The characteristics of small business owners&8223, and the nature of Essay

The characteristics of small business owners‟, and the nature of small business in general - Essay Example Small businesses are usually sole proprietorship companies that are run by individuals or families. The success of small businesses largely depends on their owners and the resources available to them (English, 2006). There are many desirable characteristics of small business owners, namely (a) opportunity seekers, (b) risk-takers, (c) persistent, (d) committed to work, (e) goal setters, (f) information seekers, (g) knows how to demand for quality and efficiency, (h) good in planning and monitoring, (i) persuasive and knows how to communicate ideas, and (j) confident ((English, 2006; English and Moate, 2009; Deakins, and Freel, 2009). To get a clearer picture of how small businesses work and what important characteristics small business owners should have, let us discuss these things one by one. II. Characteristics of Small Businesses in General One of the main advantages of small businesses is flexibility and the ability to move quickly (Deakins, and Freel, 2009). Note that in small businesses, the owners are usually at the helm of the operations and can decide immediately on issues concerning the business. Also, in small businesses, there are very few management levels which make decision-making processes less complicated (Deakins, and Freel, 2009). Since small businesses are flexible, it can easily jump into certain opportunities. ... This kind of open and fluid communication is usually absent in bigger companies so it takes longer time for bigger companies to decide on certain production issues and meet the demands of the market. Small businesses have many disadvantages but they also have disadvantages. One of the biggest disadvantages of small businesses is limited capital. Most small businesses are financed directly from the pocket of their owners so they do not usually have that much start-up capital (Gerber, 2001). Generating capital through bank loans may also prove to be quite a challenge for small businesses since they establishments do not have enough assets to serve as guarantee for loans (Gerber, 2001). In most cases, small business owners have to mortgage their personal properties to finance their businesses. Since small businesses have limited capital, these establishments may find it difficult to development their products properly and reach their target market efficiently (Gerber, 2001). Operating o n shoe-string budget often takes its toll on small businesses and many of these establishments go bankrupt during the first six months of operation. III. Characteristics of Small Business Owners Running a small business is challenging and it takes a special breed of entrepreneurs to set-up and run this kind of establishment. According to Zahra et al. (2009), running a small business is like running a guerilla army with limited resources in a flexible environment that allows the entrepreneur to innovate and be creative. As earlier mentioned in this essay, there are many desirable characteristics of small business owners. In order to survive in a very competitive market, small business owners must know how to spot opportunities and act

Compare and contrast the financial systems of two different countries. Use an institutional approach to describe the system. Comment on the impact on, and response to the GFC in each country Essay Example for Free

Compare and contrast the financial systems of two different countries. Use an institutional approach to describe the system. Comment on the impact on, and response to the GFC in each country Essay 1.0 Introduction A financial system inquires for efficient allocation of resources among the surplus and deficit units (Viney 2009) as such it encourages more savings where funds are provided for investor to invest and also ease the transactions for goods and services (Viney 2009). There are three main components in the financial systems which are the financial institutions, financial instruments and financial markets. All three types of financial system each carry different function, roles and regulations. However, financial institutions will be mainly focus in this research essay. Global Financial Crisis (GFC), also known as the ‘great recession’ occurs in the year of approximately 2007-08. GFC has caused a several impact on the economy which leads to a several collapse of the financial institutions. For instance, the collapse of Lehman Brothers, one of the major investment banks in US (Australia Bureau of Statistics 2010). Thus, the objective of this essay is to examine both financial system of the chosen countries which are United States and Australia, also the impacts and responses on the GFC in both of the chosen countries. 2.0 Compare and Contrast both Financial Systems 2.1 Central Bank The central bank of the United States (U.S.) is known as Federal Reserve System (FED) whereas the central bank of Australia is known as the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). The Federal Reserve System’s structure consist of the Board of Governors which are duly appointed by the president, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), and 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks located throughout the major states in the country (The Federal Reserve Board 2003). Banking in U.S. is regulated at both federal and state level. Unlike U.S., Australia has only one central bank which is the Reserve Bank of Australia. However, both central banks are independent within their government (Reserve Bank of Australia 2001) whereby for FED, the monetary policies decisions do not have to go through the President’s authorization, and for RBA, they have statutory authority established by an act of parliament which grants them  specific powers and obligations to carry out necessary policies (Reserve Bank of Australia 2001). On the other hand, RBA has two board, which are the reserve bank board and payment systems board (Reserve Bank of Australia 2001). The reserve bank board is responsible for monetary and banking policy whereas the payment systems board is responsible for controlling risk in the financial system, promoting the efficiency of the payments system, and promoting competition in the market for payment services, consistent with the overall stability of the financial system (Reserve Bank of Australia 2001). The role of FED is to conduct the country’s monetary policy, which includes full employment, stable prices and moderate long term interest rates as stated in the Federal Reserve Act (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 2008). Furthermore, they maintain the stability of the financial system, supervise and regulate banking institutions, provide financial services to depository institutions, and foreign official institutions. FOMC will determine the cost and availability of money and credit in the country’s economy by affecting the discount rate, reserve requirements and controlling the open market operations (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 2012). Likewise, the role of RBA is to conduct monetary policy as well, which includes the maintenance of price stability, full employment and the economic prosperity and welfare of the Australian citizens (Reserve Bank of Australia 2001). Besides that, they also set the cash rate to meet a medium term inflation target (Reserve Bank of Australia 2001). Moreover, RBA must maintain a strong financial system and efficient payments system and the issuing of the nation’s bank notes. Selected banking services are provided to the Australian government, agencies, official institutions, and a number of overseas central banks (Reserve Bank of Australia 2001). 2.2 Commercial Bank Commercial banks in the U.S. are quite similar to those of Australia whereby their main role is to act as a financial intermediary by channeling funds from agents who deposit money and lenders who needs fund and wants to borrow. These agents and lenders include households, businesses, governments and foreigners. Australia offer products and services which include balance sheet transactions and off-balance-sheet transactions (Viney 2009). For balance sheet transaction, the first purpose is to loan activity to match the available amount of deposits that they received from customers. This activity is known as assets management (Viney 2009). The second purpose is to manage their sources of funds in order to ensure that they have sufficient amount of funds available to meet the loan demand or any other form of commitments. This activity is known as liabilities management (Viney 2009). For off-balance-sheet transactions, it includes a substantial volume of business that is not recorded either an asset or liability on their balance sheet. In comparison, U.S. obtains their funds (liabilities) by issuing deposits, checking deposits, time deposits, saving deposits (Samolyk 2004). For their use of funds (assets), it includes making commercial, consumer, and mortgage loans, and by buying U.S. government and municipal bonds (Samolyk 2004). Therefore, commercial banks play an important role in funding business borrowers. The percentage of non-financial business borrowing that commercial banks fund on their balance sheets has not declined remarkably in the past five decades or so. The commercial banks in U.S. provide trade financing, foreign exchange, corporate finances and miscellaneous banking services which include currency specified credit cards, corporate checking accounts and lock boxes (Ireland n.d.). Moreover, the