The Supernatural Evil Within Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare’s...

In the modern 21sr century, the roles and behaviors expected of individuals remains analogous despite gender. This ideology stems from the preceding movement in equality, which preaches that differences of sex appear insignificant. Despite this notion, there remains distinct differences in the physical and psychological makeups of both men and women. In most cultures, certain duties remain associated with specific genders. With this in mind, Shakespeare’s Macbeth heightens the supernatural evil possessing Lady Macbeth as she condones murder for her own selfish ambition, while in Shakespeare’s time women were regarded as peaceful and full of feminine sympathies. This anachronism with the reality of Shakespeare’s day, illustrates the immense sense of wickedness and abnormality emphasizing her character’s influence on her husband and the plot of the play. In contrast, Macbeth appears to some extent a more acceptable evil due to a greater compliance with the g ender standards and moral transition during the Shakespearean era. Shakespeare utilizes numerous literary intentions in order to express these diverse levels of evil to provide an element of depth behind the mental reactions and deteriorations of the characters until their final decease into the complete darkness of death. Lady Macbeth’s wickedness appears supernatural due to her actions exceeding the nature of the time for a woman. Shakespeare introduces the character of Lady Macbeth near the end of Act I symbolizing theShow MoreRelatedTheme Of Ambition In Macbeth915 Words   |  4 Pagesextensively portrayed within William Shakespeare’s tragedy; Macbeth. Within this play, ambition is portrayed as a corrupting and unquenchable force through the main concepts of mental imbalance, supernatural behaviors and betrayal. The consuming desires of Macbeth and their repercussions are vividly enhanced through the use of various expressive literary techniques. Ultimately, Macbe th is a play that explores and reiterates the tragic and pestilent nature of unreasoned aspirations. Within the play, supernaturalRead MoreSupernatural Elements and Impacts in the Play Macbeth:1620 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"Man is not the creature of circumstances Circumstances are the creatures of man.† Macbeth, throughout the play, is presented as one much above the ordinary beings, and, as such, he fulfils the basic -requirements of being a tragic hero. Shakespeare, introduces him as a brave general, a bold, resolute man of action who through as also referred to â€Å"Valor’s minion†, â€Å"Bellona’s bridegroom’’, the king’s ‘’valiant cousin’’, a very â€Å"eagle’’ among ‘’sparrows’’, a ‘’lion’’Read MoreSupernatural Elements Of Macbeth By William Shakespeare Essay1994 Words   |  8 PagesWhether or not someone accepts the supernatural does not mean it does not exist for another. The power of the supernatural is something that has been around since civilization began because people recognized there was something beyond their control. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth is confronted with supernatural firsth and, however, they were viewed as forces of evil. Although the witches, the ghosts, the prophecies, and all the other supernatural elements in the play are dramatized and feared,Read More The Supernatural in Macbeth Essay3374 Words   |  14 PagesThe Supernatural in Macbeth       More than a few elements of the supernatural can be discovered within the action and dialogue of Shakespeares plays.   However, the extent and nature of those elements differs to a large degree.   There are traces of it to be found in Henry V, Pardon, gentles all,/The flat unraised spirit that hath dard...to bring forth/So great and object (Lucy   1).  Ã‚   There are also elements of it apparent in Winters Tale, What I did not well I meant well (Lucy  Read MoreShakespeares Use of the Supernatural in Macbeth Essay1249 Words   |  5 PagesShakespeares Use of the Supernatural in Macbeth When Shakespeare wrote Macbeth in the early 1600s the King of England was James I. James was king of Scotland too. He ruled in Scotland before coming king in England in 1603 as well. James was supposed to have descended from the real Banquo. Some people often think that Shakespeare wanted to flatter James I by writing this play by showing James that he was nothing like Macbeth. In Shakespeares play Macbeth it has beenRead MoreSupernatural Soliciting Within Shakespeare s Macbeth1728 Words   |  7 PagesJulia Sawicka Ms. Paolone ENG3U1d Monday, November 6th, 2017 Supernatural Soliciting within Shakespeare s Macbeth Shakespeare’s Macbeth is broadly known as a cursed play by a myriad of individuals globally. Given its appalling history of death and disorder, as well as the supernatural elements present within the play, many have come to the latter conclusion. To add, Macbeth is also a tragedy, adding more malediction to the already allegedly accursed play. To create such a tragic, ill-fatedRead MoreMacbeth Themes899 Words   |  4 Pages â€Å"What are the major themes in Macbeth† By Connor Maguire William Shakespeare’s Macbeth a play complete with many themes and viewpoints. The themes are exhibited by the main characters of the play, notably antagonist Macbeth. Themes seen in the play include ambition, where is is portrayed as both dangerous and unnatural. However, it does exist in both good and evil forms in the play. Another theme seen is whether Macbeths actions in the play are a result of fate, or free will. Although outsideRead MoreAnalysis Of My Last Duchess By Robert Browning And A Woman s Lover 1712 Words   |  7 PagesThis analysis will look at how major themes such as, ambition, supernatural, reality and appearance, played a role in the way events occurred and how they have affected the marriage between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. This analysis would also study how the author, William Shakespeare, portrayed these themes using language and historical context to affect the opinions of the audience’s perception of the two characters. As Shakespeareâ₠¬â„¢s Macbeth had been written in the past, it would be of great contrastRead MoreAnalysis Of The Tragedy Of Macbeth1207 Words   |  5 PagesThe ‘Tragedy of Macbeth’ (also known as ‘Macbeth’) is a play written by William Shakespeare and it was first performed in 1606. This play presents plenty of themes through the action and dialogue throughout the play. Although the play is universally and most commonly referred to as the dark tragedy presented by Shakespeare. The most common themes that were introduced to the audience tend to be femininity versus masculinity, pride and honor, the role of supernatural, temptation and evil and a lot moreRead MoreLady Macbeth Has Been Described as the ‘Fourth Witch.’ Do You Agree with This Statement?1113 Words   |  5 PagesLady Macbeth is an insidious and complex character. Throughout the course of the novel, she manipulates her husband, Macbeth, and spurs him to commit his first murder in order for him to ultimately achieve what she believes he deserves. Lady Macbeth is shown to the audience as a loyal wife who wants the best for his husband, but at the same time, she is portrayed as a malicious character from the very beginning of the play. The line between an evil human being, and a scheming witch, is so fine that

Ac505 Course Project a Free Essays

string(19) " 2 months times 0\." Course Project Hints: The beginning cash balance for April, is the cash from March 31 in the Asset section of the balance sheet. In the merchandise purchases budget, in April, we need 50% of March purchases (that amount is also given to us 3/31 Accounts payable of $100,000 on page 415). Therefore, Total cash disbursements for April is (50% x $316,000 April purchases) + ($100,000 remaining March purchases to be paid) = $258,000. We will write a custom essay sample on Ac505 Course Project a or any similar topic only for you Order Now Class, Here are some hints. Lets start from the beginning: SALES BUDGET: First, take budgeted sales in units for each month of April, May, and June, and multiply by the selling price of $10/unit. You will get TOTAL SALES which you will also need to plug into the Income Statement later. For example, April should be 65,000 units times $10 = $650,000 Total Sales. For your Schedule of Expected Cash Collections, each months units must be multiplied by the $10 selling price to yield the months sales. Per page 414, we know 10% of a given months sales is collected in the 2nd month following the sale, 70% in the month following the sale, and 20% in the month of sale. Therefore, for example Total Cash Collection for April will consist of the last 10% of February sales and 70% of March sales and 20% of April sales: (26,000 Feb units x $10 x 0. 0) +(40,000 March units x $10 x 0. 70) + (65,000 April units x $10 x 0. 20) = $436,000. You have to repeat the same process for May and June that I just did for April, and then add up all three months to get the quarter. Next, we have the Merchandise Purchases Budget. Total Needs are Budgeted sales in units plus Budgeted ending inventory (budgeted ending inventory =40% of the next months sales in units according to the terms of the problem). Once we have Total Needs, we subtract the Beginning Inventory (which of course is the previous months ending inventory) to get Required Unit Purchases. So for April, that is 65,000 April budgeted units + (0. 40 x 100,000 May budgeted units) = 105,000 units Total Needs less ending March inventory which is the same as April beginning inventory (which is 0. 40 x 65,000 April units = 26,000 units) = 79,000 units required purchases. [Be careful with the inventory: you cant just pull the $104,000 inventory off of the balance sheet on page 415 because the balance sheet is in dollars not units, so if you want to use that balance sheet inventory figure, you have to say $104,000 divided by $4 cost = 26,000 units. Getting back to our 79,000 units required purchases, now multiply direct materials cost of $4 times the Required Unit Purchases to get Required Dollar purchases, which would be 79,000 Required April Unit Purchases x $4 = $316,000 as Required dollar purchases for April. [Again, be careful, on page 414 the problem states that only 50% of any given months purchases are paid for during the month of purchase, with the remaining 50% paid f or in the following month, that fact will come in handy for the next step: the Budgeted Cash Disbursements for merchandise purchases. For April, we need to therefore know what 50% of March purchases are (that is also given to us 3/31 Accounts payable of $100,000 on page 415). Therefore, Total cash disbursements for April is (50% x $316,000 April purchases )+($100,000 remaining March purchases to be paid)= $258,000 which we will need in the next step for the Cash Budget. CASH BUDGET Remember that the beginning Cash balance of the month is the previous months ending cash balance. For April, we can use the 3/31 Cash ending balance of $74,000 as stated on the page 415 Balance Sheet for 3/31. Next we add receipts from Customers (which we calculated in the Schedule of Expected Cash Collections as $436,000 for April, giving us Total Cash Available for April as $510,000. For the Disbursements, we already know what the Purchase of Inventory figure is that we calculated in the Budgeted Cash Disbursements (recall it was $258,000). Advertising is $200,000 per month per page 414; Rent is $18,000 per month per page 414; salaries are $106,000 per month per page 414; Sales commissions are 4% of Sales, so for April that is 65,000 units times $10 x 0. 04 = $26,000. Utilities are fixed at $7,000 each month. We don’t have to consider Depreciation in the Cash Budget because depreciation is not a cash outlay. The problem states that Insurance is prepaid so we know that for this problem it will not appear on the Cash Budget just like depreciation wont (but remember that both Depreciation and Insurance will show up as expenses to be matched against revenue when we do the Income Statement later). The problem states that Dividends are paid at $15,000 per quarter in the first month of each quarter, so that means April (but not May or June) will have $15,000 for Dividends pay out in the Cash Budget. The problem also states that equipment will be purchased in May at $16,000 and in June at 40,000 (but not in April, so we can ignore the cash outlay for equipment when calculating April Total Disbursements (which are therefore $630,000. ) Since April Total Cash Available is only $510,000 if we subtract the Disbursements of $630,000, we have a deficiency, -$120,000. Because the problem states that minimum ending cash balance must be $50,000 each month, we know we have to borrow some money from the bank. We need $120,000 to bring cash to zero plus $50,000 for the minimum ending cash balance for total borrowings of $170,000. This $170,000 figure is already in increments of $1,000, so we dont need to round up our borrowings. (Note: When you do the cash budget you should have determined a deficiency (more cash outlay than revenue) in each of months April May requiring you to borrow, but in June, you should have calculated an excess of receipts over disbursements leaving you money to repay interest and then principal in June. As to the interest calculation in June, lets review it: Rate is 1%, so Interest should be the sum of (the amount you borrowed in April of 170,000 times 3 months x 0. 01) and (the amount you borrowed in May times 2 months times 0. You read "Ac505 Course Project a" in category "Papers" 01). The reason that you have to include the month of June in your count of principal balance of loan amounts to multiple interest rate by is because those amounts were outstanding as owed to the bank during the month of June even though you didnt borrow any additional amounts during June. Remember, after you figured out the interest expense in June, you can calculate how much principal you can pay back (in increments of $1,000s) being careful to leave a cash balance of $50,000. P. S. April financing should be $170,000 as I showed above. When you calculate Mays borrowings, don’t even think about Aprils financing, do the calculation independently. You wont pay any interest until June (dont worry about accruing it for a cash budget, and since the income statement is for all three months anyway, we can think of the June cash outlay for interest expense as paying off everything that would have been accrued anyway: please see my calculation for the June interest payment above (hint $5,300 is interest payment see my excel notes in the sample). You must pay off all interest due before the bank lets you pay any principal. One last Hint: Ending cash balance for the quarter is the same as June 30 cash balance, and should be $94,700. For all of the other Quarterly amounts, you can add the April, May and June amounts. If you havent fallen asleep reading yet, on to the Income Statement and Balance Sheet: The income statement reflects revenue and expenses over a PERIOD in time (here the quarter including April, May and June). To prepare the income statement, your sales revenue should be the sum of the quarter that you calculated as TOTAL SALES (you calculated that figure for each month by multiplying budgeted sales in units each month (total of 215,000 units) times selling price per unit of $10). For the quarter the COST OF GOODS SOLD is the 215,000 units times the direct materials cost of $4 per unit. Then the COMMISSIONS expense is 4% of sales (so 0. 04 x 215,000 units x $10). The sum of the variable cost of goods sold and commissions yields a subtotal of variable costs, and then after that amount is subtracted from sales, you get the Contribution Margin. Fixed Expenses is next, which are the Quarterly amounts you calculated in the Cash Budget for Advertising, Rent, Salaries, and Utilities, except that you now need to include DEPRECIATION expenses (that did not appear in the cash budget since depreciation is not a cash outlay). Also, because the problem stated that INSURANCE had been prepaid, insurance did not appear in the cash budget, but it is a fixed expense that must be recorded each month like depreciation in order to match revenues against expenses. You dont need to include the Equipment purchases on the income statement as expenses because they are capitalized as assets on the balance sheet instead of expensed on the income statement per Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Dividends are a reduction of Retained earnings on the balance sheet and are not expensed on the income statement per GAAP. Once you total the fixed expenses and subtract them from the Contribution margin, you have Net Operating Income. Now, you have to subtract the total INTEREST expense that you calculated in the Cash budget to get Net Income. (Note: When you did the cash budget you should have determined a deficiency (more cash outlay than revenue) in each of months April ; May requiring you to borrow, but in June, you should have calculated an excess of receipts over disbursements leaving you money to repay interest and then principal. Were you confident about your interest calculation in June? Lets review it: Interest should be the sum of (the amount you borrowed in April times 3 months x 1%) and (the amount you borrowed in May times 2 months times 1%). The reason that you have to include the month of June in your count of principal balance of loan amounts to multiple interest rate by is because those amounts were outstanding as owed to the bank during the month of June even though you didn’t borrow any additional amounts during June. Remember, AFTER you figured out the interest expense, you can calculate how much principal you can pay back (in increments of $1,000s) being careful to leave a cash balance of $50,000. Actually, since you should have enough to pay the entire interest amount and the entire loan amount in June and still have 94,700 left as ending June cash balance. ) Please note: The quarter ending cash balance is the same as the June ending cash balance since the last day of the quarter is June 30th. This in contrast to the revenue and variable expenses which will be the amounts that represent the SUM of April, May and June as I described above, and so will the fixed expenses and interest be the sum of the three months worth (not just the June amounts. In other words, only the ending cash balance will be the amount for June. ) Balance Sheet Help The balance sheet is given at a POINT in time (unlike the Income statement that is for a period of time). This means that all amounts will represent balances at June 30. The other thing to remember about the balance sheet is that total assets ALWAYS equals the sum of liabilities and stockholders equity. Assets The ending balance of CASH that you calculated when doing the Cash Budget will therefore be your line item for cash on the balance sheet. ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE : Since page 414 states 20% of a months sales are collected in the month of sale, 70% in the following month, and 10% in the second month, we know at June 30th, we still have 10% of Mays sales outstanding to be collected in July, and 80% of Junes sales (60% of which will be collected in July and 10% of which will be collected in August). This means we have for your June ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE, you have 10% of May sales (which is 100,000 May units x $10 x 0. 10 = $100,000) plus 80% of June sales (which is 50,000 June units x $10 x 0. 80 = $400,000) for a total June 30 A/R of $500,000. Recall that the problem states that ending INVENTORY should be 40% of next months sales. (since inventory is to be 40% of the next months sales multiply 0. 40 x direct materials product cost of $4 x 30,000 July sales units). Unexpired INSURANCE is next (think of this as Prepaid Insurance: Beginning balance as of March 31st was $21,000 according to the 3/31 balance sheet n page 415, so from that amount you now have to subtract each of the amounts of insurance that represent the amounts that would have been due for April, May, and June, since those periods have already lapsed as of the date of the June 30th balance sheet you are preparing. Hint: you already calculated the amount of insurance you now need to subtract when you prepared the fixed expense portion of the income statement. FIXED ASSETS NET OF DEPRECIATION: Again, start with the ending balance on the March 31st balance sheet, then add the purchase in May and the purchase in June and subtract the three months of depreciation expenses that have elapsed since the March 31st balance sheet date. Hint: you already calculated the amount of depreciation you now need to subtract when you prepared the fixed expense portion of the income statement. Total up all the assets. LIABILITIES ACCOUNTS PAYABLE (purchases): Remember that the problem states how purchases are paid: 50% in the month of purchase and the remaining 50% in the following month. Therefore, at the end of June we know that 50% of June purchases remain unpaid, so A/P is 50% of the required dollar purchases for June that you calculated when you prepared the Merchandise purchases budget. DIVIDENDS PAYABLE: The problem states that dividends of $15,000 are paid in the first month following each quarter, so we know that the $15,000 dividends that accrued during the quarter comprised of April, May and June wont be paid until July, and therefore have to be listed as payable as of June 30th for your balance sheet. Recall that dividends of $15,000 for the first quarter were paid in April, so the beginning balance of $15,000 in this account is not there anymore. LOANS PAYABLE: Beginning balance is zero, so all we have is the sum of borrowings during April and May (there were no June borrowings) MINUS June repayments. Technically, we would also have to add the interest accrued on the borrowings but we could subtract it right back out because it was paid in full in our Cash budget as of June 30. EQUITY CAPITAL STOCK of $800,000 did not change since March31 since the problem does not state that the company authorized any additional stock or bought back any treasury stock. RETAINED EARNINGS: There are two ways to come up with this figure The quick and dirty way is to take total assets and from that figure subtract the sum of (Accounts Payable + Dividends Payable+ Loan Payable + Capital Stock). The correct way is to take the Beginning Balance of Retained Earnings as of March 31st, which is $580,000 and add the net income you calculated from the budgeted income statement and then subtract the $15,000 dividends declared since the last balance sheet date. (In our case the dividends were only declared and not paid because they reside in the dividends payable account as noted above, but that does not affect the computation. ) Hope this helps! p. s. Heres more hints: On the master budget, for the project budget, in the Total Column, the beginning inventory is from the first period/quarter and the ending inventory is from the last period/quarter. This is a common error. This is also an issue on the direct materials budget (beginning and ending raw materials) and the cash budgets (cash). On the cash budget schedule, the ending cash from the first period will be the beginning cash for the following period. The ending March 31 cash balance has to be the April 1st opening balance of cash on the Cash Budget, and it is also the beginning cash balance of the â€Å"quarter† column on the Cash Budget. Since insurance is only paid in November, for the CASH BUDGET it is only a line item in Nov. We know in Nov the payment will be 3000 x 12 = 36,000 since per page 14 the company allocates 3000/mo to insurance expense (but for our purposes all we care about is the fact that the company allocates insurance expense at 3000/mo, meaning 3000 x 3 = 9,000 for the income statement for any three month quarter. Insurance will also appear on the balance sheet since the prepaid portion of it will be a current asset (it is a current as opposed to a long term asset since it will be all used up with a year). Depreciation is stated at $14,000/mo (again depreciation is not a cash outlay, but it is an expense on the income statement with a corresponding amount going each month to accumulated depreciation ac count on the balance sheet (the accumulated depreciation acts as a contra account to bring down he balance of the equipment cost sheet line item on the balance sheet. ) The amount of inventory really doesn’t have anything to do with depreciation, since depreciation is a means of writing off equipment over its useful life. Assuming a five year life, a 14,000 monthly depreciation expense would mean the original cost of the equipment would be about $840,000 (I have one client who has one replacement part that costs that amount for just one manufacturing molding machine, so don’t be surprised by this large monthly depreciation expense! ) How to cite Ac505 Course Project a, Papers

