Getting to grips with using that and which - Emphasis

Getting to grips with using that and which Getting to grips with using that and which That and which can sometimes be used interchangeably. But it’s not always correct to do so. The general rule is: use ‘that’ to define and use ‘which’ to inform or add information. Defining These are the spending cuts that the Board agreed. Here, the spending cuts in question are defined and limited to being the ones agreed to by the Board (as opposed to any others that might be enforced). It is actually not wrong to substitute ‘which’ here in British English, although American English would probably only use ‘that’. Informing The spending cuts, which the Board decided, have been very effective. Here, ‘which’ introduces additional information – the people behind the spending cuts. The main point is that all the cuts being discussed here have been effective; and, incidentally, they were (all) decided by the Board. Note the two commas necessary when using ‘which’ this way: the additional information within them could be removed and still leave a full sentence. Only ‘which’ can be used for this purpose. It’s incorrect to use ‘that’ when introducing extra information. Punctuating Although it is not wrong to use ‘which’ in place of ‘that’ to define or limit something, you have to be careful how you punctuate around it. There has been very positive customer feedback on the new desserts which are made with dark chocolate. With no comma before it, this ‘which’ is being used to define and limit the desserts which had good feedback as the ones made with dark chocolate. There are probably other flavours of dessert, but the response to those may have been less upbeat. There has been very positive customer feedback on the new desserts, which are made with dark chocolate. With a comma before it, this ‘which’ is being used to inform (the second comma has been replaced with a full stop). The part of the sentence after the comma is additional information about the first part. This means that all the new desserts had positive feedback and, by the way, they are all made with dark chocolate. As you can see, altering punctuation even slightly can change the meaning of your sentence and could result in you accidentally misleading your reader. Would you like more help with grammar? Have a look at our Essential grammar and punctuation training.

3 Secrets That Will Maximize Your SEO Success With Lydia Gilberston

3 Secrets That Will Maximize Your SEO Success With Lydia Gilberston Search engine optimization, or SEO, gets a lot of attention. While everyone knows it’s important, not everyone knows how to do it. You can get a lot of surface-level advice on SEO, but today we’re going to dig a little deeper by talking to a true expert in the field. Lydia Gilbertson is from Distilled in Seattle, Washington, She has a lot of knowledge and experience working with large clients where organic rankings are important to the bottom line. We’re going to talk about how to write content with SEO in mind, how to structure a sitemap, and some ideas for increasing site speed. Some of the highlights of the show include: What Lydia does at Distilled and what types of problems she helps solve. Searcher intent: What it is and why it’s important for SEO. Where marketers should start if they want to optimize their current content. What sitemaps are and why they’re important, as well as where many sitemaps go wrong. The importance of site speed for SEO and why it matters. Lydia also shares her best tips for improving site speed. Lydia’s top advice for increasing your organic search rankings. Powered by PodcastMotor Actionable Content Marketing powered by By AMP055: 3 Secrets That Will Maximize Your SEO Success With Lydia Gilbertson From Distilled 00:00/00:00 1x 100 > Download file Subscribe on iTunes Leave Review Share Links: Distilled Screaming Frog Page Speed Insights If you liked today’s show, please subscribe on iTunes to The Actionable Content Marketing Podcast! The podcast is also available on SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Google Play. Quotes by Lydia: â€Å"A good portion of [getting into the searcher’s mind] is just basic empathy towards trying to put yourself in the user’s situation.† â€Å"A good way to keep your sitemap organized is to just remember that it’s there.† â€Å"Optimize your website for just being a good user-friendly website. It’s generally the most important thing that you could focus on.†

Research Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words - 1

Research Project - Essay Example ’s tangible resources, such as cash reserves and information technologies, managers utilize marketing promotions as an intangible resource that either makes a firm attractive to existing or prospective customers. Marketing promotions consist of efforts to communicate the total value of a service or a product for customers with the intention of increasing sales through these communications (Kotler and Keller 2009). Marketing promotions consist of advertising and publicity to achieve the objective of properly positioning a firm against competition, increasing sales, building a corporate identity and generally increase customer demand (Solomon, et al. 2006). For some managers, the problem faced in achieving competitive advantage is that their respective firms produce and distribute products that are comparable to competition. Such products have homogenous features and benefits to competitive offerings, hence when attempting to communicate product value, it becomes increasingly difficult to build incentive with customers to select one firm’s products over that of competitors. As a result, managers exploit the marketing function in operations as a means of differentiating a product from that of comparable competitor products. Differentiation is a strategic effort to create a distinguished identity for a product which makes a product appear more interesting and desirable for a company’s most sought-after customer target segments (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson 2014). Nandan (2005) asserts that in today’s competitive business environment, it is becoming more simplistic for competing firms to imitate and reproduce the features and benefits of a competitor’s product. With the ability of a firm to procure similar production technologies whilst also building a competent research and development team, companies that once offered unique products for consumers are being threatened with a shortened product life cycle as a result of replicated competing products being

The Ethical Dilemmas Associated to Black Friday Directed at Wal-Mart Case Study

The Ethical Dilemmas Associated to Black Friday Directed at Wal-Mart - Case Study Example Every community and town where Wal-Mart is started has absorbed many workers consequently creating employment opportunities (Shaffer, 2007). Wal-mart has regulated the prices of its products by ensuring the customers purchase goods at low and fair prices, which will influence them to come back and shop at Wal-mart. Basis of Ethical Conflict By offering low prices to customers than the other retail shops, this has made customers not to shop from other retail shops apart from Wal-mart. It because of this that numerous retail shops have collapsed financially and closed down (Shaffer, 2007). Wal-mart has employed many people, which is a convenient way of creating employment, but they pay their employees poorly. Employees at Wal-mart receive salary below the standards of any USA citizens. Many workers are paid peanuts that they even have difficulties in sustaining and meeting all their basic needs. Half of the employees at Wal-mart have not enrolled in the health benefit plans, and many o f them depend on the health benefit plan of their parents. This has resulted to the oppression of the other citizens since they have to pay large sums of taxes in order to compensate for wal-mart workers. This is because many of Wal-mart workers are not able to pay for the health benefit plans. ... The company has hired many public relations experts to polish the allegations made by many activists and politicians. It has also hired many FBI and CIA retired officials to monitor the workers who are against the company. A reasonable sum of money, which has been used to polish the company’s name, can be used to increase the salary of the workers and enroll them in health benefit plans. Countless improvements have taken place at an instance while there are economic problems to the American economy. The lowering of prices is something that has been used to by many competitors, and this does not hinder them from selling their goods normally. This is the main reason that Wal-mart has come up with new strategies of offering large amounts of discounts to people who purchase heavily at their retail shop. It is because of this reason that Wal-mart should stop afflicting their employees but increase their salaries as well as enroll them in future health care plans. What Impacts Did L egal Pressures Have On The Situation? Many legal pressures do not find Wal-mart to be oppressing the employees because Wal-mart gives the government a substantial amount of revenues. On the other hand, the legal channels find Wal-mart to be assistive since they have created numerous employment opportunities globally (Shaffer, 2007). The other issues that the government find Wal-mart to be assistive, is how they have reduced their prices drastically to ensure that their goods are affordable to the average paid employees. The legal channels suggest that there is no way Wal-mart is oppressing its employees, yet it is offering low prices to its citizens for them to afford their products. Now and then, citizens praise Wal-mart because most of the goods they need

