Individual Happiness Contributes to the Harmonious Society Essay

If you have a chance to choose a life, what will you choose? The rich but unhappy life or the ordinary life with lifelong happiness? Most people will choose the latter, because it is the essence of the life. The pursuit of individual happiness is being acknowledged as a world right. People often assume that happiness is an individual thing, but the meaning of happiness shifts across the life course. Therefore, happiness contributes to the harmonious society because it has a positive impact on social life and commercial development. First of all, individual happiness makes a contribution in enhancing social relationships. Individual happiness can invisibly influence the social behavior. If a person feels happy, that will result in positive behavior. Generally speaking, happiness will affect his character and his subjective well-being. Apparently, a happy person will be kind to the people around his social circle. According to Dixon (2011), â€Å"The happiness participants felt about their past generosity, the more likely they were in the present to choose to spend on someone else instead of themselves†. People are willing to share happy feelings; they will be kind spending on others. Individual happiness creates a virtuous cycle between happiness and kindness. Likewise, in the case of people being more kind, the relationship of friends and family will be strengthened. On the other hand, â€Å"happiness is as essential as food if a child is to develop into normal manhood or womanhood: the purpose of bringing-up in all its phases should be to make the child as happy as possible. † (Stearns, 2012) parents have a special bond with their children. A negligible emotional change may have a significant impact on children’s growth. Children will grow up healthily and comfortably in a relaxed and happy environment. Vice versa, parents will become happier when they witness the growth of their children without any trouble. Hence, individual happiness makes a â€Å"positive feedback loop† (Dixon, 2012) that sets an important bond between people. It enhances the relationship and it is beneficial for everyone of each side in the small social circle. Secondly, individual happiness improves the social working atmosphere in the commercial area. More and more businessmen are trying to add the element of happiness into their goods. As Stearns stated, â€Å"Harvey Ball, created in 1963 the yellow smiley face, which took off even in the wake of the Kennedy assassination and whose annual licensing revenues exceeded $50 million within the decade. † Admittedly, Life and work are tough for workers in modern society. In addition, businessmen used happy gimmick in their goods, is actually helping people go out of the dull life due to busy work. Their idea finally made it, because individual happiness is contagious and easily accepted. Thereby, individual happiness has a huge commercial potential compared to ordinary sales systems. Correspondingly, people generally lack the happiness because they are under enormous pressure. The gimmick of happiness will set up a â€Å"positive feedback loop† that benefit to both sellers and customers. Moreover, individual happiness can contribute to a relax work atmosphere. According to Stearns (2012), happiness inspired new workplace standards that instructed white-collar employees and sales people in the centrality of cheerfulness†. Working for a optimistic boss or a serious boss? Most people will choose the former one. No one can tolerate the tough words and face of the boss day by day. Conversely, employees find it easier to accept a happy employer who can mobilize the enthusiasm of the staff. Emotion of employers plays an increasing important role in the work place. Hence, individual happiness can enhance the performance of the company. When employees working in a workplace that is full of happiness, they will be cheered up, the internal thought will drive them to enjoy their work and greatly improve the work efficiency. Individual happiness thereby is beneficial to the commercial development. Some public opinion suggested that the society needs to be more serious, so individual happiness will distract the people’s major goals. This statement is obviously not logical because it is a historical trend that individual happiness accounted for a large proportion of life. It builds a positive circle that promotes the development of society. Serious emotion does work some occasions, but in the whole environment, it will make people become rigid and less creative. To conclude, individual happiness not only enriches the relationship between people, but also brings more benefit in the business process. Truly, the happiness plays a neglected role in some cultures. They are still trying to hiding their people’s feeling. However, dull and serious words have far less influence than many smiling faces around you. Individual happiness gives people the latter feeling; those smiling faces can affect other’s lives in the broader society. All in all, the spreading of individual happiness will lead to a tremendous improvement that will enable more people to live in a harmonious society.

Art Three Main Types

Art: Representational, Abstract, and Nonrepresentational Art is a way to expression a memory, idea, and/or emotion. Art can come from the mind or you can draw it from another source such as media or nature. Art has very different meanings and attempts to get across to other in different ways. Art is virtually endless. Art can be be altered to look how the artist wants to make it appear or it can be made to look exactly as it appears in reality  . It is up to the artist to make the image as they desire. Artists usually do so by finding a type of art they are comfortable with doing.Some artists do not like to make art that looks like anything someone has seen before. There are hundreds of different categories of art. Those categories can fall into one of three main types. The three main types in which a piece of art can fall under are representational, abstract, and nonrepresentational. Representational art is art in which the artist attempts to capture the image exactly as it appear s. There are several different subcategories that fall under this such as realism and art made during the Renaissance.Artist who tend to make representational art usually are geared to think logically and analytically. Representational art contrasts with abstract art and nonrepresentational art. For instanse the Mona Lisa done by Leonardo Da Vinci is a work of representational art. It is a potrait done in oil to capture the image of Lisa Gherardini. Other works done by Leonardo Da Vinci are also representational. The picture captures what the artist sees in reality rather then what the artist want's to exaggerate upon.When trying to steer away from physical realities abstract art tends to cover the spectrum of emotions with shapes and lines. This art can vary on whether it contains things that are representation and things that are entirely nonrepresentational. This category of art is everything that falls in between representational art and nonrepresentational art. A great example would be just about any work done by Pablo Piccaso. Cubism is a sub form of abstract art, which is a type of art that Pablo Piccaso is known for.Cubism is when the artist uses geometric shapes to define their work of art in place of the natural organic shapes which would normally be made in representational art. However since the work still has some representation it is not entirely nonrepresentational which lands it in the abstract category. Art that makes no attempt to identify or represent something is called nonrepresentational art. This art does not depict any beings, places or things in the natural world. It is very much like abstract however there are absolutely no representations within this type of art.While the art is not intended to represent anything it usually appeals to emotions with the tone of colors and the way the artist uses their media. An example of this can be expressionism. However this type of art is tricky. Expressionism can also fall under the category of a bstract. Since abstract and nonrepresentational art can be closely related it is also easy to confuse the two. While expressionism shows a strong sense of emotions it can also have some representational items within it which allows it to fall into one of the two categories. Representational art can never be expressionism.Fighting Forms by Franz Marc is a good example of expressionistic nonrepresentational art. The artist makes a work from their desired media in order to produce an image or images they want to see in the world rather then allow it to remain in their head for no one to see. An artist usually uses a type of art that they can best relate to. There are sever different types of art to choose from but they all fall into one of three categories. Out of all the different categories of art all of them fall into three different types. They are representational, abstract, or nonrepresentational.

