Thursday, November 28, 2019

A Great Hatred essays

A Great Hatred essays James Baldwins Notes on a Native Son tells the story of his life from childhood up to an adult. Ever since he was a young boy, Baldwin has gone through different stages of development1 just trying to get through his life troubled with racism. I believe Baldwin fully understands the hate that racism has brought him, but just hasnt found a way to rid such a great hatred from his heart. Baldwins childhood was tough. Though his father was physically there he really wasnt there. His children didnt know him as a father, but rather someone who is hating and fearing every living soul including his children. (3). Baldwins father wasnt only mad at people in general; he had an extreme hatred for white people. Even when the white school teacher, who Baldwins mother gave the highest regard, helped them for years, his father still couldnt make himself trust her. His father also pushed young Baldwin away from his white friends. He claimed, Whites would do anything to keep a Negro down (5). A year before his fathers death, Baldwin moved to New Jersey. His rough life only continued when he saw first hand that whites were very racist towards all Negros living there. He realized that one was never looked at, but was simply at the mercy of the reflexes the color of ones skin caused other people (5). On Baldwins fourth visit to a local restaurant he finally understood the great burden of the Jim Crow laws. Baldwin realized the restaurant he was attending was not one in which he was used to. Negros were not served there (5). This wasnt the only place in New Jersey that was under the Jim Crow law. No matter where he went, Baldwin says, I was always being forced to leave (5). White people were starting to get to Baldwin now. The hate in his heart was only growing stronger. C ...

Sunday, November 24, 2019

6 MBA Interview Mistakes to Avoid

6 MBA Interview Mistakes to Avoid Everyone wants to avoid making mistakes so that they can put their best foot forward during an MBA interview. In this article, were going to explore some of the most common MBA interview mistakes and analyze how they can hurt your chances of getting accepted into an MBA program.   Being Rude Being rude is one of the biggest MBA interview mistakes an applicant can make. Manners count in professional and academic settings. You should be kind, respectful, and polite to everyone you encounter - from the receptionist to the person who interviews you. Say please and thank you. Make eye contact and listen attentively to show that you are engaged in the conversation. Treat every person you speak with - whether it is a current student, alumni, or the director of admissions - as if he or she is the one making the final decision on your MBA application. Finally, dont forget to turn off your phone before the interview. Not doing so is incredibly rude. Dominating the Interview Admissions committees invite you for an MBA interview because they want to know more about you. Thats why it is important to avoid dominating the interview. If you spend the entire time asking questions or giving lengthy answers to every question youre asked, your interviewers wont have time to get through their list of questions. Since most of what you asked will be open-ended (i.e. you wont get a lot of yes/no questions), youll have to temper your responses so that you dont ramble. Answer each question fully, but do so with a response that is measured and as concise as possible. Not Preparing Answers Preparing for an MBA interview is a lot like preparing for a job interview. You pick out a professional outfit, practice your handshake, and above all, think about the type of questions the interviewer might ask you. If you make the mistake of not preparing your answers to common MBA  interview questions, youll end up regretting it at some point during the interview. Start by thinking of your answers to the three most obvious questions first: Why do you want an MBA?Why did you choose this business school?What do you want to do with your MBA after graduation? Then, perform a bit of self-reflection to consider your answers to the following questions: What are your strengths and weaknesses?What is your biggest regret?What are you passionate about?What can you contribute to an MBA program? Finally, think about the things that you might be asked to explain: Why does your resume show gaps in your work experience?Why did you perform poorly in undergraduate classes?Why did you decide not to retake the GMAT?Why didnt you provide a recommendation from a direct supervisor? Not Preparing Questions Although most of the questions will come from the interviewer, you will probably be invited to ask a few questions of your own. Not planning out intelligent questions to ask is a big MBA interview mistake. You should take time before the interview, preferably several days before the interview, to craft at least three questions (five to seven questions would be even better). Think about what you really want to know about the school, and make sure the questions are not already answered on the schools website. When you get to the interview, dont spring your questions on the interviewer. Instead, wait until you are invited to ask questions. Being Negative Negativity of any kind wont help your cause. You should avoid badmouthing your boss, your co-workers, your job, your undergraduate professors, other business schools that rejected you, or anyone else. Criticizing others, even lightly, wont make you look better. In fact, the opposite is likely to occur. You could come across as a whiny complainer that cant handle conflict in professional or academic settings. That is not an image you want to project onto your personal brand. Buckling Under Pressure Your MBA interview might not go the way you want it to. You might have a tough interviewer, you might be having a bad day, you might misrepresent yourself in an unflattering way, or you might do a really poor job of answering a question or two. No matter what happens, it is important that you keep it together throughout the interview. If you make a mistake, move on. Don’t cry, curse, walk out, or make any type of scene. Doing so demonstrates a lack of maturity and shows that you have the potential to buckle under pressure. An MBA program is a high-pressure environment. The admissions committee needs to know that you can have a bad moment or a bad day without completely falling apart.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Consultancy project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Consultancy project - Essay Example The company still experiences problems in Saudi Arabia, most of which affect the productivity of employees. The company currently experiences problems with the HR department. Therefore, the BAE Company plans to work with the Delta HR consultancy to enable them identify the issues related with the HR department. The consultant presented in this paper is Delta HR consultancy group, consultee in BAE company systems and the consultee’s client group are Strikemaster aircraft in Saudi Arabia ( BAE Systems 2000, p. 111). In any consultancy project, consultants must know the operational and conceptual picture of their definition in consultation, as well as a comprehensive understanding of the appropriate operation models to enhance their effectiveness in consulting. This also facilitates the expansion of experience and enhances understanding the necessary process in their consultancy projects. Studies indicate that only few consultants succeed in the absence of high quality skills. Su ch skills include evaluation of the problem definition, knowing of when to listen or confront, being a good relation builder, and recognition of excessive dependency or understanding dynamics of resistance. Such skills enhance the competency of a consultant (Biech 2005, p. 20). Objectives of the project entail the investigation of the problems facing BAE, the proposal of the process involved to undertake a consultancy project, and to evaluate the effectiveness of the consultancy project with regard to BAE. Process of Undertaking a Consultancy Project The process of undertaking a consultation project involves six steps. The steps apply to both long-term and short-term consultation. These include pre-entry, entry, information gathering, solution searching, evaluation and termination (The Consultancy Process, 1990). The steps are in correspondence to the research methods undertaken and data acquired through qualitative and quantitative methods. All information in this paper originates from questionnaires and interviews where the consultant seeks to get first hand information that forms the basis to the consultancy project. Step 1: Pre-entry Pre-entry step underscores significance of the consultants in their regular engagement in self-assessment. This ensures that consultants remain in their rightful positions situations arising. The consultant may be misperceived as possessing unusual knowledge, insights and skills in defining and solving problems for another person. The pre-entry step therefore focuses on the consultant, and in this case, Delta HR consultancy. This step forms the preliminary stage where the consultant establishes a conceptual framework. This also enables the consultant assesses himself to articulate to others and to self of his/her true capabilities in providing them with the services they require. Failure of going through this step leads to possible underestimation or overestimation of the potential of the consultant to be useful. The assessmen t prevents the consultant from considering most problems and needs of the consultee as fitting to the favourite interventions and paradigms of the consultant for helping. The reflective and self-assessment involved in this stage enable the consultant understand the beliefs and values to be able to understand how organizations solve their problems. The Delta Consultancy must