Food and Industry Essay Example for Free

Food and Industry Essay Political This can have two extreme effects on threat of new entrants. If the government brings out higher restaurant license cost and increased taxes and/or implements strict health and safety regulations along with more documentation procedures, this will increase the barriers to entry. However, if the government does the opposite by decreasing license cost and taxes or has a lenient approach to health and safety procedures, the threat of new entrants will be high. Economic. Due to the rising income disparity and the adverse economic conditions, the number of unemployed is increasing due to which the labor cost will decrease, and the up-class restaurants will be more in demand as the rich are getting richer. Thus, the threat of entrants is high because of increased profit margins in such ventures. In case of improvement in the economy, more people could afford to go out to restaurants which give more opportunities for new restaurants to come up. Social. The current social trend is in favor of eating out especially at expensive restaurants, thereby, increasing their demand and also owning such eat-outs is now very socially appealing thus, increasing the threat of new entrants. Technological The rise in innovative technology has made management of restaurants very easy and the new sophisticated software now enable restaurants to run with less number of employees, thereby, reducing the labor cost. Thus, this factor increases the threat of new entrants. |B |Bargaining Power of Buyers |Yes |~ |No | | | |(+) | |(–) | | |Are there a large number of buyers relative to the number of firms in the business? |[pic] | | | | |Do you have a large number of customers, each with relatively small purchases? |[pic] | | | | |Does the customer face any significant costs in switching suppliers? | | |[pic] | | |Does the buyer need a lot of important information? | | |[pic] | | |Is the buyer aware of the need for additional information? | | |[pic] | | |Is there anything that prevents your customer from taking your function in-house? |[pic] | | | | |Your customers are not highly sensitive to price. |[pic] | | | | |Your product is unique to some degree or has accepted branding. |[pic] | | | | |Your customers’ businesses are profitable. | |[pic] | | | |You provide incentives to the decision makers. | | |[pic] | Interpretation The bargaining power of buyer is low in the industry firstly because their product is a commodity item and consumers have no choice but to continue consumption, as it is also a form of entertainment in our country. This makes the industry more attractive and profitable and the PEST forces such as increasing population is an appealing opportunity, however, the economic situation of the country brings along adverse effects on the industry. Nandos should therefore, bank on the rising income disparity. PEST forces that affect Bargaining Power of Buyers Political This political factor has no direct affect on the bargaining power of buyers. Economic The increasing population reduces the power of buyers. Even though the adverse economic situation of Pakistan is reducing the consumer base, it is still not making much impact on the bargaining power of buyers. Social The trend is moving towards eating at restaurants, which is increasing the base of consumers, thus, reducing their bargaining power. Technological The advancement in technology makes it possible for the buyer to gather all the information quickly and make informed decisions. Thus, this is increasing the bargaining power of buyers. |C |Threat of Substitutes |Yes |~ |No | | | |(+) | |(–) | | |Substitutes have performance limitations that do not completely offset their lowest price. Or, |[pic] | | | | |their performance is not justified by their higher price. | | | | | |The customer will incur costs in switching to a substitute. | | |[pic] | | |Your customer has no real substitute. |[pic] | | | | |Your customer is not likely to substitute. | |[pic] | | Interpretation The threat of substitutes is medium to low, as this industry does not have any real substitutes, because restaurants offer unique experiences along with their basic product i. e. food items. In Pakistan, eating out is a form of entertainment and people generally like going to specific restaurants and cafes because of their splendid experience in the past including ambience and food. Nandos should therefore concentrate their efforts on upgrading their restaurant ambience and the taste offered by them. PEST forces that affect Threat of Substitutes There aren’t many substitutes of the restaurant industry. However, decrease in the purchasing power of the people could lessen their visits to the restaurants thereby increasing the threat of substitutes. If better substitutes are provided to people such as more variety in the ready-to-cook foods could increase the threat of substitutes. |D |Bargaining Power of Suppliers |Yes |~ |No | | | |(+) | |(–) | | |My inputs (materials, labor, supplies, services, etc. ) are standard rather than unique or | | |[pic] | | |differentiated | | | | | |I can switch between suppliers quickly and cheaply. | | |[pic] | | |My suppliers would find it difficult to enter my business or my customers would find it difficult | | |[pic] | | |to perform my function in-house. | | | | | |I can substitute inputs readily. | | |[pic] | | |I have many potential suppliers. | | |[pic] | | |My business is important to my suppliers. |[pic] | | | | |My cost of purchases has no significant influence on my overall costs. | | |[pic] | Interpretation Bargaining power of suppliers is high because the inputs are not easily substituted, keeping in mind only those companies in the industries that are rather cautious about their inputs as poor quality inputs can cause them a hefty amount of business. Also, the inputs are usually of a perishable nature, thus, stock-ups are not possible, that is why reliability of suppliers is very important. Therefore, these companies usually have one or two major supplier of main inputs, who can provide good quality inputs in a timely manner. This is an unattractive aspect of this industry, that’s why; Nandos should integrate backward by probably farming their chicken, in order to eliminate this power of suppliers. PEST forces that affect Bargaining Power of Suppliers Political. If the government grants subsidies to other chicken suppliers so that they are able to produce at the same level and with same quality as KnN, then the supplier power will reduce. If the government establishes quality standards for using hygienic meat products, the supplier power would go very high since there is only one major chicken supplier. Economic The current economic situation of the country will reduce large scale companies such as KnN; thus, the supplier power will increase. Also our poultry industry is â€Å"going down†. This will further increase the power of suppliers. Social. This factor will not affect the input of food industry. Technological Technology has made it possible to manage the poultry industry, thus enabling more suppliers to come in. therefore, the power of suppliers will reduce. |E |Determinants of Rivalry among existing competition |Yes |~ |No | | | |(+) | |(–) | | |The industry is growing rapidly. |[pic] | | | | |The industry is not cyclical with intermittent overcapacity. | | |[pic] | | |The fixed costs of the business are a relatively low portion of total costs. | | |[pic] | | |There are significant product differences and brand identities between the competitors. |[pic] | | | | |The competitors are diversified rather than specialized. |[pic] | | | | |It would not be hard to get out of this business because there are no specialized skills and |[pic] | | | | |facilities or long-term contract commitments, etc. | | | | | |My customers would incur significant costs in switching to a competitor. | | |[pic] | | |My product is complex and requires a detailed understanding on the part of my customer. | | |[pic] | | |My competitors are all of approximately the same size as I am. | | |[pic] | Interpretation. The rivalry amongst the existing firms is moderate to high as each tries to outdo the other by offering cost-effective deals to the consumers especially during Ramadan. With the increasing rate with which these eat-outs are opening, the market share for each of them is deteriorating. Thus, each is rigorously competing against the rest. In such situation, it is usually the restaurants with small operations such as Nandos that suffer. Nandos should therefore, try to combat this issue by increasing their operation via market penetration or market development. PEST forces that affect Rivalry among existing competition. Political If the government grants subsidies to local competitors to match the international chains, the rivalry will increase. Economic The fake economic growth has increased the availability of funds; therefore the competitors can match international chains now. Thus, the rivalry will increase. Social This factor will not affect the input of the Restaurant Industry. Technological Technology has made it possible for competitors to affectively reduce cost, thereby, enabling to match each other and copy the others competitive advantage. This will increase the rivalry between competitors. | |Overall Industry Rating |Favorable |Moderate |Un-favorable |Implications | | |Threat of new entrants |3 |2 |7 | | | | | | | |Threat of new entrants is high | | | | | | |Unfavorable | | |Bargaining power of buyers |5 |1 |4 | | | | | | | |Bargaining power of buyers is Low | | | | | | |Favorable | | |Threat of substitutes |2 |1 |1 | | | | | | | |Threat of substitutes is Medium to Low | | | | | | |Somewhat Favorable | | |Bargaining power of suppliers |1 |0 |6 | | | | | | | |Bargaining power of suppliers is high | | | | | | |Unfavorable | | |Intensity of rivalry among competitors |4 |0 |5 | | | | |. | | |Intensity or rivalry is Moderately High | | | | | | |Unfavorable | | |Total |15 |4 |23 |Reasonably Unattractive | Interpretation Overall, it is an unfavorable industry as the major cities of Pakistan are swamped with many restaurants and cafes. Nevertheless, the industry position can be exploited to ones advantage, if strategically smart decisions are taken. For Nandos, the recommendations include: †¢ Constantly innovate and bring in more competitive advantage that are unmatchable, in order to reduce the threat of new entrants. †¢ Backward integration to reduce the power of suppliers. †¢ More effective differentiation to reduce the rivalry between Nandos and competitors. 1 Overall Macro-Environmental Pest Factors Political Factors: The political factors that mainly affect Nandos concern how the government relates to health issues concerning food items being served or brings out new regulations regarding the restaurant business. For Instance: when Bird Flu occurred in Pakistan, if the government would have asked for ban on chicken items or some strict regulations on the chicken items being served, then it would have highly affected Nandos as well. Government regulations regarding franchises or international chain of restaurants would affect Nandos in relations to itself or in dealing with its competitors. Economic Factors: Pakistan is a developing country and the majority of the population has low purchasing power. Nandos caters to that niche of the Pakistani society that has a relatively higher purchasing power than the majority of the nation. Any economic instability or economic recession would decrease the power of a lot of consumers, decreasing the niche segment that Nandos caters to. Thus economic power does affect Nandos as people tend to spend less on eating out at relatively expensive places when they have a tighter budget. If the economy develops and more people have the purchasing power, then more people would be able to visit restaurants like Nandos. Social Factors: The trend of eating out has been carrying on in Pakistan since a very longtime. Pakistani people have always loved eating out. It is even the main source of entertainment in Pakistan. Earlier on families would go and eat out, but since the past few years, this trend increased even further in teenagers, young adults and with corporate people. Nowadays, if we visit any restaurant such as Nandos, we get to see a diverse crowd that includes teenagers, families, couples and even corporate businessmen. Thus eating out is becoming an increasingly important social trend which works positively for places like Nandos. Technological Factors: The restaurant business works well where the management handles the service well. To be quicker and more efficient in processing and then serving the orders, restaurants need to have better technology. To keep records of day-to-business, better technology is essentially important. Cooking also requires better equipments to work faster and better. Nandos has the essential equipment to make all of its flame-grilled items which even works towards providing healthier items by not making deep-fried products. 2 Key Driving Forces Affecting the Industry †¢ The Internet and new E-Commerce opportunities The Internet can revolutionize the entire restaurant industry by including the aspects of ordering food online. In this way consumers could be provided with more convenience and be more informed about the menus. †¢ Increasing globalization of the industry Global chains of restaurants such as fast food joints like KFC and Mc Donald’s have existed since a very long time now. The aspect of a global chain leaves a positive impression on the minds of the people since they tend to believe that the product is of quality and hygiene. More and more restaurants are following this trend and opening up their chains in Pakistan. This does affect the restaurant industry on a whole. Nandos is also globally widespread but it hasn’t penetrated much in Pakistan as yet. †¢ Product Innovation Those restaurants that have had a unique menu or recipe have been able create a strong place in the industry. People have always wanted variety in Pakistan. Any new element or uniqueness in a restaurant’s menu could give it a competitive edge in the market. Nandos has banked on this opportunity by introducing an entirely new concept adopted from South Africa. †¢ Technological Change Advances in technology can dramatically transform the restaurant industry. Technological developments can competitively produce significant changes in the distribution channel and logistics and reduce the costs in the value chain. †¢ Entry or Exit of major firms Exit of major firms in the restaurant industry can lead to changes in market shares of all the companies that compete with such firms. Entry is relatively easy and keeps on leading to increased competition in this industry. †¢ Changes in cost and efficiency Decrease in cost can lead to significant changes in the profit margin of the business. However increasing costs can prove to be detrimental to the businesses in the industry. †¢ Regulatory influences and government policy changes Regulatory influences or policy changes such as increased quality and hygiene standards can drive up costs of firms but would lead to better and safer food items. †¢ Changing societal concerns, attitudes and lifestyles Emerging social issues and changing attitudes and lifestyles can be powerful driving forces of industry change. The trend of eating out has been increasing consistently in Pakistan giving more opportunities for new companies to come with more and more variety for the public. 3 External Factor Evaluation (EFE) |Key External Factors |Weight |Rating |Weighted Score | | | | | | |Opportunities | | | | |Market Potential growing market for fast casual |0. 17 |2 |0. 34 | |Peoples need for variety in the food and entertainmnt sector |0. 10 |3 |0. 3 | |Rising Demand for Home delivery and Takeout |0. 08 |3 |0. 24 | |E-commerce |0. 02 |1 |0. 02 | |Peoples preference for red meat |0. 06 |1 |0. 06 | |Peoples attraction towards promotional offers |0. 08 |2 |0. 16 | |Increasing trends for business/corporate lunches and dinners |0. 05 |3 |0. 15 | | | | | | |Threats | | | | |Economic Problems in the country |0. 09 |2 |0. 18 | |Bird Flu Threat |0. 03 |3 |0. 09 | |Political Problems in the country |0. 02 |2 |0. 04 | |Growing market for cafes in Pakistan |0. 06 |2 |0. 12 | |Availability of nandos table sauces in the market |0. 03 |2 |0. 06 | |Only one chicken supplier (KnNs) |0. 08 |2 |0. 16 | |Huge variety of Restaurants, fastfood places |0. 12 |2 |0. 24 | |Changing tastes of people |0. 01 |2 |0. 02 | | | | | | |Total |1. 00 | |2. 18 | Analysis: Nandos, Pakistan’s total weighted score is rather disappointing considering their global background. Currently their total weighted score of 2. 18 is about 20% less than the industry average of 2. 5. They are not exploiting the opportunities in the food industry to their advantage neither are they combating the threats well. The most major opportunity staring them in the face is the rising market potential which has the highest weighted score of 0. 34, as the trend in Pakistan is moving towards fast-casuals. To handle this opportunity they must open up new outlets to cater to the untapped vicinities. Another opportunity that has a high score of 0. 3 is the peoples need for variety. The strategy for such an opportunity would be to add varieties like fancy beverages (e. g. cocktails and mocktails), sea-food and meat in their menu (available at Nandos outlets in other countries of the world). Of the threats, that needs their immediate attention is the rate with which new restaurants that â€Å"Pop-up†. To counter this Nandos must concentrate on increasing its efforts on rightly implementing their Focused Differentiation Strategy. They should further enhance their brand image to capture more loyal customers. Another threat which has a relatively high weighted score is the economic problems of Pakistan; the way this can be overcome is by establishing subsidiaries under another name. The third biggest threat with a weighted score of 0. 16 is that they have only one reliable supplier; they can definitely counter this via backward integration that would include farming their own chicken. Company and Competitor Analysis 1 Competitive Profile Matrix (CPM) |Key Success factors | |NANDO’S |BBQ Tonite |Roasters |GunSmoke | | |Weight |Rating |Weighted Score | | | | | | |Strengths | | | | |Product their Peri-Peri recipe |0. 20 |4 |0. 8 | |Strong brand personality |0. 07 |3 |0. 21 | |Ambience at the restaurant |0. 05 |3 |0. 15 | |Customer Loyalty |0. 02 |3 |0. 06 | |Marketing efforts towards the consumer base |0. 05 |3 |0. 15 | |Strong Supplier/Distribution system |0. 10 |4 |0. 4 | |Products have essential ingredients for a health life |0. 01 |2 |0. 02 | |Strong Background from Africa present till today |0. 01 |3 |0. 03 | |Selling Experience |0. 04 |4 |0. 16 | |Strong food concept |0. 02 |3 |0. 06 | |Strong Globalize Strategy adaptive to culture |0. 06 |4 |0. 24 | |Creative and unique Menu |0. 02 |4 |0. 08 | | | | | | |Weaknesses | | | | |Low Marketing Budget |0. 08 |2 |0. 16 | |Stagnant Growth Not penetrated |0. 15 |2 |0. 3 | |Communication system within dept- not strong |0. 04 |2 |0. 08 | |Weak Technological system in the Administration Department |0. 04 |1 |0. 04 | |No Beverage Variety |0. 04 |2 |0. 08 | |Total |1. 00 | |3. 02 | Analysis: The total weighted score of 3. 02 is 20. 8% more than the average industry weighted score. The reason for such a phenomenal score is their PERI PERI recipe which is their main strength with the highest weight. Basting, marinating and table sauces are usually the most important ingredients and they are definitely quiet effectively banking on this strength. Their delicious basting and marinating sauces still remain a mystery to the rest of the world. Along with this, they are handling all their strengths really well with the exception of their healthy ingredients, which they are handling in an average way, although, it has a low weight considering the psyche of Pakistanis, they can definitely improve their score by communicating the nutritional values of their ingredients. On the other hand, they are very poorly countering their weakness. Their main weakness is their stagnant growth with the highest weight and with only a sore of 2. There is no evidence, that they are willing to do anything about it as their outlets are still missing in the major cities of Pakistan, like Islamabad. They should definitely improve their growth rate and try to improve their marketing budget. This will definitely enhance their total weighted score. The strategies to improve the growth rate would include market development and product development via establishing more outlets and increasing the variety in their menu, respectively. Strategic Analysis and Recommendations 1 Generic Strategy [pic] Although, Nandos Pakistan claims to be following a Focused Differentiation Strategy, they haven’t really implemented it that well. Nandos Pakistan caters to that Niche market which requires a different taste and value and is prepared to pay the price for it. Their focus is entirely on the Upper Middle and Upper-Upper class. The strategies implemented by Nandos have not exactly catered specifically to this focused differentiation strategy. The company needs to make effort in targeting and communicating their real value to its specific set of consumers. Another contradiction in this strategy is that there is no outlet in Islamabad, Pakistan, where mostly the rich and the influential reside. Now is the time to really bank on the rising income disparity in the economy via increasing their prices. This will also attract more customers from upper-middle/high class, as it is quiet socially appealing for them to dine at expensive places. Nevertheless, Nandos offers only chicken items; this is in line with their current strategy. They should really check their strategic approach or correct their focus. Nandos should stick to its focused differentiation strategy. The following strategies have recommended for improving their strategic position: †¢ Increase their prices to capture a larger share of their current target market. †¢ Open up outlet in the major cities of Pakistan like Islamabad and Faisalabad. †¢ Effectively communicate their niche marketing strategy to their target audience to further emphasize what their brand actually stands for. †¢ Add value by offering an outstanding service which is unforgettable and unmatchable. ‘Nando’s is devoted to providing its customers appetite for life, who love to laugh and live to eat. At Nandos we believe in our flame-grilled Peri-Peri Chicken, we believe its the best in the world. We aim to be the most successful grilled food restaurant in the world at delivering the best customer experience in markets we serve and to do so, Nando’s will meet its customer expectations through highest quality food prepared with leading technology and by hiring and retaining personnel with exceptional capabilities. We believe in offering quality and value to our customers and grow in such a way that creates profitability and value for shareholders and structure the society in such a way so as to improve the quality of life of the whole community. Our distinctive competence is our open style of informal restaurants, through the wonderful saying Mi Casa so casa My home is your home. ’ ‘Our vision is to be the first choice in grilled food restaurant business around the globe. ’ HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW Customer Home Delivery Dine-in Take-Away Kitchen Restaurant/Retail Outlet Store Warehouse in Pakistan Fries from McKainz Ketchup from Knorr Chicken from KnN’s Peri-Peri Sauces from South Africa.