existence of commercial banks made reliable transfer of funds between different countries all over the world possible. Furthermore, the distribution of valuable economic and business information among clients around the world is made possible as well (Samolyk 2004). Similarly, there are basically two functions of a commercial bank in Australia. The primary functions are obviously to accept deposits from individuals, and grant loans and advances for personal or corporate purposes. The secondary functions consists of collecting and supplying business information, providing reports on the credit worthiness of customers, standing guarantee on behalf of its customers for making payments for the purchase of goods, vehicles, machinery, and so on. Besides that, they also provide customers with foreign exchange facilities; and they also provide safe deposits vaults or lockers for valuables, important documents and securities. In a nutshell, for both countries, there are several similarities in the roles of commercial banks. Commercial banks promote capital formation whereby they accept deposits from individuals and businesses, whereby these deposits are then made available to the businesses which will make use of them for industrious purposes in the country (Ireland n.d.). Moreover, they also provide short and medium term loans for entrepreneurs to invest in new enterprises or businesses. Furthermore, they also promote trade and industry since they offer the use of bank draft, bill of exchange, check, credit cards and letters of credit. In one way or another, they also influence the level of economic activity by influencing the rate of interest and the availability of credit in the market. Most importantly, they implement the monetary policy proposed by FED or RBA to bring about price stability, full employment and promote economic growth within the country. There are several sources of funds for these commercial banks. The main source would of course be from the current account deposits. However, they do have other sources as well such as demand deposits, term deposits, negotiable certificates of deposits, bills acceptance liabilities, foreign currency liabilities, loan capital and shareholders’ equity. 2.3 Non-bank Financial Institutions 2.3.1 Depository Financial Institution Depository institutions (DPI) act as a financial intermediary similar to a commercial bank, whereby its main task is to accept deposits from surplus units and then issue loans to the deficit units in the financial system (Viney 2009). The main regulator for Australia is Australia Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) whereas for U.S. is the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). As for U.S., there are about 9, 000 functional depository financial institutions in the U.S. They operate through 92, 000 branch offices located in different states (Finance Maps of World 2011). Their role is to set a benchmark for DPI in the ground of  commercial banking. The funds that are collected is used to meet the credit need of others (Finance Maps of World 2011). On the other hand, Australia’s DPI consists of three main institutions which are banks, building societies and credit unions (Reserve Bank of Australia 2001). There are a total of 171 institutions of which 55 are banks, 11 are building societies and 105 are credit unions (Reserve Bank of Australia 2001). 2.3.2 Investment banks and Merchant banks Investment banks and merchant banks primary objective is to collect funds and invest them in the market to achieve specific goals set for different types of investments (Viney 2009). There are generally two types of investment companies which are open-end or closed-end mutual funds. Open-end funds will accept new investment and trade in old ones, whereas for closed-end funds they only accept funds once and then do not take in any additional new funds. Investment companies have recently become more popular among U.S. and Australia, and have managed trillions of dollars. As for U.S. investment banks specialize in facilitating financial transactions rather than just providing finance. They have a good reputation as a financial innovator since their responsibilities includes the improvement of new financial products and services which must meet the ever changing needs of clients (Kumar, Chuppe Perttunen 1997). In contrast, investment banks and merchant banks in Australia are not considered an authorized bank but often referred to as money market corporations (Viney 2009). They do not have a depositor base to include in their assets. Therefore, they raise funds through the issues of securities from the international money and capital markets (Viney 2009). 2.3.3 Contractual savings institutions Contractual saving institutions offer contract that specify, in return for periodic payments to the institutions, and the institutions will make payments to the contract holders if any specified event occurs (Viney 2009). They include general insurance companies and superannuation funds. As for U.S., their insurance companies raise money mainly from the issuance of insurance policies and collecting annual premiums. Some might also borrow from the dept capital markets as an alternative source of funds. For superannuation funds, or more popularly known as pension funds in the U.S., they are funded by the deductions from employees’ monthly salary in addition with certain contribution by the employers (Cohen Schubert 2010). On the contrary, Australia have make it compulsory for their employees to contribute to the superannuation system (Cohen Schubert 2010) whereby for U.S., an estimated 78 million working Americans which include the sole traders, employees who work for small employers or even part timers, do not have access to a retirement fund (Cohen Schubert 2010). For U.S., it has firstly introduced as a beneficial payment of employment whereas for Australia, it was created as a comprehensive system from the start (McLennan 2000). 2.3.4 Finance companies Finance companies and general financiers are basically institutions who provide loans and charter finance to clients by borrowing funds directly from the financial market (Viney 2009). As for U.S., these institutions raise funds in the debt market by issuing securities. Therefore, they raise funds solely by issuing debt or borrowing from other institutions but not taking deposits directly (Samolyk 2004). Similarly for Australia, they raise funds by issuing commercial paper, bonds and medium-term notes (Reserve Bank of Australia 2001). 2.3.5 Unit trusts Unit trusts is formed under a trust deed, and is controlled and managed by trustee by selling units to the public as a means to raise funds whereby investors purchase units in the trust (Viney 2009). As for U.S., there are generally two types of unit trusts, one that falls under private management and another that falls under direct state authority. Their role mainly involves traditional banking activities that are related to issuance of loans and deposits. The major difference between private and state authority trust is state authority institutions obtain funds from deposits and through the sale of shares, whereas private institutions operate as an intermediaries by generating finance through providing investment opportunities to clients (Samolyk 2004). Likewise, Australia too has two different types which are public unit trusts and cash management trusts  (Viney 2009). Public unit trusts focus more on gathering investors’ funds and investing it into specific types of assets (Viney 2009). However, for cash management trusts, they focus more on trust deed which are open to the public by confining their investment to financial securities which are accessible through the short-term money market (Viney 2009). 3.0 The impact of GFC 3.1 United States The birth of the global financial crisis begin somewhere in 2008. It all started in early 2006 when the subprime mortgage market in the United States (U.S.) began to reveal an increasing rate of mortgage defaults due to the bursting of the housing bubble (Mishkin 2011). Subsequently, in late 2006, these defaults caused a decline in the U.S. housing prices after about a decade of extremely high growth statistics. Later on, the prime mortgage markets were affected as well and were showing a higher default rates by the end of 2007. Therefore, when the mortgages backing the securities began to fall in value, the value of the securities fell as well (Nielsen 2010). Looking at the fall in price of their assets, investors quickly attempt to liquidate their assets in around late 2007. Consequently, in 2008, a major financial crisis hit U.S. which led to the most severe recession since World War II. The financial crisis in the U.S. economy eventually spread to many foreign nations, affecting the global financial system, resulting in a global financial crisis (Shah 2010). The degree of the global financial crisis was so severe that some of the world’s largest financial institutions have collapsed. U.S. was no exception. History was made when one of the largest investment banks in the world, Lehman Brothers, collapsed in September 2008. Some other institutions have been vehemently bought out by their competitors at a low price, and in some cases, the governments of the richest countries in the world had no choice but to sought an expensive bail out and rescue plan to save some of the remaining large banks and financial institutions (Shah 2010). These were all done at the expense of the US taxpayers. Approximately $9.7 trillion of US taxpayers’ money alone have been spent for bailout packages