Identify the types of fault that can occur Essay

The computer is completely dead A lot of machines are require you to press a power button on the back may sound bad and not many people try it so if it fails check the cable whether the fuse works you can test a fuse using a multi metre. If it does not work replace all the cable Computer keeps running on scandisk on start- up This usually is a result because the computer was switched off incorrectly it is probable that the installation of windows is damaged. A re installation could be a possible solution. Computer seems to start up normally but nothing appears on the screen Again, as ridiculous as it may sound check the cable; it may not be attached probably. Another obvious solution is to try whether the monitor is switched on. Windows installing errors Windows installer engine could be corrupted, installed incorrectly, or disabled this may cause installation issues. A reinstallation could well fix the issue but from a different source than the original download. Modem cuts off frequently Possible solution, you may have a call waiting on your line you need to  disable it to continue use of the modem Some programs like games don’t work on my computer This could be numerous things one of the most common occurrences is due to the fact game developers only make high end specification games of late. 9 times out of 10 people buy games while having the assumption that they will work on their pc. You should buy only the games that are able to run on your pc. Or you can upgrade your pc so it’s more future prove. Exe errors The quickest and easiest risk free method is by using professional software; The two software applications i recommend are â€Å"Error repair† and † XostspySE† I’ve re-installed windows and my sound/video/modem/printer is not working correctly A possible solution is that the devices may not be set up correctly. Windows does not shut down correctly or it restarts when it should shut down After doing some research i fount out the best solution is to go to â€Å"RUN† and then type in â€Å"MSCONFIG† Then click on â€Å"advanced† and then tick/untick â€Å"Enable fast shutdown† The next stage is to re-start the computer and see if it shuts down. If proved un successful then try the BIOS and disable ACPI. And this should resurrect the issue. Dll error There are numerous ways to fix DLL errors one way is to download a â€Å"DLL Repair tool† and follow these steps download the â€Å"Dll repair tool† click the â€Å"scan† button and then click the â€Å"repair† button to fix any errors. Another solution would be to re-install again. Source technical information to provide advice and guidance for a variety of faults (P4) Practical: Your tutor will create a number of scenarios in which you have to source technical information to provide advice and guidance for a variety of faults. Complete an activity log to show what actions youtook; you might also be observed during this process. Name of user Jonah Rossy Report date 11/04/2014 Machine identification details 76 Time to fix 15 minutes Nature of fault Computer seems to start up normally but nothing appears on the screen Diagnosis/Fault found The most usual problem with a computer but when the PC is actually does power on but doest display anything on the monitor. So when you see the lights on the computer case is probably hear fans running from inside, and may even hear sound but nothing shows up on the screen Remedial action taken I have checked the monitor computer cable, and then i have cleared the CMOS, by clearing the BIOS memory on the motherboard will return the bios setting to their factory default level. A bios miss configuration could be why your PC wont start-up all the way. Resources used : http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/15682/ Completed by : Bogdan Filipciuc Date : 20/04/2014 Name of user Maria Beloni Report date 11/04/2014 Machine identification details 76 Time to fix 15 minutes Nature of fault The screen comes on ok when booting but unreadable when in windows Diagnosis/Fault found When the computer is booting on the display is unreadable. Remedial action taken Enter the BIOS; on Dell computer start pressing F2 button immediately booting your computer. In the BIOS use the down arrow to scroll to â€Å"Integrated Devices (Legacy Select Options). Press Enter Use down arrow to scroll to â€Å"On board Video Buffer† Press Space Bar once to change from 1MB to 8MB Press â€Å"Esc† to Exit Press â€Å"Esc† to Exit again Make sure that â€Å"Save Changes and Exit† is highlighted Press â€Å"Enter† Illegible Screen Problem Solved. Resources used : http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/15682/ Completed by : Bogdan Filipciuc Date : 20/04/2014 Name of user Maria Beloni Report date 11/04/2014 Machine identification details 76 Time to fix 15 minutes Nature of fault A slow PC Diagnosis/Fault found The computer is running very slow Remedial action taken To fix the problem i have defrag the computer and also install and anti-virus, the virus have found lots of Trojans and now is safe. Also I have done all the updates and install a processor speed up. Resources used  : http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/15682/ Completed by : Bogdan Filipciuc Date : 20/04/2014 Name of user Maria Beloni Report date 11/04/2014 Machine identification details 76 Time to fix 15 minutes Nature of fault Some programs like games don’t work on my computer Diagnosis/Fault found The games don’t work on the computer because of the display. Remedial action taken Multiple displays, especially extended Desktops across different resolutions, can cause problems resulting in performance issues ranging from rare freezes to total failures. Often setting to run in Windowed Mode will get an instance going and depending on your video configuration and drivers/software you’re running getting a full screen instance up could be as simple as a check box option to clone displays in the Video control software Resources used : http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/15682/ Completed by : Bogdan Filipciuc Date : 20/04/2014 Name of user Maria Beloni Report date 11/04/2014 Machine identification details 76 Time to fix 15 minutes Nature of fault Can’t get the pound sign to work other keys come up with the wrong Symbols? Diagnosis/Fault found The pound sign don’t work because the layout of the keyboard is American so it has to be changed in UK version or European Remedial action taken To fix the problem I have used control panel -> regional and language options -> languages -> details first try ‘key settings’ and unclick the boxes to swap between keyboards. And the now you can get the sysmbols Resources used : http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/15682/ Completed by : Bogdan Filipciuc Date : 20/04/2014 Name of user Maria Beloni Report date 11/04/2014 Machine identification details 76 Time to fix 15 minutes Nature of fault Blue screen of death Diagnosis/Fault found A Blue Screen of Death, also called a STOP Error, will appear when an issue is so serious that Windows must stop completely. Remedial action taken I have verified that a minimum amount of free space is available on your Windows partition. Blue Screens of Death and other serious issues, like data corruption, can occur if there’s not enough free space on your  primary partition used for the Windows operating system. So I have to maintain at least 100MB of free space but I regularly see problems with free space that low. I usually advise Windows users to keep at least 15% of a drive’s capacity free at all times. Resources used : http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/15682/ Completed by : Bogdan Filipciuc Date : 20/04/2014 Name of user Maria Beloni Report date 11/04/2014 Machine identification details 76 Time to fix 15 minutes I’ve re-installed windows and my sound/video/modem/printer is not working correctly Diagnosis/Fault found The sound, video, modem and printer don’t work Remedial action taken To fix the problem with the sound, video, modem and printer I have installed patches for each one and restart the computer and everything is working perfectly. Resources used : http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/15682/ Completed by : Bogdan Filipciuc Date : 20/04/2014 Judge the value of different sources of support material (M3) Having completed a number of fault finding activities set up by your tutor, judge the value and validity of different sources of support material to which you referred during the process. Present your findings as a referenced appendix to you fault records. Grading Tips: Make sure that you accessed a number of different  sources for a given fault; don’t just rely on one source.

Global warming Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Global warming - Research Paper Example The author has rightly presented that global warming refers to climate change that represents an increase in the average temperature of the Earth. It is defined as â€Å"increase in the earth’s atmospheric and oceanic temperatures widely predicted to occur due to an increase in the Greenhouse Effect caused especially by pollution†. The definition explains the climate change, which is increase in average temperature of the planet. The climate change is linked with the Greenhouse Effect. The effect will be discussed in detail later, but the major element causing the effect is the amount of greenhouse gases present in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is the major component of the greenhouse gases. Therefore, a link can be drawn between climate change and the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This relation was first discovered in a study explaining the Ice Ages. The outcome of the study suggested that the lower level of carbon dioxide gas might explain the Ice Ages. The major contributing scientists in establishing this relationship and predicting global warming were Arrhenius and Chamberlin. Arrhenius was the first to calculate the magnitude of the effect on global temperature in 1896 and bought up the possibility of future warming. The calculations were done mainly to explain Ice Ages and the possibility of global warming was not stressed upon. Furthermore, the idea was not widely accepted by scientists. This idea was revived in 1938, but was not widely accepted till early 1960s. ... It is, therefore, important that we know the cost of our lifestyle and the direction we are heading towards. 1.2 The issue is of prime importance as it relates to our home, earth. The degradation of the environment will ultimately affect us or our next generations in particular. The magnitude of the effect is increasing at an alarming rate and its consequences are beyond our wildest imagination. The issue came into limelight with rising sea level and in particular the melting of the polar caps. As we discover more we realize its importance. Every system on earth is interlinked and its consequences are widespread. Currently, the measures taken are inadequate and not at an international level. Any change in atmosphere or our environment affects complete earth and we all become sufferers for our collective actions. The world needs to unite to solve this issue and an international policy must be made to fight against global warming. Survival has always been the most important priority fo r any living organisms. The issue relates to the survival of our kind, but it is not given due importance which it deserves. 1.3 Without the atmosphere, the earth would be much colder, when related to the distance of our planet from the sun (Postma 2). In simple, earth is much warmer than it should be because of its atmosphere. It was first discovered by Tyndall in 1859 that gases can trap heat rays (Reville 1). The most important of these was simple water vapor. Carbon dioxide, though in very less quantity was also found to be very effective. This effect was later called â€Å"Greenhouse Effect†. The question arises; is Greenhouse Effect the main cause for global warming? This question forms the basis for this research paper and after