Sustainability :: Personal Narrative Writing

Sustainability is an issue that everyone should be concerned about. If the planet Earth is going to exist, as we know it, everyone should wake up and do their part to help achieve a greater level of sustainability. In my English 101 class we learned about the issue of sustainability. Many different topics were discussed and researched throughout the course of the semester. Overall, I think that the sustainability project has been a learning and enlightening experience for everyone in this class. Many more things can be done next semester, since the groundwork has been laid to continue this project for time to come. One of my personal goals for the project was to learn as much as I could about the sustainability issue facing us. I did this by participating in all of the projects that were done throughout the semester. The main project that occurred during the semester was the personal sustainability goals that we each set for ourselves. While doing the actions that we pledged to do, we learned different things about sustainability that we never knew before. One of the things that I learned was that, at Clemson, it is hard for students who want to recycle to be able to recycle. There are not the necessary facilities nearby our student housing to place our recyclables. I also learned that some actions that should be done to be sustainable are hard to do in the society that we live in. One of these activities that we do is the needless driving that Americans do in general. Since we live in a moving society, it is sometimes hard to do. An easy thing that everyone can do is to recycle s ome of his or her wastes. This can be done for most people at little or no extra effort than just throwing your trash away. Some of the planning that I did helped the students in other classes and even my own. During one part of the semester, we researched different ideas for the horticulture class students to implement in the schoolyard project that they were involved with. Others used my ideas and research in my class on their personal sustainability papers, university sustainability papers, and even their own personal goals to being sustainable.