History of differential equation free essay sample

Without knowing something about differential equations and methods of solving them, it is difficult to appreciate the history of this important branch of mathematics. Further, the development of differential equations is intimately interwoven with the general development of mathematics and cannot be separated from it. Nevertheless, to provide some historical perspective, we indicate here some of the major trends in the history of the subject, and identify the most prominent early contributors. Other historical infor- mation is contained in footnotes scattered throughout the book and in the references listed at the end of the chapter. The subject of differential equations originated in the study of calculus by Isaac Newton (1642–1727) and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) in the seventeenth century. Newton grew up in the English countryside, was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and became Lucasian Professor of Mathematics there in 1669. His epochal discoveries of calculus and of the fundamental laws of mechanics date from 1665. We will write a custom essay sample on History of differential equation or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page They were circulated privately among his friends, but Newton was extremely sensitive to criticism, and did not begin to publish his results until 1687 with the appearance of his most famous book, Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica. While Newton did relatively little work in differential equations as such, his development of the calculus and elucidation of the basic principles of mechanics provided a basis for their applications in the eighteenth century, most notably by Euler. Newton classified first order differential equations according to the forms dy/dx = f (x), dy/dx = f (y), and dy/dx = f (x,y). For the latter equation he developed a method of solution using infinite series when f (x,y) is a polynomial in x and y. Newton’s active research in mathematics ended in the early 1690s except for the solution of occasional challenge problems and the revision and publication of results obtained much earlier. He was appointed Warden of the British Mint in 1696 and resigned his professorship a few years later. He was knighted in 1705 and, upon his death, was buried in Westminster Abbey. Leibniz was born in Leipzig and completed his doctorate in philosophy at the age of 20 at the University of Altdorf. Throughout his life he engaged in scholarly work in several different fields. He was mainly self-taught in mathematics, since his interest in this subject developed when he was in his twenties. Leibniz arrived at the fundamental results of calculus independently, although a little later than Newton, but was the first to publish them, in 1684. Leibniz was very conscious of the power of good mathematical notation, and our notation for the derivative, dy/dx, and the integral sign are due to him. He discovered the method of separation of variables (Section 2. 2) in 1691, the reduction of homogeneous equations to separable ones (Section 2. 2, Problem 30) in 1691, and the procedure for solving first order linear equations (Section 2. 1) in 1694. He spent his life as ambassador and adviser to several German royal families, which permitted him to travel widely and to carry on an extensive correspondence with other mathematicians, especially the Bernoulli brothers. In the course of this correspondence many problems in differential equations were solved during the latter part of the seventeenth century. The brothers Jakob (1654–1705) and Johann (1667–1748) Bernoulli of Basel did much to develop methods of solving differential equations and to extend the range of their applications. Jakob became professor of mathematics at Basel in 1687, and Johann was appointed to the same position upon his brother’s death in 1705. Both men were quarrelsome, jealous, and frequently embroiled in disputes, especially with each other. Nevertheless, both also made significant contributions to several areas of mathematics. With the aid of calculus they solved a number of problems in mechanics by formulating them as differential equations. For example, Jakob Bernoulli solved the differential equation y? = [a3/(b2 y ? a3)]1/2 in 1690 and in the same paper first used the term â€Å"integral† in the modern sense. In 1694 Johann Bernoulli was able to solve the equation dy/dx = y/ax. One problem to which both brothers contributed, and which led to much friction between them, was the brachistochrone problem

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Essays

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time takes place in the year 1998 in and around the town of Swindon, England. The fifteen-year-old narrator of the story, Christopher John Francis Boone, discovers the slain body of his neighbor?s poodle, Wellington, on the neighbor?s front lawn one evening and sets out to uncover the murderer. His investigation is at times aided, and at other times hampered, by the mild form of autism he lives with. After Christopher hits a policeman in a misunderstanding at the scene of the crime, the police take Christopher into custody. They release Christopher with only a stern warning, under the condition that he promises to them and to his father not to look into the murder any further. Christopher chronicles his investigation in a book?the book we are reading?as part of a school assignment. Ignoring repeated warnings from his father, Christopher investigates the crime scene and conducts interviews with the residents of his block. He uncovers a more tangled plot than was first apparent when he discovers that his father and the owner of the slain dog, Mrs. Shears, had a romantic affair. He subsequently learns that their affair began in reaction to another relationship, one carried on between Mr. Shears and Christopher?s mother, before she disappeared from Christopher?s life. At school, Christopher prepares for an A-level math exam that will enable him to attend a university, a feat no other child at his school has managed. He also continues to work on his book. Upon returning home one afternoon, Christopher accidentally leaves his book in plain view on the kitchen table. His father reads it, becomes angry, and confiscates it. Later, Christopher searches for the book and uncovers a series of letters, hidden in a shirt box in his father?s closet, addressed to him from his supposedly dead mother. The letters chronicle a life that his mother has continued to lead with Mr. Shears in London and contain repeated requests for Christopher to respond. In shock, Christopher passes out in his bedroom surrounded by the evidence of his father?s deception. When Father comes home and realizes what has happened, he breaks down in tears. He apologizes for his lies, explaining that he acted out of a desire to protect Christopher from the knowledge of his mother?s abandonme nt of the family. Christopher?s father also admits to killing Wellington after an argument with Mrs. Shears, his lover. Christopher, now terrified of his father and feeling he can no longer trust him, sneaks out of the house and travels to London to live with his mother. During a harrowing journey, he copes with and overcomes the social fears and limitations of his condition, dodges police, and almost gets hit by a train. His arrival at his mother?s flat comes as a total surprise to her, as she had no idea that Christopher?s father had been withholding her letters. Christopher settles in for a time at his mother and Mr. Shears?s flat, but friction caused by his presence shortly results in his mother?s decision to leave Mr. Shears to return to Swindon. Christopher moves into a new apartment with his mother and begins to receive regular visits from his father. When Christopher?s pet rat Toby dies, Christopher?s father gives Christopher a puppy. At school, Christopher sits for his A-level math exam and receives an A grade, the best possible score. The novel ends with Christopher planning to take more A-l evel exams in physics and further math, and then attend a university in another town. He knows that he can do all of this because he solved the mystery of Wellington?s murder, was brave enough to find his mother, and wrote the book that we have read. Christopher?s defining characteristic is his inability to imagine the thoughts and feelings of other people. In other words, he cannot empathize. Because he cannot imagine what another person is thinking, he cannot tell when a person speaks sarcastically, or determine a person?s mood by his facial expression. This inability to empathize is one of the most prominent features of autism-related disorders, and this characteristic as well as a few others?Christopher?s difficulty understanding metaphors, his fixation on certain topics, and his computer-like ability

Ironclads essays

Ironclads essays In 1861 the Merrimack was captured by the Confederates. They turned it into an ironclad by placing iron on it. To counter it the Union created its own ironclad. The Monitor was born. Here are some of the ways ironclads impacted the navel warfare in the Civil War. Ironclads were ships built in a new technological way. They were platted with iron. The iron was placed in a way so that cannon balls were deflected. These new ships made wooden ships inferior. Ironclads could destroy wood ships by ramming them of by shooting them. The wooden ships couldnt harm the ironclads because of the cannon balls would bounce off them. Ironclads could also attack forts and land forces. Ironclads were not effective fighting other ironclads. The Battle of the Ironclads between the Monitor and the Merrimack lasted around four hours. When they shot each other the cannon balls just bounced off. The Merrimack tried to ram the Monitor, but failed. At times they were so close the bumped into each other. They were two matched forces, it was a draw. Nothing could match the force of an ironclad. In May 1862 the Confederates scuttled and burned the Merrimack so that the Union could not capture it. The Monitor sank in a storm as it traveled from Hampton Roads, were the battle took place. Ironclads were never used again in the Civil War after that battle. The only thing that stopped them was a storm and a side that was afraid of their ironclad being captured. The ironclads led up to the warships of today. They are like the great grandparents of todays iron warships. This is how ironclads impacted navel warfare in the Civil War. ...