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Opportunities and limitations of using social media in the marketing Essay

Opportunities and limitations of using social media in the marketing - Essay Example The intricacy of a product varies depending on the specific characteristics or the consumer perception of the product. Some products are seen to be more intricate since the technical specifications associated with them need considerable personal effort from the consumer in order to be familiar with the attributes of the product. Majority of the cultural products are perceived as intricate particularly when the works produced need specific knowledge or depend on abstract ideas that need the ability of the consumer to understand the concepts involved.Even though there is a commonly held perception that arts marketing is an area of minority interest, this is more associated with a lazy prejudice than a clearly considered suggestion. Social media can be an important instrument as far as generating interest in the masses about arts is concerned. This is because social media can be a fast and inexpensive way of disseminating and sharing information on the arts and this information will eas ily reach more people. The minority that has knowledge in the cultural organization can utilize social media to reach the many that are not knowledgeable in this area.The potential limitations that are associated with marketing cultural products through social media as far as the sharing of information is concerned include the unequal access or usage. This means that the individuals who may not be using social media will have less opportunities of getting the information associated with the cultural products.

Monday, November 18, 2019

Museum art techniques Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Museum art techniques - Essay Example The viewing audience enjoys the history of origin of man and major social transitions that has characterized various generations. In regard to Alpers’ opinion, art is an integral part of human history. Duncan rekindles the past memories on the ancient world and the series of changes that characterize the society through generations. In other words, some of the past cultural aspects of various communities are represented by museum artifacts. Comparative analysis of ancient civilization and modern culture between the west and the rest of the world generally offers a ritual connectivity. In essence, Museums constitutes structures that are associated with past cultural norms and special building in which artifacts and records are kept. Although viewing is done by people of diverse socio-economic and political backgrounds, the aim is always homogeneous. This mostly lies in the curious nature of man to explore and experience diversity of humanity. The concept of museum entails various issues that include religious artifacts, communal art and connotation of

