The Soul of Darkness in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness...

Heart of Darkness: The Soul of Darkness Heart of Darkness The name itself implies a sense of unknown evil, and invokes thoughts of secrecy and mystery. Written by Joseph Conrad in 1902, Heart of Darkness tells of a physical journey down the Congo during its era of Imperialism, yet also of a mental sojourn into the core of insanity. It also paints paradoxes of seemingly clear concepts and states, such as the mental condition of central character Kurtz, an enigmatic ivory trader deep in the heart of the Dark Continent. Two of the characters provide insight into Kurtzs moral paradox. The Intended views Kurtz as an emissary of light while Marlow views Kurtz as a god of darkness. Marlow, though he only knew Kurtz†¦show more content†¦And I wasnt arguing with a lunatic either. Believe me or not, his intelligence was perfectly clear-concentrated, it is true, upon himself with horrible intensity, yet clear; but his soul was mad. Being alone in the wilderness, it had looked within itself, and...it had gone mad...he struggled with himself, too...I saw the inconceivable mystery of a soul that knew no restraint, no faith, and no fear, yet struggled blindly with itself (Conrad, 112-113). Marlow realized that it was not the mind that had been lost, but the soul. Kurtz became to Marlow, a great and terrible fallen angel, who yearned for the light even as he plunged ever deeper into the Darkness. Kurtzs Intended, on the other hand, believed her beloved to be an incorruptible man of supreme goodness and light. She recognizes the sharp intellect and bright intelligence in her lover, yet almost inexplicably fails to see the raging storm of darkness roiling close beneath the surface. She saw the well respected man, the great amassed wealth, his ambitions for ultimate greatness; like a goddess looking upon her final creation, she looked, and saw that it was good: ...his example, she whispered to herself. Men looked up to him - his goodness shown in every act(Conrad, 129). Perhaps she was as mad as her companion-to-be, though from different causes. Professor Richard Yatzeck of LawrenceShow MoreRelated Light and Dark in Heart of Darkness Essay1180 Words   |  5 PagesLight and Dark in Heart of Darkness       The brightest of lights can obscure vision while darkness can contain truths: one must not be distracted by the sheen of light, which conceals the deeper reality present in darkness. Joseph Conrads novel Heart of Darkness illustrates this idea with the use of several symbols. White Europeans are used as symbols of self-deception, and objects with an alabaster quality are symbols of barriers to inner truth. Black is the foil of white; it representsRead More An Image of Africa Essay1050 Words   |  5 PagesAn Image of Africa Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad has been depicted as â€Å"among the half-dozen greatest short novels in the English language.† [pg.1] Chinua Achebe believes otherwise. In Chinua Achebe’s An Image of Africa: Racism is Conrad’s Heart of Darkness he simply states that, â€Å"Joseph Conrad was a thoroughgoing racist† [pg.5] Achebe argues that the racist observed in the Heart of Darkness is expressed due to the western psychology or as Achebe states â€Å"desire,† this being to show AfricaRead MoreEssay on Feminist Theory in Heart of Darkness1199 Words   |  5 PagesMonsters in Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad’s varying depiction of women in his novel Heart of Darkness provides feminist literary theory with ample opportunity to explore the overlying societal dictation of women’s gender roles and expectations in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The majority of feminist theorists claim that Conrad perpetuates patriarchal ideology, yet there are a few that argue the novel is gendered feminine. Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar claim â€Å"Conrad’s Heart of Darkness†¦penetratesRead MoreJoseph Conrad s Heart Of Darkness957 Words   |  4 Pages1977 focuses on the racist views woven into Joseph Conrad’s 1899 novella, Heart of Darkness. Achebe claims that Conrad uses many western stereotypes of Africa and subtly weaves them below the surface of his writing. However, due to the popularity of the novella and the skill of Conrad, his racist views go undetected. The most obvious indicator of Conrad’s racist views is the depictions of the people. They are described as â€Å"savage creatures,† yet Conrad’s novella is noted for its excellence and notRead MoreContradicting Symbolism in Joseph Conrads quot;Heart of Darknessquot;915 Words   |  4 Pages Joseph Conrad utilizes several important literary techniques throughout his story Heart of Darkness. One predominant method of his storytelling is the use of contrasting sensory imagery between black and white and altering the symbolism the colors entail. This theme is clearly prevalent when we read of Marlows childhood dreams and when comparing and contrasting the Africans, the Europeans, and the corruption of the ivory trade. Generally, Africa and Africans are described in terms ofRead More Light and Dark of Colonialism and Imperialism in Heart of Darkness1542 Words   |  7 PagesThe Light and Dark of Colonialism Exposed in Heart of Darkness       In Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad, challenges a dominant view by exposing the evil nature and the darkness associated with the colonialist ventures. It is expressed by Marlow as robbery with violence, aggravated murder on a great scale, and men going at it blind - as it is very proper for those who tackle a darkness. The European colonialists are portrayed as blind lightbearers, people having a faà §ade of progress and cultureRead MoreJoseph Conrad s Heart Of Darkness1488 Words   |  6 PagesJoseph Conrad’s s novel Heart of Darkness portrays an image of Africa that is dark and inhuman. Not only does he describe the actual, physical continent of Africa as â€Å"so hopeless and so dark, so impenetrable to human thought, so pitiless to human weakness†, (Conrad 154) as though the continent could neither breed nor support any true human life. Conrad lived through a time when European colonies were scattered all over the world. This phenomenon and the doctrine of co lonialism bought into at hisRead More Symbols and Symbolism in Conrads Heart of Darkness Essay789 Words   |  4 Pages Symbols and Symbolism in Conrads Heart of Darkness      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Symbolism has long been a tool of the storyteller, finding its origins in the folklore of our earliest civilizations. In more recent years, however, symbolism has taken on a new role, forming the skeleton upon which the storyteller builds the tales of his or hers thoughts and adventures. Knowing the power of this element, Joseph Conrad uses symbols to help the reader explore dark interiors of men. The symbolsRead MoreLight and Dark in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness Essay1735 Words   |  7 PagesLight and Dark in Heart of Darkness      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Joseph Conrads novel, Heart of Darkness, was written to explore the soul of man. If the book is viewed only superficially, a tragic story of the African jungle is seen, but when examined closely, a deeper meaning arises. Through his narrator Marlow, Conrad uses the theme of light and dark to contrast the civilized with the savage.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Through the individual characters, Conrad creates the division between dark and light and blackRead More The Evil of Colonialism and Imperialism in Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad1559 Words   |  7 PagesColonialism in Heart of Darkness   Ã‚  Ã‚   A masterpiece of twentieth-century writing, Heart of Darkness exposes the tenuous fabric that holds civilization together and the brutal horror at the center of European colonialism. Joseph Conrads novella, Heart of Darkness, describes a life-altering journey that the protagonist, Marlow, experiences in the African Congo.   The story explores the historical period of colonialism in Africa to exemplify Marlows struggles. Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness is most

The Recidivism Rates Throughout The United States - 849 Words

Just as the number of people in prison grows, so too does the number of people leaving prison. Research shows that 95 percent of all prisoners in the United States are released at some point (Katel 2009). The Department of Justice reports that more than 600,000 prisoners are released each year (John Oliver 2015). This means that hundreds of thousands of people reenter society and are expected to have learned from their time behind bars. Unfortunately, most of these people released back into society are not properly prepared. As a result, they end up back in prison. There are numerous studies that examine the recidivism rates in various states and in the nation. The studies come back with similar results. A Department of Justice study of recidivism in 30 states found that more than two-thirds (67.8%) of released prisoners were arrested for a new crime within three years and more than three-fourths (76.6%) were arrested within five years (DOJ Recidivism 2010). Other studies give simila r numbers, including the fact that over half (51.8%) of people released from prison end up back behind bars (Jonson and Cullen 2015). These numbers indicate serious problems with prisoner reentry into society. Some scholars go so far as to claim that the results of various studies â€Å"reveal that inmate reentry is marked by widespread failure. High proportions of released offenders have contact with the law, often soon after reentry, and about half are reincarcerated,† (Jonson and Cullen 2015).Show MoreRelatedFactors That Lead To Recidivism1353 Words   |  6 PagesResearch Question/Objective: What are some factors that lead to recidivism of female juvenile offenders? The objective to this question is to find out whether sexual abuse and environmental factors lead to recidivism amongst girl juvenile offenders. These are two factors that have not been researched enough amongst juvenile offenders and can be addressed to help guide these girls to a better path in their lives. Recidivism: Recidivism is when a convicted criminal has the tendency to reoffend. ItRead MoreHow Recidivism Is Better Than Others, And The Researcher1262 Words   |  6 Pagesquestions will be important for better understanding recidivism, why the government has difficulty in combating it, and also how to improve aftercare programs to decrease the level of recidivism. In this vein, Maltz (1984) took to the analysis of the recidivism phenomenon, reviewing different definitions of the word and relating these definitions to the evaluation of goals programs of the criminal justice system. The researcher also discuss data on recidivism, noting there are different methods for analyzingRead MoreJuvenile Delinquency And Juvenile Criminal Justice System1475 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction: Juvenile delinquency is an ever growing issue in the United States, according to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, â€Å"In 2012, there were 3,941 arrests for every 100,000 youths ages 10 through 17 in the United States† (OJJDP, 2014). The way juveniles are treated in the criminal justice system is very different than the way adults are. In 1899, in Cook County, Illinois, the first juvenile justice system in the country was founded. This established an alternativeRead MoreWhy Recidivism Is So Common?1306 Words   |  6 Pagesamount of people relapsing back into criminal behavior once released, which only leads them into a federal or state prison. Recidivism can be perceived into different category’s based upon the why factor. Criminal acts that result in rearrests, and reconviction or return to prison with or without new a new sentence during a three-year period following the prisoner’s release is considered recidivism. There are many di fferent reasons why a person goes back into prison once being released, whether by choiceRead MoreThe Reasons For Why Recidivism Occurs1441 Words   |  6 Pagesmember of society and not the criminal they once were. This does not occur most of the time. In fact, the exact opposite has occurred so much that there is a term for it now. That term is recidivism, which is when a person goes back to a life of crime after some sort of reform. There are many reasons for why recidivism occurs. Sometimes the people who commit a crime are just going to commit crime no matter what, that person met people in prison which helped them to commit more crime, maybe even thatRead MoreSolitary Confinement : A New Idea Of Punishment And Maintaining Order1708 Words   |  7 Pagesisolation unhealthy, but it contributes to increased recidivism rates, sometimes referred to as the revolving door phenomenon. Although solitary confinement provides the staff and general prison population with safety, there are alternatives that can be used rather than continuing the revolving door with the cruelty, expensiveness, and ineffectiveness of solitary. Solitary confinement is by no means a new concept; it has been used throughout history as a way of punishment and maintaining order.Read MoreThe Death Of The Prison1446 Words   |  6 Pagesutilize two ways to achieve their goals. One is managing the prison employees. The other is delivering services to the inmate population. So there is a specific group to work with and control the inmates. The mission of prisons has changed somewhat throughout history. â€Å"It is as follows: to protect the citizens from crime by safely and securely handling criminal offenders while providing offenders some opportunities for self-improvement and increasing the chance that they will become productive and law-abidingRead MoreDoes Incarceration Affect Recidivism?1433 Words   |  6 PagesDoes Incarceration Affect Recidivism? The United States is the world’s leader in incarceration with 2.2 million people currently in the nation’s prisons or jails. Incarceration is a widely argued topic with many understood viewpoints, and it directly deals with three main important correctional topics which are deterrence, rehabilitation, and recidivism. The definition of incarceration is the state of being confined in prison. Not only does incarceration affect people directly by taking away theirRead MoreReducing Recidivism Rate Of Juvenile Offenders1241 Words   |  5 PagesReducing Juvenile Recidivism Jessica D. Pettit The University of Texas at Tyler Abstract This paper explores the factors that contribute to the recidivism rate of juvenile offenders. Recidivism refers to a person s relapse into criminal behavior, often after the person receives sanctions or undergoes intervention for a previous crime. It explains the advantages and disadvantages that intervention programs, extracurricular activities, education and home and family life have on juvenileRead MoreSimulation Strategies For Reducing Recidivism Risk1318 Words   |  6 PagesTaxman, F. S., Pattavina, A. (2013). Simulation Strategies to Reduce Recidivism Risk Need Responsivity (RNR) Modeling for the Criminal Justice System. New York, NY: Springer New York. Currently, there is little use of evidence-based programs or best practice within correctional settings. There is some consensus that offenders’ programs do not produce expected outcomes. Valid risk and assessment tools should be used, being able to identify is an offender is open to altering their behavior. Using

