse Relations It is said that George Eliots style of writing deals with much realism. Eliot, herself meant by a realist to be an artist who values the truth of observation above the imaginative fancies of writers of romance or fashionable melodramatic fiction. (Ashton 19) This technique is artfully utilized in her writings in a way which human character and relationships are dissected and analyzed. In the novel The Mill on the Floss, Eliot uses the relationships of the protagonist of the story, Miss Maggie Tulliver, as a medium in which to convey various aspects of human social associations. It seems that as a result of Maggies nature and of circumstances presented around her, that she is never able to have a connection with one person that satisfies her multifaceted needs and desires. Maggie is able, to some extent, to explore the various and occasionally conflicting aspects of her person with her relationships between other characters presented in the novel. From an early age, Maggie need s approval from men...Maggie is not shown in any deep relationship with a female friend. (Ashton 83) A reader can explore into Maggie Tullivers person and her short development as a woman in four primary male associations: her father-Mr. Tulliver, her brother-Tom Tulliver, her friend and mentor-Philip Wakem and her dangerous passion with Steven Guest. Maggie unconditionally loves her father although he has been the unconscious root of many of her misfortunes. Toms and Maggies young lives are blighted by the gloom, poverty, disgrace and death of their father...Maggie is obliged by her fathers failure to leave school...It is the misfortune of a clever girl denied any activity other than domestic. (Ashton 50) In the time period of the setting of the novel, women were regarded as male property, to...

Whats a Good PSAT Score for 2017 Expert Analysis

What's a Good PSAT Score for 2017 Expert Analysis SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips If you plan on taking the PSAT in October 2017, then you won’t have to wait too long for the results. You’ll get your scores back mid-December, just before winter break. Your PSAT score report gives you a few different score types, including your total scores, section scores, and Selection Index. With all this data, how can you sort through the numbers to figure out what's a good PSAT score? This guide goes over the full scoring system of the PSAT so you'll know exactly what makes a good score. We'll start with a quick glossary explaining the various types of PSAT scores you’ll find on your score report inDecember. Types of PSAT Scores: A Glossary At first glance, your PSAT score reportcan be pretty intimidating. You'll be faced with your total score and section scores and subscores. All this information is meant to help you, but if you don’t understand what each type of score means, it'll be hard to figure out how well you performed on the PSAT. Your PSAT score report will contain six main kinds of data: scaled total scores, section scores, raw scores, subscores, Selection Index, and percentiles. Here’s a quick rundown of what all of these terms mean: Scaled total score: Your total score on the PSAT, ranging between 320 and 1520. Half of your total score comes from Math and the other half comes from Evidence-based Reading and Writing (which is a combination of the Reading and Writing and Language sections). Scaled section scores: Two scores, one for Math and one for Evidence-based Reading and Writing. Both of these scores fall between 160 and 760. Section (test) scores: Three scores: one for Math, one for Reading, and one for Writing and Language. All section scores fall between 8 and 38. Subscores: Seven scores, each on a scale of 1 to 15. Subscores tell you how you did on certain types of questions, some of which appear across two or more sections of the PSAT. You’ll get a subscore for questions that fallinto these seven categories: Command of Evidence, Words in Context, Expression of Ideas, Standard English Conventions, Heart of Algebra, Problem Solving and Data Analysis, and Passport to Advanced Math. Raw scores: Three scores, one for each PSAT section, representing the number of questions you got right. The ranges for raw scores vary by section. You can get a maximum raw score of 48 for Math, 47 for Reading, and 44 for Writing and Language. Selection Index: One score that ranges from 48 to 228. Your selection index is the sum of your three section scores between 8 and 38 multiplied by 2 ((section score + section score + section score) x2). The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) uses Selection Index to award test takers Commended Student and Semifinalist status. Percentiles: Ranking of your performance compared to that of other test-takers. Percentiles tell you what percentage of other students you scored the same as or better than. If you score in the 80th percentile, then you scored the same as or better than 80% of other test-takers. There it is- all of the categories of data on your PSAT score report, explained. The next step is understanding which of these types of data matter most for you. Out of all six kinds of data, which are the most important? Which PSAT Scores Are Most Important? All of the PSAT score data is useful in different ways, but the most important numbers on your score report are your scaled total and section scores. As you saw above, you can score a maximum of 1520 on the PSAT overall, or a 760 each on Math and Evidence-Based Reading and Writing. While the Reading and Writing and Language sections are separate sections on the PSAT, your scores on these sections are combined into one scaled section score. As a result, your total PSAT score is half-Math and half Evidence-Based Reading and Writing. Another important piece of data for students competing for National Merit distinction is their Selection Index. The NMSC sets a different cutoff for students in each state that determines who becomes a Commended Student and Semifinalist. The top 1% of scorers in each state are named Semifinalists, which means they may be able to move on to become Finalists and win scholarship money. Finally, you can use your non-scaled section scores, raw scores, and subscores to get detailed insight into how you did on each section and question type on the PSAT. Understanding what kinds of questions you got wrong is especially helpfulwhen you go on to study for the SAT, as they show your strengths and weaknesses as a test-taker and where you need to improve the most. For instance, your scaled section scores might tell you that you're fine with most of the Math and struggle more with Evidence-Based Reading and Writing. However, if you look deeper by checking your raw scores and subscores, you might discover that what you really need to work on is the Writing and Language section, or, more specifically, â€Å"Command of Evidence† questions. Now that you have the tools to sort through your PSAT score report, let’s go back to our original, million-dollar question: what makes a good score on the PSAT? Read on to find out. What Makes a Good Score on the PSAT 2017? Before we can answer thequestion â€Å"What’s a good score on the PSAT?†, we need to define what we mean by a â€Å"good score.† Because everyone will have their own specific goals for the PSAT, what's good for one person may be just okay for another. To help us find some answers, let’s try defining good in a few different ways. First, we could define â€Å"good† as meaning that you scored better than 50% or more of other test-takers. Based on this definition, we can use percentiles to figure out what makes an above-average PSAT score. Second, we can define â€Å"good† PSAT scores as scores thatqualifyfor National Merit. Actually, qualifying for National Merit means that you got excellent, amazing, near-perfect PSAT scores. We’ll discuss what you need to get in greater detail below. Finally, we’ll consider what kinds of SAT scores colleges are looking for. The PSAT is very similar to the SAT, so your score can help you figure out if you’re on track to get the scores you need for the colleges you want to apply to. Let’s start by considering PSAT percentiles. How do PSAT scores correspond to percentiles? How Do PSAT Scores Correspond to Percentiles? Full Chart PSAT percentiles give you a way to compare your scores to those of other test-takers. If your score is in the 75th percentile, then you scored the same as or better than 75% of other students. The remaining 25% scored better than you. The highest possible percentile on the PSAT is the 99th percentile. You don’t have to get a perfect PSAT score to land in the 99th percentile. We don’t yet have percentile data for the October 2017 administration of the PSAT, but we can get an idea of what to expect by looking at percentiles from the 2016 PSAT. Here’s the full chart that shows how PSAT scaled section scores compare, usingpercentiles: PSAT Section Score Evidence-Based Reading and Writing Percentile Math Percentile 760 99+ 99+ 750 99+ 99+ 740 99+ 99+ 730 99+ 99 720 99+ 99 710 99+ 98 700 99+ 98 690 99 97 680 99 97 670 98 96 660 97 95 650 96 95 640 95 94 630 93 93 620 91 92 610 90 91 600 88 90 590 86 88 580 85 86 570 82 83 560 80 81 550 77 77 540 74 73 530 71 69 520 67 65 510 63 62 500 60 58 490 55 54 480 50 49 470 46 43 460 42 40 450 39 37 440 35 31 430 31 26 420 28 23 410 26 20 400 23 18 390 20 14 380 16 11 370 12 9 360 10 6 350 7 3 340 6 2 330 4 1 320 2 1 310 1 1- 300 1- 1- 290 1- 1- 280 1- 1- 270 1- 1- 260 1- 1- 250 1- 1- 240 1- 1- 230 1- 1- 220 1- 1- 210 1- 1- 200 1- 1- 190 1- 1- 180 1- 1- 170 1- 1- 160 1- 1- Via CollegeBoard.org As you can see, percentiles work slightly differently for Math and Evidence-based Reading and Writing, with Math being a little more competitive at most score levels. For instance, an Evidence-Based Reading and Writing score of 680 ranks in the 99th percentile, whereas you’d need a 720 to get into the 99th percentile for Math. This variation happens because more students get top scores in Math than they do in Evidence-Based Reading and Writing. Using this chart, let’s pick out what you have to score in each section to get a â€Å"good† PSAT score in a higher-than-average percentile. What Is a Good 2017 PSAT Score Based on Percentiles? If we define a good PSAT score as one that's higher than what most students achieve, we can use percentiles to figure out what exact score you'd need to rank higher than the majority of other test-takers. To rank in the 50th percentile, you’d need at least a 480 in Reading and Writing and a 490 in Math. What if you want to rank in the 70th, 80th, 90th, or even 99th percentile? Here are the section scores you’d need to score higher than the majority of other students. Percentile Reading and Writing Score Math Score Composite Score 70% 530 540 1070 80% 560 560 1120 90% 610 600 1210 99% 680 720 1400 Oddly enough, you’d have to score slightly higher in Evidence-Based Reading and Writing than in Math to make it into the 90th percentile. To make it into the 99th percentile, though, you’d have to score 40 points higher in Math than in Evidence-Based Reading and Writing. If you’re a strong test-taker aiming for National Merit, then a good PSAT score for you will be one that qualifies you for Commended Student or Semifinalist. Read on to learn what is a good PSAT score for National Merit distinction. What’s a Good 2017 PSAT Score for National Merit? The National Merit Scholarship Corporation distinguishes students who get top scores on the PSAT. Students who score in the top three to four percent are named Commended Students, and students who get top one-percent PSAT scores are named Semifinalists. However, instead of relying on PSAT percentiles, NMSC uses itsSelection Index to determine which students qualify for which honor. Each state has its own Selection Index cutoff that students need to make to qualify for National Merit. Before we look at all of these cutoffs, let's review how your Selection Index score is calculated so you understand where it comes from. Qualifying for National Merit Commended Student or Semifinalist is a feat worthy of celebration (and being put on your college applications) How Is the Selection Index Calculated? You can easily calculate your Selection Index score once you know your 8-38 scale section, or test, scores. Simply add your section scores for Reading, Writing and Language, and Math together, and then multiply the entire sum by 2 to get your Selection Index Score. Let’s say you got a 25 in Reading, a 37 in Writing and Language, and a 38 in Math. Here’s how you would figure out your Selection Index. Section Score Sum x 2 Selection Index Score Reading 29 (29 + 37 + 38) x 2 = 208 Writing and Language 37 Math 38 Once you add together and double your section scores, you get a Selection Index of 208. Does this score qualify for National Merit Semifinalist? That all depends on where you live. Keep reading for the full chart that shows the qualifying cutoff scores for National Merit in each state. Qualifying PSAT Scores for National Merit, State by State We've created a chart that shows the Selection Index score you need to qualify for Semifinalist in everystate. While the National Merit Scholarship Corporation doesn't release a full list of cutoffs, it will tell interested individuals what scores they need for their own state. Because of this, the data in the chart below was crowdsourced from individuals across the country If you think any cutoffs are in error, let us know in the comments! You can also verify your own state's Selection Index cutoff by calling NMSC at (847) 866-5100. Here’s the full list of state cutoffs to qualify for National Merit Semifinalist. State PSAT Cutoff for National Merit Semifinalist Alabama 215 Alaska 213 Arizona 219 Arkansas 213 California 221 Colorado 218 Connecticut 220 Delaware 218 DC 222 Florida 217 Georgia 219 Hawaii 217 Idaho 214 Illinois 219 Indiana 217 Iowa 215 Kansas 217 Kentucky 215 Louisiana 214 Maine 214 Maryland 221 Massachusetts 222 Michigan 216 Minnesota 219 Mississippi 212 Missouri 216 Montana 210 Nebraska 215 Nevada 214 New Hampshire 216 New Jersey 222 New Mexico 213 New York 219 North Carolina 218 North Dakota 209 Ohio 217 Oklahoma 213 Oregon 219 Pennsylvania 218 Rhode Island 217 South Carolina 215 South Dakota 209 Tennessee 218 Texas 220 Utah 215 Vermont 215 Virginia 221 Washington 220 West Virginia 209 Wisconsin 215 Wyoming 209 Average score 216 On average, students need a Selection Index score of 216. If you live in Washington, DC, Massachusetts, or New Jersey, then you need to meet the highest cutoff of 222. If you haven't taken the PSAT yet and are aiming for National Merit, I'd recommend aiming for a PSAT score that's at least two to five points higher than your state's cutoff on this list. The cutoffs can fluctuate a bit from year to year, depending on how students around the country do on the PSAT/NMSQT. Once you’ve found your state’s cutoff, how can you figure out what scores you need to qualify for National Merit? Your National Merit Selection Index score cutoff depends on what state you live in. How to Calculate Your Target Scores for National Merit This section is for students that haven't taken the PSAT yet and are aiming for National Merit. You read above how to convert your PSAT section scores into the Selection Index. If you know what Selection Index you’re aiming for, all you need to do is work backwardto figure out your target section scores. Remember how you needed to add your section scores together and then double that sum to get your Selection Index? Working backward just means dividing your Selection Index by two and then further splitting that quotient into three. Let’s say you live in New Mexico. To qualify for National Merit, students who took the PSAT in 2015 needed a Selection Index of 213. To be on the safe side, you'll want to aim for around a 216 as your target score (just in case the cutoff fluctuates). Our first step, then, is to divide 216 by 2. 216 / 2 = 108. Now you know that your section scores in Reading, Writing and Language, and Math need to add up to 108. You can also figure out what section score you need for each section (Math, Reading, and Writing and Language) by dividing 108 by three. 108 / 3 = 36 However, not everyone is equally strong at math and reading and writing. You might be able to aim a little higher in Math and a little lower in Reading and Writing and Language, or vice versa. As long as your section scores still add up to 108, you’ll still get a Selection Index of 216 and potentially qualify for National Merit. Once you understand what total section scores you need, you can adjust your target scores among the three PSAT sections however you want. Set realistic goals for yourself based on your own math, reading, and writing skills. Of course, only a small group of students are aiming to become National Merit Semifinalist. Only 16,000 of the 1.6 million who take the PSAT will receive this distinction. Disappointed with your PSAT performance? Want to improve your PSAT score by 150 points? We have the industry's leading PSAT prep program. Built by Harvard grads and SAT full scorers, the program learns your strengths and weaknesses through advanced statistics, then customizes your prep program to you so you get the most effective prep possible. Check out our 5-day free trial today: A good PSAT score is also one that shows you’re on track to achieving your SAT goals and getting into college. Let’s consider our third and final piece of criteria, which defines a â€Å"good† PSAT score as one that helps you meet your college goals. What Is a Good PSAT Score for College? The PSAT is extremely similar to the SAT, and your performance on the PSAT can help predict your SAT score. Almost everyone improves when they take these tests more than once, sothe PSAT is a useful trial run. You'll likely score higher on the SAT than you would if you'd never taken the PSAT. You can use your PSAT score report to see your current scoring level and findout what skills you need to improve to hit your target SAT scores. To figure out your target SAT scores, you should do some college research. Find schools that you’re interested in, and look for the average SAT scores of accepted students. You can then use this information to set your own SAT score goals. Once you know what scores you need to get into your colleges of interest, you can use your PSAT score report to design a study plan. Use the data provided by section scores and subscores to pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses, then type yourself up a personalized SAT study plan that targets your weak areas. Depending on how many points you’re seeking to improve, you can roughly predict how much time you'll need to set aside to prep. Here’s an estimate of how many hours you need to study to achieve variousscore improvements. 0-50 SAT composite point improvement: 10 hours 50-100 point improvement: 20 hours 100-200 point improvement: 40 hours 200-300 point improvement: 80 hours 300-500 point improvement: 150 hours+ If you’re already scoring close to your target SAT scores, then you can feel satisfied with your PSAT scores. If you fell short by a hundred points, then you need to kick your test prep into gear and devote several hours a week to getting ready for the SAT. If you have months to prepare, then you can definitely see a big improvement in your scores and skills as a test-taker. Your PSAT score report offers a useful starting point for your SAT prep. Whether or not you think you got a good score on the PSAT, you can still achieve a good score on the SAT with enough commitment. In closing, we'll go over the key points you need to remember about what makes a good score on the 2017 PSAT. edX Social Media/Flickr. What SAT score do you need to be a good candidate for your dream school? Your PSAT scores can help you achieve your dream. 2017 PSAT Scores: Key Takeaways If you take the PSAT in 2017, then you'll get your scores back mid-December. Your PSAT score report might look confusing at first glance, but now you understand what all of its scaled scores, section scores, and subscores mean. Any students aiming for National Merit will also want to check their Selection Index score to see if it's above past years' qualifying scores for their state. If you haven't taken the PSAT yet, you can use the cutoffs to set goals for your scores. Everyone has their own definition for what is aâ€Å"good† PSAT score. For example, you might think a good score is one that is higher than that of most other students. You can use percentiles to figure out what makes a good score on the PSAT. If you’re a high-achieving student who has spent time prepping for the PSAT, then a good score for you might mean receiving National Merit distinction. National Merit is extremely competitive and only goes to the top scorers across the country. Finally, scoring well on the PSAT can help shape your plans for taking the SAT and getting into college. You might have a certain PSAT score goal based on your eventual college applications. Even if you fall short of it, you'll then know you need to boost your SAT performance through studying. Taking the PSAT is a valuable experience that will help you get ready for the SAT.In the end, you should decide what makes a good score for you based on your personal goals and plans. What’s Next? If you get named a National Merit Semifinalist, what steps do you need to take to move on to become a Finalist and earn scholarship money? Find out with our complete guide on how to become a National Merit Finalist. What are the differences in content between the PSAT and SAT? Should you prep for both simultaneously? Learn more about the four key differences between the PSAT and SAT here. How many hours should you plan on prepping for the SAT? Figure out how far in advanceand for how long you should study for the SAT. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Has NAFTA proven beneficial to the American economy Explain Essay