Honor Killings of Women Essay

The question of gender equality has always been one of the most acute in the present day world. In the western world a number of countries are promoting equal rights between men and women. The United Kingdom and the United States have always been known as the countries that gave birth to the suffragette movement, feminist movements and the struggle for female equality has always been one of the most discussed themes in the UK and the USA. It is not surprising that such a significant event as the suffragette movement and other equality organizations provided a he impact on the development of social, political and legal spheres of the United Kingdom: For years the United Kingdom had championed gender equality in public policy, in democratic institutions and through extensive anti-discrimination laws, but erasing disparity between the sexes was an unfinished project that the country’s officials were striving to complete through legislative reform and stronger women’s empowerment policies and programming, a parliamentary Under-Secretary and Minister for the East of England told the Women’s Anti-Discrimination Committee today (Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women, 2008) . But the threatening signals have appeared already in the Western Countries. The Immigrants find possible for honor killings even it is prohibited by the laws of the country they are living in and it significantly bothers the governmental and international human rights organizations, which assist struggle of women equality. It is not surprising such a significant event as the struggle for equal rights for women (and it should be noted that it is lasting for more than hundred years already) has significantly impacted the social life in the western world and such breaking news have become a real shock for those who participate in gender struggle. There are a number of investigators who provided numerous researches dealing with the question of equality in the Muslim countries as well as in the Western Ones. The burning question which is examined within this essay is honor killings. The problem area is why the civilized countries such as the United States are involved in the Affairs with the countries, which have such Barbarian laws and even observe this among the immigrants, who dwell in the US. Honor Killings in the Western and Islamic Countries: the Reasons, Prevention and Perspectives On February 12, 2009, Muzzammil Hassan informed police that he had beheaded his wife. Hassan had immigrated to the United States 30 years ago and, after a successful banking career, had founded Bridges TV, a Muslim-interest network which aims, according to its website, â€Å"to foster a greater understanding among many cultures and diverse populations. â€Å" Erie County District Attorney Frank A.  Sedita III told The Buffalo News that â€Å"this is the worst form of domestic violence possible,† and Khalid Qazi, president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council of Western New York, told the New York Post that Islam forbids such domestic violence. While Muslim advocacy organizations argue that honor killings are a misnomer stigmatizing Muslims for what is simply domestic violence, a problem that has nothing to do with religion, Phyllis Chesler, who just completed a study of more than 50 instances of North American honor killings, says the evidence suggests otherwise (Phyllis Chesler, 2009). It goes without saying that honor killing was a real shock for the both societies Christian and Muslim. The person, who could hardly be expected to violate anyone’s human rights, suddenly killed his wife. It is essential that it significantly undermining of confidence of the Muslim society in the eyes of the neighbors as it is not just domestic violence as it was reported by the Erie County District Attorney, but it is severe crime, which ought to be punished. It is natural that the society would be eager to learn what the reasons for such actions as honor killing are and how this could be explained, by the researches. The cultural background of the honor killings is obvious and it roots go deeply into the Muslim perception and understanding of female nature, their rights and patriarchate, which is observed in the Muslim Countries. It is a well known fact that the Muslim countries have very significant problems with the gender equality and women are not allowed even to wear the clothes they would like to, the punishment for this could be the one and only â€Å"death. Families that kill for honor will threaten girls and women if they refuse to cover their hair, their faces, or their bodies or act as their family’s domestic servant; wear makeup or Western clothing; choose friends from another religion; date; seek to obtain an advanced education; refuse an arranged marriage; seek a divorce from a violent husband; marry against their parents’ wishes; or behave in ways that are considered too independent, which might mean anything from driving a car to spending time or living away from home or family (Phyllis Chesler, 2009). The religious and ethnic prejudice does not let young people to reveal and express them. There were noticed a number of cases, when children, mostly young girls, were killed by their parents (even mothers assisted the fathers) in killing young girls, who did not want to follow the religious dogmas of Islamic culture. Unfortunately some adults do not want to understand that contemporary life goes far beyond the religi on dictates and it is essential that children want to be alike their classmates, do not wear hijab, use make up and other. The same time the parents should be also understood as they want to keep traditions as cultural as well as religious to preserve their ethnic and cultural identity. These honor killing have already become a part of their life for thousand years and they consider that westernizing is a kind of disgrace, which could be cured only by a kill. It is like some kind of ritual. The same time it does not excuse their intention to violate the human rights and kill those who do not want some have viewed honor killings as a logical extension of traditional Islamic gender practices, the natural consequence of system that enforces sex-segregation through veiling and female seclusion and harshly punishes violations of these boundaries. Others have argued that honor killings are the antithesis of Islamic morality. This latter view is essentially correct from the perspective of Qur’an, prophetic traditions (hadith), and Islamic legal thought, as a careful analysis of the relevant texts shows (Kecia Ali, 2003) It is not very hard to define whether the Islamists have a right to kill, the answer is undoubtedly no human rights are still the same for every individual: the nationality, the race, the religious beliefs. In the Muslim countries the situation is worse than in the western ones as the honor killings is majority authoritarian countries is allowed legally. Women in the Muslim Countries are living under the threat of constant death if they would bring shame on the family: Women in Pakistan live in fear. They face death by shooting, burning or killing with axes if they are deemed to have brought shame on the family. They are killed for supposed illicit’ relationships, for marrying men of their choice, for divorcing abusive husbands. They are even murdered by their kin if they are raped as they are thereby deemed to have brought shame on their family. The truth of the suspicion does not matter â€Å"merely the allegation is enough to bring dishonor on the family and therefore justifies the slaying (Amnesty International, 1999) and Pakistan is not the single country, where women live under the total oppression of men. The religious dogmas grew significantly and alongside with religious dogmas there have appeared a number of social dogmas, which does not allow women to get equal education with men, to drive cars and visit public places alone. It is a well known fact that women in Saudi Arabia do not actually participate in business and legislation prohibits a number of activities for women. We should not also forget about the fact that Saudi Arabia is a Monarchy, and Islamist country, where religion provides a significant impact on cultural and social life of people, women as well: Saudi Arabia follows a strict form of Islamic law that does not allow women self-guardianship, mandating a male guardian for women of all ages. A woman cannot travel, appear in court, marry or work without permission from a male guardian, sometimes her own son (Faiza Saleh Ambah, 2008). The female activists consider that life in the countries like Saudi Arabia could be defined as the sexual slavery. It is not surprising that men are using their power to force women doing something and oppress them in different ways. Describing relations between men and women in Islamic countries there should be noted that the women are not protected legally and could be killed according to the current legal implications of Saudi Arabia: Honor killings are justified under Islam in some Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia. For example, tenth-grade textbooks teach Saudi children that it is permissible to kill adulterers. In April 2008, a girl was killed by her father for talking to a boy on Facebook, an online social networking website. A leading Saudi cleric, Sheikh Ali al-Maliki, was outraged that girls had access to such websites where they could post pictures of themselves and otherwise â€Å"behave badly,† but showed no concern over the girl actually killed (Supna Zaidi, 2008). We see that there is no even a slight hint of equality observed within the Islamic world, the foreign activists struggle for the gender equality and it is considered that they succeeded in some areas, especially in the educational on. But the same time the legal implications that let honor killings still exist. Honor killing occurred in Islamic and non-Islamic countries and the poor statistic illustrate the number of victims of religious dogmas. According to the data provided by the United Nations Organizations every year there are up to 5,000 people killed due the honor killings reasons. Should the United States become involved in the affairs of other countries, particularly pertaining to human rights, when they include that country’s traditions, philosophies of religious practices?