Momentum trading and Business Cycle Risk Evidence from BRIC Countries Free Essays

string(249) " investors who have quick access to information are capable of making superior abnormal returns while those who do not have quick access to information tend not to make superior risk-adjusted returns by using such information as a basis of trading\." 1. Introduction. BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries are growing at an alarming rate. We will write a custom essay sample on Momentum trading and Business Cycle Risk: Evidence from BRIC Countries or any similar topic only for you Order Now This growth can be attributed to a number of factors including globalisation, financial liberalisation which has led to an increase in cross-border capital flows, technological developments and the internet. These countries are forecast to witness tremendous growth in the years ahead. The alarming growth of BRIC countries has attracted investors in search of suitable environments for portfolio diversification to consider BRIC countries as potential destinations for diversifying their portfolios. This paper presents a proposal to study the link between business cycles and momentum trading in the BRIC stock markets. The paper aims at understanding how business cycle risk affects momentum profits in BRIC countries. The study also seeks to provide an understanding of how momentum profits are affected by firm specific characteristics such as firm size and book-to-market ratios in BRIC countries. 2. Objectives of the study The objective of the study is to determine the impact of business cycle risk on momentum profits and thus momentum trading in BRIC countries. Research Questions The study aims at answering the following questions: Are there momentum profits in the stock markets of BRIC countries If so, what is the impact of Business Cycle risk on these profits What are the regulatory implications of momentum profits in BRIC countries Significance of the Study The study is significant to market regulators in that it will enable them design regulatory requirements aimed at reducing inefficiencies in BRIC stock markets thereby increasing their ability to attract capital. The study will also help foreign investors to gain more confidence in BRIC countries. Finally, the study will serve as a reference point for future researchers interested in conducting research on momentum profits. Limitations of the Study The study is limited only to BRIC countries. This limitation means that generalising results to other countries may not be possible. It is also limited only to a number of firms in these countries which suggests that results obtained may not be generalised to all firms. Finally, the variables employed in the study may not adequately measure momentum profits or adequately conceptualise how momentum profits are affected by business cycle variables. 5. Literature Review. A momentum trading strategy is a trading strategy that is designed based on past performance. The trading strategy is based on the assumption that â€Å"history will repeat itself†. A momentum trading strategy is therefore a strategy, which assumes that the return performance will persist in the medium term (Signos and Chelley, 1994). Momentum profits were first observed by Jegadeesh and Titman (1993). Accordingly, the study observed that stocks that performed well in a previous period also performed well in the current period, while those that performed poorly in the previous period also performed poorly in the current period. This means that a trading strategy that went long on previous winners while shorting previous losers would result in positive abnormal returns. In particular Jagadeesh and Titman (1993) observed the realisation of positive abnormal returns of 1 percent with the momentum strategy. In addition, a number of other studies have observed significant positive abnormal returns with the momentum trading strategy (e.g., Moskowitz and Grinblatt, 1999; Jegadeesh and Titman, 2001; Liu et al. (1999), Hong and Tonks, 2003; Gregory et al., 2001; Griffin et al., 2003; Gregory et al. 2001; Rouwenhorst 1998). The implication of the existence of such a Band Wagon (money making strategy) is that markets were not efficient. According to the weak- and semi-strong form efficient market hypotheses, all information available to the general public is already reflected in stock prices. This means that investors cannot realise superior risk adjusted returns by adopting a particular trading strategy such as the one proposed by momentum trading (Ross et al., 1999; Bodie et al., 2007). Attempts to attribute this finding to inefficient markets have been opposed by Fama and French (1993, 1995, 1996) who argued that observing momentum profits cannot be attributed to inefficient capital markets. Rather the single factor capital asset pricing model (CAPM) has been criticised for not being able to properly explain the variability of the cross-section of stock returns. This model suggests that stock market returns depend on a single factor (i.e., the return on the market portfolio). However, Fama and French (1993, 1995, 1996) contest this view and argue instead that stock returns could be explained by additional factors such as the book-to-market ratio and firm size. A three factor model is therefore proposed which takes into account the impact of size and book-to-market ratio and is found to perform better than the single factor CAPM (Fama and French, 1993, 1995, 1996). In addition, the three factor model was extended to a four-factor model to include a momentum factor w hich measures the difference between the return on portfolios of stocks that performed well in the previous period and the return on portfolios of stocks that performed poorly. Including a momentum factor in the three-factor model thus making it a four-factor model enabled the model to be able to explain the momentum profits observed in Jagadeesh and Titman (1993) and the other studies identified in the Literature. In summary, Fama and French argue that anomalies such as those observed in momentum trading cannot be attributed to inefficiencies in capital markets. Rather they should be attributed to inadequacies in the models that are used in explaining the cross-section of stock returns. Other explanations have been offered for the observation of momentum profits. According to behavioural finance theorist, momentum profits are a result of slow movement of information. Behavioural finance theorists are against market efficiency theorists who argue that information is rapidly reflected in stock prices. Among behavioural theorists, Hong and Stein (1999) argue that momentum profits can be attributed to slow diffusion of information across interested investors. This means that some investors receive information about stock prices earlier than others and as such appropriate action faster than others. By so doing, investors who have quick access to information are capable of making superior abnormal returns while those who do not have quick access to information tend not to make superior risk-adjusted returns by using such information as a basis of trading. You read "Momentum trading and Business Cycle Risk: Evidence from BRIC Countries" in category "Essay examples" Barberi s et al. (1998) argues that momentum profits can be attributed to overreaction or underreaction of stock prices to news. The explanation from behavioural theorists conflict with those of Fama and French because behavioural theorists also suggest that there is nothing like an efficient market. Given the conflict between behavioural theorists and proponents of market efficiency, alternative explanations have been provided by recent studies. These studies argue that momentum profits are influenced by business cycle variables (e.g., Antoniou et al., 2007; Liew and Vassalou, 1999). Contrary to this view Griffen et al. (2002) in a study examining the link between business cycle variables and momentum profits across many countries argue that momentum profits are not a function of business cycle variables. While many studies have investigated the relationship between business cycle variables, most of these studies focus on developed markets with very little attention paid to emerging markets such as those of BRIC countries. Given the increasing role that BRIC countries play in the global economy, it is important to understand whether there are momentum profits in these countries as well as the role that business cycle risk has on momentum profits. This study is therefore a positive step toward contributing to the literature on momentum profits and business cycle risk by extending previous studies to stock markets in BRIC countries. 6. Research Methods This study will employ an econometric model to study the relationship between momentum profits and three sets of variables: (i) business cycle variables; (ii) firm specific variables (iii); and behavioural finance variables. The relationship between momentum profits and these variables can be represented using the following econometric model: (1) Where is a measure of the momentum profit of country i at in year t; is a vector of firm specific variables; is a vector of the past cumulative raw returns; and are the sensitivities of the momentum profits to changes in firm-specific variables and past cumulative returns respectively. The magnitude of the effect of these variables will be determined by testing the significance of the parameters at the 5% level of significance. In order to study business cycle variables, a model was developed by Chordia and Shivakumar (2002) and later extended by Antoniou et al. (2007). The model is an econometric model which establishes the relationship between momentum profits and business cycle variables. The model can be stated as follows: (2) Where is the return (inclusive of dividends) of firm i in month t, BC is a vector of j (j=1-6) macroeconomic variables representing business cycle variables (DY, Rf, TERM, DEF, FX, and GDP), and is the error term of stock i in month t. DY is the dividend yield; Rf is the risk-free interest rate; DEF is the premium for default risk premium which is estimated as the difference between the yield on long-term corporate bonds and the yield on long-term government bonds; The term spread (TERM) is the difference between the yield on long-term government securities minus the yield on short-term government securities; FX is the foreign exchange rate; and GDP is the change in GDP (Antoniou et al., 2007). As earlier mentioned, stock returns depend on two factors: market factors and firm-specific factors. There is a trade-off relationship between the manner in which each group of factors affect stock returns. That is the higher the impact of firm-specific factors, the lower will be the impact of market factors and vice versa (Antoniou et al., 2007). To estimate equation (1) equations 3 has to be estimated and its parameters used as inputs to equation (2). After estimating equation (2) its parameters can then be used as inputs to equation (1). In this study, both time-series and cross-sectional regressions are used. Cross-sectional regressions are preferred over time series regressions because they help to avoid data-snooping biases which tend to occur in time-series regressions. In the time-series regressions, individual stocks are used which help to reduce the degree of loss of information that tends to occur when portfolios are used. Using first-pass time series regression, which allows the parameters to also fluctuate with firm-specific variables. The firm-specific factors include firm size and book-to-market ratio. The first-pass time-series regression can be stated as follows: (3) is the return on firm i at time t, BC is a the vector of business cycle risk variables identified earlier, FF (Fama and French factors) are the firm-specific variables. Once equation (3) has been estimated, the parameters will be used as inputs to the second pass regression equation (4) below: (4) Where is the output of equation (3). It is the unexplained variation from equation (3). These include the intercept coefficient and the residual term (+) of the regression equation (3); is a vector of firm characteristics, which include firm size and book-to-market ratio for security i at time t. represent the three sets of past cumulative raw returns (for m=1-3) over the second through third (RET 2-3), fourth through sixth (RET 4-6) and seventh through twelfth (RET 7-12) months prior to the current month t. (Antoniou et al. 2007). 6. Data Stock price data for stocks in the BRIC countries will be retrieved from the Thomson Financial Datastream Database. Data on dividend yields will also be retrieved from this database. The database also reports data on exchange rates. GDP, interest rate and exchange rate data will be retrieved from the IMF International Financial Statistics (IFS) database. Stock price data will be used to calculate the monthly return for each stock over the 60 monthly holding periods from January 2007 to December 2011. The returns will be used as inputs to the first-pass regression. Given that this study is based on quantitative models that have been applied in other studies, there would be no need for pilot testing. Conclusion This paper was aimed at providing a research proposal to study how momentum trading is affected by business cycle variables. The proposal began by providing a general background on the topic. It later focused on the literature review, methodology and data description. The study will apply quantitative analysis to quantitative data from BRIC countries. The findings will provide a better understanding of momentum trading in BRIC countries and help policy formulation on how markets can become more efficient in these markets so as to enable investors make invest with greater confidence. References Antoniou A., Lam H. Y.T., Paudyal K. (2007). Profitability of momentum strategies in international markets: The role of business cycle variables and behavioural biases. Journal of Banking Finance volume 31, issue 3, pp. 955-972. Barberis N., Shleifer A., Vishny R.W.(1998). A model of investor sentiment, Journal of Financial Economics 49, pp. 307–343. Chelley-Steeley, Patricia and Siganos, Antonios, (2004). â€Å"Momentum Profits in Alternative Stock Market Structures†. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=624583 Fama E.F., French K.R. (1996). Multifactor explanations of asset pricing anomalies, Journal of Finance 51 (1996), pp. 55–84. Griffin, John M., Martin, J. Spencer and Ji, Susan, â€Å"Momentum Investing and Business Cycle Risk: Evidence from Pole to Pole† (March 18, 2002). AFA 2003 Washington, DC Meetings; EFA 2002 Berlin Meetings Presented Paper. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=291225 or DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.291225 Hong H., Stein J.C. (1999). A Unified Theory of Undereaction, Momentum Trading, and Overreaction in Asset Markets. Journal of Finance. Vol. 6, pp 2143-2184 Jegadeesh N., Titman S. (1998). Returns to buying winners and selling losers: Implications for market efficiency, Journal of Finance 48, pp. 65–91. Liew, Jimmy K.yung Soo and Vassalou, Maria, (1999). â€Å"Can Book-to-Market, Size, and Momentum Be Risk Factors That Predict Economic Growth?† Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=159293 or DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.159293 Rouwenhorst, K.G. (1998). International momentum strategies, Journal of Finance 53, pp. 267–284. Wu, X. (2002). A conditional multifactor analysis of return momentum, Journal of Banking and Finance 26 (2002), pp. 1675–1696 How to cite Momentum trading and Business Cycle Risk: Evidence from BRIC Countries, Essay examples Momentum trading and Business Cycle Risk Evidence from BRIC Countries Free Essays string(57) " suggest that there is nothing like an efficient market\." 1. Introduction. BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries are growing at an alarming rate. We will write a custom essay sample on Momentum trading and Business Cycle Risk: Evidence from BRIC Countries or any similar topic only for you Order Now This growth can be attributed to a number of factors including globalisation, financial liberalisation which has led to an increase in cross-border capital flows, technological developments and the internet. These countries are forecast to witness tremendous growth in the years ahead. The alarming growth of BRIC countries has attracted investors in search of suitable environments for portfolio diversification to consider BRIC countries as potential destinations for diversifying their portfolios. This paper presents a proposal to study the link between business cycles and momentum trading in the BRIC stock markets. The paper aims at understanding how business cycle risk affects momentum profits in BRIC countries. The study also seeks to provide an understanding of how momentum profits are affected by firm specific characteristics such as firm size and book-to-market ratios in BRIC countries. 2. Objectives of the study The objective of the study is to determine the impact of business cycle risk on momentum profits and thus momentum trading in BRIC countries. Research Questions The study aims at answering the following questions: Are there momentum profits in the stock markets of BRIC countries If so, what is the impact of Business Cycle risk on these profits What are the regulatory implications of momentum profits in BRIC countries Significance of the Study The study is significant to market regulators in that it will enable them design regulatory requirements aimed at reducing inefficiencies in BRIC stock markets thereby increasing their ability to attract capital. The study will also help foreign investors to gain more confidence in BRIC countries. Finally, the study will serve as a reference point for future researchers interested in conducting research on momentum profits. 5. Literature Review. A momentum trading strategy is a trading strategy that is designed based on past performance. The trading strategy is based on the assumption that â€Å"history will repeat itself†. A momentum trading strategy is therefore a strategy, which assumes that the return performance will persist in the medium term (Signos and Chelley, 1994). Momentum profits were first observed by Jegadeesh and Titman (1993). Accordingly, the study observed that stocks that performed well in a previous period also performed well in the current period, while those that performed poorly in the previous period also performed poorly in the current period. This means that a trading strategy that went long on previous winners while shorting previous losers would result in positive abnormal returns. In particular Jagadeesh and Titman (1993) observed the realisation of positive abnormal returns of 1 percent with the momentum strategy. In addition, a number of other studies have observed significant positive abnormal returns with the momentum trading strategy (e.g., Moskowitz and Grinblatt, 1999; Jegadeesh and Titman, 2001; Liu et al. (1999), Hong and Tonks, 2003; Gregory et al., 2001; Griffin et al., 2003; Gregory et al. 2001; Rouwenhorst 1998). The implication of the existence of such a Band Wagon (money making strategy) is that markets were not efficient. According to the weak- and semi-strong form efficient market hypotheses, all information available to the general public is already reflected in stock prices. This means that investors cannot realise superior risk adjusted returns by adopting a particular trading strategy such as the one proposed by momentum trading (Ross et al., 1999; Bodie et al., 2007). Attempts to attribute this finding to inefficient markets have been opposed by Fama and French (1993, 1995, 1996) who argued that observing momentum profits cannot be attributed to inefficient capital markets. Rather the single factor capital asset pricing model (CAPM) has been criticised for not being able to properly explain the variability of the cross-section of stock returns. This model suggests that stock market returns depend on a single factor (i.e., the return on the market portfolio). However, Fama and French (1993, 1995, 1996) contest this view and argue instead that stock returns could be explained by additional factors such as the book-to-market ratio and firm size. A three factor model is therefore proposed which takes into account the impact of size and book-to-market ratio and is found to perform better than the single factor CAPM (Fama and French, 1993, 1995, 1996). In addition, the three factor model was extended to a four-factor model to include a momentum factor w hich measures the difference between the return on portfolios of stocks that performed well in the previous period and the return on portfolios of stocks that performed poorly. Including a momentum factor in the three-factor model thus making it a four-factor model enabled the model to be able to explain the momentum profits observed in Jagadeesh and Titman (1993) and the other studies identified in the Literature. In summary, Fama and French argue that anomalies such as those observed in momentum trading cannot be attributed to inefficiencies in capital markets. Rather they should be attributed to inadequacies in the models that are used in explaining the cross-section of stock returns. Other explanations have been offered for the observation of momentum profits. According to behavioural finance theorist, momentum profits are a result of slow movement of information. Behavioural finance theorists are against market efficiency theorists who argue that information is rapidly reflected in stock prices. Among behavioural theorists, Hong and Stein (1999) argue that momentum profits can be attributed to slow diffusion of information across interested investors. This means that some investors receive information about stock prices earlier than others and as such appropriate action faster than others. By so doing, investors who have quick access to information are capable of making superior abnormal returns while those who do not have quick access to information tend not to make superior risk-adjusted returns by using such information as a basis of trading. Barberis et al. (1998) argues that momentum profits can be attributed to overreaction or underreaction of stock prices to news. The explanation from behavioural theorists conflict with those of Fama and French because behavioural theorists also suggest that there is nothing like an efficient market. You read "Momentum trading and Business Cycle Risk: Evidence from BRIC Countries" in category "Essay examples" Given the conflict between behavioural theorists and proponents of market efficiency, alternative explanations have been provided by recent studies. These studies argue that momentum profits are influenced by business cycle variables (e.g., Antoniou et al., 2007; Liew and Vassalou, 1999). Contrary to this view Griffen et al. (2002) in a study examining the link between business cycle variables and momentum profits across many countries argue that momentum profits are not a function of business cycle variables. While many studies have investigated the relationship between business cycle variables, most of these studies focus on developed markets with very little attention paid to emerging markets such as those of BRIC countries. Given the increasing role that BRIC countries play in the global economy, it is important to understand whether there are momentum profits in these countries as well as the role that business cycle risk has on momentum profits. This study is therefore a positive step toward contributing to the literature on momentum profits and business cycle risk by extending previous studies to stock markets in BRIC countries. 5. Research Methods This study will employ an econometric model to study the relationship between momentum profits and three sets of variables: (i) business cycle variables; (ii) firm specific variables (iii); and behavioural finance variables. The relationship between momentum profits and these variables can be represented using the following econometric model: (1) Where is a measure of the momentum profit of country i at in year t; is a vector of firm specific variables; is a vector of the past cumulative raw returns; and are the sensitivities of the momentum profits to changes in firm-specific variables and past cumulative returns respectively. The magnitude of the effect of these variables will be determined by testing the significance of the parameters at the 5% level of significance. In order to study business cycle variables, a model was developed by Chordia and Shivakumar (2002) and later extended by Antoniou et al. (2007). The model is an econometric model which establishes the relationship between momentum profits and business cycle variables. The model can be stated as follows: Where is the return (inclusive of dividends) of firm i in month t, BC is a vector of j (j=1-6) macroeconomic variables representing business cycle variables (DY, Rf, TERM, DEF, FX, and GDP), and is the error term of stock i in month t. DY is the dividend yield; Rf is the risk-free interest rate; DEF is the premium for default risk premium which is estimated as the difference between the yield on long-term corporate bonds and the yield on long-term government bonds; The term spread (TERM) is the difference between the yield on long-term government securities minus the yield on short-term government securities; FX is the foreign exchange rate; and GDP is the change in GDP (Antoniou et al., 2007). As earlier mentioned, stock returns depend on two factors: market factors and firm-specific factors. There is a trade-off relationship between the manner in which each group of factors affect stock returns. That is the higher the impact of firm-specific factors, the lower will be the impact of market factors and vice versa (Antoniou et al., 2007). To estimate equation (1) equations 3 has to be estimated and its parameters used as inputs to equation (2). After estimating equation (2) its parameters can then be used as inputs to equation (1). In this study, both time-series and cross-sectional regressions are used. Cross-sectional regressions are preferred over time series regressions because they help to avoid data-snooping biases which tend to occur in time-series regressions. In the time-series regressions, individual stocks are used which help to reduce the degree of loss of information that tends to occur when portfolios are used. Using first-pass time series regression, which allows the parameters to also fluctuate with firm-specific variables. The firm-specific factors include firm size and book-to-market ratio. The first-pass time-series regression can be stated as follows; is the return on firm i at time t, BC is a the vector of business cycle risk variables identified earlier, FF (Fama and French factors) are the firm-specific variables. Once equation (3) has been estimated, the parameters will be used as inputs to the second pass regression equation (4) below: Where is the output of equation (3). It is the unexplained variation from equation (3). These include the intercept coefficient and the residual term (+) of the regression equation (3); is a vector of firm characteristics, which include firm size and book-to-market ratio for security i at time t. represent the three sets of past cumulative raw returns (for m=1-3) over the second through third (RET 2-3), fourth through sixth (RET 4-6) and seventh through twelfth (RET 7-12) months prior to the current month t. (Antoniou et al. 2007). 6. Data Stock price data for stocks in the BRIC countries will be retrieved from the Thomson Financial Datastream Database. Data on dividend yields will also be retrieved from this database. The database also reports data on exchange rates. GDP, interest rate and exchange rate data will be retrieved from the IMF International Financial Statistics (IFS) database. Stock price data will be used to calculate the monthly return for each stock over the 60 monthly holding periods from January 2007 to December 2011. The returns will be used as inputs to the first-pass regression. References Griffin, John M., Martin, J. Spencer and Ji, Susan, â€Å"Momentum Investing and Business Cycle Risk: Evidence from Pole to Pole† (March 18, 2002). AFA 2003 Washington, DC Meetings; EFA 2002 Berlin Meetings Presented Paper. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=291225 or DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.291225 Antoniou A., Lam H. Y.T., Paudyal K. (2007). Profitability of momentum strategies in international markets: The role of business cycle variables and behavioural biases. Journal of Banking Finance volume 31, issue 3, pp. 955-972. Liew, Jimmy K.yung Soo and Vassalou, Maria, (1999). â€Å"Can Book-to-Market, Size, and Momentum Be Risk Factors That Predict Economic Growth?† Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=159293 or DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.159293 Rouwenhorst, K.G. (1998). International momentum strategies, Journal of Finance 53, pp. 267–284. Wu, X. (2002). A conditional multifactor analysis of return momentum, Journal of Banking and Finance 26 (2002), pp. 1675–1696 Jegadeesh N., Titman S. (1998). Returns to buying winners and selling losers: Implications for market efficiency, Journal of Finance 48, pp. 65–91. Barberis N., Shleifer A., Vishny R.W.(1998). A model of investor sentiment, Journal of Financial Economics 49, pp. 307–343. Fama E.F., French K.R. (1996). Multifactor explanations of asset pricing anomalies, Journal of Finance 51 (1996), pp. 55–84. Hong H., Stein J.C. (1999). A Unified Theory of Undereaction, Momentum Trading, and Overreaction in Asset Markets. Journal of Finance. Vol. 6, pp 2143-2184 Chelley-Steeley, Patricia and Siganos, Antonios, (2004). â€Å"Momentum Profits in Alternative Stock Market Structures†. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=624583 How to cite Momentum trading and Business Cycle Risk: Evidence from BRIC Countries, Essay examples