Has NAFTA proven beneficial to the American economy Explain - Essay Example United States also made certain alteration in their international trade strategies. As because of NAFTA, Mexico’s export increased to a significant amount and Canada became huge market for America. It has been claimed that NAFTA has been a success for all the member countries, but reality is little different. It is true that there are certain significant economic improvements that have taken place due to NAFTA, but that is one side of the coin as also there are certain major disadvantages of NAFTA which include job losses, problems regarding environment, declining standards of safety and health etc. NAFTA’s major objective was to remove the trade barriers and increase free trade between its member countries. NAFTA, although, has improved the export growth of its member countries, but at the same time it has resulted into many critical economic as well as environmental problems for its member countries. Among various disadvantages of NAFTA, most important one is the loss of jobs in United States. Manufacturers in United States, because of NAFTA, got the freedom of outsourcing or moving jobs to Mexico. Mexican labors are available at a cost which is much lower than that of American labor. As a result of this manufacturers shifted their production unit to Mexico, and rules in NAFTA allowed them to do so legally. This resulted huge job losses in manufacturing industry in US. Manufacturers, who continued their operation in US, reduced the salary of US workers. Almost 879,280 jobs were lost in US during the time period of 1994 to 2002. There was actually significant increase in job creation from 1994 to 2000. But from 2001 unemployment started to increase and by October, 2003 almost 2.4 millions people lost their job. Apart from manufacturing industry, other industries which moved to Mexico include textiles, electrical appliances, computer etc. States which were badly affected include T exas, California, Michigan and New York. Apart form these job

Entrepreneurship and Venture Creation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words - 1

Entrepreneurship and Venture Creation - Essay Example They seek to provide high quality goods at low costs through innovation. This factor together with wealth creation led to economic growth. Entrepreneurs seek to invest money in small and medium market enterprises. This leads the niche market to flourish and strengthen the economy. This is why a society only receives consideration of prosperity as to the degree to which it encourages and rewards entrepreneurship (Stel 2005 pg 18). In many liberal economies, entrepreneurship pursuit receives high priority as opposed to its consequences. However, careful evaluation reveals that this behavior creates a credit crunch that leads to financial turmoil. The economic and social impacts of entrepreneurial activity with no regulation lead to short-term benefits (Acz, 2010 PG 78). Yet, in the end national markets, economies, individual and firms suffer severely resulting into huge value destruction. This essay seeks to analyze the theory of entrepreneurship and its relation to the UK economy coming from recession. It will discuss different types of entrepreneurial activities. It indicates how each activity affects economic performance. Entrepreneurship before the recession was unregulated. This led to issues arising in the capitalist economies leading due to short-term profits and speculation bubbles. The entrepreneurs experienced adverse effects of economic factors beyond their control. These include limitation of amount of credit available, decrease in demand and reductions in confidence levels. This resulted in business closures, loss of employment and economic stagnation. The capitalist economy present at the time though highly adaptive and robust held a crisis between its relationships to the society (Stel, 2005 pg 124). The freedom it gave to an enterprise to engage in wealth creation and maximization was in contrast to the society expectation of responsibility. The old entrepreneurial theory receives its basis from the capitalist theory of growth.

