Article Review Change Your Gun Laws, America - 1130 Words

When I spent two weeks in Spain with a host family, the first interaction my little Spanish brother had with me was with his hands in the universal sign for a gun, chanting â€Å"U.S.A.† as he fired his fake guns into the air. Gun rights, gun regulations, and the importance of the Second Amendment are all topics that are pertinent to the safety of the citizens of the United States. Fareed Zakaria, a renowned journalist and author for CNN and the Washington Post, lays out his concerns for the way Americans view our Second Amendment right in an opinion post. Contrastingly, UCLA and Harvard professor and political scientist James Q. Wilson describes why gun control is not and will not be able to impede any shootings, such as the Virginia Tech†¦show more content†¦He does not attribute either of these issues to America’s elevated gun homicide rate because these illnesses and graphic images are not unique to the American people. The difference in gun homicide rates between the United States and other countries is a result of America’s looser restrictions on who may own and carry guns (Zakaria). Zakaria closes his opinion piece by saying, â€Å"It is not an act of fate that has caused 150,000 Americans to die over the past 14 years. It is a product of laws, court decisions, lobbying and pandering politicians. We can change it† (Zakaria). He utilizes his many strengths as a journalist to influence the reader towards a viewpoint similar to his own. These strengths include the use of concrete facts and statistics, addressing multiple theories that could falsify his stance, and personal touches throughout the article. Seeing the numbers and stats around an issue made it easier to quantify the vastness of this issue. Zakaria also ensured that he touched on many different models that could be used to disagree with him, such as the connection between mental illness and violence, and utilized them in his favor. Ending the article with â⠂¬Å"we can change it† creates an atmosphere in which the reader feels like they can now make a difference using the new information they just acquired. He does fail, however, to outline specifically how the issue can be addressed and changed. Leaving the article open ended to change may have also left the

Sustainability as a Key Critical Success Factor Free Essays

Executive Summary Sustainability is one of the popularly emerging principles in project management and is rapidly becoming a critical success factor as considered by some businesses. However, there are also a number of other critical success factors in project success which include time, money, and the involvement and skills of employees and management. However, sustainability is viewed as socially responsible behavior and may be beneficial in promoting a business’s sales and media relations. We will write a custom essay sample on Sustainability as a Key Critical Success Factor or any similar topic only for you Order Now Contrarily, some businesses still view it as a fourth constraint in project management against time, scope, and money. Businesses such as Zara’s and Nike have implemented sustainability in their project specifications and have gained a favorable reputation with consumers. However, while all companies may not be duly aware of how to implement such processes, knowledge transfer may be an important consideration in the further implementation of sustainability principles. These issues are further discussed in this proposal and outlined in the form of research questions for the final dissertation. The data for the dissertation is proposed to be a mixture of qualitative and quantitative data which will be in the form of a literature review of secondary data and a questionnaire dispersed to 30 employees in 3 project-based organizations. Results will be combined to arrive at an appropriate conclusion and recommendations will be made accordingly. Introduction: Project management is one of the most vital disciplines within business management and is crucial to economic prosperity for both the public and private sectors. While there is ample emphasis upon project management within various industries, it is often seen that many projects fail due to a lack of emphasis upon critical success factors. As there are numerous factors that affect a project’s success, it is often difficult for managers to choose those that are most vital in improving the success of a project (Schieg, 2009). As the business environment is highly competitive and complicated, success factors for a project are likely to be relative to the industry the project is aimed at and the objectives that the individual project is trying to achieve. While efficiency, cost, and time management are all vital resources within a project or any business process, managers are always aiming to reduce the cost and the time allocated to each project while also aiming to increase efficiency, productivity, and turnover (Shrivastava Berger, 2010). Hence, it is generically considered that projects which are completed within budget and on time are successful. However, with increasing research it has become evident that there are numerous other factors which affect the success and outcome of a project such as the involvement and decision power of leaders and managers, the skills of employees, the organizational culture practiced during the project, the level of teamwork shown by the team, and many others (Eid, 2009 ). Accordingly, the contemporary business environment has recently explored a new concept, sustainability, which is becoming highly popular amongst society and may also be considered as a vital factor to success for businesses in the future or may already be considered so in the present (Gitsham Peters, 2010). With the quest to improve the environment and ensure businesses implement environmentally-friendly processes, society is becoming highly conscious of businesses performing unethically and harming the environment. Thus, this increases the pressure upon business operating in the contemporary environment to adopt sustainable processes which are environment-friendly (Talbot Venkateraman, 2011). Literature Search: Sustainability is a highly interesting and important concept in the contemporary business environment because there has often been heavy debate regarding the necessity of its adoption by businesses. While some businesses may easily be able to adopt appropriate sustainability processes, it is more difficult for other businesses to implement such processes specifically in the industrial sector. Thus, while aiming to implement sustainability may raise a business’s costs substantially, choosing the correct manner in which to implement sustainable practices may also substantially reduce a business’s operating costs and other costs (Morelli, 2011). Moreover, the current business environment demands businesses to be socially responsible and ensure that they perform ethically ( Lindsey,2011). Thus, a business implementing and including sustainability as a criterion in its project specifications is likely to gain a good reputation in the corporate world, media, and society which may in turn benefit the business in the form of increased sales, higher consumer confidence, and positive press releases (Zainul-Abideen, 2008). Recently, it has been seen that organizations are increasing their emphasis upon sustainability and consider it to an extent of 25.9% in their project management specifications. While this does show a positive trend, it also shows that business may not be implementing sustainability in their project specifications because of adopting a socially responsible approach, but is more aimed towards adopting a â€Å"less unethical† approach. This is to ensure that they can escape the blame when questioned regarding the manner in which they run their business (Badiru, 2010). However, there is no doubt that there is an increasing emphasis upon principles of sustainability and awareness of social pressure upon businesses. Companies such as Zara, Toyota, Nike, and many others have changed their production processes in order to make sure that they uphold sustainability as a principle and thus, these companies have increased their credibility in the consumer market (Artiach et al, 2010). However, in order to increase the emphasis upon sustainability it is essential to indulge in knowledge transfer between industries and businesses to properly disperse information regarding the importance and applicability of sustainability principles. Such information dispersion and knowledge transfer may be organized by large governmental or business organizations to facilitate open communication between businesses in order to find viable solutions (Badiru, 2010). However, the problem of the perception of sustainability as a further constraint upon projects in the essence of time, cost, and scope also is widespread. Accordingly, this dissertation proposes to discuss the critical success factors affecting businesses today, how sustainability affects businesses today, the importance of sustainability and the reasons why it is considered interesting, corporate social responsibility as a determinant of project success and gaining contracts, knowledge transfer as a determinant of the application of sustainable principles, and whether sustainability is viewed as a fourth constraint in project management (Barnard et al, 2011). Objectives: Discuss the Critical Success Factors affecting businesses in the contemporary business environment Determine the importance of sustainability as an emerging critical success factor in project management Illustrate the examples of businesses who have adopted sustainable practices successfully Discuss the benefits of credibility when adopting socially responsible business practices Discussing the importance of knowledge transfer in implementing sustainability principles Analyzing the extent to which sustainability is considered a fourth constraint in project management Research Questions: Main Research Question: To what extent is sustainability considered a critical success factor in project management in the contemporary business environment? Subsidiary Research Questions: How does the implementation of sustainability affect the project outcome How does sustainability affect a business’s credibility and image of being socially responsibleIs this beneficial for the business What is the importance of knowledge transfer in the implementation of sustainability To what extent is sustainability considered a fourth constraint in project management besides those of time, cost, and scope Research Design: Data Collection: The study is designed to be an exploratory study which will investigate the concept of sustainability in businesses today. The study will make use of both quantitative and qualitative data in order to further explore the research questions outlined above. The study will also rely upon both primary and secondary data in order to thoroughly explore the topic in question. The mixture of both types of data will be appropriate for this dissertation in order to validate the opinions and information presented in the literature review and as the topic of sustainability as a success factor of project management is an evolving topic, it is also essential to get first-hand and recent information regarding its current importance in the business environment. Data will initially be collected via the internet, journals, articles, magazines, and other databases in order to obtain relevant literature regarding the concept of sustainability. The literature will then be analyzed and duly criticized in order to determine popular opinion regarding the concept of sustainability and arriving at conclusions regarding the research questions mentioned via secondary data. Primary data will then be collected via an industrial questionnaire dispersed to three project-based organizations regarding their opinions and practices of sustainability as a criterion for success in project management. The questionnaire will be dispersed to approximately 30 respondents working in the three respective organizations and this sample size has been chosen for researcher convenience, access, and appropriateness in attaining sufficient information. The questionnaire will be quantitative in nature in order to avoid irrelevant responses and to limit the discussion towards the points made in the literature review. The results of the questionnaire would then be used to validate or conquer the findings in the literature review. Data Analysis: The qualitative secondary data collected will be analyzed through content analysis in order to extract the most relevant and important points from the arguments presented in the literature review. The quantitative survey results will be analyzed through the use of the statistical software, SPSS. The results of the quantitative survey will then be analyzed against the results of the literature review in order to arrive at appropriate conclusions for the research questions mentioned above. Recommendations will then be given accordingly for issues like knowledge transfer and eradicating the perception of sustainability as a fourth project management constraint. Limitations/Ethical Risks: One of the limitations of this study is gaining access to 30 randomly selected individuals in three different project based companies. Permission must be obtained and the individuals must be randomly chosen in order to avoid biasness. Moreover, there may be issues of confidentiality or their unwillingness to respond to questions regarding their own personal sustainability practices and principles. There is also the risk of people answering dishonestly only to maintain their image or respondents not paying particular attention to the survey because of lack of interest or boredom. The questionnaire may be prone to researcher bias and the data obtained in the literature review may be outdated and not applicable in all countries. Thus, appropriate care must be applied to ensure contemporary data is collected and data is relevant to the topic in question. One of the major ethical risks of this project is ensuring that confidentiality is maintained while conducting the survey of project-based companies and ensuring that no information is dispersed openly which may negatively affect their reputation. Timescale: Obtaining Permission from Companies Beginning Literature Search Organizing and Analyzing Secondary Data Writing Literature Review Conducting Survey Formulating Results of Survey Analyzing Results Writing Complete First Draft Proofreading Dissertation Submission References Artiach, T., Lee, D., Nelson, D., Walker, J. (2010). â€Å"The determinants of corporate sustainability performance.† Accounting Finance, 50(1) pp.31-51. Badiru, A.B. (2010) â€Å"The many languages of sustainability†. Industrial Engineer, Vol. 42(11) pp. 30-34. Barnard, L.T., Ackles, B. and Haner, J.L. (2011) Making Sense of Sustainability Project Management. Explorus Group Inc. Eid, M. (2009) Sustainable Development Project Management. Lambert Academic Publishing Cologne. Gitsham, M., Peters, K. (2010). Thoughts on Sustainability-Principles into Practice. Lindsey, T. C. (2011). â€Å"Sustainable principles: common values for achieving sustainability.†Journal of Cleaner Production. Vol. 19(5) pp. 561-565. Morelli, J. (2011). â€Å"Environmental Sustainability: A Definition for Environmental Professionals†. Journal of Environmental Sustainability. Vol.119-27. Schieg, M. (2009). â€Å"The model of corporate social responsibility in project management†. Business: Theory Practice. Vol.10 (4) pp. 315–321. Shrivastava, P., Berger, S. (2010). â€Å"Sustainability principles: a review and directions.†Organization Management Journal. Vol. 7(4) pp.246-261. Talbot, J. and Venkataraman, R. (2011), â€Å"Integration Of Sustainability Principles Into Project Baselines Using A Comprehensive Indicator Set†. Journal of International Business Economics Research. Vol.10 (9) pp. 29-40. Zainul-Abidin, N. (2008) â€Å"Achieving Sustainability through Value Management: A passing opportunity?† International Journal of Construction Managem pp. 79-91. How to cite Sustainability as a Key Critical Success Factor, Essay examples