and plans (Dhameja 2010). According to Bloomberg, $14.5 trillion, or about 33%, of the  value of the world’s companies have been wiped out by the crisis. Therefore, as credit became scarce and seeing an increase in the lack of confidence in the U.S. financial institutions, international banks started to increase the interest rate for inter-bank borrowing, known as the LIBOR (Mishkin 2011). Subsequently, a crash in the US stock market was observed, liquidity drying up, and employees were being laid off which cause an increase in the unemployment line (Dhameja 2010). U.S. was in a state of limbo even after eleven months since the fall of Lehman Brothers. Banks virtually stopped lending to each other. Although several proposals for stimulus packages and some bailout plans have provided some relief, it seems that there was nothing more that could be done to ease the situation (Mishkin 2011). At the same time, smaller businesses hardly had any chances for a bail out or rescue plan and more people went into bankruptcy. Additionally, there was a decline in the US imports from its major trading partners such as the European Union, Mexico and China, due to the slowdown in economic activity (Nanto 2009). Private sectors practically stopped borrowing, trade credit was also hard to obtain, and with continuous falling demand, especially investment goods and manufacturing durables like cars, export volume decreases, foreign GDP fell as well, trade volumes eventually collapsed (Dhameja 2010). Moreover, the risk premium on inter-bank borrowing which used to be close to zero, rose steeply to five per cent. Besides, the risk premium on corporate bonds rose to over six per cent. Although the US government tried to inject liquidity into the financial markets, the damage was already done (Chambers 2010). 3.2 Australia GFC has less effect on Australia as compared to other countries such as US, UK and etc. Most developed countries had suffered recessions where Australia experienced a down turn in the economy (Stevens 2009). However, there is no government’s support required by the financial institutions in such situations like capital injections or the acquisition of distressed loan portfolios (Australia Bureau of Statistics 2010). The major impact of the GFC has resulted on the loss of confidence in the household sector (Stevens 2009). This is due of the decline in the equity price causes a reduced of the household wealth (The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia 2009). Thus, this leads to an effect of low consumption and investment which resulted to a decline growth of household as they felt insecure about the capacity to spend and borrow (Australian Government n.d.). GFC has also impacted on the unemployment rate which result shown an increase of number that lead to a decrease in the economic growth (Australian Workers’ Union 2009). The part-time employment has increased which balance to a loss of full time jobs where this also effect on the working hours such as the decrease hours in work (Chesters n.d.). Certain demographic groups have been affected by the job loss. For instance, the generation Y (18-24 years) has been affected (Tanton et al. 2010). However, they remain optimistic and relied heavily on the government benefit (Tanton et al. 2010). Moreover, competition in the banking system has also been affected by the GFC (Australian Super Investment Conference 2010) which resulted on harm towards the smaller banks and non-bank intermediaries as compared to the large banks where it leads to an increase in the cost of funds (The Senate 2011). Thus, this has impact on a greater gap between the major banks and other financial institutions (Australian Super Investment Conference 2010). The collapse of the Lehman Brothers, has led to a loss of confidence towards the banks which caused a decrease on the demand for credit (Australian Super Investment Conference 2010). 4.0 The response of GFC 4.1 United States GFC had seriously impacted the United States (U.S.) as compared to other countries such as Australia where it leads to the collapse of one of the major investment banks, Lehman Brothers. Thus, plans had been made by the U.S. government in response to the impact to prevent the situations to worsen. In comparison to Australia, the financial institutions do not need government intervention to assist them such as injection of capital. Unlike U.S., the government intervene where the central banks has purchased the government debt and the troubled asset which cost US$2.5 trillion in order to raise funds in the financial institutions (Halmarick 2009). This has resulted in the largest liquidity injection done by the government. They tried to inject liquidity into banks by buying share of banks, and purchase of convertible bonds of banks, whereby the government will be paid certain amount interest and the government will be given an option to convert these bonds into equity (Nanto 2009). Furthermore, FED tried to reduce the interest rates by cutting the Fed Funds target from 5.0% in September 2007 to an extremely low 0-0.25% as at December 2008. Later on, in March 2009, Fed started a â€Å"Quantitative Easing† policy by agreeing to buy a $300 billion in Treasury bonds (Halmarick 2009). The main purpose is to lower the interest rates across the yield curve and to provide additional funds to the banks. Moreover, US tried to overcome slowdown by stimulus packages of about $10 trillion for banks and guarantees to depositors, and also enhanced public spending (Dhameja 2010). According to Bloomberg, by February 2009, the total US bailout amounted to $9.7 trillion, sufficient to pay off more than 90 per cent of America’s home mortgage and was about 70 per cent of US GDP (Halmarick 2009). In addition, President Obama signed two packages which are the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act worth $787 billion and 5.5% of GDP. The main features include an estimated $285 billion in tax reduction for individuals and businesses, unemployment benefits, extra spending for food stamps, and also health care subsidies for workers that have been laid off (Halmarick 2009). These packages positively aim to generate at least three to four million job opportunities by the end of 2010. Additionally, US tried their best to prevent more banks from failing. The first case was Fed approves financing loans arrangement for J.P. Morgan  Chase to buy over Bear Sterns in March 2008. The second case was government controlled mortgage giant Freddie Mac received $146 million to ease their situation. Next, AIG borrowed $85 billion from Fed to prevent them from failing (Halmarick 2009). However, Fed couldn’t do much to save Lehman Brothers from failing and thus they went into bankruptcy in 2008. Therefore, US government aim to strengthen the global financial institution mainly to prevent losses of capital flows due to the impact of GFC to the developing and emerging economy by agreed on the increase of funds (Australian Government n.d.). Besides, government also actively plans to purchase equity from the financial institutions to ensure there is a sufficient liquidity which enable them to conduct activities such as investment, issue loan and deposit and much more. GFC has caused a fall of confidence in the financial institutions. Thus, government had decided to guarantee all senior unsecured debt and also the non-interest bearing transaction deposit account mainly to increase the confidence losses in the financial institutions (Australian Government n.d.). 4.2 Australia Australia had prepared by implementing an effective monetary and fiscal policy in response to the economy when one of the biggest investment bank in United States (US), Lehman Brothers collapsed in September 2008. This helps to avoid the economy from slowing down and lessen the impact of Global Financial Crisis (GFC) in Australia as compared to other countries such as US, where government responded on the measurement. In order to strengthen the operation of the financial system, government has increase up to $25 billion of the issue of Commonwealth Government Securities(Britton 2008), more choices of assets provided for Australian Office of Financial Management (AOFM) to invest in, together with a better lending facility of AOFM (Australian Government n.d.). In response to the recommendations of Financial Stability Forum, legislation has been introduced to establish Financial Claims Scheme (Britton 2008)  where the availability of funds is given to the depositors and general insurance policyholders when the financial institutions failed to perform (Australian Government n.d.). Besides, the bank deposits and wholesale funding is guaranteed by the government for a period of 3 years (D’Aloisio 2010). Additionally, the $10.4 billion Economic Security Strategy has been carry on as this helps to strengthen and stabilize the economy (Australian Government n.d.). This aim to provide protection to households and other financial institutions to gain back confidence lost due to GFC (Australia Bureau of Statistics 2010). Besides, First Home Owners Boost has been introduced mainly to assist the housing sector to stimulate activity which benefits the economy (Australian Government n.d.). The competition in the market of housing finance has been supported by the government through the purchase of the Residential Mortgage Backed Securities (RMBS) (Australian Government n.d.). However, a total of $840 million has been taken out by RBA from RBMS under a repurchase agreement mainly to ensure there is sufficient liquidity in the market (Britton 2008). The naked and covered of the short sale securities has been ban for a period of 30 days by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) (Helmes et al. 2009). However, a clarification of the allowable covered shares has been issued by the ASIC in concern of the set requirement (Britton 2008). A draft legislation for the covered of short sales has been released by the government and it is open for the public to comment on till 21 October 2008 (Britton 2008). Government initiated the plan of Nation Building and Jobs Plan which cost around $42 billion which was mainly to support the jobs in the country where it supported an estimated of 90,000 jobs (Sherry 2009). This help to decrease the unemployment rate and then boost the economic growth where it encourages more activities and also to increase consumption in the economy (Sherry 2009). 