History and Evolution of the Smart Pill

History and Evolution of the Smart Pill The name of smart pill now refers to any pill that can deliver or control its delivery of medicine without the patient having to take action beyond the initial swallow. The phrase smart pill became popular after the computer controlled medical device was patented by Jerome Schentag and David DAndrea, and named one of the top inventions of 1992 by Popular Science magazine. However, now the name has become generic and many companies are using the name smart pill.   History of the Smart Pill Jerome Schentag, professor of pharmaceutic science at the University of Buffalo, invented the computer-controlled smart pill, which can be electronically tracked and instructed to deliver a drug to a predetermined location in the gastrointestinal tract. David DAndrea was the co-inventor. UB reporter Ellen Goldbaum describes the smart pill as a combination of microminiature electronics, mechanical and software engineering, and pharmaceutical sciences. This capsule represents a significant advance in medical technology, said DAndrea to UB reporters, With the Smart Pill, we have been able to miniaturize a complex electronic system and put it into a capsule about one inch long. Youre not just taking a pill, youre swallowing the instrument. David DAndrea is the president and chief executive officer of Gastrotarget, Inc. the manufacturers of the Smart Pill. Jerome Schentag is the companys vice president of research and development. DAndrea is also the director of Millard Fillmore Hospitals Engineering and Devices Laboratory.

Contemporary Entrepreneurial Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Contemporary Entrepreneurial - Essay Example Information was also sourced from reliable online sources such as newspaper articles of major media houses such as CNN, and reports posted on websites of international financial and economic organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the Organization for Economic Cooperation-operation and Development. These online reports were used because they obtain their information from official government sources and thus this information is valid. In addition, online articles of peer-reviewed economic and business journals were used because in some, cases hard copies were not available. The Greek small and medium enterprise (SME) sector plays a very crucial role in the country’s economic development. The SME sector employs the majority of Greece’s labor force and accounts for two thirds of the non-primary sector sales volume. The SME sector has particularly been important in the wake of the debt and economic crises that have been facing Greece for a couple of years now. As numerous companies went bankrupt and retrenched thousands of workers, the SME sector proved to be a valuable source of employment as it absorbed many of the employees who lost their jobs (Markatou, 2012, 56 – 65). Although many SMEs also went bankrupt because of the crisis, majority of them survived, and many start-ups are still coming up as a result of entrepreneurship driven by innovation. The general decrease in demand for goods due to falling income levels led to fierce competition among SMEs forcing businesses to initiate value-driven innovations in a bid to obtain an ed ge over competitors. Through the PESTLE analysis, this report evaluated the competitiveness of Greek SMEs by analyzing the factors that affect the ability of businesses to become or remain competitive. Factors that this report analyzes are the PESTLE factors which include political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors. The political factors that affect the ability of

Sales and purchase Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sales and purchase - Essay Example The input data that is required are item category, brand, quantity, cost, customer detail (name, address, phone and birthday), mode of payment, mode of sale and special scheme (e.g. discount). Once these data are entered into the system, it undergoes various processes before finally culminating in the delivery of the item. These processes can be broadly classified into six main areas; 2. The system then differentiates the mode of sale and categorising it into direct sale order or internet based order. This gives the management to make appropriate strategies and plans for their existing or emerging market. 3. With category and brand specified, it then checks for the stock status so that in case of any shortfall, alternative brands can be suggested or sold. This information (category and brand) also help to market other products that may add value to the items asked for. 4. The system then checks for any special offer or discount that the item might have at that particular time. This is an important process because the current market scenario has necessitated introduction of special schemes to attract customers in order to main their competitive edge. 'The ultimate schedule (discount) is one which maximises the suppliers' resultant economic gain, but does so at absolutely no added cost to the buyer' (Monahan, 1984). 5. If the mode of payment is other than cash transaction, the system performs credit check for the customer and accordingly, informs and suggests the customer for alternatives for payment schedules. 6. The system then confirms or refuses the sale/ purchase order and sends the same information on the terminal and generates invoice or sale/ purchase receipt. The completion of sales order is but the first of many other requisites of the input information that are essential for the management of the company. The growth and the future prospects of the business depend on the input data as they are able to divulge vital information about the products and the customers. The sale processing data helps the management to disseminate information that can be categorised into the following output formats; 1. The input data helps to generate current inventory status so that the products that need fresh stocks can be ordered much in advance. 2. The data also helps the management to assess the order flow pattern of the products and services so that the management is able to take appropriate steps in meeting the demands of their customer either by increasing the shopping hours or employing more staff to deal with the rush. This helps the management to maintain a high level of customer satisfaction and general efficiency. This applies both to the days of the months and the specific hours of the day, during which there is marked difference in the sales and purchase pattern. 3. The data also help in finding out the popular items which are sold or purchased as well as the brands that are preferred thus helping the firm to introduce items or products that add value to the ones that are already popular. 4. The management can also maintain its client base by making efforts to

Asher Farms Essay Example for Free

Asher Farms Essay Political – In class the major political topic that we focused on was possible affects on the industry if immigration laws became stricter. This industry is highly dependent on cheap labor. If all of a sudden there were not enough workers in the industry there would not be enough chicken available to meet the demand. Economic – Evident from the case, the chicken market is heavily influenced by currency fluctuation. This is because 15% of the total poultry production is exported and therefore changes in the price of the dollar can make chicken much more expensive in other countries or it can have a reverse effect. Social – Over the past couple of decades there has clearly been a shift in the amount of different types of meat products that are consumed. Those who watch their what they eat are more likely to eat chicken for the high protein benefits and minimizing some of the harmful affects of red meat. Technological – There had been a strong push for more efficient technology to be produced in this industry. The technology developments range from the machinery that does some of the work to new genetic engineering of the food that the chickens eat. These advancements allowed for the growth of the chicken industry without and slowdowns. Legal – Animal rights advocates have had major impacts on the ways that chickens can be processed. The conditions that the chickens live in could cause some legal problems in the future in different animal rights groups wanted to make changes. Environmental – Spread of disease always seems to be a major concern in the food industry. Contamination is very possible and could potentially cause huge problems. The FDA would like to minimize the possible affects of any type disease from spreading such as salmonella or other bacteria’s that are harmful. I feel that all of the business risks identified in question 1, the PESTLE acronym, all have the same potential to impact the risk of material misstatements on the financial statements. These business risks would all put revenue, cost of goods sold, wage expenses, and certain discloses at risk for being misstated. This would require more substantive tests to provide more reliable evidence that the financial statements are correctly stated. Obtaining knowledge about the client’s industry helps to highlight practices unique to that industry that may have an effect on the client’s financial statements. The auditor should obtain knowledge relating to the client’s business before commencing the audit. Understanding the client’s business provides information regarding events and transactions that may affect the client’s financial statements. Just like an auditor is not responsible to provide absolute assurance that the financial statements are correct, an auditory does not have the responsibility to identify or assess all business risks because it would be not efficient, timely, or costly to do so. As discussed in question 1, some examples of business risks that should be considered include; immigration concerns, currency fluctuation, health changes, technological development, and the spread of disease. An example of a business risk that might not lead to a risk of material misstatement in the financial statements that we discussed in class was opening new locations and growing the business.

Children Coping With Stress :: essays research papers

CHILDREN COPING WITH STRESS While some stress is normal and even healthy, children today seem to encounter many stressful life events at earlier ages. Stress shows itself in children by complaints about stomachaches, being nervous, trouble sleeping, anger flares, and infections. There are a variety of reasons for children to feel stress. Death, divorce, remarriage, moving, long illness, abuse, family or community violence, natural disaster, fear of failure, and cultural conflict may each heighten stress. Under stress, the heart rate and breathing are at a higher speed and muscles are tense. Multiple stressors worsen the stress level and the length of the stress. Our bodies need relief from stress to reestablish balance. Reactions to stress vary with the child’s stage of development, ability to cope, the length of time the stressor continues, intensity of the stressor, and the degree of support from family, friends, and community. The two most frequent indicators that children are stressed are change in behaviors and regression of behaviors. Children under stress change their behavior and react by doing things that are not in keeping with their usual style. Behaviors seen in earlier phases of development, such as thumb sucking and regression in toileting, may reappear. Typically, preschoolers lack self-control, have no sense of time, act independently, are curious, may wet the bed, have changes in eating habits, have difficulty with sleep or speech, and cannot tell adults how they are feeling. Preschoolers under stress each react differently. Some behaviors may include irritability, anxiety, uncontrollable crying, trembling with fright, eating or sleep problems. Toddlers may regress to infant behaviors, feel angry and not understand their feelings, fear being alone or without their parent, withdraw, bite, or be sensitive to sudden or loud noises. Feelings of sadness or anger may build inside of them. They may become aggressive or angry, have nightmares, or be accident prone. Just as children’s reactions are each different, so are their coping strategies. Children can cope through tears or tantrums or by retreating from unpleasant situations.