Body Image free essay sample

Standards and examples of how we should look are being tremendously imposed on our generation. People are looked down upon on and teased ruthlessly simply because they do not look like the way the media perceives as beautiful, a stop needs to put to this because more and more teens are taking extreme measures to get their desired look. Eating disorders and plastic surgery are just a few ways teens are changing their changing their looks. Body image and the media is a topic that should be discussed, improved, and resolved for the better. Look at all the pictures, the spray tanned bodies that glow in the middle of winter, the women whose faces never age after twenty years, and the celebrities that can eat whatever they want, yet stay thin forever (Segrist). Any of this sound familiar? Pictures and articles of these models are seen every day and fill a great percentage of the magazines we read and the images seen on television. It is so easy to get caught up in the media because of the ‘perfection’ we see in it, but the question is does the beauty and body image in the media equal self-improvement or self- destruction? We are so cleverly manipulated and influenced by the media and establishments on both the right and left, that the truth has become hopelessly lost in semantics. The media is not a solely to blame. Images of perfection are pushed upon people in early childhood with toys like Barbie and G. I. Joe. â€Å"Barbie began her career as a stiff plastic dress-up figure†¦ [w]ith her breasts and slender waist, Barbie came literally to embody the little girl’s image of what it meant to be grown up† (Cross). Same goes for G. I. Joe but instead of big boobs and thin wastes, it is massive toned muscles. Kids learn that grown-ups look like toys they love oh so much, but once they are grown up and look nothing like that toy, the children end up ‘hating’ how they look. When looking at the media, we recognize that women are the ones that are criticized and men are less of a concern when it comes to beauty and their body. We do however, picture that men should have a six packs and work out all the time if they want to live their life the best way possible (Segrist). When new movies come out that is the first thing you will hear, how an actor like Taylor Laughtner gained 20 pounds of muscle and is now looking better than ever. Women are criticized much more. It is not as simple as working out and eating healthy. There is always the promise of a new diet that you just ‘have’ to use to lose the last few pounds, because if you do your life will overall be perfect. The real image of women is lost in the media because the industry favors the skinny models and perfect tanned girls in magazines we constantly read (Segrist). Standards of women are put to the test every day. Most women are not naturally what is seen in the magazines. Being thin and losing the right amount of weight has become an over obsession with many young women. The media has set standards that are unrealistic for what the ‘normal’ body weight and appearance should be. Their portrayal of ‘normal’ keeps getting thinner and thinner for women and more body muscle and for men. The body image in the media keeps changing and people do their best to keep up with it. Twenty-five years ago the average female model only weighed 8% less than the average American woman, whereas today the average female model weighs 23% below her average weight (Image). With the confusion of the ‘perfect’ image always changing, the goal to reach that stage of the beauty and body image has become an obsession for many people (Image). Most women do not have the genetic make up to be the ultra- tall and thin model body type. Of course, not all of us look up to models, but perhaps our favorite celebrities. Maybe our views of celebrities are not realistic. When we see celebrities, do we think ‘wow I want to be able to reach my goal to be an actress too’ or ‘I wish I could be as pretty as them’? Most likely you are thinking ‘I wish I could be as pretty as them’ or something regarding their looks. Sometimes we are so caught up in the reality the media shows us and then we do things that are not so smart. This is what has caused many young women to develop eating disorders. It has been researched that one out of every four college-aged women use unhealthy eating habits to manage their weight. The unhealthy habits include self-induced vomiting, excessive exercise, skipping meals, and fasting (Image). A question, some might ask is why the media focus on a ‘perfect’ person. A few researches lead us to think it may have to do with economics. It is a chain reaction for the business industry. First, someone will buy the magazine after seeing the cover that insists on ‘top 5 ways to lose twenty pounds before spring break’ or ‘the perfect makeup to make you look ten years younger. ’ Then, the person who reads the magazine will most likely go out and buy the products advertized or promised to improve you (Image). With an ideal body and image presented by the media that is hard to reach, the cosmetic and diet product industries are reassured of increasing profits and growth. Magazines are made to sell something or to inform the reader about a certain topic. When a business is trying to sell a car or a certain food, most of the time, they try to find a slender man or women to help sell their business. A shocking statistic showed that after seeing photos of female fashion models, seven out of ten women felt more angry and depressed than prior to viewing those pictures. Television is another thing that downplays the average people’s appearance. On television shows the in crowd or the it girl is a slender and fashionable teen generally. The â€Å"nerd or weird kid is usually a unique individual, but they have one or two flaws so they are picked on. Because of small things like this, the unique and different people start to feel bad about themselves. One out of five men and two out of five women would trade three to five years of their life to achieve their weight goals. Life is a wonderful thing and if a human being would trade that away just to lose a couple pounds then something must me wrong. â€Å"I Want a Famous Face,† the â€Å"The Swan† and â€Å"Extreme Makeover† all shows created as makeover shows, in which the ‘contestants’ are made over with plastic surgery to become what they consider beautiful. On MTV’s show, I Want a Famous Face, â€Å"a baby-faced blonde named Sha†¦ wants to look like Pamela Anderson and become a Playboy centerfold†¦ she’s [only] 19† (Creamer). While â€Å"ethics aren’t MTV’s deal† (Creamer), ethics should be a concern of mainstream channels such as ABC, â€Å"Extreme Makeover† and Fox, â€Å"The Swan. † However they too have shows based on someone feeling so insecure with themselves that they are willing to get on national TV and have every inch of their body changed to the point their before and after pictures show little to no resemblance. While many claim, the media does not negatively influence the self-image of ‘any-body’ and that the people behind the scenes of the media are actually women peddling all these unattainable images, beauty products, and ‘quick-fix’ diets and workouts. Moreover, Scott declares, â€Å"that self-decoration—makeup, clothing, cosmetic surgery—is a fundamental form of human expression with different meanings to the individual. Therefore, feminists promotion of a ‘natural’ female appearance is their impulse to control women† (Scott). The continuing messages we see on a daily basis from dieting to aging tells the â€Å"average† woman that a part of them still needs work or adjustments. Of course, most of us fall into this dark hole of what we see as non-perfection. Reality looses to the media most of the time. Dove’s â€Å"Real Beauty† campaign was a prime example of what happens when a company tries to advertise using women of â€Å"average† proportions to promote their product. The backlash that ensued after the billboards displaying a, â€Å"bevy of full-figured babes in bras and boyshorts† (Pozner). Quickly after the billboards were revealed, three well known men, Richard Roeper a Chicago Sun Times columnist, Bill Zwecker a CBS news anchor, and Lucio Guerrero another Chicago Sun Times columnist; all wrote articles in response to the billboards. The authors of the articles went on tangents of how these women are too obese to be in an ad campaign, and that the women are â€Å"disturbing† and â€Å"frightening† (Pozner). These men continued to say, â€Å"[w]hen we’re women in their underwear on billboards outside my living room windows, give me the fantasy babes, please† (qt. in Pozner). What we can do as a community is to support one another and to look at someone’s inner beauty rather than their outer beauty. We should have workshops in schools and different clubs that regularly discuss their opinions about body image and the media. Parents should be talking to their kids about how they feel and how much they love their child just the way they are. Schools should also not be providing candy in vending machines. Only healthy choices should be permitted. If we work together, and make an effective system that will reach out to our generation then we will be able to build a better community, then world.