5.0 Conclusion In conclusion, the global financial crisis (GFC) had brought so much damage not only to U.S. and Australia, but to the entire nations’ financial system globally. Even some of the wealthiest nations saw the collapsed of its financial institutions while some had to undertake an extremely expensive bail-out package. As for U.S. they suffered more severely compared to Australia. This is because the Reserve Bank of Australia has taken measures in advance of the global financial crisis. Thus, they were not as heavily affected as compared to other countries. Therefore, U.S. should learn from Australia by implementing policies ahead of any unexpected crisis to minimize the impact and damage done to their financial system. Evidently, it is better for them to prevent and be prepared rather than solving an issue when the damage has already been done. The policies implemented should include healthy control of the discount rate, reserve requirement and also minimal inflation targeting such as two to three per cent. The right policy implementation will lead to full employment in the country, a healthy level of economic activity and international trades, which will eventually increase the country’s GDP to an optimal and desirable level. 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Chambers, C 2010, ‘US financial recovery: Political regulations or a plan for the future?’, Journal of Banking Regulation, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 240-255, viewed 5 May 2012, retrieved from EBSCOhost database. Chesters, J n.d., The Global Financial Crisis in Australia, Viewed 10 May 2012, . Cohen, J Schubert, S 2010, Russell’s experience in Australia provides lessons for U.S. retirement plan sponsors, Viewed 14 May 2012, . Cook, RC 2008, Impacts of the Financial Crisis: The U.S. is becoming an Impoverished Nation, viewed 5 May 2012, . D’Aloisio, T 2010, Responding to the financial crisis: ASIC story, Viewed 8 May 2012, . Dhameja, N 2010, ‘Global Financial Crisis: Impact, Challenges Way-out’, The Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, vol. 45, no. 3, viewed 6 May 2012, retrieved from EBSCOhost database. Finance Maps of World 2011, Depository Financial Institution, Viewed 14 May 2012, . Halmarick, S 2009, ‘The Global Policy Response-The unprecedented becomes commonplace’, Colonial First State Global Asset Management, viewed 5 May 2012. Helmes, U, Henker, J Henker, T 2009, How the Australian ban on short selling during the GFC affected market quality, Viewed 11 May 2012, . Ireland, PN n.d. ‘Money, Banking, and Finacial Markets’, Department of Economics, viewed 3 May 2012, . Kumar, A, Chuppe, T Perttunen, P 1997, The Regulation of Non-Bank Financial Institutions, The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, U.S.A. McLennan, W 2000, 2000 Year Book Australia No.82, Australia Bureau of Statistics, Australia. Mishkin, FS 2011, ‘Over the Cliff: From the Subprime to the Global Financial Crisis’, Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 49-70, viewed 4 May 2012, retrieved from EBSCOhost database. Nanto, DK 2009, ‘The Global Financial Crisis: Analysis and Policy Implications’, Congressional Research Service, viewed 4 May 2012. 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E Business Strategy: An Analysis

E Business Strategy: An Analysis Bank is an institution that deals with money as well as credit. It accepts deposits from the public, makes funds available to those who need then and helps in remittance of money form one place to another (Macesich, George, 2000, p-42). Modern banks today perform a wide range of functions that makes it difficult to give an apt and precise definition of it. One of the famous economists, Crowther had said, a bank collects money from those who have it to spare or who are saving it out of their incomes, and lends this money to those who require it. In short, the term bank in modern times refers to an institution that deals with money i.e. accepts deposits and advances loans; has the ability to create credit which basically implies expanding its liabilities as a multiple of its reserves; creates demand deposits and it is a commercial institution that aims at securing profits. Citibank is a subsidiary of Citigroup. Citibank was founded as City Bank of New York in the year 1918. According t o the latest statistics, it is now the third largest bank holding company in the United States by the total assets after Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase. The bank has its retail banking operations spread over more than 100 countries and territories around the world (Harold, Cleveland Huertas, 1985). Apart from the standard banking transactions, Citibank offers credit cards, insurance and other investment products. Their online services have earned them appreciation from every nook and corner, making them the most successful in the field. The 15 million online users bear testimony to the stated fact. The key people involved in the management of the bank are: Vikram Pandit (CEO), John Gerspach (CFO), Douglas Peterson (COO) and Willliam R. Rhodes, the Chairman. Strategy literally means the way an action is planned to achieve the desired results. Every company has certain aims that it hopes to conquer. It has a vivid description of what it desires to achieve. The vision statement that company has is an idealized picture which inspires it, energizes its efforts towards directing its actions towards the expected goals (Hambrick and Chen, 2007, p 935-955). Strategic Decision Making, in context of a firm or an organization, is the framing of long term plan of action that aims at resulting in success and profits for the products and services marketed by the company, for instance (Triantaphyllou, 2000, p 320). Strategic decision making is important to outperform the various other competitors in the market. The process of determining appropriate courses of action for achieving organizational objectives and thereby accomplishing organizational purpose is known as Strategy formulation. In todays era of cut-throat competition in the business environme nt budget-oriented planning or forecast-based planning methods are insufficient for a large corporation to survive and prosper. The firm must engage in strategic planning that clearly defines objectives and assesses both the internal and external situation to formulate strategy, implement the strategy, evaluate the progress, and make adjustments as necessary to stay on track (Kepner and Tregoe, 1965). A strategy thus formulated, should reflect on environmental analysis, basing on sustainable business. It should lead to the materializing of the vision of the organization, as to where the organization sees itself in the years to come and result in achievement of organizational objectives. It basically comprises of the following steps: Setting up mission and objectives: The mission statement describes the companys business vision, including the unchanging values and purpose of the firm and forward-looking visionary goals that would guide the pursuit of future opportunities and lead to its long term stance in the business world. Measures such as sales targets and earnings growth are the organizations financial objectives. Strategic objectives are related to the firms business position, and may include measures such as reputation in the market and market share. Environmental Scanning: The environmental scanning includes the internal analysis of the firm, external macro-environment and the analysis of the firms task environment. Various scientific analysis have been developed which assist in the process of environmental scanning. A deep rooted internal analysis of the firms strengths and weaknesses and external analysis of the threats and opportunities gives us a clear picture about the firms stance. And a profile of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats is given by the SWOT analysis. It gives us proper information regarding the concerned firm which helps us in matching the firms resources and capabilities to the competitive environment in which it operates (Menon et al, 1999, p 18-40). Strengths are used in developing the rudiments for a competitive advantage. Strengths include exclusive access to high grade natural resources, patents, strong brand names, favorable access to distribution networks and good reputation among cus tomers. The weaknesses are high cost structure, lack of access to the best natural resources, lack of access to key distribution channels, a weak brand name and bad reputation among customers. Opportunities are chance occasions for growth and prosperity. They may include: removal of international trade barriers, loosening of rules and regulations, introduction of new technologies and an unfulfilled customer need (Hill and