Food Inequality

Food Inequality between Developed and Developing Countries Introduction These days, any domestic problems tend to be connected with or caused by reasons coming from outside abroad. Among those globalized issues, one of the serious issues is the theme of food security. According to FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), the outlook for the global cereal supply in the 2011/12 marketing season has improved the following positive production. However, the impact on global food security remains uncertain given the current international economic slowdown and changeable weather. For example of food security, in Eastern Africa, the drought-induced humanitarian crisis continues to take lives and reduce livestock. Additionally, in East Asia, severe localized monsoon floods in several countries – Bangladesh, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, India, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Pakistan, Thailand and the Philippines may reduce the final outcome because of the natural disaster while a record 2011 cereal harvest was anticipated. What do all these facts mean? Should people put up with the hunger if weather hits them and the economy is tough? There seem to be some other reasons which facilitate food security and if we could struggle with them, the damage caused by the reasons of natural disasters and the tough economy will be mitigated. What could these reasons be? This essay explores the extent to which Population Growth, Food Distribution, Genetic Resources Factors contribute to the problem of food security. Population Growth Today, it is generally agreed that food insecurity issue can be attributed to the fact that we are running out of food due to the intense population growth. In this part, we shall examine the idea carefully. The world’s population has been increasing, according to the report of World Bank in 2011, the population of the world has been doubled over the past 50 years. In this period, world population increase 3 billion to 6. 8 billion. Beyond the year 2050, it is projected that the population is to approach 9 billion, and the growth would likely occur in developing regions such as Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Inversely, the industrial countries or developed countries are going through a trend of decreasing population. The increase in population of developing countries is one of the main factors of the global population increase. Another factor is that the average life span has been extended, which means that the death rate is dramatically decreasing all over the world. The explosive increase of population brings about a problem of inequality, especially food. An excess of population is linked to food production and thus, food security. In a TED talk in 2007, Hans Rosling gave a lecture about inequality between developing and developed countries and attributed the food inequality to the fact that the world population has been increasing. In 1960, the gap was relatively small but now the existing gap between both of them has intensified. He had mentioned an example of shoes and cars, and at the very last he discussed food insecurity. Therefore, according to his speech, we can claim that the population growth causes the food inequality issue between developing countries and industrialized countries. However, on the other hand, according to two books which we mostly relied on, Ending Hunger by the Hunger Project and Food Policy by The Johns Hopkins University Press, we found there were some people who had made an objection against the idea. FAO and the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) reported in 2008 that new estimate of the number of people who would suffer chronic hunger in which year was 925 million, which, however, doesn’t mean that there is not enough food for the people who need it in the world. According to the report of FAO, the amount of world crop production was recorded two billions tons in 2008, which had been the best record. If the all crops were distributed equally to all people around the world, each of people was supposed to eat 320kg in a year, which is twice as much as crops that are eaten by Japanese per a year on average. Given that there are more food like vegetable, fish, and meat, in addition to crops, all people in the world are supposed to be able to get enough food. Then, why can’t all people get enough food? We examine the causes of food inequality from the different perspective in the next section. However, what we emphasize here is that we think the population growth could also be one of the causes in the near future if the world population kept increasing. As shown in Food Policy by The Johns Hopkins University Press, the world population will soon be over 9 billion people, which means that the earth’s productivity will not be able to catch up with the increase in population. Therefore, people in the world will soon face the fact that we run out of food. Then, we examine the food production in third section. Inadequate Food Distribution As we discussed in the last section, two books, Ending Hunger by the Hunger Project and Food Policy by The Johns Hopkins University Press, showed us that food inequality issue between developed countries and developing countries arises not from population growth but from in a defect in an appropriate food distribution system. According to Food Policy, All people in the world could be supposed to be able to get enough food, when the all crops were distributed equally to all people around the world. However, when it comes to the supply of food, only people in developed countries, which are estimated 20% in the world, can always get more calories than they need. Moreover, crops are consumed not only by people but also by livestock such as cattle, chicken, which usually come to the markets for industrialized countries. As a result, people in developed countries like us usually consume more than half of all crops in the world. It turns out that something may be wrong in the process of the food distribution. First, we attribute it to high food prices. As we learned in Prof. Montgomery’s lectures, the energy and water insecurity made the food prices high because food, water, and energy are tightly connected to each other, so farmers need tons of energy and water to produce food. Moreover, Food Policy also described that due to the energy insecurity, more and more people in developed countries used crops in a different way; today biofuels that are made by crops are one of the popular renewable energies in the world. However, to grow the crops, people also need to use more energy and water, which leads people into a downward spiral, and usually the victims are people in poor countries. On top of that, according to Ending Hunger, the high food price can be attributable to speculations. The author said, â€Å"Crops have been getting the attention as an object of speculation. † Originally, more crops tend to go into the domestic market, and there are a few products being distributed in the international market. Under the circumstance, investors who were struggling under the financial crisis in 2008 had an eye on crops for speculation, which raised the food prices intensely. Thus, today under the capitalism, people rather reckon food as a â€Å"product†, so food has been distributed in a way that certain rich people can benefit. At the very last in Food Policy, we got a clue for solving food inequality; an alternative food distribution system that can exist even under the capitalism. The authors have an eye on an idea of â€Å"food redistribution†. Food bank, a non-governmental organization that provides food to poor people for free, has been popular in many developed countries to help poor people within the nations. The authors expect that it will be exercised not by government, but by some entrepreneurs since there is a big challenge for governments in terms of fund and security, and that it will become a new business model in the future. In my opinion, however, it seems difficult that the model can be applied, crossing the boarders. In addition to the point of food distribution, we would like to mention the food production. Ending Hunger, the book we had read, said that although every country needs to try to keep their food self-sufficiently stable, it’s a big challenge for developing countries. There are quite a few countries that rely on the imports from other countries to get crops for their principal diet. It’s related to their history which they were forced to produce some products like cacao to export to industrialized countries in their colonial ages. They are vulnerable because of this monoculture structure which has been still existed when the food prices fluctuate. In the next section, we examine how to solve the monoculture structure issue. Losing Biodiversity In this section, we discuss biodiversity, the problem between biodiversity and food security and the solution. First of all, Biodiversity is a term that is short for biological diversity. Currently, the great variety and richness of plant, some microbe are said to be approximately 1. 7 million species in 2008. The human race literally relies on those plants and animals for clothing, shelter, medicines, and many other things, according to Red list of Threatened Species. However, 784 species have been officially recorded as extinct and more than 16,000 species contains approximately 12 percent of bird species, 23 percent of mammals, and 32 percent of amphibians as well as a large number of plant species. Even so, how does the problem connect with food security? Does the extinction of some species of plants lead to such a big problem? The answer seems to be affirmative; the conflicts between agriculture and biodiversity would be possible. Presently, just three crops- rice, wheat, and maize- amount to about 60 per cent of the world’s food crops and 56 per cent of the protein people derive from plants. This means the stability of agriculture is easy to be affected by climates, pests, diseases because there are no other different plants which would be durable to those stresses. As a result, a drought becomes more likely. In Bangladesh, for example, increasing HYV [high –yield varieties] rice monoculture has decreased diversity, including nearly 7,000 traditional rice variation and many fish species. Ironically, the production of HYV rice per cent acre in 1986 dropped by 10 percent from 1972, in spite of a 300 per cent increase in agrochemical use per acre. (Thrupp 2000,p269) In India, by 1968, although, the so-called â€Å"miracle† HYV seed had replaced half of the native varieties, the expected production in many areas were not realized because those seeds need irrigated land with high inputs of fertilizer, which poor farmers cannot afford. Thrupp p269) North America like US is not also exemption. Of more than 7,000 apple varieties grown in the United States between 1804 and 1904, 86 per cent are no longer cultivated, and 88 per cent of 2,683 pear varieties are no longer available. (Thrupp p270). The main causes for the loss of agrodiversity are reliance on uniform plants and the heavy use of agrochemicals (often make lands barren), and institutions and companies from developed countries who gained patents of seeds and other genetic resources. In order to change this situation, a shift to sustainable agriculture requires changes in production methods, models and policies, as well as the full participation of local people. Example includes use of organic fertilizer, reduction of agrochemicals that destroy diverse rich soil, multiple cropping, eliminating subsidies and credit policies for uniform high-yield varieties. In addition, those developing countries which have plenty genetic resources don’t keep silent to their serious problem. In the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 2010, those countries tried to negotiate with developed countries in order to create a protocol about making the access and payment of genetic resources a matter of international law for â€Å" fair and equitable sharing of benefits† (The Economist 2010) Conclusion As we discussed in this papers so far, we mostly attributed the food inequality problem to population growth, inadequate food distribution system, and losing biodiversity. However, the more we studied, the more we found that the food inequality problem was very complicated because there ere a lot of factors which were connected to each other and which lead to the problem. The solutions we figured out are that an alternative food distribution system, and a shift to sustainable agriculture requires changes in production methods, models and policies, as well as the full participation of local people. The right for accessing to food; it is supposed to be exercised by al l people in nature. We strongly hope that more and more poor people will get the access to food in the future, and in order to make it happen, we need to get back to an idea of cooperation at the end. References 1) J Price Gittinger; Joanne Leslie; Caroline Hoisington; Economic Development Institute in Washington, D. C. (1987). Food policy: integrating supply, distribution, and consumption. Baltimore : Published for the World Bank [by] Johns Hopkins University Press 2) W Ladd Hollist; F LaMond Tullis(1987) Pursuing food security : strategies and obstacles in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Boulder : L. Rienner Publishers 3) Debra A Millar(2008) Biodiversity Detroit : Greenhaven Press. Thruoo L Ann (2000) Linking agricultural biodiversity and food security: the value role of agrobiodiveristy for sustainable agriculture International affairs Vol. 76 Issue 2, p265, 17p, 4 Charts 4) Global Information and Early Warning System, 2011 Food Outlook November 2011. Available at: http://www. fao. org/giews/english/fo/index. htm 5) The Economist Online (2010) Pay up or die: Protecting and profiting from the environment (21th Oct) The Economist Available at: http://www. economist. com/blogs/newsbook/2010/10/protecting_and_profiting_environment

Sun Tzu’s Art of War and Business Strategy

The concepts from Sun Zi’ a Art of War and Business Strategies applied by Carrefour is sufficient and effective, so just keep up with those concepts and Carrefour will do fine in the future. Otherwise, they could also apply some of other concepts from Sun Zi to even strengthen their business and to even secure a more stable success from future uncertainties. Carrefour should open more famous restaurant inside such as famous retailer shop to attract more customer traffic. Besides, they should be discovering more sales promotions to attract customers, such as rebates, premium and so on. This can be done by increasing advertisement in TV to attract more customers. By that, attract workers that they have many languages to communicate with customer in dealing with customer with different religious view. One of those concepts from Sun Zi that Carrefour could apply is the â€Å"To Dictate and Not to Be Dictated† concept. The company needs to create online supply platform, which will have Sears and Oracle. This will allow the company’s retailers and suppliers exchange innovative information through the internet system and maximize the flow of products, hence minimizing their administrative costs. Carrefour also needs to embrace technological advances, which will allow the company venture into new markets where it can increase its customer base. The marketing strategies, which the company can embrace, include online, viral marketing, and sourcing strategies (Nina, 2008). The company needs to streamline its legal aspects to allow its expanding in Asian markets without any hurdles. Carrefour gains of the utilization of emerging technologies can also come in the form of lowered tear and wear on equipment and facilities, which will decrease the maintenance needed for equipment and facilities (Gehlen & Lasserre, 2005). Carrefour has to show an exceptional capacity to adapt its concept to local business environment across the globe. By internalizing the achievement or failure of definite initiatives in one business design, Carrefour is capable to transmit the knowledge of this failure or success transversely in all business departments at little cost to the firm. The company is competent to spread the expertise, which its human capital has gained by sending experts to work side-by-side with local managerial team. This structure enables the spreading of understanding within the firm both downstream and upstream, therefore, creating value for the whole company (Hoskisson, 2008). Besides that, Carrefour could also apply the â€Å"Knowing the Battleground and Engagement Time† concept. Whereby Carrefour could conduct a survey beforehand to determine what are the most suitable tactics and strategies to implement in a certain market. This will bring greater result and a swift success could be obtained. Carrefour should seize the opportunity for expansion to other parts of China, especially the second-tier cities, which have a high growth potential. Since the eastern coastal cities where Carrefour has the majority of the market share are already saturated, there is little value in investing more money in the area. Moreover, it is timely for Carrefour to expand especially when personal income in China has seen a rising trend. This shows that the Chinese consumer market has a high potential for growth, and consumption and demand is likely to increase as disposable income rises. While Carrefour’s main challenge is increased competition as its major competitors also have plans to expand and seize market share, its resources do give it a competitive advantage. Firstly, its one-stop shopping concept is one-of-a-kind. It recognizes consumers’ need for convenience and provides for it. Hence, Carrefour should continue to position itself as a company that delivers superior value offering to customers, as well as the place where one can satisfy most of one’s needs for products, entertainment and other services. Secondly, its management capabilities also give it a competitive advantage over other competitors. Having a decentralized management gives the store managers flexibility to adjust the strategies to meet different local demands and needs in different locations. This allows Carrefour to increase customer value as it narrows down and customizes its strategy to meet the local customers’ needs. Thirdly, Carrefour’s low employee turnover rate gives it a cost advantage over its competitors and also raises overall confidence level of the company. Our recommendations are relative to the market development and are based on an evaluation of the forecast return within the coming 12 months. The forecast return is the difference between the current price and our 12-month price target which includes the projected dividend. The equity market has historically yielded a return of around 10%. When we determine the recommendation for a share we use the 10% as an estimate of the return in the equity market. Since our recommendations are relative and risk-adjusted, it is possible to compare our recommendations across sectors and risk categories. In addition, the potential is stated in absolute terms via our price target. It should be borne in mind, however, that the recommendation is the anchor. A buy recommendation will remain a buy recommendation until changed, even if price increases have taken the price ‘too close’ to the price target. The future and historical returns estimated in the research report are stated as returns before costs since returns after costs depend on a number of factors relating to individual customer relations, custodian charges, volume of trade as well as market, currency and product-specific factors. It is not certain that the share will yield the stated expected future returns. The stated expected future returns exclusively express our best assessment. References http://designit.com/cases/making-quick-check-scanning-simple http://na-carrefour.blogspot.com/2012/05/recommendation.html http://www.studymode.com/subjects/recommendation-of-carrefour-page1.html http://www.exclusivepapers.com/essays/Informative/carrefour-company.php

Maestro essays

Maestro essays The novel Maestro, by Peter Goldsworthy, who was born in Adelaide and then moved to Darwin to finish his education. Since graduating in medicine from the University of Adelaide, he has devoted his time equally to medicine and writing. He is married to a fellow graduate and they have three children. I believe Goldsworthy successfully explores issues relevant to a society in a different period of time, given the book is set in the 1960s and was not published until 1989. Goldsworthy uses representations of setting and character to give the reader a better understanding of the people places and culture, which surround them today. Goldsworthys representations of characters in the novel play a major part in exploring issues from a different period of time as well as giving the reader a better understanding of their own world. * Keeps himself remote/removed from others by not showing - Certain feelings or acting kindly * Lacks the ability to compliment/praise and encourage others * An obscure, mysterious character (enigmatic) Cultured (contrast to Darwin) - Keller's white clothing may indicate his real, but hidden Goodness. This "whiteness" is like holiness. This is a total contrast Though to his self-perception- this representation made by Goldsworthy is made to give the reader a better understanding of their own world. That people are not always as they may seem on the outside. -Quest for perfection- making Paul start from the beginning - Keller constantly collects clippings of newspaper articles. It seems he liked to study the behaviour of others to help him understand him self- Keller himself is trying to gain an understanding of his own world. As the reader is told about what some of the articles are about, we gain a greater understanding of issues, which were in a different period of time. ...

Dark Money - Definition

Dark Money - Definition Anyone whos paid attention to all those mysteriously funded political ads on television during the 2012 presidential election is probably familiar with the term dark money. Dark money is a term used to describe political spending by innocuously named groups whose own donors - the source of the money - are allowed to remain hidden because of loopholes in disclosure laws. How Dark Money Spending Works So why does dark money exist? If there are Federal Election Commission rules requiring campaigns to report their sources of funding, how can it be that some of the money spent on trying to influence elections is coming from unnamed sources? Related Story: A Guide to Money in Politics Most of the dark money making its way into politics comes not from campaigns themselves but outside groups including nonprofit 501[c] groups or social welfare organizations that are spending tens of millions of dollars. Those groups are required to report how much they spend trying to influence elections. But under the Internal Revenue Service code, 501[c] and social welfare organizations are not required to tell the government or public from whom they get their money. That means they can spend money on electioneering or make contributions to super PACs without naming names of individual donors. What Dark Money Pays For Dark money spending is very similar to spending by super PACs. 501[c] and social welfare organizations can spend unlimited amounts of money trying to sway voters on specific issues and thereby influence the outcome of elections. History of Dark Money The explosion of dark money followed the U.S. Supreme Courts landmark 2010 ruling in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The court ruled that the federal government cannot limit corporations - including those 501[c] and social welfare organizations - from spending money to influence the outcome of elections. The ruling led to the creation of super PACs. Dark Money Examples Groups that spend money on trying to influence elections without having to disclose their own donors appear on both sides of the political spectrum - from the conservative, anti-tax Club for Growth and U.S. Chamber of Commerce to the left-leaning abortion-rights activist groups Planned Parenthood Action Fund Inc. and NARAL Pro-Choice America. Dark Money Controversies One of the biggest controversies over dark money involved the 501[c] group Crossroads GPS. The group has strong ties to former George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove. Crossroads GPS is a separate entity from American Crossroads, a conservative super PAC funded by Rove that was sharply critical of President Barack Obama in the 2012 election. During the campaign, the groups Democracy 21 and the Campaign Legal Center asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate Crossroads GPS after the 501[c] group received an anonymous $10 million contribution. The new $10 million secret contribution to Crossroads GPS to run attack ads against President Obama as he runs for re-election is a stark illustration of the problem caused by groups engaged in campaign spending claiming eligibility as social welfare organizations under section 501(c)(4), wrote J. Gerald Hebert, executive director of the Campaign Legal Center, and Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21. It is apparent that these groups are claiming section 501(c)(4) tax status in order to keep secret from the American people the donors financing their campaign-related expenditures, they wrote. If these organizations are not eligible for tax status under section 501(c)(4), then they are improperly using the tax laws to shield their donors from public disclosure and improperly using secret contributions to influence the 2012 national elections. Crossroads GPS reportedly spent more than $70 million from anonymous donors on the 2012 election even though it had previously told the IRS political spending would be limited in amount, and will not constitute the organizations primary purpose. Dark Money and Super PACs Many advocates for transparency believe spending by 501[c] and social welfare organizations is much more problematic than that by super PACs. We are seeing some 501c4s becoming pure election vehicles, wrote Rick Hasen on the Election Law Blog. ... The key is to stop 501c4s from becoming shadow super PACs. Yes, campaign finance reform community, it has become this bad: I want more super PACs, because the 501c4 alternative is worse!