Research Paper on Pop Art Essay Example

Research Paper on Pop Art Essay Pop Art Research Paper Introduction The 20th century was characterized by significant changes in all spheres of human life, which were particularly obvious in economic life of the society. In general the main trend may be characterized as a trend to commercialization regardless the sphere of life of human society. Unfortunately, art, being a constituent part of the development of any society was also significantly influenced by this trend and new movements started to appear for which commercial success of artist was particularly important. Among these movements may be named numerous movements constituting Pop Art. This trend is particularly noteworthy because art has always played an important role in the life of human society. It was important regardless the level of the development of human civilization and time because it was quite natural for people to be a kind of artists. Otherwise, mankind would hardly be able to make such a progress that has been made within thousands of years, and particularly within the last century. At this respect it is worth to mention that the 20th century, being a period of great changes in art, may be also interpreted as a very important period, a point when art gradually evolved and got to be a part of mass culture based on the purely commercial principles of mass production. We can help with writing your essay on Pop Art now! We will write a custom essay sample on Research Paper on Pop Art specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Research Paper on Pop Art specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Research Paper on Pop Art specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The essence of Pop Art In general it should be said that the 20th century is characterized by many as a period of decline of classical art and classical art movement that is, to a significant extent, the result of a rapid and to a certain extent unparalleled development of modern art movements and appearance of such phenomenon as pop art. Pop Art is very complicated phenomenon to study and to understand because Pop Art movements often introduce innovative ideas and absolutely original techniques. Moreover, Steven Henry Madoff in his book Pop Art: A Critical History underlines that â€Å"Pop Art of the 20the century may be called the art of originality and uniqueness† basically because every modern movement of Pop Art tends to be independent and different from others. Speaking about development of Pop Art and about its basic characteristics it is primarily necessary to briefly define what it is and reveal its essence. This will provide us with a possibility to better understand its nature and define the basic characteristics, which are typical for Pop Art and which are probably unique for Pop Art movements. First of all, it should be said that L. Alloway argues that Pop Art may be defined in different ways â€Å"either as a reaction to dominant ideas of abstract expressionism, or as an expansion upon them†. It is noteworthy that Alloy’s definition of Poop Art and certain criticism was a kind of responds to the works of such artists as Richard Hamilton, Andy Warhol and other representatives of new art movements. Furthermore, it should be said that Pop Art movements have started their development since 1950s and the countries where they were particularly spread were Great Britain and the United States. Naturally, Pop Art was not developed in one day as something absolutely new but, on the contrary, it was rather a result of a quite rapid development of art in the 20th century and its main peculiarities. Nonetheless, Pop Art is really a unique phenomenon that appeared in the art of the 20th century and is the characteristic of it. At this respect, it is worth to mention that D. Hebdige in his book Visual Culture underlines that initially this art â€Å"was a movement that departed from the clichà ©s of boldness so often portrayed in modern art†. It means that pop art originates from modern art and consequently modernist movements, which were the characteristic of art, especially in the 20th century. At the same time, it is necessary to say that pop art is traditionally associated with a big problem because there are two contradictive views on pop art. On the one hand, Charles Harrison and Paul Wood in their book Art in Theory 1900-2000 estimate that art is not art at all. It means that some specialists, basically conservatives, believe that Pop Art is not an independent form of art but it is rather a product of mass culture deprived of any artistic value and consequently useless. On the other hand, the authors also underline that the opponents of such point of view believe that â€Å"pop art is quite progressive and perspective direction†, and they estimate that this is the way, which modern art should develop in. moreover, they stand on the ground that art is permanently changing and Pop Art is just a new trend that would be general line for art in the future. However, in actuality the truth is somewhere in the middle because it does not necessarily mean that Pop Art is not art. On the contrary, many specialists and critics for instance Nikos Stangos, recognize Pop Art. At this respect it is noteworthy that Nikos Stangos, in his book Concept of Modern Art, underlines that Pop Art is a constituent part of the modern art and it may be perceived as a logical continuation of the art development of the previous historical epochs. At the same time, speaking about the perspectives of Pop Art it is important to be very careful because, on the basis of the idea of art, as â€Å"a permanently changing and developing structure†, it is very difficult to forecast its future perspectives and nobody knows what Pop Art would be in the future like if it would be at all, at least in its present form. Nonetheless, it is still necessary to emphasize that Pop Art is quite a unique phenomenon because it is significantly different if we compared it with any famous trends in art in the past. Obviously this fact makes Pop Art even more interesting for both artists and critics as well as for wide audience. However, it should be pointed out that often representatives of Pop Art face a very serious problem when the audience simply do not understand their works because, as it is widely known, the wide audience, or at least its conservative part, often does not perceive the works of Pop Art as artist see them or wanted their works were perceived. As a result the audience does not want to recognize them as noteworthy because they remain a kind of terra incognita for them. Naturally, such view is too radical and to a certain extent not professional because in actuality pop art is â€Å"a regeneration and renewal from the nearly two decade reign of abstract art† It finds its reflection in the fact that pop artists disconnected themselves from the idea that art must contain meaning in the abstract. By the way, this is probably another reason why pop artists remain to be misunderstood by certain part of the audience. Nowadays, the popularity of Pop Art have been constantly growing since 1950s and such a progress is obviously the result of work of such outstanding artists as Andy Warhol, Richard Hamilton, David, Hockney, Peter Phillips, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg and many others, who developed this unique and original art movement. Commercialization of Pop Art It is very important to underline that despite the fact that the popularity of Pop Art grew, there was another important problem that a rapid development of Pop Art raised, the problem of its commercialization. In fact, on reflecting on the role of Pop Art, its significance and nature, many specialists concluded that it is highly commercialized and that it is a part of mass culture. To a certain extent such position is quite reasonable because often Pop Art is perceived as just a popular trend in the art and often artistic works are bought simply because they are popular regardless their artistic value. Ion order to better understand the commercialization of Pop Art, it is necessary to briefly discuss the work of some pop artists that actually shaped the public image of Pop Art and developed its basic trends. First of all, it is necessary to say a few words about Andy Wahrol who may be considered as a founder of Pop Art in the US. The media called him the ‘Prince of Pop’ and he was really successful since he made his way from Pittsburgh working class family to an American legend. Andy was very talented in drawing and painting but his first big break was in August 1949 when Glamour Magazine asked him to illustrate an article called â€Å"Success is a Job in New York†. By 1955 Andy Warhol had almost all of New York copying his work. Also Andy Warhol was into doing popular items Coca-Cola and celebrity faces, like Marilyn Monroe and painting was his real passion. His â€Å"Campbell’s Soup Can† is a classic and an easily recognized work of Andy’s. It is very important to underline that when he started his work as an artist he wanted to remove the difference between fine arts and commercial arts and he also wanted to mass produce his own pop art. His favorite printmaking technique was silkscreen that came closest to his idea of proliferation of art. On June 3rd, 1968, the event that significantly influenced his further life happened. On this day, Valerie Solanis shot Andy Warhol three times in the chest but luckily the artist escaped the death. After this event he has never recovered fully that probably influenced his creative work. Remarkably that since that time he has been spending most of his time making portraits of rich and affluent of his time like Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson, and Brigitte Bardot and his work became more and more entrepreneurial and he said that â€Å"making money is art, and working is art and good business is the best art† (Bockris 1987). Nonetheless he still remained a significant heritage in pop art. Another representative of Pop Art, Richard Hamilton, may be considered the founder of British Pop Art. One of his most famous works is the collage titled Just What Is It that Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appeling? (1956). Like, Andy Warhol he also initially started as an artist whose views on art were absolutely far from commercial life but gradually, he started to cooperate with outstanding and famous people like Paul McCartney and Beatles and commercial success arrived. However, his trend to treat the art as a part of mass culture, or mass production may be observed even in his works, including his early one mentioned above since he underlines practical or even utilitarian aspects of life, promoting consumerist values. At this respect, another artist, Roy Lichtenstein, is very similar to him but unlike Richard Hamilton and Andy Warhol, he simply â€Å"borrowed heavily from popular advertising and comic book style† that was particularly obvious in his work Roto Broil (1961) and that symbolized the consumerist attitude to art he promoted by his work. Conclusion Thus, in conclusion, it is possible to say that the development of art of the 20th century was characterized by the growing popularity of Pop Art, which actually was not always understood by the wide audience. At the same time, Pop Art managed to become a sort of mass art promoting consumerist lifestyle and treating art as a kind of business as Andy Warhol did later in his life. This is why it is possible to estimate that Pop Art as one of the strongest trends in the contemporary art may be characterized as a celebration of high capitalism and consumption. Bibliography: Alloway, L. (ed.), Modern Dreams: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Pop Art, New Publishers, New York, 1988. This book reveals the basic historical stages of the development of Pop Art since its beginning till the 1980s. Bockris, V. The Life and Death of Andy Warhol, Bantam, New York, 1989. The author of the book focuses on the life and work of a founder of American Pop Art Andy Warhol Crone, R. Andy Warhol. Praeger, New York, 1970. Another book dedicated to the life and work of Andy Warhol that helps better understand his attitude to art and his perception of the role of artist in the contemporary society. Harrison, C. P. Wood, Art in Theory 1900-200. New York: Touchstone, 2002. The authors trace the main trends in the development of art of the 20th century. Hebdige, D. Visual Culture: Chapter 6: Fabulous Confusion! Pop Before Pop? Routledge Inc., New York, 1995, 96-122. The book discusses the main trends in Pop Art related to popular artists of the 20th century. Madoff, S.H. Pop Art: A Critical History. LA: University of California Press, 2003. The author traces the development of Pop Art in the 20th century. McShine, K. (ed.) Andy Warhol: A Retrospective, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1989. It provides ample possibility to get acquainted with both famous and barely known works of Andy Warhol David Robbins (ed.), The Independent Group: Postwar Britain and the Aesthetics of Plenty, MIT Press, 1990. The book provides ample information on British Pop Art and pop artists. Roeder, G. H. Jr. â€Å"What Have Modernists Looked At? Experiential Roots of Twentieth-Century American Painting†. American Quarterly 39 (Spring, 1987): 56-83. The author focuses on the work of outstanding American pop artists, including Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. Rosenblum, R. â€Å"Andy Warhol: Court Painter to the 70s.† Andy Warhol: Portraits of the 70s. David Whitney, (ed.) Random House, New York, 8-21, 1979. The author provides interesting information concerning the main works of Andy Warhol. Sandler, I. The New York School: The Painters and Sculptors of the Fifties, New Publishers, New York. 1978. The book depicts the development of Pop Art at its beginning Stangos, N. Concept of Modern Art. London: Thames and Hudson, 2001. The author focuses on the development of Pop Art in the UK.

The Bra Boys Essays

The Bra Boys Essays The Bra Boys Paper The Bra Boys Paper Bra Boys From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search The Bra Boys is an Australian gang founded and based in Maroubra, an eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales. Dating back to the 1990s, the gang has gained notoriety through violent clashes with members of the public and police. The gang achieved national and international attention in 2007[1] with the release of a feature-length documentary entitled Bra Boys: Blood is Thicker than Water, written and directed by members of the gang. Contents 1 Origins Notoriety and violence 2. 1 Criminal matters 2. 2 General community activism 2. 3 Art imitating life 3 Documentary 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External links Origins The Bra Boys are held together by surfing as well as community ties. [2] The group is often linked with the Maroubra Surfers Association, with which a number of its members are associated. [citation needed] In an interview on Triple J radio, Koby Abberton pointed out the Bra is a reference to the gangs suburb, Maroubra,[3] and partly after the street slang for brother. 1] Some members of the gang tattoo My Brothers Keeper across the front of their chest,[4] Bra Boys and Maroubras postcode 2035 on their backs. [citation needed] With a reputation of being territorial,[1] the group is known to have taken control of a Sydney reef break, known as Cape Solander, located in Kurnell, and renaming the break Ours. In July 2007, The Sydney Morning Herald reported an altercation that took place between professional bodyboarder Mitch Rawlins and a group of several Bra Boys members, including Koby Abberton. Rawlins was allegedly approached by a Bra Boy member and told to fuck off. It is believed an argument broke out and then turned physical with Rawlins being punched in the head. A spokesman for the Bra Boys confirmed there had been some sort of small incident but denied any major violence. [5] Notoriety and violence Prominent Bra Boys members include rugby league players Reni Maitua, John Sutton, as well as the Abberton brothers, Sunny, Jai, Dakota, and Koby, with the latter being the most notorious of the brothers. 6] Criminal matters A syndicate with alleged links to members of the Bra Boys were caught smuggling cocaine following interceptions of conversations dating back to 1997. It was alleged that the syndicate was granted security passes to restricted areas within Sydney Airport, by-passing Australian Customs, enabling the prohibited narcotics to be smuggled from Los Angeles by being concealed in on-board catering refuse. [7] In 2005, Jai Abberton was acquitted of the 2003 murde r of stand-over man Anthony Tony Hines. 8] However, his brother Koby was handed a suspended nine-month jail sentence after being found guilty of perverting the course of justice in the same matter. [9][10] In November 2008, Koby Abberton was jailed for three days by a US court after being found guilty of assaulting an off-duty police officer in a fight outside a nightclub in Honolulu, Hawaii. [6] In November 2009 Jai Abberton was jailed for eight months for breaching a good behaviour bond. [11] General community activism In late 2002, around 160 members of the gang attending a birthday party at the Coogee-Randwick RSL Club were involved in a brawl with off-duty Waverley police officers leaving a Christmas party on the same premises. News reports numbered the combatants in the incident at around 120, with 30 police officers left injured after the event. [12] In August 2005, the Bra Boys led a 100-person non-violent protest against plans by Randwick Council to introduce parking meters near the local beaches. [13] In the lead up to the 2005 Cronulla riots in Cronulla, Koby Abberton spoke to The Daily Telegraph about the assault of a lifeguard that sparked the incident, claiming: The reason why its not happening at Maroubra is because of the Bra Boys. Girls go to Cronulla, Bondi, everywhere else in Sydney and get harassed, but they come to Maroubra and nothing happens to them. I read all this stuff about kids getting harassed because they want to have a surf and I say are you kidding? The beach should be for Aussie kids. But if you want to go to beaches and act tough in groups you better be able to back it up. If these fellas come out to Maroubra and start something they know its going to be on, so they stay away. [14] Following the riots, in which the Bra Boys did not claim any involvement, Maroubra was the target of retaliation by Middle Eastern gangs. The Abberton brothers then held well-publicised meetings with other groups to help ease tensions. [15] I think that this is the start, the boys have agreed to come down and talk to us, to start some dialogue between the groups, you know, to try and ease some tension, said Sunny Abberton in a group interview on The 7. 30 Report. [16] Art imitating life The Bra Boys were made the subject of satire by The Chasers War on Everything, episode 29, aired on 11 April 2007. [17] In the skit Julian Morrow approached gang members while wearing a pill-filled brassiere and sporting a tattoo similar to Koby Abbertons saying mybrothersalibi. A gang member responded by slipping off one of his thongs and flinging it at Morrow. Long-running Australian television soap opera, Home and Away has produced a thinly veiled reference to the Bra Boys in the fictional storyline of the River Boys that was broadcast in Australia commencing 16 February 2011. 18] Inspired by the friendship and brotherhood codes instilled by the Bra Boys, the Abberton brothers created a clothing line to reflect the importance of solid bonds between friends and family entitled MyBrothersKeeper Clothing, sometimes referred to as MBK Clothing. MyBrothersKeeper is a reference to the unspoken motto of the Bra Boys and can be somewhat translated as the unconditional love, respect and su pport of those close to you regardless of race, gender and age. [4] Documentary A 90 minute documentary film about the surf gang, entitled Bra Boys: Blood is Thicker than Water premiered in Sydney on 7 March 2007 and was released on 15 March 2007. The film details a story of the Bra Boys from the viewpoint of the gang, particularly the Abbertons. Sunny Abberton wrote and co-directed the film with Macario De Souza. Actor Russell Crowe provided narration. The films official cast included 49 well known surfers from Bra Boys members Evan Faulks and Richie Vas Vaculik to ten-time world champion, Kelly Slater,[19] and surfing legends including Mark Occhilupo, Bruce Irons, and Laird Hamilton. 20] Australian reviewer Margaret Pomeranz gave the movie an overall positive review, while her At the Movies co-host David Stratton criticised Sunnys amateurish direction and questioned how objective a documentary can be when it is directed by its subject. [21] The documentary became Australias highest-grossing non-IMAX documentary film[22] and won the Best Documentary at the 2008 Movie EXTRA Filmink Awards. [23] The movie saw a limited release in the United States that began on 11 April 2008, in 23 select locations in Southern California, New York and Hawaii. 20] The film was distributed in Australia by Hopscotch Films and internationally by boutique distributor, Berkela Films. [24] The film was released on DVD on 16 August 2007 with extras including the documentary, The Making of Bra Boys, extended surfing footage, coverage of the films premiere, history of Australian surf culture, a fitness program presented by one of the Bra Boys, and music videos. [25] References ^ a b c Marks, Kathy (19 March 2007). Sydneys notorious surf gang turns tide of violence into big-screen adulation. The Independent (United Kingdom). Retrieved 16 November 2008. ^ Carroll, Nick (9 March 2007). Bra Boys World Film Premier in Sydney, Australia Movie review. Surfing Magazine. Retrieved 6 February 2011. ^ Warhurst, Myf; Whalley, Jason; McDougall, Lindsay (7 May 2007). Myf, Jay and the Doctor: Interview with Koby Abberton (radio). Triple J (Australia). ^ a b Minion, Lynne (8 August 2009). Brothers in Arms. Canberra Times. Retrieved 6 February 2011. ^ Gilmore, Heath (15 July 2007). Bra Boys say its Ours and well fight for it. The Sydney Morning Herald. ^ a b Hellard, Peta (21 November 2008). Guilty Bra Boy Koby Abberton in Honolulu jail for three days. The Daily Telegraph (Australia). ^ McKenzie, Nick (24 September 2009). Cocaine gang had security clearance. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 6 February 2011. ^ Wallace, Natasha (6 May 2005). Surf gang member cleared of standover mans murder. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 6 February 2011. ^ Bra Boys: The often maligned surf brotherhoods new movie. Surfer Magazi ne. 22 July 2010. ^ Jones, Caroline (7 November 2005). Sons of beaches (transcript). Australian Story (Australia). Retrieved 6 February 2011. Jail for Bra Boy Jai Abberton, Pussycat Doll Melody Jail for Bra Boy Jai Abberton, Pussycat Doll Melody Thornton dines with Sonny and Koby Abberton. The Daily Telegraph (Australia). 12 November 2009. Retrieved 1 December 2011. ^ Kennedy, Les (24 December 2002). Night the thin blue line ran into the Maroubra stomp. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 6 February 2011. ^ Cuming, Angela; Munro, Catharine (7 August 2005). Rage over 7000 meters for beaches. The Sun-Herald (Australia). Retrieved 6 February 2011. ^ McIlveen, Luke (9 December 2005). A beast surfaces. The Daily Telegraph (Australia). Silkstone, Dan (14 December 2005). When two tribes go to war: a culture clash. The Age (Australia). Retrieved 6 February 2011. ^ Emergency powers to crack down on riots (transcript). The 7. 30 Report (Australia). 13 December 2005. Retrieved 6 February 2011 . ^ The Chaser vs. The Bra Boys Hilarious Gags (video). The Chaser. Australia. 11 April 2007. Retrieved 6 February 2011. ^ Casamento, Jo (6 February 2011). Bra Boys amused by Home and Away homage. The Sun-Herald (Australia). Retrieved 6 February 2011. ^ Howard, Jake. Kelly Slater wins his 10th world title. ESPN Action Sports (United States). Retrieved 6 November 2010. a b Bra Boys. Internet Movie Database. Amazon. com. 2007. Retrieved 2 February 2011. ^ Pomeranz, Margaret; Stratton, David (14 March 2007). Bra Boys. At the Movies (Australia). Retrieved 6 February 2011. ^ Bra Boys breaks box office record. ABC News (Australia). 27 March 2007. ^ ‘Bra Boys:’ Best Documentary at Movie EXTRA Awards. Transworld Skateboarding (United States). 17 March 2008. Retrieved 6 February 2011. ^ Bra Boys: Blood is Thicker than Water. Berkela Films. Retrieved 6 February 2011. ^ Idato, Michael (27 August 2007). Bra Boys DVD review. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 6 February 2011.