Customers Switching Behavior Essay Example for Free

Customers Switching Behavior Essay Relationships and individuals bank switching behavior Abstract We examine the role of relationships between individuals and their banks in determining bank switching behavior. Using data from a survey questionnaire from a random sample of bank customers in the United States, we find that the variables measuring the various dimensions of a relationship significantly lower an individuals propensity to switch banks. These include the duration of an individuals relationship with her bank, whether or not she has had problems with her bank in the past, and aspects of the quality of the service relationship. An innovation of the current paper lies in incorporating finance/economic aspects of relationship with the various dimensions of service quality relationship collectively as determinants of an individuals propensity to switch banks. The attributes capturing whether or not an individual feels that her bank is responsive, is empathetic and is reliable to her needs, are all significantly negatively correlated with her propensity to switch banks. Our results demonstrate just how relationships may help in limiting bank switching behavior and deliver a strong message to banks about the importance of relationships in retaining loyal customers. Our findings also underscore the interconnectedness of seemingly disparate disciplines to better understand the behavior and decision making of individuals and their banks. Author Keywords: Bank switching; Relationships

Persuasion Paper :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Matt B  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2/14/05   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  PY129  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Persuasion Paper   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hello, woman who sits in the front of the class. I may not have your name, but I do have some unfortunate news for you. You should never go out with me. We all know it would have happened. Everybody knows what’s on a woman’s mind, and how could I not notice things like the way you stare at me in class, it’s just so distracting. I’m just trying to stop this very attractive problem before it’s too late. This paper will save you from years of therapy and gallons of Ben and Jerry’s cookie dough. Don’t feel bad, it’s not you, well actually it is; but you can still choose from the other 10 guys in our class who mysteriously all sit in a circle around you! I just don’t think things would work out between us. I believe that I have a pretty good idea of what kind of a person you are from being in your logic class and never talking to you once. Our close and personal relationship gives me insight to who you are, and why we aren’t right for each other. First, your too predictable and boring for me, second, your not willing to change, and third, I don’t think you could satisfy me.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Variety is the spice of life! Mix things up a bit. You sit in the same seat every day, who does this? Don’t you ever wonder what it feels like to sit someplace else? I wouldn’t be able to stand that kind of compliancy. Another testament to your predictability, is the fact that you never have a story to tell about how your weekend was. This means either one of two things.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1) You do nothing on weekends. Your idea of fun is watching the Lifetime channel. You go to Six Flags and enjoy such rides as ‘Teacups,’ ‘Ferris wheel,’ and ‘Dirty bench by the hotdog stand.’   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2) Just the opposite. Maybe you frequent S&M clubs or rob orphans on the weekends. Whatever it is, it probably makes the baby Jesus cry. You disgust me. So start enjoying the finer, more fun things in life. Until then, though, I just don’t think your ready for my kind of excitement.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  You most likely do a variety of things, or have some qualities that are unattractive to me, and you are also unwilling to change them. I know this because of our many interactions together, where you have revealed to me your deepest secrets and habits.