Project on Comparison of Public and Private Sector Banking

Genesis The banking sector has been undergoing a complex, but comprehensive phase of  restructuring since 1991, with a view to make it sound, efficient, and at the same time it isforging its links firmly with the real sector for promotion of savings, investment and  growth. Although a complete turnaround in banking sector performance is not expected till thecompletion of reforms, signs of improvement are visible in some indicators under theCAMELS framework. Under this bank is required to enhance capital adequacy, strengthenasset quality, improve management, increase earnings and reduce sensitivity to variousfinancial risks.The almost simultaneous nature of these developments makes it difficult todisentangle the positive impact of reform measures. In 1994, the RBI established the Board of Financial Supervision, which operates as a unit of  the RBI. The entire supervisory mechanism was realigned to suit the changing needs of astrong and stable financial system. The supervisory ju risdiction of the BFS was slowlyextended to the entire financial system barring the capital market institutions and theinsurance sector. Its mandate is to strengthen supervision of the financial system byintegrating oversight of the activities of financial services firms.The BFS has alsoestablished a sub-committee to routinely examine auditing practices, quality, and coverage. In 1995, RBI had set up a working group under the chairmanship of Shri S. Padmanabhan toreview the banking supervision system. The Committee gave certain recommendations and  based on such suggestions a rating system for domestic and foreign banks based on theinternational CAMELS model combining financial management and sensitivity to marketrisks element was introduced for the inspection cycle commencing from July 1998.Itrecommended that the banks should be rated on a five point scale (A to E) based on the linesof international CAMELS rating model. CAMELS rating model measures the relativesoundness of a bank . bj ectives of the Pro j ect Study ?To study the Financial Performance of the b anks.? y To study the strength of using CAMELS framework as a tool of Performanceevaluation for Commercial banks y To describe the CAMELS model of ranking banking institutions, so as to analyze  the  performance of various bank. R ationaleIn the recent years the financial system especially the banks have undergone numerouschanges in the form of reforms, regulations & norms. The attempt here is to see how variousratios have been used and interpreted to reveal a bank ¶s performance and how this particular  model encompasses a wide range of parameters making it a widely used and accepted modelin today ¶s scenario. Data Collection y Primary Data : Primary data was collected  from the Banks ¶ balance sheets and profitand loss statements. y Secondary Data : Secondary data on the subject was collected from ICFAI journals,Banks ¶ annual reports and RBIM ethodologyAs long as the methodology is co ncerned, we have made use of a framework calledCAMELS FRAMEWORK. There are so many models of evaluating the performance of the  banks, but I have chosen the CAMELS Model for this purpose. I have gone through several  books, journals and websites and found it the best model because it measures the  performance of the banks from each parameter i. e. Capital, Assets, Management, Earnings,Liquidity and Sensitivity to  Market risks. CAMELS evaluate banks on  the following six parameters : -? Capital Adequacy (CRAR)? Asset Quality (GNPA)? Management Soundness (MGNT)?Earnings & profitability (ROA)? Liquidity (LQD)? Sensitivity to Market  Risks (? ) websitDuring an on-site bank exam, supervisors gather private information, such as details on  problem loans, with which to evaluate a bank's financial condition and to monitor itscompliance with laws and regulatory policies. A key product of such an exam is asupervisory rating of the bank's overall condition, commonly referred to as a CAMELSrating. The acronym â€Å"CAMEL† refers to the five components of a bank's condition that areassessed : Capital adequacy, Asset quality, Management, Earnings, and Liquidity.A sixthcomponent, a bank's Sensitivity to market risk was added in 1997; hence the acronym waschanged to CAMELSAMELS is basically a ratio-based model for evaluating the performance of banks. Variousratios forming this model are explained below : Capital base of financial institutions facilitates depositors in forming their risk perceptionabout the institutions. Also, it is the key parameter for financial managers to maintainadequate levels of capitalization. The most widely used indicator of capital adequacy iscapital to risk-weighted assets ratio (CRWA).According to Bank Supervision RegulationCommittee (The Basle Committee) of Bank for International Settlements, a minimum 9  percent CRWA is required. Thus, it is useful to track capital-adequacy ratios that take intoaccount the most important financial risks? foreign exchange, credit, and interest raterisks? by assigning risk weightings to the institution ¶s assets. A sound capital basestrengthens confidence of depositors. This ratio is used to protect depositors and promote thestability and efficiency of financial systems around the world. Capital R isk Adequacy R atio:CRAR is a ratio of Capital Fund to Risk Weighted Assets. Reserve Bank of India prescribesBanks to maintain a minimum Capital to risk-weighted Assets Ratio (CRAR) of 9 % withregard to credit risk, market risk and operational risk on an ongoing basis, as against 8 %  prescribed in Basel documents. Component-wise Capital Adequacy of ScheduledCommercial Banks (As at end- M arch) Capital to R isk W eighted Assets R atio- Bank Group-wise Total capital includes tier-I capital and Tier-II capital. Tier-I capital includes paid up equitycapital, free reserves, intangible assets etc.Tier-II capital includes long term unsecuredloans, loss reserves, hybrid debt ca pital instruments etc. The higher the CRAR, the stronger  is considered a bank, as  it ensures high safety against bankruptcy. Asset quality determines the robustness of financial institutions against loss of value in theassets. The deteriorating value of assets, being prime source of banking problems, directly  pour into other areas, as losses are eventually written off against capital, which ultimately  jeopardizes the earning capacity of the institution. With this backdrop, the asset quality isgauged n relation to the level and severity of non-performing assets, adequacy of  Ã‚  provisions, recoveries, distribution of assets etc. Popular indicators include non-performingloans to advances, loan default to total advances, and recoveries to loan default ratios. One of the indicators for asset quality is the ratio of non-performing loans to total loans(GNPA). The gross non-performing loans to gross advances ratio is more indicative of thequality of credit decisions made by bankers. Higher GNPA is indicative of poor creditdecision-making. N PA: N on-Performing Assets:Advances are classified into performing and non-performing advances (NPAs) as per RBIguidelines. NPAs are further classified into sub-standard, doubtful and loss assets based onthe criteria stipulated by RBI. An asset, including a leased asset, becomes non-performingwhen it ceases to  generate income for the Bank. An NPA is a loan or an advance where : 1. Interest and/or installment of principal remains overdue for a period of more than 90days in respect of a term loan;2. The account remains â€Å"out-of-order† in respect of an Overdraft or Cash Credit(OD/CC);3.The bill remains overdue for  a period of more than  90 days in case of bills purchasedand discounted;4. A loan granted for short duration crops will be treated as an NPA if the installmentsof principal or interest thereon remain overdue  for two crop seasons; and5. A loan granted for long duration crops will be treat ed as an NPA if the installmentsof principal or interest thereon remain overdue  for one crop season. The Bank classifies an account as an NPA only if the interest imposed during any quarter isnot fully repaid within 90 days from the end of the relevant quarter. This is a key to thestability of the banking sector.There should be no hesitation in stating that Indian bankshave done a remarkable job in containment of non-performing loans (NPL) considering theoverhang issues and overall difficult environment. For 2008, the net NPL ratio for the Indianscheduled commercial banks at 2. 9 per cent is ample testimony to the impressive efforts  being made by our banking system. In fact, recovery management is also linked to the  banks ¶ interest margins. The cost and recovery management supported by enabling legalframework hold the key to future health and competitiveness of the Indian banks.No doubt,improving recovery-management in India is an area requiring expeditious and effective actions in legal, institutional and judicial processes. Management of financial institution is generally evaluated in terms of capital adequacy,asset quality, earnings and profitability, liquidity and risk sensitivity ratings. In addition,  performance evaluation includes compliance with set norms, ability to plan and react tochanging circumstances, technical competence, leadership and administrative ability. Ineffect, management rating is just an amalgam of performance in the above-mentioned areas.Sound management is one of the most important factors behind financial institutions ¶Ã‚  performance. Indicators of quality of management, however, are primarily applicable toindividual institutions, and cannot be easily aggregated across the sector. Furthermore, giventhe qualitative nature of management, it is difficult to judge its soundness just by looking atfinancial accounts of the banks. Nevertheless, total expenditure to total income and operating expense to total expense helps in gauging the management quality of the banking institutions.Sound management is key to  bank performance but is difficult to measure. It is primarily a qualitative factor applicable toindividual institutions. Several indicators, however, can jointly serve? as, for instance,efficiency measures do-as an indicator of management  soundness. The ratio of non-interest expenditures to total assets (MGNT) can be one of the measures toassess the working of the management. . This variable, which includes a variety of expenses,such as payroll, workers compensation and training investment, reflects the management  policy stance. E fficiencyR atios demonstrate how efficiently the company uses its assets and howefficiently the company manages its operations. Indicates the relationship between assets and revenue. ? Companies with low profit margins tend to have high asset turnover, those with high  profit margins have low asset turnover – it indicates pricing strategy. ? This rati o is more useful for growth companies to check if in fact they are growingrevenue in proportion to sales. Asset Turnover Analysis: This ratio is useful to determine the amount of sales that are generated from each rupee of  assets.As noted above, companies with low profit margins tend to have high asset turnover,those with high profit margins have low asset turnover. Earnings and profitability, the prime source of increase in capital base, is examined withregards to interest rate policies and adequacy of provisioning. In addition, it also helps tosupport present and future operations of the institutions. The single best indicator used togauge earning is the Return on Assets (ROA), which is net income after taxes to total assetratio. Strong earnings and profitability profile of banks reflects the ability to support present andfuture operations.More specifically, this determines the capacity to  absorb losses, finance itsexpansion, pay dividends to its shareholders, and build up a n adequate level of capital. Being front line of defense against erosion of capital base from losses, the need for highearnings and profitability can hardly be overemphasized. Although different indicators areused to serve the purpose, the best and most widely used indicator is Return on Assets(ROA). However, for in-depth analysis, another indicator Net Interest Margins (NIM) is alsoused. Chronically unprofitable financial institutions risk insolvency.Compared with mostother indicators, trends in profitability can be more difficult to interpret-for instance,unusually high profitability can reflect excessive risk taking. R O A- R eturn on Assets: An indicator of how  profitable a company is relative to its total assets. ROA gives an  idea asto how efficient management is at using its assets to generate earnings. Calculated bydividing a company's annual earnings by its total assets, ROA is displayed as a percentage. Sometimes this is referred to as â€Å"return on investment†. ROA tells what earnings were generated from invested capital (assets).ROA for publiccompanies can vary substantially and will be highly dependent on the industry. This is why when using ROA as a comparative measure, it is best to compare it against a company's  previous ROA numbers or the  ROA of a similar company. The assets of the company are comprised of both debt and equity. Both of these types of  financing are used to fund the operations of the company. The ROA figure gives investorsan idea of how effectively the company is converting the money it has to invest into netincome. The higher the ROA number, the better, because the company is earning moremoney on less investment.For example, if one company has a net income of $1 million andtotal assets of $5 million, its ROA is 20%; however, if another company earns the sameamount but has total assets of $10 million, it has an ROA of 10%. Based on this example,the first company is better at converting its investment into profit. When you really think  about it, management's most important job is to make wise choices in allocating itsresources. Anybody can make a profit by throwing a ton of money at a problem, but veryfew managers excel at  making large profits with little investment. R eturn on Assets and R eturn on E quity of SCBs- Bank Group-wiseAn adequate liquidity position refers to a situation, where institution can obtain sufficientfunds, either by increasing liabilities or by converting its assets quickly at a reasonable cost. It is, therefore, generally assessed