The U.K Phone Scandal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The U.K Phone Scandal - Essay Example Communication practices and media of communication have with time mutated, becoming self-organized, and wholly evolving to new forms (McQuail, 2008:214). Outcomes of these new forms of communication systems and practices are often not predictable. This paper discusses in depth how the recent phone hacking scandal in U.K portray incidences where the popular press use their press freedom as a justification of their unwarranted media intrusion in people’s privacy. Research depicts that the cell phone is one fascinating garget that has undergone many changes and still undergoing technological changes (Wyatt, 2000:4). For instance, it never envisaged that the use of mobile phones would change drastically from voice mail communication to SMS then later to the internet use. Mobile phones are depicted to have a variation of features that make them powerful gargets. They not only serves as a means of communication but also installed with the necessary technology of accessing the intern et, watching television, and playing games. In addition, some mobile phones have been installed with the GPS that enables the location of an individual. Therefore, change in the cell phone technology has increased dramatically. This change in the cell phone industry has been both beneficial and hazardous to the society. Although people have a positive attitude towards the use of cell phones, in some cases, they pose a negative impact to the society. For a better understanding of the emergence of media, it is necessary to understand public communication and media are much more than the deployment of communication technologies. The key factor that differentiates media and communication is practices. These practices include co-creation, conversation, collaboration, and community building. Cell phones, mostly used as gadgets of communication have been used by the U.K as a means of retrieving information from people especially the politicians. Scholarly research depicts that in the world of news and media all hours of the day, political advertising, and communication are viewed as a strong set of policy ideas. The press has always been extensively given the responsibility and freedom of carrying out research and informing the nation about the current and on-going issues in the country (Curran, and Seaton, 2009:6). However, the U.K press has gone to a further extent of using their freedom in intruding people’s privacy. Phone-hacking scandal in recent years has been an ongoing controversy in the international news. It is depicted that the press use phone hacking as a way of obtaining information. Researchers depict that the U.K press viewed their work as commercial rather than a responsibility. Legal, economic, and social context in which the media is allowed to function lead to an ultimate contribution in an individual’s political life will. For instance, media and its effect on political process health in U.K, remains a considerable issue under scruti ny (McNair, 2011:20). Moreover, the emergence of political industry in U.K has raised an argument on efficient and reliable political communication to democracy. Research depicts that most of these social reporters typically base their concern and focus on celebrities, gossip, and other subsequent trivia rather than social issues affecting the country. However, the media not only portrays the social issues in the society but also becomes a pathway for extensive political campaigns, civic actions, and professional and business

Importance the Binary Gender System for People Essay

Importance the Binary Gender System for People - Essay Example That was the point when I began noticing that the society had different expectations for males and females. This was reinforced in different ways. With my parents ever warning me not to copy the behaviors of my twin brother, she kept emphasizing that I had to do things like a girl and not like a boy. Although I was well aware of the different expectations, I did not understand why such expectations existed. This means that the binary gender system began to influence my life long before I knew anything about it. This essay will describe my personal experience in a gendered world. I have so many memories of my childhood. I remember when I was three years old, I developed a weird obsession for car toys. My mother did not approve of my growing interest in car toys. She kept insisting that only my brother was allowed to play with them. She encouraged me to keep playing with my baby dolls because that was the expected conduct of girls at that age. As I grew older, my mother would invite me to the kitchen to help her with the little chores I could handle. Rarely did she call my brother to the kitchen. I always wondered why my mother did not want my brother to participate in the kitchen activities. In the evenings when my father came home, my brother would spend time with him and they would occasionally watch football together. This explains why at the age of 10 years, I could comfortably wash utensils while my brother did not have any idea of how utensils are washed. At that age, I was interested in dressing like a boy. There were many times when my mother had to i nsist that I have to dress like a girl. My brother seemed to be very comfortable with meeting my mother’s expectations of him as a boy (Ember 34). At the age of 10, my brother literary felt older than me, although we were twins as mentioned above. Without the doubt, he had begun to adopt the patriarchal thinking exhibited by many males in the society. Â  

Information System Management & Quality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Information System Management & Quality - Essay Example In an effort to improve service delivery, NHS decided to employ information technology in its structure. This project is known as The National Project for Information Technology NPfIT and is run by the NHS Connecting for Health (CfH); this is a department that is tasked with the duty of providing information when and where it is needed. NPfIT is meant to bring new computer systems and services to the NHS to help improve the care and services patients receive. These systems are expected to community services and GPS systems to hospitals; hence, make it easy for hospitals to reach patients. In addition, the services provided, such as EPR, would make it possible for staff to access information vital to their patients’ treatment easily, securely, and quickly. The service ventured, in a project, to digitize its operations by developing an Electronic Patient Record, hereafter referred to as EPR. Some of the other services provided under NPfIT include a Patient Administration System, PAS, and a Picture Archiving and Communications System, PACS. All these systems work together to enhance service delivery in public hospitals. However, only 1.07% of facilities that were expected to use the EPR were using it as of January 2010 (Savage, 2010). This paper circumvents around NPfIT’s provision of Electronic Patient Records at Bexley Hospital. Management and Quality Issues Raised by NPfIT Managers were under pressure to deliver the massive project within a very limited time span. This forced managers to compromise quality by rushing the project at the hospital. The financial difficulties that managers face compromise their performance (Anon., n.d.). This is because such difficulties shift managers’ attention from project implementation to seeking extra finances and ways to cope. Managers are preoccupied with the need to meet strict deadlines while avoiding incurring extra costs. NHS split some units, making it difficult to prioritize activities and attain performance ratings; this compromised the quality of individual services and products. The result is that the project implementation at Bexley failed. This was as a result of numerous factors discussed below: Rushing the Project The NPfIT pushed for the speedy completion of tasks during development at Bexley Hospital. The hospital’s management had no option but to comply with his requirement so that Bexley is not delisted from the project. This is despite drawbacks brought about by stringent government procurement rules that delay the delivery of equipment and other resources (Comptroller and Auditor General, 2011, p.14). These delays make the supplies required irrelevant or valueless to the project by the time they are delivered, compromising

Density and Salinity of Seawater †Comparison of Methods

Density and Salinity of Seawater – Comparison of Methods Sergian Murtanu, Lab partner: Sammy Chaaban Abstract: The goal of this experiment was to compare the salinity of seawater from different methods. The average salinity in seawater is around 35 parts per thousand. 3 The BOD bottles were used to find the density of seawater, the equation to state was then applied, using density to determine the salinity. The salinity of seawater from the BOD method was 33.37 ppt  ± 0.08737 with a relative standard deviation of 0.2618 percent. Using the same equation of state, the salinity was determined from the readings recorded by the density meter. The density meter produced salinity values of 34.75 ppt  ± 1.403, with an RSD% of 4.038. The conductivity probe measured the ability of the solution to pass current. The Unesco equation is used to convert the measured conductivity of seawater to salinity, which was calculated to be 42.71 ppt  ± 0.04359 with a RSD% of 0.1021. The refractometer measured the extent of which is bent, giving the refractive index. The average salinity through refra ctive index was 36.14 ppm  ± 2.56, with an RSD% of 0.1884. Introduction: The purpose of this experiment was to determine the salinity of seawater through two different methods: BOD bottles (volume) and density meter. Salinity, temperature, and density are related to each other through the equation of state. Physical properties of seawater are related through ‘state functions’. Salinity is defined as a measure of the total dissolved salts in a solution. As density increases, the amount of salt in seawater is expected to increase as well. Thus, density and salinity have a positive relationship with each other. As temperature increases, the area between each water molecule increases, which lowers the density.5 Density has an inverse relationship with temperature. An increase in the salts dissolved in seawater also causes the physical properties of: refractive index, electrical conductivity, transmission of sound, and surface tension to increase. On the contrary, increased salinity in seawater will cause the physical property of: freezing point, compressibility, solubility, and specific heat to decrease instead. Using the methods of electrical conductivity, BOD bottles, density meter, and refractometer, the salinity of seawater will be calculated and compared for the most accurate results. 3 Experimental: Apparatus: BOD Bottles Conductivity probe Density meter Refractometer Analytical balances Procedure: The density of seawater through the BOD method was discovered by finding the volume of both DI water and seawater. The BOD bottle is weighed dry, and filled with DI water. The temperature of each BOD bottle with DI is taken, and gives a corresponding density value through a chart. Using the equation: Volume=Mass/Density, the volume of DI water can be calculated. This process is repeated with seawater, with density of seawater being the weight of seawater divided by the mean volume of DI water. The density meter method uses a magnet to measure the period oscillation within the U-shaped tube. Seawater is put in the U-shaped tube. This gives the period of oscillation, T, which is then used in the equation: Ï =AT2 + B , to give the density of seawater(A, B are calibration coefficients). The equation of state given in the spreadsheet, Millero Density Spreadsheet is then used to calculate the salinity at the given density and temperature. 4 The conductivity probe is used to compare the trend between salinity and density. A conductivity probe is first calibrated, then put in a beaker of DI water, standard solution, and seawater. The reading is measured, with the probe cleaned between every new trial. Conductivity is the ability for a solution to pass current, so it is expected that salinity and density have a positive relationship. Using the formula given in the Unesco Equation Spreadsheet, the conductivity ratio is used to calculate the salinity. 1 The refractometer is a tool that measures the extent in which light is bent. Drop a sample of seawater to the measuring prism and use the hand wheel to adjust the sight. The illuminating prism should be put at the halfway point of the sample, this then gives the refractive index. Using given slope and intercept â€Å"Salinity vs. Refractive Index and Salinity vs. Specific Gravity Curves, the salinity and specific gravity is then calculated. 2 Results: Table 1 – Seawater salinity in BOD Bottle Trial Temperature (C) Salinity 1 21.5 33.35 2 21.6 33.47 3 21.7 33.30 Mean Salinity 33.37 Standard Deviation 0.08737 Relative Standard Deviation % 0.2618 Table 2 – Salinity of seawater by density meter Data obtained by Jessica Oregon Trial Temperature (C) Salinity 1 20 33.53 2 20 35.95 3 20 33.53 4 20 35.97 Mean Salinity 34.75 Standard Deviation 1.403 Relative Standard Deviation % 4.038 Table 3 – Salinity of seawater by refractive index Trial Seawater Salinity 1 1.3400 38.37 2 1.3391 33.34 3 1.3397 36.69 Mean Salinity 36.14 Standard Deviation 2.560 Relative Standard Deviation % 7.083 Table 4 – Salinity of seawater by conductivity probe (22.6 C) Trial Seawater (mS/cm) Standard (mS/cm) Salinity 1 49.6 49.4 42.76 2 49.6 49.5 42.68 3 49.7 49.6 42.68 4 49.6 49.4 42.76 5 49.7 49.6 42.68 Mean 49.6 49.5 42.71 Standard Deviation 0.0548 0.100 0.0436 Relative Standard Deviation % 0.110 0.202 0.102 Discussion: The results seem to imply that the salinity in seawater varies depending on the method, as some methods have a lesser chance of error than others. Using the average seawater salinity of 35 ppt as a comparison, most of the results seem to fall between the ranges of 33 to 37. However, the most notable difference is the salinity of seawater by conductivity probe. The conductivity probe method produced a mean salinity of 42.71 ppt  ± 0.0436, with a relative standard deviation of 0.102 percent. The results for the conductivity probe were quite far in comparison to the other method. However, the conductivity method had an RSD% of 0.1021. This indicated that the results while somewhat inaccurate, were very precise. This inaccuracy may have been caused due to systematic errors in our instrument. The conductivity probe might have been calibrated incorrectly, or in the wrong solution. If the calibration was just slightly off, it is possible that this difference might have contributed to the inaccurate salinity results. The solutions measured on the probe might have gotten contaminated without prior knowledge, or it might have simply been a human error in calculations. The result with the highest relative standard deviation was the salinity of seawater by refractive index with 7.083 %. This indicates that there was a lot of variation in salinity for each trial. The salinity ranges from 33.34 to 38.37 ppt. The mean salinity of seawater by refractive index was 36.14 ppt  ± 2.560, which is close to the average seawater salinity of 35. These slightly imprecise results may be due to random and systematic errors. The use of the eyepiece when trying to go to the halfway point might change due to different perception between people. Likewise, reading the refractometer varies between each individual and might change with angle due to parallax. This can really change the data measured and can result in imprecise data. There can also be human errors done during the conversion between refractive index and salinity. The BOD bottle method has a salinity of 33.37 ppt  ± 0.08737 with an RSD% of 0.2618. The very low relative standard deviation indicates that there isn’t much spread within the data. When compared to the average seawater salinity of 35 ppt, it falls a little bit short. This was because there are a lot of possible errors for this method due to the long process of balancing and rebalancing. Possible systematic errors might have occurred on the analytical balances, such as calibration. Random errors, such as the fluctuation of weight in our seawater sample might also have impacted the accuracy. This method was also very time consuming, so it was not the most efficient way of determining the salinity. But, based on the results, it was the most dependable with good accuracy and great precision. The most accurate method when compared to the average value of seawater salinity is the density meter. The density meter has a salinity of 34.75  ± 1.403, with an RSD% of 4.038. The RSD% of 4.038 indicated that there was some variation in the data. However, when compared to the average seawater salinity, this was the closest by far. This method was the most efficient overall because it allowed the opportunity to obtain the density, and salinity value the quickest. However, it’s not perfect because the instrument can calibrated or used incorrectly. While the most precise method goes to the BOD method, the most accurate would go to the density meter. The density meter is also quick and efficient, which make it an excellent tool to calculate the value for salinity. In comparison, the BOD method took far too long and was not nearly as efficient as the density meter method. If there was one thing that should be changed in a repeat of this experiment, it would be giving an extended time for the density meter method. There was not enough time in the assigned lab period, so data from a peer was borrowed and used. Acknowledgements: I would like to thank Sam and George for helping us with calculations. I would also like to thank fellow peer, Jessica Oregon for the data set on seawater density by meter. References: Anderson, George, and Michael Tauber.Unesco Density Spreadsheet. University of California, San Diego: Ted.ucsd.edu, n.d. Xlsx. Tauber, Michael, and George Anderson.Salinity vs Refractive Index and Salinity vs Specific Gravity Curves. University of California, San Diego: Ted.ucsd.edu, n.d. Xlsx. Tauber, Michael, and Robert Pomeroy. 3.5 Density and Salinity lecture.Ted.ucsd.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2015. Tauber, Michael, and Robert Pomeroy.Milero Density Spreadsheet. University of California, San Diego: Ted.ucsd.edu, n.d. Xlsx. The Ocean and Temperature.The Ocean and Temperature. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2015.