Black Codes Laws

Black Codes Laws Black Codes Black codes were slavery just in a different name, before black codes there was slavery but black codes. Black codes were an attempt from the white’s to recreate slavery. Black codes were new because it limited the rights of black people and segregated them from the white. When slavery ended it gave the Freemans just a little bit of equality, they got just a little bit more choices about where they work and what they own. The short term impact was that it gave the Freedman’s limited rights and the long term â€Å"change† was equality, and after black codes segregation started. Black codes were really bad but it was a lot better than what they went through which was slavery. Black codes gave more rights to black which was slowly and slowly starting to be taken away as southerners started inventing their own harsh black codes. â€Å"One by one southerners created their own black codes† (Perritano 21). African Americans were allowed to do things during black codes that they weren’t allowed to do in slavery which were things like they were allowed to own property, enter into contracts. Marry but not marry a white person because it was against the black codes and they would be sentenced to prison for life if they do so which did happen, and they were also allowed to sue in court, and also be sued. Although it was better than slavery it wasn’t enough because black code’s increasing and increasing, getting harsher and harsher. â€Å"Black codes were essentially designed to return the social and economic order of the south to a facsimile of antebellum times† (Jones 93.)When they wrote the new laws they used the words slave or freedman’s replacing the word Negro. The laws were different in each state, â€Å"In writing the new laws, postwar southern legislatures often turned to the old slave codes† (Jones 93). Freedman’s weren’t allowed to do a lot of things such as own homes , land, or any kind of property. They weren’t allowed to marry a white person, it was forbidden. They had to move aside when a white women were on the sidewalk, They had to remove their hats when they were wearing it near a white person was near them, in their presence to show respect, They had to address white people appropriately, They didn’t have the right to hold a public office, they weren’t allowed to participate in riots it was illegal and police could even arrest them for just standing in groups, they couldn’t have public education. , they had to obey commands that white people gave to them â€Å"Illegal for freedmen to preach the gospel without a license† (Jones 94).They didn’t have the right to serve in jury. Any black found after 10 at night with a note were sent to prison. They weren’t allowed to sell liquor, or allowed to use offensive language or gestures, it was illegal. It was Illegal for them to carry firearms. Their kids didn’t have the right to go to public schools, in some towns they weren’t even allowed to own rooms. In South Carolina they couldn’t open a store unless they had a license that the judge gave them, most importantly, they weren’t allowed to vote and last but not the least they weren’t allowed to leave their plantations. The white’s just kept going with these codes because they believed in white supremacy.

Macroeconmics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Macroeconmics - Essay Example The article also interprets the new data regarding unemployment in United States. It explains that the important factors in lower unemployment rates are reduction in participation rate and the performance of the private sector. The article also discusses how government officials are trying to settle on the budget crisis and informs the audience regarding the potential harmful consequences if any settlement is not reached. It is also discussed that although unemployment is decreasing, new jobs are not adding in the economy as they were 2 months ago. This shows that there is a decreasing trend in the increasing jobs in the economy. The decreasing trend depicts how budget crisis is negatively affecting the economy and especially the job market. Public companies are not hiring employees because they are unsure as to what will happen in the coming few months. The budget crisis therefore is significantly affecting the economy. Another indication of the importance of the unemployment data can be seen by the performance of stock markets. Usually good news such as decrease in unemployment has a positive effect on the stock markets and investors start to invest in the markets. This did not happen as the markets did not react well to the news. The market reacted in a good way for sometime but this positive reaction was not long lasting which shows that people still have reservations regarding the state of the economy. Stock market performance is an important indicator as to how people perceive the new information and in this case it shows that the news can be regarded as a mixed report. The article also discusses that the new unemployment data reveals that the economy is recovering but the whole process is very slow. The new jobs were added because private companies increased their hiring but government hiring is still in the negative. This again indicates the overall picture of the economy. The article

Wireless Technology used in Business Application Essay

Wireless Technology used in Business Application - Essay Example Nevertheless, even usual e-mail applications corresponds as a security threat for a potential enterprise if hackers gain the access to the network, or feed the network with viruses or other malicious software. IT managers must carefully appraise security risks involved with wireless applications and try to maintain proper security for the networks as is needed. This paper will address the issues regarding wireless technology and tries to discuss the positive and negative points of using this technology for business purposes. Cellular systems were begin to be used more than a quarter of centaury ago and since that time, IT managers realized that the Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) standard was not secure enough for authentication purposes because of caller fraud which was going to be increased. (Kurose, 2004) By the appearance of Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) which provided 128-bit encryption for security purposes and Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) provided encryption and the implementation of user authentication techniques as part of the wireless standard, security flaws also appeared and IT managers faced with unlawful use of communications by un-authorized users, so new standards were defined. Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) which specifies an unequalled code to each data packet and then disperses the packets thorough the air made it difficult for hackers to intercept the packages and brought more security for the devices which were designed to benefit from the wireless technology such as PDAs, Cell Phones and Laptops. (Kurose,2004) However the more technology improved, more and easier ways to intercept a wireless based structure appeared and this resulted companies to seek for more improved security if they wished to deploy their wireless networks. At the same time the wireless data networking is earning most of the marketplace notice, IT managers and the organizations which employ

Of Mice and Men Essay Example for Free

Of Mice and Men Essay Discuss the theme of exclusion in relation to one or more characters and how its presented in of Mice and Men In the novel, there is a strong link to the theme exclusion within the characters. Steinbeck presents this by describing the character in a certain way to make the reader aware of the social ranking and judgement, and does this by also giving the reader an idea of how the characters refer to each other and why this may portray exclusion and how. Crooks is a highly isolated and excluded character in the novel as the stable buck. We know as the reader that he is excluded from the moment he is introduced. This is first presented when Candy says â€Å"the stable bucks a nigger†. Using the term ‘nigger’ to describe the character tells us that there is a strong racial exclusion and that Crooks isn’t very socially high up. Steinbeck later then develops the exclusion of this character when Candy also says â€Å"the boss give him hell when he’s mad†. This just tells us that the Boss, who is much higher up than Crooks excludes him and makes his life ‘hell’. By this Steinbeck might mean that the Boss takes out all of his anger on Crooks because of his low status due to his race. He can be treated however by people that are at a higher status ranking than he is. In my opinion Crooks has the lowest social ranking and the most negative judgements compared to all the other characters who are excluded as even Candy refers to him simply as a â€Å"nigger†. Another character that is highly excluded is Curley’s wife. Right at the beginning of the novels George is describing Curley’s wife to Lennie listen to me you crazy bastard, he said fiercely. Don’t you even take a look at that bitch. I don’t care what she says and what she does. I see em’ poison before but I never seen no piece of jail bait worse than her, now leave her alone. † George is telling Lennie to stay away from her. Steinbeck uses an imperative where George is telling Lennie to ‘listen’ to what he is saying. Meaning itâ⠂¬â„¢s very important because he says it â€Å"fiercely† as he really wants Lennie to take on board what he has said. George is really quite horrible in that hes is describing Curley’s wife as a â€Å"bitch† and â€Å"poison. † There is derogatory language used here by Steinbeck to really ethicize how George is feeling. And they are insults, specifically to her. Steinbeck also uses slang from around the time that the book was written. George says that she is like â€Å"jail bait†. This is slang to describe somebody who gets other people into trouble, even by just going near them. Curley’s wife knows how all the other men feel about her nd she has ways of showing how she feels back. â€Å"she turned on him in scorn. â€Å"listen nigger†, she said. â€Å"you know what i can do if you open your trap? † for a moment she stood over him as though waiting for him to move so that she could whip him again she turned at last to the other two. † Here Curley’s wife is trying to seek attention from Crooks, Candy and Lennie. From this quote it shows e xclusion within all the characters. Curley’s wife is excluded as she is the only woman and nobody will speak to her. Also she gets no attention. The other three characters are excluded as all the other men have gone out from the ranch and they’ve been left behind. Steinbeck shows us that Curley’s wife reacts to how excluded she is as she has to turn to insulting people sp that she can feel above them and more powerful. Physically she also â€Å"stood over him†, to feel better about her self esteem and less worthless. An imperative is used to begin with also so she feels higher ranked than the men around her. Steinbeck represents her as a bully by being racist to Crooks and describing him as a â€Å"nigger†. But just let two of the guys get together an’ you won’t talk. Jus’ nothing but mad†. Here Candy and Crooks are being spoken to by Curley’s wife. She was speaking to Crooks, seeking for attention when Candy showed up and there was silence form both characters. She’s telling them that she has experienced things like this before obviously. As Curley’s wife says â€Å"the† guys it makes me think that she is describing them as objects and not as real people. We, as the reader can tell that she is getting more and more upset as we reach halfway through the passage. She shortens her words such as and to â€Å"an’ and just to â€Å"jus’†. This proves that she is losing her temper and patience as to why they will not talk to her. We can also tell this as her sentence structures are getting shorter as she goes on. This quote clearly promotes exclusion as nobody really wants to talk to Curley’s wife. This is because they believe that they will get into trouble if they do so. It also shows how much Curley’s wife is excluded. She’s being excluded from a black man and an old disabled man who are already excluded against.