in terms of overall assets and liability management, asmismatching gives rise to liquidity risk. Efficient fund management refers to a situationwhere a spread between rate sensitive assets (RSA) and rate sensitive liabilities (RSL) ismaintained. The most commonly used tool to evaluate interest rate exposure is the Gap  between RSA and RSL,  while liquidity is gauged by liquid to total asset ratio.Initially solvent financial institutions may be driven toward closure by poor management of  short-term liquidity. Indicators should cover funding sources and capture large maturitymismatches. The term liquidity is used in various ways, all relating to availability of, accessto, or convertibility into cash. ? An institution is said to have liquidity if it can easily meet its needs for cash either  Ã‚  because it has cash on  hand or can otherwise raise or borrow cash. ? A market is said to be liquid if the instruments it trades can easily be bought or soldin quantity with little impact on market prices. ?An asset is said to be liquid if the  market for that asset is liquid. The common theme in all three contexts is cash. A corporation is liquid if it has ready accessto cash. A market is liquid if participants can easily convert positions into cash? or  conversely. An asset is liquid if it can easily be converted to cash. The liquidity of aninstitution depends on : y the institution's short-term need for cash; y cash on hand; y available lines of credit; y the liquidity of the  institution's assets; y The institution's reputation in the marketplace? how willing will counterparty is totransact trades with or lend to the  institution?The liquidity of a market is often measured as the size of its bid-ask spread, but this is animperfect metric at best. More generally, Kyle (1985) identifies three components of marketliquidity : ? Tightness is the bid-ask spread; ? Depth is the volume of transactions necessary to  move prices; ? Resiliency is the speed with which prices return to equilibrium following a largetrade. Examples of assets that tend to be liquid include foreign exchange; stocks traded in theStock Exchange or recently issued Treasury bonds. Assets that are often illiquid includelimited partnerships, thinly traded bonds or real estate.Cash maintained by the banks and balances with central bank, to total asset ratio (LQD) isan indicator of bank's liquidity. In general, banks with a larger volume of liquid assets are  perceived safe, since these assets would allow  banks to meet unexpected  withdrawals. Credit deposit ratio is a tool used to study the liquidity position of the bank. It is calculated  by dividing the cash held in different forms by total deposit. A high ratio shows that there ismore amounts of liquid cash with the bank to met its clients cash withdrawals. It refers to the risk that changes  in market conditions could adversely impact earnings and/or  capital.Market Risk encompasses exposures associated with changes in interest rates, foreignexchange rates, commodity prices, equity prices, etc. While all of these items are important,the primary risk in most banks is interest rate risk (IRR), which will be the focus of thismodule. The diversified nature of bank operations makes them vulnerable to various kindsof financial risks. Sensitivity analysis reflects institution ¶s exposure to interest rate risk,foreign exchange volatility and equity price risks (these risks are summed in market risk). Risk sensitivity is mostly evaluated in terms of management ¶s ability to monitor and controlmarket risk.Banks are increasingly involved in diversified operations, all of which are subject to marketrisk, particularly in the setting of interest rates and the carrying out of foreign exchangetransactions. In countries that allow banks to make trades in stock markets or commodityexchanges, there is also a  need to monitor indicators of equity and commodity price risk. Sensitivity to Market Risk is a recent addition to the ratings parameters and reflects thedegree to which changes in interest rates, exchange rates, commodity prices and equity  prices can affect earnings and  hence the bank ¶s capital. It  is measured by Beta (? . 1. ? ;1, depicts that changes in the firm are less than the changes in the market. LessSensitive2. ? =1, depicts that there is equivalent change in the firm with the changes i n themarket Equally Sensitive. 3. ? ;1, depicts that changes in the firm are more than the changes in the market. Highly Sensitive. The Bank The word bank means an organization where people and business can invest or borrowmoney; change it to foreign currency etc. According to Halsbury ? A Banker is an individual,Partnership or Corporation whose sole pre-dominant business is banking, that is the receiptof money on current or deposit ccount, and the payment of cheque drawn and the collectionof cheque paid in by a customer.  ¶Ã‚ ¶ The O rigin and Use of Banks The Word  µBank ¶ is derived from the Italian word  µBanko ¶ signifying a bench, which waserected in the market-place, where it was customary to exchange money. The Lombard Jewswere the first to practice this exchange business, the first bench having been established inItaly A. D. 808. Some authorities assert that the Lombard merchants commenced the  business of money-dealing, employing bills of exchange as remittance s, about the beginningof the thirteenth century.About the middle of the twelfth century it became evident, as the advantage of coinedmoney was gradually acknowledged, that there must be some controlling power, somecorporation which would undertake to keep the coins that were to bear the royal stamp up toa certain standard of value; as, independently of the  µsweating ¶ which invention may place tothe credit of the ingenuity of the Lombard merchants- all coins will, by wear or abrasion,  become thinner, and consequently less valuable; and it is of the last importance, not only for  the credit of a country, but for the easier regulation of commercial transactions, that themetallic currency be kept as nearly as possible up to the legal standard. Much unnecessarytrouble and annoyance has been caused formerly by negligence in this respect. The gradualmerging of the business of a goldsmith into a bank appears to have been the way in which  banking, as we now understand the term, was introduced into England; and it was not untillong after the establishment of banks in other countries-for state purposes, the regulation of  the coinage, etc. that any large or similar institution was introduced into England.It is onlywithin the last twenty years that printed cheques have  been in use in that establishment. Firstcommercial bank was Bank of Venice which was established in 1157  in Italy. Banking sector, the world over, is known for the adoption of multidimensional strategiesfrom time to time with varying degrees of success. Banks are very important for the smoothfunctioning of financial markets as they serve as repositories of vital financial informationand can potentially alleviate the problems created by information asymmetries. From acentral bank ¶s perspective, such high-quality disclosures help the early detection of  Ã‚  problems faced by banks in the market and reduce the severity of market disruptions.Consequently, the RBI as part and parcel of the financial sector deregulation, attempted toenhance the transparency of the annual reports of Indian banks by, among other things,introducing stricter income recognition and asset classification rules, enhancing the capitaladequacy norms, and by requiring a number of additional disclosures sought by investors tomake better cash flow and risk assessments. [Source : RBI Website] BAS EL – II ACC O R D Bank capital framework sponsored by the world's central banks designed to promoteuniformity, make regulatory capital more risk sensitive, and promote enhanced risk  management among large, internationally active banking organizations. The InternationalCapital Accord, as it is called, will be fully effective by January 2008 for banks active ininternational markets. Other banks can choose to â€Å"opt in,† or they can continue to follow theminimum capital guidelines in the original Basel Accord, finalized in 1988.The revisedaccord (Basel II) completely overhauls the 1988 Basel Accord and is based on threemutually supporting concepts, or  Ã¢â‚¬Å"pillars,† of capital adequacy. The first of these pillars is anexplicitly defined regulatory capital requirement, a minimum capital-to-asset ratio equal toat least 8% of risk-weighted assets. Second, bank supervisory agencies, such as theComptroller of the Currency, have authority to adjust capital levels for individual banksabove the 9% minimum when necessary. The third supporting pillar calls upon marketdiscipline to supplement reviews by banking agencies. Basel II is the second of the Basel Accords, which are recommendations on banking lawsand regulations issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.The purpose of  Basel II, which was initially published in June 2004, is to create an international standardthat banking regulators can use when creating regulations about how much capital banksneed to put aside to guard against the types of financial and operational risks banks face. Advocat es of Basel II believe that such an international standard can help protect theinternational financial system from the types of problems that might arise should a major  Ã‚  bank or a  series of banks collapse. In practice, Basel II attempts to accomplish this by settingup rigorous risk and capital management requirements designed to ensure that a bank holdscapital reserves appropriate to the risk the bank exposes itself to through its lending andinvestment practices. [Source : RBI Website] The final version aims at: 1.Ensuring that capital allocation is more risk sensitive;2. Separating operational risk from credit risk, and quantifying both;3. Attempting to align economic and regulatory capital more closely to reduce thescope for regulatory arbitrage. While the final accord has largely addressed the regulatory arbitrage issue, there are stillareas where regulatory capital requirements will diverge from the economic. Basel II has largely left unchanged the question of how to ac tually define bank capital,which diverges from accounting equity in important respects. The Basel I definition, asmodified up to the present, remains in place. The Accord in operation Basel II uses a â€Å"three pillars† concept y inimum capital requirements (addressing risk), y supervisory review and y market discipline  ± to promote greater stability in the financial system. The Basel I accord dealt with only parts of each of these pillars. For example : with respectto the first Basel II pillar, only one risk, credit risk, was dealt with in a simple manner whilemarket risk was an afterthought; operational risk was not  dealt with at all. The First Pillar The first pillar deals with maintenance of regulatory capital calculated for three major  components of risk that a bank faces : credit risk, operational risk and market risk. Other  risks are not considered fully quantifiable at this stage.The credit risk component can be calculated in three different ways of varyi ng degree of  sophistication, namely standardized approach, Foundation IRB and Advanced IRB. IRBstands for â€Å"Internal Rating-Based Approach†. For operational risk, there are three different approaches – basic indicator approach,standardized approach and advanced measurement approach. For market risk the preferredapproach is VaR (value at  risk). As the Basel II recommendations are phased in by the banking industry it will move fromstandardized requirements to more refined and specific requirements that have beendeveloped for each risk category by each individual bank. The upside for banks that dodevelop their own bespoke risk measurement systems is that they will be rewarded with  potentially lower risk capital requirements.In future there will be closer links between theconcepts of economic profit and regulatory capital. Credit Risk can be calculated by using one of three approaches : 1. Standardized Approach2. Foundation IRB (Internal Ratings Based) Approac h3. Advanced IRB ApproachThe standardized approach sets out specific risk weights for certain types of credit risk. Thestandard risk weight categories are used under Basel 1 and are 0% for short termgovernment bonds, 20% for exposures to OECD Banks, 50% for residential mortgages and 100% weighting on commercial loans. A new 150% rating comes in for borrowers with poor  credit ratings. The minimum capital requirement (the percentage of risk weighted assets to  be held as capital) has remains at  8%.For those Banks that decide to adopt the standardized ratings approach they will be forced torely on the ratings generated by external agencies. Certain Banks are developing the IRBapproach as a result. The Second Pillar The second pillar deals with the regulatory response to the first pillar, giving regulatorsmuch improved ‘tools' over those available to them under Basel I. It also provides aframework for dealing with all the other risks a bank may face, such as systemic risk,   pension risk, concentration risk, strategic risk, reputation risk, liquidity risk and legal risk,which the accord combines under the title of residual risk. It gives banks a power to reviewtheir risk management  system. The Third Pillar The third pillar greatly increases the disclosures that the bank must make.This is designedto allow the market to have a better picture of the overall risk position of the bank and toallow the counterparties of the bank to price and deal appropriately. The new Basel Accordhas its foundation on three mutually reinforcing pillars that allow banks and bank  supervisors to evaluate properly the various risks that banks face and realign regulatorycapital more closely with underlying risks. The first pillar is compatible with the credit risk,market risk and operational risk. The regulatory capital will be focused on these three risks. The second pillar gives the bank responsibility to exercise the best ways to manage the risk  specific to that ba nk. Concurrently, it also casts responsibility on the supervisors to reviewand validate banks ¶ risk measurement models.The third pillar on market discipline is usedto leverage the influence that other market players can bring. This is aimed at improving thetransparency in banks and  improves reporting. State Bank of India is the largest banking and financial services company in India, by almostevery parameter – revenues, profits, assets, market capitalization, etc. The bank traces itsancestry to British India, through the Imperial Bank of India, to the founding in 1806 of theBank of Calcutta, making it the oldest commercial bank in the Indian Subcontinent. TheGovernment of India nationalized the Imperial Bank of India in 1955, with the ReserveBank of India taking a 60% stake, and renamed it the State Bank of India.In 2008, theGovernment took over the  stake held by the Reserve Bank of India. SBI provides a range of banking products through its vast network of branches in India andoverseas, including products aimed at NRIs. The State Bank Group, with over 16,000  branches, has the largest banking branch network in India. With an asset base of $260 billionand $195 billion in deposits, it is a regional banking behemoth. It has a market share amongIndian commercial banks of about 20% in deposits and advances, and SBI accounts for  almost one-fifth of the nation's loans. The total assets of the Bank increased by 9. 