Housing & Development Board Analysis Essay Example for Free

Housing Development Board Analysis Essay This is the highest rate of increase this year compared to the 0. 1-per cent drop in the first quarter and the 0. 4-per cent increase in the second quarter. It was also higher than the flash estimate of 0. 5 per cent released earlier this month. Meanwhile, resale prices of Housing Development Board (HDB) flats in Singapore hit a record high. HDBs Resale Price Index (RPI) rose from 194 in the second quarter of this year to 197. 9 in the third quarter. This represents an increase of two per cent over the previous quarter, the same as that of the flash estimate released on October 1. – Evidence for an increase demand for resale flats  But with a bumper crop of 27,000 Build-to-Order flats being rolled out this year, analysts said the resale market may be showing signs of moderating. Growth for the first three-quarters of this year is 3. 9 per cent. This is lower than the annual RPI growth of 14. 1 per cent in 2010, and 10. 7 per cent last year. Donald Han, special advisor at HSR Property Consultants, said: Buyers who are able to wait for the product to be completed in 24 to 36 months are getting better value proposition in terms of cheaper prices, and perhaps better amenities compared to one whos buying a resale flat. The volume of resale transactions also fell for the first time in 12 months. Resale transactions also fell by about six per cent from 7,011 cases in second quarter to 6,560 cases in the third. – Number of buyers dropped The last fall in resale transactions was in the third quarter of last year when transactions fell from 6,581 in the second quarter, to 5,903 in the third. Analysts said that this might not be because buyers are staying away, but because there is a short supply of resale flats in the market. – Reason for the decrease in the demand (Isnt this is for supply? The number of sellers in market. ) They added that this has pushed the median cash-over-valuation (COV) up by S$4,000 to S$5,000 compared to the last quarter. According to real estate firm Propnex, COVs hovered between S$25,000 and $28,000 in the first two quarters, before rising to $30,000 in Q3. This means a 20 per cent increase quarter-on-quarter. Chris Koh, director of Chris International, said: Regardless of whether there are BTO flats, if private property prices are too high, many are unable to afford private property. So they turn to a resale market to buy a flat instead. So you still see a strong demand from those not eligible to buy brand new flats, those who cant afford private property and have to buy a resale flat. Reason for the increase in the demand. (Price of related good) Theres one more group, I call them the downgraders. They have cashed out their private property, thats why they dont mind paying a premium for some of these resale flats. In the rental market, subletting transactions rose by about four per cent. The number of cases increased from 6,891 in the second quarter to 7,142 cases in the third quarter. The total number of HDB flats approved for subletting also rose to 42,920 units in the third quarter, compared to 41,814 units in the second. Mr Han said: In the last five years, prices have not gone south. In fact, prices have grown by 92 to 93 per cent since five years ago So, a lot of the able sellers are keeping it for hopefully higher capital returns for the next 12 months. (supply) If you look into a rental proposition, HDB rental flats if you look at average four-room or five-room, youre looking at roughly about S$2,000 to S$2,500 per month. It provides a very good fertile ground support for tenants out in the market looking for cheap accommodation. The yield coming from HDB apartments is fairly attractive as well, compared to other classes of residential property. Were looking at yields of 4. 5 to five per cent, compared to private properties which would be about 2. 5 to about 3. 5 per cent. Mr Koh added: Im not sure if theres a co-relation, but I wont deny that if prices of resale flats are too high, some would not be able to afford it. So the next best option will be to rent and wait for prices to come down. - Reason for decrease in demand when price rise. (Taste and preference? ) The HDB said it introduced a new e-service on Monday to enable the public to search for the market rentals of entire HDB flats rented out by owners. It is hoped that this will allow better transparency in the subletting market, and help potential tenants and flat owners make informed decisions.

Project Report On Wipro Limited

Project Report On Wipro Limited Scope Though Wipro Limited is a group of companies, our main focus in this report will be on the IT services business segment of Wipro Limited. IT Services account for more than 70% of Total Revenue and more than 90% of Operating Income for the Wipro Limited. Wipro Limited Wipro Limited (NYSE:WIT) is amongst the largest global IT services, BPO and Product Engineering companies. In addition to the IT business, Wipro also has a profitable presence in niche market segments of Consumer Products, Lighting, Furniture, Eco Energy, Water treatment and Hydraulics. The company has been listed since 1945 and started its technology business in 1980. Today, Wipro generates USD 6 billion (India GAAP figure 2009-10) of annual revenues. Its equity shares are listed in India on the Mumbai Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange; as well as on the New York Stock Exchange in the US. With more than 100,000 associates from over 70 nationalities and 72 plus global delivery centres in over 55 countries, Wipros products and services span financial services, retail, transportation, manufacturing, healthcare services, energy and utilities, technology, telecom and media. Wipros focus has been on business transformation with innovation in service delivery and business models. More than 800 active clients that include governments, educational institutes, utility services, and over 150 Global Fortune 500 enterprises have benefited from this approach. Strategy Wipro is in more than one line of business, so it has got a Corporate Level Strategy. This corporate level strategy has identified following business lines for Wipro. http://www.wipro.in/img/comp_org_wipro_heading.gif Each of the above business lines has its own Business Level Strategy. The business level strategies, that determine the products and services that each division offers and the customers it caters to, are listed for each division below. Wipro Technologies Wipro Technologies is the global IT services business division of Wipro Limited. With over 20 offices around the world, Wipro Technologies is a provider of integrated business, technology and process solutions on a global delivery platform. Wipro Infotech Wipro Infotech is the strategic IT partner for companies across India, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific offering integrated IT solutions. Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, a business unit of Wipro Limited, has a profitable presence in the branded retail market of toilet soaps, hair care soaps, baby care products and lighting products. Wipro Infrastructure Engineering Wipro Infrastructure Engineering was Wipro Limiteds first diversification in 1975, which addressed the hydraulic equipment requirements of mobile original equipment manufacturers in India. Over the past 25 years, the Wipro Infrastructure Engineering business unit has become a leader in the Hydraulic Cylinders and Truck Tipping Systems markets in India. Wipro GE Medical Systems Limited Wipro GE Medical Systems is a joint venture between Wipro and General Electric Company. Wipro GE is Indias largest exporter of medical systems. Wipro GE manufactures Ultrasound and Computed Tomography systems in India and is a supplier for all GE Medical Systems products and services in South Asia. Now that we have the knowledge of various business units of Wipro Limited, we will analyze the strategy pursued by Wipro using Contemporary Strategy-Structure Theories. We will use following three theories to analyze the strategies of Wipro. Miles and Snows Four Strategic Types Porters Competitive Strategies Millers Integrative Framework Miles and Snows Four Strategic Types If we use Miles and Snows four strategic types to analyze Wipro, its evident that Wipro uses Analyzer strategy. It seeks to minimize risk and maximize opportunity for profit. Knowing that Cloud Computing is becoming the trend and vendors such as Amazon, Salesforce, Microsoft, and Google have invested heavily, Wipro too partnered with leading providers like Salesforce and Microsoft to provide professional and system integration services for enterprises. Wipro did so only after the risk and profits associated with cloud computing was clear to it. Wipro has the ability to respond to the lead of key prospectors. At the same time, it has maintained operating efficiency in its stable product and market areas. With enhanced business performance at the core of its deliveries due to its strong RD and Innovation focus, Wipro gets 95 percent repeat business. Its operating margin has been more than 20% in the IT Services business for last couple of years. Wipro has a structure made of components that provide it both flexibility and stability. It has clearly identifiable verticals dedicated to different industries like banking, automotive, energy, manufacturing, etc. These verticals are highly standardized and they use routine technologies for efficiency. Wipro has different RD and Practice Centers dedicated to new and emerging technologies. They provide the much needed flexibility whenever Wipro enters into new undertakings. Porters Competitive Strategies As per Porters competitive strategies, Wipro follows the differentiation strategy. It emphasizes heavily on the quality, innovation, and its technological capabilities. It is worlds first SEI CMM Level 5 Company. One of the worlds largest third party RD services provider, Wipro has been a pioneer in adopting and adapting several improvement methodologies like Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen, etc. to further the efficiency of its processes. Wipro was the first to adopt Six Sigma in IT delivery in 1998. Lean methodology was adopted from the world-class Toyota Production System for improving the efficiency of the delivery engine in the year 2005. All these things have clearly set Wipro apart from its Indian counterpart who has been lagging behind Wipro in their RD services and highest standard of