Animal Farm: Importance of the Seven Commandments Essay -- George Orwe

Animal Farm: Seven Commandments Without law and order, it is nearly proven that civilization will fail. Because of this, Snowball saw it necessary to create a set of rules for the animals on the newly evolving farm, so came about the 7 Commandments. Unfortunately, but undoubtedly in the pigs’ advantage, most of the other animals did not know how to read or write. Because of this the other members of the farm had to bestow their trust and goodwill in the more educated of the animals. Little did they know that their innocence and their devotion to the farm as a whole would in the end lead to their demise. â€Å"The birds did not understand Snowball’s long words, but they accepted his explanation, and all the humbler animals set to work to learn the new maxim by heart. â€Å" As the story of Animal Farm progresses, the pigs take a leading role and find themselves hungry for power and suffering from a chronic case of ruthless greed. In due time, the once staple and communal 7 Commandments start to change to ‘accommodate’ the selfishness of the pigs, most prominently Napoleon. Shall we say Napoleon has a bit of a complex? Although all of the commandments originally acted as a bible, their importance is gone now and they have been modified to allow the pigs to be heartless in their ways. Three of these commandments jump out as to being the most important of the bunch. â€Å"Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.† This commandment is crucial in demonstrating the betrayal that the other farm animals experienced. This commandment it basically making the point that the animals are good and the humans are evil. In the end, the pigs did what they said they would never do, follow in the evil footsteps of the humans. As the changes on t... ...s and the story has come full circle. Unfortunately this is not uncommon in history. Once one person or group is given a small privilege, the power hunger is inevitable. Political corruption is defined as the use of governmental powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. By completely altering and depleting the once almost sacred 7 Commandments, the pigs (Napoleon) have done a spotless job of creating and leading a politically corrupt society. The justice of all of the hardworking, devoted animals on the farm has been obstructed. In this case, the law and order of Animal Farm has been changed to the pig’s advantage and tragically, the other animals are oblivious to the fact until it’s too late. â€Å"The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again, but already it was impossible to saw which was which.†