23% fromRs. 9,64,432. 08 crores at the end of March 2009 to Rs. 10,53,413. 3 crores as at end March2010. The Bank ¶s aggregate liabilities (excluding capital and reserves) rose by 8. 93% fromRs. 9,06,484. 38 crores on 31st March 2009 to Rs. 9,87,464. 53 crores on 31st March 2010. K ey performance I ndicators [Source : Annual Report, 2009-10]SBI has tried to reduce over-staffing by computerizing operations and â€Å"golden handshake†schemes that led to a flight of its best and brightest managers. These managers took theretiremen t allowances and then went on to become senior managers in new private sector ICICI Bank (formerly Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India) is a major  Ã‚  banking and financial services organization in India.It is the 4th largest bank in India andthe largest private sector bank in India by market capitalization. The bank also has a network  of 1,700+ branches (as on 31 March 2010) and about 4,721 ATMs in India and presence in19 countries, as well as some 24 million customers (at the end of July 2007). ICICI Bank isalso the largest issuer of credit cards in India. ICICI Bank's shares are listed on the stock  exchanges at Kolkata and Vadodara, Mumbai and the National Stock Exchange of IndiaLimited; its ADRs trade on the New  York Stock Exchange (NYSE). [Source : Annual Report, 2009-10]The Bank is expanding in overseas markets and has the largest international balance sheetamong Indian banks.ICICI Bank now has wholly-owned subsidiaries, branches andrepresentative s offices in 19 countries, including an offshore unit in Mumbai. This includeswholly owned subsidiaries in Canada, Russia and the UK (the subsidiary through which theHi SAVE savings brand is operated), offshore banking units in Bahrain and Singapore, anadvisory branch in Dubai, branches in Belgium, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka, andrepresentative offices in Bangladesh, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Africa, Thailand,the United Arab Emirates and USA. Overseas, the Bank is targeting the NRI (Non- ResidentIndian) population in particular. History HDFC Bank was incorporated in the year of 1994 by Housing Development FinanceCorporation Limited (HDFC), India's premier housing finance company.It was among thefirst companies to receive an ‘in principle' approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) toset up a bank in the private sector. The Bank commenced its operations as a ScheduledCommercial Bank in January 1995 with the help of RBI's liberalization policies. In a milestone transactio n in the Indian banking industry, Times Bank Limited (promoted byBennett, Coleman & Co. / Times Group) was merged with HDFC Bank Ltd. , in 2000. Thiswas the first merger of two private banks in India. As per the scheme of amalgamationapproved by the shareholders of both banks and the Reserve Bank of India, shareholders of  Times Bank received 1  share of HDFC Bank for every 5. 75  shares of Times Bank. In 2008 HDFC Bank acquired Centurion Bank of Pun j a b aking its total branches to morethan 1,000. The amalgamated bank emerged with a strong deposit base of around Rs. 1,22,000 crore and net advances of around Rs. 89,000 crore. The balance sheet size of thecombined entity is over Rs. 1,63,000 crore. The amalgamation added significant value toHDFC Bank in terms of increased branch network, geographic reach, and customer base,and a bigger pool of skilled manpower   Capital Adequacy [Source : Annual Report, 2009-10] The Industrial Development Bank of India Limited commonly known by its acronym IDBIis one of India's leading public sector banks and 4th largest Bank in overall ratings. RBIcategorized IDBI as an â€Å"other public sector bank†.It was established in 1964 by an Act of  Parliament to provide credit and other facilities for the development of the fledgling Indianindustry. It is currently 10th largest development bank in the world in terms of reach with1210 ATMs, 720 branches and 486 centers. Some of the institutions built by IDBI are the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE), the  National Securities Depository Services Ltd (NSDL), the Stock Holding Corporation of  India (SHCIL), the Credit Analysis ; Research Ltd, the Export-Import Bank of India (EximBank), the Small Industries Development bank of India(SIDBI), the EntrepreneurshipDevelopment Institute of India, and IDBI BANK, which today is owned by the IndianGovernment, though for a brief period it was a private scheduled bank.The IndustrialDevelopment Bank of India (IDBI) was est ablished on July 1, 1964 under an Act of  Parliament as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of India. In 16 February 1976,the ownership of IDBI was transferred to the Government of India and it was made the  principal financial institution for coordinating the activities of institutions engaged infinancing, promoting and developing industry in the country. Although Governmentshareholding in the Bank came down below 100% following IDBI ¶s public issue in July1995, the former continues to  be the major shareholder (current shareholding : 52. 3%). During the four decades of its existence, IDBI has been instrumental not only in establishinga well-developed, diversified and efficient ndustrial and institutional structure but alsoadding a qualitative dimension to the process of industrial development in the country. IDBIhas played a pioneering role in fulfilling its mission of promoting industrial growth throughfinancing of medium and long-term projects, in consonance wi th national plans and  priorities. Over the years, IDBI has enlarged its basket of products and services, coveringalmost the entire spectrum of industrial activities, including manufacturing and services. IDBI provides financial assistance, both in rupee and foreign currencies, for green-field  projects as also for expansion, modernization and diversification purposes.In the wake of  financial sector reforms unveiled by the government since 1992, IDBI evolved an array of  fund and fee-based services with a view to providing an integrated solution to meet theentire demand of financial and corporate advisory requirements of its clients Axis Bank, formally UTI Bank, is a financial services firm that had begun operations in1994, after the Government of India allowed new private banks to be established. The Bank  was promoted jointly by the Administrator of the Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of  India (UTI-I), Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), General Insura nce CorporationLtd. , National Insurance Company Ltd. The New India Assurance Company, The OrientalInsurance Corporation and United India Insurance Company UTI-I holds a special positionin the Indian capital markets and has promoted many leading financial institutions in thecountry. The bank changed its name to Axis Bank in April 2007 to avoid confusion withother unrelated entities with similar name. After the Retirement of Mr. P. J. Nayak, Shikha Sharma was named as the bank's managingdirector and CEO on 20 April 2009. As on the year ended March 31, 2009 the Bank had atotal income of Rs 13,745. 04 crore (US$ 2. 93 billion) and a net profit of Rs. 1,812. 93 crore(US$ 386. 15 million). On February 24, 2010, Axis Bank announced the launch of ‘AXISCALL ; PAY on atom', a unique mobile payments solution using Axis Bank debit cards.Axis Bank is the first bank in the country to provide a secure debit card-based paymentservice over IVR. Axis Bank is one of the Big Four Banks of India, along with ICICI Bank,State Bank of India and HDFC Bank Branch Network At the end of March 2009, the Bank  has a very wide network of more than 835 branch offices and Extension Counters. Totalnumber of ATMs went up to 3595. The Bank has loans now (as of June 2007) account for asmuch as 70 per cent of the bank ¶s total loan book of Rs 2,00,000 crore. In the case of AxisBank, retail loans have declined from 30 per cent of the total loan book of Rs 25,800 crorein June 2006 to around 23 per cent of loan book of Rs. 41,280 crore (as of June 2007).Evenover a longer period,  while the overall asset growth for  Axis Bank has been quite high and has matched that of the other banks, retail exposuresgrew at a slower pace. The bank, though, appears to have insulated such pressures. Interestmargins, while they have declined from the 3. 15 per cent seen in 2003-04, are still hoveringclose to the 3 per cent mark. Axis Bank, formally UTI Bank, is a financial services firm that had begun op erations in1994, after the Government of India allowed new private banks to be established. The Bank  was promoted jointly by the Administrator of the Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of  India (UTI-I), Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), General Insurance CorporationLtd. , National Insurance Company Ltd. The New India Assurance Company, The OrientalInsurance Corporation and United India Insurance Company UTI-I holds a special positionin the Indian capital markets and has promoted many leading financial institutions in thecountry. The bank changed its name to Axis Bank in April 2007 to avoid confusion withother unrelated entities with similar name. After the Retirement of Mr. P. J. Nayak, Shikha Sharma was named as the bank's managingdirector and CEO on 20 April 2009. As on the year ended March 31, 2009 the Bank had atotal income of Rs 13,745. 04 crore (US$ 2. 93 billion) and a net profit of Rs. 1,812. 93 crore(US$ 386. 15 million). On February 24, 2010, Axis Bank announced the launch of ‘AXISCALL & PAY on atom', a unique mobile payments solution using Axis Bank debit cards.Axis Bank is the first bank in the country to provide a secure debit card-based paymentservice over IVR. Axis Bank is one of the Big Four Banks of India, along with ICICI Bank,State Bank of India and HDFC Bank Branch Network At the end of March 2009, the Bank  has a very wide network of more than 835 branch offices and Extension Counters. Totalnumber of ATMs went up to 3595. The Bank has loans now (as of June 2007) account for asmuch as 70 per cent of the bank ¶s total loan book of Rs 2,00,000 crore. In the case of AxisBank, retail loans have declined from 30 per cent of the total loan book of Rs 25,800 crorein June 2006 to around 23 per cent of loan book of Rs. 41,280 crore (as of June 2007).Evenover a longer period,  while the overall asset growth for  Axis Bank has been quite high and has matched that of the other banks, retail exposuresgrew at a slower pa ce. The bank, though, appears to have insulated such pressures. Interestmargins, while they have declined from the 3. 15 per cent seen in 2003-04, are still hoveringclose to the 3 per cent mark. Reserve Bank of India prescribes Banks to maintain a minimum Capital to risk weightedAssets Ratio (CRAR) of 9 percent with regard to credit risk, market risk and operational risk  on an ongoing basis, as against 8 percent prescribed in Basel Documents. Capital adequacyratio of the ICICI Bank was well above the industry average of 13. 97% t. CAR of HDFC  bank is below the ratio of ICICI bank.HDFC Bank ¶s total Capital Adequacy stood at15. 26% as of March 31, 2010. The Bank adopted the Basel 2 framework as of March 31,2009 and the CAR computed as per Basel 2 guidelines stands higher against the regulatoryminimum of 9. 0%. HDFC CAR is gradually increased over the last 5 year and the capital adequacy ratio of  Axis bank is the increasing by every 2 year. SBI has maintained its CAR around in the rangeof 11 % to 14 %. But IDBI should reconsider their business as its CAR is falling YOY (year  on year). Higher the ratio the banks are in a comfortable position to absorb losses. So ICICIand HDFC are the strong one to absorb their loses. Gross N PA:Gross NPAs are the sum total of all loan assets that are classified as NPAs as per RBIguidelines as on Balance Sheet date. Gross NPA reflects the quality of the loans made by  banks. It consists of all the non standard  assets like as substandard, doubtful, and loss assets. It can be calculated  with the help of following ratio : SBI maintained its GNPA to 3% which is very good sign of performances as SBI is thelargest lender in INDIA. HDFC ¶s GNPA is quite good as it is low with compared to ICICIand SBI but in 2008-09 GNPA rises. The reason may be economic crises. AXIS bank haslowest GNPA which shown its management ability. ICICI has the highest GNPA in bankingindustry and rising YOY (year on  year). N et N PA:Net NPAs are those type of NPAs in which the bank has deducted the provision regarding  NPAs. Net NPA shows the actual burden of banks. Since in India, bank balance sheetscontain a huge amount of NPAs and the process of recovery and write off of loans is verytime consuming, the provisions the banks have to make against the NPAs according to thecentral bank guidelines, are quite significant. That is why the difference between gross andnet NPA is quite high. It can be calculated by following : AXIS Bank has least Net NPA and ICICI has highest NNPA among group. HDFC shown itsmanagement quality as it maintained its NNPA YOY (year on year). SBI has to keep NNPA  below. IDBI has successful to control NNPA YOY.