certifications. Millers Integrative Framework As per Millers Integrative Framework, Wipro fits best with the strategic dimension of marketing differentiation. Wipro draws its competitive advantage vis-Ã  -vis the other Indian IT service providers from five specific differentiators. Technological Excellence The biggest differentiator for Wipro against its Indian competitors is that Wipro entered IT services through the engineering route, given its entry into hardware in the 80s and then later to positioning itself as an engineering lab for hire to the IT multinationals that entered India in the 90s. The lab-on-hire business was eventually scaled up and today accounts for one-third of Wipros revenues, making it one of the worlds largest third party RD provider. Innovative Solutions Wipro offers its clients customized innovative technological and process solutions. In 2000, Wipro set up an Innovation Initiative with an internal innovation council, which worked like an internal venture capital fund. Today there are more 800 people working on such innovative ideas. This approach has helped the company to position itself as an innovator rather than a commodity provider of technological products. Operational Excellence Over time Wipro has come to stand for operational excellence. The commitment to quality has been a critical part of Wipros product offering. The company is very process-oriented and focused on operational excellence. Today, Wipro has built up its reputation and credibility by being a stickler for process excellence and delivering on quality commitments is a key brand benefit. Global Footprint with Emerging Market Knowledge Wipros global footprint is also an important differentiator among its Indian rivals, especially given its higher portfolio split towards emerging markets. The Asia-Pacific (APAC) region contributes to $1 billion in revenues and is considered to be a key differentiator vis-Ã  -vis Infosys. Company Culture of Linking Values to Business Performance Wipros cultural fit with its clients is also important in the self-selection process. Wipros company culture is less flashy and less aggressive than some of its Indian rivals. This culture resonates with Wipros clients in the manufacturing and retail sector who prefer a more laid-back approach at building a relationship. The companys cultural tone has been set right from the top, with Chairman Azim Premji often being quoted as saying that the brand Wipro is all about humility. We can see that above three theories, Miles and Snows Four Strategic Types, Porters Competitive Strategies, Millers Integrative Framework, clearly indicate that Wipro is practicing differentiation strategy. Structure Wipro has been constantly restructuring itself based on the differentiation strategy that it follows. It has been getting projects in different verticals like insurance, banking, securities, retail, transportation, manufacturing, healthcare, consumer electronics, energy, medical devices, government, etc., so it restructures itself to deliver the projects as per customers specifications. Now, we will analyze the level of complexity, formalization, and centralization that exists in Wipro. Complexity Wipro ranks high on overall complexity. Complexity is the degree of differentiation that exists within an organization. As described earlier, Wipro operates multiple business lines and each business line has its own verticals depending on the industry it provides products and services in. Horizontal Differentiation Nature of the tasks performed by the employees of IT Business unit is different from task performed by the employees of the Infrastructure unit employees which is different from the task performed by the employees of Consumer Care Lighting unit. So, each unit requires specialized knowledge, skills, and trainings. There are more than 20 verticals in the global IT Business Unit of Wipro itself each requiring different functional and social specialization. Due to this high number of specialization, Wipro demonstrates high horizontal differentiation. Vertical Differentiation As can been seen in the figure given below, vertical differentiation is moderately high because of more levels of hierarchy. Average span in Wipro is about 5 to 6 i.e. a manager can direct 5 to 6 subordinates effectively. Spatial Differentiation Wipro has more than 72 global delivery centres in over 55 countries and it employs citizens of more than 70 nationalities. Considering this fact, it can be easily observed that Wipro ranks very high on spatial differentiation. Formalization Jobs within the Wipro are highly formalized. Employees of Wipro Technologies use Wings Within, a job portal for existing Wipro Technologies employees to look for another job within Wipro Technologies itself. Other business lines provide similar job portal for their employees. MyWipro is the intranet portal available to the employees of Wipro Technologies. Clearly defined procedures covering work processes in the organization are available on this portal. These work processes include career progression policies, financial policies, leave policies, attendance policies, timesheet information, etc. Wipro has a well established recruitment policy. Selection of employees is done by the certified interviewers. These interviewers are from the Band C or above and they have passed certain examinations to be an eligible interviewer. Talent Transformation is the training division of Wipro Technologies. It has dedicated full time trainers in almost all domains and technologies Wipro Technologies operates in. This division provides one to three months of induction training to campus recruits. It also provides training on demand. Centralization Centralization in Wipro is moderate. Each business unit in Wipro Technologies has many accounts. Each account acts as a development centre for a dedicated customer and gets a business target from its corresponding business unit. Decisions on what projects to work on are taken at the account level. Decisions on how to work on the projects are taken by the project managers, team leads, and team members. So, concentration is not at a single point in the hierarchy. So, we can see that the high complexity, high formalization and moderate centralization support the differentiation strategy of Wipro. Organizational Design Design Components These are the five basic components of the organisational design at Wipro. The Operating Core The operating core at Wipro consists of the various professional and technical experts relating to the different 24 verticals of the Wipros business. These are highly trained specialists working in various fields such as Aerospace, Automotive, Banking, Business Consumer Services, Communication Service Providers, Computer Peripherals, Computer Software, Computing, Consumer Electronics, Consumer Packaged Goods, Energy, Government Healthcare, High-Tech, Hospitality Leisure, Insurance, Manufacturing, Media, Medical Devices, Mobile Devices, Pharmaceutical Life Sciences, Public Infrastructure, Retail, and Securities Capital Markets. The Strategic Apex It consists of one Chairman, 2 Executive Director Joint CEO, IT Business, 1 Executive Director CFO. And apart from this, there are 8 independent non-executive directors forming the strategic apex of the company. The Middle Line This part consists of the team of highly motivated individuals who anchor the organization to relentlessly provide world class IT and business solutions. The management team comprises global leaders, with excellent domain knowledge and across-the-board cross-functional experience, who nurture successful relationships with the client community. It includes 7 business unit heads, 8 service line heads and 6 geographical heads. The Techno Structure However, this part has very small role to play at IT Business line of Wipro but in the consumer care and other business lines of the Wipro it forms the core part, hence giving rise to machine bureaucracy type of organisational design. And here we are referring to the organisational analysis of the Wipro Technologies and Wipro Infotech. The Support Staff This part consists of the supporting functions of Wipro which handles the general management functions and administrative functions to smoothen out the working of the various business units. There are 7 functional heads under it such as technology, quality, information, financial, marketing, global delivery (logistics) and human resources. Internal Complex Clustering and Inter-Relationships At Wipro, Business divisions are highly overlapping, so the add on growth and problems arising from the uncertain environment add to the complexity of inter-relationships between these 5 components. And specially the business units (service wise and geographical), verticals in each and the functional heads are having overlapping projects and relationships are thus complex. Domination of Operating Core Analysing the various components of organisational design, we found that most of the technical capabilities to perform the various projects is with the operating core. However, the decisions flow from top but there is considerable amount of autonomy with the operating core in view of their highly specialized and professional knowledge. This is what is in the fashion or trend in the IT industry as a whole. Also it has become internally consistent and hence selected out naturally as most sustainable in the field of IT. The Organization Design (Present) The Professional Bureaucracy Professional bureaucracy fits well for Wipro Limited as a group of organization. It is consistent with its requirement of high formalisation/standardisation and moderate to low centralisation. Wipros vertical structure divides the company into units such as Telecom Service Providers, Product Engineering Solutions, Finance Solutions, and Enterprise Solutions. These units further cater to industries such as banking, insurance, securities, and so on. Each vertical is like a self-contained business. It is like a mid-sized company even by U.S. standards, because each vertical generates about $300 million in annual revenues. Though they work under a common structure, with resources such as Finance, HR, Quality and Marketing, each vertical has people who represent these functions. So, in effect, each vertical is like a separate company. There is intention to delegate more authority and responsibility to these self-contained companies. Matrix in Functional Terms (For IT Business Only) Wipros organizational design is complex and sometimes baffles outsiders. The