Tim O’Brien

This paper examines the life of the American born, Tim O'Brien and affirms how his life influenced his writing techniques. William Timothy, the first of three children, well known as Tim O'Brien is an American Veteran writer, born on October 1, 1946, in Austin, Minnesota, United States of America (Herzog 14). He grew up in Worthington, a small shielded community near the borders of Iowa and South Dakota. He described himself as a vivid reader when he was young and had a thrilling interest in books and magic trick were evident realities on his storytelling power. This can also be linked to his parents who were enthusiastic readers. In other words, O'Brien must have learned some reading secrets from his parents when he was young. Some of his short and electrifying stories include, â€Å"The things they carried† as well as other classic novels like the war novel, going after Cacciato produced in1978, which indeed made him known best for his writing experience about Vietnam War (Raymond 102). Worthington town similarly played a significant role in nurturing his thoughts while developing the artistic sensibility of his life as an author. He attended Macalester College in 1968 and awarded bachelor's degree in Political Science. During his time in the institution, he was elected and served as the president of the student's union in college. Contrary to his criticisms against war, Tim O'Brien was recruited into United States Army and then sent to Vietnam where he served for two years. Following his return from the military service, he resumed his studies and graduated from Harvard University. He then worked shortly as an intern, national affairs reporter at Washington Post up to May 1974. The war experience he gained from his two-year combat inspired his chief publication, titled If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me up and Ship Me Home. O'Brien's history clearly reveals the depression and misery wrecked on soldiers by the Vietnam War. His mythical work, the things they curried of 1990, (O'Brien 816) is a combination of memoirs and fictitious stories in which he used the philosophical concepts of Verisimilitude to blurs the distinctions between two realms of the facts and the fictions in a unique way (Conan 2010). He incorporated the metaphysical approach attribute in his writing that flavored the quality of his stories. In his story, he discusses the distinction between ‘story-truth', the truth of fiction and ‘happening-truth', the truth of facts. From his works, Timothy suggests story truth is emotional truth thus the feelings generated by a fictional story is at times truer that what results from reading the facts thus making the literature more meaningful. Additionally, O'Brien wrote numerous novels based on the war experience he obtained in the US Army. He earned the 1979 National Book Award for his works on Northern Lights published in1975 and Going after Cacciato of 1978. The Northern Lights novel discusses two brothers against each other as foils in which one brother went to Vietnam and the other failed to. (Raymond 99) Through this, the brothers learned to struggle and comprehend each one's values and motives. Following his extraordinary influence of Joseph Conrad's works, he modified Conrad's concepts of human aptitude for good and evil in his literary works. In his works, O'Brien propounded timeless matter of the subject and its thematic range. He believed in his introversive idea, that literary works not only focus on the current affairs but also anticipates what the future holds for humankind, (Smith 34). Nuclear Age, which was published in 1985 was the third O'Brien's novel of his literary works and describes much from his personal experience. His expertise in creating an amusing look at the serious subject protagonist, a middle-aged man who grew under an atomic umbrella, and suffered severely from paranoia over the prospect of nuclear war and finds comfort in digging a hole in his backyard attempting to burry and quiet all the imaginations that antagonized him. O'Brien demonstrated this being the real fear and threat of the bomb.His creativity in writing approach of war blending fact and fiction is comparable to other technical war writers like Michael Herr and inspired eminent figures such as Truman Capote, Norman Mailer and Tom Wolfe. However, key elements of his works encompass the categorization and fascination of emotional subject matters. Owing to this traits, his fictional works are therefore considered to have made an immense impact on the readers of his novels. Other O'Brien's electrifying works are The Nuclear Age, published in 1985, In the Lakes of The Woods of 1994, Tomcat in Love of 1998 and July, July that was published in 2000, which took the world of literature with a storm. In a span of two years, O'Brien's short stories The things they curried, was first published in Esquire and in return, it received the 1987 National Magazine Award Fiction. The short story was again selected for 1987, best American Short story. The lake of Woods forms another interesting novel written by O'Brien and published in 1994. It took O'Brien's works into greater heights by agitating much on guilt, culpability, complicity and the moral courage, (Bates 265). He invents his protagonist John Wade, who is also a Vietnam veteran, aspiring to win a senatorial election seat. He later lost slightly as charges on his complicity in the Lai massacre became known during his campaign trail. O'Brien raises larger inquiries about the fallouts of war and its consequences after the fighting has ceased and the participants returned home. He wore James Fenimire Cooper Prize from the Society of American Historians and was selected as the best novel of 1994 by Times Magazine. His most recent Novel, Tomcat in Love, O'Brien generated a Veteran Vietnam protagonist, Tom chippering through a love subject contrary to war. O'Brien describes this as a comic novel about a politically incorrect hero, who was sexy. He strongly believed that his lovers will love the book, and his fans, the so-called junkies, the people who appreciate his writings liked it. He alludes that this was his best book ever and it stole the hearts of many who could not do without reading the novel. In conclusion, O'Brien has won several prestigious awards in his many fictional works and worth being called a veteran in the writing field. His experience in writing the short story novels are highly acknowledged. He is a master of creative storytelling, a manipulator of literary form and one of the most challenging authors in his time with an ample content. His major contributions include the Nuclear Age, In the Lake of Woods, Tomcat in Love and July, July of 20000 More recently, he received $100,000 with the Pritxker Military Library Literature Award. Currently, he teaches at the Texas State University-San Marcos.

Ndebele in Zimbabwe

Ndebele in Zimbabwe The Ndebele people are dispersed widely across Zimbabwe and South African’s Transvaal Province and is descendents of the same tribe as the Zulu and Xhosa people. The history of the Ndebele people can be traced back to Mafana, their first chief. Manfana’s successor, Mhlanga, had a son named Musi who, in the early 1600’s, decided to move away from his cousins, later became the Zulu nation, and to settle near the hills of Gauteng where the capital of Pretoria is located.After the death of Chief Musi, his two sons quarreled over the position of chief and the tribe divided into two sections, the Manala and the Ndzundza. By the mid 19th century two other factions, led by other sons, then broke away from the Ndebele core. These groups were later progressively assimilated by the Sotho groups undergoing considerable cultural and social change. Later, the descendents of Manala and Ndzundza maintained a cultural identity and retained language which was c loser to the Nguni language.In 1883, during the reign of the Ndebele chief Mabhogo’s, war broke out between the Ndzundza and the South African Republic, also known as the Boer. Occasionally, Mabhogo’s warriors stealthily past enemy lines undetected to retrieve food and water. However, after two women of the tribe had been ambushed and tortured, one of the women revealed the Mabhogo’s whereabouts. After the defeat of Mabhogo’s military, the tribal structure was broken up and the lands were confiscated as the people became indentured laborers.Despite the breaking down of the tribe, the Ndebele retained their cultural unity. In 1923, they were able to purchase some land and began to regroup. In the mid-1970 the South African Government established the ‘homeland’ of Kwa-Ndebele. Both southern group’s fashioned beadwork in which the Ndebele cultural are famous for, but the Ndzundza are also noted for their elaborate wall paintings. Ndebele arts have been widely illustrated, especially from their wall paintings. For over a hundred years, the Ndebele have decorated the outside of their homes with designs.The elaborate homestead decorations, consisting mainly of geometric forms painted in a variety of colors dates back from 1945. Commercial produce pigments or various earth tones in the area are used. The importance of the wall paintings to the Ndzundza probably relates to its rough history, which has a strong sense of deprivation and self- awareness of their descendents. Ndebele women traditionally adorned themselves with a variety of ornaments, each symbolizing her status in society. After marriage, dresses became increasingly elaborate and spectacular.In earlier times, the Ndebele wife would wear copper and brass rings around her arms, legs and neck to express their loyalty and faithfulness to her husband. Husbands used to provide their wives with rings; the richer the husband, the more rings the wife would wear. She would only remove the rings after the death of the husband. The rings are believed to have strong ritual powers. Today, it is no longer common to wear these rings permanently. In addition to rings, married women also wore neck hoops made of grass twisted into a coil and covered in beads, particularly for ceremonial occasions.A further outstanding characteristic of the Ndebele is their beadwork. As Ndebele society became more westernized, the artist started expressing this change in society through their paintings. Many Ndebele artist have now extended their work into the interior of homes. Ndebele artists also produce other crafts such as sleeping mats and neck hoops. Neck hoops are made by twisting grass into a circle, binding it tightly with cotton and decorating it with beads. To help preserve the grass a keep its shape, the hoop is boiled in sugar water a left outside in the heat for a few days.Beadwork is a hundred and fifty year old art among the Ndebele, and plays an importan t role in tribal custom. Beadwork is more than just an art form to the Ndebele people, is an essential part of their culture and ethnic identity. Beads are used to decorate the body, ceremonial objects and items of clothing. Among the Ndebele, beadwork is worn exclusively by women, for whom the different beadwork or garments serve an identification of status. It is an important part of their rituals and ceremonies, which mark important events in family life, from a birth of a child, to marriage, to burial.As time consuming beadwork can be for the Ndebele people, a bride may work for 2-3 years to present to their future in-law family. The evolution of beadwork over the decades tells a story, in pictures and symbols, of a tribe that refused to die. Fertility is a major importance to the Ndebele people. A fertility doll is made for the bride by the maternal grandmother and is ritually presented to her when she enters her home after the wedding ceremony. Custom has it that, after the bi rth of the third child, the fertility doll must be given away, or destroyed, because it is considered unlucky to keep it any longer.Each doll is unique as the patterns from one doll to the next are different in pattern, style and color. In addition to strengthening the Ndebele culture identity, the beaded dolls are now an important source of income for most Ndebele as it continues to be an export item. Ndebele art has always been an important identifying characteristic of the Ndebele and has a cultural significance that serves to reinforce the distinctive Ndebele identity. Ndebele artist demonstrated a fascination with the linear quality of elements in their environment.Painting is done free hand although the designs were planned before hand. The symmetry, proportion and straight edges of Ndebele decorations were done by hand without the help of rulers. Ndebele women were responsible for painting the colorful and intricate patterns on the walls of their houses. After the establishme nt of Kwa-Ndebele there was a sharp drop in the number of decorated homesteads. In the desert the overcrowded shelters are built from metal sheet and cardboard which makes it difficult to provide a painting surface.However, this Ndebele art form began to take international attention in the 1980’s and early 90’s with publications of illustrated books on the subject. Promotions from individual artists like Esther Mahlangu created her version of wall painting on canvas and can be seen in a number of international exhibits. Bibliography E. Schneider: Paint, Pride and Politics: Aesthetic and Meaning in Transvaal Ndebele Wall Art (diss. , Johannesburg, U. Witwatersrand, 1986) http://www. sokwanele. com/pdfs/BTS. df â€Å"Breaking the Silence, Building True Peace. A report on the disturbances in Matabeleland and the Midlands 1980–1989† M. Courtney-Clarke: Ndebele: The Art of an African Tribe (New York, 1986) [excellent pls] R. Rasmussen: Ndebele Wars and Migrati ons, c. 1821–1839 (diss. , Los Angeles, UCLA, 1975) R. Rasmussen and S. Rubert: Historical Dictionary of Zimbabwe (diss. , Lan Hamm, MD,2001, 3ed. ) 10 Key Words Beadwork Paintings Varity of colors Earth Tone Kwa- Ndebele Geometric Ndebele dolls Symmetry Rituals/Ceremonies Ornaments