Emergency Management And Homeland Security â€Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Emergency Management And Homeland Security? Answer: Introduction The aim of this report is to provide guidance to the A4A organization considering the processing and storage of data that is about to store in the information systems. The scope of this report is to provide a security risk management approach for the organization to the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of information that are being stored in the information systems of the organization. A4A is Non-Governmental Organization that is about to transform its existing system into the information system that means various data and information are about to be uploaded into the database. This will be vast transformation that will include outsourcing of the systems for other organizations and for larger space, they will need cloud storage that could result in various security issues related to the organizational operational activities and all the data related to the employees that are looking forward to join the organization. This report focuses on the guidelines that could help in achieving information security in better and efficient way for the data and information related to the organization. Risk assessment process have several step and these steps have been explained in the below report. Applicable Policy The policy for security of information by the Australian Government policy has been promulgated through the ISM and the PSPF. Several requirements those are mandatory within the PSPF that can be helpful to relate the handling of A4A information (Sylves 2014). A4A can only be able to achieve effective information security for the information that is about to save in the system regarding its members and operational activities. This can only be achieved if it becomes the part of the culture, operation and practices plans of the A4A. This implies that the A4A should not build protective security as an afterthought rather it should build it into the governance processes. The organization should proactively mitigate and manage the identified security risks at its early stages that are associated with the information storage system. Australian Privacy Law Set of thirteen APPs (Australian Privacy Principles) has been included within the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) that can be helpful in regulating the handling of personal information by the A4A (Arregui, Maynard and Ahmad 2016). The information those have been remarked as personal should be determined by the A4A and handling of these information should be done according to the principles of the APPs. Privacy Legislation The pieces of legislations that are applicable to this policy can be listed as: Firstly, Freedom of Information Act 1982, secondly, Privacy Act 1988 and Archives Act 1983 (Zetler 2015). Risk Assessment Framework This can be stated as the set of guidelines for the risk assessment process on the basis of existing frameworks that is being defined in the Australian Standards AS/NZS ISO 31000:2009 Risk management that includes HB 167:2006 Security Risk Management, and guidelines and principles. Risk assessment can be referred as the subjective process and A4A should ensure that the defined process is justifiable, documented, and transparent (Saint-Germain 2015). It is the best option for many objectives like firstly, identifying the level of risk tolerance, secondly, identifying the specific risks to the employees, assets, and information that are being stored in the system. Third benefit is that identifying the appropriate protection in order to mitigate the risks that have been identified previously. Applying ISO 31000 The process of risk assessment process should be consistent within the existing standards. In order to successfully manage the risk assessment, the whole process can be sub-divided into five key points that can be stated as (Draper and Ritchie 2014): Establishment of the Context: This step states to define the external and internal influences that can have impact on the implementation of the arrangement directly or indirectly. Identification of the Risks: Developing a robust list of the identified risks, this might have the capability to affect the success in implementing this arrangement. Assessment of the identified Risks: After the first two steps it states to analysing the list of identified risks in contrast with the organisations likelihood, impact, and the tolerances. Selection of Proper Treatments: This step includes choosing risk assessing strategies that are appropriate for A4A including the controls for those identified risks. Development of overall Risk Assessment: This is the last and final step that includes summarization of the output of identified risks in accordance with the mitigating measures or control into all the categorized risks. Control risks Evaluate Risks Analyze risk Identify risk Established Context Consultation and communication Monitor and Review Figure 1: Risk Assessment Process (Source: Created by Author) Establish the Context The assessment process that is going to be implemented with the system of A4A must address the security, organizational and strategic risk management contexts in order to eliminate all the existing risks. All facets of the functions or activities of the organization will be covered by the security risk assessment (Whittman and Mattord 2013). For a successful risk management system it is necessary that the risk management is appropriate to be prevailing and emerging risk environment. Establishment of the context is a very critical objective as it provides a platform on which all the respective activities of the risk assessment are being conducted. How to Determine A4A Context Internal environment in which the organization is willing in order to achieve its goals can be stated as the context of the A4A. Following are the objectives that can be included in this topic: A4A Organizational structure, governance, accountabilities or responsibilities, and roles. Extent and nature of the contractual relationships (Wensveen 2016). Culture of the A4A including its security culture Policies and objectives including the strategies that are being made to achieve them. Perception, values of, and relationships with the internal stakeholders Models, guidelines, and standards that are being adopted by the organisation Lastly, information flows, decision making processes, and information systems The Strategic Context of Outsourcing A4A must consider the aspects of the strategic contexts that are relevant according to the situation that will be the factors which will be implemented in the risk assessment management process. These include, firstly, relevant Australian regulation, policy, and legislation considering the facts that are responsible for safeguarding the information related to the operational activities of the A4A (Peppard and Ward 2016). Secondly, it includes potential jurisdictional and foreign laws access to information, and third objective that is being included in this is the potential benefits of off shoring or outsourcing arrangements that is being arranged to manage the systems that needs to be installed. Identifying Risk Identifying risk can be used in manner to comprehensively determine the sources of risk that are applicable and the events that have potential to impact the business of A4A organization. There should be full description on the issues that is being identified in manner to make the decision makers completely understand the facts that is all about. A4A risk management team should determine the risks that are related to the availability, integrity, and the confidentiality of the types of data that is being saved in the information system considering the personal information of the employees and the operational data or information (Webet al. 2014). As mentioned in the AS/NZS 4360:2004 risks can be defined as The chance of something happening that will have an impact on the objectives. How to Determine Agency Risk Tolerance Intolerable risk Scope for A4A Tolerable risk Increasing risk Figure 2: Risk Tolerance (Source: Created by author) This determination can be made during the Establishing the context phase during the risk assessment processes. Risk tolerance is completely dependent on the organizational context of the A4A and Heads of the A4A. Tolerance level can be stated as the sum of risk appetite of A4A. The risk tolerance will be based on the the principle of managing risk to the reasonably practicable low level, while it still allows the scope for the innovation and flexibility in business practices. Boyens et al. (2014) stated that it can be affected or changed changing the evaluation criteria, which implies that appetite risk of the head of the A4A for the risk can be variable that can depends upon: Firstly, prevailing community and political expectations and sensitivities. Secondly, incident security nature such as hacking terrorist attack etc., thirdly, emergence or existence of security trends such as cyber-attacks, data breaches, trusted insider etc. Another factors may be business or strategic priorit ies, ability of the government, individual or the organization to compensate losses and lastly but not least availability of the resources for treatment. Questions To Consider When Determining Risks within Cloud Context In order to establishing context in a risk management it is very necessary to understand the nature of the vulnerabilities, criticality, and potential or relevant threat. The questionnaire that can be included in this section in order to facilitate it can be listed as (Rebello et al. 2015): The aggregated value of the information holdings to the A4A How the integrity, availability, and confidentiality of A4A will be affected What would be the look of an unintended disclosure? What would be the look of an event or incident How outsourcing might affect the information of the A4A including the sources of risks and related threats How much impact on losing information can affect the A4A A4A can take into account the individual security plans while searching for the information that are related to the risk identification process due to the existing presence of information on security of the information. Potential Threats When Outsourcing Information Data Loss: There may be the permanent deletion or loss of data, which could be a result of malicious activity or by any accident. Data Breaches: The information those are very sensitive for the organization could be leaked or stolen or might be manipulated by an unauthorized user (Peltier 2016). Service traffic or Account Hijacking: this another potential threat that might lead the external entities eavesdropping on the operational activities such as manipulating data, transactions, through phishing, fraud, and return falsified information. DOS (Denial of service): this threat or attack can block the user from accessing their application or data that will affect the organization and its consumers too. API (Application Programming Interface) and Interfaces Insecure: In manner to circumvent the security processes, vulnerable interfaces may be exploited maliciously and accidentally both. Malicious Insider: The insider formal stakeholders like contractor, former employee, or any of the other business partners can be threat who had or has the access authority to the network of the A4A organization (Dhillong, Syed and Sa-Soares 2017). This access authority can be misused for personal gain or profit by impacting negatively to the organization. Insufficient Due Diligence: Implementing cloud services into the system of the A4A without considering the scope of undertaking the vulnerabilities and weaknesses of this implementation. Shared Technology Vulnerabilities: Cloud infrastructure such as GPU, CPU caches etc. are vulnerable to scalable sharing practices if there is not any design established for the multi-tenant architecture. Mapping Risks In order to completely understand the impact of the risks that are identified, there should be proper emphasis on the vulnerabilities or causes that the identified risks possibly cause to the organization. In order to inform the risk assessment, it is essential to gauge the likelihood