IT business has two organizations Wipro InfoTech and Wipro Technologies. The latter handles the global business while Wipro InfoTech serves India, West Asia and Asia Pacific. In functional terms, the company has a matrix structure with three verticals and two horizontals. The verticals are the $1.06 billion technology business (which is in the product engineering and the telecom service provider space); the $1.4 billion enterprise business (targeted at manufacturing, healthcare, retail, etc.); and the $799 million financial services business. The two horizontals are the $1.1 billion global practices business (testing, package implementation and technology infrastructure services) and the $290 million BPO (business process outsourcing) operation. Major Transformations: Radical Changes and Transformation in the Organization Structure in 2005 After Mr. Vivek Paul left the company, the then CEO, the company went through major transformation process. The reorganization, tried to bring Wipros leadership closer to the customer. In the process, there was de-layering the organization and empowering business leaders with a much higher degree of PL and growth responsibility. The reorganization also brought the mainstream of the company, which is really our global technology business, closer in alignment with the original corporate staffs, which has now become our business staff. Leadership at this level speeds things up and gets decisions made faster. It empowers people more, and it allows them to further empower those who report to them, because their jobs have suddenly become much more responsible. Future Prospects for Organisational Design and Structure The 21st Century Virtual Corporation! With more supply of products and services than there is demand, the customer is in a position to demand an ever changing array of tailored products and services. In order to be successful, businesses need to be much more client centric and far more agile and flexible than ever before. Wipro is responding to this need for radical change by taking an objective approach to the matter. By lending a patient ear to clients and analyzing dozens of outperforming companies, Wipro has realized that businesses must become far more customer centric and develop a highly flexible value chain that can sense and respond with new products and services quickly as market conditions change. The changing needs of the 21st Century Virtual Corporation demands new business designs that facilitate faster and more extensive collaboration on a global scale. Given this demand, Wipros mega alliance strategy of 360Â ° relationships is a unique differentiator. Environment The environment is the set of forces surrounding an organization that have the potential to affect the way it operates and its access to scarce resources. Wipros transaction with its environment can be analyzed based on the forces in specific and general environment. Specific Environment The specific environment consists of forces from outside stakeholder groups that directly affect an organizations ability to secure resources. Forces in specific environment, that affects Wipro and how it handles these forces, are described below. Competitors As has already been described in the section on Millers Integrative Framework, Wipro draws its competitive advantage vis-Ã  -vis the other Indian IT service providers from five specific differentiators. They are technological excellence, innovative solutions, operational excellence, global footprint with emerging market knowledge, and company culture of linking values to business performance. Customers Wipros customers remain cautious after the downturn prevalent in western economy about technology spending, with budgets flat to slightly higher as they look for transformational projects. Customers are taking a lot more time making decisions than spending. A geographic breakup of Wipros revenues from customers: Wipros US based customers decision to spend less has forced Wipro to divert its effort towards some other areas like knowledge management. The company is now more focused on building technical competencies in its work force. All its employees below band C are mandatorily required to successfully clear the assessments mapped for them in a particular appraisal year. Customers are also demanding more robust Business Continuity Plan (BCP) for their accounts operating off shore. This led Wipro to launch an organization wide BCP revamping plan. Emphasis was more on the Banking, Finance, Securities, and Insurance (BFSI) customers as they are the most vulnerable verticals of Wipro due to the inherent nature of their businesses. For Wipro, changes in customer information technology budgets year on year ranged from flat to an increase of 4%. Company is increasingly focused on technology projects that yield long-term changes in their operations, such as cloud computing, as opposed to those that merely made existing processes more efficient. Today Customers are looking for partners versus suppliers. Wipro has started a new initiative that is aimed to build better client understanding, business alignment and consultative selling in large accounts, called the Client Engagement Manager (CEM). It has already delivered incremental growth in existing accounts and the increased sales in these accounts are a sign of the success of the initiative (rolled out in 52 key accounts). Wipro plans to move beyond the market perception of a low price bidder to occupy a position that is viewed as operating in multiple models to offer assets to clients through professional service. The company is also orienting towards providing more business value for clients, consulting led account development. Wipro is also creating Customer Satisfaction Leaders. In 2009, Wipro also undertook a key initiative to strengthen the consulting and customer management skills of our frontline employees by running an academy. The Customer Leadership team of CHRD in conjunction with Enterprise Application Services (EAS) business, in its drive to create world-class consultants launched the EAS Consulting Academy. Suppliers Distributors As Wipro diversified into different sectors it has changed its distributors and suppliers as it best suited for business development. Being an old company, having its presence in India since independence, it has developed a good network of suppliers and distributors all over the country. As the time passed by, based on the need of the business, efficiency and the nexus the company has created; it went for different strategies of distributing its products like in case of its hydraulic products, Wipro has its own dedicated department which takes care of the distribution. Similarly after 2000 when it studied the use of internet and mobile in marketing and distribution sales, it started distributing its products online especially in case of products where customers prefer online transactions over retail if available like Baby care products. The network of distributors is based on the sales of products, for example in case of Santoor soap which is more sold in Southern part of the country, the distributors network is more dense here rather than in other part of the countries. In service sector as Wipro is acting as a mediator, using mediating technology, it does not have a dedicated suppliers or distributors, but it changes with the changing parties which are being served. Product Distributor SmartLite (CFL lights) Sales and Sales Lion Industry Inc Dentsply Infant hygiene products ( Baby soft soap and diapers) US2guntur.com (Online distributors) Farsons Marketing Company Personal Care Products (Santoor soap and talc) Wipro Consumers Care pvt Ltd (self organized distribution network) Hydraulic Products Wipro Infrastructure Engineering Ltd (self organized distribution network) Government Exchange Rate Falling exchange rate increases the exports and price of imports. Reducing the price of exports by decreasing the exchange rate makes them more attractive and competitive in export market. Hence demand for export increases. Same applies to It services industry as well. Hence by controlling exchange rate and appreciation for currency, government plays a role in dynamics of this industry. Outsourcing Policies President of USA Barrack Obama has proposed an anti outsourcing policy suggesting increasing the tax on the benefits gained from outsourcing the jobs from U.S. The idea is to provide lesser incentive to the companies to outsource their jobs. The policy mainly aims at creating and conserving jobs in US market but it has implications on Indian outsourcing industry as well. The policy will greatly affect the foreign companies that are operating in U.S. if this is applied it will mean that the foreign companies will have to pay heavy tax on the labour imported by them. WSJ and LA estimate a tax rate of 55% on foreign companies. That will be a setback for countries like India, which is the biggest player in outsourcing industry. A present slump in number of H1B visas taken up is also a reflection of the same. In the long term, it will hurt all the economies, since U.S investment is a big factor and reduced investment from U.S means reduced money in all the markets, especially India. But there is a high likelihood that comparative cost advantages that countries like India might still provide, would outweigh the loss incurred by the tax loss that the companies are going to face in the US. General Environment The general environment consists of forces that shape the specific environment and affect the ability of all organizations in a particular environment to obtain resources. Forces in general environment, that affects Wipro and how it handles these forces, are described below. Demographic and Cultural forces India Demographics Population:1,180,166,000 (2010 estimated) Age Structure: 0 14 years 31.1%; 15 64 years 63.6%; 65+ years 5.3% Languages: 14 official languages Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit (2001 census) Literacy Rate: 61% (2001 census) Per Capita GDP: USD 2941 (2009 estimate) Labour Force: 523.5 million (2008 estimate); 60% Agriculture, 12% Industry, 28% Services Number of colleges for general education 11549; number of colleges for professional education 4991; number of universities, deemed universities and institutes of national importance 350 (HRD Ministry, 2005-06) English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication Wipro reflects the Indian demographics. It has a young and experienced work force having average age of 24 to 25 years. 