Women's Issues in American Culture in the Early 1800s Essay

Women's Issues in American Culture in the Early 1800s - Essay Example The researcher states that after being excluded from the important public role for centuries, women soon began to engage in religious activities in the country thereby receiving recognition. It is noted that before, these roles were a preserve of men, thereby generating issues in religious circles. In fact, at the start of 19th century, an estimated 70% plus of church congregants were women, a factor that made them begin claiming spiritual authority, which men were not willing to surrender. This created a lot of criticism from the males and at times led to eviction from the community. Anne Hutchinson is one woman who was burnished for challenging the male domination of religious life in early 1800. This was followed by intense religious activism, which enhanced girl child education since many churches began building schools where girls could get a better education. The population of girls in schools increased very first such that by 1820 America had so many women graduates with bette r education thereby displacing their male counterparts as schoolteachers. This was occasioned by the fact that women of the time accepted lower remuneration rates than the men, thereby increasing their absorption into the teaching profession. This kind of displacement did not ogre well with the male creating animosity between males and female in the society. Being schoolteachers is said to have given women a chance to receive more recognition in public life.

The environmental impacts of Los Angeles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The environmental impacts of Los Angeles - Essay Example The environmental impacts of Los Angeles Los Angeles is one of the most densely polluted countries of the world. Pollution has literally damaged the entire city in such a way that its impact is very obvious. Tourism is an essential part of Los Angeles economy. Los Angeles is one of those countries that are a major tourist attraction; Los Angeles has the honor of housing the home of all legendary actors that is Hollywood. From amazing shopping malls to Hollywood and an amazing blend of various restaurants, Los Angeles offers everything that a tourist wants during vacations. While travelling the quality and the atmosphere of the environment go hand in hand. The environment is made up of natural as well as manmade things which together build up the tourism in a state. The relation between tourism and environment tends to get very tangling at times. The effects of tourism are very controversial. At times they can be helpful in generating revenue for the state resulting in a fruitful economy and on the contrary it can damage and dent the citys environmental condition resulting in a disaster which can damage countries natural resources. Tourism leads to the development of the place with the construction of roads, parks, malls, resorts, restaurants, hotel, golf courses, and airports etc. which eventually build up the infrastructure of a place. "The notion of a tourism system is extremely important when we start to consider the notion of impacts.

W2 DQ Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

W2 DQ - Assignment Example This intervention in diplomacy happened from the highest levels, with no less than Powell and Armitage, the highest and most key officials in the US defense establishment, intervening and securing the guarantees of no less than President Musharraf that he would, with all the might of his position, stop the infiltration. Having secured this, the US officials then turned around and made public the pledge to the Indian government, while they were in India. This one maneuver is said to be responsible for the gradual de-escalation of the conflict and the averting of what could have been a deadly turn of events between the two countries. One can see from this episode that while the diplomatic intervention was quite late, having arrived when the two parties were already on a tension level that was dangerously close to a full-scale war, America as the third party had within its means to diffuse the tension, and act as a superpower and disinterested party to which both Pakistan and India can turn to as a kind of referee. There is no lack of political will, at least on the part off the United States, and at least in this one instance. Though it came a bit late, this one incident can be looked at as a kind of reminder that if needed, at least the US can be counted on to rise to the occasion again. Elsewhere too we see that the US was also instrumental in trying to apply the lessons from the Cold War by trying to get the two countries to participate in CSBMs, or Confidence and Security Building Measures (Nayak and Kepron, 2006, pp. 13-22; Khan, 2002). On one level, the analogy of the Pakistan-India relations with that of the US and Soviet Union are valid, to the point where theories on deterrence, and dealing with the paradox known as â€Å"stability-instability† as it applies to the two South Asian countries. The literature is expanding, and is being used as reference to deal with the complex dilemmas facing India and Pakistan, as far as deterrence

America, the cold war, Reagan and the state of the country Essay

America, the cold war, Reagan and the state of the country - Essay Example It has a number of financial issues, several wars, and a climate of partisan hostility in Washington, D.C. But for all its faults, it has many things going for it. It is still the world's number one military superpower, in large part due to the work done by Reagan to build up these forces. Militarily, America is second to none. There is no credible enemy that America could not beat. Sadly, several of the problems faced by America today—in particular financial ones—are the products of leaders who have not listened to Reagan's vision of economics. The current president has not done enough to tackle public sector unions, as President Reagan triumphantly did in the 1980s. These unions are bankrupting America. This is a serious problem that Reagan was able to solve twenty years ago, but which has come back for a new generation to solve. Ronald Reagan was one of the greatest presidents America has ever had. He did not solve every problem, but he put America back on its path t o glory, after Jimmy Carter nearly derailed the whole process. Reagan was a modest and intelligent man who knew what was best for the United States.

Lowe's vs. home depot Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Lowe's vs. home depot - Essay Example as become easy for the customers to become aware of the product details including its availability at competitive prices which has precipitated the need to develop a whole new perspective for a new marketing technique. Lowe and Home Depot, both deal into the various aspect of home dà ©cor and accessories meeting all their customers’ home improvement requirements. But the major factor that impacts their sales is the subtle differentiation in the segmented market. While Lowe is more focused towards the needs of its women clients with its accessories for finishing touches on the decorating projects, Home Depot, with its wide varieties of ‘do it yourself’ products caters more to men, contractors and serious DIY customers. Home Depot has a better competitive image primarily because it has wider customer base and more branches spread across region than Lowe. In the current environment of recessive trends and highly competitive business compulsions, it has also realized the need to expand its product line to target extended market segmentation. Indeed, today the markets have been designed to cater to the system as a whole rather than exclusively to the customer. The need has risen so as to accommodate the growing demand from the new market segment that has come up with the advent of new technologies. The inter-dependence of the various elements within the system with its inherent capacity to complement each other has helped establish a market that is sustainable as well as mutually satisfying. While the segmentation helps to create a niche in the market. The mixed segmentation is hugely popular in the contemporary times and gives a big leverage to the companies to plan its market strategy in a more flexible manner and successfully introduce their products in a new market. Customer satisfaction through creative inputs and introduction of people-centric policies and plans that would meet the challenges of the changing social patterns and its changing demands, have