Westbrook, 1997, p 46-52). The changes in the external environment may pose serious threat to the organization. For instance, emergence of substitute products, new regulations, increased trade barriers and shifts in consumer tastes away from the firms products. The external macro environment can be tested on the PEST analysis scale. The acronym PEST (or sometimes rearranged as STEP) is used to describe a framework for the analysis of these macro environmental factors. It is the Political, Economic, Social and Technological analysis. Political issues include Governm ents policies and legal issues like Tax policy, employment laws, trade restrictions and tariffs and political stability. Economic growth, Interest rates, Exchange rates and Inflation rates determine the Economic conditions of the market. Social factors include career attitudes, age distribution, population growth rate, health consciousness and emphasis on safety. The various factors like Automation, research and development activity, technological incentives and the rate of change of technology, influence the technological aspect of the functioning of the organization. A framework developed my Michael Porter known as Porters five forces can also be used in drawing industrial analysis. Strategy formulation: Keeping in mind the strengths and the weaknesses of the organization, it charts out its strategy that helps it in optimizing its resources and gaining maximum profits out of it. Business trends analysis, Market analysis, Competitive analysis, Market segmentation, Marketing-mix, SWOT analysis, Positioning analyzing perceptions and Sources of information are all studied closely and accurately and then strategies are formulated on the basis of the three generic strategies. The Cost Leadership strategy focuses on being the low cost producer in an industry for a given level of quality (Chaffee, 1985). The firm sells its products either below the average industry prices to gain market share or at the average industry prices to earn a profit higher than the market rivals. In the situation of a price war, the firm can maintain some profitability while letting the competition suffer losses. Even without a price war, as the industry matures and prices decline, the firms that can produce more cheaply will remain profitable for a longer period of time. The cost leadership strategy usually targets a broad market. The internal strengths that lead to success in cost leadership strategy are: High level of expertise in manufacturing process engineering, Skill in devising products for efficient manufacturing, having access to required amount of capital for investing in production assets and efficient distribution channels. The second generic strategy, i.e. The Differentiation Strategy triggers the development of a product or service that offers unique attributes that are valued by the customers and that customers consider it to be better than or distinct from the products of the competition. That means it gives ultimate utility and satisfaction to the consumer. Factors like access to leading scientific research, strong sales team that has the inherent ability to put forward the perceived strengths of the product in the market, highly skilled and creative product development department and corporate reputation for quality and innovation, result in the success of Differentiation Strategy (Mulcaster, 2009, p 65-70). The third generic strategy that is the Focus Strategy, finds its essence in a narrow segment within which it tries to achieve either a cost advantage or differentiation. The basic idea is that needs of the group are better serviced by focusing entirely on it. Strategy Implementation: The strategy thus finalized is then implemented using budgets, programs and procedures. The firms resources are organized and allocated and proper motivation is given to the work force to achieve its objectives and thus the strategy is implemented. The way in which the work force perceives the strategy is different. It is logical, that the people who formulated the strategy and the people who will implement it are very different from each other and thus there might be a conflict of opinions, if proper care is not taken to communicate efficiently. Misunderstanding may lead to chaos. Evaluation and Control: The implemented strategy has to be followed up and monitored in every step, and adjustments, if any required, will be made to adapt to the changed scenario of the market. Evaluation would primarily revolve around defining parameters to be measured, defining target values for those parameters, performing measurements, comparing measured results to the pre-defined standard and making necessary changes. E-BUSINESS: The application of information and communication technologies (ICT) in support of all the activities of business is known as Electronic business or e-business(Louis Gerstner,1996, p 172). Commerce deals with the exchange of products and services between businesses, groups and individuals and can be seen as one of the most essential activities of any business. The application of Information and Communications Technology to enable the external activities and relationships of the business with individuals, groups and other businesses is what Electronic commerce is all about. Electronic business methods empower companies to link their internal and external data processing systems more efficiently and adaptably, to work more closely with suppliers and partners, and to better satisfy the needs and expectations of their customers (Timmers, 2000, p-31). In practice, e-business is far more than just e-commerce. While e-business refers to more strategic focus with an emphasis on the functions that occur using electronic capabilities, is a subset of an overall e-business strategy. E-commerce aims to gather revenue streams using the World Wide Web or the Internet to build and nurture relationships with clients and partners and to improve efficiency (Miller, Roger, 2002, p741). Often, e-commerce involves the application of knowledge systems. E-business involves business processes spreading the entire value chain: electronic purchasing and supply chain management, handling customer service, processing orders electronically, and cooperating with business partners and catering to their needs online, via internet. Special technical standards for e-business enable the exchange of data between various companies. Basically, electronic commerce (EC) is the process of buying, transferring, or exchanging products, services, and/or information via computer networks, including the internet. EC can also be benefited from many perspective including business process, service, learning, community. EC is often confused with e-business. . E-business software solutions allow the integration of intra and inter firm business processes. E-business can be conducted using the web, the Internet, intranet and extranet or a combination of these. E-BUSINESS STRATEGIES: With the arrival of the Internet facilities and plenty of web development technologies all over the world, e-business is the new talk of businesses in todays world. E-business, like any other emerging field, is changing fast and in the process is changing the way businesses formulate their strategies and conduct their business through realization of those strategies. : E-business scores over the traditional sphere of business by adding speed to the business activities and giving a totally new dimension and definition to businesses worldwide be it whether partnerships, joint ventures or large corporations. It makes transactions quicker in this world of fast pace (Andam, 2003) . The intranet, internet, cellular networks and various other forms of digital technology have resulted in formation of a niche value chain among clients, employees, suppliers, stakeholders and traders coordinated and interlinked in the world of web marketing. The equipments and pillars of e-business strategies include acceptance of payments over the Internet, online advertising, on-line trading and auction deals over the Internet. E-business strategies differ for small and medium-sized businesses. Apart from regular sources, e-business strategies can generate revenue made from paid marketing alliances, revenues derived from franchisees and subscriptions and revenue from maintenance of current channel integrity. E- Business technology provides organizations with a great opportunity to nurture relationships with external and internal parties across its value and supply chains, to realise its competitive advantages. In doing so, however, the solution is not in the application of technology alone, to develop an effective e-Business strategy and for a successful implementation to be realised, existing business interactions must be modeled and scrutinized to trace the interactions that will benefit from this paradigm. The business processes supporting these interactions must be reformulated and designed to effectively perform the procedures behind the interactions. These changes to the business will drive changes to the supporting technology and to the stakeholders that perform the business processes using the technology. The use of Internet has helped and garnered the worldwide development of business that reaches out to a wider consumer base and advertises their products more effectively and ef ficiently. E business has been added as the latest domain in business and has become a must-have in the highly competitive technology driven open market. E Business Strategy can be summed up as the overall strategies that govern E Businesses through calculated information dissemination or scattering. Information dissemination has been widely regarded as the strongest attribute of e-business, which uses information technology in a most effective and exhaustive manner. Not only has e-business has come to play a significant role in the scenario of world trade; there is no business without an accompanying e-business in todays world. E business gives a business the opportunity, the chance to open its base to the global market and become a part of the global business community. The most important feature of e-business is that the helps businesses move on to the international scene at maximum efficiency using minimum cost. E-business has achieved unparalleled levels of success as business models (Business Software Alliance. 