The venture capital and private equity industry

Journal of Indian Business Research Emerald Article: Venture capital and private equity in India: an analysis of investments and exits Thillai Rajan Annamalai, Ashish Deshmukh Article information: To cite this document: Thillai Rajan Annamalai, Ashish Deshmukh, (2011),†Venture capital and private equity in India: an analysis of investments and exits†, Journal of Indian Business Research, Vol. 3 Iss: 1 pp. 6 – 21 Permanent link to this document: http://dx. doi. org/10. 1108/17554191111112442 Downloaded on: 24-09-2012References: This document contains references to 25 other documents To copy this document: [email  protected] com This document has been downloaded 365 times since 2011. * Users who downloaded this Article also downloaded: * Vedran Vuk, (2008),†Taking advantage of disaster: misrepresentation of housing shortage for political gain†, International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 35 Iss: 8 pp. 603 – 614 http://dx. doi. org/10. 1108/03 068290810889224 Doru Tsaganea, (2011),†Tension reduction by military power equalization: the USA-USSR case†, Kybernetes, Vol. 0 Iss: 5 pp. 778 788 http://dx. doi. org/10. 1108/03684921111142313 Guihe Wang, Ligang Qu, Limin Fan, Tianbiao Yu, Wanshan Wang, (2009),†Web-based system for industry using information and communication technologies†, Kybernetes, Vol. 38 Iss: 3 pp. 533 – 541 http://dx. doi. org/10. 1108/03684920910944254 Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by For Authors: If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service.Information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www. emeraldinsight. com/authors for more information. About Emerald www. emeraldinsight. com With over forty years' experience, Emerald Group Publishing is a leading independent publisher of globa l research with impact in business, society, public policy and education. In total, Emerald publishes over 275 journals and more than 130 book series, as well as an extensive range of online products and services. Emerald is both COUNTER 3 and TRANSFER compliant.The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. *Related content and download information correct at time of download. The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www. emeraldinsight. com/1755-4195. htm JIBR 3,1 Venture capital and private equity in India: an analysis of investments and exits 6 Thillai Rajan Annamalai and Ashish Deshmukh Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India AbstractPurpose – The venture capital and private equity (VCPE) industry in India has grown signi? cantly in recent years. During ? ve-year period 2004-200 8, the industry growth rate in India was the fastest globally and it rose to occupy the number three slot worldwide in terms of quantum of investments. However, academic research on the Indian VCPE industry has been limited. This paper seeks to ? ll the gap in research on the recent trends in the Indian VCPE industry. Design/methodology/approach – Studies on the VCPE transactions have traditionally focused on one of the components of the investment lifecycle, i. e. nvestments, monitoring, or exit. This study is based on analyzing the investment life cycle in its entirety, from the time of investment by the VCPE fund till the time of exit. The analysis was based on a total of 1,912 VCPE transactions involving 1,503 ? rms during the years 2004-2008. Findings – Most VCPE investments were in late stage ? nancing and took place many years after the incorporation of the investee ? rm. The industry was also characterized by the short duration of the investments. The type of e xit was well predicted by the type of industry, ? nancing stage, region of investment, and type of VCPE fund.Originality/value – This paper highlights some of the key areas to ensure sustainable growth of the industry. Early stage funding opportunities should be increased to ensure that there is a strong pipeline of investment opportunities for late stage investors. VCPE investments should be seen as long-term investments and not as â€Å"quick ? ips†. To achieve this, it is important to have a strong domestic VCPE industry which can stay invested in the portfolio company for a longer term. Keywords Venture capital, Equity capital, India, Investments, Financing Paper type Research paper . Growth of the Indian VCPE industry Over the last few years, India has become one of the leading destinations for venture capital and private equity (VCPE) investments. Though the concept of VCPE investment prevailed in the country in one form or another since the 1960s, the growth in the industry was mainly after the economic reforms in 1991. Prior to that, most of the VCPE funding was from public sector ? nancial institutions, and was characterized by low levels of investment activity. In recent years, VCPE commitments and investments in India have grown at a rapid pace.Venture economics data indicate that during the period 1990-1999, India’s ranking was 25th out of 64 and various VCPE funds raised $945. 9 million for investments in India; however, during the next decade, 2000-2009, India’s ranking rose to 13th out of 90 countries and the funds raised $16,682. 5 million for investments in India. Journal of Indian Business Research Vol. 3 No. 1, 2011 pp. 6-21 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1755-4195 DOI 10. 1108/17554191111112442 The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge the ? nancial support provided by the Indian Council of Social Sciences Research and IIT Madras for this research.They would also like to acknowledge the support of M. B . Raghupathy and V. Vasupradha for this research. This represents a growth of 1,664 percent over the previous decade. The trend is even more encouraging for the most recent ? ve-year period 2005-2009, during which India’s ranking was 10th out of 77 countries, and various funds raised $15,073. 6 million for VCPE investments in India. Funds raised during 2005-2009, represented a growth rate of 837 percent as compared to funds raised over the previous ? ve-year period 2000-2004. The growth rate in investments made by various VCPE funds has been equally strong.During the ? ve-year period 2004-2008, the industry growth rate in India was the fastest globally and it rose to occupy the number three slot worldwide in terms of quantum of investments[1]. The amount invested by VCPE funds grew from US$ 1. 8 billion in 2004 to US$ 22 billion in 2007 before tapering off to US$ 8. 1 billion in 2008[2]. During the ? ve-year period ending 2008, VCPE investments in India grew from 0. 4 percent of GDP in 2004 to more than 1. 5 percent of GDP in 2008 (Annamalai and Deshmukh, 2009). The rest of the paper is structured as follows: Section 2 indicates the objective of the paper.Section 3 provides details on the data set used for analysis and the sources of data. Section 4, which covers the results and discussion, is divided into six sub-sections. The sub-sections are in the following order: round wise analysis of investments, time of incorporation and ? nancing stage, intervals between funding rounds, investment exits, duration of investment, and a statistical analysis of investment duration and type of exit. Section 5 provides a summary of the paper. 2. Objective of the paper Research on VCPE has not been in tune with the growth seen in the industry.Past research on the Indian VCPE industry can be broadly classi? ed into the following categories: studies that examined the evolution and the current status of the industry (Pandey, 1996, 1998; Verma, 1997; Dossani and Kenney, 2 002; Singh et al. , 2005); multi country studies which also included India (Lockett et al. , 1992; Subhash, 2006; Ippolito, 2007); survey studies of VCPE industry practices in India (Mitra, 1997; Vinay Kumar, 2002, 2005; Vinay Kumar and Kaura, 2003; Mishra, 2004); and studies which can be considered as case studies of VCPE investments (Kulkarni and Prusty, 2007).The objectives of this paper are as follows: ? rst, research that has focused on the recent growth phase of the VCPE industry in India has been limited. Most of the papers that have studied the Indian industry were either before the growth phase (pre-2004) or did not cover the growth phase in full, starting from the onset of growth in 2004 until the slowdown in 2008, caused by the global ? nancial crisis. This paper is an attempt to meet the gap in research on the recent trends in the Indian VCPE industry. Second, there have been very limited studies that looked at the lifecycle of investments, i. . from the time of investme nt in the company until their exit from the investment. There have been several studies that have looked at areas related to investments such as investment decision making, structure of investments, and valuation. Similarly, there have been studies that have looked at topics related to venture exits. However, there have been limited studies that looked at the entire investment life cycle. The main contribution of this paper is to look at the investment lifecycle in its entirety.Third, this paper aims to highlight some of the lesser known features of the Indian VCPE industry such as the characteristics of the investee ? rm at the time of VCPE investment, the duration of VCPE investments in the ? rm, and the timing and mode of exit by the investors. The objective of this paper is to provide an holistic understanding of the Indian VCPE industry to enable the creation of a policy environment to sustain the growth of the industry. VCPE in India 7 JIBR 3,1 8 3. Data set used and sources T his study uses VCPE investment transaction data during the years 2004-2008.The choice for the period of analysis was driven by two considerations. First, it was during this period that the industry witnessed signi? cant growth and India emerged as one of the leading destinations for VCPE investments. Therefore, a detailed study of this industry growth would be of general research interest. Second, the choice of period was also governed by practical considerations. Data on VCPE investments in India before 2004 were not available in a form that can be used for a research study. Therefore, it was decided to begin the starting period of the study at year 2004, the year from which we had access to data.It was felt that a ? ve-year study of transactions would be a reasonable time frame to overcome the yearly ? uctuations. This ? ve-year period also coincided with a full ? nancial cycle in the global ? nancial markets, a period marked by dramatic growth and equally dramatic fall. The data for the study were obtained from multiple sources. To start with, deal data on the various investments and exits were obtained from two database sources: Venture Intelligence India[3] and Asian Venture Capital Journal[4] database. The data from both these databases were combined to form a comprehensive data set.The data set was then suitably checked for data repetition and duplicate data points were removed ? rst. Second, whenever there was a difference in the information given for the same deal, the correctness and accuracy was checked by independent veri? cation from other sources, such as newspaper reports and company web sites. Information that was not available in these databases was then separately sourced from the web sites of the independent companies. Admittedly, with the lack of a strong database on Indian investments, developing such a data set involved a lot of effort.The comprehensive data set that was developed provided various details on the VCPE investments and exits that happened in India during 2004-2008. It consisted of a total of 1,912 VCPE transactions involving 1,503 ? rms during the period 2004-2008. From these 1,503 ? rms, 1,276 ? rms had only investment transactions while another 129 ? rms had only exit transactions during the ? ve-year period. The remaining 98 ? rms had both VCPE investment and exit transactions. To facilitate a more detailed analysis, the investments were classi? ed into ten industry categories and four ? ancing stages based on the lifecycle stage of the investee ? rm and the objectives of the investment. Exits were classi? ed into two categories, namely initial public offer (IPO) and merger and acquisition (M) or trade sale. 4. Results and discussion 4. 1 Round-wise analysis of investments Firms seeking to raise VCPE investments normally receive the investment in multiple rounds (Sahlman, 1990); earlier works have provided several explanations for this trend. Gompers (1995) indicates that the staging of capital infu sions allows venture capitalists to gather information and monitor the progress of ? ms, while retaining the option to periodically abandon projects. Admati and P? eiderer (1994) indicate that such an option to abandon is essential because an entrepreneur will almost never quit a failing project as long as others are providing capital and the threat to abandon creates incentives for the entrepreneur to maximize value and meet goals. Neher (1999) indicates that multiple rounds of ? nancing overcome the potential agency con? icts between the entrepreneur and investor as previous rounds create the collateral to support the later rounds. While the stage of ? ancing is determined by the objectives and timing of investment, the round of ? nancing simply indicates the number of instances of VCPE investments in the ? rm. Thus, for example, Round 1 ? nancing is the ?rst instance of the ? rm getting VCPE investment, but it need not be always early stage ? nancing. Depending on the ? rm lifecy cle and the objectives of investment, Round 1 ? nancing can happen in any of the four ? nancing stages. Similarly, there could be multiple rounds of investment happening in the same stage. In a particular round of funding, there may be many investors jointly investing in the company.For example, when there is a co-investment by more than one VCPE investor at the same time, it is considered as a single round of investment. By the same token, when the same investor makes investments in the ? rm at different times at different valuations, each investment is considered a separate round of funding. Funding rounds are considered to be different when there has been a substantial time gap from the previous round of ? nancing and/or the investment happens at a different valuation from the previous round of funding. Figure 1 shows the results from the round wise analysis of VCPE investments.The results indicate that 82 percent of the total VCPE investments were in Round 1, i. e. ?rst time VCP E investments in the company. Out of the total amount of investment, follow on investments account for only 18 percent. It can be observed that investments decrease sharply with subsequent funding rounds. One possible reason behind this could be because of the nature of data: most of the investment has happened during the later years of the study period[5], indicating that suf? cient time might not have elapsed for the next round of investment.However, these results indicate the possibility that VCPE investments are happening at a much later stage in the ? rm lifecycle and the ? rm is not in need of an additional funding round for reaching a critical size that is needed for an IPO or for ? nding a buyer. This might also be explained by the grandstanding theory (Gompers, 1996), where VCs are keen to exit more quickly from their investments. Second, this trend can also indicate that the companies that have received the ? rst round might not have been able to achieve a strong enough pe rformance to attract the next round of investment from investors.Further studies are needed to understand this pattern in detail. Table I indicates that the number of rounds of funding received by companies in different industries was 1,912 from a total of 1,503 companies. This indicates that the average number of rounds in a company was 1. 27. As can be seen from Table I, a large majority of the ? rms have received only one round of VCPE investment. This result accompanies the results in Figure 1 well, which indicate that 82 percent of the total Round 3 1,061. 85 (2. 6%) Round 2 5,394. 11 (14%) VCPE in India 9 Round 4 391. 25 (1%) Round 5 170. 6 (0. 4%) Round 1 2,961. 47 (82%) Figure 1. Round-wise VCPE investments (in US$mn) during 2004-2008 JIBR 3,1 Industry 10 Table I. Count of companies for different funding rounds Computer hardware Engineering and construction Financial services Healthcare IT and ITES Manufacturing Non-? nancial services Others Telecom and media Transportation and logistics Grand total Count of companies for different funding rounds 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 36 137 110 92 295 214 133 65 93 51 1,226 5 21 30 19 53 25 12 10 15 8 198 1 6 5 6 12 6 5 3 4 3 51 1 1 3 2 3 3 2 1 1 17 1 2 8 1 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 2 2 Total companies 43 167 151 120 364 250 153 9 112 64 1,503 investments were Round 1 investments. Only 13 percent of companies have obtained two rounds of funding, and approximately 5 percent of the total companies that have received VCPE investments during the period have obtained more than two rounds. The proportion of companies that have received the second round of funding in different industries is more or less the same as what we saw for Round 1 investments, except in the ? nancial services category. The phenomenon of some industries being more successful in getting Round 2 investments could not be clearly observed in our analysis.In a way, this is a surprising trend. For example, information technology (IT) and information technology-enabled servic es (ITES) companies constitute 24 percent of the total number of companies that have received funding, 24 percent of the companies that have received the ? rst round of funding, and 25 percent of the companies that have received more than one round of funding. This indicates that IT and ITES companies, seen as one of the engines of growth in India, have not had higher proportional success than companies in other industries in attracting multiple rounds of funding.The ? nancial services companies constitute 10 percent of the total companies that have received funding, 9 percent of the companies that have received one round of funding, and 15 percent of the companies that have received more than one round of funding. This indicates that ? nancial services companies have a better track record of getting additional investment rounds. The reasons could be numerous – the larger funding requirements created the need for funding to happen in multiple rounds and companies that had obt ained the ? st round of funding would have been able to showcase a strong performance track record to attract the subsequent rounds of funding. The industry itself was in an upswing in India during the study period and this might have contributed to investor interest in investing in subsequent rounds. It could also be due to the institutional and regulatory features of private equity (PE) investing in India. For example, funding could be done in multiple rounds because of the procedural issues in foreign investments in certain sectors. Further studies are needed to identify the determinants of funding rounds.One would reasonably expect that multiple rounds of funding would be observed in more capital intensive industries. Among the ten industry categories, engineering and construction and manufacturing sectors are very capital and asset intensive. However, it can be seen that the proportion of companies receiving additional rounds of funding in these sectors is not more than the pro portion of companies that have received ? rst-round funding. On the contrary, the proportion of companies receiving additional rounds of funding in manufacturing is less than that of their proportion in Round 1 ? ancing. Several explanations are possible for this trend, which needs to be substantiated with further research. Companies are receiving VCPE funding at a much later stage in the lifecycle and they do not need additional rounds of funding before providing an exit to the investor. It is possible that, because of their asset intensive nature, they are able to get access to debt funding thereby limiting the possibility of additional rounds of VCPE ? nancing. VCPE in India 11 4. 2 Time of incorporation and ? nancing stage It is well known that VC investments happen early in a ? rm’s life.It is during the early stage that companies have limited means to raise money from conventional sources and look to sources like VC for meeting the funding requirements. Table II provide s the results from our analysis of the interval between the year of incorporation of the company and the ? nancing stage. The results indicate some interesting trends. Early stage funding should normally happen within the ? rst couple of years after the incorporation of the ? rm. But in our analysis, we ? nd that 17 percent of the ? rms have received their early stage funding as much as ten years after they were incorporated.While the highest frequency of early stage funding can be seen in the one- to three-year category, a large proportion of companies get their early stage funding even until the ? fth year from the time of incorporation. This indicates the disinclination of the VCPE investors in India to make investments in very early stages. A majority of the growth stage investment happens between ? ve and eight years from incorporation. However, the second highest percentage of growth stage funding happens after 15 years after incorporation. While growth stage ? nancing during the ? e- to eight-year period seems reasonable (though it is still more than that which is normally associated with growth ? nancing), growth ? nancing happening after 15 years from incorporation needs to be studied in detail. It could either be a question of willingness or readiness. Either the investors are not willing to invest earlier or the companies are not ready to receive VCPE funding in their early years. The companies might have explored funding from family, banks, or friends before taking investment from VCPE investors. Financing stage Early Growth Late Pre-IPO Time since incorporation (in years) ,1 20 13. 6% ,3 22 9. 3% 7 2. 3% 7. 7% 1-3 51 34. 7% 3-5 26 11. 0% 15 5. 0% 0 0. 0% 3-5 37 25. 2% 5-8 68 28. 8% 25 8. 3% 6 15. 4% 5-8 13 8. 8% 8-10 36 15. 3% 19 6. 3% 3 7. 7% 8-10 1 0. 7% 10-15 31 13. 1% 61 20. 3% 13 33. 3% Total . 10 25 17. 0% . 15 53 22. 5% 173 57. 7% 14 35. 