If God is good why is there evil in the world? Essay

Introduction The problem of evil is as ancient as humanity itself. Since the dawn of man, thinkers, philosophers, religionists and practically every human being who have suffered at the hands of evil have pondered this enigma, either as a logical-intellectual-philosophical or emotional-religious-existential problem. The preponderance of evil as a reality in human existence, and man’s fascination with it is everywhere evident. Open a newspaper, switched on the television, look around the office, school, family and practically every social environment and context, and the imprint of evil is as it were, omnipresent. Evil, whether physical as in natural disasters and calamities, or moral, as in lying, cheating, unrighteousness, harming others, killing, murders and lawlessness in general have been woven into the very fabric of human nature and existence. The reality of evil is brought home to human existence in that it causes human suffering. So much so that evil and its effect has become a great preoccupation and fascination among men. One does not have to go far to see the truth of this statement. Imagine if you will a story, a movie, a novel or great literatures of the world without any mention of evil and its accompanying consequence—human suffering. Such a work if it existed at all would not do well commercially. It would universally be judged monotonous, uninteresting and boring. In fact it is no exaggeration to say that the extent and cleverness toward which evil and its many faces is painted (and sometimes overcome) in works of literature set its attractiveness index in the eyes of readers through the ages until the present day. The enigma of evil has lost none of its â€Å"luster† to the present generation. If anything its sinuous tentacles have penetrated an ever younger population. Conduct a cursory survey of titles for young adults in any bookstore near you. The panorama of subjects on crimes, killings, murders, vampires, demons, fallen angels, evil spirits, ghouls, witchcraft, and sorcery tells of a whole new generation that is being exposed to the notion of evil as something of a novelty on a massive and unprecedented scale. The disguise of evil upon our young as forms of entertainment may engender a familiarity that breeds contempt. And so by and large if we are not watchful, the corruption that is evil may no longer be so evil, at least in perception and appearance to a new generation. Evil is a Mystery While Christians rightly sorrow and sympathize with the suffering that evil brings, it should also come as no surprise that the work of evil has and will escalate in the last days. Aside from natural disasters and calamities, man’s inhumanity to man is writ large on the face of history. The last century alone has seen untold sufferings and unaccountable lives lost to two great wars. This century itself, opens with a manmade disaster that staggers the imagination—the destruction of the twin Towers through acts of terrorism. The vivid imagery of the implosion of both Towers, and the senseless death of thousands of innocents following the run-in of the two hijacked passenger planes are forever edged in the minds of the world as 9/11, a reminder of the maliciousness of evil in a most graphic form. Indeed in scripture there is a mystery that is evil—the mystery of lawlessness. As portrayed in Thessalonians, this mystery is already operating in nation and human society to bring about a divinely directed situation for the ultimate exposure of evil in the last days prior to, and heralding the Lord’s second coming (2 Thess. 2:2-4, 6-7, 8a). These passages clearly depict the present state of the world with its various manifestations of lawlessness, evil and sufferings as the result of the operation of a mystery, the mystery of evil and lawlessness that is even now operating everywhere, culminating in the unveiling of evil incarnate—a man of lawlessness, the son of perdition. The teleology of evil is ultimately embodied in a person, the person of the enemy of God. Let it not be forgotten then at the outset of our discussion on God and evil, that the rampant lawlessness and many faces of evil that we see around us is not just the mere issue of man’s doings. It is according to Saint Paul, none other than Satan’s operation (v. 9a) in all power and signs and wonders of a lie, and in all deceit of unrighteousness (vv. 9b, 10). The modern mind with its scientific enlightenment, and anti-supernatural outlook, easily askew the personification of evil. But the clear testimony of scripture is that evil is not just a â€Å"thing†, a mere act of wrongdoing or transgression. It is all that to be sure, but even more so, the true nature of evil is that it is personified in scripture—the evil one (Matt. 13:19, 38; Mk. 9:39; Jn. 17:15; Eph. 6:16; Col. 3:9) as scripture calls it—with a mind and will of its own, that is totally and irrevocably opposed to God. Even as good is a person, God Himself, for no one is good except God alone (Mark 10:18; Luke 18:19); even so we need to realize in the depths of our being that evil is no less a person, Satan himself. To believe otherwise is to downplay the reality, nature and insidiousness of evil. According to divine revelation (2 Thess. 2:1-3), the exposure of the mystery of lawlessness (and therefore the ultimate unveiling of the mystery of evil) will precede the revelation of the mystery of God (Rev. 10:7). This is not to say that evil has priority over God in any way, but that evil is a shroud, a veil of darkness upon man, that is even now being lifted, that man may see the full glory of God. In other words, amidst a world that has been corrupted by evil, God Himself is working through salvation history to expose, overturn, undo, nullify and depose the mystery of evil and all its outworking, following which the mystery of God will be unveiled in all its glory. Thus evil should be recognized for what it is. We should not forget even for a fleeting moment that evil is more than just an intellectual or emotional problem. It is an anomaly of cosmic proportion amenable only to a solution that comes from an all-powerful, all-good, and all-wise God. To embark on a discussion of theodicy with respect the goodness of God and evil is to plumb the depths of mystery: the mystery of God, and the mystery of evil—around two persons, God and Satan. It is no surprise then that Frame opines in his Doctrine of God1 that the problem of evil is the most difficult problem in all of theology. In what follows we will attempt a prolegomenon on a discussion of this very difficult question, â€Å"If God is good why is there evil in the world† from the following perspectives: 1. The formulation of the problem of evil 2. The various solutions to the problem of evil as conceived by man 3. God’s creation unveiling His eternal intention—whence evil? 4. The unveiling of the mystery of God and the mystery of Christ—the divine answer to evil The Formulation of the Problem of Evil â€Å"Is he willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil? 2 Epicurus’s unanswered question The presence of evil in the face of a good God has been called the problem of evil. As eloquently stated by Epicurus and David Hume, it is a triad (quoted above) of propositions that imply—since there is evil, there is no God. This formulation of the classical problem of evil assumes that God and evil cannot both co-exist. In this understanding, and from a logical and existential perspective, God and evil are incompatible and therefore mutually exclusive. But it has been pointed out by several philosophers, particularly Alvin Platinga3 that all that is needed to resolve the purported logical contradiction as stated by Epicurus and Hume, is to posit that an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent God may have morally sufficient reason for allowing evil. Building on this, Groothius suggests that the classical form of the problem can be reformulated as follows4: 1. God is omnipotent and omnipresent 2. God is omnibenevolent 3. There is objective evil 4. For any evil that God allows, God has a morally sufficient reason for allowing this evil, even if we do not know this morally sufficient reason is in some cases. Thus from a deductive-logical perspective, the actual existence of evil in a world created by God is not incompatible with an omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent God. As Platinga puts it, â€Å"A good God will eliminate evil as far as he can without either loosing a greater good or bringing about a greater evil. †5 Consequentially, there is no contradiction between a good God and the existence of evil in the world. Perhaps this is the reason Frame begins his discussion on the problem of evil with the assumption that God exist,6 as opposed to the more traditional classical formulation that says God’s existence in the face of evil cannot be taken a-priori, but rather must remain as a proposition with truth value as yet to be demonstrated. In Frame’s reformulation the argument assumes the following form: 1. If God is omnipotent, he is able to prevent evil 2. If God is good, he wants to prevent evil 3. But evil exists Conclusion: either God is not omnipotent or he is not good The issue for Frame then is not God’s existence in the face of evil, but what kind of a God is He that is affirmed by Christian theists, and whether such a God is incompatible with the existence of evil in the world. Coming from an evangelical Reformed tradition, Frame emphatically affirmed the biblical testimony that God is all-powerful, all-good, and all-wise. The implication here is that any solution to the problem of evil that runs counter to these biblically attested attributes of God are inadequate to account for the problem of evil in a world created by an all-benevolent, powerful and wise God. The various Solutions to the Problem of Evil as conceived by Man In his Doctrine of God, Frame surveys three categories of solutions to the problem of evil as conceived by man, albeit some more biblically sound than others. The first focuses on the nature of evil, the second on the ways in which evil contributes to the overall good of the universe, and the third on God’s agency with regard evil. In this section we will present a synopsis7 of Frame’s critique of these approaches from a biblically sanctioned perspective, and draw a conclusion as to his stand with regards the problem of evil. The nature of evil: In this category Frame presents the views of those who regard evil as illusion, such as in Hinduism. This proposal fails as a solution because of the reality of the suffering that evil afflicts. If evil is an â€Å"illusion†, why is â€Å"suffering† so real? A more widespread notion held by Christendom that finds adherents in Augustine, Catholics and post-Reformist scholastics, and many modern apologists and theologians is evil as privation. Evil in this view is not an illusion. Rather it is an absence of good where good should be. As such it is a privation, a deprivation of good. In Gilson’s version and exposition, since God created all things good, everything is good in so far as it has being. Therefore in his consideration evil is non-being, and God does not create nonbeing. But even if granted that evil is a lack or privation of being, Frame’s contention is that it would not absolve God of blame for evil. 8 Another objection is that scripture does not speculate whether evil is â€Å"being† or non â€Å"being†, and doing so takes the evil out of evil and reduces the righteousness-sin relation to metaphysics, and therefore depersonalizes and detracts from the weightiness of sin. So, from a biblical perspective, the privation argument also is inadequate as a solution to evil for it does not recognize evil for what it is—an objective reality in the world. Some good things about evil as it contributes to overall good: This is the argument that evil in the world is good when seen from a broader perspective. The goodness of God is such that He does bring about greater good from evil. Scripture testifies that God does utilize evil to test His servant as in Job, to discipline His children (Heb. 12:7-11), to produce patience and perseverance in believers (James 1:3-4). This so called greater good defense is contingent particularly upon God’s lordship attribute of control, that God is sovereign over evil, and can therefore use it for good. Christian stand against evil is firmly rooted in faith in an all-benevolent God who has provided for its defense. In this regards, the apostle Peter, while acknowledging the corruption that is in the world by lust (2 Peter 1:4), reminds believers that God has granted to them all things pertaining to life and godliness, and precious and exceedingly great promises that they should persevere with all diligence, virtue, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, brotherly love, and love that Christians would be fruitful amidst a contrary world (vv. 3-8). In this vein, Saint Paul also writes that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). While cautioning readers on such items as the proper definition and God’s standard for good, that it is for God’s greater glory; the need to evaluate God’s action over the full extent of human history; and the necessity of faith given the future orientation of this ultimate theodicy, Frame acknowledges that the greater-good defense is basically sound. But interestingly, he says, seemingly by way of postscript, â€Å"†¦ it leaves us with a sense of mystery. For it is hard to imagine how God’s good purpose9 justifies the evil in the world. †10 Evil and God’s agency: Here Frame goes through a whole gamut of verbs in an erudite attempt to give an appropriate delineation for God’s relationship to evil: authors, brings about, causes, controls, creates, decrees, foreordains, incites, includes within His plan, makes happen, ordains, permits, plans, predestines, predetermines, produces, stands behind, and wills. Among these Frame cautions against the use of authors, incite, stand behind, wills and create. â€Å"Authors† seems to suggest that God (like the author of a book) not only brings evil about but approves of it. Contrary to scripture â€Å"incites† and â€Å"stand behind† can mean that God encourages people to do evil things. â€Å"Wills† is ambiguous, since it can mean God approves of evil, or simply that He brings it about. Frame’s view is that â€Å"creates† can be awkward because evil is a quality, not a thing, and God creates things, not qualities. Even so, it should be noted that Isaiah 45:6-7 says, â€Å"I am the LORD, and there is no other, the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating evil11; I am the LORD who does all these. † According to Frame, all the other terms listed are less controversial. They differ only in connotation and can be appropriate descriptors at one time or another depending on context. Amidst his remarkable virtuosity on words, the crux of the matter is whether God merely permits evil, or whether He actually brings evil about in some sense. Scripture teaches that God controls human decisions (Gen. 45:5-8; Prov. 16:9; Acts 2:23-24), even when these decisions are sinful. As a testament to God’s absolute Lordship and control over the whole realm of creation, Christian scripture attest unequivocally that God controls all events; He makes everything happens as it does (Lam. 3:37-38; Rom. 8:28; 11:36; Eph 1:11). Astonishingly as it sounds, we cannot even become believers of Christ unless God draws us (John 6:44, 65; Acts 16:14-15). For these biblically founded reasons, Frame affirms that God does bring about sinful decisions of human beings. Frame is a compatibilist who does not subscribe to a libertarian view of agency. A popular premise of libertarian argument is that it is better to create free beings who may fail than to create beings who are â€Å"robots† or â€Å"automata† or â€Å"puppets† as such. Certainly there is truth in this, but contra scripture, libertarians ascribe to man’s freewill12 an autonomy that is quite absolute but alien to biblical thinking. Libertarianism holds that nothing in an agent’s environment or in God Himself or even in the agent’s character compels him from doing or not doing something. In this view, freedom of the will and determination of the will from factors outside of the will are therefore incompatible. For the libertarian or incompatibilists, the power of contrary choice is a necessary choice for moral agency. Notable adherents of libertarianism include the early Augustine to C. S. Lewis, Alvin Platinga, Richard Swinburne and Norman Geisler among others. These have championed libertarian agency as the basis of defense for the problem of evil. As Geisler puts it, â€Å"†¦ if it is good to be free, then evil is possible. Freedom means the power to choose otherwise. So in this present world if one is free to do good, he is also free to do evil †¦ Any alleged. â€Å"freedom† not to choose evil rather than good is not really freedom for a moral creature. †13 Frame on the other hand concludes his argument on the problem of evil by saying, â€Å"†¦ [the] answer to the problem of evil turns entirely on God’s sovereignty. It is as far as could be imagined from a freewill defense. It brings to our attention the fact that his prerogatives are far greater than ours †¦Ã¢â‚¬ 14. No doubt Frame’s stand on the absolute sovereignty of God is a very hard teaching because at one level it makes the problem of evil more intractable. But Frame has suggested that it is also reassuring because if evil comes from some other source other than God, it would be very disturbing, as it implies evil may ultimately be beyond God’s purview and control. Such a state of affair would be undesirable indeed, if not at all unthinkable. As conclusion to Frame’s survey, there are a few points worth reiterating. The main take home lessons from among the three categories of proposals on the problem of evil is that any biblically sanctioned solution must hold in tension the following scriptural truths: 1. Evil is an objective, and undeniable reality in the world. It is neither an illusion nor a privation of sorts. But there is a veil of inscrutability to the mystery of evil, and therefore we should not expect to completely penetrate the enigma that is evil. We must acknowledge in all humility that we are not meant to have complete understanding of the problem of evil this side of eternity. 2. The existence of evil in the world is not incompatible with an all-powerful, all-good and all-wise God. On the contrary scripture attests that God’s goodness and sovereignty in His attribute of lordship and control is such that He utilizes evil for our overall good, and to His greater glory. As this is future oriented, it requires the exercise of our faith. 3. Given God’s absolute sovereignty, human freedom and agency must be understood in a â€Å"compatabilistic† manner, that is, it is compatible with God’s agency in foreordaining all our decisions. In this regards any libertarian solution to the problem of evil that curtails, or put a limit on. God’s attribute of total lordship and control is contrary to biblical testimony. God’s creation unveiling His eternal intention—whence evil? In this section we examine pertinent biblical evidence on the subject of evil more closely. It is worthwhile noting here that out of 1,189 chapters in the sixty-six books of the Bible, only the first and last two (Genesis 1-2; Revelation 21-22) are without evil. That leaves 1,185 chapters in which the problem of evil is dealt with in the light of God’s eternal plan for His creation. On the one hand we should recognize evil for what it is. But we should also be careful not to overplay that card. For it is well to remind ourselves that evil like all things else, is under God’s complete control. In the huge canvas of biblical narratives, and in light of God’s goodness, wisdom and sovereignty, evil is just the negative background against which God unveils two glorious mysteries: the mystery of God (Col. 2:2), and the mystery of Christ (Eph. 3:4; Col. 4:3) for the fulfillment of His divine economy in creation. God’s creation unveiling His eternal intention. Evil needs to be seen in relation to God’s eternal intention for man before the fall. If we would understand God’s intention, we have to pay careful attention to the first two chapters of Genesis before evil and sin entered the world of man. In these two chapters, God created the heavens and the earth in good order (Gen. 1:10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31), and committed the man whom He created in His image and likeness with His authority to rule over all created things (Genesis 1:26-28). Man is in the image of God in order to express God, and he has received God’s authority to represent God. In order to have the full image of God to express God, and realize the full authority of God to represent Him, man must have God’s life in him15. Therefore, in the first two chapters of Genesis, there is not only image and authority (Genesis 1), but also life, signified by the tree of life (Genesis 2:8-9). Although man, created in the image of God and committed with God’s authority in Genesis 1 is very good, he is not yet perfect with respect God’s original intention for him. Frame is right in distinguishing between that which is merely â€Å"good† in Genesis 1:31 and that which is â€Å"perfect†16. In Genesis 1, although man was created good, he has the potential to sin. It seems that for Frame, to be â€Å"perfect†, man must also possess the God-like quality of not being able to sin. So after Genesis 1, we have Genesis 2, where man was placed in Eden with the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil (also in the midst of the garden). God’s intention was that man should take in the tree of life, representing God as life, and reject the tree of knowledge of good and evil, that the created man may be â€Å"perfect† according to God’s original design. It is by eating (partaking and receiving into him) the fruits of the tree of life, that he may have God’s eternal life (cf: John 5:51 and Gen. 3:22. Also see explanatory note 15 on page 14) and hence the ability to be conformed to this life in all its innate goodness, including the ability to not sin. In other words, man was created as a special vessel (Rom. 9:20-21) with God’s image and likeness, but if he stops in Genesis 1, that is all he has—the outward form of God’s image and likeness. As such, he will not be â€Å"perfect†, because though â€Å"good†, he has the potential to sin. This is like a glove which was created in the image of a hand. The glove is â€Å"good† because it has the exact outward image of the hand, but this is not â€Å"perfect† because the five fingers of the glove is just an image. They are not able to function â€Å"perfectly† the way a hand can. According to its original design, the glove can only fulfill its full potential and be â€Å"perfect† if it receives the hand into it as content. Likewise in man’s original created state, the image and likeness that he possessed is â€Å"good† but not â€Å"perfect†. To be â€Å"perfect† according to God’s eternal intention, man must have God’s life in him. Whence evil? Unfortunately, before God could come into man as life17 and carry out His purposes, the embodiment of Satan—the subtle serpent, caused man to fall (Genesis 3:1-7). Due to the fall, the race of Adam failed God. Romans 6 tells of the tragic consequences of the entrance of sin and evil upon the world’s stage when Adam disobeyed God’s command to not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Paul says that through one man’s disobedience, evil entered the world’s stage, and through sin, death passed to all man because all have sinned (5:12). Furthermore, the apostle adds that through the disobedience of one man the many were constituted18 sinners (v. 19). Even more than just an act of wrong doing, sin in Pauline understanding is an inward constitution, the nature19 of sin within man (7:20b, 23). Through his fall Adam received an element that was not created by God. This was the satanic nature of sin. Thus evil entered the world as sin, which became the constituting essence and main element of fallen man. It is this constituting essence and element that constituted all men sinners. So we are sinners not primarily because we sin; rather, we sin because we are sinners. Whether a man does good or evil, in Adam he has been constituted a sinner. This is due primarily to an inward element in fallen man, which is prior to his outward action of wrongdoing. This constituting element is the element of sin, and through sin death passed to all men because all have sinned. Hebrews 2:14 exposes the devil as the one who wields the power of death. Death is like a tool in the hand of the evil one. It is the power of incapacity that is now operating in fallen man. Through the power of death, the devil renders mankind incapable of obedience to God. For in every sinner, death lords it over him (Rom. 6:9b), reigns in his mortal body (v. 12), and makes him a slave to sin (v. 16). And so the devil, sin and death can be likened to an evil trinity that is now operating as a mystery in fallen man—the mystery of lawlessness (2 Thess. 2:7a). Out of this come all the moral, natural, and physical manifestations of evil in the world. This then is the subtlety of the entrance of evil as sin and death into the world created by God in good order. The unveiling of the Mystery of God, and the Mystery of Christ—the divine answer to evil Our thinking concerning the problem of evil tends to be man centered, probably because of the existential reality of suffering that evil brings. From such a standpoint, it is psychologically difficult to appreciate what greater good can issue from the afflictions caused by the existence of evil in the world20. The apostle Paul however councils that human sufferings are but momentary lightness of affliction (when seen in the light of God’s eternal intention for man), for suffering works out for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison (2 Cor.4:17). But these things are God-centered, things of faith which eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, and have not come up in man’s hearts, things that God has prepared for those who love him (1 Cor. 2:9). There is a glorious and greater mystery than evil that God desires to reveal and work out through the Spirit that searches all things, even the depths of God (v. 10). To indicate that God’s eternal intention is higher than that which man could conceive, the New Testament uses the word mystery to qualify it. â€Å"Mystery† occurs 27 times in the New Testament21, of which 24 are positive and 3 negative. The three negative cases refer firstly to the mystery of lawlessness (2 Thess. 2:7), and lastly, the mystery of Babylon the Great (Rev 17:5, 7). As we have seen, the mystery of lawlessness is the mystery of evil, the mystery of Satan’s operation. This will consummate in the mystery of Babylon the Great as the finality of Satan’s work in the world. But over and against the mystery of Satan’s operation, there are 24 positive references to the mystery of God’s operation in the New Testament. The first group concerns the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, and the kingdom of God in the Synoptic Gospels (Matt. 13:11; Mk. 4:11; Luke 8:10). This is followed by 23 usages of the word mystery (20 of which are Pauline) to describe God’s eternal purpose, God’s will, Christ, the gospel, the believer’s salvation, the believer’s stewardship, the believer’s hope, the transfiguration of the body, faith, the church and the Body of Christ. The last reference is Revelation 10:17, in which the apostle John proclaims that the mystery of God is finished. Clearly God Himself is working out a mystery through the ages to effect the recovery of a fallen world back to His eternal intention, which according to Saint Paul’s writings can be summed up as two great mysteries: the mystery of God, who is Christ Himself (Col 2:2), and the mystery of Christ, which is the church as the Body of Christ (Eph. 3-4, 9; 5:32). The Mystery of God—Christ. God is a mystery, and Christ as the embodiment of God to express Him, to make Him known, is the mystery of God (Col. 2:2-3, 9). With the entrance of sin and death into the world, the man created by God was spoiled by His adversary. But the unchanging and everlasting God would never change by annulling His eternal purpose which He made in eternity past for eternity future (Eph. 3:9-11). Thus He had to rescue the man whom He had created for His unchanging purpose, even at the cost of His only begotten Son (John. 3:16). God’s solution to the evil, sin and death that has come into the world is Christ Himself as the mystery of God—in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col:2:2-3). It is for this reason that even in eternity past Christ as the second of the divine Trinity was preparing to come into time (Micah 5:2) to die for fallen man according to the divine determination made in the council of the divine Trinity in eternity past (Acts 2:23; 1 Pet. 1:18-20). God’s incarnation in Christ, His death and resurrection, is negatively to solve the problem of sin and death, and positively to re-open the way back to the tree of life that man lost in Genesis 3, that man may receive God as life. In fact, the whole process of Christ’s incarnation, human living, death, resurrection and ascension is a mystery, the great mystery of godliness (1 Timothy 3:16) by which God resolves the problem of evil, sin and death. The problem of sin is resolved through Jesus’s death on the cross. Through the cross He accomplished what may be termed judicial redemption22 (Romans 5:10a), in which is forgiveness of the believers’ sins (4:7), justification of the believers (3:24), and reconciliation of the believers to God (5:11). Without the accomplishment of redemption with forgiveness, justification and reconciliation, there would be no basis for a righteous God to forgive a sinful people, and no way for sinful man to approach Him. The problem of death is resolved through God’s organic23 salvation in life (Rom. 5:10b), an aspect much neglected, if not in doctrine at least in emphasis. This aspect of God’s salvation is carried out by Christ’s life in the Spirit. In order to accomplish this, in resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45b). We receive this Spirit through regeneration (John 3:6). Whereas before we were dead in our trespasses, transgression and sin, now we are made alive in Christ (Eph. 2:1, 5). Today, Christ indwells believers through the Spirit. This is Christ in us, our hope of glory (Col. 1:27). Christ is our life waiting to be manifested (Colossians 3:4). He is our life! Scripture attests that the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, even Christ Himself, is in us today (8:9-11)24. This heavenly ministry of Jesus—post resurrection and in ascension—is within the believers as the Spirit, and it spans the whole spectrum of God’s organic salvation in life from regeneration (Titus 3:5), through sanctification (6:19, 22; 15:16), renewing and transformation (12:2b) to conformation (8:29) and glorification (8:30). It is indeed a salvation â€Å"so great† (Heb. 2:3a), for its eschatological goal is for Christ to make His home in our hearts through faith and that we may be filled unto all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:16-19). And so, through the process of God’s salvation in life our spirit is enlivened (Rom. 8:10), our mind becomes life (Rom. 8:6b), and even our mortal bodies also will receive life through the Spirit who indwells us (Rom. 8:11b). Over against the reigning of sin in death in fallen man, much more we who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ (5:17b). Thus in God’s salvation our whole being comes alive in order that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (5:21). In this way Christ destroys the hold of him who has the might of death, that is, the devil (Heb. 2:14)! The Mystery of Christ. Christ is also a mystery, and the church as the Body of Christ to express Him, to make Him known, is the mystery of Christ (Eph. 3:4, 9; 5:32). This mystery is God’s economy, or God’s administration to head up all things in Christ. The Bible affirms that God created the heavens and the earth for a purpose. Ephesians 1:9 reveals to us that God has a good pleasure.