Compensation system by zobaer

These HARM practices include human resource planning, recruitment and selection, induction, raining, performance appraisal, employee development, compensation plan, etc. This discussion has provided the opportunity to analyze the HARM practices of a business organization and to find out the facts which are creating barriers to effective HARM. – 90- Introduction Human Resource Management (HARM) Is a relatively new concept In Bangladesh. It was few years ago that this was considered as a part of the administrative functions of an organization.There was no individual identity for HARM. But as time passed people recognized the importance of HARM in organizations. They realized that HARM is to just to hire people. Apart form hiring, HARM has lots of functions which help an organization to gain competitive advantage (Islam, 2006). Effective HARM practices support business goals and objectives. That is why effective HARM practices are strategic. It can improve the performance of an o rganization by improving customer satisfaction, innovation and productivity.So from HER planning, recruitment and selection to training, performance appraisal, compensation, all practices of HARM are now considered as equally Important as any other aspects of the organization such as marketing, financing, etc. Literature Review Human resource management (HARM) is both an academic theory and a business practice that addresses the theoretical and practical techniques of managing a workforce. Synonyms include personnel administration, personnel management, manpower management, and industrial management (http en. Wisped. Erg). According to Non, Hollowness, Gerhard and Wright (2006), human resource management refers to the policies, practices and systems that influence employees' behavior, attitudes, and performance. They also say that many companies refer to HARM as involving ‘people practices'. HARM is the organizational function that deals tit issues related to people such as co mpensation, hiring, performance management, organization development, safety, wellness, benefits, employee motivation, communication, administration, and training (Hatfield, 2006).According to Walked, a web based encyclopedia, HARM serves five key functions: 1) Hilling, 2) Compensation, 3) Evaluation and Management (of Performance), 4) Promotions, and 5) Management, Volvo. 10, No's. 3&4: Volvo. 11, No's. 1 & 2- 91 – of activities, and key among them is deciding what staffing needs the organization has and whether to use independent contractors or hire employees to fill these deeds, recruiting and training the best employees, ensuring they are high performers, dealing with performance issues, and ensuring that the personnel and management practices conform to various regulations.Activities also include managing the organization's approach to employee benefits and compensation, employee records and personnel policies (Manager, 2006). According to Winning, what necessary in an H ER Department are the functions and responsibilities which none else either wants or is capable of doing. From recruiting to orienting new employees, from writing Job descriptions to tracking attendance, and from instituting ND monitoring policies to monitoring benefits, there has been a need for an HER generalist to assist senior management in both establishing a structure to hold down costs of administration (Winning, 2005).The ultimate aim of HARM is to ensure that at all times the business is correctly staffed by the right number of people with the skills relevant to the business needs (Islam, 2006). Thus HARM is meant to unlock the talent, experience, wisdom and common sense of many within the organization by making work simpler, quicker, rewarding, safer and fun (http://www. Cell-team. Com). Research Methodology This research article is case study-based. Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd (SSP) does have a separate Human Resource Department.The major part of this case study is based o n face-to-face interviews with managers and executives, using a questionnaire. , which consists of view and opinions of those particular people, which might raise the question of bias. In some cases some of them were not able to provide concrete facts or fugues. In this case some assumptions had to be made. Interviewing the managers and executives of SSP has provided the primary sources of information. Furthermore, company brochures, documents, and the company website were the secondary sources of data. No survey method has been used in this regard.Finally, due to time constraints it was not possible to conduct extensive interviews and surveys which could make the research paper more informative. A case study is the fact' of any particular issues, the contents of which require an in-depth focus of the social sciences area to Human Resource Management Practices -92- understand its phenomenon on the basis of it being an individual problem (Leeds, 1997). One of the essential characteri stics of using the case study approach is that it focuses on ‘one instance of the thing that is to be investigated' (Denseness, 1998).The advantage of the case study over other methods is that it attempts to be comprehensive, and involves the researcher in describing and analyzing the full notes, ‘one of the advantages cited for case study research is its uniqueness, its capacity for understanding complexity in particular contexts'. Apart from generalization, other criticisms can be that the case study method is a less rigorous form of inquiry, based on the accumulation of information and there is a lack of discipline in what Smith (1991) described as the logically weakest method of knowing.Mitchell (1999) states that the basic problem in the use of case material is theoretical that case studies prove valuable in situations where existing knowledge is limited, often providing in-depth contextual information, which may result in a superior level of understanding. Furtherm ore, case studies prove advantageous when the focus of the study is not typicality but the unusual, unexpected, covert or illicit (Hartley, 1994).The objective of this study is achieved through one single case study which provides both depth and reliability (see, for example, Harris and Gabon, 1998; Marching and Harrison, 1991; Sturdy, 1992). This case study is selected for a number of reasons, data accessibility, establishment organization, size and contribution in the sector and so on. It is said that a single case study is not enough for research. However, a single case study can give a lot of depth in the research area (see, for example, Dollar and Quaked, 2005.Mullahs et al. , 2002). Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd – Company Overview In Bangladesh, Square today symbolizes a name – a state of mind. But its Journey to growth and prosperity has been no bed of roses. From the inception in 1958, it has today burgeoned into one of the top line conglomerates in Bangladesh. SS P is the largest pharmaceutical company in Bangladesh and it has been continuously in the first position among all national and multinational Sir Lankan Journal of Management, Volvo. 10, 3&4: Volvo. 11, NO'S. 1 & 2-93- companies since 1985.SSP is the manufacturer and marketer of finished pharmaceutical products, basic chemicals and agro vet products. Its products are manufactured in the form of tablets, capsules, suppositories, injections, liquids, drops, ointment, cream and powder, oral dry powder, inhalers and meter dose inhalers. SSP was converted into a public limited company in 1991. Currently the ales turnover of SSP is more than Take 622 core with 16. 23 percent market share having a growth rate of about 14. 91 percent. Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Ousted 11 percent growth in pharmaceutical formulation in 2004 and the company also introduced 43 new products during the period (December 25, The Daily Star- 2004). SSP has extended her range of services towards the highway of the global market. She pioneered exports of medicines from Bangladesh in 1987 and has been exporting antibiotics and other pharmaceutical products. This extension in business and services has manifested the credibility of SSP. SSP strives, above all, for top quality health care products at the least cost reaching the lowest rungs of the economic class of people in the country.They value their social obligations. They owe a responsibility to their shareholders and strive for protection of their capital as well as ensure the highest return and growth of their assets (http:// www. Squarer's. Com. Bad). According to SSP, their vision, mission and objectives are: Vision: [Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd] view business as a means to the material and social well being of the investors, employees and society at large, leading to accretion f wealth through financial and moral gains as a part of the process of human civilization.Mission: [Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd] mission is to produce and provide q uality and innovative healthcare relief for people, maintain stringently ethical standards in business operation and also ensuring benefit to the shareholders, stakeholders and Objectives: [Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd] objectives are to conduct transparent business operations based on the market mechanism within the legal and social framework with aims to attain the mission reflected by [their] vision. (http / www. Squarer's. Com. Bad). Human Resource Management Practices Supply Chain Department of Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd.Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd consists of several individual departments such as accounting & finance, marketing, sales, administration, human resource, supply chain, etc. All these departments are linked with one or more departments within the organization. For this research paper we have concentrated on the supply chain department of SSP. Throughout the research paper we will describe the HER activities related to this department and try to identify the problems a nd provide some recommendations to reduce or eliminate the problems. The supply chain department f SSP mainly works as the procurement department.It purchases all the needed raw materials, machinery and equipment, things needed for official work, food, vehicles needed for staff and management, etc. Thus all the purchasing actually takes place through the supply chain department. It is known as the supply chain department as it also maintains the suppliers outside of the organization on behalf of the organization. All the departments of the organization that need their necessary things send a requisition to the supply chain department with the consent of the department head. Then the supply chain department obtains the consent of theExecutive Director, Administration (DEAD) and contacts with different suppliers. It collects the quotations from the different-suppliers and decides from which supplier it will purchase the goods. The supply chain department not only deals with the local suppliers but also with the foreign suppliers (The structure of the supply chain department of SSP is given in the appendix). Key Themes While finding different human resource activities related to the supply chain department we have found that SSP does not have any specific human recapitulating program for the supply chain department.It does not follow any aroma labor demand forecasting and still did not take any initiative to determine the labor supply properly. So it still cannot measure whether there are more or less employees than what it actually needs. Sir Lankan Journal of Management, Volvo. 10, No's. 3 & 4: Volvo. 11, No's. 1 & 2 – 95 – While going through the recruitment and selection process we found that after the vacancy circulation lots of people submit their C.v.. So it is very difficult to sort these large numbers of C.v. and identify the person who can compete in the further steps of selection to fulfill the Job requirement.In the selection process the candidates only o through the written exam and interviews. The company does not provide any Job related problems for the candidates to solve. Thus it becomes very difficult to understand whether the candidates will be able to handle the Job-oriented problems in reality. While providing the Job description to the new employee the supply chain contact the HER department to make them know about these changes. Thus the HER department cannot know properly what a new employee is actually doing in the company and what his responsibilities are. SSP sometimes provides on the Job training and off the Job training.It has the capability to enhance the knowledge level f the employees to improve the skills and abilities of the employees. In the supply chain department of SSP there are no specific employee development processes. The employees are given promotions on the basis of their performance at the end of the year. But there is no practice of Job enlargement or enrichment or any other career development plan. The employees learn about the Job from the training program and sometimes learn from the mentoring of their boss. Thus the employees do not have any opportunity to develop their career through diversification.The employees of the supply chain department are evaluated only by self and the previous for performance appraisal. But the employees are not evaluated by other parties such as the suppliers, peers, etc. Even the feedback is not always provided to the employees properly. So it seems to us that the appraisal system is not consistent with the industry as now there are more strategic focused performance appraisal systems in practice. There are no specific reward systems for the employees' recognition except the promotions. They do not get any bonus or increment based on their performance.The whole compensation system for the employees of this department is quite sound though there is no Human Resource Management Practices regular practice of a specific non-monet ary compensation system such as recognition, praise, etc. To encourage the employees. The employee information system is not well organized. For some aspects of record maintenance an employee database is used and some other information of the employees is recorded manually by the file system. So sometimes there may be redundancy in data storing which is not cost effective for the company.Human Resource Planning The human resource planning process starts with a forecast of the people needed for the company and consists of goal setting and strategic planning and program implementation and evaluation (Non et al. , 2006). In the following part of the report we will discuss human resource planning in SSP in the context of its supply chain department. Human Resource Plan and Forecasting The human resource plan for the supply chain department is the same as that for all the other departments of SSP. The HER department prepares the plan at the end of the year.It collects the information fro m all the departments of the company about how many people they will need in the next year. The entire department's heads send the requisition with detailed information about what kind of person they need or their departments. Thus forecasting of future employees for the supply chain department is made in this way. Then human resource department takes the initiative for recruitment of those people, which we will discuss in the next segment of recruitment and selection. If the department needs more people at any time of the resource department.Except this forecasting part, SSP does not have any formal strategic planning. They did not faced any labor surplus problem so far. So they did not need to plan for reducing the labor surplus by downsizing, early retirement or any other techniques of laying off people (Personal communication, 2006). Sir Lankan Journal of Management, Volvo. 