Industrial Property Rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Industrial Property Rights - Essay Example The first software patent ever granted is probably a patent for a "computer having slow and quick access storage, when programmed to solve a linear programming problem by an iterative algorithm, the iterative algorithm being such that (...)" applied for in 1962 by British Petroleum Company . The patent relates to solving simultaneous linear equations. The USPTO has traditionally not considered software to be patentable because by statute patents can only be granted to "processes, machines, articles of manufacture, and compositions of matter". In particular patents cannot be granted to "scientific truths" or "mathematical expressions" of them. This means that most of the fundamental techniques of software engineering have never been patented. The USPTO maintained this position, that software was in effect a mathematical algorithm, and therefore not patentable into the 1980's. The position of the USPTO was challenged with a landmark 1981 Supreme Court Case, Diamond v. Diehr. The case involved a device that used computer software to ensure the correct timing when heating, or curing, rubber. Although the software was the integral part of the device, it also had other functions that related to real world manipulation. The court then ruled that as a device to mold rubber, it was a patentable object. The court essentially ruled that while algorithms themselves could not be patented, devices that utilized them could. This ruling wasn't as straightforward as many would have liked, forcing many electronic device makers into the courts to establish that their inventions were in fact patentable. Due to different treatment of federal patent rights in different parts of the country, in 1982 the U.S. Congress created a new court (the Federal Circuit) to hear patent cases. The new circuit rejected rulings from some parts of the country, and nationalized others. For example, the court made patents generally easier to uphold by presuming patents were valid unless proven invalid and weakening the defense of non-obviousness. This court allowed issues, such as patentability of software, to be treated uniformly throughout the US. Due to a few landmark cases in this court, by the early 1990s the patentability of software was well established, and in 1996 the USPTO issued Final Computer Related Examination Guidelines. See Software Patents under United States patent law. Also in 1998, the U.S. court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in the case of State Street Bank & Trust Co. v. Signature Financial Group, Inc. (1998), upheld as valid a patent directed to a computer-implemented business method designed to perform financial calculations and data processing for mutual fund investments. This case was important because prior to this decision, it was widely believed that business methods and systems were not patentable. The State Street case made clear that business methods were to be evaluated in the same manner as any other type of process. In 2000, the JPO followed suit and revised its Guidelines to allow for the patenting of computer-implemented business methods when there is clear "involvement of inventive step." Europe The European Patent Convention (EPC) serves as the basis for a harmonized system of patent protection for all members of the European Union. European patents have the same effect as patents granted by each nation under its own national patent laws. Article 52(1) of

Proposal for Student Activity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Proposal for Student Activity - Essay Example This is because powerpoint presentations will only include the main points of the chapter and will help the students quickly overview each chapter. At end of each chapter, they will be instructed to present their .ppt presentations in front of the whole class so that they get to better understand what they have learnt and may remove any confusions and doubts in the question-answer session at the end of each presentation. This will also help them develop their public speaking skills and gain confidence to speak in front of their class fellows and professor. Another advantage is that they will be able to use powerpoint software to make complex presentations in future. This is all about integrating ICT (information and communication technology) in the classroom which fulfils the most modern needs of today’s classrooms in terms of technology. Doing so will also empower the students because they will be able to convey their knowledge and ask questions at the end of every presentati on. Before implementing this proposal, I will distribute a survey among the students to figure out what percentage of them wants to carry out my plan and how many of them are uncomfortable with idea. Those who will not be willing will be asked the reason and the issue will be solved at immediate basis. The only issue that comes to my mind is that some students may not be expert at using computers or the powerpoint software. Teachers will be arranged to give them some classes on this topic so that they are able to make their independent presentations. This is a prerequisite for the eventual succession plan. I am well-suited to carry out this plan since I am very much impressed by the ICT concepts of today’s technological world and I want to equip the students with the most sophisticated means of education and learning. â€Å"ICT has a distinctive contribution to make to the aims of the national curriculum as a whole† (Qualifications and Curriculum Authority). I am also interested to propose student activities for the ‘Office of Student Life’ and will do my best to achieve my succession plans. The Office can surely entrust me with funding for carrying out this plan because I possess character certificates from previous institutions and believe in that honesty is the best policy. I am able to work on a collaborative platform with the fellow officers and can communicate effectively. I can pass on my ideas to others while convincing them with logics and sound arguments. I am also expert in clarifying technical concepts to the non-technical audience and that is why in this proposal I am taking into special consideration those students who are not expert in computers and am proposing that sessions will be arranged to help them out. My activity club will surely give many benefits to the Office and the university as a whole because its mission is to incorporate ICT tools in classrooms and improve student learning. The purpose of introducing I CT in education is to enhance learning and educational activities of students and support the teaching process by means of computers, internet and the latest technologies (Siraj-Blatchford & Siraj-Blatchford 19). According to Saverinus Kaka, â€Å"education sector can be the most effective sector to anticipate and eliminate the negative impact of ICT. Technology (internet) in another side can be the most