and the consequences of the risk events. Mapping risks will help in dividing the risks into categories according to their priority, which can be helpful in guiding the source allocation in order o mitigate the identified risks (Beckers et al. 2013). Various objectives are considerable during the mapping risks system those can be stated as: the sectors where there is the impact of the risks, the frequency of risk happen, outcome of the risk eventuating, the individuals that will be affected by the occurrence of the risk event and lastly, the stakeholders that are involved in the risk assessment including the impact of these risks on the stakeholders and many more. Assessing Risk After the relevant identification of the risks the assessment process can be used for the determination of the level of risks. There should be holistic evaluation of the likelihood of the risk that might occurred, acceptable level of the tolerances that can be presented by the graph mentioned in the figure 2, and the consequences of the identified risk events (Oppliger, Pernul and Katsikas 2017). In manner to address the consequences and likelihood levels there should be proper consideration on the effectiveness control and the sources of risk events. Risk assessment includes the level of control and oversight organizations have on the management of their information. For better explanation an example can be that the A4A confidential information related to the employee and the operational activities can be assessed in the relation to the integrity, availability, and the confidentiality including the aggregation (Soomro, Shah and Ahmed 2016). The risk assessment should be assessed on the basis of the potential impact of the risks for the A4A for the sectors mentioned above including all the stakeholders that might be affected due to these risks. Guidance on Determining Potential Consequences This step is completely dependent on the profile of the information that is about to store in the information system of the A4A. Information related to the donors, employees sensitive information such as bank account number, social security number and many more, all the transactional informational and much other information are about o store in the information system of the A4A (Albakri et al. 2014). The expose of such information could relate to the privacy and security issue of the individuals that are related to the A4A. Evaluating the Risks Evaluation of the risks related o the unintended expose of information about the operational activities and the data about the employees involves the consideration of the risks within the context of the potential treatment and A4As risk tolerance options (Yang, Shieh and Tzeng 2013). In many of the circumstances the unauthorized expose or access of the information that is being stored in the system might be quantified almost the whole in financial terms on the basis of revenue loss that results it in a matter of financial calculation. However, for these circumstances, A4A can consider a wide range of factors that includes the impact on the reputation of the organization due to the expose of this sensitive information that includes loss of data related to the employees and organizational operational activities (Feng, Weng and Li 2014). These objectives results in the complexity for calculating the risks level and the acceptance resides with the head of the organization How to Consider Potential Risk Treatment Options The risks related to the security of the organization cannot be eliminated completely but it can be minimized to an extent level as the security cannot be absolute. Thus the aim should be provided in tolerating the threats that includes firstly, for the identified risks rating level while making selections for the risk treatments for the systems that are being introduced for the storage of information should be conducted proportionally (Raghupati and Raghupati 2014). This could be divided into six step processes where A4A: firstly, prioritise the intolerable risks, secondly, establishment of the treatment options, thirdly, identification and development of treatment options, fourth, Evaluating the treatment options, fifth, detailing the review and design the selected options also considering the management of residual risks, sixth, communication and implementation. Communication and Consultation There should be a consultation and communication plan management that should be established at very early stage during the risk assessment in order to determine the processes that will be informed or communicated to the stakeholders including external and internal stakeholders (Itradat et al. 2014). Proper and effective communication and consultation during the process of the risk assessment can be helpful in ensuring the facts that are responsible or the successful implementation of the risk assessment process and that are responsible with a stake in the process through understandings that will implies that what decision is need to be made in order to successfully assess the identified risks and enhance the performance of the organization. The risk that could potentially affect the organization should be well communicated during the process of the risk assessment, particularly if it is related to the employees of the A4A. The perception of the stakeholders is also very important whi le communicating about the identified risks during the process of risk management. Risk Monitoring and Review This is also one of the important guidelines for risk management processes for the information security. Following are the considerable facts that could be included in this process: Does transforming manual system into technology based operation have a continuous program or not and the cloud vendors have it or not (Layton 2016). The controls and their strategy of implementation can play an effective role or not such as tokenization and encrypting the files before saving into the cloud or database. The controls or the processes that are being introduced are cost effective and efficient or not that means considering other facts that might be applicable to reduce the threat. The introduced controls and changes complying with the legal requirements or not (Baskerville, Spangnoletti, and Kim 2014). For example Cloud solution meets the legislative requirements of Australia. Documenting the Risk Assessment and Risk Treatment At the final stage the A4A management should document all the considerable, acceptable, and calculated that can be associated with the security risks in the arrangements that is about to change within the organization (Haufe, Dzombeta and Brandis 2014). Approval Process The delegates and the heads of the organization need to consider the risk assessment before transforming the whole system into technological way. Ultimately this implies that the head of the A4A will also be responsible for managing risk into the organization, and the acceptance and understanding of the risks manifested through transformation, outsourcing, and cloud integration within the system (Luthra et al. 2014). Conclusion Based on above report it can be concluded that there should be proper management process in order to enhance the information security system within an organization. The guidelines that have stated above can play very important role in managing the information and data those are being stored into the system and keep it well secured and protected from unauthorized user that could lead to serious damage through exposing, manipulating or deleting the saved data. Cybercrimes can be considered as the most important issue regarding the information security and these guidelines can prevent the organization from being looted by such intruders and protect the assets of the organization. Other than the above guidelines it can be recommended that the security levels should be divided into the categories based on the level of authorization or posts. This could help in two ways the higher post individual will be able to monitor the individuals those are at lower post and the confidential informati on will be much safer. Through the guidelines mentioned above, A4A can achieve the highest level of security for the information related to the organization and be safer from any loss. References: Albakri, S.H., Shanmugam, B., Samy, G.N., Idris, N.B. and Ahmed, A., 2014. Security risk assessment framework for cloud computing environments.Security and Communication Networks,7(11), pp.2114-2124. Arregui, D.A., Maynard, S.B. and Ahmad, A., 2016. Mitigating BYOD Information Security Risks. Baskerville, R., Spagnoletti, P. and Kim, J., 2014. Incident-centered information security: Managing a strategic balance between prevention and response.Information Management,51(1), pp.138-151. Beckers, K., Ct, I., Fabender, S., Heisel, M. and Hofbauer, S., 2013. A pattern-based method for establishing a cloud-specific information security management system.Requirements Engineering,18(4), pp.343-395. Boyens, J., Paulsen, C., Moorthy, R., Bartol, N. and Shankles, S.A., 2014. Supply chain risk management practices for federal information systems and organizations.NIST Special Publication,800(161), p.1. Dhillon, G., Syed, R. and de S-Soares, F., 2017. Information security concerns in IT outsourcing: Identifying (in) congruence between clients and vendors.Information Management,54(4), pp.452-464. Draper, R. and Ritchie, J., 2014. Principles of security management: Applying the lessons from crime prevention science.Professional Practice in Crime Prevention and Security Management, p.91. Feng, N., Wang, H.J. and Li, M., 2014. A security risk analysis model for information systems: Causal relationships of risk factors and vulnerability propagation analysis.Information sciences,256, pp.57-73. Haufe, K., Dzombeta, S. and Brandis, K., 2014. Proposal for a security management in cloud computing for health care.The Scientific World Journal,2014. Itradat, A., Sultan, S., Al-Junaidi, M., Qaffaf, R., Mashal, F. and Daas, F., 2014. Developing an ISO27001 Information Security Management System for an Educational Institute: Hashemite University as a Case Study.Jordan Journal of Mechanical Industrial Engineering,8(2). Layton, T.P., 2016.Information Security: Design, implementation, measurement, and compliance. CRC Press. Luthra, R., Lombardo, J.A., Wang, T.Y., Gresh, M. and Brusowankin, D., Citibank and NA, 2014.Corporate infrastructure management system. U.S. Patent 8,706,692. Oppliger, R., Pernul, G. and Katsikas, S., 2017. New Frontiers: Assessing and Managing Security Risks.Computer,50(4), pp.48-51. Peltier, T.R., 2016.Information Security Policies, Procedures, and Standards: guidelines for effective information security management. CRC Press. Peppard, J. and Ward, J., 2016.The strategic management of information systems: Building a digital strategy. John Wiley Sons. Raghupathi, W. and Raghupathi, V., 2014. Big data analytics in healthcare: promise and potential.Health information science and systems,2(1), p.3. Rebollo, O., Mellado, D., Fernndez-Medina, E. and Mouratidis, H., 2015. Empirical evaluation of a cloud computing information security governance framework.Information and Software Technology,58, pp.44-57. Saint-Germain, R., 2005. Information security management best practice based on ISO/IEC 17799.Information Management,39(4), p.60. Soomro, Z.A., Shah, M.H. and Ahmed, J., 2016. Information security management needs more holistic approach: A literature review.International Journal of Information Management,36(2), pp.215-225. Sylves, R., 2014.Disaster policy and politics: Emergency management and homeland security. CQ Press. Webb, J., Ahmad, A., Maynard, S.B. and Shanks, G., 2014. A situation awareness model for information security risk management.Computers security,44, pp.1-15. Wensveen, J.G., 2016.Air transportation: A management perspective. Routledge. Whitman, M. and Mattord, H., 2013.Management of information security. Nelson Education. Yang, Y.P.O., Shieh, H.M. and Tzeng, G.H., 2013. A VIKOR technique based on DEMATEL and ANP for information security risk control assessment.Information Sciences,232, pp.482-500. Zetler, J.A., 2015. The legal and ethical implications of electronic patient health records and e-health on Australian privacy and confidentiality law.