10, No's. 3 & 4: Volvo. 11, No's. 1 & 2- 97- Recruitment and Selection Human resource recruitment is the p ractice or activity carried out by the organization with the primary purpose of identifying and attracting potential employees.Selection is the process by which companies decide who will or will not be allowed into organizations (Non et al. , 2006). Thus recruitment is the process of getting a pool of candidates for the organization who can meet the requirements of a specific Job. After that selecting a person from those candidates is one of the toughest Jobs for an organization. In today's competitive business world it is very difficult to survive without potential manpower. Successful recruitment and selection can be expensive and time-consuming.But unsuccessful recruitment and selection can be a cause of the death of a business. SSP is one of the biggest employers in Bangladesh. Here we will discuss the recruitment policies and process for the supply chain department of SSP. Recruitment Objectives SSP needs such people for the supply chain department who can meet the needs of the organization to maintain the core business activities. Thus it searches for such people who are capable of doing the procurements and also maintaining the relationship with the supplier as a representative of SSP.Thus the objective of SSP is to hire a dynamic and outstanding person in the supply chain management area. Recruitment Policies Recruitment for the supply chain department in SSP is a Job of the human resource department. The human resource department finds a pool of candidates and along with the supply chain department selects the best person for the Job. Human Resource Management Practices -98- Recruitment Process for Supply Chain Department For the recruitment process JPL's supply chain department follows a very formal hiring process.Here the process is described briefly. The Assistant General Manager (GM) of the department fills up a requisition form with the Job position, requirements, criteria, Job description, and number of positions. It also clarifies why the depar tment needs a new person. Then the requisition is verified and approved by the HER Manager. The HER department publishes a circular in the newspaper for both the executives and non- executive level posts. It also publishes a circular in Job searching websites on the Internet (I. E. Boots) for the executive level posts.After receiving the C.v. from the candidates the selection process starts (Personal communication, 2006). Selection Process The HER department does a primary sorting of the C.v. and sends them to the supply candidates for a written examination. The HER department and the supply chain department make the question papers and conduct the exam. Both the HER department and the supply chain department check the exam scripts. The selected candidates from the written exam are called for an interview with the HER department and the supply chain department.Before going for the interview candidates fill a management application form with their personal information and salary expe ctations. Sir Lankan Journal of Management, Volvo. 10, No's. 3 & 4: Volvo. 11, No's. 1 & 2- 99- Sometimes the salary negotiation is done at the interview. The candidates selected from this interview are formally of selected for the Job. After that the selected candidates are sent for a medical check up. If everything is fine in the medical report then the appointment letter is given to the candidates with a set of instructions about the code of conduct of the organization (PersonalInduction and Probation Period for New Employees Induction refers to the process of helping people to make the transition into a new workplace, a new role or area of responsibility. It is considered to be a continuous process which generally starts with contact prior to taking up employment and proceeds through arrival, first days/weeks on the Job and generally up to the third month of employment. Induction is essential for all staff regardless of category or conditions of employment (http:// woman. Monish . Deed. AU).In SSP induction is the process of introducing the new employee to the organization. The HER department sakes the initiative to introduce the new employee to all the departments of SSP. A presentation is conducted by the department to let the new employee know about SSP in detail. Along with this an orientation program continues for 7-10 days to be familiar and linked with all the departments as the supply chain department is related to all other departments of the company. From six months after Joining the employee goes through a probation period.Within this time training is given to the employee. The employee tries to learn about his Job. After six months an evaluation of this employee is conducted by the GM. If the result is not satisfactory then the probation period is extended to another three months. After three months again a performance evaluation takes place. Then if the result is satisfactory the employee becomes permanent. But if the result is not satisfactory the employee's Job is terminated by the department with the consent of DEAD (Personal communication, 2006).Human Resource Management Practices -100- Job Description A Job description is a list of tasks, duties, and responsibilities that a Job entails (Non et al. , 2006). Job descriptions are supposed to describe duties and performance tankards that are directly linked to organizational success factors established by the leadership, and for which it is willing to pay a salary (Moore, 2007). Thus it works as a guideline for an employee to accomplish his Job activities effectively. It also provides a standard for the supervisor of the employee to evaluate the employee's of the department.When an employee Joins this department the GM prepares a new Job description based on the company's Job description and the skills and abilities that the employee actually obtains. Then the Job description is given to the employee. The employee follows the Job description as a guideline for his Job. D uring performance appraisal the supervisors also use the Job description to compare the employee's actual performance with the required one (Personal communication, 2006). Training Training is a planned effort to facilitate the learning of Jobs related knowledge, skills and behavior by employees (Non et al. 2006). In SSP like all other departments the supply chain department also arranges for a training program. Training takes place here in different forms. These are discussed here briefly. Induction Training After Joining this department of SSP the new employees get a specific training for a period of six months. During this time they are taught their Job related activities. This training is conducted in two different ways. These are classroom training and off the job training. Sir Lankan Journal of Management, Volvo. 10, No's. &4: Volvo. 11, No's. 1 & 2- 101 – Classroom Training Classroom training is arranged by SSP. The supply chain department sends the list of the employe es who will need the training and the topics that the training should cover to the HER department. Then the HER department contacts JPL's faculties to conduct the training. Thus classroom training is provided to the employees. At the end of training the employees are evaluated through a presentation. If the training result is satisfactory then the employees' probation period comes to an end.Off-the-Job Training Off-the-Job training takes place away from the normal work situation which means that the employee is not regarded as a productive worker when training is taking place. An advantage of off-the-Job training is that it allows people to get away from work and totally concentrate on the training being given. This is most effective for training concepts and ideas (http://en. Wisped. Org). For this training purpose the supply chain similarly contacts the HER department. The HER department then arranges the training program with some outside organization to provide training.Sometime s even the employees are also sent abroad for training. Here also the employees are needed to make a presentation in front of the top-level management after the completion of the training. On-the-Job Training On-the-Job training is given in a normal working situation, using the actual tools, equipment, documents or materials that they will use when fully trained. On-the-lob training is usually most effective for vocational work (http:// en. Kipped. Org). The Assistant General Manager (GM) of the supply chain department conducts a training program once a year for all the employees of the department.This is arranged for a very short period of time such as two or three days. At that time he tries to find out whether any employee needs any extensive training program or not, based on his performance evaluation. If any training program is required for the employees he contacts the HER department to arrange the training program (Personal -102- Employee Development Development is the acquis ition of knowledge, skills, and behaviors that improve an employee's ability to meet changes in Job requirements and in client and customer demands (Non et al. , 2006).There are several methods for employee development such as, formal education program, Job enlargement, Job enrichment, Job rotation, transfer, promotions, etc. In SSP for the supply chain department there are no such employee development processes. The employees are given promotions on the basis of their performance at the end of the year (personal communication, 2006). There are no opportunities for the employees to have Job enlargement, Job enrichment, rotation, etc. Thus they cannot learn anything more than their own Job activities and developing a career.Performance Appraisal Performance appraisal is the process through which an organization gets information on how well an employee is doing his or her Job (Non et al. , 2006). The central feature of any performance appraisal system is the establishment of objective s against which any assessment of the performance of the individual is based. The supply chain department of SSP conducts the performance appraisal for all the employees of the department. The HER department helps in this process. At first the employees are even the opportunity of self-evaluation.Later on the employees are evaluated by their reporting boss and the person supervising his boss. Thus all the employees including the GM and DEAD are evaluated. The MD evaluates the Idea's performance. For this evaluation purpose there is a specific performance appraisal form. Then the GM, DEAD and MD sit together to take decisions based on the employee evaluation. If any employee's performance is not satisfactory then they decide about how the performance of that employee can be improved. If any employee's performance is outstanding then he gets a promotion (Personal communication. 006). Sir Lankan Journal of Management, Volvo. 10, No's. 3&4: Volvo. 11, No's. 1 & 2- 103- Reward and Compen sation System The reward system of an organization includes anything that an employee may value and desire and that the employer is able or willing to offer in exchange for employee contributions. The reward system consists of a compensation and non-compensation system. Compensation refers to all forms of financial returns and tangible services and benefits employees receive as part of an employment relationship.Pay Structure Pay structure is the relative pay of different Jobs bib structure) and how much they are paid (pay level) (Non et al. 2006). The pay structure for the employees of the supply chain department of SSP is shown below. Basic Salary + Home Rent + Transport + Medical Allowance Other Benefits Besides the promotion an increment in the basic salary is granted for all the employees once a year to adjust with inflation. The employees get five bonuses in a year. They also have the provident fund facility.For the provident fund the company itself cuts 10 percent from the ba sic and the employees need to submit 10 percent from his own income. SSP also has a retirement plan for the employees. They take gratuity from the company after retirement. The company also provides the profit sharing scheme for the employees. The employees get some health care benefits at a discounted rate from selected hospitals and health care centers of Square. From now the employees will get health care benefits at a discounted rate at the Square Hospital.The employees can have their food from the office canteen free of cost. The employees of this department get cell phone facilities from the company. SSP has an official agreement with Grahame phone. The company provides the hand set to the employees with the Simi card. Besides, SSP also pays a fixed amount of the monthly ill of the employees Basic pay: Basic pay usually refers to the pay received without taking into account any additional benefits or bonuses, such as a car, medical cover, commissions, clothing, food etc. T als o refers to the amount of pay before taking any deductions such as tax off. Every employees of the organization has been provided a basic salary which varies according to their ranks. Compensation package are given on the basis of their basic payment Provident Fund: The Company's Provident Fund is a funded scheme. All confirmed and permanent employees are entitled to be members of the Provident Fund. The employee nutrition, equal to 10% of the basic salary, is deducted each month through the payroll. The Company's Provident Fund is a funded scheme.All long-established and enduring employees are at liberty to be members of the Provident Fund. In the Provident Fund Ledger, both the employee's and the Company's contributions are accredited to the individual employee's account. Gratuity Facility: Gratuity is a scheme to motivate people to serve for longer durations with the same employer. Anybody who has served an organization for more than 5 years is eligible for Gratuity. A portion of the employee's last drawn salary would be multiplied with he number of years of service and paid out when the leave an organization after years of service.This facility has been provided by the organization when an employee will leave from the organization. Bonuses: Incentive bonuses are a creative form of compensation that some employers offer their employees. Bonuses and cash incentives are a form of variable pay linked to individual, collective or organizational performance. Non cash incentives are also widely used such as; competency based pay, skill based pay, employee recognition and commission. 0 Festival Bonus: The bonus that is given on the eve of religious festival is called