Friday, November 15, 2019

Research On Initial Public Offering And Underpricing Finance Essay

Research On Initial Public Offering And Underpricing Finance Essay Initial Public Offering (IPO) of firm is widely underpriced. IPO underpricing is presented as the percentage difference between the offer price and the closing price of the first-trading-day, usually in appearance of initial positive return when shares are newly issued. IPO underpricing is seen as selling shares at discount in the initial offering. The discount requires issuer to leave money on the table to compensate investors, which incur wealth loss for the issuer (Camp, Comer and How, 2006). Therefore, there are numerous theories established to explain the reason for this discount sale in IPO, which generally categorized into four branches: asymmetric information, institutional reasons, control considerations, and behavioral approaches (Ljungqvist, 2007). Among these theories, asymmetric information theory is the most studied direction in the past 40 years. Nevertheless, studies on the institutional and behavioral aspects are heating recently, especially when shedding lights on e merging IPO markets where lack of efficient institutional support and exist over-speculation behavior environment. Evidence of underpricing IPO underpricing phenomenon is firstly academic documented in 1970s (Stoll and Curley, 1970; Reilly, 1973; Logue, 1973; Ibbotson, 1975). Early findings (exclusively focused on US market) indicate that underpricing is influenced by particular periods (Ibboston and Jaffe, 1975) and particular industry, usually natural resource (oil and gas) industry (Ritter, 1984). However, these findings are challenged by Smith (1986) who claimed that underpricing occurs in the entire period of 1960s-1980s, rather than concentrates in particular periods, and underpricing level exists across all industries with average exceeds 15%. Recent study is more convincible with larger time period and sample observations. Loughran and Ritter (2004) document this underpricing discount has averaged around 19% in the US since the 1960s. Nevertheless, underpricing level (i.e. the average first-day return) tends to fluctuate, 21% in the 1960s, 12% in the 1970s, 16% in the 1980s, 15% in 1990-1998 and then exploded to more than 65% in the 1999-2000 internet bubble period, and falling back to 12% in 2001-2008 (reference). Table Empirical studies have extended the scope of research from the US to the whole world. Underpricing is internationally documented, and the level is extremely high in emerging markets. According to (reference)s research, China (1990-1996, 226, 388%); US (1960-1996, 13308, 15.8%); Japan (1970-1996, 975, 24%). Table. (Reference) provides wider research. France: 3-14%; Australia: 11-30%; Taiwan: 30-47%; Greece: 48-64%; Brazil: 74-78.5%; China: 127-950%. Table Due to its short history with strong government control characteristics, Chinese IPO market draws research interest. The average initial return of IPOs in China during 1999-2002 was 3.3 times the average emerging markets initial return (excluding China) and 6.9 times that of developed countries (Reference). Sample size Sample period Initial return (%) Mok and Hui (1998) 87 1990-1993 289.20% Datar and Mao (1998) 226 1990-1996 388.00% Su and Fleisher (1999) 308 1990-1995 948.59% Chen et al. (2000) 277 1992-1995 350.47% Liu and Li (2000) 781 1991-1999 139.40% Chi and Padgett (2002) 668 1996-2000 129.16% Su (2003) 587 1994- 1999 119.38% Chan et al. (2003) 570 1993-1998 175.40% Chan et al. (2003) 286 1999-2000 104.70% Wang (2005) 747 1994-1999 271.90% Kimbro (2005) 691 1995-2002 132.00% Li (2006) 314 1999-2001 134.62% Asymmetric information theory The cornerstone of this theory is that there is asymmetric information among parties (issuer, underwriter, and investor) in the IPO. Chambers and Dimson (2009) proved that the level of trust between investors, issuers, and underwriters plays a crucial role on the level of IPO underpricing over time in the UK. Asymmetric information leads to ex ante uncertainty among parties. Higher ex ante uncertainty results in higher underpricing. Ritter (1984) raised the changing risk composition hypothesis, which assumes that riskier IPOs will be underpriced by more than less-risky IPOs. Beatty and Ritter (1986) then extend Rock (1986)s asymmetric information model (winners curse) by introducing the ex ante uncertainty about an IPOs market clearing price. The ex ante uncertainty among investors over the value of firm determines the underpricing level of the IPO (Loughran and Ritter, 2004). The level of underpricing increases with the degree of ex ante uncertainty about the value of the firm (Beat ty and Ritter, 1986; Ljungqvist, 2007). Firms with more uncertainty about growth opportunities have higher levels of underpricing than other firms on average (Ritter, 1984; Beatty and Zajac, 1994; Welbourne and Cyr, 1999). Under the scope of asymmetric information theory, there are three models: winners curse, principal-agent and signaling. Winners curse assumes informed investors have better information. Principal-agent model argues underwriters gain better information. Signaling model emphasizes on the better information retained by issuers. Winners curse model is based on asymmetric information between informed and uninformed investors (Rock, 1986). This model assumes informed investors have better information about the new firms prospects than the issuer and its underwriters. Uninformed investors would only get unattractive IPO firms shares because informed investors have already picked up attractive firms share with better information. That is to say, uniformed investors would only expect negative return. Consequently, uniformed investors are willing to participate only if new-issue offer prices are low enough to compensate them for expected losses on less attractive issues (Rock, 1986; Ritter and Welch, 2002). Under this assumption, issuers or underwriters have to underprice their IPO shares, i.e. selling with discount, to attract these uninformed investors. Underpricing is seen as compensation to uninformed investors (Beatty and Ritter, 1986). Underwriters have the intention to underprice the IPO shares in order to keep the uninformed investors stay in the market to make offering successful. Underwriter could use underpricing to obtain full subscription in order to make the shares offering successfully. Moreover, Loughran and Ritter (2002) argue that winners curse is not the dominate explanation in IPO underpricing now. Winners curse problem and dynamic information acquisition were main explanations in 1980s in US IPO market. In 1990s US, analyst coverage and side payments to CEOs and venture capitalists (spinning hypothesis) are main reasons (ibid). Welch (1992) claims that underpricing is caused by the cascades effect in the IPO market. This Cascades effect is presented as the asymmetric information between informed and uninformed investors. Underpricing generates information momentum, which results in a higher market clearing price at the end of the lockup period (the time between share-offer day and listed day) when insiders (first buyers) typically start to sell some of their shares. These first buyers behavior would influence the following buyers perception on value of shares. Since there is selling pressure when IPO ends and the analyst coverage starts, the market price could still maintain at a high level in the first-trading-day, thus incur significant underpricing level (Bradley et al. 2003; Ofek and Richardson, 2003; Bradley, Jordan, Roten, and Yi, 2001; Brav and Gompers, 2003; Field and Hanka, 2001). Principal-agent model focuses on asymmetric information between underwriters and issuers (Baron and Holmstrom, 1980; Baron, 1982). Baron (1982) assumes that underwriter is better informed about demand conditions than the issuer, leading to a principal-agent