Risk and Safety Management of the nuclear industry

The Manhattan Project

The Manhattan Project did more than allow the United States to knock Japan out of World War II: it allowed the United States to lead the way into the Nuclear Age. The United States needed a way to end the war quickly without losing many of its own lives, so the president ordered scientists and generals to work on the making of an atomic bomb. This was called the Manhattan Project. There was a sense of urgency because the Americans feared that the Germans were on the brink of making an atomic bomb themselves. If the Nazis made an atomic bomb before the Allies, Hitler might have been able to conquer all of Europe by forcing the countries to surrender. The work which was done in the Manhattan Project and the knowledge we have gained from the work are leading into a revolution in our sources of energy. President Harry Truman realized that Japans desperation caused its soldiers to fight with fanatical courage. They would not give in to the Americans. Propaganda caused the Japanese to think that the Americans were mean and would torture them if they were caught. People were so mislead and confused that they agreed to be kamikazes and kill themselves for the sake of winning the war. Japanese officials convinced them that it was an honor to die for the well being of Japan. There was a battle on Okinawa, a Pacific island, which cost the Americans 50,000 soldiers dead or wounded. The ruthless and stubborn leaders were not going to surrender easily, so an invasion of each of the tiny islands of Japan was necessary in order for the Americans to force the Japanese into surrendering. Experts figure that an invasion of each of these islands would cost the However, a bomb of mass destruction would force the Japanese to surrender. The leaders would see that a few well-placed bombs would blow Japan right off the map. Four or five bombs could ruin everything th...

WestMercia Notebooks Ltd Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

WestMercia Notebooks Ltd - Essay Example As and when such orders come, the company can deliver it immediately. Notebooks prepared on order, generally carry the name of the college, institute, corporate house etc. who is ordering it. When WestMercia starts keeping some minimum stock of readymade notebooks, carrying the name of the company, it is bound to help the company in establishing a brand identity. An entity is something that is supposed to have a distinct, separate existence and identity. In this category, generally we take person, place, thing, event, or concept, about which information is to be stored. WestMercia Notebooks mainly has the following entities; Entity Life History (ELH) analyses the life cycle of the entities in the WestMercia Notebooks Ltd. ELH diagram also includes sequencing, iteration or timing of events in the system. It also investigates the integrity requirements and successor actions relevant for each entity, the administration of the entity, and the deletion of the entity. ELH is thus used to define the rules and regulations determining the life cycle of the entities and how do we perform actions like insert, update, and delete. ELH Diagram for 'Notebook': Event-1: The Customer i.e. college/ institution/ retailer/ wholesaler approaches the company with the specification of the notebook. Event-2: After WestMercia Notebooks Ltd. receives the orders, it starts processing it with the help of different departments Event-3: The production department makes the notebooks with appropriate specifications and sends them for being delivered to the customer. Event-4: The notebook is distributed amongst students, employees by the colleges or institutions and sold by retailers and wholesalers. Students and employees in turn use the notebooks and thus the notebook completes its useful life. ELH Diagram for 'Order': Event-1: Marketing team starts negotiations on the order. Negotiations take place regarding order size, prices, expected time of delivery etc. Such negotiations also often involve some discounts, if the customer has been a regular one for the company, with good payment record. Event-2: Once the negotiations are over, a consolidated order is prepared, with details like terms of payments, advances, discounts etc. Event-3: The production department starts working on the order, places order for raw material and once the notebooks are ready, sends it across to the dispatch sections for packaging and delivery. Event-4: The account department takes a look at the payment position, and accordingly gives a go ahead to the dispatch department for sending it across to the customer. Thus the order is completed within couple of days or weeks, depending upon the order

Health Insurance - Obama Care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Health Insurance - Obama Care - Essay Example The law was meant to eliminate the current pre-existing health conditions in the state, stop the insurance companies from getting rid of the customers when they fall sick, protect any form of gender discrimination that exists in the healthcare industry and expand on the existing preventive services and health benefits available (Noonan). Furthermore, the law stipulates that big organizations insure all their employees, create a subsidised insurance in order to lower the cost of insurance and consequently reduce the cost of healthcare spending and the discrepancy. As much as the idea was taken well by many, this was not the case with everyone. This is especially so with the religious community, which believed that the law raised many controversies in terms of the morals and ethics of the religious groups. This was in relation to the laws of the birth control mandate. The ObamaCare plan requires that all for-profit employer’s health plan to provide insurance for up to twenty contraception methods. Among the twenty contraception methods, five of them in the eyes of the religious community was viewed as a form of abortion or sterilization. The basis the religious leaders used in their defence was the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which was passed in 1993 (Tate, 106). The statute merely stipulated that if the government at any point interferes in any way with the free exercise of religion, it must narrowly alter its regulations to serve a persuasive concern and inflict the least â€Å"oppressive† option. Most religions are against the idea of the use of contraceptives, especially in an instance when the mod e of contraception seems to be a form of taking away life. This, therefore, necessitated the need for the law to be adjusted such that it suits the needs of everyone in the community.   Consequently, the Health and Human Services was forced to make an exemption for churches from the mandate, which implied that religious non-profits were allowed to apply for quasi-exemption from the rule.

Falcon Computer Company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Falcon Computer Company - Essay Example The higher management was great in formulating the values to be followed by the employees but only formulation was not the very success of it. The prime influencing factor is in appropriately propagating the values and the support of the management to exercise in practice. â€Å"Attention to detail is our trademark; our goal is to do it right the first time†. However it was observed that the design flaws caused the main hurdle and in the first place it needed to be corrected to prevent flaws in the forthcoming steps. Employees were pressurized to rush for getting the product out to the customers without putting a check on the quality. Employees were afraid of their immediate manager which would result in insult and embarrassment. The employees did not feel safe to stand up to the problems they were facing. The culture statement promising to encourage open, direct, person-to-person communication as part of the daily routine was not at all followed in practice. At Flacon it was more of secrecy than openness. Even after the value document was formulated and was expected to be followed, lack of management enforcement was greatly lacking to get the values embedded into the employees. If the formulators are themselves lack the will t support the values and make sure they create examples so that there is an evidence of its usage in the proper context, the employees cannot be expected to envelope anything from it. It will stay in the books only. Lack of interest from the employee side was a turnaround feature in exercising the values. They did not take it seriously and never bothered to come up with valuable suggestions so as to prove that there was an initiative from their side. They have never held the management accountable for the non-compliance of values. They instead have understood what was really emphasized in the organization namely hierarchy, secrecy and expediency. They never moved out of their comfort zone to take a stand. The lack of initiative also made the other employees to follow the similar notion to take a back seat.  Ã‚  