Values and Ethics in a Global Setting in IT Essay

Values and Ethics in a Global Setting in IT - Essay Example Every individual has a set of beliefs and philosophies in mind that carry meaning and significance. Whether he or she consciously believes in those beliefs and philosophies or not, is not important. They can be in the subconscious mind, and the person does not have to think hard before reflecting them in his actions. These values are known as personal values and can include principles of punctuality, hard work, trust, and harmony. Steve Job’s belief of â€Å"Think different† has reflected in Apple’s success of coming up with innovative and creative technology that has earned them their brand recognition (Labrosse, 2010).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Personal values are relatively easier to tailor to a global setting. Most of the personal values, such as justice, trust and love, are prevalent in most of the communities around the world. What individuals need to do is find a point of intersection between the personal values and global values and build upon that. One can observe the online social communities, such as facebook and orkut, to see how they reflect personal values in a global arrangement. Individuals from all over the world use these mediums to interact with each other and socialize using harmony and trust with each other and are seen to give respect to others throughout the world.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are, however, differences found in personal values also.

Outbreak Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Outbreak - Essay Example The US has sufficient health structures in place and measles vaccine are usually given to people, so there have been lower measles cases as compared to cases in the rest of the world. From 1997, measles cases have ranged from 37 to 220. The cases have been reduced due to routine measles vaccine started in 1963 and MMR vaccine (1971). Before these intervention, measles cases were as high as 500, 000 with 500 deaths every year. Public health workers need to be competent enough to deal with measles cases. They need to be competent in measles vaccination. Public health workers should be well trained to be able to deal with emergencies and endemic diseases. They should be able to act with speed and professionalism in maintaining the situation, but most importantly, they should emphasize on preventive measures such as vaccination (Turncock, 2012). Competency frameworks are important because they offer guidelines on health training, especially as concerns dealing with communicable and chronic diseases. They provide standards for health practitioners to follow so that they are able to respond to health issues such as disease breakdowns and dealing with preventive and curative

K-Pop Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

K-Pop - Essay Example As a result, the youth had disposable resources that they could use in consuming popular culture. K-pop emerged to meet the need for a form of entertainment that was local but also embraced the pop curiosity that was rampant at the time. An interview conducted on a friend on whatsapp revealed that K-pop music is amazing and emotional. In addition, they are fresh and illustrate change as evident in the manner in which dancers attain rhythm and unity. Many people think that PSY single-heartedly invented K-pop, the Korean music scene. However, the emergence of the music genre can be traced to idol acts who popularized it in the 90s (Oak & Woong 1). Gangnam style, Psy’s sound and comedic choreography has attracted over 1.7 billion views since its release (Oak & Woong 1). In spite of this being the first K-pop hit that has achieved international success, early idols used a combination of western and Eastern sounds that were in-sync with the fashion choices of the time. In 1992, the Seo Taiji and Boys, a trio of singers and rappers emerged with a penchant for mixing American and Korean lyrics (Oak & Woong 1). They experienced success in South Korea due to the inherent desire for a music genre that could reflect their embrace of western culture with betraying their own. Entertainment companies looked at this new trend as an opportunity for enhancing their profits (Williamson 1). As a result, copycats emerged and contributed towards the genre becoming a mainstream act in Korea.

Porfirian Diaz and his role in the Mexican Revolution Research Paper

Porfirian Diaz and his role in the Mexican Revolution - Research Paper Example Foreign turmoil could not be seized by Diaz and in 1877 there was a military conflict with U. At the ends of his first –term ruling, Porfirio did not appeal for the second term . During Diaz reign there were no civil wars in Mexico. Nevertheless, this benefit cost much to the country. The introduction of agrarian reform, which enabled the privileged class to own all lands, was a negative feature of Diaz regime. Farmers had to pay their debts in order to survive. A high increase of price led to starving in the country. There were no homes for more than 16% of population . Foreign investors were attracted to the country by the options of land owning and poor people were forced off from their lands even those, who owned vast landholding. The high inflation rates of US led to depression of 1907 and prices were life were huge for Mexicans. Porfiriato introduced the laissez-faire policies, but these policies could not facilitate the process of inflation. When the economy was on the edge of crisis, middle and upper class did not support Porfiriato policies anymore. Foreign banks introduced stricter regulations for credit and the government raised taxes. The wages for workers remained low and Porfiriato could not manage to bridge the gap of inflation growth and required money for daily living of people. In spite of political and social turmoil in the country, there was a need to reelect the President and Francisco Madero claimed that there was a need for Mexico to return to the Constitution of 1857 . 4. Dictatorship of Diaz was undermined and was strictly criticized by the people. Madero underlined the necessity to introduce political and not social reforms. He criticized Diaz dependence on the foreign capital and the growing number of American businessmen. Diaz was reelected and the anger intensified in the society. Villages

Reflective Thinking. Easy Jet on airline markets. PESTEL And SWOT Essay

Reflective Thinking. Easy Jet on airline markets. PESTEL And SWOT Analysis - Essay Example This step involves revisiting experiences and knowledge with respect to the topic in question and why and how one performs the task. It involves examination of values, beliefs, assumptions and attitudes. Reflective thinking helps clarify and recognise the connection between what one knows and learns (TLC, 2008). Figure 1: The Thinking Process (Source: TLC, 2008) The reflective report prepared aims to demonstrate my knowledge derived from the projects on Easy Jet and various sections like business environment, PESTEL, Porters Five Forces and other relevant theories which were used in the project. Findings from the Report Based on the project made on Easy Jet, I have found that Easy Jet is regarded as a low-cost operator and is performing well in Europe. It operates internationally and also in a domestic airline market. It aims to becomes the best and the cheapest airline operator in the world. The airline faces tough challenges from its competitors such as Ryanair, British Airlines an d others. One great impact which I have noticed is that with the coming up of low-cost airlines, travellers prefer to travel by air rather than by bus, train or other means of transport. However, it should also be noted that along with low prices the airline should also be able to provide a level of comfort for the passengers so that the passengers feel comfortable while travelling, and I think the airline will be able to retain its customers in a positive way. I have analysed the business environment with the help of tools like PESTEL analysis, SWOT Analysis, Porters Five Forces along with operational management, supply chain and micro economic factors. In the process of using Porter’s Five Forces – a tool taking into consideration five important forces and helping determine the level of attractiveness in a particular industry – it was learned that the airline industry cannot be considered to be attractive because of the many unfavourable economic conditions pr evailing in the airline industry. The cost of entering is high and maintenance of airline is also a costly affair (on the other hand, it reduces the threat from new entrants in the airline industry). The bargaining power of buyers has the potential to result in a threat because of the competitive price offered by other airlines. It has also been seen that a threat of substitute is pretty high, as with the existence of other transport means such as buses, trains, cars, etc, passengers prefer to travel rather than to spend almost the same or a slightly higher amount on more expensive means of transport. Reflective Statement While conducting the analysis, I have learned that the above tools form an integral part of any analysis and have helped me understand the impact of various factors on the organisation. The first framework which I have used to analyse the airline industry is PESTEL analysis; this is because PESTEL takes into account the industry as a whole and analyzes political fa ctors which might impact the industry, as well as economic, social, technological, environmental and, lastly, legal factors. Why PESTEL Analysis? PESTEL gives an overview of the industry and is necessary to conduct, as it helps organisation to take the advantage of the opportunities; it also has the potential to minimise the threats. In the process of conducting the project, I have understood that PESTEL analysis can be carried out in relation to any form of business and industry, and it is one of the most important tools through which the companies evaluate the external environment and make necessary changes to fit the competitive environment and to survive in it.