problem. In this model, the function and role of underwriters are mainly studied. Underwriters want to underprice IPOs (Baron and Holmstrom, 1980; Baron, 1982; Loughran and Ritter, 2002/2004; Ljungqvist and Wilhelm, 2003). First of all, underwriter has to underprice in order to sell all shares, i.e. underwriters use underpricing to obtain full subscription in order to make IPO successfully. There are uninformed investors who have the money to invest in the market. Underwriters convince issuers into underpricing to prevent these uninformed investors from leaving the IPO market. Underpricing is to induce underwriters to put forth the correct level of effort (Baron, 1982). Underwriter has to balance this trade-off in the principal-ag ent problem. On one side, underpricing would incur wealth loss for the issuer and reduce commission revenue for underwriters, on the other side, Beatty and Ritter (1986) argue that as repeat players, underwriters have an incentive to ensure that new issues are underpriced by enough lest they lose underwriting commissions (especially for those uninformed investors) in the future. Empirical studies (Nanda and Yun, 1997; Dundar, 2000) claim that underwriters subsequently lose IPO market share if they either underprice or overprice too much. However, the principal-agent model is challenged by Muscarella and Vetsuypens (1989), who argue that underpricing phenomenon still exists in underwriter (investment bank) IPO itself in which there is no principal-agent problem. Second, underpricing could incur over-subsucription in an IPO, which gives underwriter the discretion to allocate IPO shares. Underwriters can decide to whom to allocate shares if there is excess demand. In this case, underwriters discretion acts like interest exchange with their clients. They want to retain the buy-side clients, thus to allocate underpriced IPOs to them. Recurrent institutional investors would get the IPO shares and enjoy a positive initial return (Loughran and Ritter, 2002). Underwriters have an incentive to underprice IPOs if they receive commission business in return for leaving money on the table. Underpricing could facilitate the loyalty between underwriter and its clients, which could in turn facilitate underwriters sale of subsequent IPOs and seasoned offerings. For example, in the late 1990s IPOs were allocated to investors largely on the basis of the past and future commission business on the other trades (Reuter, 2004). Third, spinning effect induces underwriter to underpricing. The spinning explanation describe issuers are willing to hire underwriters with a history of underpricing because issuers receive side-payments. Spinning may be used by the underwriter to acquire IPO deals and influence IPO pricing, but it can also be used as part of a long-term business strategy with a given issuer to attract future underwriter mandates. The side-payments of spinning makes issuers reluctant to change its original underwriter for subsequent offerings (Dundar, 2000; Krigman, Shaw and Womack, 2001; Burch, Nanda and Warther, 2005; Ljungqvist, Marston and Wilhelm, 2006/2009). Spinning effect was first documented by Siconolfi (1997) in a Wall Street Journal article. Specifically, underwriters set up personal brokerage accounts for venture capitalists and the executives of issuing firms in order to allocate hot IPOs to them (Siconolfi, 1997). The hot IPOs means shares those are underpriced and would gain a huge po sitive initial return aftermarket, which would increase the personal wealth of the managers of issuing firms (Loughran and Ritter, 2002). The use of hot IPOs to reward issuers created an incentive for issuers to seek out underwriters who willing to offer this hot IPO through underpricing, rather than to avoid such underwriters. Allocating hot IPOs to the issuers and their friends (through friends and family accounts) allowed underwriters to underprice even more, i.e. selling at a friendly price (larger discount) (Fulghieri and Spiegel, 1993; Loughran and Ritter, 2002; Ljungqvist and Wilhelm, 2003). Underwriters may be more inclined to give favorable allocations of shares to preferred investors (friends, family, executives, etc.) and unfavorable allocations to non-favored non-connected investors. The latter would require higher underpricing to participate in the IPO market. The outcome of this process is not due to ex ante uncertainty, but due to discretionary allocation of shares by underwriters. Furthermore, this discretion is not mitigated by strong institutional framework. During the late 1990s and early 2000, spinning was a widespread practice in the US, despite having one of the strongest investor protection rules at the same time (Liu and Ritter, 2009). Signaling model, first referred by Leland and Pyle in 1977, assumes the issuer itself best knows its prospects (possesses better information). Underpricing is a signal that the firm is good (Allen and Faulhaber, 1989; Grinblatt and Hwang, 1989; Welch, 1989). If the issuer possesses the best information about its true value, a high quality firm could use underpricing as a means to distinguish itself from low quality companies. These firms with the most favorable prospects find it optimal to signal their type by underpricing their initial issue of shares, and investors know that only the best firms can recoup the cost of this signal from subsequent issues. In short, a partial offering of shares is made initially, information is then revealed, and subsequently more shares will be sold. In contrast, low quality companies might tend to price fully (Bergstrom, Nilsson and Wahlberg, 2006). Hiring reputable underwriter with influential analysts would mitigate ex ante uncertainty, thus reduce the underpricing level. Empirical study shows the more market power of underwriter (with strong analyst team, influential and bullish, usually), the more underpricing extent (Hoberg, 2007). Hiring a prestigious underwriter (Booth and Smith, 1986; Carter and Manaster, 1990; Michaely and Shaw, 1994) or a reputable auditor (Titman and Trueman, 1986) is seen as a specific way to reduce the ex ante uncertainty. Carter and Manaster (1990) and Carter et al. (1998) argue that IPOs taken by prestigious underwriters benefit from superior certification. The choice of underwriter indicates the quality of this IPO implicitly, because the reputation of underwriter may provides certain guarantee on the value of the issuer, which in turn, mitigates the ex ante uncertainty, thus the underpricing level would be reduced. Nevertheless, empirical evidences show a mixed result. There is a negative relati on between underwriter prestige and underpricing level in the 1980s, but a positive relation in the 1990s (Beatty and Welch, 1996; Cooney, Singh, Carter, and Dark, 2001). Issuers want to hire reputable underwriters who have, not only because of this could reduce ex ante uncertainty, but also the influential and bullish analyst coverage provided by reputable underwriters (Dunbar, 2000; Clarke, Dunbar and Kahle, 2001; Krigman, Shaw and Womack, 2001). Analyst coverage is crucial on the discovery of true value of the firm, especially its impact on sequent shares offering. Ljungqvist, Jenkinson and Wilhelm (2003) prove that influential analyst could bring the businesses for underwriters (investment banks). Prestigious investment banks also tend to recruit analysts who making optimistic forecasts (Hong and Kubik, 2003). Although analyst coverage is expensive for underwriters (the largest US investment banks each spent close to $1 billion per year on equity research in 2000, for example) (Rynecki, 2002), these costs are covered partly by underwriting fee charging from issuers. Due to the information production cost, many firms would prefer later IPO. Firms d o IPO firstly could incur analyst coverage advantage (more information revelation) for other firms wanting for IPO in the