2001). For instance: Materials Requirement Planning (MRP), EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) or ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning). The essential features of e-business strategies are Supply Chain management and email marketing. A state-of-the-art E Business Strategy would generally include: Supply chain management: According to Harland, the management of a network of interconnected businesses involved in the ultimate provision product and service packages as required by the consumer is known as Supply chain management. The supply chain spreads all over from governing the storage and movement of raw materials to the inventory of the production process and the finished goods, from the origin point till the point where it is finally consumed (Mentzer et al., 2007, p 1-25). The effective management of supply chain can be taken care of with the help of e-business strategies, which will ensure better coordination and understanding between the wholesalers and the retailers of various products that are launched into the market. Better integration of the supply chain right from the source till the final delivery of the product can be effectively put to work using e-business strategy (Hines, 2004). This also leads us to the point of e- commerce where a parallel network of selling and buying can be seen using dissemination or scattering of information over the Internet. Everything ranging from automobiles to electronic gadgets can be bought over the Internet in a hassle free manner under the aegis of sound supply chain management. Customer service and customer relationship management: Effective e-business strategies would involve better customer service and customer relationship management ensuring the highest level of consumer satisfaction. E business is targeted at providing the services that are customer friendly, which would include the delivery of goods right at the doorstep of the consumer, right on time. Inventory and service management integration: E business strategies can also help in improved inventory and service management integration through formulating certain specific plans for accumulation of inventory and purchasing of machinery and equipment which will avoid unnecessary purchases that would ultimately lead to higher expenditures and entail different tax implications. Tactical operations alignment: Tactical operations implying towards short-term goals as opposed to strategic planning aimed at long term goals can be better coordinated by implementing the e-business strategies. Implementing Business Strategy: Implementing e-business strategy is a major task and to ensure its success, from the beginning itself, objectives need to be identified and measurable goals need to be chalked down. This will include finding out steps in a business process, minimizing errors by eliminating paper-based transactions, introducing new market opportunities or improving information access among managers, departments or strategic business units. The costs and impacts of the establishment are measured in terms of resources, time and money. The impact of business should be anticipated, well ahead of time. The introduction of e-business technology across multiple strategic business units will require a major commitment of IT department. Since e-Business applications are transparent to all major hardware platforms, operating systems and databases, thus, using an open architecture configuration eliminates this concern (Charlesworth, 2009, p 49) . If an effort to make clarifications regarding the value of the strategy to the stakeholders is made, then the process of implementation becomes smoother. For instance, e-Procurement applications add value at the purchasing department level by reducing errors and streamlining the processes involved. At the organizational level value is added by facilitated purchasing in groups which cuts costs and vendors receive added value because they have quick and prompt access to information so they can track invoices and payments. The execution of the business interaction model is expected to place us in a position to clearly identify and apply values that can be quantified to the four issues discussed above, the net resul t of which is the formulated e-Business strategy itself. E-business strategy in Citibank: Banks today are up-to-date with both the pros and cons of the internet. They are aware of the opportunities and threats that are associated with the Web. Not a single traditional bank is brave enough to face investment analysts without an Internet strategy. But even a very thoughtful approach to the Web may do no good to the company/ organization. The main purpose behind launching online banking services is to provide the customer an alternative way which is more responsive and less expensive i.e. is cost friendly. CitiDirect is the centre of the Citibank global e-Business strategy. The Business strategy of Citibank is to : CONNECT their customers to their web enabled services, TRANSFORM their capabilities into new Internet offerings and EXTEND our reach into new markets via integrated infrastructure solutions and partnerships with technology companies or e-Commerce market makers. They have innovative e-business solutions like: 1) CitiPhone 24 hours Phone Banking Service 2) ATMs- Automated Teller Machines 3) CitiAlert GSM notifications service 4) E-Card Internet Shopping Card 5) CitiDirect Corporate Internet Banking Service, and 6) Citibank Online Retail Internet Banking Service. Citibank is committed to an e-business strategy-Connect, Transform and Extend-was to web enable its core services, develop integrated solutions and reach new markets. (McCauley Khan, 2002, p.1). Their strategy is to position Citibank as the embedded Financial Services engine that powers the Internet economy. Citibank tries to differentiate itself from competitors by using its customer service efficiently. Several services are offered to their clients. Citibank offers telephone hotlines, customer relations managers to give individual care and attention to address the issues of their customers, and service experts. Citibank has been investing in technology for the front and back end of the banking systems, consistently for a long time now. Citibank was also committed to its customers. According to the case study, Citibanks vision was to become the worlds leading e-business enabler. Citibank had over 268,000 employees located in over 100 countries and their focus was to embed their ser vices into the everyday lives of the local population. Its a bank that has its roots spreading all over the country as deep as any local indigenous bank, offering diverse products, building a broad customer base, actively participating in the social community and recruiting staff and senior management from the local population and hence guaranteeing employment and stability to the economy. Apart from being committed to employees and customers all over the world, Citibank has strong brand recognition and continues to invest in technology. The leading Citigroup formed alliances with Oracle, Commerce One, Inc., SAP AG, Wisdom Technologies and Bolero.net to help metamorphosis of its company to an e-business model, to place itself strongly within the technology sector. In 2000, four companies got together with Citibank to form Financial Settlement Matrix.com It is a company that connected buyers and sellers in e-marketplaces with credit, payment processing and other services through multiple participating banks and financial service companies. Citibank is always open to adjustments to adapt to the ever-changing business environment and thus it obtains the place of one of the most successful banking chains in the world. Citibank, in its pursuit of transforming its traditional assets to digital assets has established departments necessary to manage the process. Citibank form ed the Internet Operation Group which shouldered the responsibility of distributing Internet activities among e-Citi and all other business units. Shortly after that, e-Consumer and e-Business segments were established with the aim of infusing internet to the entire customer and corporate banking activities and services. After a while, e-Capital Markets and e-Assets Management departments were also established. The e-Business unit has the task of developing the software needed to set clients up with electronic business accounts, utilizing both IT and business people. The e-workplace gave a tremendous boost to Citibank when it was in its pursuit of transitioning from the traditional way of doing business to the electronic way. Constant attention is given to development in order to make upgrades in the e-business model. The key to manage the flow of money, for its corporate consumers through the World Wide Web was delivering an integrated solution that would enable