Short story Critique Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Short story Critique - Essay Example The point of view in this story is that of a third person. This is because the narrator is an unnamed entity, who conveys the story without being an actual character (Rasley 21). It is the best point of view, since this is a fictitious narrative. There is dialogue from the story, such as that between young princess Mali and her mother Viutiv, this conversation, and others contained therein help in guiding the reader through the series of events that led to the Mali Kingdom’s downfall. The dialogues also suit the characters properly, for instance when the foreign prince states â€Å"Tell them how you pillaged and raided defenseless Oaungbre towns, laying waste to man, woman, and beast alike†, it is a clear indicator that he is speaking from a place of anguish and anger. The writer is articulate, making it easy to identify characters speaking at all times. The ending, just like the beginning is equally captivating and undoubtedly makes one want to read about other vengean ce plans the prince had for the royal family and Mali as a whole. It is difficult to discern weaknesses in this story, owing to the clear expression of ideas by the writer, and in a smooth flowing manner. Nevertheless, making the narrative more dramatic would intrigue readers even further; it would also be advisable for the writer to show how the royal family interacted with common civilians prior to the downfall. This would help the audience to identify and sympathize with the main character. A Thin Line The title of this story easily capture’s a reader’s attention. The beginning also introduces an aspect of curiosity among the characters, which translates to curiosity among readers as well. The presence of police and ambulances, as indicated by the flashing lights and... The title of this story easily capture’s a reader’s attention. The beginning also introduces an aspect of curiosity among the characters, which translates to curiosity among readers as well. The presence of police and ambulances, as indicated by the flashing lights and hovering onlookers gives the impression that an injurious crime must have taken place, and it is only natural to ponder over these events. However, the story lacks a smooth transition into the narration of events that occurred months earlier culminating in the beginning scene. The point of view is that of a third party since the narrator is uninvolved and unnamed. This story has numerous dialogues such as that between a character named Alexis and her mum. It is also difficult to tell the person speaking, an excellent illustration of this obscurity being the statement â€Å"Hey, just ignore her. Please Kevin everyone is having a good time and it has been more than two months since you guys broke up. You n eed to just move on and leave Jamie alone.†

Why some students cheats Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Why some students cheats - Essay Example Similarly, students who cheat on academic work do so because they feel the pressures of such an environment, and, lacking the means to pass the grade by their own skills and knowledge alone, they depend upon an unfair advantage to help them. Because of this, the rationale behind cheating is deeply embedded in human and animal nature, and the operations of the education system. The education system does not exist to â€Å"enlighten† its students. Ideally, however, it does offer students what they will need in life, and the opportunity to seek those goals. Post-secondary education institutions market their product instead by stressing class differences and distinctions between those who have a degree and those who do not. The requirements of a typical University often make personal success contingent upon one’s ability to conform to the expectations and needs of the department. It is the expectations of the college department which move students to try their hand at cheating. They do so in an effort to avoid falling behind and potentially losing their chance to move further into the course of study they found themselves on. This fear is based on economics and personal expectations (those of the student, his parents, and faculty). Ubiquitous access to the internet is often cited as the cause of a large volume of academic dishonesty. But although the internet is a necessary cause, it is not sufficient. While the internet has made cheating a more efficient process for students, it has not made irrelevant the more fundamental reasons for students to decide to cheat. The root cause of most cheating is, as I have already identified, unrealistic expectations on the part of parents, teachers, and faculty. These individuals provide the selection pressures on the cheater and make it such that if he or she does not cheat, he or she will be selected against and not allowed to move on. This cheating is seen as â€Å"natural† precisely because it is: all

Global Trade operations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Global Trade operations - Essay Example For a long time most companies have carried out trade between each other to dispose of their supplies in the most economical way and also acquire the products they do not have. In many cases, these transactions often boost the foreign policy between the involved parties especially where there is a mutual production of what the other nation lacks. The web of cross border trading by many countries therefore necessitated harmonisation of the international trade to make transactions easy and reduce time wastage at the ports. Global documents of trade were therefore adopted to simply this process. With export and import trade harmonised, an import of frozen fish for a British retailer from a supplier in Taiwan through FCL shipment in a refrigerated container and the Incoterm CIP Felixstowe use would be verified through the following documentation of export import trade. From the point of export in Taiwan, the supplier will have to present to the importer a supplier’s invoice since the transaction is in place. Suppliers invoice will serve the purpose of indicating the transaction cost to be incurred by the retailer for the supply of frozen fish from Taiwan to his destination. It should be made in a way that it reflects the nature of the export agreements. The agreement in this case is delivery up to the retailer’s premises using the CIP Felixtowe. If it happens that the frozen fish is further packed into large polythene packages, then a packing note would be used to indicate the contents of each sub-package in the refrigerated container. These details could be in form of kilograms or pieces of standard weight if the exporting supplier has standard package measures. This document will help the retailer to quickly verify one large package for consistency as a sample for his order instructions. In addition, the supplier will attach or provide a copy of

History of Bareilly Essay Example for Free

History of Bareilly Essay The region has, also, acted as a mint for a major part of its history. From archaeological point of view the district of Bareilly is very rich. The extensive remains of Ahichhatra, the Capital town of Northern Panchala have been discovered near Ramnagar village of Aonla Tehsil in the district. It was during the first excavations at Ahichhatra (1940–44) that the painted grey ware, associated with the advent of the Aryans in Ganga Yamuna Valley, was recognised for the first time in the earliest levels of the site. Nearly five thousand coins belonging to periods earlier than that of Guptas have been yielded from Ahichhatra. It has also been one of the richest sites in India from the point of view of the total yield of terracotta. Some of the masterpieces of Indian terracotta art are from Ahichhatra. In fact the classification made of the terracotta human figurines from Ahichhatra on grounds of style and to some extent stratigraphy became a model for determining the stratigraphy of subsequent excavations at other sites in the Ganga Valley. On the basis of the existing material, the archaeology of the region helps us to get an idea of the cultural sequence from the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC up to the 11th c. AD. Some ancient mounds in the district have also been discovered by the Deptt. of Ancient History and culture, Rohilkhand University, at Tihar-Khera (Fatehganj West), Pachaumi, Rahtuia, Kadarganj and Sainthal. [2]