Theodore Roosevelt Essay example -- Biography Biographies Bio

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Theodore Roosevelt was a man on a mission. Maybe he didn ¹t know it, but he was. He affected millions of people throughout his life in many different ways. He was the leader of a famous military group, he was an author, a lawyer, and he was also the 26th president of the united states, all of these things ended up bringing him fame.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  He was born in New York City on October 27, 1858 into a rich Dutch family. He was always a cowboy at heart. Even though he was born in a big city his cowboy side and his passion for adventure would come up later in his life. His father taught him to go for his goals, to follow a strict Christian moral code, and to enjoy the life of the mind. His father taught him that the mind was the strongest tool he had. He probably preached this because his son had serious asthma, and a grail un- athletic body. Ted listened to his father and that led to many accomplishments in his life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  He did all the normal things that a young man from a wealthy family was supposed to do. He worked hard on his academics, he got good grades, went to Harvard, and graduated with a great education in 1880. In that same year he married Alice h lee, a girl he met at Harvard. He still wasn ¹t sure of what career he wanted. He ended up serving three one year terms in the new York assembly from 1882-1884. While serving there he became known as an independent republican. Then, in 1884 his mother and his wife died on the same day.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  He was completely broken-hearted, and he had no idea where he wanted to go from there. after a couple of months of mourning, he decided that he would head west, and he would finally fulfill his childhood dream of being a cowboy. He decided that he would move to the Dakotas where he became a rancher with all of the rough experienced cowboys of the west. Even though he was this scrawny awkward outcast that wore glasses; something most of the people in the Dakotas never even saw; he was still able to get the respect of the rough and tough cowboys. He did it by tracking three rustlers, and bringing them back for a trial by himself. Even though he loved being a wild cowboy out on a ranch he realized he had a real life back in New York. He would have loved to live in the west for the rest of his life , but after only two years in the Dakotas he went back to New York.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A couple of months after he return... ... Republican presidential nomination but he didn ¹t. Three years later on January 6, 1919 he died from an illness at his oyster bay home in Sagamore hill.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Theodore Roosevelt did everything that he wanted to do in life. He was one of the major influences in U.S. Society. He was an author, a cowboy, a very well respected military leader, and he was the president of the United States. He knew how to lead and gain the respect of people. Whether it be by capturing rustlers singlehandedly, or by making a promise to his political party to stick to the old ways., he could always get the respect of the people he wanted to get respect from. Bibliography   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  - tnt.turner.com/movies/tntoriginals/roughriders   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  - www.letsfindout.com/subjects/america   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  - encarta.msn.com/index/conciseindex   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  - Morris, Edmund The Rise Of Theodore Roosevelt . New York City, NY   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   First Ballantine Books Edition, April 1980,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  - Roosevelt, Theodore Theodore Roosevelt ¹s Letters to His Children New York   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Charles Scribner ¹s Sons, 1923,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  - The New Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. Release 6 Computer   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   software CD-ROM Online Computer Systems Inc. 1993

Law Office Management Unit 5

PA305: Law Office Management Unit 5 Assignment ? Goals 1. Always be approachable 2. Always be responsive 3. Efficiency 4. Devote ourselves and our work to our clients 5. Dedication to the satisfaction to the satisfaction of our clients 6. Dedicated to the well-being of the client 7. Make sure all clients are happy 8. Develop a sophisticated system 9. All clients questions and concerns will be addressed in an organized and timely manner 10. Exceed expectations of the client 1. Supply donations and Pro Bono work each month. 12. Morally and ethically work to ensure justice is served for everyone. Mission Statement Crystal Jones is an innovative general practice firm, specializing in civil procedure and family law. Here you get a small town feel from a city firm; we will always be approachable, responsive, efficient and devoted to our clients. Our staff is dedicated to the satisfaction, well-being and happiness of each and every client. Technologically sophisticated systems, mean inquiries and concerns will always be addressed in an organized and timely manner. Crystal Jones is ever evolving, raising the bar for clients in the future. We promise to do our best to exceed all expectations of our clients, devoting ourselves to the issues at hand, until they are fully resolved. Our dedication does not stop at our clients; we are fully dedicated to our community supplying donations and Pro Bono work each month. At Crystal Jones we will morally and ethically work to ensure justice is served.

Role of Icb in the Development of Capital Market in Bangladesh: a Performance Evaluation of Icb Sponsored Mutual Funds