35% of the employees are having less than one year of work experience in Wipro. Average tenure of top 100 managers in Wipro is 11 years. Its workforce comprises of 66% of university graduates. 28% of employees are having master degree. Technology The study of effect of changing technological factors in the general and specific environment of Wipro led to the following analysis: Identification of Wipro technology on the basis of various theories proposed to understand the relation between technology and the structure of organization is given below, but due to the conglomerate nature of Wipro different businesses are analyzed separately to avoid any kind of confusion: Theory Infotech Technology Consumers and lighting Infrastructure Engineering Medical System Woodward Process Process Mass Mass Process Perrow Engineering Engineering Routine Routine Routine Thompson Mediating Long-Linked Long-Linked Long-Linked Long-Linked Future Technologies Technology Adaptive strategy/Structure Development of LED technology for domestic lighting As it is already in the domestic lighting sector, Wipro can definitely take advantage of this technical development by taking the first mover advantage, by being the first company to introduce LED based lights in India. Use or development of Mobile-phone based supply chain Would support in reducing the investment in IT, especially in distribution sector Virtualization software technology for reducing the power consumption Since Wipro is trying to produce environment friendly products, it would be a landmark effort if it introduces the virtualization software technology which combines various different machines into single virtual machine running on a single powerful base system. Political Forces In the near future, the Central IT spending is projected to grow positively. A positive overall growth in the macroeconomic environment of India projects an increase in the central IT spending. For instance, central IT spending is expected to reach about $75.5 billion in 2010. This total spending will consist of civilian agencies accounting for $41.5 billion and the defense department for $34 billion on IT goods and services. Indian political structure seems to be stable for IT industry but due to lack of clear majority in the parliament, fears of hung parliament are created leading to the change of consumer psychology in relation to investing and thereby reducing the capital for IT industry. The decision of Indian government to contract IT job to Indian IT companies will create more opportunities for the IT companies and the IT industry at large. With the growth of offshore outsourcing receiving increasing political and media attention there have been concerted efforts to enact new legislation to restrict offshore outsourcing or impose disincentives on companies which have been outsourcing. This may adversely impact Wipros ability to do business in these jurisdictions and c

The Pros and Cons of Communism :: Communism Essays

Communism: How Bad Can It Be? Everybody in my class liked Mr. Debenedetto the social studies teacher. He barely gave homework and class was fun. Who would not like him? This was one of the few classes for me to be listening intently. I was interested in the topic we were currently studying: communism. We were discussing about how America was always against communism whether it be the Vietnam War or the Cold War. At that time I did not know the true meaning of communism. The textbook definitions were always wordy and confusing. What does â€Å"a theory or system of social organization based on the holdings of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state† (dictionary.reference.com/browse/communism) suppose to mean? In addition, I recall a conversation with my dad. I had asked him, â€Å"Why is communism so bad?† He responded by saying, â€Å"Don’t be stupid. Who told you that? If communism is so bad, why is China so successful nowadays? Did you know that China lends money to America?† Even to this day, I keep thinking about his comment. Who started the idea of communism? What is a communistic society like? Why does America think it is so bad? Through researching, I hope to answer these questions and others that may pop up. My history teacher, Ms. Shuman, while discussing communism, said that China is not meant to be any other type of government: â€Å"A county with that many people can’t be a democracy; the population will not be controlled. China is fit to be communistic.† Obviously, before trying to find out if communism is bad, I have to find out what communism is. To find general information on communism, I browsed the Internet and found a Website on political ideas. A pure communism society would involve everyone sharing everything equally and everybody providing a service for others (www.allaboutphilosophy.org/communism.htm) So from this a new question arose: If countries are trying to be communism, then why is it so bad? Looking for general information on the history of communism, I went to my local library. The librarian looked into the database and found only two books. One of which, Communism by Nigel Ritchie, I thought was going to be an easy read since it was a picture book. However my intuition was wrong. The book gave me a lot of information on communism’s history, but there were so many political words that I needed to look up such as socialism and capitalism.

Studying Genetically Altered Mice in Behavioral Genetics :: Behavioral Genetics

The field of behavior genetics is rapidly expanding. The practice of altering genes in mice and observing the effects is very common. Because of this it would be appropriate to adopt specific tests which will demonstrate the behavioral phenotype of the organism. In testing for the effects of genetic alteration it must first be ascertained that all of the necessary genotypes are represented. These include homozygous and heterozygous mice and wild type mice with no genetic alterations as controls. If significant differences are found between male and female mice the two sexes must be evaluated on their own. Care must also be taken in selecting the right strain of mice. This is because it has been found that in the strains that are usually used for testing some behaviors are noted to be aberrant and the unusual behavior in these genes might lead to the misinterpretation of the studied mutation. Different approaches are used in order to make the interpretation of these results more accurate in this sort of genetic background. When evaluating the behavior of genetically altered mice it must be ascertained that the mice don’t show any signs of aberrant behavior which would make further testing difficult or impossible. Indices of general health are obtained by recording the mouse’s weight, temperature, and any abnormal features. Neurological function is then assessed using different types of tests. The mouse is stimulated to see if it reacts normally to various different types of stimuli. Reflexes are measured by seeing how the animal reacts to a moving surface, light, and touch. The mouse is then observed in an area resembling an open field where its movements are recorded. Motor coordination is measure by placing it on a rotating rod and seeing how well it maintains its balance. This is also measures by recording its footprints in ink and measuring their pattern and the distance between them. The hearing ability of mice is also measured. These tests can help demonstrate the behavioral paradigms for the animal that is being studied. In some cases a deficit in motor or neurological function might make it impossible to run any further tests since almost all behavioral tests require certain basic functions such as locomotion. Sometimes the tests will have to be altered in order to effectively study the behavioral phenotype of the mice because of deficits in their functioning.

Relationship Building as Means for Prevention of Behavior Problems in S

Many children come to school with behavior problems that impede their learning and disrupt the the learning of other children. As early as preschool as many as twenty-five percent of children demonstrate problematic behaviors which place them at risk for future negative school experiences (Conroy, M., Sutherland, K., Haydon, T., Stormont, M., & Harmon, J, 2009). These children exhibit aggression, defiance, bullying of others, poor work habits, and acting out in class. Overtime these behaviors become chronic for some students and cyclical patterns of poor behavior, reactionary discipline, failed relationships with staff and peers, low self-esteem, and poor academic performance plague these children. Many teachers feel frustrated as they spend the majority of their classroom management time on the same few children each day. This ongoing anger and frustration further isolates these students from their teachers. Attempts to teach expectations and proper school behaviors fail. These stud ent frequently become problem students each year. Over the course of several years these students begin to see themselves as failures and actively begin self-sabotaging behaviors leading to a permanent loss of academic achievement of a lifetime of low self-esteem. Many children with severe behavior problems have significant emotional trauma, serious emotional losses, and deficits in social skills. These problems never offically diagnosed or professionally treated despite their effects on the children. Children with chronically challenging behavior frequently come with a history of abuse or neglect. They often come from homes with significant instability or a chaotic environment. Often their parents have histories of drug abuse or mental illness. Acco... ...ocial Interactions in Head Start Classrooms and Early Reading, Mathematics, and Approaches to Learning. School Psychology Review, 40(1), 39-56. Conroy, M., Sutherland, K., Haydon, T., Stormont, M., & Harmon, J. (2009). Preventing and Ameliorating Young Children's Chronic Problem Behaviors: An Ecological Classroom-Based Approach. Psychology In The Schools, 46(1), 3-17. Gest, S. D., & Gest, J. M. (2005). Reading Tutoring for Students at Academic and Behavioral Risk: Effects on Time-On-Task in the Classroom. Education & Treatment Of Children (ETC), 28(1), 25-47. Matheson, A., & Shriver, M. D. (2005). Training Teachers to Give Effective Commands: Effects on Student Compliance and Academic Behaviors. School Psychology Review, 34(2), 202-219. Sitler, H. (2009). Teaching with Awareness: The Hidden Effects of Trauma on Learning. Clearing House, 82(3), 119-123.