Black Boy Literary Essay essays

Black Boy Literary Essay essays In the novel Black Boy the author and protagonist Richard Wright explores his life and a time line of events. The setting takes place in the south and the characters deal with issues that range from racism to problems in their very own household. During these trials, the characters display a variety of moods the express the way that they feel. These moods are grammatical. They also deal with verbal units and the speakers attitude. Through out Black Boy, Wright uses indicative, subjunctive and imperative moods. In the very beginning Wrights characters show both indicative and imperative moods. Wright is a young curious boy who is debating with his brother if he should set his grandmothers curtains on fire. As he argues with his brother he can picture the flames rising in his head. Just as Wright is about to set the curtains aflame his brother says, Dont do that, youll set the house on fire.(Pg. 4). His brother was commanding and informing him not to set the curtains on fire. This is proof his brother was in both imperative and indicative moods. Although his brother tells him not to he sets the curtains on fire and puts everyone in the house in great danger. As a result of him putting the house on fire, Wright hides under the house. Everyone gets out of the house and realizes that Wright is missing. They look everywhere for him. Finally his father finds him hiding under the house and immediately orders him to come out from under it. Come here boy! says his father with great aggravation. No lemme lone! Wright replies. (Pg. 6). His father was showing a imperative mood meaning he was commanding Wright to come out. Then his father pulls him from under the house and his mother teach him a lesson by beating him which eventually makes him pass out. Later on in the book Wright, along with his mother, brother, and aunt travel to his grandmothe ...

The easy way to boost your brain power - Emphasis

The easy way to boost your brain power The easy way to boost your brain power Step away from the keyboard and pick up a pen. Thats the latest expert advice for anyone who wants to study and remember more effectively. We learn better when writing by hand than when we type, according to Anne Mangen, associate professor at the University of Stavanger in Norway, and neurophysiologist Jean-Luc Velay. Senses working overtime This is partly, according to Mangen, an effect of the senses. The physical act of forming letters with a writing implement sends more varied feedback to the brain from the feel of the pen and paper to the motor function of shaping the words letter by letter than pressing identical keys to produce fully formed letters in one go. Indeed, research led by Velay shows that writing by hand leaves a motor memory in a part of the brain that links to visual recognition: the sensorimotor system. In safe hands On this point, Mangen refers to an experiment in which two groups of adults were tasked with learning a foreign alphabet. One group learned the symbols using a keyboard, the other by writing them out. When they were tested at three and six weeks into the experiment on their ability to recollect the letters and to recognise when the characters had been reversed, those whod been writing by hand outperformed the keyboard-users every time. The nature of business in the modern office may have made us all secretly proud of our words-per-minute scores, but if we want to remember what were writing, this speed is not our friend. Call it obvious, but the simple fact that writing by hand takes that bit longer also influences the learning process. Hardened technophiles may scoff and instead try typing in slow motion as they attempt to learn Mandarin or memorise the periodic table, but they still wont be stimulating the right part of the brain. The sensorimotor component forms an integral part of training for beginners, says Mangen.

Anonymity and Networks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Anonymity and Networks - Essay Example Though anonymity is a desirable security feature, it has certain disadvantages. Anonymity can be achieved through various security protocols like Single Socket Layer (SSL) protocol, Secure Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (SHTTP) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol among others. Security protocols allow the establishment of secure channels across two communicating parties that are linked through an insecure network. Though the various protocols have many similarities, each of the security protocols has inherent strengths, weaknesses and vulnerabilities. While encryption offers some anonymity, there are certain limitations. The major challenge is the possibility of eavesdropping by local ISP or a local system administrator. The internet security protocols allow transfer of some networking information like the traffic flow route and the source-destination pair which is revealed through traffic analysis. Traffic analysis allows transmission of times data packets. The challenges asso ciated with internet security protocols can be overcome by utilizing authentication and key agreement (AKA) protocols which provide a random-shared key that can be used to uphold confidentiality and anonymity and have less vulnerabilities. ... .13 Section VI: Proposed solutions to the challenges of internet security protocols†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦14 Conclusion†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..15 Works Cited†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦16 Introduction In the wake of increasing dominance of internet as the preferred mode of communication, there has been a lot of interest on the use of anonymity as a means of ensuring user privacy and security. The unprotected nature of internet networks makes them vulnerable for eavesdropping by unauthorized persons. Though anonymity can exist without the internet, the increase in internet us age has made it easier for distribution of anonymous messages. The free information flow facilitated by increased internet communication poses potential security risks to individuals, businesses and government departments as well as the entire nation. As a result, various software and hardware security features have been suggested to address the issue of anonymity. This paper examines the issue of anonymity during internet use with focus on why, how, what and when anonymity should be exercised. The paper critically examines different security protocols involved in anonymity on the internet with regard to the hardware and software components involved. Additionally, the potential problems arising from anonymity and the possible solutions shall also be addressed. Section I: Anonymity in the context of internet communication: what does it imply? One of the major concerns in internet use is the extent to which their privacy shall be