INTERNSHIP REPORT Dept. of Business Administration Shah Jalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet. INTERNSHIP REPORT Role of ICB in the Development of Capital Market in Bangladesh: A Performance Evaluation of ICB Sponsored Mutual Funds Supervisor Ms. Nafsaniath Fathemaf Lecturer Department of Business Administration Shah Jalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet. Submitted By Muhamad Abul Lyse 4th Year 2nd Semester (2nd Batch) Reg No: 0099730014 Dept of Business Administration Shah Jalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet Date of submission: July 06, 2006 Date July 06, 2006 It is an immense pleasure for me to certify that this internship report entitled â€Å" Role of ICB in the Development of Capital Market in Bangladesh: A performance evaluation of ICB sponsored mutual funds† submitted to the department of Business Administration, Shah Jalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet is an original work done by Muhammad Abul Lyse, a student of BBA 2nd Batch of Department of Business Administration, bearing the Registration number 0099730014. He has successfully completed the internship program at Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) and prepared this report on the aforesaid title under my supervision. I wish him every success in his endeavors. Signature: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Ms Nafsaniath Fathema Lecturer, Dept. of Business Administration Shah Jalal University of Science and Technology Sylhet-3114. July 06, 2006 Ms Nafsaniath Fathema Lecturer, Dept. of Business Administration Shah Jalal University of Science and Technology Sylhet-3114. Sub: Submission of internship report Dear Madam, Have the pleasure in submitting my internship report titled â€Å"Role of ICB in the Development of Capital Market in Bangladesh: A Performance Evaluation of ICB Sponsored Mutual Funds . As an integral part of my BBA degree, I have been assigned to work on the topic, with a view to well integrate the theoretical knowledge I have learned throughout my four years of study and thus to fine tune these knowledge with practical work experience in a financial institution like ICB, the pioneer and largest Investment Bank of the country. The Internship Program was very much valuable as it helped me to gain a real life experience working in a professional environment. I tried my best to get an in depth coverage of the topic and emphasized on using authentic data I am grateful to you for your kind suggestion and helpful advice in preparing this report. Once again, thank you very much indeed for giving me the opportunity to work under your kind supervision. Yours Sincerely Muhammad Abul Lyse Reg. NO: 0099730014 Department of Business Administration (2nd Batch) Shah Jalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet. Contents part one Chapter one : iNTRODUCTION CHAPTER TWO: icb and ITS FUNTIONS CHAPTER tHREE: role OF ICB IN THE CAPITAL MARKET OF BANGLADESH CHAPTER FOUR: PERFORMANCE OF icb CHAPTER FIVE: SUBSIDIARY COMPANIES OF ICB part two CHAPTER ONE: ICB SPONSORED MUTUAL FUNDS CHAPTER TWO: findings and recommendations of an actiOn an PLAN Detailed contents pART ONE CHAPTER 1: iNTRODUCTION 1. Objective of the Study1 2. Scope of the Study1 3. Methodology of the Study2 4. Limitations of the Study4 CHAPTER TWO: ICB AND ITS FUNCTION 1. Background of the ICB5 2. Objectives5 3. Functions of ICB6 4. Business Policy7 5. Capital Structure7 6. Share Price of ICB8 7. Share holding Position of ICB9 8. Products of ICB11 9. ICB at a Glance14 10. Investors Scheme of ICB16 11. Organization Structure of ICB20 12. ICB Mutual Funds22 13. ICB Unit Funds23 14. Development Activities of ICB27 CHAPTER THREE: ROLE OF ICB IN THE CAPITAL MARKET OF BANGLADESH 3. 1 Capital Market28 3. 1. 1 Role of Capital Market in the Economic Development of a Country28 3. 1. 2 Investment Process29 3. 2 Financial Market30 3. 2. 1 Objective of the securities Market30 3. 2. 2 The Role of Government30 3. 3 Financial Market of Bangladesh31 3. 3. 1 Money Market32 3. 3. 2 The non-Securities segment of the Capital Market32 3. 3. 3 The Securities-segment of the Capital Market32 3. 4 The Elements of Security Market33 3. 5 Creating a Supply of Good Securities in Market333. 6 The Origin and development of Capital Market in Bangladesh33 . 7 The Present Scenario of Bangladesh Capital Market35 CHAPTER FOUR: PERFORMANCE OF ICB 4. 1 Role of ICB in the Capital Market of Bangladesh36 4. 2 Operational Activities of ICB41 4. 2. 1 Consideration of Applications41 4. 2. 2 Commitment42 4. 2. 3 Disbursement 46 4. 2. 4 Loan Portfolio47 4. 2. 5 Trustee, Custodian, and Issue Manager48 4. 2. 6 Lease Financing49 4. 3 Portf olio Management50 4. 4 Other Operational Activities51 4. 4. 1 Advance against ICB unit and Mutual Fund certificates Scheme51 4. 4. 2 Consumer Credit Scheme52 4. 4. 3 Merchandising Operations52 4. 4. 4 ICB Mutual Fund52 4. 4. Transaction of Securities53 4. 5 Participation in International Activities53 4. 5. 1 ICB’s involvement with South Asian Development Fund (SADF)53 4. 5. 2 Investment in South Asia Regional Fund (SARF)54 4. 6 Financial Result of ICB 55 4. 6. 1 Total Expenditure56 4. 6. 2 Net Income56 4. 6. 3 Dividend57 4. 6. 4 Some Key Financial Ratios58 CHAPTER FIVE: THREE SUBSIDIARY COMPANIES OF ICB 5. 1 Subsidiary Companies of ICB595. 2 ICB Capital Management Limited (ICML)59 5. 2. 1 Background of ICML 5. 2. 2 Vision of the Company59 5. 2. 3 Mission of the Company60 5. 2. 4 Some Salient Features of ICML investors’ Scheme60 5. . 5 Advantages of ICML Investors’ Scheme61 5. 2. 6 Margin Loan61 5. 2. 7 Financial Performance of ICML63 5. 3 ICB Asset Management Li mited (AMCL)63 5. 3 ICB Securities Trading Company Limited (ISTCL)66 PART TWO CHAPTER ONE: ICB SPONSORED MUTUAL FUNDS 1. Some key issues of Mutual funds 68 1. Definition of Mutual Funds 68 2. Types of Mutual funds 68 2. ICB Mutual Funds 69 1. Nature of Business 70 2. How to buy existing Mutual funds 70 3. Management of the funds 70 4. Assets of ICB Mutual funds 70 5. Management fee, Charge etc. 71 6. Declaration of Dividend 71 3. Operational Highlights of ICB Mutual Funds 72 4. Financial Statement Analysis of ICB’s Mutual Funds 76 1. Earnings Per Share (EPS) 76 2. Dividend Per Share 78 3. Dividend Payout Ratio 79 4. Earning Yield Ratio 80 5. Dividend Yield Ratio 81 6. Price Earning Ratio 82 CHAPTER TWO: FINDINGS AND recommendation 1. Finding about The Capital market of Bangladesh83 2. 1. 1 Lack of Confidence83 2. 1. 2 Frequent Monetary Change83 2. 1. 3 Liquidity Crisis84 2. 1. 4 Volatile Market Situation84 2. 1. 5 Absence of good Securities85 2. 1. 6 Absence of Government initiative85 2. 1. 7 Market Maker85 2. 1. 8 Awareness85 2. 1. 9 Lack of knowledge85 2. 1. 10 Mass Participation86 . 2 Findings about Investment Corporation of Bangladesh86 2. 2. 1 Services stopped by ICB86 2. 2. 2 Unfair dividend Policy of Mutual funds86 2. 2. 3 Irredeemable Mutual funds87 2. 2. 4 Absence of efficiency in Portfolio management of MF87 2. 2. 5 Lengthy Processing87 2. 3 Recommendation of an Action Plan88 2. 4 Conclusion 90 Bibliography 92 Acronym and Appendices I. Appendix : Or anagram of ICB II. Appendix: Balance Sheet and Income Statement of ICB Executive Summary Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB), established in 1976, is virtually the only Investment Bank in Bangladesh. In a broader sense, ICB is both an investment Bank and Development Financial Institution. (DFI). ICB plays a pivotal role to encourage and broaden the base of investment and thereby to help to develop a vibrant capital market in Bangladesh. ICB caters to the need of institutional support to meet the equity gap of emerging new companies. ICB works with a view to mobilise savings of general public and inspires small and medium savers for investment in securities. As s single entity, Government of Bangladesh holds majority shares of ICB (i. e. 27%). With diverse functions, ICB operates on commercial basis, provides financial assistance to projects subject to their economic and commercial viability and arranges equity and loans singly or through consortium of financial institution. Functions of ICB include; purchasing of shares and debentures including placement and direct participation, managing existing mutual funds and investment accounts, providing investment counseling to investors and helping government to its divestment programs. The following report titled â€Å"The Role of ICB in the development of Capital Market in Bangladesh: A Performance Evaluation of ICB Sponsored Mutual Funds† contains a comprehensive overview of ICB with special emphasis on ICB’s role in the development of capital market in Bangladesh. Likewise, an analysis of ICB sponsored Mutual funds is made with detail financial analysis as ICB since its inception, have been performing a pioneering role in the capital market of Bangladesh by managing the portfolios of ICB’s eight mutual funds. Since 1980, ICB floated a total of eight mutual funds with paid up capital of Tk 17. 0 crore. After taken a restructuring program of ICB under Capital Market Development Program (CMDP) initiated by the government of Bangladesh and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and in terms of power conferred in the ICB ordinance three subsidiary companies, namely (1) ICB Capital Management Limited (2) ICB Asset Management Company Limited and (3) ICB Securities Trading Company Limited have been created and made operational to carry out merchant banking, mutual fund operations and stock brokerage functions respectively. The report is divided mainly into two parts. Part One contains a comprehensive coverage of ICB with its role in the development of capital market in Bangladesh and Part Two establishes part one by analyzing the ICB sponsored Mutual funds as ICB plays a central role in the capital market of Bangladesh by managing its eight mutual funds. Part One consists of Four Chapters. Chapter One includes the objective, scope, methodology and limitations of the study. Chapter Two describes historical background, objectives, business policies, functions, capital structure and products of ICB. Chapter Three explain the financial market and various segments of financial market of Bangladesh. The chapter also establishes the role of ICB in the development of Capital Market in Bangladesh. Chapter Four illustrates the performance of ICB. Chapter Five includes a description of three subsidiary companies of ICB. Part Two consists of two chapters. Chapter one evaluates the ICB sponsored mutual funds. This chapter initially deals with some theoretical concepts of mutual funds and then an in-depth financial performance of ICB mutual funds. Chapter two includes some findings of the study with recommendation of an action plan. The report ends with a bibliography and an appendix. Acknowledgments I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Md. Nazrul Islam, Head and Associate professor of the Department of Business Administration of Shah Jalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet and All of the Teachers of the Department especially to my supervisor Ms Nafsaniath Fathema who constantly inspired, supervised, and encouraged me with valuable advice and cooperation through the whole period of my internship Program. I would also like to express my special regards to Ms Nasreen Sultana, AGM of the Personnel Department, who allowed and gave me the opportunity to work in Investment Corporation of Bangladesh, the pioneer Investment Bank of the country. I am also highly grateful to the authority of ICB and all the AGMs of various departments who helped me a lot and cooperated me during my internship period. I am in pleasure to the express my gratitude to the internship and placement committee of the Department of Business Administration especially to the oordinator of the committee, Mohammad Imtiaz Ferdous, also the Assistant Professor of the Department of Business Administration. I would like to extend my special thanks to Ms Sharmin, Senior Principal Officer of Personnel Department, Subashis Chakrabarti, Assistant librarian of the ICB and all the respective officers of ICB for their cordial cooperation and helpful advice. As the first work of my life, I would bear this fond memory of ICB for the re st of my life. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |PART ONE | | | | | | | | |CHAPTER ONE | | | | | |INTRODUCTIONS | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 1. 1 Objective of the Study Learning by doing is an effective way of acquiring knowledge. To have a real life exposure, each student of Department of Business Administration, of Shah Jalal University of Science and Technology has to carry out an internship program as an integral part of his/her BBA degree. Since, only the theoretical knowledge can not make one fit for increasing competitive situation of the world, the internship placement committee had placed me at ICB for a period of three months. Other objective of this study is as follows: ? To relate academic knowledge with real life business world. ? To have an overall idea about the role of ICB in the capital market of Bangladesh with a special emphasis on ICB sponsored Mutual Funds[1]. ? To analyse the profitability of ICB sponsored mutual funds. ? To find out prevailing drawback and lacking of ICB, if there is any, and recommend an action plan. 1. 2 Scope of the Study The scope of this report is only one organisation i. e. Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) and specially the Mutual Funds as it is the focus area of this report. It has been mentioned earlier, the main objective of the study is to analyse the role of ICB in the development of Capital market in Bangladesh with an emphasis on ICB sponsored mutual funds. The report gives an overview of ICB followed by a part on financial involvement of ICB. The report establishes the theoretical and conceptual framework comparing with which the capital market will be judged. There is one elaborate part that deals with the ICB sponsored mutual funds. The study will also present some problems of ICB observed during the internship coupled with some recommended action plan. 1. Methodology of the Study Methodology can be referred as underlying principles and rules of organization or the philosophical systems that work at the backdrop of any study. It clarifies the problems involving the research in a very ordered and systematic fashion. Strategies are det ermined at this stage for future implementation. In conducting any formal survey and preparing any research paper two kinds of data i. e. Primary Data and Secondary Data, are used. I tried my best to collect both types of data and information and have firm intention to emphasis on primary data as it is often up-to-date and more useful than any published information. Initially we collected raw data from departments of ICB and then sort out useful information relevant to my paper. Approaches and methods that have been used to prepare this report are as follows. 1. Personal interview: ICB has 25 departments and three subsidiary companies so far. I personally interviewed almost all AGMs of all departments and talked with the senior Principal Officer, principal Officer and other officer of concerned departments. 2. Briefing Session: Division heads (DGMs[2]) and department heads (AGMs) or their approved officials gave briefs about their respective departments. Information gathered from these sessions has been used in the report. 3. Published reports: a large amount of data are taken from the published sources such as ICB’s annual reports of previous years, Annual reports ICB Mutual Funds, Monthly review of Dhaka and Chittagong Stock Exchange. 