Fourth Industrial Revolution

Fourth industrial revolution has started talking since 1999 (Abdullah et. al., 2017). It refers to a further developmental stage in the organization and management of the entire value chain process involved in manufacturing industry (AATC Finance, 2015). The Minister of Communications and Multimedia, Datuk Seri Dr. Salleh Said Keruak, had said that Malaysian society must be prepared to face the fourth industrial revolution and all its challenges to continue develop this country (The Malay Mail Online, 2017 December 15). Datuk Seri Dr. Salleh Said Keruak had mentioned that Industry 4.0 would bring important changes to the traditional media industry when people no longer needed the newspaper and started use the smart phone and computer to read news (The Malay Mail Online, 2017 December 15). As reported by Researchgate (2015), Malaysians are the welcoming lot in embracing new technologies, such that become one of the active users of application like Whatsapp, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. According to Schwab (2016), the fourth industrial revolution has the potential to raise global income levels and improve the quality of life for populations around the world. The fourth industrial revolution made change in technologies breakthroughs in connectivity, artificial intelligence, machine learning, internet of things, and other innovative technologies (unicefstories, 2017). As the usage of smart devices, laptops, tablets, and personal computers has expanded, so demand for internet will be increase. According to Ashton (2009), the term Internet of Things (IoT) had created in 1999 by Kevin Ashton, who is the British entrepreneur and innovator. The IoT refers to things connected to the internet that one can access through pervasive technologies (Atzori, Iera, Morabito & Nitti, 2012). The IoT enables user to achieve their intentions with the click of a button, giving them complete control of devices and apparatus that will simplify their lives (Abdullah et.al, 2017). The IoT includes all of the devices including some quite intelligent and others quite simplistic, that are now connected to the internet and therefore an overarching infrastructure. According to a recent estimation by McKinsey, the potential economic impact of IoT applications in 2025 is between US$ 3.9 and $11.1 trillion, of which $1.2 to $3.7 trillion is allotted to IoT applications within the factory environment (Zuhlke & Gorecky, 2017 Jan 04). According to unicefstories (2017), applications of the internet of things consist of smart home, wearables, smart cities and connected car. The smart home is likely the most popular IoT application because it is the one that is most affordable and readily available to consumers. The wearable is also popular among the users. For example, Apple Watch which is no longer just for telling time, but also enabling text messaging, phone calls, and more. The smart cities refer to the internet of things that has the potential to transform entire cities by solving real problems citizens face each day. With the proper connections and data, the internet of things can solve traffic congestion issues and reduce noise, crime, and pollution. Lastly is connected car. It considers when vehicles are equipped with internet access and can share that access with others, just like connecting to a wireless network in a home or office. For example is like Grab car services that allow customers books car through Grab's application. In the perspectives of human resource economics, human resource is an important factor for economic development. For example in Japan and Singapore, both countries were mobilizing their human resources by increase the managerial capacity and entrepreneurship and leads to innovation. Japan also implements consensus system known as ‘ringi system'. Ringi system is one of the most important human resource management practices in Japan where decisions are made up with regard to the long term impacts rather than just the immediate short-term impacts. The transformation of the fourth industrial revolution gave impact to human resource economics, thus, changing the economic development in Malaysia. In the future, human labors are no longer use because all the production lines in manufacturing facility will be taken over completely by robots. In the long run, using robots in the production will be sustainable because can minimize errors and save costs. This is called smart factory which are highly effective and efficient in technology. For example is smart watch that is able to give four functions such as tell time, text message, make telephone calls and provide health data (Meola, 2016). The internet of things also intensifies the potential to solve problems which are related to traffic, help reduce noise, crimes and pollution (Abdullah et. al, 2017). Fourth industrial revolution technology helps changing the way we live and work from traditional to modern life. In addition, the future need of human resources in future is important especially in manufacturing sector. But it helps a lot the business sector where supplier can transform their business models from selling a product to providing a managed service. On the other hand, the products become assets that can connect to the internet straight away remotely monitored by the system (Frangos, 2017 Jun 24). In the future, this can help companies to better understand how assets are used, minimized an impact, and better understanding of risk and financial exposure (Frangos, 2017 Jun 24). According to unicefstories (2017), Erica Kochi, the Futures Lead, Office of Innovation, UNICEF had stated that the young people will face these two major challenges: (i) industrialization will die out soon since it belongs to the previous generation, thus, killing the jobs that require skill and (ii) the effort to equip youth with the proper skills will be hampered by the absence or lack of suitable education system. From my opinion, to be a responsible people, we need to prepare young people to be able participate in fourth industrial revolution. Governments, corporations and civil society all must play a role and it requires a dramatically different approach. At the same time, our traditional notions of classrooms and curriculums will need rethinking.