Bachelor of Science nurses (BSN) vs Associate degree nurses (ADN) Essay

More and more workplaces are requiring their employees to have a baccalaureate degree. Is there really a difference in the level of care a patient will receive from nurse with an associate’s degree of Nursing versus a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing? According to many studies and research they say there is a difference between the two. â€Å"In the baccalaureate nursing practice incorporates the roles of assessing, critical thinking, communicating, providing care, teaching, and leading. The caring professional approach includes the values of autonomy, altruism, human dignity integrity, and social justice with unconditional regard for all people (Grand Canyon Philosophy, 2011).† â€Å"Currently, data suggests that approximately 50% of the nursing staff on a given unit are Bachelor of Science nurses (BSNs). The other 50% of the staff may be composed of associate degree nurses (ADNs) with less academic training with more or less professional experience in caring for complex or critical patients in today’s environment (Sexton, 2008).† BSNs are a better-rounded individual. BSN programs include more science based classes and liberal arts, whereas the ADN programs have a basic science background and more focused on the skills and clinical portion of nursing. Many nurse leaders recommend BSN training for entry into practice because studies indicate better patient outcomes, better nurse satisfaction, and greater longevity in the workplace for BSNs as compared with their colleagues with less academic training (differentiating workplace). There have been studies completed that compare the mortality rate of patients that were taken care of by nurses with their ADN versus BSN. According to the fact sheet Creating a More Highly Qualified Nursing Workforce they found that â€Å"a 10-point increase in the percentage of nurses holding a BSN within a hospital was associated with an average reduction of 2.12 deaths for every 1,000 patients and for a subset of patients with complications, an average reduction of 7.47 deaths per 1,000 patients (Creating a More Highly Qualified Workforce, 2103).† All nurses sit for the same N-CLEX-RN licensing examination. â€Å"New nurses pass the licensing exam at the same rate does not mean all nurses are prepared equally for practice (Creating a More Highly Qualified Workforce,  2103).† The N-CLEX exam just tests for the minimum knowledge one needs to become a registered nurse. ADNs and BSNs have the same skill level but BSNs I believe have better critical thinking skills, which in turn cause them to be better at problem solving in a patient care situation. At my current job I was trying to think of some situations where it would be better to have my BSN and where it would improve patient care. I work for an ophthalmologist at an eye surgery center. Our patient population can range from kids to the elderly. We take care of the elderly more so than any other age range. We do surgery once a week, mostly cataract surgery. Other procedures are performed but not as frequently as the cataracts. I work as a pre-op nurse mostly but occasionally will do post-op or work in the operating room. On the days I’m not working in surgery I work in creating quality improvement studies, benchmarking, infection control, and do things with risk management. I have been doing this job for two and half years now. Prior to this job I was a floor nurse that worked in rehab with patients that had just got out of the hospital that weren’t quite ready to go home. My friend told me that she knew a job opening that she thought would be good for me, which is the job I have now. This job was something I had never done or knew nothing about. It was a job that I said I would never want to do. I always wanted to be a nurse because of the patient care aspect and helping patients when they were at their worst helping them to get better. If I had my BSN this would make me better at my job. I have to put together quality improvement studies. I was never been taught anything about quality improvement while in school for my ADN. I have had to learn as I go. Another thing I have to do is write up incident reports. From those incident reports I have to look for trends. If there are trends I have to write up a plan or start a study to keep other patients from experiencing the same situations that put them at risk, which promotes better patient care. If I had my BSN I would have learned about all this and would be able to better care for the patients. Right now I don’t understand why I have to do all that I do and how it makes me take better care of the patients. Having my BSN would allow me to understand this and let me know why we do this. There are many advantages in having a BSN versus an ADN. It makes sense why most workplaces are requiring a bachelor’s degree now a days. It makes the nursing working in the field better-rounded and better able to take care of their patients in all aspects. References Carroll, C. A., Cox, K. S., Hunt, C. E., Sexton, K. A., & Teasley, S. L. (2008). Differentiating the Workplace Needs of Nurses by Academic Preperation and Years in Nursing. Jouranl of Professional Nursing, 28, 105-108. Doi:10.1016/j.profnurs..2007.06.021 Fact Sheet: Creating a M Highly Qualified Nursing Workforce. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.aacn.nche.edu/media-relations/NursingWorkforce.pdf Grand Canyon University College of Nursing Philosophy. (2011). Retrieved from https://lc-ugrad1.gcu.edu/learningPlatform/content/content.html?operation=viewContent&contentId=68ec9ae6-1809-49f7-886b-a80e82621fcf