4. Selection of the sample: the sample area of this study covers the head office of ICB. Since the central financial activities are done under surveillance of the Head office of ICB, so the selection of sample of this study is justifiable. Data collected from different divisions of ICB are all equally important segments of sample used in this study. ICB as a national investment institution has added a tempo in developing the capital market of Bangladesh. As a result of this importance the selection of ICB as the sample area of this study is presumably the demand of the time. 5. Time schemes: As stated earlier since the purpose of this internship program is an exposure to practical life, the ICB management has deputed me to all the division, departments, sections and cell to acquire hand-on-experience about each of them. I have visited the departments according to the following schedule. | |Name of the Departments |From |To | |   |   | |   | |1 |Personnel Department |27. 03. 2006 |28. 03. 006 | |2 |Secretary Department |29. 03. 2006 |   | |3 |Planning research and Business development Dept. |30. 04. 2006 |09. 04. 2006 | |4 |Management Information Dept. |10. 04. 2006 |12. 04. 2006 | |5 |Securities Analysis Dept. |13. 04. 2006 |16. 04. 2006 | |6 |Investor's Dept |17. 04. 2006 |19. 04. 2006 | |7 |Shares Dept. and reconciliation Cell |20. 04. 2006 |25. 04. 2006 | |8 |Unit sales Dept. |26. 04. 006 |27. 04. 2006 | |9 |Unit registration and collection Dept. |30. 04. 2006 |02. 05. 2006 | |10 |Mutual Fund Dept. |03. 05. 2006 |07. 05. 2006 | |11 |Central Acco unts Dept. |08. 05. 2006 |10. 05. 2006 | |12 | System Analysis Dept. |14. 05. 2006 |15. 05. 2006 | |13 |Programming Dept. |16. 05. 2006 |17. 05. 2006 | |14 |Loan Appraisal Dept/Lien Cell |18. 05. 2006 |21. 05. 2006 | |15 |SAARC Cell |22. 05. 006 |—- | |16 |Project Implementation Dept. |23. 05. 2006 |—- | |17 | Loan Recovery and Monitoring Dept. |24. 05. 2006 |25. 05. 2006 | |18 |Project Loan Account Dept. |28. 05. 2006 |—- | |19 |Public Issue Dept. |29. 05. 2006 |—- | |20 |Trustee Dept. |30. 05. 2006 |31. 05. 2006 | |21 |Law Dept. |01. 06. 2006 |04. 06. 2006 | |22 |Audit and Method Dept. |05. 06. 2006 |06. 06. 2006 | |23 |Department Control Dept |07. 06. 006 |—- | |24 |Establishment Dept. |08. 06. 2006 |11. 06. 2006 | |25 |public Relation Dept. |12. 06. 2006 |—- | |26 |ICB Asset Management Company Ltd |13. 06. 2006 |15. 06. 2006 | |27 |ICB Capital Management Ltd |18. 06. 2006 |20. 06. 2006 | |28 |ICB Securities Trading Ltd |21. 06. 2006 |2 6. 06. 2006 | Table 1. 1: Schedule of working at ICB 1. 4 Limitations of the Study Limitations are obvious in any study so do here. Since this is an internship report, the limitations regarding the internship programm has acted as the limitation of the study. The findings we figured out, and the recommendation we made may not be 100% accurate and may not represent the exact situation. Eventually, in completion of my study, a number of constraints and limitations I faced. These can be considered as follows: ? Performance analysis of ICB and its mutual funds may not represent the current condition of the organisation and its mutual funds as all the analysis are based on the data of June 30, 2005. Since the current year financial disclosures are not public yet, so the analysis is a little backdated. ? Officials of ICB maintain a very busy schedule. So they were not always able to provide enough time to enrich the intern students every time, even if they had the intention to do so. ? Due to security reasons and organizational privacy we didn’t have access to some core areas of ICB. ? I had to go almost every department of ICB during my three months internship programm at ICB. Three months is a very short span of time to get an in-depth knowledge about a giant organization like ICB. ? The area covered by the report â€Å"The role of ICB in the development of Capital Market in Bangladesh: A Performance Evaluation of ICB Mutual Funds† concerns a huge a number of activities and it is very difficult to sketch a total picture of the financial activities in a report of this short scale. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |CHAPTER TWO | | | | | |ICB AND ITS FUNCTIONS | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 2. 1 Background of the ICB The investment corporation of Bangladesh (I CB) was established on 1st October 1976, under â€Å"The Investment Corporation of Bangladesh ordinance, 1976† (no XL of 1976). The establishment of ICB was a major step in a series of measures undertaken by the Government to accelerate the pace of industrialization and to develop a well organized and vibrant capital market particularly securities market in Bangladesh. ICB caters to the need of institutional support to meet the equity gap of the companies. In view of the national policy of accelerating the rate of savings and investment to foster self –reliant economy, ICB assumes an indispensable and pivotal role. Through the enactment of the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (Amendment) Act 2000 (no 24 of 2000), reforms[3] in operational strategies and business policies have been implemented by establishing and operating subsidiary companies with ICB as the holding company. 2. 2 Objective As the country’s Pioneer Investment Bank, ICB has been working to assist the small investors in mobilizing their savings. ICB works with a view to broaden the base of the investment of the country, ensure mass participation of general people in the capital market and thus to contribute towards the GDP of Bangladesh. ? To encourage and broaden the base of investments ? To develop the capital market ? To mobilise savings ? To promote and establish subsidiary companies for business expansion. ? To provide for matters 2. 3 Functions of ICB To develop the capital market of Bangladesh, and mobilise the savings of small investors, ICB carry out a range of diversified functions. With a solid view to foster and accelerate the economic growth of the country, ICB provides all sorts of financial services to the potential sector. Ensuring equal distribution of economic benefits gained by the economy among the grass root level is one of the main objectives of ICB. Various functions of ICB can be mentioned as follows. Unlike any other financial institutions, ICB maintains a portfolio of the government comprised of different securities of listed companies and helps government advising regarding fiscal and monetary policy of the country. As a market maker it floats mutual funds, issues unit certificates, underwrites securities and manages issuance of securities. | | | |Underwriting of initial public offering of shares and debentures | | |Underwriting of right issue of shares | |Basic |Direct purchase of shares and debentures including Pre-I[4]PO placement and equity participation | |Functions |Providing lease finance to industrial machinery and other equipments singl y or by forming syndicate | |Of |Managing investors' Accounts | | |Managing Open End and Closed End Mutual Funds[5] | |ICB |Operating on the Stock Exchanges | | |Providing investment counseling to issuers and investors | | |Participating in government investment program | | |Participating in and financing of, joint-venture projects | | |Dealing in other matters related to capital market operations | | |Trusty, Custodian, Bank Guarantee | | |Consumer Credit | 2. 4 Business Policy The corporation has adopted a realistic business policy framework within which its operation is conducted. The corporation, acts on commercial consideration with due regard to the interest of industry, commerce, depositors, investors and to the public in general. | | | | |To provide financial assistance to projects subject to their economic and commercial viability. | |Business |To arrange consortium of financial institutions including merchant banks to provide equity support to | |Policy |projects and thereby spread the risk of underwriting. | |Of |To develop and encourage entrepreneurs. | |ICB |To diversify investments in securities. | |To create employment. | | |To encourage Investment in IT sector. | | |To encourage Investment in joint venture capital/project. | 2. 5 Capital Structure | Capital Structure of ICB -as on June 30, 2005 (Tk in crore) | |Authorised capital |100. 00 | |Paid up capital |50. 00 | |Reserve |84. 11 | |Retained profit |5. 6 | |Long term govt. Loan |5. 25 | |Debentures |61. 80 | |Others |24. 89 | |Total |231. 41 | Source: Drawn based on the data of ICB Annual Repo rt 2004-2005 Figure 2. 1 Capital Structure of ICB Share price of ICB Share price of for the last year was as follows: Fig 2. 2: 2. 7 Share holding Position of ICB Equity participation from a range of institution along with the government of Bangladesh has made the capital structure of ICB as a unique. Nationalised banks, Private commercial banks, Bangladesh Bank including the general public have ownership in ICB. |Shareholding position of ICB (as on June 30,2005) | |Shareholder |No. of share holder |No. of shares |Percentage | |Governments of Bangladesh |1 |1350000 |27. 00 | |Nationalised Commercial Banks |4 |1137220 |22. 4 | |Development Financial Institution |2 |681550 |13. 63 | |Insurance Companies |3 |618286 |12. 37 | |Bangladesh Bank |1 |600000 |12. 00 | |Denationalized Private Com Banks |2 |454263 |9. 08 | |Private Commercial Banks |3 |28286 |0. 7 | |Foreign Commercial Banks |2 |26531 |0. 53 | |First BSRS Mutual Fund |1 |6900 |0. 14 | |Other Institution |9 |26949 |0. 54 | |General Public |927 |70015 |1. 54 | | Total|955 |5000000 |100. 00 | Table 2. 2: Shareholding Position of ICB Source: Annual Report 2004-2005 [pic] Figure: 2. 3 Shareholding position of ICB 2. 8 Products of ICB Private Placements ICB is authorized to act as an agent of the issuers and investors for private placements of securities. Under this arrangement, ICB places securities to individuals/institutions on behalf of the issuer for which it charges fees. ICB also acquires shares/securities for its own portfolio both in pre-IPO placement and equity investment. Underwriting[6] In order to raise long term equity from the primary market, the government bodies, enterprises, corporations or companies may seek intermediary assistance from ICB in the form of underwriting. Because of its long and proven experience, reputation, asset back up and established network of regional offices, ICB is in an excellence position to attract the potential investors to the proposed issue of shares, debentures and other securities for successful flotation of IPO and placement. Custodian and Banker to the Issues To act as the custodian to the public issue of Open-end & Closed-end Mutual Funds, ICB provides professional services. It also acts as the Banker to the issues and provides similar services through the network of its branches. Fees in this regard are negotiable. Mergers and Acquisitions Companies willing to expand their business through mergers or acquisitions or o divestment projects that no longer viable into present capacity of operation can contact the Corporation. ICB provides professional services & advices in respect of shaping up the cost and financial structures to ensure best possible operational results. Besides, in case of divestment, the corporatio n, through network and established business relationship, bring buyers and sellers together, help them to negotiate final agreement and advice on the emerging corporate structure. Advance against Unit Certificates Scheme Advance against ICB Unit Certificates Scheme was introduced in 1998, especially designed for the ICB unit- holders to meet their emergency fund requirements. One can borrow maximum Tk. 5 per unit by depositing his/her unit certificates under lien arrangement from any of the ICB offices where from such unit certificates were issued. The rate of interest on the loan is reasonable and competitive. Corporate Financial Advice Government enterprises and Companies intending to go public issue often seek professional & financial advice on corporate restructuring & reengineering. ICB through its expertise provide such services through its expertise. Lease[7] Financing ICB Provides lease finance mainly for procurement of industrial machinery, equipment and transport. ICB prov ides professional advice and financial assistance to the intending clients. The period of lease, rental, charges, and other terms and conditions are determined on the basis of type of assets and the extent of assistance required by the applicants. Since introduction of this scheme in 1999, good responses have been received from the intending lessees. Trustee to the debenture and Securities assets ICB is acting as a trustee to the debenture issues and asset-backed securitised bonds. ICB acted as trustee to the issues of 17 companies of which 7 companies has been redeemed successfully. Bank Guarantee scheme ICB introduced Bank Guarantee scheme in 2002-03. ICB provides (i) Bid Bond for enabling the business people to participate in any tender or bidding; ii) Performance Bond for helping the business community to continue their business smoothly by fulfilling their obligations promised by them to their clients; and (iii) Customs Guarantee for solving different disagreements between the customs authority and the business classes at the initial stage. The maximum limit of guarantee is Tk. 2. 00 crore and would be issued against at east 20% cash and 80% easily encashable securities or against 100% cash margin. Re-guarantee from other financial institution is required for guarantee against the amount exceeding Tk. 2. 00 crore. Consumer Credit Scheme As part of business diversification program, ICB has introduced â€Å"Consumers Credit Scheme† in 2003-04 considering at the need of various household commodities of different employees of govt. , semi-govt. autonomous bodies and some established private sector organizations. Under this scheme one can enjoy minimum Tk 1. 0 lac but maximum 5 lac credit facilities. The rate of interest on the loan is reasonable and competitive which is fixed by the board of directors of ICB considering the bank rate and with the guidelines of Bangladesh Bank. 2. 9 ICB at a Glance |Particulars |Cumulative up to June 30, 2005 (Tk in Crore) | |Authorized Capital |100. 00 | |Paid up Capital |50. 0 | |Financial Assistance to projects (Commitment) | | |No of projects |431 | |Amount |536. 87 | |Disbursement of project loan | | |No of projects |308 | |Amount |114. 2 | |Trustee to debenture issue | | |No of companies |17 | |Amount |184. 15 | |Trustee to issue of bonds | | |No of companies |5 | |Amount |134. 6 | |Custodian/Trustee to issue of Mutual Funds | | |No of funds |4 | |Amount |60. 00 | |Manager to the issue | | |No of companies |41 | |Amount |104. 9 | |Lease financing | | |No of projects |34 | |Amount sanctioned |92. 93 | |Public Issue (ICB Assisted) | | |No of companies |111 | |Size of issue (General public) |368. 3 | |ICB Investors’ scheme | | |No of accounts opened |77207 | |Investment made |760. 82 | |ICB Mutual Funds | | |Number |8 | |Capital fund |17. 0 | |Total market value of investment |67. 66 | |Dividend per certificate in eight mutual funds for the year 2004-2005, ranges | | |from Tk 15 to Tk 210) | | |ICB unit fund | | |Gross sale |940. 8 | |Rate of dividend for the year 2004-05=Tk12 per certificate | | |ICB’s Transaction in the Stock Exchanges including subsidiaries | | |DSE |769. 90 | |CSE |268. 73 | Financial Results (For the year 2004-05) (Tk in crore) |Income |170. 38 | |Net profit after Tax |21. 3 | |Dividend (Tk per share) |12 | |Manpower (as on June 0,2005) |396 | |No of shareholders ( as on June 30, 2005) |955 | 2. 10 Investors Scheme of ICB Investor scheme is one of the core functions of ICB. Through investors’ scheme, ICB ensures Participation of small investors in the capital market of Bangladesh. The Investors' Scheme was introduced in 1977 with the objective of broadening the base of equity investment through mobilising savings of small and medium size savers for investment in the securities market. In addition to Head Office, Investment Accounts are also operated at the 7 branch offices of ICB located at Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Barisal, Sylhet, and Bogra. However in view of strategic changes in policy reform, from 01 July 2002 ICB stopped opening new accounts and ICB Capital Management Ltd. started opening and managing investment accounts. ICB will continue to provide services to its existing accounts only. Table 2. 