Academic Writing Skills Guide Essay

access premise to the early variance (2002) We ask import this die hard for you to help you on the commission to becoming proficient in your elect battlefield of economicals or pedigree administration. As you upgrade in your studies, you bequeath demonstrate your proficiency finished the essays, reports, slip of piece of music reports, and some opposite schoolbooks that you relieve. Your cornerst bingle is thus a marker of your relative intellectualise in your sort out. Yet, it is to a fault a means in itself. composition helps you mug up your ingest bringing close togethers, watch the strengths and weaknesses in your judgeing, and internalize the chicaneledge you name.We intrust this kick the bucket result help you on your vogue. But like entirely put acrosss, it does non defend e very(prenominal)thing. As Voltaire said, the best counseling to be boring is to leave nonhing surface This guide acts as a sustainer it is up to you to . g o deeper. average as you turn outament queue up with your indite namings, we in addition include in g iodin d adept the physical composition touch on in the pull of this guide. We constructed a plan, consulted numerous sources and people, wrote the text, revised it, and change it, each the judgment of conviction trying to take place it disentangle and simple.See muchThe 3 Types of Satire EssayIn displace to she-bopher this guide, we render drawed to make up Ernest Hemingway who said, My aim is to personate d decl be on publisher what I see and what I find break through in the best and simplest way. We hope we drive succeeded. Henri Mennens, MSc Robert Wilkinson, MSc Second fluctuation (2010) The trice modifyion of this guide to schoolmanian drop a line is a thorough ensn atomic number 18 of the first edition (2002). Apart from changes to chapter 2, we build signifi orduretly changed chapters 3 and 5. In put upition, we contrive on the whol e re compose chapter 4 on citing and referencing in line with the current (2010) citation and eccentric norms of the Ameri laughingstock mental Association.major(ip) changes in like manner entail the psychiatric hospital of many more(prenominal) suits. In addition, the fix up take inments for submitting motif has changed. 2 convey to schoolman musical composition Skills admittance We prepare non included learning on grammar and punctuation, since we expect students at the inform of line of assembly line and economics to have a profound command of these aspects on entry. However, we atomic number 18 aw atomic number 18 that many subroutiners of this guide leave al integrity wish to seek reassurance in this respect. We suggest physical exercisers to consult a smashing grammar appropriate or wizard of the many good composition sites on the Internet.Robert Wilkinson, MSc Jeannette Hommes, MA NOTE the incline is not stageed in the format that you have to parade your paper (see region 5). However, where extracts of student essays argon pop offn, these ar in the required format. Acknowledgements We grate unspoiledy pick out the many people and sources we have consulted during the social system of this guide. In ill-tempered, we would like to express thank to Henri Mennens for his work on the first edition, and Keith Campbell of the talking to center who adapted the first edition of this guide in 2006.We also thank the schoolman pen tutors of the Language Centre for their inputs and the many students who have made use of the first edition. Furthermore, we atomic number 18 indebted to littleph iodin Hannay and Lachlan Mackenzie, whose book Effective written material in English A resource guide (both the 1996 and 2002 editions) has been a major source of t any(prenominal)ing for chapters 2 and 3. We acknowledge the Ameri advise mental Association whose Publication manual (American psychological Association, 6th ed. , 2010) has been an excellent support in the twisting of chapter 4 in this guide.Fin tout ensembley, we argon grateful to the Director of the School of Business and Economics for load-bearing(a) the production of this plump for edition. 3 go past to donnish makeup Skills Introduction 1. Introduction Academic indite covers the wide range of particularised penning tasks that you atomic number 18 required to deliver during the of dustup of your pedantic studies papers, reports, belles-lettres reviews, projects, end studies, dissertations, theses, look papers, and articles. slightly of these text types argon quite an r be out slope the academic surroundings (papers, literature reviews, dissertations, theses) other(a)s (reports, projects, etc.) whitethorn come up be aiming at a much broader public.However, what they totally have in common is a similar type of ref a person educated in the medical specialist field (here economics or business studies), and usually ac ting as a paid in that field. These tar institute readers confront the professional federation of which you aim to ar balance wheel a member. To be accepted as member requires you to meet the norms and standards that the professional community expects. Thus with regard to musical composition, you ar evaluate to adhere to the norms expected by the (international) academic community.Compare this to a relay locomote in athletics. In the relay race, you harmonise with three other moon-cursers. If you are one of the two middle handners, you have to demand the baton smoothly from the previous runner and pass it on to the succeeding(a) runner. In the relay race your team runs against other teams (your local community). All of you have to run harmonize to the circuit of rules agreed by the sports governing body (the professional community). If you do not, your team whitethorn be disqualified. The rules scar the framework for a potentially broad race, and within the rules in that location is vast image for individual flair and talent.So with academic pen you have to lay aside according to the rules save to write well demands your own indi, vidual talent and enterprise. Just as a highly learninged athlete knows how to use the rules to his advantage, so an expert writer uses the norms and standards of professional academic authorship to persuade readers of the index of his argument. We should not extend this athletics analogy too far sports have puddle stipulates of rules that everyone can read and topic academic musical composition does not. What a professional academic field has is a set of undecided norms, such as a bearing guide.This guide is found on the pillar style requirements rund in the 6th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2010). Alongside these is a set of covert norms that are scarce as powerful. illustrations of the covert norms leave alone be the nature of argumentation th at is considered acceptable in the field. Covert norms are hidden and whence take a long time to acquire. Most novice writers acquire them done extensive breeding in the field, and by knuckle undering active attention to the way other writers use 4 submit to Academic make-up Skills Introduction language. This fulfil of acquisition demands close observation of how expert writers use words and expressions variously in various types of text, e. g. literature reviews or teddy studies in a single field (e. g. market place placeing). Academic papers (and close other forms of academic writing) are typically instructive or combative. An expository or informatory paper describes or exempts a particular set of phenomena, and fork ups an account of why these phenomena are found in one or more specific mails or place settings.The remnant of the expository paper is also to familiarise the reader with a body of knowledge. An argumentative or persuasive paper moldiness choose a side, harbour a case for it, consider and refute utility(a) arguments, and prove to the undecided reader that the depression it presents is the best one. You must be conscious of other sides and be fair to them dismissing them completely get out weaken your own argument. It is unendingly best to take a side that you believe in, preferably with the most stand up evidence. To spring up a good academic paper you should go through with(predicate) a number of microscope orders, called the writing fulfil.The followers sevensome breaker psyches can be distinguished The writing procedure 1. persuasion stage 2. inquiry stage 3. conscription stage 4. draught stage 5. decree stage 6. modify stage 7. Final version stage send offning process Transfer in a first draft production Revising & editing Final outturn get word 1. Stages of the writing process 1. Thinking stage In this stage you pin down your topic area (which may of line already be given), brainstorm some ideas on the topic, select, reject and focus those ideas, earlier arriving at your net choice. 5 place to Academic indite Skills.Introduction 2. search stage Here you search for and study primer coat literature and other materials, disassemble the results, draw your own conclusions and interpretations, etc. 3. abstract stage In this stage you draft an dodging of the paper you intend to write, put out your master(prenominal) aim or mathematical function in the paper (the consumption rumor or thesis account), resume how you lead develop the points that follow from the purpose, and evoke how you allow for conclude the paper. 4. Drafting stage Here you put down on screen successively improved versions of your paper.5. Revising stage In this stage you read your work on a macro instruction level for logical coherence, crisping whether you inquire to add or delete instruction, whether parts pauperism iterate for clarification. 6. Editing stage Here you ed it your text on a micro level, finishing the grammar, spelling, punctuation, in-text citations, references and the layout. 7. Final version stage In this stage you set out the last paper neatly and clearly. Writing a paper is recursive you do not strike at the beginning, and work through straight to the end, and that is that.At all clock you will be backtracking or iterationso that as you are , writing your first draft, you may discover you rent to add more information and have to return to the explore stage. During the revising stage, you may discover that your original plan was too broad, and so decide to cut out a whole particle. You may piss several revised versions of the paper onward your final version. Do not freeze to allow yourself plenty of time among writing your first draft and your final version. Figure 2 illustrates the three aggroups of actions in writing a paper, the preparedness process, the transfer, and decree and editing.The figure emphasizes the recursive nature of writing a paper in that each action not plainly feeds into the next but feeds back into the previous actions, entailing rescript of those actions. 