Teenage Pregnancy Term Paper Essay Example for Free

Teenage Pregnancy Term Paper Essay Introduction: This Term Paper aims to discuss the effects of rising early pregnancy cases and how it affects our country. Teenage pregnancy refers to pregnancy in a female under the age of 20. It is one of the major factors that affect the population growth in our country, Philippines. It is considered to be the major problems of the government is facing today. According to the government statistics records, teenage pregnancy cases rise more than 70% over a decade. These alarming cases caught the attention of some lawmakers. The only solution that the government made was the so-called Reproduction Health Bill (RH Bill). This bill aims to free access of use of contraceptives, fertility control, sexual education, and maternal care. The government conceived this as the solution to the said problem. Others may see it as helpful, but some also disagree about it. Teenage pregnancy is continously growing and affects our economic growth. Basically, teenage pregnancy occurs due to the following reasons: General rebelliousness, peer pressure and lack of self-esteem. Causes of Teenage Pregnancy: Rebelliousness -There is rebelliousness of parents and of rules of adults. During the teenage stage, there is a burst of sudden and unknown emotions. Teens feel a natural sense of rebelling against the set norms and rules. Coupled with a sudden sense of fresh-found liberation and sexuality, results in giving vent to their feelings through sexual experiences. Peer Pressure -Peer pressure is another early stage of pregnancies. This pressure causes sexual intimacy for the opposite sex. If a child hangs out with a group who  are sexually active, then there are possibilities that 9 out of 10 that teenager is sexually active. Most of the teenagers often to have sexual intercourse because they need to fit in with their circle of friends. They’re only way to be accepted by that so called circle of friends is to have sexual intercourse with the opposite sex and have sexual relations. Lack of Self-Esteem -It is among the causes of teen pregnancy. Children who are not shown love and affection from parents will seek it out with their circle of friends (peer group). Many teenagers report feeling pressured by their peers to have sexual intercourse before they are ready. Media: â€Å"The 16 and Pregnant is an American reality television series that debuted June 11, 2009 on MTV. It follows the stories of pregnant teenage girls in High School dealing with the hardships of teenage pregnancy. Each episode features a different teenage girl, with the episode typically beginning when she is 4 and a half to 8 months into her pregnancy. The episode typically ends when the baby is a few months old. The series is produced in a documentary format, with an animation on notebook paper showing highlights during each episode preceding the commercial breaks. â€Å" (Reference from wikipedia) MTV is criticized for creating an acceptance of teen pregnancy. By creating a show about pregnant teens, the show’s creators may be sending the message to teens that it isn’t a big deal if they become pregnant. It is proven that teens are often influenced by TV. Actually, according to a study conducted by The National Campaign â€Å"most teens (79% of girls and 67% of boys) say that when a TV show or character they like deals with teen pregnancy, it makes them think more about their own risk of getting pregnant or causing a pregnancy and how to avoid it† (â€Å"Teen Pregnancy†). Parents feel that the popularity of â€Å"16 and Pregnant† will allow teens to think that teen pregnancy is acceptable. The National Campaign states that â€Å"research has found that the sexual content in media can influence teens’ attitudes about sex and contraception and may also influence their sexual behavior† (â€Å"The National Campaign†). It is because of this statistic that MTV is teaming up  with the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy to create viewing guides on 16 and Pregnant. The 16 and Pregnant viewing guides will hopefully allow parents and educators to start discussions with teens encouraging them to make the right decisions when dealing with their sexual health. Why teen pregnancy is a cause for concern? The issue of teenage pregnancies is a cause for concern, and it is necessary that we draw the attention of the authorities to it’s diverse effects. According to statistics compiled in February 2004 by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 34% of teenage girls get pregnant at least once before they turn 20 (which is about 820,000 per year). Despite the fact that teen pregnancy rates are declining in the United States, this data illustrates the fact that the United States has the highest pregnancy rate in the industrialized world. Teen pregnancy has negative affects on teen parents, their children, and society in general. Negative Affects on Teen Parents Teen mothers are statistically less likely to continue their education through high school and college. In fact, only about 1/3 of teen mothers ever earn a high school diploma, and only 1.5% of teen mothers receive a college degree by the time they are 30 years of age. In addition to the decline of education prospects, teen mothers also have increased health risks. In fact, more than a quarter of pregnant teens report physical abuse in their relationships. Other health risks include disorders such as: anemia, hypertension, obesity, and sexually transmitted diseases (STD’s). Anemia- Anemia is a disease where the number of red blood cells falls below normal and the body gets less oxygen as a result. Therefore, the body has less energy than it needs to function correctly. When the number of red blood cells decreases, the heart has to work harder, which means that it has to pump more blood in order to distribute oxygen throughout the body. As a result, one can develop a rapid heartbeat or another serious condition that enlarges the heart muscle, which can cause heart failure. Hypertension- When someone has hypertension (also known as high blood pressure), the force of the blood against ones artery walls are too strong. Over time, this excessive pressure can damage your arteries as well as your heart and kidneys. Hypertension is rather dangerous, for there are no warning signs or symptoms unless the problem is severe. Hypertension can lead to strokes, and other deadly afflictions. Obesity- While we all need some fat tissues in our bodies, having too much body fat is known as obesity. Obesity is a serious medical disease that affects about 14% of adolescents in the United States, and is the second leading cause of preventable death. STD’s- Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD’s) are diseases that are contracted and spread by having sex with someone who has one of the diseases. Sexual activity can include contact with the mouth, anus, vagina and penis (all of which are capable of giving as well as receiving STD’s). These can be serious illnesses and require immediate attention. Some STD’s, such as AIDS, are deadly and have no cure, therefore it is important to learn ways to protect yourself from STD’s such as: genital herpes, hepatitis B, chlamydia, syphilis, gonorrhea, and HIV/AIDS. Negative Affects on Children Children born from teen mothers have a higher chance of experiencing health problems. In fact, children born to teen mothers have a 20% higher chance of being born with low birth weight, which is one of the most common complications found in children of teens. Low birth weight can lead to blindness, deafness, respiratory problems, as well as mental illness, cerebral palsy, and even death. Not only do children born to teen mothers have a higher chance of experiencing health complications, but they also typically receive less medical care and treatment than other children, born to older mothers. On another note, teen parents are young, inexperienced, and for the most part, lack a completed education. This has been known to lead to inadequate parenting, for one is too young to appropriately provide the kind of environment that children need to develop and mature properly. Eventually this will affect the children’s performance in school, for  children of teenage mothers score lower than average on standardized tests, and are about twice as likely to repeat a grade at some point in their education. Children born to teen mothers are also twice as likely to be victims of abuse and neglect. Negative Affects on Society Because teen pregnancy rates are so high in the US. 34% of all females get pregnant at least once before the age of 20. This can cost our society billions of dollars each year, as the majority of teen mothers are single parents, lack a complete education, and end up on welfare. About $40 billion are spent by the federal government alone to help these families. References: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-24/an-number-of-teenage-pregnancies-doubled-in-philippines-in-last/5341334?pfm=ms https://www.philstar.com/entertainment/2013/09/26/1238116/root-causes-adolescenct-pregnancy?nomobile=1 https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2011/07/04/low-self-esteem-a-factor-of-teenage-pregnancy-research/ https://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/11556441/