same industry (i.e. free ride effect). In this case, underwriter compensate this information cost for the before Firms with underpricing to investors (Benveniste, Busaba, and Wilhelm, 2002; Benveniste et al., 2003). Moreover, issuers feel reluctant to change its underwriter for seasoned equity offering (SEO) if the underwriter did analyst coverage and the underprice effect is significant in the IPO. Cliff and Denis (2004) proved this with the example 1050 US IPO firms during 1993-2000. When initial offering shares, the issuer increases emphasis on the advertisement effect brought by analyst coverage from underwriter, rather than the level of underpricing itself. Empirical studies (Cliff and Denis, 2004; Dunbar, 2000; Clarke et al. 2007) illustrates that many US issuers accepted underpricing in 1990s since they focused more on choosing an underwriter with an influential analyst than on getting a high offer price. The underlying principal is that underpricing could attract investors attention to this firm. Issuers have the incentive to reduce underpricing, and model their optimal behavior. Firms could gain advertisement benefits from underpricing, which creates beneficial condition for sequent offering (Habib and Ljungqvist, 2001). A high quality firm is underpriced (sell shares at discount) at the initial offering in order to attract market attention through following analyst coverage, usually, massive and efficient analyst coverage would mitigate the asymmetric inf ormation among investors and present the high quality of the firm, finally, the more realization on the true value of the firm among investors could help the firm sell its sequent seasoned offering shares at a higher price (i.e. recoup the loss from the underpricing in the initial offering). This process is called partial adjustment phenomenon (Hanley, 1993). About one-third of all IPO issuers between 1977 and 1982 had reissued equity by 1986, the typical amount being at least three times the initial offering (Welch, 1989). Analyst coverage relates to the future predicted value of the issuer, thus it is important. Moreover, the development of internet and cable television extend the influence of analyst coverage on the share price. In this way, the share price aftermarket would increase, which further provides the opportunity for issuer to offer higher price for its seasoned offering. Behavior Finance Speculative bubble theory After the internet bubble collapse in the US in early 2000, the academic focus transferred to behavior finance. The asymmetric information theory is based on the efficient market hypothesis. The ex ante uncertainty leads to the difficulty on firm valuation for investors, therefore, issuer and underwriter would set higher underpricing level to attract investors. Underpricing is seen as deliberate selling strategy for an IPO, once listed in the secondary market, share price would return to its fair value. Asymmetric information theory predicts lower underpricing if information is distributed more homogeneously across investors (Michaely and Shaw, 1994). However, it is challenged by heterogeneous expectation hypothesis in the stock market (Miller, 1977), which argues this deliberated underpricing strategy of IPO (selling at discount) disrupts the market efficiency (Loughran et al., 1994). According to Miller (1977), there are two assumptions in the market: the heterogeneity expectation and restriction on short-selling. The optimistic investors buy and hold shares, whereas pessimistic investors can not participate in the trade since the short selling is restricted. Consequently, share price reflects the opinion from optimistic investors, and thus the share price is overvalued compared to its fair value. Aggarwal and Rivoli (1990) raised the speculative bubble theory to argue that IPO underpricing is caused by faddish behavior on behalf of investors. This theory reveals there is speculative environment in secondary market, which increases the market price of the first-trading-day, thus incurs severe underpricing phenomenon. The speculative bubble theory to Ibbotsons opinion that underpricing is cyclical, which could date back to 1970s. Ibbotson and Jaffe (1975) found the level of underpricing fluctuates between different time periods. One explanation for the fluctuation may be the fact that there are hot and cold IPO markets (Ibbotson et al., 2001). In a hot IPO market, the average level of underpricing is large and the amount of firms going public increases. Afterwards there is a high rate of firms going public, but the level of underpricing decreases. The following cold period starts with fewer firms going public and very low underpricing or even overpricing. There is strong empiri cal evidence for this recurrent pattern, but the existence of this pattern has not yet seen sufficiently explained theoretically (Ibbotson and Ritter, 1995). Aggarwal (2000) provides empirical evidence to prove there is positive relationship between underpricing level and market index. Faddish investor hypothesis claims that in the hot market, over-optimistic (irrational) investors overpriced the IPO. This means the high initial return of IPO is not caused by deliberate underpricing pre-IPO solely, but is overpriced by optimistic investors in the secondary market. On one side, large amount of irrational investor is the root of high initial return in IPO, because irrational investors determine the transaction price in the secondary market (Ljungqvist, Nanda and Singh, 2003). Ljungqvist and Nanda (2002) claim that personal investor is seen as irrational investor, whereas the issuer, underwriter and institutional investors are seen as rational investor. Ljungqvist and Wilhem (2003) proved that personal investors have over-optimistic expectation on stock return in the hot market and these personal investors are typical noisy traders in IPO market, who prefer to make investment decision in terms of past initial return of previous IPOs. Delong, et al. (1990) reveal the influence of noisy trader on the share price. These noisy traders in IPO market are typical positive market feedback traders. When recent initial returns are high in the IPO market, these investors would purchase new issues, thus these purchases increase the demand for following IPOs, thus raise the initial return for these following IPOs. On the other side, it is believed that inequality of demand and supply of IPO primary market causes or intensifies the speculative environment in the secondary market (Aggarwal, 2000). Inequality between demand and supply leads to speculative opportunity. The underlying reason for this inequality is that IPO mechanism is not market-oriented in some countries, which is controlled by government (China, for example) (Su, 2004). IPO supply in the primary market is not adequate because of the government control. When new issues are over-subscribed, the irrational investors (speculators), who are constrained in the primary market, would be released in the secondary market. Meanwhile, due to the restriction on short selling (in China, for instance), investors could only make money when price increases. Therefore, investors push up the price on the first-trading-day, which causes severe underprcing level. Legal framework theory Legal framework theory could explain the different underpricing level among different countries. Legal framework has significant impact on ex ante uncertainty in IPO market. Ex ante uncertainty caused by regulatory constrains, wealth redistribution, and market incompleteness, leads to the IPO underpricing phenomenon (Mauer and Senbet, 1992). Difference in legal frameworks of various countries explain the ex ante uncertainty degree and the decisions made by investors in the market (La Porta et al., 1997/1998/2002). Cross-country differences in the legal framework affect ownership structure (La Porta et al., 2002), ownership effectiveness (Heugens et al., 2009), capital structure (De Jong et al., 2008), asset structure (Claessens and Laeven, 2003), dividend policy (La Porta et al., 2000), corporate governance (La Porta et al., 2000; Mitton, 2002) and corporate valuation (La Porta et al., 2002). Legal frameworks deem to reduce uncertainty by creating a stable foundation in which subsequ ent human interactions can be grounded (North, 1994; Peng, 2009; Van Essen et al., 2009). First of all, legal framework affects issue firms value. Legal framework can influence the ex ante uncertainty about firm value in more or less the same way as ex ante firm-specific risk at the time of IPO. Firms operating in a legal environment with poor protection of intellectual property rights are unwilling to invest in intangible assets (Research and Development capability, or branding effect, for example), leading to lower firm growth and thus lower firm value. Second, legal framework affects investors decision. Stronger investor protection could reduce the investment risk (for example, lower asset volatility, lower systematic risk, lower stock volatility, higher risk-adjusted return as measured by the Sharpe and Treynor index) (Chung et al., 2007; Hail and Leuz, 2006; Chiou et al., 2010). In countries with weaker legal protection, investors will be more uncertain about realizing a return on their investment (Shleifer and Vishny, 1997). Lower levels of legal protection for investors will create more uncertainty with respect to post IPO strategies and managerial decisions that may negatively affect firm value (Claessens and Laeven, 2003). In a country with a weaker legal framework, managers or dominating shareholders have more opportunities to transfer profits or assets out of the firm at the expense of the minority shareholders. Weaker legal framework could provide opportunity for damaging firm value through transfer pricing, asset strippin g and investor dilution (Cheung et al., 2009; Berkman et al., 2009). This increased probability of ex post expropriation by management or dominating shareholders increases the ex ante uncertainty at the time of IPO (Johnson et al., 2000). The higher the expropriation risk, the more the offer needs to be underpriced to compensate for this ex ante uncertainty. There is conflicts between dominating shareholders and outside shareholders because outside shareholders require higher risk premiums (higher cost of capital) which caused by the weak legal framework (Himmelberg et al., 2004; Giannetti and Simonov, 2006; Albuquerue and Wang, 2008). Although it is argued that issuers can independently improve their level of minority investor protection by a listing on a foreign stock exchange with higher standards of investor protection (i.e. cross-listing), it is doubtful that they can fully compensate for the lack of an adequate legal framework at the country-level (Black, 2001; Reese and Weisb ach, 2002; Roosenboom and van Dijk, 2009). Third, Underpricing could avoid potential legal liability, which is another explanation theory provided by Tinic (1988). It is claimed that underpricing reduces both the probability of lawsuits if subsequently the firm does not do well in the aftermarket, because the investor is the direct recipient of the benefit from underpricing (Milgrom and Roberts, 1986; Tinic, 1988). Underwriters are unwilling to price these offerings at high level, in case that the market would concern about lawsuits and thus damage to its reputation if the shares eventually dropped in price aftermarket. The argument is based on that unsophisticated and uninformed investors were bidding up the price to unjustified levels, and the underwriters were unwilling to price the IPOs at the market price determined by these noise traders. Ownership control theory Ownership control theory is described as IPO is expected to bring in new shareholders, who would dilute the control power of original shareholders (managers), therefore, issuers have less motivation to bargain for higher offer price, and result in underpricing. Ljungqvist and Wilhelm (2003) explain this ownership fragmentation would incur underpricing through the realignment of incentives hypothesis. Logically, the issuer firms holding large proportion shares would have incentive to argue for higher offer price thus reduce the underpricing level (Barry, 1989; Habib and Ljungqvist, 2001; Bradley and Jordan, 2002; Ljungqvist and Wilhelm, 2003). Moreover, the excess demand for shares caused by underpricing enables managers to allocate small stakes of shares to many dispersed small investors. Therefore, original managers control power is strengthened since they would be the dominate shareholders. In other words, underpricing could give the managers power on control (Brennan and Franks, 1 997; Boulton et al., 2007). However, the ownership control theory is challenged. Other substitute mechanisms for retaining control such as takeover defenses, non-voting stocks and alike are more effective, because underpricing can not prevent outside investors from accumulating larger stakes of shares once trading begins in the aftermarket (Ljungqvist, 2007). Issue mechanism Fixed price Offer price = Predetermined price Bookbuilding Underwriter set the final offer price by consulting with investors Auction Offer price = lowest price which bid the final share Hybrid Bookbuilding + Fixed price; Auction + Fixed price Bookbuilding, by which underwriter has the discretion on share allocation, can induce investor to reveal their information through their indications of interest, which can reduce information asymmetry thus lower underpricing (Benveniste and Spindt, 1989; Benveniste and Wilhelm, 1990/1997; Sherman and Titman, 2002; Ritter and Welch, 2002; Gondat-Larralde and James, 2008). On one side, underwriters tend to allocate IPOs to investors who provide information about their demand (i.e. the price discovery process). Price discovery eliminates the winners curse problem, thus reduce underpricing level. On the other side, bookbuilding authorized underwriter the discretion on share allocation (so called rationing allocation). After collecting investors indications of interest, the underwriter allocates no (or only a few) shares to any investor who bid conservatively. This rationing share allocation could reduce the underpricing level. Koh and Walter (1989) found the likelihood of receiving an al location in this mechanism was negatively related to the degree of underpricing, and average initial returns fall substantially from 27% to 1% when adjusted for rationing allocation in Singapore case study. Levis (1990) and Keloharju (1993) claim Rationing share allocation mechanism could reduce the initial return in UK, and in Finland respectively. Aggarwal, Prabhala, and Puri (2002) also find that institutional investors earn greater returns on their IPO allocations than do retail investors largely in bookbuilding mechanism, because they are allocated more shares in those IPOs that are most likely to appreciate in price. However, imposing constraints on the underwriters allocation discretion can interfere with the efficiency of the bookbuilding. The quality of bookbuilding in many European and Asian countries is damaged by certain restriction on the use of bookbuilding, which leading to higher underpricing (Ljungqvist et al., 2003). Requiring that a certain fraction of the shares be allocated to retail investors, as is common in parts of Europe and Asia, reduces underwriters ability to target allocations at the most aggressive (institutional) bidders and so may force them to rely more on price than on allocations to reward truth-telling. Moreover, empirical study indicates that bookbuilding in countries outside the US only reduces the level of underpricing when used in combination with US investment banks (underwriter) and targeted at US investors. Although the functioning of the different issuing me