6 Guide to Academic Writing Skills Introduction You may start with a plan, place some research ( breeding, depository library and/or Internet search), analyse and pastce synthesize the information you have acquired, construct a unbelief or a disputation that you will examine, draft an delimitate, write a rough draft of the insane asylum, start writing the body, hence stop.You go back, conduct some more research, lay your synopsis, rewrite the body, write a bit more, ad provided the world, perhaps ad full the controversy of your purpose, indeed stop again. You conduct more research, rewrite the body again, draft a conclusion, go back to the design, adjust the purpose, rewrite the gateway, thusly stop. You let the paper simmerfor a while, then reread it, adjusting here and there for contented accura cy, perhaps search or memorize for a contrary argument, moult out little relevant split of the paper, check the logical education of your ideas and arguments, and wander up the conclusion.Then you check again for spelling (using the spellchecker, but also reading carefully word by word), check for grammar (using the grammar checkers wisely), check all punctuation, check the layout, check the citations and the references. You check too for declare length (eliminate very long, rambling sentences), check divide grammatical construction (particularly if the topic of the split up changes in the paragraph check the subjects of the briny verbs), check the logical links in the midst of paragraphs and sections. And so on. Figure 2 The writing process and its recursive nature (Bruer, 1993).This guide is nonionised as follows. Chapter 2 focuses on the formulation process, describing the preparation activities and the construction of an dodge. Chapter 3 booms on the structuring of the paper, through a expatiate discussion of the three part of a paper, introduction, body, and conclusion. Moreover, structuring a paper utilely requires that you write wellconstructed paragraphs this chapter also provides brief guidelines on paragraph organization. Chapter 4 explains the importance of citing sources and giving references, and provides guidelines how to put them in the paper in a correct way.Chapter 5 concentrates on finalizing the paper. This chapter discusses the format requirements, text revision and the evaluation of the paper. To conclude, this guide helps you to master the process of academic writing, which you can apply to the specific writing assignments during the course of your academic studies. It specifies the elements necessary to a prospered academic paper. But assert in mind two things. First, each assignment will be discordent and require a different organization. Second, writing is a skill7 Guide to Academic Writing Skills Introductionyo u only gear up better at a skill through regular usage. Regular practice baksheeshs to routine and expertise. The application of the principles of this guide can be of use until your last writing examination the final thesis. However, this guide just contains a brief stocky of the different topics discussed. For more information you should consult literature, particularly the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2010, 6th ed. , in the University Library), and the Internet. Besides, keep in mind that the writing process is not just hardly following a set of rules.Try to develop your own style, expertise and talent, in order to distinguish yourself. Good luck with your writing career 8 Guide to Academic Writing Skills The be after process 2. The planning process In order to get a good start to writing your paper, it is important that you go successfully through the planning process. This chapter describes the different activities of the planning process . Then, section 2. 2 discusses the most important stage of the planning process the construction of an abstract. 2. 1. The planning activities.During the planning process, according to Hannay and Mackenzie (2002), you are pertain with six major activities 1 Generating ideas for the content. Ideas for content can come from several sources from your own knowledge, from discussions with other people, and from various media sources (written texts, audio-visual media and electronic media). cerebrate techniques help you to generate ideas in the first two categories. 2 Selecting and classifying points. Here you are concerned with ordering your ideas. Analyse them to happen the extent to which they are attached with each other.Ideas and concepts that are highly connected are likely to form key points in your texts. Those which are less closely connected may form essential supporting topics, or may need to be abandoned. Some may require more development. Always be prepared to get rid of ideas that prove not to be relevant to your argument. 3 Establishing your place. In this action at law you need to decide what angle you are personnel casualty to take with your material. Are you fetching a historical perspective, or only discussing the present situation? Are you victorious an objective position, or are you deliverance in your own personal stall?Are you taking a global viewpoint, or only a specific case? Are you looking at the matter from your home country perspective? Are you discussing a world(a) thing or only a nas tional situation? 9 Guide to Academic Writing Skills The planning process 4 find out your intention. Now you need to consider what you command to do with the text. Do you want to present both sides of an argument equally, or do you want to present only one side? Do you need to give examples, or will your argumentation be competent on its own? Do you want to persuade the reader of your opinion, or are you only wishing to describe the matte r?Do you want just to present a problem, or do you want to offer solutions as well? What you are deprivation to do with your text must become very clear to the reader in the thesis statement this statement directs the readers to the purpose of the text. 5 Formulating a draft surname, structuring the introduction and conclusion. Here you should set down a working title and devise a draft structure for the introduction and the conclusion. At this stage your write should only be provisional you should write the actual version only later on you have written the body of thepaper.This is because you do need to know what your introduction is indeed introducing, and you need to know what your conclusion is concluding. A reusable rule of thumb is Plan your introduction, then your conclusion, and then your body, but write your body, then your conclusion and then your introduction. 6 Drafting paragraph themes. At this stage, go back to the ideas (themes) you have selected and classified. Now you have to decide which will be adapted for your text. Each theme usually is the institution for a single paragraph.Each theme too will require sufficient development so do not try to include too many. As a rough guide, you probably cannot march adequately more than about 4 themes in a 1000-word paper (roughly 3 pages), while a 2500-word paper (roughly 6 pages) will seem overwhelming if it includes more than 9 or 10 themes. in one case you have selected your themes, list the points that you need to make to support the theme in the paragraph. 2. 2. The planning outline The goal of the planning outline is to help you organize your ideas, and present them in a logical order.It serves to identify the relationships surrounded by the ideas it allows you to see how related ideas can be grouped together, and which ideas you can cut out, and which ideas need more support. A good outline helps you to maintain the direction in your paper, and prevents you from getting distracted into irrelevant information. 10 Guide to Academic Writing Skills The planning process Figure 3 lists six step that may be considered in the development of a planning outline. 1 root the purpose of your paper and the audience you are writing for. 2.Develop a statement in which you de o.k. the goal or purpose of your paper (commonly called thesis statement). This clarifies what you are going to present or indicate in the paper. At this stage you may not have a authoritative version of this statement. 3 List all the important points you want to handle in the paper. These points have to be split in three main parts introduction, body, and conclusion. The points in the introduction include the incidents that lead to the purpose or thesis statement (so-called reason information), and a statement of the purpose or goal that should now be delimitate precisely.When you are planning your paper, you will group all your ideas around one important theme. This theme forms the core of your pur pose or thesis statement or research head. The points in the body have to be logically organized so that they follow from your purpose and lead towards the conclusion. In a larger paper (for example a Master thesis), you usually develop a set of sub enquires, covering the s points that lead to an answer to the research question. By reply step by step the different subquestions in the body, you can draw a incorporated and well-founded conclusion at the end.The points in the conclusion include the summary of the facts that lead to an answer to the statement or question you started with and the answer itself. 4 categorize the points in the body under general headings so that you can identify which points need more development (e. g. you have to do more reading) and which points are not useful or relevant (delete these). Choose precise, cover words for the headings avoid vague terms. bear on the headings to the purpose of your paper. If your paper is describing a situation, you are more likely to choose noun structures for headings (for example Failure of Bretton Woods).If your paper is oriented to action, you may choose verbal structures typically -ing forms in English (for example Reforming the auditor duties). s 5 Work out how one idea follows logically from the previous one. position down how you will make the transitions from point to point. This is a key step, but one that is often underrated. Failure to think out the transitions in the planning stage can cost you more time in the revising stage. 6 Finally, look back at the whole outline, and check that you are satisfied that it all hangs together logically and conceptually. Now you are ready to start writing. Figure 3.Six steps in the planning process. Outlines are generative. They are most useful if you modify them as you write in line with new thoughts or information. Some of you may find that a simple, less detailed written outline is sufficient you may be very competent in holding the full struc ture in your mind but you may add more detailed points to the outline as you progress. Most of you, however, find that a relatively detailed outline on paper is an effective reminder of what the goal of your paper is and of what you have selected from the literature, and an streamlined guide to how far you have come.11 Guide to Academic Writing Skills The planning process An outline as a simple list of points (see Figure 4, incase a) may not help you organize and structure your paper. A more organized outline (see Figure 4, box b) will help you see how the different parts hang together and may help oneself the writing. many a(prenominal) American writing textbooks and websites provide detailed guidance on writing outlines. Under the American convention, outlines are structured using the following symbols (Roman numerals, capital letters, Arabic numerals).This is only a convention utilise in the writing process it is not part of APA style, and under no component part should i t be employ in the final paper (see for example Purdue University Online Writing research lab http//owl. english. purdue. edu/owl/resource/544/03/). Box c (Figs ure 4) illustrates the framework using the American conventions. a Unhelpful outline Topic The assay for the Mobile Phone mart 1. definition of the European mobile phone market. 