Important Challenges And Opportunities For The Police Criminology Essay

Important Challenges And Opportunities For The Police Criminology Essay Policing is an important practice which has been around for many eras. In England a system of sheriffs, reeves, and investigative juries had developed under the Anglo-Saxons to provide basic security and law enforcement. In 1829, the Metropolitan Police Act had been passed by Parliament, This promoted the preventive role of police as a deterrent to urban crime and disorder. Since then policing has become a vital part in society. As it is now the 21st century, the Police is faced with new important challenges and opportunities. This essay is going to look at what the most important challenges and opportunities of the police in the 21st century are. The main topics which will be focused on will be public perceptions and community relations of the police, police equality and diversity, the growth of technological surveillance, the impact of globalisation and the war on terror. These are the most important challenges and opportunities faced by the police and it is essential to see why they are important and this essay will seek to explore this. One of the most important challenges and opportunities for the police in the 21st century is the public perception of the police. It has been seen as a concern by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair who has voiced his concerns about the publics perception of the role of the police in todays society (Source: No Author, 2008 bbc.co.uk) The media plays a huge part in community relations as they have the power to enforce ideas in people through all types of media, e.g. films, news and TV programmes. The medias portrayal of policing is juxtaposed with both positive and negative representations. A complex relationship exists between media consumption and public attitudes towards the police. Police on routine foot patrol have been put in place so that it makes the public feel safe knowing that there are some authority to keep things in order should the need arise, and also allows the police an opportunity to be able to engage with the public by regaining trust from them. An experiment was conducted The Newark Foot Patrol Experiment and the results had shown that while foot patrol may not have reduced a huge number of crimes, however it did reduce citizens fear of crime, the residents felt safer and felt like it was a better place to live and were satisfied with police services. (Source: policefoundation.org) A hand-picked team from CO19, the Metropolitan Polices elite firearms unit, will walk in gun crime hotspots where armed gangs have turned entire estates into no go zones, this being a huge challenge for the police in order to cut down gang crime etc they have been placed there for routine foot patrol this being an important opportunity for the police to tackle this i ssue of gang crime and any other crimes on the streets in the 21st century. (Source: Moore M, 2009. www.telegraph.co.uk) As the public perception is vital and is an important challenge to tackle, it has been seen however, in 2009 a Policing Pledge was introduced by every police force. The Pledge is a set of promises made by the police where they reflect on what the public have said they most want from their policing services, a set of requests, for example this scheme has promised that emergency 999 calls will be answered within  ten seconds, and that help will be sent immediately (Source: homeoffice.gov.uk 2009). Also an independent Police Complaints Commission Police Reform Act 2002 had been put in place in case of police having done something which the public are not entirely satisfied with. The Home office states that Diversity is defined as difference, everyone is different in terms of race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, faith and age, people have varied and equally valuable skills, knowledge and experience to put forward. Gender and race have been a challenge for the police in the 21st century, not only in terms of crime but also within the policing institute for example employment for the police. After the uproar of Stephen Lawrences injustice in 1993, police have found themselves with many opportunities to rectify their mistakes by tackling Racism as one of the police forces main priority. Quite a few members of the general public have lost all faith in the police, the police are challenged to change this and have the opportunity to help people when dealing with racist crimes. The human rights commission report highlighted that there was a disproportionate number of Black people and Asian people being stopped and searched. Figures in 2007/08 shows 1,035,43 8 stop and searches were carried out by the police and of the people that had been stopped and searched, figures indicate that 13% were Black, 8% were Asian and 3% mixed ethnicity. (Source: Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System 2007/8) Gender and racism within the policing institution are major challenges for the police as there is quite a difference between male and female police officers and also between white and ethnic minority police officers. One of the concerns that had been highlighted in the Equality and Human Rights Commission report showed high resignation rates and dismissals within ethnic minority individuals than white officers within the first 6 months of service, showing that there is an inequality here. 36,187 of the 144,274 officers in England and Wales were female, representing 25.1 per cent of the total, compared with 24.2 per cent in March 2008. Compared to male officers this is a small figure. The proportion of women in the more senior ranks of Chief Inspector and above was 13.0 per cent. As at 31 March 2009, there were 6,310 minority ethnic police officers in England and Wales, accounting for 4.4 per cent of all officers compared with 4.1 per cent in March 2008. (Source: Mulchandani Sigurdss on 2009 Pg. 5). Theres a sense of a canteen culture amongst the police force, this is where there are negative perceptions on the part of police against women and minorities, This term is generally applied to describe the attitudes of some of the lower ranks of the British police force who resist change and are comfortable with what the inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence called the Metropolitan Polices institutional racism. As it is now the 21st century, the police have been trying to tackle this challenge. A huge recruitment campaign was carried out by the police to increase the diversity of the police force. There has been an increase on recruitment with ethnic minorities wanting to be recruited to the forces figure had risen to 12.3 Percent in 2007/08 compared to the 8.4 Percent in 2003/04. (Source: Police and Racism Report Pg 13) Globalisation has become an important challenge and also has made a huge impact for policing, The majority of police functions and practices pertain to local and regionally specific matters of crime and order, However a large number of globalisation developments have crossed the boundaries of national borders. As the nature of crime has become wide, it shows that crime has no limitations and the September 11th 2001 terrorist attack in the United States is a good example of this. September 11th attacks isnt simply the main occurrence to the globalisation of policing, it was well underway due to many other forces which had occurred before. However since the September 11th attacks, the globalisation of policing did change. Although these attacks happened in the United States it shocked the whole world making the United Kingdom also a prime target (Ritzer, G Pg 380). This fear further emerged even more so after the July 7th 2005 bombings in London. This didnt become just an issue for ind ividual nations but it became a Global issue. The policing agencies are facing these challenges with the criminal justice and policing systems which are made to police the citizens in a national context. Police institutions are legitimated in the national states context. As a result, there is a persistence of nationality in international policing in at least three ways. Police institutions rather engage unilaterally in international activities without assistance from police of other nations. The 20th century mostly focused on fugitives from justice who had committed violent and property crimes. Other periods later saw the important shift towards the policing of drugs crimes and the control of illegal immigration. From 21st century and with extreme force since the events of September 11, 2001, international terrorism and technologically advanced crimes, such as cyber crimes and international money laundering schemes, have become the leading focus in international policing. (Source: Deflem, M Pg 972) The need to deal with the global issues relating to terrorism has come into conflict with keeping open borders to facilitate international economic transactions. The national approach to t hese challenges faced in the UK had revolved around security services in policing, expanded the use of covert policing activities, setting up agreements like bi-lateral and international teams with the UK and USA. The challenge faced by the police would be assuring that international laws are abided to and being able to apply new laws that could help deal with other countries. The Home Office are responsive to the challenges the police have to meet in the 21st century and want to build our ability to fight global threats such as drugs, trafficking, illegal immigration and the growth of globalisation of crime and terrorism which produced a real security threat to its growth. Global crime control is improving to an extent in various ways, however one challenge that the police face is that there is a great fear of threats to civil and human rights posed by these policing methods such as more intrusive surveillance technologies. (Source: Ritzer, G Pg 380). Due to the growth of technological surveillance it has given the police an opportunity to combat crime and this has aided them to achieve this. Surveillance is the monitoring of the behaviour, activities, or other changing information. Its an observation of individuals or groups by government organizations. Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) is an example of this. CCTV is seen as a vital part of the policing toolkit. Its preventative power, allowing officers to pre-empt trouble, its use as an extra pair of eyes or for intelligence gathering and the deterrent effect were all seen as benefits by the police. Many officers spoke about the time-saving power of CCTV. The reported high number of arrests in CCTV-related incidents points to the efficiency in the use of CCTV, if police are able to make arrests quickly this saves time in investigating an incident. (Source: Levesley T Martin A 2005 Pg. 11) One of the challenges faced by the police is that CCTV cameras are a controversial issue, and that people feel as though they have no privacy as they are being constantly watched like big brother. The growth of technological surveillance is an important opportunity for the police in the 21st century as it has given them the chance to develop new ways to combat crime, for example terrorism, it is to help members of the public feel safer. CCTV isnt the only form of technological surveillance which has helped the police in combating crime. There are also audio surveillance technologies, these are used to monitor a room, an individual person, or a telephone conversation. Electronic eavesdropping may be defined as intercepting conversations without the knowledge or consent of the participants. The most commonly used form is wiretapping, the interception of telephone or telegraph messages this is a new form of surveillance technology used a lot in the 21st century which is a important opportunity for the police, audio surveillance technologies in 21st century are mainly used as a tool for counter terrorism. The War on Terror is the campaign that was launched by the United States of America, and was supported by United Kingdom, NATO and other countries. The campaign had started in reaction to the September 11th, 2001 attacks and had stated that the main objective was to abolish international terrorism. (Source: Deflem, M Pg 972). The war on terror is probably the most important challenge that the police have faced in the 21st century so far, especially after September 11th attacks and the July 7th bombings in London. These attacks shocked the nation by the significant number of controls, checks and regulations that were put in place. Terrorist activity can come from a range of sources and counter terrorist policing has been a huge priority. Terrorism involves extraordinary violence. It is intentional and it is to create massive fear which involves a planned attack for a purpose. That is why terrorism is one of the most important challenges for police as like September 11th which 2,973 victims and the 19 hijackers died as a result of the attacks. Also the July 7th bombing in London has made a huge priority for the police to ensure that people in the U.K are safe and to prevent such destruction from occurring again a counter terrorism strategy has been put in place. The globalisation of crime and terrorism has produced a growing threat. In order to respond to these threats, the UK came up with a Counter terrorism strategy known as CONTEST. CONTEST main focus over the next 5 years is about reducing all threats and vulnerability in the UK. What Global terrorism has demonstrated in the past few years is that it is unlikely to consider that all security efforts will deny every attack every time. Thus the most practical approach is to protect cities as far as possible in doing so by reducing safety and security threats, risks and vulnerabilities. If an incident were to occur, then the mission is to react effectively, this being a huge challenge for the police in 21st century. (Source: security.homeoffice.gov.uk) One of the future challenges the police will have to face is the 2012 Olympic Paralympic Games in London. Its a challenge of security whereby they need to protect London and its guests over the 90 or so days of the Games from all types of threats including potential terrorist attacks. To conclude it is clear to see that the police face many important challenges and opportunities in the 21st century. One of the prime aspects being the topic of terrorism and this is because it is a huge threat and has the ability to cause major destruction. It is a new challenge which has emerged in the 21st century for the police whereas the other factors mentioned in this essay have existed as challenges for the police industry before the 21st Century. From this essay it is evident to see that there is a growth of technological surveillance which has been put into practice in order to control threats like terrorism. Having said this, all the challenges and opportunities mentioned in this essay are important for the police in the 21st century and should be seen as opportunities in which to regain public favour and trust.