International Management Competencies |Reflection

International Management Competencies |Reflection INTRODUCTION MSc International Management was my chosen area in which to study after my BA honors in International business management at Oxford Brookes and I was given the opportunity to complete a Masters Degree in the same line of study. The semester classes started on the 28th of September 2009, where I was to take part in International Management Competencies. The sessions would give me the possible additional prospect of becoming a first-class international business manager. To be involved in a global business concerning mixed cultures, overall integration and examination for changes that affects globalization by interacting cross-culturally. (Thomas, 2008). The class in which I took part in included 23 students from 17 different countries of origin, which meant I would be having contact with individuals that have the same interest of subject with different backgrounds and experiences to offers with diverse cultures which most certainly could give me an insight into different ethnicity and cross-cultural factors. These could potentially overlap between each other while interacting. With this in mind, understanding culture it is to be associated with the aim to define common human problems which are shared between groups. (Schneider, 1997). The module itself would also give me the unique opportunity to enhance my mangerial skills by learning form my experiences and taking part into the activities that would bring further education in developing my fundamental process of learning. I began to understand that the classes would give me a vast ability to develop my skills on a weekly basis by interacting with all the members of my class and group that I was placed in, also while working on the reading material and keeping a weekly diary (see Appendix A) it seemed to be appealing and would most definitely exceed my knowledge on the subject in question, to understand that International managers hold the responsibility towards an organisations success by managing with their hu man resources which are related to their cultural differences and backgrounds (Groseschl, Doherty, 2000). REFLECTIVE STATEMENT EXPERIENCES The most important task that I had to undertake this semester was associated with a mixed group of individuals form the same division to then explore the core case study given by our module leader, â€Å"The case of the Floundering Expatriate†, in which it involved diversity in cross-cultural groups concerning an organization that tries to manage these mixtures effectively to try accomplish great performance and success. The role for the project would be to analyse Bert Donaldson‘s managerial practices and to address the key issues with his team, and actions he could take in his own cultural development. The final results would then to be presented to the peers in weeks 8 (trial mock, see diary Appendix A, week 8) and week 10 (final assesed, see Appendix A week, 10), with also a group report showing all the content and understanding of the case. The group i got allocated to consisted of 5 people from different countries with mixed culture backrounds, knowledge and experiences to offer (Appendix A,week 2-3), of which Shirley came form Venezuela, Konstantin from Bulgaria, Judith form Germany, Moses from Denmark, and me from Italy. The process in which all these events happened has been recorded in diary format shown in the appendix (Development through the weeks of the semester) showing overall actions taken during the initial process in which it began, where i had to change to another team (Appe ndix A, week 2 and 3). The group was given the chance to be fully independent, and we had the power to decide when to schedule as there was no pattern or organised structure to follow, therefore we could procede as best as we could, to optimize the procedure, which would be critical for the result. As described by Robert Harris, (2004) the synergy within a team has to be promoted by improving strategy that creates enhanced quality of work, autonomy control, improved communication, which then results in higher performance, productivity and more research and development. On initial startup there was a lack of organization and indeciciveness to whome should be the leader, to find a comprimise to work consistenely, but then Shirley proved to be up to the part and showed great ability to commence and organize a programme to follow (see Appendix B) related to meeting times and place, and a leader was found, persuing the role as the motivator and director of the operation by applying her h uman resource skills and direction of the generic scope which are crutial for a successful leader by creating a sense of purpose structure and clear defenition of purpose (Emirates Center, 2002)(Appendix A week 5 to 6). The role in which i could represent myself would be as a team worker and finisher ,a relevant role that would have to be skilled over the weeks to come. As mentioned by Harris, 1998, a team worker has the main priority to put people on top of his list, concerning feelings, needs, and has a strong observing power of the strengths and weaknesses of the group. Additionally he plays as a facilitator minimising any possible frictions that may arise. FEELINGS I was very content to be in the assigned group and ready to combine all our ideas together to then put them into practice. By using different prespectives on cultures and leadership which are essential to be able to learn the basic skills for managing its organization successfully and create a working environment that can develop its skills and training through time. Managers are faced with one of the biggest tasks to motivate and lead individuals to different cultures by understanding their behaviors, as motivation has the need to achieve and dominate in its class (Mc Clelands, 1981). I had an amazing feeling that the overall experience would bring me insight into team working and learning other cultures by having the possibility to integrate and develop skills needed in working life environment, involving decison making process, solving problems, and being able to carry out required tasks. Furtermore an absolute importance to the way in which you present your skills and ideas is cr utial for the success and undestanding you bring across. As explained by Tjosvold et al (2003), cross cultural management is increasing due to expatriation and international trade, meaning that people from diverse cultures must work together in the global marketplace. Societies differ in characteristic ways of thinking, feelings and acting through effective approaches derived from their values which portrays stereotypes and expectations that come from these specific situations. Finally by examining my teams diversity there were some disadvantages towards lack of cohesion(Appendix A week 7-8), and misscomunication through language as none of us were native spakers, but there were several advantages thatour mixed creativity gave a wide range of prespectives, better ideas and less groupthink, that resulted in better problem definition in regards to finding solutions for productivity. THOUGHTS As our first meeting started on the 16th of October many thoughts ran through my head and I was thinking if the group would be able to interact, merge developing ideas and fuse past experiences (work related and life events) with knowledge to minimize any potential cross-cultural issues that may arise. During the meeting everyone knew their role (Appendix A, weeks 3-6). I was motivated to extend and widen my thoughts by analyzing the situation in hand for the development plan needed. I was beginning to feel very relaxed and was pleased to share my opinions and ideologies of the case, by describing as best as I could what I thought we should include for the report to analyze it according to the prerequisites. I stared to realize that I was changing as time passed on, as I understood that my preferences where towards working with others and accepting ideas and mixing concepts to reach an evaluated criteria for fluency. I began to apprehend that I function perfectly as a team worker by constructing a working structure with appropriate skills and resources as suggested by West (2004), but there was a necessary need for change towards the way I express myself and come up with ideas. I would have to be more assertive and confident in myself. As for being an expatriate from Italy it brought additional challenges for working in a new cultural environment. Haour-knipe (2001), argued that in order to be successful during the integration of a new society there needs to be an adaption towards learning the new language, making new friends and getting occustomed to the the new surroundings and local culture. Nonetheless I saw different insights into peoples different styles and ways of achieving a process where I could take into account additional practices to develop myself towards diversity and the power that a team can generate, as mentioned by Essed (1996), diversity can be understood by experiencing events that are in common with the individuals from the team, where the se beliefs, principles and theories have an important impact on the opportunities for success. Not only would this be developed through practice but also the assigned reading would help me to expand the ideas and understand further ways to think globally and express myself. REFLECTION Through team working I understood different aspects of behaviors towards work commitments and endless encounters that would affect the work process. With this in mind i can understand that culture influences behavior as its a process about people or events they carry out, by looking towards cultural norms (acceptable behavior and influences of past experiences, Francesco, 2005) shared in a group, with selective perception, stereotypes, expectations, social dominance and different attributes for reaction (Usunier, 1998). A good example illustrating this could be the existence within the group members of both low and high context cultures of which everyone except for me was low context. Meaning that there explanations are done through words or verbalization instead of context, while I was the only one of high context mainly the opposite of them. Therefore by looking towards my experience i have noticed the various advantages that brought me to seek my role, not only that i knew what i wanted to do but also it was confirmed by Belbins self awareness questionnaire (Appendix C) that i was an implementor and team worker. These implications are the essential attributes for my team, that are in need for improvement towards my communication practice and presentation style that would have to be fully prepared to describe content coherently and right to the point. By developing these aspects it brings me a step closer to becoming a successfull specialist in the field of international business as Brooke (1996) described the process of becoming a successful by 3 stages involving observation, experience and theory, thereon analysing them to understand the relevance of each to learn the theoretical side. THEORY INTO PRACTICE The potential cross-cultural problems related to the topic of the session were plentiful, where there were issues concerning team roles, working skills, and decision making. There were also differences in communication style (verbal and non-verbal) and performing practices among cultures. Moreover there are diverse preferences towards leadership performance (skills), decision styles, and expectations with a need of cross cultural adjustment towards a new environment. Consequently it is necessary to know ones skills to be assertive; portraying what you may offer when entering in United Kingdom to show all the benefits you may bring to future career. SUMMARY Managers need to able to take into account all the concerning circumstances mentioned above to lead Individuals form their team towards working as a unit to increase overall performance to reach targets (Thakur, 1993).What needs to be understood is that globalization is a major factor affecting cultures all around the world, where everyone has to work closely together and need each others support to build up to required expectations and competencies. This factor involves the rapid growth of a market in relation to social, economic and technological problems (Kavous, 2009). This module gave me the chance to question, analyze and improve my managerial skills, while the reflective statement and diaries give a broad outline of the experiences passed. Furthermore the professional development plan below will outline future areas for development .The overall project gave me an opportunity to discover my interpersonal skills as well as weaknesses that I need to overcome to develop sufficient international managerial competencies, the most important of which are communication, decision-making, leadership, presentation skills and team working. BIBLIOGRAPHY Ardalan, Kavous. (2009) â€Å"Globalization and culture: four paradigmatic views†, International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 36, No. 5, pp. 513-534. Danielle Medina Walker, Thomas D. Walker, Joerg Schmitz, Terence Brake. (2003) Doing business internationally: the guide to cross-cultural success. McGraw-hill pages 33-36 Culture. Dean Tjosvold, Kwok Leung. (2003) Cross-cultural management: foundations and future. Ashgate publishing company, pp. 1-6. Francesco, A.M. and Gold, B.A. (2005) International Organizational Behavior, Upper Saddler River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc., pp. 159, 161,175, 204, 205. Groseschl, Stefan, Doherty, Liz. (2000) â€Å"Conceptualising Culture†, Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 2-3. Jean-Claude Usunier. (1998) International and cross-cultural management research. Sage publications. pp. 31-35. Mary Haour-Knipe. (2001) Moving families: expatriation, stress and coping. Routledge publisher, pp. 90-92. Michael A. West. (2004) Effective teamwork: practical lessons from organizational research. Malden Oxford. Pp. 75-85. Michael Z. Brooke. (1996) International management: a review of strategies and operations. Stanley Thornes Ltd. Pp. 3 -21. Philip R. Harris. (1998) The New Work Culture: Hrd Strategies for Transformational Management Publisher HRD Pres, Team working pp. 520-526. Philip Robert Harris, Robert T. Moran, Sarah Virgilia Moran (2004) Managing cultural differences: Global leadership strategies for the 21st century. Elsiver, Oxford ,sixth edition PP.150 -156 Cultural differences. Philomena Essed. (1996) Diversity: gender, color, and culture. Library of Congress, A challenge towards diversity pp. 135-137. Schneider, S. (1997) Managing Across Cultures, Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall The Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research. (2002) Leadership and management in the information age pages 12-22. Thomas, D.C. (2008) Cross-Cultural Management Essential Concepts, 2nd Edition, Los Angeles: SAGE Publications Ltd, pp: 49, 50, 59,131-137, 187, 223, 234. APPENDIX A WEEK 1 DATE: 29th of September 2009 EVENT/ACTIVITY: Introduction of the Module and Key Competencies of an International Manager. Discussion of a Case Study, Exercise 3 â€Å"Spanning the globe†. EXPERIENCE: This was my first class where a brief presentation was given on how the module would turn out to be and what was expected form us with course objectives and learning outcomes. During this class we were given a specific task to work on, the case study â€Å"Spanning the globe†, to be worked on as a team with