2. Major players Nokia, Ericsson, Siemens. 3. Focus of youth market. b incorporate outline 4. Future trends in the market European Commission case on choline chloride trustingness 1.Introduction 1. 1. Background to case choline chloride cartel 1. 2. Aim of paper (thesis) European Commission took the right decision to fine the firms, because they had formed a cartel, but the fines are not sufficient to discourage cartel forming in the upcoming. Key economic issues 2. 1. grocery store description 2. 1. 1. Producers 2. 1. 2. Consumers 2. 2. Agreements 2. 2. 1. hurt fixing 2. 2. 2. market sharing Economic impact on challenger 3. 1. Fixed price s raised income for producers 3. 2. Market sharing reduced competition 3. 3. Economic impact of cartel (Perloff) 3. 3. 1. Oligopoly 3. 3. 2.Welfare abridgment European Commission decision 4. 1. That the market is an oligopoly 4. 2. That the market is not competitive 4. 3. penalty for firms 4. 3. 1. Fines 4. 3. 2. Leniency ruling Conclusions 5. 1. Summary 5. 2. Price setting agreements have a boastful impact on the market 5. 3. Fines based on gravity and duration of misdemeanour 5. 4. Leniency fines not high equal to discourage cartel formation in prox. 2. 3. 4. 5. 12 Guide to Academic Writing Skills c Classic formal outline (American style) I. II. First item Second item A. sub-item B. sub-item 1. sub-sub-item 2. sub-sub-item Third item.The planning process III. Figure 4. Examples of outlines. 13 Guide to Academic Writing Skills Structuring 3. Structuring On the basis of the outline, described in the previous chapter, it is now possible to concern with the structure of your p aper. You started the structuring process already in steps three and four of the construction of an outline, described in section 2. 2. The structuring process continues by implementing these steps in the paper, jump with the introduction. Section 3. 1 discusses the structuring process of the introduction, section 3. 2. covers the middle part (or body), and section 3.3. the discussion and conclusion. Structuring a paper effectively also requires that you write well-constructed paragraphs. This is discussed briefly in section 3. 4. 3. 1. The introduction The introduction has three functions, all of which must be present. First, it sets the context by introducing the topic of your paper. This is called the background signal information. This information leads to the second function it specifies the purpose of the paper. Finally, the introduction contains a short outline of how you are going to handle the aspects of your topic in the rest of the paper.Any introduction in which one of these functions is missing is necessarily incomplete. The length of the introduction varies from one paragraph to several pages, depending on the total length of the paper. Three other factors influence the length. First, how familiar are your readers with the context? If, for example, you are writing about nonaged and medium-sized businesses in Nepal, you may have to explain much more of the Nepalese background for readers who are less familiar with that country, since the readers may wish to compare Nepalese SMEs with those in other developing countries.Second, what the type of paper (or genre) are you writing? If, for example, you are writing a review of the academic literature on internet auction markets, your introduction might be quite short, since you will include the information from your review in the middle of your paper. Similarly, if you are examining a competition case from, say, the European Commission or the US Department of Justice, then you may not need much backg round information, for you can refer almost straight to the case.On the other hand, in a paper in which you argue a point of view (e.g. the abolition of exporting subsidies), then you may need to present adequate background information to begin with introducing your pur- 14 Guide to Academic Writing Skills Structuring pose. Third, what economics or business discipline are you addressing? The length of introductions may differ between econometrics, labour economics, marketing, strategic solicitude, and so on. It is wise to check by reading relevant previous papers in the target discipline and the target genre, as well as taking the readers familiarity into account.Nevertheless, as a useful rule of thumb, it is important to think of your introduction as being about eighth of the length of the text you are writing. Thus, the introduction to a 1000word paper would be about 125 words the introduction to a 10,000-word dissertation would contain about 1250 words, and may well appear as a short chapter in its own right. So treat the one-eighth concept as a guideline, not as a straightjacket. Writing the introduction depends heavily on personal preference.Some writers like to know exactly how they will begin before they start to elaborate the text they are aiming to write other writers prefer to know what they have written first, and then write the introduction to touch it, so that it leads to the purpose statement. Yet, a good rule of thumb is to write a draft introduction that leads to your purpose statement, then write the whole text, right to the conclusion, progressively editing as you go along. save then do you return to your introduction and adjust or rewrite it so that it does indeed fit your paper neatly and satisfyingly.3. 1. 1. The background information The introduction prepares the readers for what follows. Thus, the introduction has an orientation function. Thus, it should therefore present enough background information so that the readers will recognize that the middle of your paper follows logically and coherently from the introduction you need to pay attention to what the reader can be expected to know already and what will be new. Your introduction is more effective when it progresses from the cognize to the unknown (Figure 5). 15 Guide to Academic Writing Skills.Structuring Prediction markets and their applicability for organizational decision making 1. Introduction Whether firms are successful or not depends to a great extent on their decisions about new products. Therefore, top management has large Background information (known less known) incentives to have as accurate information as possible on future demand and success of new products. regular methods of gathering this information include client surveys and expert opinions. Often, however, these approaches are very wide of the mark and misleading.In order to avoid problems link to the two methods mentioned above, firms came to think about whether or not to make use of anticipation markets as information gathering tools (Ho & Chen, 2007). freshly information (topic) Prediction markets, also known as information markets or future events (Wolfers & Zitzewitz, 2004), are markets in which price is used as an indicator of the probability that a certain event will occur in the future (Manski, 2006). Market participants corrupt and sell contracts of the particular event they think will be likely to take place and they receive money when they betted decently (Wolfers & Zitzewitz, 2004).This Purpose of paper paper investigates the question whether or not firms should engage in prediction markets to make informed decisions. Outline Firstly, it explains some general aspects of prediction markets. Secondly, it describes examples of this prognostication tool, focusing for illustration on the Iowa electronic Market and finally it compares benefits and disadvantages of implementing prediction markets in businesses. Figure 5. Example of an introdu ction from a first-year business paper. 16 Guide to Academic Writing Skills Structuring 3. 1. 2.The purpose statement The purpose statement is a zippy component in academic papers. It attach the high point of the introduction. This statement is a clear expression of the purpose that your paper is expected to assert, explain, support, or defend (Fulwiler & Hayakawa, 2000). It summarizes the main idea of a paper and makes that idea explicit to the readers. The statement answers the questions the critical reader has what? Why does this paper exist? What it all about? So s In the literature on academic writing, you will meet the term thesis statement This term cov.ers the statement that the writer is going to argue in his or her paper. strictly speaking, it is relevant to argumentative papers where you are advancing a demand (the thesis), and then in the paper you present the arguments (evidence) that demonstrates whether the claim holds. An example of an argumentative paper is a position paper in which you set out a particular notional position (opinion) based on arguments (evidence). Many papers that you write will not be essentially argumentative papers. You may often simply be explaining a phenomenon or showing and analysing data.Sometimes, you may simply be answering an exploratory question. However, all papers do require a statement or question that neatly summarizes what you are going to do in your paper (see Table 1). Table 1. Types of papers and associated purpose statements*. Type of paper disputatious paper Purpose as uttered Explanation You argue a mesmerism (claim). You present the arguments (evidence) for and against the claim, and decide whether the claim is support or not. You start with a question about a phenomenon, and devise one or more hypotheses that you will test in your research.Your data-based paper reports the results. Example Government action to restrict the bonuses paid to investment bankers is unwise because it is harmful to the prudence as a whole. Are pathetic people more generous than naughty people? Poor people will give a larger percentage of a monetary gift to unfortunate people than rich people will. thesis statement Experimental per pa- Research question hypothesis 17 Guide to Academic Writing Skills Structuring Exploratory analysis data Research question You conduct a survey or a serial publication of interviews, for example, but do not have an explicit hypothesis before you start.You have a research question, but do not know in advance what the answers may be. How much do students know about financing small and medium-sized businesses? Or This paper explores the knowledge students have about the financing of This paper reviews recent experimental research into the principal-agent relationship. This paper examines whether the economic intellect for approving the merger were expectant. OR Were the economic grounds for approving the merger sound? The European Commission was justified in fining the lift manufacturers as their cartel had misrepresent competition and reduced consumer welfare.