Redundancy in New Zealand: Procedural Fairness and Remedies

Redundancy in New Zealand: Procedural Fairness and Remedies ArJun Sree Raman Title of the study Redundancy in New Zealand: Procedural Fairness, Substantive Grounds, and Remedies. Introduction Redundancy has become a normal part of organizational life, researchers are predicting that both the rate and the extent of job losses through redundancy are likely to continue well into the twenty first century (e.g. Appelbaum and Donia, 2001a; Cascio, 2002; Dawkins et al., 1999). Generally redundancies within an organisation occur when there is a decline in company revenue and/or work available or the company is looking to restructure and streamline the organisation (Wooden, 1988). In these circumstances the employee may find that their position is surplus to the companys requirements or needs. Therefore, the organisation or employer will announce to the employee or employees affected that their contracts are going to be terminated as their positions will no longer exist. Redundancy in New Zealand    In the New Zealand Employment Law Guide (Rudman, 2014) the Labour Relations Act 1987 defines redundancy as a situation where a workers employment is terminated by the employer, the termination being attributable, wholly or mainly, to the fact that the position filled by that worker is, or will become, superfluous to the needs of the employer. Thus, it is the position itself that is made redundant and the decision to make a position redundant should have nothing to do with the particular employee who is filling that position. Redundancies have to be for genuine commercial reasons and not for any other underlining reasons such as capability or performance issues. Redundancy is acknowledged within New Zealands employment relations system, as it is in many countries. However, in contrast to the majority of foreign jurisdictions, successive governments in New Zealand have decided not to codify the law relating to redundancy and provide definitive protection for employees who face a redundancy situation (Hughes, 2011). Venn (2009) provides a comparison with other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, highlighted New Zealands minimal protection for employees in situations involving redundancy. In particular, Venn emphasized New Zealands negligible cover in mass redundancy situations. The following figure clearly depicts the limited protection in correlation to the other OECD countries. Figure 1: Strictness of Employment Protection OECD Countries (Venn, 2009) Effects of Redundancy    From an organizational perspective, the economic outcomes of redundancy are open to debate (Cascio, 1993; Ryan and Macky, 1998) but it is widely recognized that for the individual, redundancy can lead to a wide range of negative outcomes. Redundancy is frequently associated with diminished psychological wellbeing, while long-term unemployment can lead to physiological deterioration (Leana and Ivancevich, 1987). As Wooden (1988) comments: The concern about redundancy stems from the perception that job loss involves substantial economic and psychological costs for the adversely aà ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ected worker and his or her family. The worker made redundant must immediately deal with the shock of job loss. For example, redundancy has been found to impact on employees in terms of loss of morale, lowered organizational commitment, withdrawal behaviours such as absenteeism and increased turnover, loss of motivation, mistrust, uncertainty and insecurity (e.g. Brockner, 1988; Brockner, Grover and DeWitt, 1992; Dolan and Belout, 2000; Koslowski et al., 1993; Latack, 1990; ONeill and Lenn, 1995; Worrall, Campbell and Cooper, 2000). Waters (2007) study on voluntary and in-voluntary redundancy shows the different attitudes and thoughts employees are feeling when it comes to redundancy. Redundancy can have serious implications for those it has happened to and can be an extremely difficult time during the entire process. Employees fear for the future and responsibilities they have outside of their working life. Employers should let the remaining employees express their anger or frustration and inform them that it is perfectly normal to express their feelings. Burke (2008) investigates the effects of redundancy during a strong economy and low unemployment rates. Burke says that the number of people experiencing redundancy is surprisingly high. This can come as a shock and be difficult for employees who have been with an employer for a substantial number of years as they are suddenly back in the job market. Looking for a job after so many years of working and competing with thousands of others who have also lost their jobs can be very traumatic. According to Burke, Being made redundant can have similar emotional effects to bereavement. People still see a stigma attached to being made redundant and would feel embarrassed or humiliated about being in the situation. Redundancy also results in a range of negative economic outcomes, including interruption to employment and career paths, loss of income, and potentially à ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ nancial hardship (particularly where it is followed by an extended period of unemployment). Ewart and Harcourt (2000) assessed the effects of a mass redundancy at a New Zealand airline on a group of 139 ground stewards in August, 1991. Findings show that the ground stewards post-layoff earnings have declined nearly 40% by 1996, from $50-55,000 to $30-35,000. This was a severe decline than that documented in most studies, in which earnings losses of 10 to 20% were more common and 5 to 10% were not unusual. Ewart and Harcourt identified the primary cause to be the non-transferrable highly specific training and work experiences to the airline industry. Furthermore, ground stewards also expressed profound feelings of bitterness post-redundancy as 94% of the respondents thought that the company had handled the dismissals very inappropriately. Those who remain after a period of redundancy are known as the survivors and are often described as suà ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ering from survivor sickness (Noer, 1993) or survivor syndrome (Appelbaum and Donia, 2001a, 2001b; Brockner, 1988). Noer (1993) deà ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ nes survivor sickness as a term that describes the attitudes, feelings, and perceptions that occur in employees who remain after involuntary staà ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ reductions. Survivors may exhibit a range of emotions including fear, insecurity, uncertainty, frustration, resentment, anger, sadness, depression, guilt, unfairness, betrayal and distrust (Noer, 1996). Redundancy impacts further on the individual through changes to the psychological contract. Rousseau (1995) notes that, redundancy and restructuring have imposed on workers employment arrangements they did not choose. She suggests that the psychological contract, which the employee originally accepted, changes as organizations restructure and à ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ nds new ways of doi ng things. In the process of change, jobs are altered but employees do not feel free to renegotiate the contract. Research Questions The research questions proposed below are the fundamental core of this redundancy study. It focuses on factors within the redundancy such as procedural fairness, substantive grounds, and remedy. The research questions are as follows: To what extent do employers follow procedural fairness? To what extent do employers have substantive grounds for redundancy? In situations where employers fail to follow procedural fairness and substantive grounds, what are the remedies offered to the employee? Low budget airlines | Analysis Low budget airlines | Analysis Ryan Air Europes First low budgeted airline. Ryan air was founded in 1985 by the Ryan family head by Tony Ryan. To provide scheduled passenger airline services between Ireland and the UK. Ryan Air Europe first Low-Fares, No-Frills carrier, offer a point to point service to customer that was the first European low-cost Airline in Airline Industry. Ryan Air was a full service conventional airline, with two classes of seating, leasing three different types of Aircraft. Ryan air Airlines is based on the model of southwest airlines. A new management team, led by Michael OLeary. In 1997 company was floated in an IPO on the Dublin Stock Exchange and on NASDAQ. (Gerry Johnson, et al, 2008) Mission statement of Ryan Air: Ryan air will become Europes most money-making airlines through its motto Low-cost- carrier, no- frills services in all market which Ryan air operates. Ryan air Objectives: To establish Ryan air as Europes leading Low-Cost airline through continued improvement and offering of low cost budget price. Ryanair Business Model Ryanair business model is based on Southwest Airlines, the highly successful Texas based operator. However, Ryanair was impacted by the financial difficulties in 1990 which required a complete restructure and new business model is formed. In 1991, CEO Michael OLeary visited US Southwest Airline and extracted their new strategy and business model from Southwests Low Cost leadership model. Ryanairs Low Cost leadership model encompasses a single passenger class, a single type of airplane, a simple fare scheme, unreserved seating, flying to secondary airports, fast turnaround times, no free amenities, minimum baggage allowance, employees working in multiple roles, and generation of ancillary revenue( Baker, 2006). Analysis strengthen and weakness of Ryanair Strength: Strategy of Ryan air is Marketing- strong branding and reputation of product. Ryanairs aggressive pricing strategy makes them different from other Airline companies in Europe. Low costing of tickets due to airport operator deals. A biggest advantage of Ryanair is Reputation as First Biggest Budget Airline in Europes. Main strength given to Ryanair by media through free footage to people from various Controversial issues created in flight and due to the tough decision made by chief executive Michael OLeary. Ryanair collects enormous profit from Ancillary revenues from on-board and online gambling, an in-flight mobile phone service, including non-flight scheduled services and also from Ryanairs website. On time delivery which help customer to reach at their target. In future Ryanair planning to purchase new aircraft with huge capacity for sitting which will generates lots of income as well as new routes for reaching destination much quicker. Ryanair control the fuel and noise emission by purchasing new Environmentally-friendly aircraft. (Sascha Mayer, 2007). If any delays due to climatic condition or technical quandary, then Ryan air Customer Service Desk (CSD) prompt refund is provided to customer. Weakness Employee relations: Ryan airs relationship with employee is Fraught. Extra work load for Pilots. Also provide poor working condition for staff. For example: Banned from charging of mobile phones at work place. Ryan air has been involved in number of labour union disputes. Lack of scales: The Company is small in sizes compared to its competitors. Its competitors, such as British Airways, Lufthansa, Virgin Airlines all these Airlines are large in size and enjoy competitive advantages in financial, technical better human resources. As it was low fare Airlines in-flight Entertainment facilities were not available to passengers. Prone to bad press: Relationship with media is always dreadful for Ryan air. Even it may be the incident of staff sleeping in the air craft or forcing pilots to sign new deal in order to fly new air craft. Every time Ryan air is on head line of media. Blocking Finance: In increasing their passenger Ryan air has block lots of money in purchasing new Boeing in next six year. Long Routes: Instead of main airports choosing Secondary and Regional airports destinations for short haul which much more far-off from passengers destination. For examples, Ryanair uses Frankfurt Hahn, 123 kilometres from Frankfurt; Torp, 100 Kilometres from Oslo; and Charleroi, 60 kilometres from Brussels. Customer service: Services provide to customer by Ryan air cabin crew were not satisfactory. Even breathing spaces for leg were narrow down. STRATEGICS CAPABILITY OF RYANAIR Every company must have adequacy and suitability of the resources and competences for survive and prosper in the market. Henceforth Resources and competences are essential for any organisation. Initially Ryan air started their operations with a team of 25 and a single 15-seat Bandeirante Turbo-prop, flying between Waterford and London (Box.T, et