people that were assigned together to work sitting on the same table during the lecture break that was give to us. During the given time the whole group decided we should read the case study individually and then discuss and go through the question given, therefore everyone had a specific task and to combine ideas together. The overall outcome of the task was to see how everybody would react to team work under a strict time management and to combine personal ideas with other members of the team. FEELINGS: My initial feelings of the task were orientated toward overall successful performance to achieve what was asked from me, I thought the group was well organized and prepared to come the exercise to come up with combined answers and ideas. Time management was also dived in 3 sections, the first towards reading the case study, secondly reviews opinions of members and finally to write notes down for a final answers. THOUGHTS: During the whole experience I felt I was learning throughout and getting to know different people and other ways of working as a group which made me happy and motivated to continue with the module introduced to us, where I realized that I would learn a great deal from this module that would most definitely improve me as a potential fine manager. REFLECTION: What I could learn from the first group discussion was that all individuals are different and that everyone has a different way of performing and achieving a process, therefore we have to accept to learn to work together and combine all ideas and conflicts to create something unique and to use individuals strengths to help the process. Also I had a rough look at the content of the module and understood that a wide range of reading material had to be studied, also by using as core text book Cross-Cultural Management essential concepts by David C. Thomas 2nd edition, and others similar to this. THEORY INTO PRACTICE: The potential cross-cultural problems related to the topic of the session are the following: Time pressure (35 min) Different understanding of the content Different opinions about approach Different perspectives of case study Working together effectively (constraints) General discussions to agree on a certain point In order to enhance these potential threats it has to be noted that individual competencies of members need to be worked on in order to be a successful manager and improve cross cultural team work by accepting different skills and behaviors that might come into practice. WEEK 2 DATE: 6th of October 2009 EVENT/ACTIVITY: International Team Working. Work group vs. Team. Division into groups for Assignment 1, Discussion of the Case Study 0.1 â€Å"The Thames Pump Valve Company† and different activities about team working guidelines, reflections about advantages and disadvantages of working in groups, improving long-term performance of leaders of a multicultural team and personal awareness and skills exercise. The group that I was in included me, Julius, Roman, and Pimita, but one member was missing as she did not attend the class. (Of which we were assigned to be group 2). EXPERIENCE: During this class our team explored the performance and potential of multicultural teams and the key barriers to achieve high performance and which strategies to consider to address these issues. The first discussion was about the case study of â€Å"The Thames Pump Valve Company†. This case study was part of our homework for the day and the discussion in my group was productive in the end. During the class we experience even other activities such as the exercise about team working guidelines where different cultural background proved even different ranking of the list of provisional guidelines. The second activity consisted in establishing advantages and disadvantages of working in groups and the other one was about improving the performance of leaders of a multicultural team in the long-term. During the session we discussed on conclusion of the role of self assessment to find each members preference and role within the group by completing Belbins team role task to see each other differences. Finally we were given the case study of â€Å"The case of the Floundering Expatriate† of which we would be analyzing with a group for the rest of the module to then give an oral presentation of the findings and solutions asked for. FEELINGS: I felt very happy to get to know my team members and see if we would work efficiently together, understand there different ways of doing and achieving a method, our group consisted of members from Germany (Julius), Russia (Roman), Italy (Eugenio), Pimpta (Thailand). So there were certainly potential for different cultural issues and idea generation. Overall there was a feeling of excitement for the beginning of a new relationship. THOUGHTS: While we were getting to know each other I was thinking what kind of benefits they would bring to the team and what could I learn from this experience and give towards making the group work. With this in mind previous weeks task for homework help me understand potential preferences that I might be involved in, I assessed myself development by completing the questionnaire given to us to correspond towards qualities for an effective manager where my strong points found were towards: Relevant professional knowledge and understanding Proactivity, inclination to respond purposefully to event Social skills and abilities Secondly I looked towards personal awareness and skills exercise between the roles that an international manger takes into account, by organizing the most important roles that comply with you to be successful, the most important ones for me where: Team leader/ Judge/ Challenger/ and Innovator REFLECTION: While attending the session I learned that I would most definitely be a team worker as I got along with my members and I was motivated to bring great ideas and completing the task assigned to us. At this moment in time there was no evident leader so positions still needed to be assigned. Finally we all decided to meet the following Monday to discuss the case study of â€Å"The floundering Expatriate†, for a general review. Finally I was also reviewing the material that had to be red, the initial chapters of the core text book and others suggested by the module leader. THEORY INTO PRACTICE: The cross cultural factor that were influenced in this session were that there could have been a language restrain between each other and that clear ideas didnt seem to flow at times , therefore a better organization was needed. WEEK 3 Date: 16th of October 2009 Event/Activity: Culture and Values and Managing diversity. I started to feel ill, which resulted in getting the flu. Therefore I could not attend the First group meeting as I was unable to for health reasons and I was therefore moved to group number 1, as another member form group 2 attended and course leader suggested I move to the other group as they were already agreed to work together. Experience: During this week I got a temperature resulting in getting the flu and I was in bed for a few days. On Wednesday we had the first group meeting and one of my group mates was really kind to send me an e-mail with all the details discussed during the meeting. On Thursday I tried to recover from this by taking medicine and resting for a few days which put my back on track, unfortunately I felt badly that I could not attend the meeting and felt very frustrated; also I had to interact with my new group and set up new meeting and roles that would be taken FEELINGS: I was very happy to meet the other members of my group and was ready to work with them on the case study of â€Å"The floundering expatriate†, I wanted to see how we would socialize and combine all our ideas and put them into practice, but as I was ill I could do that, so it made me sad that I let the team down, and I had to tell them that I couldnt attend. The group I was now assigned to consist from Shirley (Venezuela), Konstantin (Bulgaria), Moses (Denmark), Judith (Germany) and me (Italy), a nicely balanced group from different origins. THOUGHTS: During the time I didnt spend with my group I though what I could offer my team, and I started to think towards my potential assets that they could benefit from. One task that helped me realize what I could offer involved in completing Belbins team roles self assessment by looking toward contribution, shortcoming events, involvement in projects, characteristic approach towards work, satisfaction, difficulties that may arise, and problems that can be dealt with. With all this taken into consideration, the final verdict showed that I exceeded towards being an implementer and team worker. Another way in which I understood that I was starting a general development of my life towards a working life was due to understanding wide-ranging points of view and concepts of cross-cultural management from Francesco and Gold, Thomas books that gave me a great deals to think about how my performance would affect the group and how I would interact with fellow members. REFLECTION: Unfortunately I couldnt learn anything from the group meeting as I was absent, but I read the case study and was ready to share my views and opinion on how to come about answering the questions that were given to us. Also I was informed form other member to meet my new group on the following Monday to review question 1 and 2 of the case study, to bring my ideas and thoughts to the next session. THEORY INTO PRACTICE: The cross cultural factor that were influenced in this session were that the group might have thought that I was unorganized and not willing to work as I did not attend and hoping that this would not happen again. Additionally by being and implementer it meant that I would be reliable , disciplined, conservative and efficient and mainly to turn ideas into practical actions and work successful in a team with a smooth flow, knowing that I could bring these positive attributes to my team the following week and for the rest of the semester to complete the task given to perform a presentation on possible ways of developing the case study of â€Å"The Floundering Expatriate† by looking towards the: Cross cultural issues that arise Action plan to develop Berts Team Steps in which Bert need to take into account to develop his interaction skills Finally followed by our groups performance in completing the task WEEK 4 Date: 19th of October 2009 Event/Activity: Second group meeting: Presentation of task 1 and 2 Experience: The group decided to review question 1 and 2 on Monday at 12.00 with a meeting point in the library in Wheatley campus, so we could discuss and review the work done the week before for the tasks and see if any progress was made since their last meeting. SECOND Experience: 22nd of October This weeks class of IMC was divided in two parts; the first one had a guest lecture who talked about coaching and mentoring and the second one was about leadership. During the first part we did a test called ‘International Coach Federation Professional Coaching core Competencies to get a view about our coaching abilities. Also an article about coaching was distributed in class, titled â€Å" Accessing cultural orientations: the online Cultural Orientations Framework Assessment as a tool for coaching† by Gilbert and Rosinski (2007). The second part was about Manager as a leader where we discussed the characteristics of global business leadership and cultural influence on leadership in different counties. FEELINGS: I was happy this week to learn about mentoring across cultures and leadership which are essential needs for an international manager to learn the basic skills for managing its organization successfully and create a working environment that can develop its skills and training through time, as managers are faced with one of the biggest tasks to motivate and lead individuals to different cultures by understanding their behaviors, as motivation has the need to achieve and dominate in its class (Mc Clelands, 1981). While on the other hand leadership has the ability to inspire individuals to influence organizations members towards goals and targets that need to meet. THOUGHTS: As the lesson progressed I was thinking what kind of role would I seek to pursue during a managerial task, and when reflecting I was brought to understand that I would have a great ability to be a leader by having the ability to see members potential assets for the team and task in hand and by leading them to enhance their skills gradually by making them feel comfortable with what their achieving. REFLECTION: After the past experiences I started to realize that I might want to develop my leadership skills in my team, but as time progressed we noticed that Shirley took the role of leader right from the start by organizing schedules and giving out tasks to perform on a weekly basis and found myself in the situation to comply with her demands as she was very organized and everyone had the opportunity to collect and deliver any ideas that may be relevant for the case study. Also during the lectures I learned all the different styles that a manager can adopt or operate on, that can bring a wide variety of solutions. THEORY INTO PRACTICE: The cross cultural factors affected form this session and that concerned me the most were: A leader was found and had to deal with the of being a team worker Time constraint arose and found ourselves to rush through some of the work First sessions were formal and members from the group felt discomfort We need to establish a greater bond to flow in an organized way Different styles for expressing their ideas Different approaches to understanding and exploring ideas WEEK 5 DATE: 26th of October 2009 EVENT/ACTIVITY: On Monday we had our third group meeting. On Tuesday, IMC class, where we had a guest lecture about International Careers and Development. EXPERIENCE: This group meeting took place at the same time and place as organized and decided, were it was productive and we kept on expanding our ideas and development for the project and started to become more organized and coherent. WEEK 5 DATE: 29th of November 2009 EVENT/ACTIVITY: On Monday we had our forth group and on Tuesdays we had IMC class where we discussed â€Å"Problem analysis and decision making in an international environment†. EXPERIENCE: As every Monday we had our usual group meeting in the library the difference this week was that I was the only one to show up on time. During this class we discussed a case study â€Å"Pinpoint executive toys; the culture is important and can be said to be structured!† where we should put ourselves as managers of this organization and make some crucial decisions. While we were discussing the case study and try to find a solution to all the questions we found ourselves to work perfectly and in harmony together. FEELINGS: The guest lecturer gave me more insight into what my future plans would be and preferably were I would like to take my knowledge and skills into which sector of work, this gave me an insight into thinking more deeply into where I would like to work, where to stay in England or go abroad, working in an organization or company, and also what sectors would I be interested in. THOUGHTS: This week I was slightly de-motivated as I felt that I had to catch up with other modules and the work started to load on me, therefore I noticed that I was lacking towards generating new ideas and completing tasks, but I found the will and strength to study more, which showed I was gaining more insight into enhancing my personal skills as I wanted to achieve greater benefits to apply in future jobs or personal