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Midnight Express Essay -- essays research papers

Midnight Express   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Billy Hayes becomes desperate at the end of the movie. He realizes that he will never be released and so when he finds the money his girlfriend hid for him, he is moved to try and escape. He tries to bribe Hamidon to let him out. Hamidon takes the money but takes him to an empty room where he is planning on beating Billy. He takes off his gun and puts down his stick. He starts beating Billy. He stops and begins to pull his pants down. Billy seizes this opportunity and pushes him, knocking his head into a peg on the wall killing him. He then puts on Hamidon’s clothes, takes his gun and leaves the prison. He is finally out and makes it across the border into Greece.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  If I were put into that situation, I think I woul...

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Modernist poetry Essay

Modernist poetry tends to break many of the structured rules of poems published previously. Walt Whitman’s â€Å"When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer,† â€Å"buffalo bill† by e. e. cummings, and â€Å"Mirror† by Sylvia Plath are definitely very different poems in subject. However, what they share is a â€Å"modern† view of poetry. They all â€Å"break the mold† in subject and especially structure. In cummings â€Å"buffalo bill,† cummings â€Å"breaks the mold† both in structure and in syntax. His lack of punctuation and capitalization are unique to his own style. Cummings seems to compare himself to Bill Cody in that Buffalo Bill was really a facade. He rode â€Å"a watersmooth silver stallion,† which means that he didn’t really ride a stallion at all. He uses the word â€Å"defunct† in rather a mocking way, since it is not the way we would talk about someone who died. And yet, at the same time, there is worship in the poem. However, the poet himself has been tricked by the heroic farce of Bill Cody. This sense of mocking fraud is the chief way this poem is similar to the others. Although cumming’s way to get to this similarity is very different from the other poets. He relies on word choice like â€Å"defunct† and mocking statements such as â€Å"fair haired boy. † The tone of both these choices is very irreverent. In Plath’s â€Å"Mirror,† the reader feels as though Plath is writing personally or confessionally. Here is this woman looking in the mirror, seeing the girl slowly be replaced by an older woman and not enjoying this transformation at all. The tone is not irreverent at all, but the image of a â€Å"terrible fish† at the end is very jarring. Plath plays on the fairy tale of looking into a mirror and asking for the â€Å"truth. † But instead of getting the fairy-tale truth, she gets the real truth. If she wants to see how young she looks, she should ask the moonlight or candlelight that hides her flaws and wrinkles. Whereas cummings poem takes a mocking look at legendary Buffalo Bill, Plath’s poem takes a mocking look at a mirror as a truth teller. Plath â€Å"breaks the mold† in being a confessional poet and talking about a woman aging in a completely new way. The last poem entitled â€Å"When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer† in some ways mocks another kind of person/object with legendary status. He mocks the idea that education can tell us all that we need to know. Like the Transcendentalists before him, Whitman believed that we should use our own experiences to tell us what is true in the world. While his tone does not mock, it does certainly refute the idea that by following the â€Å"learned† people, we will know and understand all that we need to. Even though the â€Å"proofs, columns and figures† were before him, he chose to wander out by himself to find the answers. Whitman â€Å"breaks the mold† for his time period by favoring experiential learning over books and academic learning. The true beauty of the night sky is not in listening and understanding everything about it; it is in the beauty and wonder of the night sky. In trying to quantify nature, we kill its wonder. All three poets tell us something unique and refute some â€Å"old way† of looking at things. For cummings, it is a new look at legendary figure Buffalo Bill Cody, who really wasn’t what he was heralded as being. For Plath, it is the old fairy tale like â€Å"Mirror Mirror on the wall†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Plath allows us to look at aging as what it truly is—gaining wrinkles and getting closer to death. For Whitman, it is allowing us to look at nature in a more mystical and beautiful way rather than trying to qualify and quantify it. All three poets shock us in some way.

Friday, November 8, 2019

Spectroscopy Definition and Difference vs Spectrometry

Spectroscopy Definition and Difference vs Spectrometry Spectroscopy is the analysis of the interaction between matter and any portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Traditionally, spectroscopy involved the visible spectrum of light, but X-ray, gamma, and UV spectroscopy also are valuable analytical techniques. Spectroscopy can involve any interaction between light and matter, including absorption, emission, scattering, etc. Data obtained from spectroscopy is usually presented as a spectrum (plural: spectra) that is a plot of the factor being measured as a function of either frequency or wavelength. Emission spectra and absorption spectra are common examples. How Spectroscopy Works When a beam of electromagnetic radiation passes through a sample, the photons interact with the sample. They may be absorbed, reflected, refracted, etc. Absorbed radiation affects the electrons and chemical bonds in a sample. In some cases, the absorbed radiation leads to the emission of lower-energy photons. Spectroscopy looks at how the incident radiation affects the sample. Emitted and absorbed spectra can be used to gain information about the material. Because the interaction depends on the wavelength of radiation, there are many different types of spectroscopy. Spectroscopy Versus Spectrometry In practice, the terms spectroscopy and spectrometry are used interchangeably (except for mass spectrometry), but the two words dont mean exactly the same thing. Spectroscopy comes from the Latin word specere, meaning to look at, and the Greek word skopia, meaning to see. The ending of spectrometry comes from the Greek word metria, meaning to measure. Spectroscopy studies the electromagnetic radiation produced by a system or the interaction between the system and light, usually in a nondestructive manner. Spectrometry is the measurement of electromagnetic radiation to obtain information about a system. In other words, spectrometry can be considered a method of studying spectra. Examples of spectrometry include mass spectrometry, Rutherford scattering spectrometry, ion mobility spectrometry, and neutron triple-axis spectrometry. The spectra produced by spectrometry arent necessarily intensity versus frequency or wavelength. For example, a mass spectrometry spectrum plots intensity versus particle mass. Another common term is spectrography, which refers to methods of experimental spectroscopy. Both spectroscopy and spectrography refer to radiation intensity versus wavelength or frequency. Devices used to take spectral measurements include spectrometers, spectrophotometers, spectral analyzers, and spectrographs. Uses Spectroscopy can be used to identify the nature of compounds in a sample. It is used to monitor the progress of chemical processes and to assess the purity of products. It can also be used to measure the effect of electromagnetic radiation on a sample. In some cases, this can be used to determine the intensity or duration of exposure to the radiation source. Classifications There are multiple ways to classify types of spectroscopy. The techniques may be grouped according to the type of radiative energy (e.g., electromagnetic radiation, acoustic pressure waves, particles such as electrons), the type of material being studied (e.g., atoms, crystals, molecules, atomic nuclei), the interaction between the material and the energy (e.g., emission, absorption, elastic scattering), or specific applications (e.g., Fourier transform spectroscopy, circular dichroism spectroscopy).

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Nonmarket Strategies Essay Example