9% 147 236 300 39 Table II. Number of VCPE deals for different ? nancing stages vs time since incorporat ion of investee companies JIBR 3,1 12 Analysis of late stage investment deals, as can be expected, show an increasing trend with time from incorporation. However, more than half of the late stage deals that have been studied are seen in companies more than 15 years after their incorporation.This again re-con? rms the earlier ?ndings that VCPE investors have been more inclined to invest in companies that have a longer track record and operating history, and have a suf? cient size. From the perspective of companies that are receiving VCPE funding, such late stage funding, could indicate that these companies might have been part of a larger business group, which provided the ? nancial support in their early years. Further studies need to be done to understand the antecedents of ? rms that receive late stage investment.But one of the most compelling observations which attracts immediate attention is that about 75 percent (541 out of 722[6]) deals are in companies that are more than ? ve years old. Almost 60 percent (429 out of 722) VCPE deal investments are made in ? rms that are eight years old or more. This supports the earlier inferences that VCPE funds in India are more inclined to invest in ? rms that have a track record of performance. While this investment trend might not be very different from that which is seen in other emerging economies such as Brazil (Ribiero and de Carvalho, 2008), it is much more marked in India.Therefore, it is felt that most of the VCPE investments in India are in the nature of PE investments rather than VC investments, which are typically investments made in early stage companies. 4. 3 Intervals between funding rounds Table III presents average time intervals in months between different rounds of PE funding (for Rounds 1-3)[7] across industries. The average time interval across industries between Round 1 and Round 2 funding is 13. 69 months, which is just slightly more than year. The average time interval between Round 2 and Round 3 funding is 10. 1 months, which is less than a year. The median values for the above intervals are 12. 17 and 11. 17 months, respectively. The closeness of the mean to median values indicates that there is no signi? cant skew in the time interval between different funding rounds. Figures 2 and 3 show the distribution of time intervals between rounds. These indicate that the deals are well distributed in the initial periods, with a slightly higher frequency around the mean value, and tapering down in the later periods. Since it takes about three to six months from the date of the ? rst signi? ant meeting with the investors to realize an investment, the low time interval between successive Industry Table III. Average time interval between successive rounds of VCPE funding (in months) R2-R1 R3-R2 Computer hardware Engineering and construction Financial services Healthcare IT and ITES Manufacturing Non-? nancial services Others Telecom and media Transportation and logistics Total 14. 43 17. 13 12. 28 14. 89 15. 64 11. 58 13. 93 8. 46 11. 16 9. 54 13. 69 16. 72 4. 88 7. 44 14. 22 12. 43 10. 14 16. 57 6. 03 15. 23 9. 63 10. 91 VCPE in India 50 45 Number of deals 40 35 30 13 25 20 15 10 5 0 3 3 to 6 6 to 9 9 to 12 12 to 18 18 to 24 24 to 36 ? 36 Duration (months) Figure 2. Time between Round 2 and Round 1 investments 14 12 Number of deals 10 8 6 4 2 0 ?3 3 to 6 6 to 9 9 to 12 12 to 18 18 to 24 24 to 36 Duration (months) ? 36 ?nancing rounds indicates that the top management of the company might be continuously devoting their energies in raising capital. This might not be good for business, as spending more time on raising ? nancing is likely to affect their attention to business operations. Our results also indicate that in the Indian context the pace of ? nancing increases with time.This result is somewhat surprising as, under normal circumstances, the size of funding increases with every additional round of funding and is expected to meet the needs of the company for a longer duration even after accounting for the higher cash burn rates due to the increase in company size. Analysis of time intervals for different industry categories indicates that the engineering and construction sector had the largest time interval between the ? rst and second round of funding. Some explanations, which need to be followed with further research, for this trend include being capital intensive.They raise large sums which Figure 3. Time between Round 3 and Round 2 investments JIBR 3,1 help the companies to sustain the operations for a longer period. They are able to get additional funding from other sources such as debt. Cash ? ows from operations would also contribute towards the ? nancing requirements. However, the time interval between second and third round is the lowest for this sector, which indicates that this could be due to the pre-IPO nature of funding. 14 4. 4 Investment exits Venture exit has been an area where there has been limited research (Gomp ers and Lerner, 2004).The VCPE investor after a certain period has to exit the investment to recover the same as well as to earn a return on it. The different possible exit routes play a major role in VCPE ? nancing and the likely availability of favorable exit opportunities in lesser time is one of the key criterions used by investors while evaluating investment opportunities. Though there are several exit routes for the VCPE funds such as IPO, secondary sale of shares, M, management buy outs, and liquidation. Exit by IPOs and trade sale through M are the more prevalent methods of exit in Indian VCPE markets.Of the total 252 exit events that were recorded during the ? ve-year period ending 2008, 84 events were IPOs and the remaining 168 were M. Thus, the ratio of exits of IPOs and M is exactly 0. 5, indicating that an exit by M is twice as likely as that by IPO. However, an analysis of this ratio across different industries provides an interesting picture. The ratio is less than 1 for all but two of the industry categories – engineering and construction, and transportation and logistics. Companies in this sector tend to be capital intensive industries with a large asset base and largely dependent on the Indian market.Since companies in this sector are much larger in terms of revenues or assets, it becomes comparatively easier to achieve an exit by means of an IPO. For sectors, that are not so asset intensive, M seem to be a common form of exit for VCPE investors. Computer-hardware, IT and ITES, and healthcare – all traditionally attractive industries for VCPE investments – show a strong inclination towards M exit routes with the ratio of IPO-M exits being less than 0. 4 (Figure 4). The choice of exit route is also in? uenced by the state of the capital markets. The ratio of IPO-M exits in each of the ? e years during the study period is shown in Figure 5. Figure 4. Ratio of exits by IPO to M across industries Co En m gi pu ne te er r-h in g ar an dw d ar co e ns tru Fi na ct io nc n ia ls er vi ce s H ea lth ca IT re an d IT M ES an N uf on ac -fi tu na rin ci g al se rv ic es Te O le Tr th co er an m s sp an or d ta m tio ed n ia an d lo gi tic s 1. 6 1. 4 1. 2 1 0. 8 0. 6 0. 4 0. 2 0 VCPE in India 0. 9 0. 8 0. 7 0. 6 0. 5 0. 4 15 0. 3 0. 2 0. 1 0 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Figure 5. Ratio of exits by IPO to M during 2004-2008 While the overall ratio of IPO-M exits is 0. 5 for the ? e-year period ending 2008, the ratio varies in line with the state of the capital markets. The ratio ranges from 0. 3 to 0. 6 for all years, except 2006, when it is signi? cantly high (. 0. 8). This can probably be attributed to the ? ourish in the IPO market in India during 2006. This is consistent with the ? nding that IPOs are more likely to occur when equity values are high (Lerner, 1994). In addition to the type of exit, the capital markets also in? uence the time taken for an investor to exit. The pattern of variation in an average number of rounds for the two exit methods over the years is shown in Figure 6.It can be noted that there are large variations for those companies that provided exits through IPOs. The number of rounds of VCPE funding before the IPOs are lower during the years 2006 and 2007, when the capital markets were active. Such variations could not be seen in those cases where the exits were from M. The number of rounds of funding before an M has been gradually increasing over the years, indicating that the size needed before an exit from an M has also been increasing over the years. But a more interesting inference could be for companies that exit from anM; the circumstances in the capital markets do not have a signi? cant effect. On the other hand, if the conditions are favorable, companies tend to make their IPOs in a shorter period to take advantage of the momentum in the capital markets. This is also supported by the fact that the average numbers of funding rounds are nearly equal for both the exit types during 2006 and 2007. 3. 5 Average number of rounds 3 2. 5 2 IPO 1. 5 Trade sale – M 1 0. 5 0 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Figure 6. Average number of funding rounds before exit during the ? ve years JIBR 3,1 16 4. 5 Investment durationThe duration of a VCPE investment is de? ned as the interval between the time of investment and exit[8]. It is generally considered that VCPE funds are not short-term investors, and stay invested in the ? rm between three and ? ve years; however, our analysis tells a different story. Table IV provides the investment duration for investments in different ? nancing stages. To make our analysis more accurate, this exercise was done only for those companies for which complete data on both investments and exits were available. A total of 110 transactions in 98 companies were included in this analysis.The main ? nding from Table IV is the overall short-term duration of VCPE investments in India. For 63 percent of the investment transactio ns, the average investment duration is less than one year. Even in those investments which can be classi? ed as growth stage, 75 percent of the investments have less than two years’ duration. For late stage investments, the proportion of exits within two years increases to 87 percent. Overall, the average duration of investment stands at just 17 months. In comparison, the investment duration for an IPO exit in the USA and Canada is 4. 7 and 5. 86 years, respectively.The investment duration for an exit through the acquisition route for the USA and Canada is 5. 17 and 6. 94 years, respectively, (Cumming and MacIntosh, 2001). For VCPE investments, which are generally considered medium to long-term investments, the observed duration in India is very low, indicating that most of the investments are late stage or pre-IPO types of investments. While Indian VCPE investors would generally indicate that they are long-term investors, the data corroborates that which many entrepreneurs h ave always felt: that VCPE funds need to be invested in the long term and not focused on quickly exiting from the investment.While these results are interesting, they also suffer from two limitations: the sample size and the ? ve-year time frame for analysis. Further con? rmatory studies that cover a longer time frame with more deals are needed. 4. 6 Statistical analysis of investment duration and type of exit As a part of this study, statistical analysis was done to determine whether any of the variables were able to explain the duration of VCPE investment and the type of exit. For this analysis, Investment duration and type of exit were taken as the dependent variables. Independent variables used in the study were industry, ? ancing stage, region, and type of VCPE fund. Bivariate regressions (Table V) indicate the relative in? uence of each independent variable on the dependent variables. As it can be expected, duration of investment can be best explained by ? nancing stage. The h igh f-ratio and the Financing stage Early Growth Late Table IV. Duration of VCPE investments Pre-IPO ,1 0 0. 0% 14 48. 3% 35 61. 4% 20 90. 9% Duration of investment (in years) 1-2 2-3 3-4 4-5 2 100. 0% 8 27. 6% 15 26. 3% 2 9. 1% 0 0. 0% 6 20. 7% 6 10. 5% 0 0. 0% 0 0. 0% 1 3. 4% 1 1. 8% 0 0. 0% 0 0. 0% 0 0. 0% 0 0. 0% 0 0. 0% .5 Total 0. 0% 0 0. 0% 0 0. 0% 0 0. 0% 2 29 57 22 R S. no. Dependent variable Independent variable(s) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Duration of Industry investment Financing stage Region Type of VCPE fund Exit mode Industry Stage Region Type of VCPE fund R2 Adjusted R2 SE of the estimate 0. 318 0. 387 0. 159 0. 278 0. 544 0. 429 0. 221 0. 115 0. 101 0. 150 0. 025 0. 077 0. 296 0. 184 0. 049 0. 013 0. 007 0. 118 0. 011 0. 066 0. 212 0. 154 0. 014 0. 001 10. 853 10. 157 10. 876 10. 453 0. 423 0. 439 0. 474 0. 477 ANOVA p-value F-ratio (Sig. ) 0. 938 4. 755 0. 696 6. 952 3. 506 6. 093 1. 389 1. 105 0. 498 0. 004 . 557 0. 010 0. 001 0. 001 0. 252 0. 296 VCPE in India 17 Table V. Results from bivariate regression analysis low p-value indicate the signi? cance of the regression. This can be easily explained as those investing in the early stage would remain invested for a longer duration and those investing in late stages would remain invested for a shorter duration. High f-ratio and low p-values are also noted for the bivariate regression that had a type of VCPE fund as the independent variable. In this study, VCPE funds were categorized into two: domestic and foreign. The fact that this has an in? ence supports the argument that domestic VCPE funds stay invested for a longer duration as compared to foreign funds. It was also noted that industry and stage of ? nancing have more in? uence on the exit mode as compared to other variables. These results can also be explained. Some industries could be more suited for exiting with IPOs because of the market bias. Similarly, many of the late stage and pre-IPO investments are made just before the company goes for an IPO. When these investments are being made, the investee company has a clear road map for going for an IPO.Therefore, the exit route in such late stage and pre-IPO investments are more or less clear at the time of the investment itself, unless there is an adverse change in market conditions. We performed a discriminant analysis in SPSS (Table VI) to predict the probable exit route for an investment, given the independent variables. Discriminant analysis Dependent variable (Y), i. e. exit method Original Count % Cross-validatedb Count % Predicted group membershipa 1 (IPO) 2 (M) Total 1 (IPO) 2 (M) 1 (IPO) 2 (M) 49 5 87. 5 17. 2 7 24 12. 5 82. 8 56 29 100. 0 100. 0 1 (IPO) 2 (M) 1 (IPO) 2 (M) 5 6 80. 4 20. 7 11 23 19. 6 79. 3 56 29 100. 0 100. 0 Notes: a85. 9 percent of original grouped cases correctly classi? ed and 80. 0 percent of cross-validated grouped cases correctly classi? ed; bcross-validation is done only for those cases in the analysis; in cross-validation, each case is cl assi? ed by the functions derived from all cases other than that case Table VI. Results from the discriminant analysis on exit method classi? cation JIBR 3,1 18 is typically used for the prediction of categorical or non-metric variable being classi? ed into two or more mutually exclusive categories.The independent variables used in the discriminant analysis were industry, ? nancing stage, region, and type of VCPE fund. The proportion of cases correctly classi? ed indicates the ef? cacy and relevance of the application of discriminant analysis for predicting the dependent variable, which in this case is the type of exit. Discriminant analysis was done on the investment and exit data for 85 out of 98 companies (for which all necessary details were available). Out of the 85 companies, IPO exits were observed for 56 companies and M for 29 companies. Table VI indicates the results from the discriminant analysis.It can be seen that 49 out of 56 IPO exits and 24 out of 29 M exits were corr ectly classi? ed, thus leaving an error of 12 out of 85 cases. Overall, 85. 9 percent cases are correctly classi? ed. To augment the validity and reliability of the ? ndings, a cross validation was done. In a cross validation, each case is classi? ed using a discriminant function derived from all cases other than the case being classi? ed. The cross validation results indicate that 45 out of 56 IPO exits were correctly classi? ed and 23 out of 29 M exits were correctly classi? ed. Overall, 80 percent of the cases were correctly classi? d. Both these results points towards the good predictive power of the available data in prediction of exit method choice. The results also indicate that it is possible to predict the type of exit based on the information available at the time of making an investment, i. e. industry, ? nancing stage, region of investment, and type of VCPE fund. This could indicate that investors are reasonably clear about the type of exit that they might get from a giv en investment. While the timing of exit might be uncertain, the type of exit seems more or less evident at the time of investment.More research needs to be done to determine whether the variables identi? ed in this paper are a good predictor for exit type or not, even in other markets. 5. Summary The growth and vibrancy in the Indian VCPE industry has attracted global attention. This paper highlights some areas of concern that need to be addressed for the long-term growth in the country. First, there has to be a creation of an ecosystem that encourages early stage investments. It would be such early stage investments that would spur innovation and provide the pipeline for growth and late stage investments.Venture economics data indicate that of the total PE commitments made to India, VC commitments[9] accounted for 90 percent during 1990-1999, 55 percent during 2000-2009, and 51 percent during 2005-2009. This indicates that though there has been an overall growth in funds committed to India, the proportion of VC commitments that primarily fund early stage investments have been gradually decreasing. In the absence of early stage investments, many PE funds would ? nd it dif? cult to ? nd new opportunities for follow on investments. The result would be a funneling of investments in established companies with increasing valuations.In the long run, the industry would fall apart under the burden of such high valuations leading to an exit of investors from India. To prevent this from happening, it is important to ensure that there is adequate early stage investing. Since domestic VCPE investors invest more actively in early stages[10], this points to the need for creating a more stronger and active community of domestic VCPE investors in India. Second, the short duration of VCPE investment does not bode well. A recent World Economic Forum report indicates that PE investors have a long-term ownership bias nd 58 percent of the PE investments are exited more than ? ve y ears after the initial transaction. So-called â€Å"quick ? ips† (i. e. exits within two years of investment by PE funds) account for only 12 percent of deals and have decreased in the last few years (Lerner and Gurung, 2008). Seen from this perspective, most of the VCPE investments in India could come under the category of â€Å"quick ? ips†. This trend, if it continues, would be a cause of real concern. It is expected that VCPE investors would do a lot of hand holding and participate in value-adding activities in their portfolio companies.However, contributing to the investment in such ways would happen only if the investors remain invested for a long term. Short-term investments deny the portfolio companies the opportunity to leverage the management expertise of the VCPE investors. Since the investment duration is also in? uenced by the source of VCPE funds, there is a strong need to promote the domestic VCPE industry in India[11]. The domestic investors would stay invested for a longer duration and this would give more opportunities to the investor to add value in the portfolio companies.Third, the time intervals between successive funding rounds should increase. Frequently, approaching the investors means that the top management attention gets diverted from the business operations. It would be bene? cial if the entrepreneurs and companies raise capital in such a way that the portfolio company can sustain the operations for at least two years. While they might feel that raising a large round would deprive them the bene? ts of valuation increases if funding is raised in multiple rounds, it would de? nitely help to keep the transaction costs lower.The issues of valuation increases can be addressed by incorporating suitable incentive structures in the shareholders’ agreement. The investors too should support the idea of a larger funding round for the companies and engage in co-investing with other VCPE investors if required. Given the exp loratory nature of this study, further research and con? rmatory studies are needed to corroborate the ? ndings of this paper. It is felt that many of the results in this paper are suf? ciently interesting to warrant further studies. Notes 1.Based on Subhash (2006) and PricewaterhouseCoopers Global Private Equity Reports 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. 2. Investment data from the PricewaterhouseCoopers Global Private Equity Reports might not match with that of the funds committed data from venture economics as we feel that many investments might have been made outside of a formal VCPE fund structure. In addition, several funds locally set up in India might not have been captured in the venture economics database. However, both the reports indicate the strong growth in funds committed to various VCPE funds and actual investments made in companies. . Venture Intelligence can be accessed at: www. ventureintelligence. in 4. Asian Venture Capital Journal database can be accessed at: ww w. avcj. com 5. Out of the 1,503 companies that received funding from VCPE investors, 866 companies, i. e. 58 percent of the companies received their funding during the last two years of the study period. 6. Information on time of incorporation was readily available only for 722 out of the 1,503 companies. 7. Since there are very few companies that have received more than three rounds of ? nancing, Round 4 and above have not been included for this analysis.VCPE in India 19 JIBR 3,1 20 8. Strictly speaking, it would dif? cult to determine when the investor actually exited from the investment, either partially or completely. One could ? nd that information by studying the annual reports as well as stock exchange ? lings of the company, which was not done in this study. Exit in this paper is meant to be understood as the time of occurrence of an exit event, which may or may not be the time of actual exit. 9. A distinction can be made between VC and PE commitments. VC commitments are ma inly targeted at the early stage and growth stage investment opportunities.PE commitments are primarily targeted at the late stage opportunities. Average investment in deals by PE funds is usually larger than those made by VC funds. 10. 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(2005), â€Å"Indian VCs’ involvement with investee ? rms: an empirical analysis of board composition, expectations and contribution†, ICFAI Journal of Applied Finance, July, pp. 28-39. Vinay Kumar, A. and Kaura, M. N. (2003), â€Å"Venture capitalists’ screening criteria†, Vikalpa, Vol. 28 No. 2, pp. 49-59. About the authorsThillai Rajan Annamalai is an Associate Professor in the Department of Management Studies at IIT Madras. His research interest includes VC, PE, infrastructure, and corporate ? nance. Thillai Rajan Annamalai is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: [email  protected] ac. in Ashish Deshmukh was an MBA student at the Department of Management Studies at IIT Madras. To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: [email  protected] com Or visit our web site for further details: www. emeraldinsight. com/reprints VCPE in In dia 21