Analysis of the Capital Assets Pricing Model

Analysis of the Capital Assets Pricing Model Chapter I The QUARREL ON THE CAPM: A LITERATURE SURVEY Abstract The current chapter has attempted to do three things. First it presents an overview on the capital asset pricing model and the results from its application throughout a narrative literature review. Second the chapter has argued that to claim whether the CAPM is dead or alive, some improvements on the model must be considered. Rather than take the view that one theory is right and the other is wrong, it is probably more accurate to say that each applies in somewhat different circumstances (assumptions). Finally the chapter has argued that even the examination of the CAPMs variants is unable to solve the debate into the model. Rather than asserting the death or the survival of the CAPM, we conclude that there is no consensus in the literature as to what suitable measure of risk is, and consequently as to what extent the model is valid or not since the evidence is very mixed. So the debate on the validity of the CAPM remains a questionable issue. 1. INTRODUCTION The traditional capital assets pricing model (CAPM), always the most widespread model of the financial theory, was prone to harsh criticisms not only by the academicians but also by the experts in finance. Indeed, in the last few decades an enormous body of empirical researches has gathered evidences against the model. These evidences tackle directly the models assumptions and suggest the dead of the beta (Fama and French, 1992); the systematic risk of the CAPM. If the world does not obey to the models predictions, it is maybe because the model needs some improvements. It is maybe because also the world is wrong, or that some shares are not correctly priced. Perhaps and most notably the parameters that determine the prices are not observed such as information or even the returns distribution. Of course the theory, the evidence and even the unexplained movements have all been subject to much debate. But the cumulative effect has been to put a new look on asset pricing. Financial Researchers have provided both theory and evidence which suggest from where the deviations of securities prices from fundamentals are likely to come, and why could not be explained by the traditional CAPM. Understanding security valuation is a parsimonious as well as a lucrative end in its self. Nevertheless, research on valuation has many additional benefits. Among them the crucial and relatively neglected issues have to do with the real consequences of the models failure. How are securities priced? What are the pricing factors and when? Once it is recognized that the models failure has real consequences, important issues arise. For instance the conception of an adequate pricing model that accounts for all the missing aspects. The objective of this chapter is to look at different approaches to the CAPM, how these have arisen, and the importance of recognizing that theres no single ‘right model which is adequate for all shares and for all circumstances, i.e. assumptions. We will, so move on to explore the research task, discuss the goodness and the weakness of the CAPM, and look at how different versions are introduced and developed in the literature. We will, finally, go on to explore whether these recent developments on the CAPM could solve the quarrel behind its failure. For this end, the recent chapter is organized as follows: the second section presents the theoretical bases of the model. The third one discusses the problematic issues on the model. The fourth section presents a literature survey on the classic version of the model. The five section sheds light on the recent developments of the CAPM together with a literature review on these versions. The next one raises the quarrel on the model and its modified versions. Section seven concludes the paper. 2. THEORETICAL BASES OF THE CAPITAL ASSET PRICING MODEL In the field of finance, the CAPM is used to determine, theoretically, the required return of an asset; if this asset is associated to a well diversified market portfolio while taking into account the non diversified risk of the asset its self. This model, introduced by Jack Treynor, William Sharpe and Jan Mossin (1964, 1965) took its roots of the Harry Markowitzs work (1952) which is interested in diversification and the modern theory of the portfolio. The modern theory of portfolio was introduced by Harry Markowitz in his article entitled â€Å"Portfolio Selection, appeared in 1952 in the Journal of Finance. Well before the work of Markowitz, the investors, for the construction of their portfolios, are interested in the risk and the return. Thus, the standard advice of the investment decision was to choose the stocks that offer the best return with the minimum of risk, and by there, they build their portfolios. On the basis of this point, Markowitz formulated this intuition by resorting to the diversifications mathematics. Indeed, he claims that the investors must in general choose the portfolios while getting based on the risk criterion rather than to choose those made up only of stocks which offer each one the best risk-reward criterion. In other words, the investors must choose portfolios rather than individual stocks. Thus, the modern theory of portfolio explains how rational investors use diversification to optimize their portfolio and what should be the price of an asset while knowing its systematic risk. Such investors are so-called to meet only one source of risk inherent to the total performance of the market; more clearly, they support only the market risk. Thus, the return on a risky asset is determined by its systematic risk. Consequently, an investor who chooses a less diversified portfolio, generally, supports the market risk together with the uncertaintys risk which is not related to the market and which would remain even if the market return is known. Sharpe (1964) and Linter (1965), while basing on the work of Harry Markowitz (1952), suggest, in their model, that the value of an asset depends on the investors anticipations. They claim, in their model that if the investors have homogeneous anticipations (their optimal behavior is summarized in the fact of having an efficient portfolio based on the mean-variance criterion), the market portfolio will have to be the efficient one while referring to the mean-variance criterion (Hawawini 1984, Campbell, Lo and MacKinlay 1997). The CAPM offer an estimate of a financial asset on the market. Indeed, it tries to explain this value while taking into account the risk aversion, more particularly; this model supposes that the investors seek, either to maximize their profit for a given level of risk, or to minimize the risk taking into account a given level of profit. The simplest mean-variance model (CAPM) concludes that in equilibrium, the investors choose a combination of the market portfolio and to lend or to borrow with proportions determined by their capacity to support the risk with an aim of obtaining a higher return. 2.1. Tested Hypothesis The CAPM is based on a certain number of simplifying assumptions making it applicable. These assumptions are presented as follows: The markets are perfect and there are neither taxes nor expenses or commissions of any kind; All the investors are risk averse and maximize the mean-variance criterion; The investors have homogeneous anticipations concerning the distributions of the returns probabilities (Gaussian distribution); and The investors can lend and borrow unlimited sums with the same interest rate (the risk free rate). The aphorism behind this model is as follows: the return of an asset is equal to the risk free rate raised with a risk premium which is the risk premium average multiplied by the systematic risk coefficient of the considered asset. Thus the expression is a function of: The systematic risk coefficient which is noted as; The market return noted; The risk free rate (Treasury bills), noted This model is the following: Where: ; represents the risk premium, in other words it represents the return required by the investors when they rather place their money on the market than in a risk free asset, and; ; corresponds to the systematic risk coefficient of the asset considered. From a mathematical point of view, this one corresponds to the ratio of the covariance of the assets return and that of the market return and the variance of the market return. Where: ; represents the standard deviation of the market return (market risk), and ; is the standard deviation of the assets return. Subsequently, if an asset has the same characteristics as those of the market (representative asset), then, its equivalent will be equal to 1. Conversely, for a risk free asset, this coefficient will be equal to 0. The beta coefficient is the back bone of the CAPM. Indeed, the beta is an indicator of profitability since it is the relationship between the assets volatility and that of the market, and volatility is related to the returns variations which are an essential element of profitability. Moreover, it is an indicator of risk, since if this asset has a beta coefficient which is higher than 1, this means that if the market is in recession, the return on the asset drops more than that of the market and less than it if this coefficient is lower than 1. The portfolio risk includes the systematic risk or also the non diversified risk as well as the non systematic risk which is known also under the name of diversified risk. The systematic risk is a risk which is common for all stocks, in other words it is the market risk. However the non systematic risk is the risk related to each asset. This risk can be reduced by integrating a significant number of stocks in the market portfolio, i.e. by diversifying well in advantage (Markowitz, 1985). Thus, a rational investor should not take a diversified risk since it is only the non diversified risk (risk of the market) which is rewarded in this model. This is equivalent to say that the market beta is the factor which rewards the investors exposure to the risk. In fact, the CAPM supposes that the market risk can be optimized i.e. can be minimized the maximum. Thus, an optimal portfolio implies the weakest risk for a given level of return. Moreover, since the inclusion of stocks diversifies in advantage the portfolio, the optimal one must contain the whole stocks on the market, with the equivalent proportions so as to achieve this goal of optimization. All these optimal portfolios, each one for a given level of return, build the efficient frontier. Here is the graph of the efficient frontier: The (Markowitz) efficient frontier The efficient frontier Lastly, since the non systematic risk is diversifiable, the total risk of the portfolio can be regarded as being the beta (the market risk). 3. Problematic issues on the CAPM Since its conception as a model to value assets by Sharpe (1964), the CAPM has been prone to several discussions by both academicians and experts. Among them the most known issues concerning the mean variance market portfolio, the efficient frontier, and the risk premium puzzle. 3.1 The mean-variance market portfolio The modern portfolio theory was introduced for the first time by Harry Markowitz (1952). The contribution of Markowitz constitutes an epistemological shatter with the traditional finance. Indeed, it constitutes a passageway from an intuitive finance which is limited to advices related to financial balance or to tax and legal nature advices, to a positive science which is based on coherent and fundamental theories. One allots to Markowitz the first rigorous treatment of the investor dilemma, namely how obtaining larger profits while minimizing the risks. 3.2 The efficient frontier 3.3 The equity premium puzzle 4. Background on the CAPM â€Å"The attraction of the CAPM is that it offers powerful and intuitively pleasing predictions about how to measure risk and the relation between expected return and risk. Unfortunately, the empirical record of the model is poor poor enough to invalidate the way it is used in applications. The CAPMs empirical problems may reflect theoretical failings, the result of many simplifying assumptions.† Fama and French, 2003, â€Å"The Capital Asset Pricing Model: Theory and Evidence†, Tuck Business School, Working Paper No. 03-26 Being a theory, the CAPM found the welcome thanks to its circumspect elegance and its concept of good sense which supposes that a risk averse investor would require a higher return to compensate for supported the back-up risk. It seems that a more pragmatic approach carries out to conclude that there are enough limits resulting from the empirical tests of the CAPM. Tests of the CAPM were based, mainly, on three various implications of the relation between the expected return and the market beta. Firstly, the expected return on any asset is linearly associated to its beta, and no other variable will be able to contribute to the increase of the explanatory power. Secondly, the beta premium is positive which means that the market expected return exceeds that of individual stocks, whose return is not correlated with that of the market. Lastly, according to the Sharpe and Lintner model (1964, 1965), stocks whose return is not correlated with that of the market, have an expected return equal to the risk free rate and a risk premium equal to the difference between the market return and the risk free rate return. In what follows, we are going to examine whether the CAPMs assumptions are respected or not through the empirical literature. Starting with Jensen (1968), this author wants to test for the relationship between the securities expected return and the market beta. For this reason, he uses the time series regression to estimate for the CAPM ´ s coefficients. The results reject the CAPM as for the moment when the relationship between the expected return on assets is positive but that this relation is too flat. In fact, Jensen (1968) finds that the intercept in the time series regression is higher than the risk free rate. Furthermore, the results indicate that the beta coefficient is lower than the average excess return on the market portfolio. In order to test for the CAPM, Black et al. (1972) work on a sample made of all securities listed on the New York Stock Exchange for the period of 1926-1966. The authors classify the securities into ten portfolios on the basis of their betas.They claim that grouping the securities with reference to their betas may offer biased estimates of the portfolio beta which may lead to a selection bias into the tests. Hence, so as to get rid of this bias, they use an instrumental variable which consists of taking the previous periods estimated beta to select a securitys portfolio grouping for the next year. For the estimate of the equation, the authors use the time series regression. The results indicate, firstly, that the securities associated to high beta had significantly negative intercepts, whereas those with low beta had significantly positive intercepts. It was proved, also, that this effect persists overtime. Hence, these evidences reject the traditional CAPM. Secondly, it is found that the relation between the mean excess return and beta is linear which is consistent with the CAPM. Nevertheless, the results point out that the slopes and intercepts in the regression are not reliable. In fact, during the prewar period, the slope was sharper than that predicted by the CAPM for the first sub period, and it was flatter during the second sub period. However, after that, the slope was flatter. Basing on these results, Black, Fischer, Michael C. Jensen and Myron Scholes (1972) conclude that the traditional CAPM is inconsistent with the data. Fama and MacBeth (1973) propose another regression method so as to overcome the problem related