its corporate custo mers to conduct transaction on-line. Citigroup desired to be the middle intermediary between buyers and sellers for any sort of transaction. Their strength is the customer-centered approach including response time, technology and support which gains the confidence of the customers on the products of the bank. Citigroup is dedicated towards creating products that cater to different industries and business needs by taking appropriate steps, be it investing thousands of millions of dollars in the online technology or starting e-business groups. By the end of 2000, customers had begun demanding electronic invoicing, online payments guarantees and digital receipts stored online and automatic application of payments to account receivables. Citibanks strategic intent is to convert its traditional money management business into an e-business framework. Porter had accorded two main ways for a company to compete on the global front. One was cost advantage and the other was differentiation {Po rter, M.E (1980)}. And Citibanks strategy was not to compete on price and was bored rooted to the differentiation aspect. Since there are many other companies which market similar products and services, Citibank bases its differentiation on customer service. Traditionally, offering telephone hotlines, product consultants who provided service expertise, relationship managers who understood clients needs and expectations, and most important, continuous involvement in investing in technology to support both the front-end and the back-end electronic banking systems. In order for the transformation of traditional assets into digital assets, to be successful, the company must maintain or enhance its differentiation. Since the companys differentiation is based on customer service, that means that in the transformation from traditional to digital assets the company must continue to be highly responsive to the customers current and future needs and cater to the expectations of every single c lient without any fail or bias, and must do so to a higher level than the competition and set a higher standard than that set by the other competitors in the market. The alliance with the four companies Oracle, Commerce One, Inc., SAP AG, Wisdom Technologies and Bolero.net helped the Citigroup to transform and grow. In earlier occasions, the company had invested millions of dollars on its own in multiple areas of e-business, and had miserably failed. As technology is not Citibanks field of expertise, it found keeping in sync dealing with constantly changing technology to be an expensive battle, which it ultimately lost. However, by 2000 Citibank learnt form its failure. Taking lessons from its experience it changed its strategy to one of garnering alliances and using its partners strengths to create the technological infrastructure that the company needed to access markets and meet its customers changing demands. Working through alliances increased its effectiveness, reduced Citiban ks risks and costs, and allowed it to remain pliable in meeting changing technological and customer demands. Both in the short term and long term, the customers demands vary. According to McCauley and Kahn (2002), one of the most important hurdles for Citibank to overcome in canalizing customers from traditional to digital service was addressing their deep seated concerns about security. While to some extent this troubled Citibanks efforts in rolling out Web-based applications, it did actively implement multi-layered security architecture public and private access keys, single-use passwords and multiple authorization controls in order to meet customer needs (McCauley and Kahn 2002, p. 9). To add to it, with digital processing it aspired to transform repeatable processes that could be commoditized into an efficient digital factory. The transformation of goods and services (or things that may not normally be regarded as goods or services) into a commodity is known as commoditization. Commoditizing repeatable processes improves efficiency, but also gives scope to resources for additional regional emphasis i.e. localization. The strong brand name of Citibank is a resource that translates into increased trust as a trusted provider when competing with Deutche Bank and other competitors. In fact, most Fortune 500 companies assign value to Citibanks specific offerings, and prefer it to other international payment providers. Citibank, then, offers multiple areas of value to customers. The evidences of constant work in the field of imbibing recent technologies and adjusting to the changing business environment are many. The cooperation of the software giant, Microsoft and financial giant, Citibank led to the reinforcement of high standards. With a global network spanning more than 100 countries, Citi will benefit from this collaboration because the CitiDirect BE platform will help monetize its best-in-class service offerings and broad geographic coverage, while taking f ull advantage of Microsofts expertise in platform engineering, development of independent software vendor communities, and product life-cycle management, read an article on internet. Thus the commitment of Citibank to deliver global services and enhanced value through world-class partnership and innovative e-business solutions that meets the customers expectations in very evident and worth trusting. But the question that is worth focusing on now, is whether this value translates into a competitive advantage which translates into additional profits. The focus now would shift to question how unique are the solutions offered by it. Soon the cutting edge technological capabilities might become hygiene factors which will be considered to be required and not a competitive advantage and thus would not qualify for differentiation. Potential growths in e-business are always happening and continuous developments are indispensable. More and more companies are willing and opting to do everything from banking to purchasing to marketing online. Thus it becomes very essential for Citibank to align itself with the right partners in order to maintain their standards and their sta nce in the e-business sector. Company executive Tom Edgerton stated, In the future, it wont be what your company can do, but what the network of companies you work with can provide. In order for Citi to continue to grow, it must evolve in its e-Business model and develop unceasing updates to its online products. Expanding on their existing good reputation, enhanced web features and exceptional customer service, would be the fundamental opportunities for Citibank. According to Edgerton, Citibank brings considerable value to potential alliance partners. Theyre interested in our brand, our financial services expertise, our global presence, our strong customer relationships and position as a trusted provider, as well as our knowledge of specific industries and international markets. The regionalization and specialized processing centers that Citibank has developed has provided them with scale and continual improvement opportunities. Like all other sectors and organizations, Citibank is also dedicated towards improving information management practices. This in turn improves the efficiency of business processes, the demands of compliance reg

A Comparison of Imprisonment in Yellow Wallpaper, Jane Eyre and Slave Girl :: compare and contrast essay examples

Imprisonment in Yellow Wallpaper, Jane Eyre and Slave Girl   Ã‚   When I think of prisons, the first thing that comes into my mind is of course locking someone up against their will or as a punishment, because someone else has decided that this is for the best or simply wants to get someone out of the way. Bertha Mason in Jane Eyre is locked up in the attic and the woman in The Yellow Wall-paper is confined to a summer home by her husband. For both these women, the locking up serves as yet another prison: they are both already prisoners in their own bodies by their mental states. In The Yellow Wall-paper, the main character is placed in a summer home to recover from a nervous condition. Her husband John, a doctor, believes that in order to get well, she has to take a rest cure and refrain from all kinds of physical or mental exertion, and he therefore more or less locks her up in one of the larger rooms of the house where she has nothing to do but stare at the wallpaper and keep a diary. She believes to see a woman trapped behind the wallp aper and strips it off in order to set her free - this I see as how she sees herself in her confinement. Her psychological state as well as the confinement to the room, along with the gender roles and expectations of that time, all work together to make her a prisoner kept making her own decisions. The husband is the provider, the one who knows best and the one who makes the decisions and she has no way of voicing her own. She finally "escapes" her controlling husband and the room by finally descending into insanity. "'I've got out at last', said I, 'in spite of you and Jane! And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!'" (Gilman, p1669). Bertha Mason in Jane Eyre has, to use a slightly old-fashioned term, gone mad to such an extent that she is dangerous to both herself and to others. To get her out of the way, Mr Rochester has her locked up and he pretends that she has never existed at all. By treating her like an animal (putting her in a large cage), he creates a real (physical) prison with its locks and bars, and I believe that only makes matters worse, since there certainly was no way that she would ever recover up there.