Nonmarket Strategies Essay Example Nonmarket Strategies Essay Nonmarket Strategies Essay After reading carefully the article written by Martin (2010) and published in the Harvard Business review, we can appreciate than in the past decades, and throw real examples of success in the business world, it has become popular the idea that execution is more important than strategy. In fact, and according to the author we appreciate that could be a huge mistake. Among the world we can see a lot of examples where the Strategy planned by the higher levels of the organization are widely disconnected to performance and execution in organization. According to what I had experienced in my life through family and own experiences related to working for organizations. I think is very interesting to see how important is that strategy is completely connected to the execution. The proper approach, according to my experience, for linking these important areas is Choice Cascade and Virtuous Strategy Cycle. As the author refers to it, in this approach of strategy organizations use to be less rigid in order for lower employees to take decisions regarding the organization interests. This s done sustained by the premise that lower employees know better about issues in their areas, as they are the ones who had been operating them. Also these organizations are characterized for having better communication systems. On the other hand we appreciate organizations that are extremely rigid about the procedures done by lower levels at the organizations; they ignore a lot of facts concerning the different issues and needs of the different areas, they expect works to act just by following what is written in the procedure working codes and what is stated in the strategy. These types of organization can have a lot of communication problems from lower levels going up. This can cause them to loose a lot of feedback that could be really value for decision-making, as the next example can picture. To picture this I will use two examples that attracted my attention. The first one is related to one situation that happened to my parents in the past. They used to work as health professionals for Collusion, one of the largest compensation funds in Colombia. When we approach to the organization we can appreciate that their Strategy is basically focused on managing resources ND providing quality social services, which aim to provide proper opportunities to develop for Colombians. This through a wide portfolio of social services that satisfy fundamental needs in dignity conditions. After conceptualizing briefly the organization strategy, we focus more on what I was trying to picture. Back to the health area where my parents performed, the main goal was to provide the best health service that is needed by the population that assists to the organization health centers. The concrete example that is important for us was that, in the past the organization cited to renovate the facilities of the center my parents worked in. The managers decided for the facilities to changed the old-individual consultant rooms for opened and connected ones trying increase communication among the workers in that area. For this renovation they didnt took into account the opinion of the doctors and health specialists, or patients as well, who worked or were attended there. At the end they made a huge mistake because one of the important aspects for providing a good health service is the privacy. They didnt take into account how uncomfortable it could be for he patient and the doctors to interact in a place where other people could hear what theyre talking and doing. Also they made lots of mistakes in the disposal of the place concerning to the facilities needed by specialist while theyre working. This example can show how having a division line between strategy and execution can lead to problems, even if what the strategy announced has the best intentions. On the other hand we can discuss briefly an example on how linking strategy and decision taking with execution could lead to SUccess and good results. This example concerns to an organization that I work for. The task I perform is to coordinate the distribution of flyers and promotion material facing festivals, parties and events. What shows a really good example of the link mention before is that, concerning to my boss, the most important task I can perform is giving the feedback that I receive from the people that distribute the material, concerning the reactions of the people who receive this material. This is very important for the strategic planning of the organization cause the people who handles a flyer gets the immediate reaction Of people concerning the material they just received. If this feedback process is not done the organization just get feedback through the direct success of an event, but in the way it is done they can have valuable information concerning corrections that could be done before the events. So far this had worked for the company as they get the perceptions of their customers before the event or the ticket sell. So its a good example of how grouping strategy and execution could look forward to success.

Monday, November 4, 2019

Human Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Human Psychology - Essay Example As a result, modern psychology is an amalgam of stances, theories and perspective that supplement or contradict each other. Functional psychology or functionalism is a broad psychological school that became popular in the early decades of 20th century. Advocates of functional approach focused on the active (functional) adaptation of human consciousness to the environment (Vandenbos, 2006). Functional psychology relied on the work of William James, a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher, and the evolutionary theory developed of Charles Darwin. The primary concern of functionalists was to understand how the human mind and consciousness functions. Functionalists believed that this could be done via introspection: "Functionalists studied the mind not from the standpoint of its composition-its mental elements of structure-but rather as a conglomerate or accumulation of functions and processes that lead to practical consequences in the real world" (Schultz, & Schultz, 2008, p.145). As a result, functionalists rejected the traditional positivist philosophy of experimental research and advocated the potential of rational thought being concerned with the capability of the mind and practical value of psychological research. The essence of functional psychology was articulated by John Dewey, the brightest representative of functionalism, in his "The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology" (1896). Dewey criticized the notion of elementarism and atomism that dominated early psychology. His criticism also covered the emerging school of behaviorism with its stimulus-response theory (Dewey, 1964). Although functional psychology failed to become a formal school, the concepts and principles formulated by representatives of this approach contributed greatly to the development of behavioral psychology (Schultz, & Schultz, 2008). An essential contribution of functionalism was recognition of the validity of research involving animals, children and people with psychiatric disabilities. Yet the most important contribution of functionalism to contemporary psychological practice was introduction of novel research methods and techniques such as mental tests, questionnaires and physiological measures (Biro, & Shahan, 1982). T his legacy continues to play critically important role in modern psychological practice. Behaviorism The origins of behaviorist perspective, a theory successfully applied in modern psychological practice can be traced back to John Watson (1878 - 1958) whom was the first theorist to formulate the principles of modern behaviorism. The school of behaviorism embraces hundreds of theories, practices, and trends that have emerged over several decades. However, the underlying feature of any behaviorist theory or concept is the emphasis on external influences on behavior and motivation that are viewed as the most critical aspect of understanding the inner world of human beings. Thus, Wilfred Sellars (1963), an outstanding philosopher of the last century whom witnessed emergence development and decline of behaviorism noted "a person may qualify as a behaviorist, loosely or attitudinally speaking, if they insist on confirming hypotheses about psychological events in terms of behavioral

Friday, November 1, 2019

Global Business Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Global Business - Assignment Example However, expansion into global markets also brings with it certain risks which organizations have to manage in order to successfully build their presence into new markets. (Dlabay and Scott, 2011) International organizations, in order to successfully enter into any foreign market, has to actually understand the social and cultural context of the market, its political and economic systems along with further understanding the regulatory environment of the market. What is also critical to understand that global organizations have design and develop their strategies in a manner which can help them to manage a trade-off between the risks and returns and ensure that all the risks are identified and assessed strategically in order to allow the organization desired results? This paper will therefore discuss and compare Republic of Congo with that of UK in terms of its political, economic, regulatory environment etc. This paper also aims to use different theories which can be used to analyze entry of City College Norwich into the Democratic Republic of Congo. Democratic Republic of Congo or DRC is located in Central Africa in the northeast of Angola. The total area of the country is over 2 million kilometers, less than one-third of US, with both and sea and water covering the whole area and as such country is accessible from land as well as seas. The overall population of the country is over 77 million with majority of the population belong to Congolese origin. 50% of the population is Roman Catholic followed by Protestants. Muslims and other religions also exist in the country however, overall the country is a Christian majority country. It is also important to note that over 43% of the population falls in the age group of 0-14 years old whereas significant portion of the population is between the age of 15 to 54 years. (Cia.gov, 2015) DRC has remained a volatile country since its