Knight Surname Meaning and Origin

Knight Surname Meaning and Origin The common surname Knight is a status name from the Middle English knyghte, meaning knight. While it may refer to someone who was actually a knight, it was a name often taken by servants in a royal or knightly household, or even to one who won a title in a contest of skill. The Knight surname may have originally derived from the Old English criht, meaning boy or serving lad, as an occupational name for a domestic servant. Surname Origin:  EnglishAlternate Spellings:  KNIGHTS, KNIGHTE, KNECHTEN, KNICHTLIN   Where People With the KNIGHT Surname Live According to surname distribution data from  Forebears, the Knight surname is most commonly found in the United States, where it ranks 204th and is most prevalent in the Falkland Islands, where it ranks 20th. WorldNames PublicProfiler  puts the Knight surname as most popular in southern England, and Knight is the 90th most common surname in England. Knight is also a common last name in Australia, Jamaica, New Zealand and the Isle of Man. Famous People With the KNIGHT Last Name Newton Knight -  American farmer, soldier, and southern UnionistBobby Knight  - retired American basketball coachDaniel Ridgway Knight  - American artist Genealogy Resources for the Surname KNIGHT Contrary to what you may have heard, there is no such thing as a Knight family crest or coat of arms for the Knight surname.  Coats of arms are granted to individuals, not families, and may rightfully be used only by the uninterrupted male-line descendants of the person to whom the coat of arms was originally granted. Records for different Knight families exist all over the world and online. Examples include the genealogy of Joseph Knight Sr. and his wife, Polly Peck, of New Hampshire and New York, including both ancestors and descendants. You can find research on the history of the family of Charles Knight, of Virginia, Georgia, and Louisiana. Search this popular genealogy forum for the Knight surname to find others who might be researching your ancestors, or post your own Knight genealogy query. GeneaNets Knight Records include archival records, family trees, and other resources for individuals with the Knight surname, with a concentration on records and families from France and other European countries. You can also browse family trees and links to genealogical and historical records at the Knight genealogy and family tree at Genealogy Today. References Cottle, Basil.  Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1967.Dorward, David.  Scottish Surnames. Collins Celtic (Pocket edition), 1998.Fucilla, Joseph.  Our Italian Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 2003.Hanks, Patrick, and Flavia Hodges.  A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1989.Hanks, Patrick.  Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press, 2003.Reaney, P.H.  A Dictionary of English Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1997.Smith, Elsdon C.  American Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997.