Richard Hamilton

Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing? From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Just What Is It that Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing? ) Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing? ArtistRichard Hamilton Year1956 TypeCollage Dimensions26 cm ? 24. 8 cm (10. 25 in ? 9. 75 in) LocationKunsthalle Tubingen, Tubingen Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing? is a collage by English artist Richard Hamilton. [1][2] It measures 10. 25 in (260 mm) ? 9. 75 in (248 mm).The work is now in the collection of the Kunsthalle Tubingen, Tubingen, Germany. It was the first work of pop art to achieve iconic status. [2] Contents [hide] 1 History 2 Sources 3 Authorship 4 Notes and references [edit]History Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing? was created in 1956 for the catalogue of the exhibition This Is Tomorrow in London, England in which it was reproduced in black and white. In addition, the piece was used in posters for the exhibit. [3] Hamilton and his friends John McHale and John Voelcker had collaborated to create the room that became the best-known part of the exhibition.Hamilton subsequently created several works in which he reworked the subject and composition of the pop art collage, including a 1992 version featuring a female bodybuilder. [edit]Sources The collage consists of images taken mainly from American magazines. The principal template was an image of a modern sitting-room in an advertisement in Ladies Home Journal for Armstrong Floors, which describes the â€Å"modern fashion in floors†. The title is also taken from copy in the advert, which states â€Å"Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?Open planning of course – and a bold use of color. † The body builder is Irvin ‘Zabo' Koszewski, winner of Mr L. A. in 1954. The photograph is taken from Tomorrow's Man magazine, Se ptember 1954. The artist Jo Baer, who posed for erotic magazines in her youth, has stated that she is the burlesque woman on the sofa, but the magazine from which the picture is taken has not been identified. The staircase is taken from an advertisement for Hoover's new model â€Å"Constellation†,and it was sourced from the same issue of Ladies Home Journal, June 1955, as the Armstrong Floors ad.The picture of the cover of Young Romance was from an advertisement for the magazine included in its sister-publication Young Love (no 15, 1950). The TV is a Stromberg-Carlson, taken from a 1955 advert. Hamilton asserted that the rug was a blow-up from a photograph depicting a crowd on the Whitley Bay beach. The image of planet Earth at the top was cut from Life Magazine (Sept 1955). [4] The original reference image for the collage from Life Magazine supplied to Hamilton is in the John McHale archives at Yale University. It was one of the first images to be laid down in the collage. 4 ] The Victorian man in the portrait has not been identified. The periodical on the chair is a copy of The Journal of Commerce, founded by telegraph pioneer Samuel F. B. Morse. [4] The tape recorder is a British-made Boosey & Hawkes â€Å"Reporter†, but the source of the image has not been identified. The view through the window is a widely reproduced photograph of the exterior of a cinema in 1927 showing the premiere of the early â€Å"talkie† film, The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson; the actual original source of the image has not yet been found. edit]Authorship In 2006, artist John McHale's son, John McHale Jr. , said that his father claimed he was the creator of the image, having provided the original measured design and iconic material for the collage, including the magazines from which much of the collage was assembled. [5] McHale said that the source material was his, sent to Hamilton from Yale University, where McHale was studying, and that Hamilton's role was s imply â€Å"mechanical† cutting out and pasting according to McHale's design. In response, Hamilton said this was â€Å"absurd.The collage has been widely reproduced over the last fifty years and my authorship was never, to my knowledge, contested by John McHale Sr. when he was alive. â€Å"[6] Hamilton said that McHale provided him with a rough layout for six pages for the This is Tomorrow exhibition catalogue, but he only used two of them, and the other pages, including this collage, were created by himself; the American magazines that provided the images were from the collection of Magda and Frank Cordell, and the images were cut out by Hamilton's wife, Terry O'Reilly, and Magda Cordell. 6] Magda Cordell has said that â€Å"some of the material for that collage came from John McHale's files†, while other items came from American magazines brought back by her (from a visit to McHale at Yale), and that the piece was â€Å"put together† by Hamilton. [7] A 2007 article by John-Paul Stonard asserts Hamilton's authorship of the collage, providing an exposition of the sources used by Hamilton and the circumstances

Psychology and Crime Essay

There are a number of other theories developed by researchers including Bandura (1986), Beck (1982), Ellis (1976) and Ross and Fabiano (1985) describing cognitive structures or thinking frameworks that lead to troubled or criminal behaviour. These theories suggest that how an individual thinks about an external event, not the event itself, can trigger feelings that lead to criminal behaviour. Cognitive restructuring enables offenders to change their anti-social attitudes and beliefs through a process that focuses on the individuals thinking patterns. Kohlberg (1978) in the theory of moral development was concerned with the cognitive processes behind moral judgement. He used the work of Piaget (1932) and suggested that moral reasoning advances with age. Offending occurs when there is a delay in moral development and the offender does not have the reasoning to resist temptation from offending. (Hollin as citied in Maguire 2002) This could explain why some criminals are seen to ‘grow out’ of criminality. This theory has been criticised on the basis that Kohlberg was explaining moral reasoning not moral behaviour. In conclusion psychoanalytical accounts do not offer a satisfactory explanation of crime but neither do any of the other theories on their own. Psychoanalytic theories concentrate on the unconscious, which is a contributing factor in the explanation of crime but the theory cannot explain all types of crime. Learning theories look at the values and beliefs that are learnt through the environment however they do not take into account internal or cognitive factors. Cognitive approaches help us to understand crime but do not explain the causes of crime. Cognitive theories focus on the individual and how the individual can be treated to change. This is why they are in favour with criminal justice at the moment. The theories assume that all offenders are the same however it is only crime itself that can be described in such a uniform way. In order to explain crime all the available theories including sociological theories need to be taken into account. As for psychoanalytical theories â€Å"Psychoanalytical theories stress the inner processes and conflicts as determinants of behaviour. However they do not ignore or neglect the environmental or social factors, but they favour the dynamic processes as playing a major role in the development of criminal behaviour†. (Hollin 1989) Bibliography Ainsworth.P (2000) Psychology and Crime: Myths and reality. (Essex: Pearson) Hollin.C (1989) Psychology and crime. (London: Routledge) Maguire.M etal (2002) The Oxford Handbook of Criminology (Oxford: Oxford University Press. 3rd Edition) McLaughlin.E & Muncie.J (2001) The Sage Dictionary of Criminology (Sage Publications ltd. London) Putwain.D & Sammons.A (2002) Psychology and Crime (East Sussex: Routledge)