al 2007). In 1986, Ryan air received permission from the Regulatory Authorities to begin flying four flights a day on the Dublin-London route with two 46-seat BAE748 turbo-props, by the end of 1989 Ryan air had six BAC-111 jets and three ATR 42 turbos (Box.T, et al 2007). Now Ryan air is giant player in Budgeted Airlines in Europe with 100 new Boeing 737-800 which flew out 18European base. According to Ryan Air Chief Executive Officer Michael OLeary organisation as place the order of 200 newest Boeing by end of 2009 and required the aircraft delivery by 2012(Robert 2009). Boeing 737 planes used frequently which were replaced with new aircraft , more environmentally- friendly aircraft. Its reduced the average age of fleet by 2.4years. Newer aircraft does not require more crew member. Before 2006 capacity of staff were around 700, in fiscal 2006, employee tally rise by further 700 to 3500 people from different nationalities. Cabin crew were given commission from on board sales i.e. Euro49, 612 which is higher figure than any other leading airlines. Due to a low-cost HR strategy, which includes low costs via wage minimization, union avoidance and employee control, had contributed to making the company highly profitable. In addition, both strategies are similar in that they also include achieving low total costs by increasing operational productivity (Zagelmeyer.S, 2009). Core Competence: A corporate strategies are made with lots of research and development of product and services in todays world. Ryan air have made strategic decisions based on increasing their competitive edge, the main one reason involved in attracting customers at both ends of their routes (Haberberg and Rieple 2001). In Ryan air case company focal point is on providing low cost, efficient, frequent connections and subsequently offering no other frills or supporting services on their flights, due to this outcome, Ryan air has no need for the numerous subsidiaries that Aer Lingus own(Peter Kangis, M. Dolores OReilly, 2003). The performance reliability of Ryan air is high for the reason that customer product quality and the airports served, airline product is not delayed because of point to point services due to this check-in is much quicker and less complex than an interline one as well as boarding is quicker because seat choice is greater for earlier passengers at the departure gat e for the reason that it operates from lesser-used non-hub airports the airline encounters less airport congestion than airlines serving major hubs (Barrett S. D. 2004). Ryanair Financial Analysis During the period of 2004 through present, Ryanair has experienced significant growth in sales revenues and net income. Since 2004, sales revenue has grown at a yearly average of 32%, highlighted by a 41% growth from 2006 2007. Net income has experienced a yearly average growth rate of 25%, highlighted by a 51% growth from 2006 2007. While sales revenue continued to increase from 2007 2008, with 33% growth, net income was down from $563M to $559M. This decrease in profits was largely due to the 50% increase in fuel prices during the year. The growth experienced by Ryanair in sales revenue and net income during the period of 2004 2008 (AOL Finance 2008) Portfolio Analysis by BCG Matrix Portfolio of any business is important in order to analyse its market shares and where the business is standing. It can achieve through the BCG Matrix. In Ryanair case, as per the above diagram of BCG (Boston Consulting Group) matrix Ryanair comes under the cash cow. Cash cow is that section of BCG matrix where market share of any business is high and their growing maturity is low in market. Ryanair being a low-fare airlines in European market have captures the entire market in budgeted airlines. Ryanair have outstanding market share and generate a lot of revenue for the company as well as for investor, but they cannot expand their business. Ryanair is domestic flight within the European territory and accumulate high revenue but cannot expand their airline business from European market due to low cost strategies and short haul. They extract profit from the market and investing as little cash as possible. Critical success factors of Ryanair: Success of any organisation depend upon various factors such as Brand: Brand of Ryanair has been cultivated through constantly providing the same product services to customer. Ryanair brand has been built through their strategies i.e. low budgeted airline in Europe with no frills and sell product on board. Most important part in creating the Ryanair brand is played by the CEO Michael OLeary and international media. Michael hard-hitting decision, autocratic behaviour against employee and competitors and controversial statement- if you want a quiet flight, use another airline. Ryanair is noisy full and always try to sell something ob board. Media always providing free footage to viewer about the incident in flight for example: Ryanair aircraft unhygienic and poor staff morale and cabin crew sleeping on the job. All these incidents have helped the Ryanair to build it brand image in the world market. Location: Ryanair being a low-cost airline, airport used by the Ryanair for landing aircraft were secondary and regional airport destination. For example, Ryanair uses Frankfurt Hahn, 123 kilometres from Frankfurt. During second half of fiscal 2007 Ryanair faces various challenges related to extra capacity and new routes and location. Speed: Ryanair started with fewer flights with the low cost airlines strategies and through these strategies they started capturing the market at a greater speed. Become the world most profitable airline in whole Europe. During March 2006 other airlines started charging for check-in bags due to this passenger were carrying fewer bag probably zero check-in bags which reduced the cost and enhance the speed of aircraft. Technology: Ryanair incorporated its own travel website, www.ryanair.com, for direct sales of tickets over the Internet to avoid fees and commissions associated with travel agents and reservation systems. Ryanair has steadily achieved the most Environmentally- friendly and sustainable by investing in the latest aircraft and technology which reduced 50 per cent less emissions, 45 per cent less fuel burn and 45 per cent lower noise emissions. Ryanairs grown-up Boeing 737-800 aircraft has been replaced with new aircraft which more environmentally-friendly reducing the average age of fleet to 2.5 years. Fuel Emissions:International airlines have been responsible for emitting 2.5%- 3% anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2), International Civil Aviation made regulation to reduce the CO2(Scheelhaase J.D, Grimme W.G, 2007). Due to new technology aircraft of Ryanair has reduce fuel emission by 50%. Noise: Ryanair minimised noise pollution through modern technology aircraft and new modified winglet. Waste: All International Airlines generates significant amount of waste mater material through food, packaging, and newspaper distribution. All these item are available free in international airline. Ryanair a low-cost airline with no-frills due to these reason Ryanair is free of from waste. Management Quality: Ryanair management qualities from the success point of view were efficient to carry out the productivity in the organisation, due to the leadership Quality of Michael OLeary. From employees view management were autocratic. Management behaviour towards staff was not acceptable. Thus critical factors such as Brand, Technology and Management Quality play important role in performance of business activity, if any of these factors fail, success fails. Benchmarking Approach of Ryanair: A set of information has been developed by separate indices of benchmarking for different business model. In Ryanair case, Profitability of Ryanair signifies the overall achievement of the business, collection of ancillary revenue from flight is much more than the any other international flight by selling various goods and services on flight. Distribution strategies of Ryanair: The proportion of sale made by Ryanair is through online reservation system and even they promote the Ryanair through web page. Ryanair has set up the four benchmarks which its competitor cannot match their strategies with Ryanair strategies- firstly airport cost per passenger is calculated, secondly they land on secondary and regional airport which offer lower landing fees, thirdly the weighted average number of full service carriers at the airports served and lastly Ryanair has created the monopoly in budgeted airline (Mason k.J, Morrison W.G, 2009). All this factors make the Ryanair airlines are best- in- c lass benchmarking in Europes airlines. Leadership of Ryanair: In todays Airlines business leadership and culture is essential in achieving strong business operation. In Ryanair case, Ryanair was struggling to survive in early 1990 but then after new CEO Michael OLeary. OLeary changed the design of Ryanair in the model of southwest airlines i.e. a low cost airline this strategy worked for Ryanair. Being transformation leadership his clear vision and empowerment are often observed as important element that has changed the view point of Ryanair. In 2006 Ryanair airline received WORLD MOST FAVOURITE AIRLINE. Michael OLeary has served Ryanair for 20 year and makes Ryanair most profitable airline in 2006. In 2005 he was 18th among the Worlds Most Respected Business Leader in financial times. Ryanair comprising over 25 different nationalities this shows culture of Ryanair is diversifying. CONCULSION On the intact Ryanair seem to be following a strategy which works for them. They are obviously aware of their business environment and understand the importance of monitoring it as they took advantage of the opening in the market when they restyled themselves over a decade ago. However they need to be aware that this environment is constantly shifting and evolving and therefore maintaining a close eye on it and being ready to adapt to any changes should be a fundamental part of their strategy. References 1. Gerry Johnson, Kevan Scholes, Richard Whittington, (2008). Exploring Corporate Strategy, 8th Ed., Pearson Education, England, accessed via textbook. 2. Sascha Mayer, 2008. Rayanair and its low cost flight in Europe: Marketing Plan. GRIN VERLAG http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=2zGFUC9bWX4Cdq=swot+analysis+of+ryanairlr=source=gbs_navlinks_s 3. Box.T, Byus.K, Chris.C, (2007), Ryan air (2005): Successful low cost Leadership. Journal of the International Academy of case studies. , 13(3): pp 65-70. 4. Robert.W, (2009). Ryan Air to order 200aircraft, Air finance Journal (323): 7-7. 5. Zagelmeyer.S, (2009), Up in the Air: How Airlines can improve performance by engaging their employee.38(6):715-717. http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContentItem.do;jsessionid=8657998ADE2405248475899C62216650?contentType=NonArticlecontentId=1812116 6. Haberberg, Adrian Rieple, Alison (2001), The Strategic Management of Organisations. Pearson Education Ltd. 7. Peter Kangis, M. Dolores OReilly,(2003), Strategies in a dynamic marketplace: A case study in the airline industry. Journal of Business Research, 56(2):105-111. Strategies in a dynamic marketplace: A case study in the airline industry Journal of Business Research, Volume 56, Issue 2, February 2003, Pages 105-111 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleListURL_method=list_ArticleListID=1248681592_sort=rview=c_acct=C000047642_version=1_urlVersion=0_userid=9060888md5=a3f6ba19889c87ea2ae5dc4ea2047611 8. Barrett S. D. (2004), The Sustainability of the Ryanair Model. International Journal of Transport Management, 2(2), pp.89-98 9. Scheelhaase J.D., Grimme W.G. (2007), Emissions trading for international aviation-an estimation of the economic impact on selected European airlines. Journal of Air Transport Management, 13 (5), pp.253-263. 10. Mason k.J, Morrison W.G (2009), Towards a means of consistently comparing airline business models with an application to the low cost airline sector. Researched in Transportation Economics, 24 (1), pp. 75-84. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL_udi=B8JHM-4VRNNKM-2_user=899537_coverDate=12%2F31%2F2008_rdoc=1_fmt=high_orig=search_sort=d_docanchor=view=c_searchStrId=1253612908_rerunOrigin=scholar.google_acct=C000047642_version=1_urlVersion=0_userid=899537md5=3f2fe272f1c4fb849562e877dad82a11 11. Baker, C. (2006, May). Blurring the model. Airline Business, 22(5), 40-44. Retrieved September 17, 2008, from Business Source Complete database. 12. AOL Finance Web Site. Ryanair Holdings PLC Income Statement. Retrieved October 5,2008 from http://finance.aol.com/ryanair-holdings-plc/income-statement