3: Comparative operational activities of the investors’ scheme in 2004-2005 and 2003-2004 |Particulars |04-05 |03-04 |Increase/Decrease |Cum as on June 30, 2005 | | | | |(%) | | |No. f accounts opened | — | — | — |72207 | |No. of accounts closed |807 |776 |4. 26 |28327 | |No. of net operative accounts |48880 |49687 |-1. 62 |48880 | |Deposit received |22. 7 |27. 31 |-16. 62 |314. 87 | |Loans disbursed |159. 5 |58. 73 |171. 58 |707. 8 | |Investment Made |118. 26 |62. 91 |87. 98 |760. 82 | |Interest accrued |25. 09 |30. 48 |-17. 68 |— | |Interest waived |19. 06 |31. 26 |-39. 03 |55. 52 | |Recovery of margin Loans |179. 6 |103. 14 |74. 13 | —| |Fund withdrawal |40. 18 |13. 09 |206. 95 | —| Further steps were undertaken to enhance the quality and speedy service under the scheme like computerization of all activities and installation of merchandizing operation management software. This enables the management to offer better and quick service to the investors including instant supply of the financial statement, portfolio, balance of the accounts, etc. Installation of telephone banking system in Investors' Account enabling investors to collect information and operate their account over telephone was at the final stage of operations. Besides, installation of Electronic display system of DSE online trading on the floor of ICB has been set up. Through investors’ scheme ICB provides the following services. Authority of Operation An account may be operated by the account holder himself/herself or he/she may authorize to another A/c. holder of investors account of ICB by written consent in the prescribed form, some one else to operate the account on his/her behalf. In case of joint account holders, account may be operated by single or joint signatories or by authorised operator. Margin Loan Presently ICB grants loan up to two times i. e. at the ratio of 1:3 against the deposits of account holder(s) subject to a maximum of Tk. 3, 00,000. 00 to an account. However, management of ICB, at its discretion, may limit such loan. Loans are repayable as per repayment schedule given by ICB. In the event of default of loan repayment, the outstanding amount may be recovered by sale of securities held in the account. Portfolio Management The account holder may use his/her equity and the loan to buy securities which ICB keeps as collateral. Purchase and sale orders are executed by ICB within the shortest possible time, subject to the availability of fund in the account and scope of matching of buyers/sellers and securities in the stock exchanges. An account holder or his/her authorized person may place purchase/sale execution order in the prescribed form, indicating whether, the order is a limit order i. e. an specifying the max. /min. rice at which he/she is willing to buy /sale, or at a market price i. e. without any limit of price. The purchase and sale orders are valid for seven and ten days respectively, if not revalidated / cancelled otherwise by the account operator. Withdrawal of Securities/Funds All or any amount of fund or securities may be withdrawn from an accou nt subject to keeping of minimum credit balance of Tk. 5000. 00 in cash or in securities to keep the account running alive. Application against IPO All activities relating to application for securities and collection of allotment letter / refund warrant and certificates, as the case may be, against the IPO[8] are done by ICB on behalf of account holder. Collection of Securities and Benefits Right shares, bonus shares, dividends, interest, converted shares etc. accruing to an account are collected by ICB from the respective companies. Registration and custodial services Registration of shares/ securities with the company is made before the closure of the company's share / debenture transfer book, after completing all the required formalities, on behalf of the account holder. Volt and other custodial arrangement for assets of the account are provided by ICB. Counseling and data support In order to develop diversified and balanced portfolio to minimize risk and maximize profit, ICB provides professional advice to its clients. Data support in the form of securities analysis sheet, daily purchase/ sale position, statement and portfolio of each account, etc. are provided on demand and on regular interval. Income Incomes from investments by way of dividend, interest, bonus shares, capital gains etc. are credited to the respective account. Expense Interest on loan (currently-12. 5%) and brokerage (0. 5% for non CDS & 0. 5250% for CDS) on sale/ purchase of securities are charged to the respective account. To encourage the small and medium savers, ICB at present does not charge fees for most of the services rendered by ICB to its customers, including fees for management, investment advice, custodial service(for non CDS securities),etc. Closing of Account An account may be closed by written order subject to settlement of fees & dues, if any. There is no provision of revival of a closed account. Risk Management Risks of investments in the securities market are minimized through prudent & professional portfolio management. 2. 11 Organization Structure of ICB Management of ICB The head office of the corporation as per the requirement of the ordinance of ICB is located at Dhaka. The board of directors of ICB is very much rich as it consists of distinguished professional and managing director of other organization. The Board consists of 11 members including the Chairman and Managing Director. The Board of Directors consists of the following members. The Chairman and Managing Director (MD) are to be appointed by the government o The directors to be appointed by the government from among persons serving under the government. o One Director to be appointed by the Bangladesh Bank o The Managing Director of Bangladesh Shilpa Bank (BSB), ex offi ce. o The Managing Director of Bangladesh Shilpa Rin Shnagsta (BSRS) o Four other directors to be elected by the shareholders other than the government. ICB- its Divisions and Departments Investment Corporation of Bangladesh split, into 25 departments and 11 divisions in its head office. Beside that ICB has seven branches in different districts. These are situated at Dhaka (local office), Chittagong, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Khulna, Bogura and Barisal. ICB is functionally divided into two broad wings. One is operations wing and another is Administrative wing. The functions of operational wings involve the activities of project Financing, Planning Research and Business Development, Lunching Unit and Mutual Funds (launching if new funds is now stopped and currently the function is accomplished by ICB Asset Management Ltd), transaction and maintenance of Investor Accounts. The function of administrative Wing involve the activities of Account and Finance, Legal affairs, Implementation and Recovery, Project Implementation, Law and Public Issue. It is mentioned earlier, that ICB consists of 11 Divisions and 25 departments. The following table lists all the divisions and departments of ICB. An appendix at the pf the report contains the full Organ gram of ICB. Table 2. 4 |Division |Department | |A. Administration |01. Personel | | |02. Establishment | |B. Loan Appraisal |03. Loan Appraisal | | |04. Economic and Business Research | | |05. Securities Analysis | |C. Legal Affairs |06. Public Issue | | |07. Law | |D. Merchandising |08. Investors’ | | |09. Shares | | |10. Transaction | |E. Funds |11. Unit sales | | |12. Unit Registration and Procurement | | |13. Mutual Funds | |F. Computer |14. System Analysis | | |15. Programming | | |16. Management Information System | |G. Audit And Methods |17. Audit And Methods (Head Office) | | |18. Audit And Methods (Branches) | |H. Accounts and Finance |19. Central Accounts | | |20. Project Loan Accounts | |I. Implementation |21. project Implementation | | |22. Recovery and Follow-up | |J. Secretary’s |23. Secretary’s | | |24. Public Relation | |K. Branch and Subsidiaries control Division |25. Branch Control Department | 2. 11 ICB Mutual Funds It is a recognized principle that diversification of investment reduces risk. An individual may not have the time, expertise and resources to undertake such diversification. Here arises the advantage of a Mutual Fund. Mutual Funds pool the savings of a great number of investors and make investments in a wide array of securities. In Bangladesh ICB has pioneered Mutual Funds for the sake of investors and of the capital market. Mutual Funds are also known as close ended Mutual Funds. The issued capital of a Mutual Fund is limited, that is, a Mutual Fund offers a limited number of certificates for sale to the public. The amount of capital and the number of certificates of each Mutual Fund remains unchanged. ICB Mutual Funds are independent of one another. Price of Mutual Fund certificates after IPO is determined on the Stock Exchanges through interaction of supply and demand. The market price of a Mutual Fund certificates is available in Stock exchange quotations and in newspapers. An investor can purchase any of the existing eight ICB Mutual Funds certificates through the Stock Exchanges at the prevailing Market Price. The Mutual Funds are managed by ICB as fund manager for which receives commission @1%. ICB Mutual Funds Certificates holders shall have unfettered ownership in the assets of the Fund to which they are related. In case of winding up of the Corporation the assets belonging to any ICB Mutual Fund shall not be treated as the assets of the Corporation. At present management fee @ 1% on the paid up capital of the Fund is charged annually. No amount is charged on account of custodial and trust services. The net income received on investments of Funds on account of dividend, bonus, interest, capital gain etc. are distributed amongst the Certificate Holders as per decision of the Board of Directors of ICB. Board declares such income in the form of dividend at the end of July each year. Dividends declared by ICB in the past on the Mutual Funds were very attractive. A detail analysis on ICB sponsored mutual fund will be followed on the second part of the report. 2. 12 ICB Unit Fund Sponsored by the Government of Bangladesh, ICB Unit Fund was established on April 10, 1981. Its main objective is to mobilize savings through sale of its units to small investors and invest these funds in marketable securities. The scheme provides a potential source of equity and debt to industrial and commercial concerns and thus contributes to the industrial development of the country. Unit fund is an open ended Mutual Fund. It provides an opportunity to the unit holders to invest their funds in a well managed and diversified portfolio with a high degree of security of capital and reasonable yearly returns. Investment in Units is safe and ensures a continuous and regular source of income for the holders. Units are easily encashable. As such, investment in Unit is comparatively more attractive. By investing in this scheme an investor may derive personal benefit on the one hand and also contribute towards the economic development of the country on the other. ICB units are securities within the meaning of Trust Act. 1882. Issue, Transfer and Surrender of Unit Certificates (I) Units are available in 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, 500, 1000, & 5000 denominations. The names with addresses of the holders are recorded and dividends are dispatched to them accorded and dividends are dispatched to them accordingly. II) Units may be transferred through prescribed transfer form duly filled in and signed by the transferor and transferee. No stamp duty is required for such transfers. (III) Units may be encased by way of surrendering the certificates along with the prescribed surrender forms duly filled in and sig ned by the registered holders and no prior notice is required. The certificates are required to be surrendered at the prevailing Repurchase Price. Price Fixation: Changes in repurchase prices of units are notified through the newspapers and price of a Unit is fixed periodically by ICB as its fund manager. Among others, valuation of the assets of the Fund is taken into consideration while fixing price of a unit. Public Participation The Fund is divided into units which are generally known as â€Å"ICB Unit†. Each Unit bears a certain value in the assets of the Fund. The Unit holders are the owners of the fund and only they are benefited from it. Unit certificates can be purchased in single or joint name (s). At present maximum of 10,000 Units can be purchased in a single or joint name(S) at a time. Units are not sold to institutions. Professional Counseling Professional Counseling is rendered to the prospective & existing investors who are eager to purchase ICB Units through ICB offices and authorized Bank branches. Presently this scheme is operated by ICB Asset Management Company Limited. Investment by Bangladeshi Citizens Abroad The Bangladeshi citizens living abroad may invest in certificates on fulfillment of the following terms and conditions: (I) The value of Units purchased is to be remitted through bank channel, (II) The money invested in Units and benefits thereon are not allowed to be repatriated, (III) The investors must mention their local and bank addresses in Bangladesh for convenience of registration of Units. Investment by Foreigners Residing in Bangladesh The foreign nationals residing in Bangladesh may also invest in Unit Certificates, provided they produce certificates to the effect that money being invested are their own savings and is not borrowed as loan or overdraft from any bank. These certificates are to be collected from a Gazetted Officer or a Banker not below the rank or Deputy General Manager. Fund Management The responsibility of managing the fund rests on ICB for which management fee @ Tk. 1. 25 per Unit (net outstanding) is charged. The Corporation also discharges the responsibility of loading and unloading of securities in and from the portfolio in the interest of the Unit holders. It is also the custodian of all assets of the fund. Dividend The total income earned on investment/ deployment of funds, net of expenditures incurred, in a financial year is distributed among the unit holders as dividend. Dividend is normally declared at the end of July each year by the Board of Directors of ICB. Dividend Warrants are dispatched soon after declaration of dividend. Since launching of the scheme in 1981 till FY 2004-05 the rates of yearly dividend declared/ paid are as under: Figure 2. 4: dividend performance of ICB unit fund The graph shows that the fund provides an attractive cash dividend each year to the highest of 25% in 1988-89 and to the lowest of 11. 01% in 2004-2005. Figure 2. 5: Dividend yield on ICB unit fund The graph shows a dividend yield on opening price of the unit fund. Tax Benefits (I) Investment in Units enjoys the benefit of Investment Allowance under Sec. 44 of Income Tax ordinance 1984. (II) Units are treated as approved securities in accordance with the Section 2993 of the Companies Act. 1994 and Insurance Act,   1938. These are also treated as Securities as per Sec. 20 of the Trust Act, 1882. Cumulative Investment Plan (CIP) Under this scheme a holder instead of receiving dividend may reinvest such dividend income accrued for purchasing Unit at a confessional rate. In such case, Units are issued at Tk. 1. 00 less than t he opening price of the financial year. 2. 13 Development Activities of ICB Equity support through consortium arrangement ICB inve