to the residues correlation in a simple linear regression. Indeed, instead of estimating only one regression for the monthly average returns on the betas, they propose to estimate regressions of these returns month by month on the betas. They include all common stocks traded in NYSE from 1926 to 1968 in their analysis. The monthly averages of the slopes and intercepts, with the standard errors of the averages, thus, are used to check, initially, if the beta premium is positive, then to test if the averages return of assets which are not correlated with the market return is from now on equal to the average of the risk free rate. In this way, the errors observed on the slopes and intercepts are directly given by the variation for each month of the regression coefficients, which detect the effects of the residues correlation over the variation of the regression. Their study led to three main results. At first, the relationship between assets return and their betas in an efficient portfolio is linear. At second, the beta coefficient is an appropriate measure of the securitys risk and no other measure of risk can be a better estimator. Finally, the higher the risk is, the higher the return should be. Blume and Friend (1973) in their paper try to examine theoretically and empirically the reasons beyond the failure of the market line to explain excess return on financial assets. The authors estimate the beta coefficients for each common stock listed in the New York Stock Exchange over the period of January 1950 to December 1954. Then, they form 12 portfolios on the basis of their estimated beta. They afterwards, calculate the monthly return for each portfolio. Third, they calculate the monthly average return for portfolios from 1955 to 1959. These averaged returns were regressed to obtain the value of the beta portfolios. Finally, these arithmetic average returns were regressed on the beta coefficient and the square of beta as well. Through, this study, the authors point out that the failure of the capital assets pricing model in explaining returns maybe due to the simplifying assumption according to which the functioning of the short-selling mechanism is perfect. They defend their point of view while resorting to the fact that, generally, in short sales the seller cannot use the profits for purchasing other securities. Moreover, they state that the seller should make a margin of roughly 65% of the sales market value unless the securities he owns had a value three times higher than the cash margin. This makes a severe constraint on his short sales. In addition to that, the authors reveal that it is more appropriate and theoretically more possible to remove the restriction on the short sales than that of the risk free rate assumption (i.e., to borrow and to lend on a unique risk free rate). The results show that the relationship between the average realized returns of the NYSE listed common stocks and their correspondent betas is almost linear which is consistent with the CAPM assumptions. Nevertheless, they advance that the capital assets pricing model is more adequate for the estimates of the NYSE stocks rather than other financial assets. They mention that this latter conclusion is may be owed to the fact that the market of common stocks is well segmented from markets of other assets such as bonds. Finally, the authors come out with the two following conclusions: Firstly, the tests of the CAPM suggest the segmentation of the markets between stocks and bonds. Secondly, in absence of this segmentation, the best way to estimate the risk return tradeoff is to do it over the class of assets and the period of interest. The study of Stambaugh (1982) is interested in testing the CAPM while taking into account, in addition to the US common stocks, other assets such as, corporate and government bonds, preferred stocks, real estate, and other consumer durables. The results indicate that testing the CAPM is independent on whether we expand or not the market portfolio to these additional assets. Kothari Shanken and Sloan (1995), show that the annual betas are statistically significant for a variety of portfolios. These results were astonishing since not very early, Fama and French (1992), found that the monthly and the annual betas are nearly the same and are not statistically significant. The authors work on a sample which covers all AMEX firms for the period 1927-1990. Portfolios are formed in five different ways. Firstly, they from 20 portfolios while basing only on beta. Secondly, 20 portfolios by grouping on size alone. Thirdly, they take the intersection of 10 independent beta or size to obtain 100 portfolios. Then, they classify stocks into 10 portfolios on beta, and after that into 10 portfolios on size within each beta group. They, finally, classify stocks into 10 portfolios on size and then into 10 portfolios on beta within each size group. They use the GRSP equal weighted portfolio as a proxy for the whole market return market. The cross-sectional regression of monthly return on beta and size has led to the following conclusions: On the one hand, when taking into account only the beta, it is found that the parameter coefficient is positive and statistically significant for both the sub periods studied. On the other hand, it is demonstrated that the ability of beta and size to explain cross sectional variation of the returns on the 100 portfolios ranked on beta given the size, is statistically significant. However, the incremental economic benefit of size given beta is relatively small. Fama and French published in 1992 a famous study putting into question the CAPM, called since then the Beta is dead paper (the article announcing the death of Beta). The authors use a sample which covers all the stocks of the non-financial firms of the NYSE, AMEX and NASDAQ for the period of the end of December 1962 until June 1990. For the estimate of the betas; they use the same test as that of Fama and Macbeth (1973) and the cross-sectional regression. The results indicate that when paying attention only to the betas variations which are not related to the size, it is found that the relation between the betas and the expected return is too flat, and this even if the beta is the only explanatory variable. Moreover, they show that this relationship tend to disappear overtime. In order to verify the validity of the CAPM in the Hungarian stock market, Andor et al. (1999) work on daily and monthly data on 17 Hungarian stocks between the end of July 1991 and the beginning of June 1999. To proxy for the market portfolio the authors use three different indexes which are the BUX index, the NYSE index, and the MSCI world index. The regression of the stocks return against the different indexes return indicates that the CAPM holds. Indeed, in all cases it is found that the return is positively associated to the betas and that the R-squared value is not bad at all. They conclude, hence, that the CAPM is appropriate for the description of the Hungarian stock market. For the aim of testing the validity of the CAPM, Kothari and Jay Shanken (1999), study the one factor model with reference to the size anomaly and the book to market anomaly. The sample used in their study contains annual return on portfolios from the GRSP universe of stocks. The portfolios are formed every July from 1927 to 1992. The formation procedure is the following; every year stocks are sorted on the basis of their market capitalization and then on their betas while regressing the past returns on the GRSP equal weighted index return. They obtain, hence, ten portfolios on the basis of the size. Then, the stocks in each size portfolio are grouped into ten portfolios based on their betas. They repeat the same procedure to obtain the book-to-market portfolios. Using the Fama and MacBeth cross-sectional regression, the authors find those annual betas perform well since they are significantly associated to the average stock returns especially for the period 1941-1990 and 1927-1990. Moreover, the ability of the beta to predict return with reference to the size and the book to market is higher. In a conclusion, this study is a support for the traditional CAPM. Khoon et al. (1999), while comparing two assets pricing models in the Malaysian stock exchange, examine the validity of the CAPM. The data contains monthly returns of 231 stocks listed in the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange over the period of September 1988 to June 1997. Using the cross section regression (two pass regression) and the market index as the market portfolio, the authors find that the beta coefficient is sometimes positive and some others negative, but they do not provide any further tests. In order to extract the factors that may affect the returns of stocks listed in the Istanbul stock exchange, Akdeniz et al. (2000)make use of monthly return of all non financial firms listed in the up mentioned stock market for the period that spans from January 1992 to December 1998. They estimate the beta coefficient in two stages using the ISE composite index as the market portfolio. First, they employ the OLS regression and estimate for the betas each month for each stock. Then, once the betas are estimated for the previous 24 months (time series regression), they rank the stocks into five equal groups on the basis of the pre-ranking betas and the average portfolio beta is attributed to each stock in the portfolio. They, afterwards, divide the whole sample into two equal sub-periods and the estimation procedure is done for each sub-period and the whole period as well. The results from the cross sectional regression, indicate that the return has no significant relationship with the market beta. This variable does not appear to influence cross section variation in all the periods studied (1992-1998, 1992-1995, and 1995-1998). In a relatively larger study, Estrada (2002) investigates the CAPM with reference to the downside CAPM. The author works on a monthly sample covering the period that spans from 1988 to 2001 (varied periods are considered) on stocks of 27 emerging markets. Using simple regression, the authors find that the downside beta outperforms the traditional CAPM beta. Nevertheless, the results do not support the rejection of the CAPM from two aspects. Firstly, it was found that the intercept from the regression is not statistically different from zero. Secondly, the beta coefficient is positive and statistically significant and the explanatory power of the model is about 40%. This result stems for the conclusion according to which the CAPM is still alive within the set of countries studied. In order to check the validity of the CAPM, and the absence of anomalies that must be incorporated to the model, Andrew and Joseph (2003) try to investigate the ability of the model to predict book-to market portfolios. If it is the case, then the CAPM captures the Book-to-market anomaly and theres no need to further incorporate it in the model. For this intention, the authors work on a sample that covers the period of 1927-2001 and contains monthly data on stocks listed in the NYSE, AMEX, and NASDAQ. So as to form the book-to-market portfolios, they use, alike Fama and French (1992), the size and the book-to-market ratio criterion. To estimate for the market return, they use the return on the value weighted portfolios on stocks listed in the pre-cited stock exchanges and to proxy for the risk free rate; they employ the one-month Treasury bill rate from Ibbotson Associates. They, afterwards, divide the whole period into two laps of time; the first one goes from July 1927 to June 1963, and the other one span from July 1963 to the end of 2001. Using asymptotic distribution the results indicate that the CAPM do a great job over the whole period, since the intercept is found to be closed to zero, but there is no evidence for a value premium. Hence, they conclude that the CAPM cannot be rejected. However, for the pre-1963 period the book to market premium is not significant at all, whereas for the post-1963 period this premium is relatively high and statistically significant. Nevertheless, when accounting for the sample size effect, the authors find that there is an overall risk premium for the post-1963 period. The authors conclude then that, taken as a whole, the study fails to reject the null that the CAPM holds. This study points to the necessity to take into account the small sample bias. Fama and French (2004), estimate the betas of stocks provided by the CRSP (Center for Research in Security Prices of the University of Chicago) of the NYSE (1928-2003), the AMEX (1963-2003) and the NASDAQ (1972-2003). They form, thereafter, 10 portfolios on the basis of the estimated betas and calculate their return for the eleven months which follow. They repeat this process for each year of 1928 up to 2003. They claim that, the Sharpe and Lintner model, suppose that the portfolios move according to a linear line with an intercept equal to risk free rate and a slope which is equal to the difference between the expected return on the market portfolio and that of the risk free rate. However, their study, and in agreement with the previous ones, confirms that the relation between the expected return on assets and their betas is much flatter than the prediction of the CAPM. Indeed, the results indicate that the expected return of portfolios having relatively lower beta are too high whereas expected return of those with higher beta is too low. Moreover, these authors indicate that even if the risk premium is lower than what the CAPM predicts, the relation between the expected return and beta is almost linear. This latter result, confirms the CAPM of Black which assumes that only the beta premium is positive. This means, analogically, that only the market risk is rewarded by a higher return. In order to test for the consistency of the CAPM with the economic reality, Thierry and Pim (2004) use monthly return of stocks from the NYSE, NASDAQ, and AMEX for the period that spans from 1926-2002. The one -month US Treasury bill is used as a proxy for the risk free rate, The CRPS total return index which is a value-weighted average of all US stocks included in this study is used as a proxy for the market portfolio. They sort stocks into ten deciles portfolios on the basis of historical 60 months. They afterwards, calculate for the following 12 months their value weighted returns. They obtain, subsequently, 100 beta-size portfolios. The results from the time series regression indicate, firstly, that the intercepts are statistically indifferent from zero. Secondly, it is found that the betas coefficients are all positive. Furthermore, in order to check the robustness of the model, the authors split the whole sample into sub-samples of equal length (432 months). The results indicate, also, that for all the periods studied the intercepts are statistically not different from zero except for the last period. In his empirical study, Blake T (2005) works on monthly stocks return on 20 stocks within the SP 500 index during January 1995-December 2004. The SP 500 index is used as the market portfolio and the 3-month Treasury bill in the Secondary Market as the risk free rate. His methodology can be summarized as follows; the excess return on each stock is regressed against the market excess return. The excess return is taken as the sample average of each stock and the market as well. After estimating of the betas, these values are used to verify the validity of the CAPM. The coefficient of beta is estimated by regressing estimated expected excess stock returns on the estimates of beta and the regression include intercept and the residual squared so as to measure the non systematic risk. The results confirm the validity of the CAPM through its three major assumptions. In fact, the null hy