A Microeconomic Analysis of Indian Retail Industry

In the course of the report, we try to find out – how the retail sector works, major regulations that affect its functioning and the challenges that await the sector and summarize with our analysis and recommendations. Note: We have used where we’ve analyzed the situation from a micro-economic point of view. INTRODUCTION The retail sector in India can broadly be classified as organized and unorganized where the share of unorganized sector is more than 93% of the total and includes the kirana stores, mom and pop stores and the ilk. The organized or modern retail sector on the other hand captures a mere 7% of the total market share. Modern retail is defined as a form of retailing whereby consumers can buy goods from a similar purchase environment across more than one physical location and operates under three levels: Specialist stores catering to some particular category of product such as footwear, pharma beauty, food and grocery etc. classified under level I. Departmental stores that cater to a few categories of retail put under level II, and malls where we find an agglomeration of many departmental stores, hypermarkets etc – classified under level III retail. The figure 1 below shows the various players at different levels of retail. Retail stores can also be classified under ‘lifestyl e’, ‘value’ and ‘luxury’ formats based upon the consumer income segment they target. Figure : Players operating at different levels Figure: Organized Retail Although, the sector boasts of covering almost all the verticals, a look at the markets under different verticals shows that Organized Retail Penetration is extremely low – 2. 4 percent – for the food and grocery, which in contrast makes up for the biggest part of the total retail market. The apparels, foot wear and home decor are the major contributors under organized retail and have been prospering at a rapid pace. The figures below depict the market share and Organized Retail Penetration in different verticals. Figure: Market Share of Different Verticals in Organized Retail Source: CRISIL Figure: Organized retail penetration (%) in different verticals Source: CRISIL Retail almost accounts for around 15% of India’s GDP and thus plays an important role in determining the Indian economic indicators. Organized retail became the apple of everyone’s eye when Vishal Mega Mart profited from its operations in different parts of India. Soon, other players started with their own retail chains such as V-Mart, Big Bazaar, Subhiksha, Pantaloons et al and the market turned into a very competitive market, probably lowering the economic profits of the retailers, and consequently the situation now is that Vishal, Subhiksha and others stand nowhere compared to the biggies such as Reliance, Big Bazaar and others. The major reasons for this are the marketing mix of these brands and benefits from economies of scale. However, because a number of factors go into determining business profitability, it would not be correct to give all credit to the above mentioned factors. Let’s now look at the major player in organized retail in India. MAJOR PLAYERS The organized retail sector of India has many domestic corporate houses competing with their ventures such as Tata’s Chroma, Reliance Trends, Reliance Fresh, Futures Pantaloons, RPG so on. Other than these, fascinated by the Indian demographics and potential market, international players have entered through joint ventures with national players and are planning to compete for the share through such strategies. Major players along with their brands are shown below. * Landmark (books and music) * Croma(multi-brand electronics) * World of Titan (watches) * Tanishq (jewellery) * Titan Eye+ (eye wear) * Westside (lifestyle retail store) * Star Bazaar (hypermarket chain) * Fashion Yatra(family fashion store) * Central (shopping mall) * Big Bazaar (hypermarket) * Pantaloons (fashion outlet) * Blue Sky (sunglasses) * Brand Factory (multi-brand readymade garments) * KB’s Fair Price (essential products) * Navaras(jewellery) Planet Store (multi-brand sports and lifestyle speciality retail) * aLL(fashion garments) * Ethnicity (Indian ethnic wear) * Home Town (home needs), * eZone(electronics), * Furniture Bazaar (home furniture), * Electronics Bazaar(under Big Bazaar, electronics stores) * Home Bazaar (satellite version of Home Town) * Collection I (lifestyle furniture) * Gen M ; One Mobile (mobile phones) * M-Port (electronics) * Shoe Factory (footwear) * Depot (books and music) * Reliance Fre sh (neighbourhood store) * Reliance Mart (supermarket) * Reliance Super (mini-mart) Reliance Digital (consumer durables and information technology) * Reliance Trends (apparel and accessories) * Reliance Wellness (health, wellness and beauty) * iStore(Apple products) * Reliance Footprint (footwear) * Reliance Jewels (jewellery) * Reliance TimeOut(books, music and entertainment) * Reliance AutoZone (automotive products and services) * Reliance Living (home ware, furniture, modular kitchens and furnishings) * Music World (music and home video store) * Books ; Beyond (book store) * Spencers (multi-format retail store) K RAHEJA Shoppers Stop (clothing, accessories, fragrances, cosmetics, footwear and home furnishing store) * Crossword (book store) * Inorbit Mall (fashion, lifestyle, food and entertainment) and Hyper City (hypermarket) As we can see that all major groups in India have opened up their retail stores catering to different sections of the society providing for different needs of the customers. This has resulted in a sort of monopolistic competition in organized retail market in metro and Tier 1cities owing to the large number of variants being offered to the customers. However, in Tier 2 and 3 cities there are fewer of such modern retail stores and the market situation can be compared to oligopoly, but however because of local players and unorganized retail the effects of oligopoly generally don’t show up. The presence of competitors thus affects not only the player, but the industry and the nation as whole. Let’s discuss in brief the effects of competition. COMPETITION AND RIVALRY Competition is one of the means to achieve economic efficiency. It restrains prices and encourages companies to innovate ; provide better quality of products. In the retail sector competition is driven by many factors, including variety, products, price, quality, service, location, reputation, credit and availability of retail space etc. It can broadly be classified under: 1. Competition because of Internal Factors The large number of groups in multibrand retail such as TATA, Raheja et al and also single brand established foreign players such as Adidas, Nike etc pose a threat to speedy expansion of Indian Retail. . Competition because of External Factors The organized retail industry in India is facing immense competition from the unorganized sector. Traditionally, retailing has been established in India for centuries. It is a low cost structure, mostly owner operated, has negligible real estate and labor costs and little or no taxes to pay. The unorganized retail sector constitutes over 93% of India’s total retail sector and thus, poses a serious hurdle for organized retailers. Because of the largely unorganized nature of Indian retail, inefficiencies have crept in and large number of intermediaries exists, reducing the functional and productive efficiency of the retail industry. The government in power has thus been keen to promote FDI in retail in India. Hundred percent FDI in single brand retail invited global companies for competition in the Indian retail sector. With this the companies are working with a strategy so as to be able to cater to the needs of the consumers and grow volumes by ensuring footfalls, while being able to reduce costs, withstand downturns, and face competition. Here we also see a common practise to prevent other companies from affecting the economic status quo of a country, by imposing barriers and caps on FDI, for example what has been done in multibrand retail. As of now, FDI in multibrand retail cannot exceed the specified cap which has kept global retailers such as Walmart, Carrefour et al from entering the Indian market, although they still do exist in whole sale cash and carry segment. The market structure of the modern retail is that of monopolistic competition in metros ; tier I cities which usually have hundreds of shopping alternatives including multi-brand retail outlets, single brand outlets in the shopping malls and nation-wide chains. Whereas in the tier II ; tier III cities the market structure is oligopoly in nature as they have fewer stores and somewhere only a single super centre or shopping mall. Also if we look at prices of different products in various retail outlets, we find that there is not much difference between the prices, except during periods or seasons of sale. This shows that because of the very competitive nature of modern retail, which now also includes online retail, the players are almost operating at zero economic profit, and thus don’t have much scope to offer different prices for similar products. Moreover almost all use similar technologies and processing techniques to provide the final product and thus the prices cannot be increased significantly, for fear of loss of market share. For example, Pantaloons and Westside have almost the similar brands in offering for the customer, leaving little scope for differentiation or price discrimination. Price discrimination can however happen when we compare lifestyle or luxury and value format stores, value stores charging lesser price for the same product sold at a higher price in lifestyle stores. To gain advantage in such a competitive environment major retailers have started to distinguish themselves by providing products under ‘private labels’. In India, fresh produce purchases are made more often from cart vendors who buy their stock from wholesalers. Retailers have tried to bridge the gap with direct farm procurement  eliminating middlemen and introducing  Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ private labels’. They are coming up with new ideas to grab a major share of the market which is prospering (see figure below) because of the following factors: The average income of the middle class population has been increasing at a rate of around 12%, which will result in increased expenditure Increasing proportion of working women in the country Increasing population of employed youth Increasing desire for better standards of living and trends in consumer expenditure Increase in the use of plastic money Emerging markets in Tier II and Tier III cities Figure: Sales (in million Rs. ) plotted against the financial year Source: Company official website These factors may cause a shift in the demand curve, but more number of retailers will be willing to enter and eventually the price would not be impacted much. There would, infact a gradual shift from unorganized to the organized retail. All these and a huge untapped market potential that’s locked in the unorganized retail has motivated modern retailers to invest heavily in marketing and advertising, to grab customer attention and retain them. ADVERTISING Promoting the modern retail brand is very important – especially in metro and Tier I cities. The retailer must strive hard to communicate the USP of the brand and help the end-users know to which brand a particular product belongs influencing the buying behavior of the customer. Not only in India, retail industry all over the world spends large amount of funds on advertising. The figure below shows comparison of expenditure by the retail sector with others on online advertising in the United States Figure 5: US Online Ad Spending The growth of online video ads among the brand marketers and Social networking are primary contributors to the growing market share of the retail sector. Advertising in modern retail is broadly done under the following three categories: Traditional Advertising Traditional advertising means advertising using traditional media such as TV, newspaper, radio, circulars, hoardings etc. For eg. we frequently see advertisements from major retail players such as Big Bazaar, Chroma etc in newspapers. Digital Advertising This form uses advertising using digital media. Video advertising, Mobile advertising etc are some of its examples. Alternative Offers Under this we may have guerilla marketing where the marketer may use graffiti, fliers, deal of the day type offers, groupon etc to promote or advertise the product. Website Communication or on-site communication evaluates how well retailers currently collect the kind of information that helps them localize their own communications with consumers. For this category, we evaluate two criteria: whether the retailer offers localized information about their own stores on their eCommerce site, and whether they solicit customer information – email address and mobile number, prominently on their site. The expansion of the retail sector and the creation of meta-mediaries has provided with increasing job opportunities. JOB CREATION With a CAGR of around 14. 5% in the last five years and the bright prospects of expansion , the the no of jobs in this sector are expected to grow at a fast pace. The existing players will have to face competition from the new players and this would also lead to opening up of new stores and thereby increasing the job opportunities in the country. Shift in consumers preference from traditional stores and shops to departmental stores and hypermarkets is definitely going to put pressure on retailers to provide for adequate staff and services, thereby increasing the number of people employed and thus creating job opportunities. The rural market is home to the 46% of the rich and prosperous people of the country. Besides, these people stay in 17% of the villages of the country. The infrastructure costs in setting up retail outlets in these places are going to be lower compared to the cities. This will encourage the emergence of regional players and would again lead to creation of jobs in many regions. However, some more prospering regions or cities which have shown good growth rates will have an edge over others, even in the same state. Whatever is the case, the supply has to be met with the demand, especially when there is no dearth of labor in India and job creation is highly likely, an event when it comes to the retail sector expansion and penetration. FDI in multi-brand retail is going to be a deciding factor in creation of jobs as well. Once permitted, this will lead to aggressive competition. The entry of new players would balance the supply chain and farmers will be benefitted. If this happens, more people will be attracted towards farming, also contract farming would lead to creation of rural jobs. Moreover, entry of foreign investors is likely to shift the production possibility frontier outwards(see figure below), because they are more likely to invest in storage, supply chain and other capital goods. Retail sector is expected to expand by leaps and bounds in the near future and this would create a lot of jobs. The advancement of technology though can also reduce the manpower required in the long run and the jobs created over a period of time may get killed. The entry of multi brand retailers may also adversely impact the local kirana walas, because they will be able to recover there fixed cost easily and gain from economies of scale. Further, because all food and grocery require very similar capital investment, they also stand to gain from economies of scope. Figure: Expansion of Production Possibility frontier (not by reducing consumption but with introduction of new technology) RECENT TRENDS Growth of Modern Retail India moved from being 10th largest economy in 1990 to 4th largest in 2010 according to Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). The growing economy has driven the growth in per capita income of Indian consumers. Indian retail sector (organized and unorganized) has grown by 14. 5% from 2006-07 to 2011-12 and is valued at $396 billion out of which 5-6% is the share of organized retail. Organized retail has had growth more than double of total retail. With the overall rise the penetration of organized retail sector has increased and is expected to grow its share to 10% by the year 2016. Changing shopping behavior Shopping behavior has changed over time, with growing urbanization there has been rise in affluence and growing attraction towards branded goods. The parameters over which modern retail has been faring better than traditional retail are product assortment and range, quality, everything under single roof model. FDI in retail FDI in Single Brand: In 2006, FDI in single brand retail was permitted to the extent of 51% which has recently been increased to 100% in Jan, 2012. There is also a mandate of sourcing of goods from local SMEs and local dealers. FDI in multi-brand sector: International retailers are allowed 100% ownership in cash ; carry wholesale trade stores. But similar initiative in multi-brand retail stores, i. e. allowing 51% FDI has been met by widespread rejection and has been put on hold. Online Retailing Online retailing is gaining popularity in India with growing penetration of internet. It is expected that online retail will triple in size by 2014-15. It will be dominated by branded, low ticket size, easily transportable, lifestyle products and books. Flipkart and Yebhi. com have already established themselves as major players in this segment in the Indian market. Challenges posed by recent developments Indian government intended to bring 51% FDI in multi-retail sector but due to its widespread opposition, it has not been approved yet. This has put entry of world’s leading retail chain in Indian market. A lot has been said about possible loss of potential job and infrastructure development due to this. Besides that the suggested provision of sourcing from local SMEs is also proving to be a deterrent. INDIA AND THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET The graph below shows India’s status wiz a wiz status of organized retail in other countries. It can be observed that India still has a long way to go if it wants to increase the share of organized retail in the retail market. Figure: Organized retail as a percentage of total retail in different countries Source: CRISIL In the second half of the 20th century, many countries opened up there markets for Organized Retail and some also opened for multi-brand retail. There were some countries who felt a positive impact of the same, China is one such example; while there were others such as Uk which were adversely affected. India should also proceed with implementing FDI in multi-brand retail in phases, looking for any drawbacks, before it opens up fully. REFERENCES CRISIL Research, http://crisil. com/research/list-of-industries. html# Dun and BradStreet, http://www. dnb. co. in/IndianRetailIndustry/overview. asp Indian retail News, http://www. indiaretailnews. com/ Tata group official website, http://www. tata. com/company/profile. aspx? ectid=oH90Rc8X7Dg= Croma retail, http://www. cromaretail. com/ FDI in Retail, http://cci. gov. in/images/media/ResearchReports/FDI%20in%20Indian%20Retail%20Sector%20Analysis%20of%20Competition%20in%20Agri-Food%20Sector. pdf Futures group Official website, http://futuresgroup. com/ BIBLIOGAPHY Economics by Samuelson and Nordhaus ——————————â€⠀Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€œ [ 1 ]. Lifestyle formats include departmental stores and specialty stores [ 2 ]. Value formats include supermarkets and hypermarkets [ 3 ]. Retailers can use price differentiation to gain from the consumer surplus [ 4 ]. Private  labels or private  brands  Ã‚  are the brands that are owned and sold by  Ã‚  retailers at their stores   and are typically  priced lower  (5-15 percent)   as compared to  the existing  brands. [ 5 ]. These factors will result in a shift of demand curve to the right [ 6 ]. Source: CRISIL [ 7 ]. Organised retail penetration expected to cross 10 per cent by 2016-17 [ 8 ]. In such cities, the number of market players is very large forming a monopolistic market, brand positioning thus becomes very important to create great brand recall value. [ 9 ]. Unique Selling Proposition [ 10 ]. Opened up multi brand retail in phases. A Microeconomic Analysis of Indian Retail Industry In the course of the report, we try to find out – how the retail sector works, major regulations that affect its functioning and the challenges that await the sector and summarize with our analysis and recommendations. Note: We have used where we’ve analyzed the situation from a micro-economic point of view. INTRODUCTION The retail sector in India can broadly be classified as organized and unorganized where the share of unorganized sector is more than 93% of the total and includes the kirana stores, mom and pop stores and the ilk. The organized or modern retail sector on the other hand captures a mere 7% of the total market share. Modern retail is defined as a form of retailing whereby consumers can buy goods from a similar purchase environment across more than one physical location and operates under three levels: Specialist stores catering to some particular category of product such as footwear, pharma beauty, food and grocery etc. classified under level I. Departmental stores that cater to a few categories of retail put under level II, and malls where we find an agglomeration of many departmental stores, hypermarkets etc – classified under level III retail. The figure 1 below shows the various players at different levels of retail. Retail stores can also be classified under ‘lifestyl e’, ‘value’ and ‘luxury’ formats based upon the consumer income segment they target. Figure : Players operating at different levels Figure: Organized Retail Although, the sector boasts of covering almost all the verticals, a look at the markets under different verticals shows that Organized Retail Penetration is extremely low – 2. 4 percent – for the food and grocery, which in contrast makes up for the biggest part of the total retail market. The apparels, foot wear and home decor are the major contributors under organized retail and have been prospering at a rapid pace. The figures below depict the market share and Organized Retail Penetration in different verticals. Figure: Market Share of Different Verticals in Organized Retail Source: CRISIL Figure: Organized retail penetration (%) in different verticals Source: CRISIL Retail almost accounts for around 15% of India’s GDP and thus plays an important role in determining the Indian economic indicators. Organized retail became the apple of everyone’s eye when Vishal Mega Mart profited from its operations in different parts of India. Soon, other players started with their own retail chains such as V-Mart, Big Bazaar, Subhiksha, Pantaloons et al and the market turned into a very competitive market, probably lowering the economic profits of the retailers, and consequently the situation now is that Vishal, Subhiksha and others stand nowhere compared to the biggies such as Reliance, Big Bazaar and others. The major reasons for this are the marketing mix of these brands and benefits from economies of scale. However, because a number of factors go into determining business profitability, it would not be correct to give all credit to the above mentioned factors. Let’s now look at the major player in organized retail in India. MAJOR PLAYERS The organized retail sector of India has many domestic corporate houses competing with their ventures such as Tata’s Chroma, Reliance Trends, Reliance Fresh, Futures Pantaloons, RPG so on. Other than these, fascinated by the Indian demographics and potential market, international players have entered through joint ventures with national players and are planning to compete for the share through such strategies. Major players along with their brands are shown below. * Landmark (books and music) * Croma(multi-brand electronics) * World of Titan (watches) * Tanishq (jewellery) * Titan Eye+ (eye wear) * Westside (lifestyle retail store) * Star Bazaar (hypermarket chain) * Fashion Yatra(family fashion store) * Central (shopping mall) * Big Bazaar (hypermarket) * Pantaloons (fashion outlet) * Blue Sky (sunglasses) * Brand Factory (multi-brand readymade garments) * KB’s Fair Price (essential products) * Navaras(jewellery) Planet Store (multi-brand sports and lifestyle speciality retail) * aLL(fashion garments) * Ethnicity (Indian ethnic wear) * Home Town (home needs), * eZone(electronics), * Furniture Bazaar (home furniture), * Electronics Bazaar(under Big Bazaar, electronics stores) * Home Bazaar (satellite version of Home Town) * Collection I (lifestyle furniture) * Gen M ; One Mobile (mobile phones) * M-Port (electronics) * Shoe Factory (footwear) * Depot (books and music) * Reliance Fre sh (neighbourhood store) * Reliance Mart (supermarket) * Reliance Super (mini-mart) Reliance Digital (consumer durables and information technology) * Reliance Trends (apparel and accessories) * Reliance Wellness (health, wellness and beauty) * iStore(Apple products) * Reliance Footprint (footwear) * Reliance Jewels (jewellery) * Reliance TimeOut(books, music and entertainment) * Reliance AutoZone (automotive products and services) * Reliance Living (home ware, furniture, modular kitchens and furnishings) * Music World (music and home video store) * Books ; Beyond (book store) * Spencers (multi-format retail store) K RAHEJA Shoppers Stop (clothing, accessories, fragrances, cosmetics, footwear and home furnishing store) * Crossword (book store) * Inorbit Mall (fashion, lifestyle, food and entertainment) and Hyper City (hypermarket) As we can see that all major groups in India have opened up their retail stores catering to different sections of the society providing for different needs of the customers. This has resulted in a sort of monopolistic competition in organized retail market in metro and Tier 1cities owing to the large number of variants being offered to the customers. However, in Tier 2 and 3 cities there are fewer of such modern retail stores and the market situation can be compared to oligopoly, but however because of local players and unorganized retail the effects of oligopoly generally don’t show up. The presence of competitors thus affects not only the player, but the industry and the nation as whole. Let’s discuss in brief the effects of competition. COMPETITION AND RIVALRY Competition is one of the means to achieve economic efficiency. It restrains prices and encourages companies to innovate ; provide better quality of products. In the retail sector competition is driven by many factors, including variety, products, price, quality, service, location, reputation, credit and availability of retail space etc. It can broadly be classified under: 1. Competition because of Internal Factors The large number of groups in multibrand retail such as TATA, Raheja et al and also single brand established foreign players such as Adidas, Nike etc pose a threat to speedy expansion of Indian Retail. . Competition because of External Factors The organized retail industry in India is facing immense competition from the unorganized sector. Traditionally, retailing has been established in India for centuries. It is a low cost structure, mostly owner operated, has negligible real estate and labor costs and little or no taxes to pay. The unorganized retail sector constitutes over 93% of India’s total retail sector and thus, poses a serious hurdle for organized retailers. Because of the largely unorganized nature of Indian retail, inefficiencies have crept in and large number of intermediaries exists, reducing the functional and productive efficiency of the retail industry. The government in power has thus been keen to promote FDI in retail in India. Hundred percent FDI in single brand retail invited global companies for competition in the Indian retail sector. With this the companies are working with a strategy so as to be able to cater to the needs of the consumers and grow volumes by ensuring footfalls, while being able to reduce costs, withstand downturns, and face competition. Here we also see a common practise to prevent other companies from affecting the economic status quo of a country, by imposing barriers and caps on FDI, for example what has been done in multibrand retail. As of now, FDI in multibrand retail cannot exceed the specified cap which has kept global retailers such as Walmart, Carrefour et al from entering the Indian market, although they still do exist in whole sale cash and carry segment. The market structure of the modern retail is that of monopolistic competition in metros ; tier I cities which usually have hundreds of shopping alternatives including multi-brand retail outlets, single brand outlets in the shopping malls and nation-wide chains. Whereas in the tier II ; tier III cities the market structure is oligopoly in nature as they have fewer stores and somewhere only a single super centre or shopping mall. Also if we look at prices of different products in various retail outlets, we find that there is not much difference between the prices, except during periods or seasons of sale. This shows that because of the very competitive nature of modern retail, which now also includes online retail, the players are almost operating at zero economic profit, and thus don’t have much scope to offer different prices for similar products. Moreover almost all use similar technologies and processing techniques to provide the final product and thus the prices cannot be increased significantly, for fear of loss of market share. For example, Pantaloons and Westside have almost the similar brands in offering for the customer, leaving little scope for differentiation or price discrimination. Price discrimination can however happen when we compare lifestyle or luxury and value format stores, value stores charging lesser price for the same product sold at a higher price in lifestyle stores. To gain advantage in such a competitive environment major retailers have started to distinguish themselves by providing products under ‘private labels’. In India, fresh produce purchases are made more often from cart vendors who buy their stock from wholesalers. Retailers have tried to bridge the gap with direct farm procurement  eliminating middlemen and introducing  Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ private labels’. They are coming up with new ideas to grab a major share of the market which is prospering (see figure below) because of the following factors: The average income of the middle class population has been increasing at a rate of around 12%, which will result in increased expenditure Increasing proportion of working women in the country Increasing population of employed youth Increasing desire for better standards of living and trends in consumer expenditure Increase in the use of plastic money Emerging markets in Tier II and Tier III cities Figure: Sales (in million Rs. ) plotted against the financial year Source: Company official website These factors may cause a shift in the demand curve, but more number of retailers will be willing to enter and eventually the price would not be impacted much. There would, infact a gradual shift from unorganized to the organized retail. All these and a huge untapped market potential that’s locked in the unorganized retail has motivated modern retailers to invest heavily in marketing and advertising, to grab customer attention and retain them. ADVERTISING Promoting the modern retail brand is very important – especially in metro and Tier I cities. The retailer must strive hard to communicate the USP of the brand and help the end-users know to which brand a particular product belongs influencing the buying behavior of the customer. Not only in India, retail industry all over the world spends large amount of funds on advertising. The figure below shows comparison of expenditure by the retail sector with others on online advertising in the United States Figure 5: US Online Ad Spending The growth of online video ads among the brand marketers and Social networking are primary contributors to the growing market share of the retail sector. Advertising in modern retail is broadly done under the following three categories: Traditional Advertising Traditional advertising means advertising using traditional media such as TV, newspaper, radio, circulars, hoardings etc. For eg. we frequently see advertisements from major retail players such as Big Bazaar, Chroma etc in newspapers. Digital Advertising This form uses advertising using digital media. Video advertising, Mobile advertising etc are some of its examples. Alternative Offers Under this we may have guerilla marketing where the marketer may use graffiti, fliers, deal of the day type offers, groupon etc to promote or advertise the product. Website Communication or on-site communication evaluates how well retailers currently collect the kind of information that helps them localize their own communications with consumers. For this category, we evaluate two criteria: whether the retailer offers localized information about their own stores on their eCommerce site, and whether they solicit customer information – email address and mobile number, prominently on their site. The expansion of the retail sector and the creation of meta-mediaries has provided with increasing job opportunities. JOB CREATION With a CAGR of around 14. 5% in the last five years and the bright prospects of expansion , the the no of jobs in this sector are expected to grow at a fast pace. The existing players will have to face competition from the new players and this would also lead to opening up of new stores and thereby increasing the job opportunities in the country. Shift in consumers preference from traditional stores and shops to departmental stores and hypermarkets is definitely going to put pressure on retailers to provide for adequate staff and services, thereby increasing the number of people employed and thus creating job opportunities. The rural market is home to the 46% of the rich and prosperous people of the country. Besides, these people stay in 17% of the villages of the country. The infrastructure costs in setting up retail outlets in these places are going to be lower compared to the cities. This will encourage the emergence of regional players and would again lead to creation of jobs in many regions. However, some more prospering regions or cities which have shown good growth rates will have an edge over others, even in the same state. Whatever is the case, the supply has to be met with the demand, especially when there is no dearth of labor in India and job creation is highly likely, an event when it comes to the retail sector expansion and penetration. FDI in multi-brand retail is going to be a deciding factor in creation of jobs as well. Once permitted, this will lead to aggressive competition. The entry of new players would balance the supply chain and farmers will be benefitted. If this happens, more people will be attracted towards farming, also contract farming would lead to creation of rural jobs. Moreover, entry of foreign investors is likely to shift the production possibility frontier outwards(see figure below), because they are more likely to invest in storage, supply chain and other capital goods. Retail sector is expected to expand by leaps and bounds in the near future and this would create a lot of jobs. The advancement of technology though can also reduce the manpower required in the long run and the jobs created over a period of time may get killed. The entry of multi brand retailers may also adversely impact the local kirana walas, because they will be able to recover there fixed cost easily and gain from economies of scale. Further, because all food and grocery require very similar capital investment, they also stand to gain from economies of scope. Figure: Expansion of Production Possibility frontier (not by reducing consumption but with introduction of new technology) RECENT TRENDS Growth of Modern Retail India moved from being 10th largest economy in 1990 to 4th largest in 2010 according to Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). The growing economy has driven the growth in per capita income of Indian consumers. Indian retail sector (organized and unorganized) has grown by 14. 5% from 2006-07 to 2011-12 and is valued at $396 billion out of which 5-6% is the share of organized retail. Organized retail has had growth more than double of total retail. With the overall rise the penetration of organized retail sector has increased and is expected to grow its share to 10% by the year 2016. Changing shopping behavior Shopping behavior has changed over time, with growing urbanization there has been rise in affluence and growing attraction towards branded goods. The parameters over which modern retail has been faring better than traditional retail are product assortment and range, quality, everything under single roof model. FDI in retail FDI in Single Brand: In 2006, FDI in single brand retail was permitted to the extent of 51% which has recently been increased to 100% in Jan, 2012. There is also a mandate of sourcing of goods from local SMEs and local dealers. FDI in multi-brand sector: International retailers are allowed 100% ownership in cash ; carry wholesale trade stores. But similar initiative in multi-brand retail stores, i. e. allowing 51% FDI has been met by widespread rejection and has been put on hold. Online Retailing Online retailing is gaining popularity in India with growing penetration of internet. It is expected that online retail will triple in size by 2014-15. It will be dominated by branded, low ticket size, easily transportable, lifestyle products and books. Flipkart and Yebhi. com have already established themselves as major players in this segment in the Indian market. Challenges posed by recent developments Indian government intended to bring 51% FDI in multi-retail sector but due to its widespread opposition, it has not been approved yet. This has put entry of world’s leading retail chain in Indian market. A lot has been said about possible loss of potential job and infrastructure development due to this. Besides that the suggested provision of sourcing from local SMEs is also proving to be a deterrent. INDIA AND THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET The graph below shows India’s status wiz a wiz status of organized retail in other countries. It can be observed that India still has a long way to go if it wants to increase the share of organized retail in the retail market. Figure: Organized retail as a percentage of total retail in different countries Source: CRISIL In the second half of the 20th century, many countries opened up there markets for Organized Retail and some also opened for multi-brand retail. There were some countries who felt a positive impact of the same, China is one such example; while there were others such as Uk which were adversely affected. India should also proceed with implementing FDI in multi-brand retail in phases, looking for any drawbacks, before it opens up fully. REFERENCES CRISIL Research, http://crisil. com/research/list-of-industries. html# Dun and BradStreet, http://www. dnb. co. in/IndianRetailIndustry/overview. asp Indian retail News, http://www. indiaretailnews. com/ Tata group official website, http://www. tata. com/company/profile. aspx? ectid=oH90Rc8X7Dg= Croma retail, http://www. cromaretail. com/ FDI in Retail, http://cci. gov. in/images/media/ResearchReports/FDI%20in%20Indian%20Retail%20Sector%20Analysis%20of%20Competition%20in%20Agri-Food%20Sector. pdf Futures group Official website, http://futuresgroup. com/ BIBLIOGAPHY Economics by Samuelson and Nordhaus ——————————â€⠀Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€œ [ 1 ]. Lifestyle formats include departmental stores and specialty stores [ 2 ]. Value formats include supermarkets and hypermarkets [ 3 ]. Retailers can use price differentiation to gain from the consumer surplus [ 4 ]. Private  labels or private  brands  Ã‚  are the brands that are owned and sold by  Ã‚  retailers at their stores   and are typically  priced lower  (5-15 percent)   as compared to  the existing  brands. [ 5 ]. These factors will result in a shift of demand curve to the right [ 6 ]. Source: CRISIL [ 7 ]. Organised retail penetration expected to cross 10 per cent by 2016-17 [ 8 ]. In such cities, the number of market players is very large forming a monopolistic market, brand positioning thus becomes very important to create great brand recall value. [ 9 ]. Unique Selling Proposition [ 10 ]. Opened up multi brand retail in phases.