Free Cash Flow with a Firms Capital Expenditure

Free Cash Flow with a Firms Capital Expenditure Free cash flow and capital expenditure go side by side. What is important to find out is the existence of an association between the two in Sugar Industry of Pakistan by means of ascertaining the strength of their relationship. Annual financial statement data for 27 sugar mills of Pakistan, listed on Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE), was taken to calculate free cash flow and annual capital expenditure over the 2000-08 period. Linear regression test was run on the data to study the relationship between the two variables. The results hence proved an association confirming an existence of a relationship. Introduction Overview of the Sugar Industry of Pakistan Pakistan is the 5th largest country in the world in terms of area under sugarcane cultivation, 11th by production and 60th in terms of yield. Sugarcane is the primary raw material for the production of sugar. Since independence, the area under cultivation has increased more rapidly than any other major crop at around one million hectares. The sugar industry in Pakistan is the 2nd largest agro based industry comprising 81 sugar mills out of which 27 are listed on Karachi Stock Exchange. The annual crushing capacity of the industry is over 6.1 million tones. Sugarcane farming and sugar manufacturing contribute significantly to the national exchequer in the form of various taxes and levies. Sugar manufacturing and its by-products have contributed significantly towards the foreign exchange resources through import substitution. Sugar production is a seasonal activity. The mills, at an average operate for 150 days a year whereas the supplies are made throughout the year. As the industry n ow has large daily crushing capacity there are efforts to reduce the production even further. About the subject The purpose of this research is to examine the significance of free cash flow in relation with firms capital expenditure. Many researchers have studied the relationship built around free cash flow and have argued that managers have to play a vital role in deciding where free cash flow eventually ends up. Something known as an agency problem is widely discussed and commented on by several researchers. This problem talks exactly about the conflict of interest between managers and shareholders. Shareholders are interested in earning as much dividends as possible which would increase their value. On the contrary, managers think for themselves. They tend to invest the available cash flow in projects that would not necessarily increase shareholders value but ensure that the tenure of the manager is as extended as possible. New investments would mean more responsibilities on managers thus their uninterrupted length of service is required in the long term interest of the firm. Going one step ahead of agency problem, this study is related to free cash flow which shows an association and a relationship with the capital expenditure. Free cash flow is a  measure of financial performance and one of the sources of capital expenditure in firms. Managers can either disburse the available cash among shareholders in the form of dividends after  keeping aside the money required to expand or maintain its asset base or hold it back for developing new products, making acquisitions, and reducing debt. At this point in time, it is imperative to note that negative free cash flow in itself is not bad. If free cash flow is negative, it  could show that a company is developing new products, reducing debts or even making large investments. If these cash out flows earn a high return eventually, the strategy has the potential to pay off in the long run. Capital expenditures (CAPEX) are those cash outflows that create future benefits for the firm. A capital expenditure is incurred when a business outlay funds to acquire or upgrade physical assets such as property, industrial buildings or equipment. CAPEX is commonly found on the Cash Flow Statement as an investment in plant, property and equipment or something similar in the investing section. Companies listed on stock exchange will often list their capital expenditures for the year in annual reports, which allows shareholders to see how the company is using their funds and whether it is investing in its long term growth. The hypothesis tested in this study is accepted and thus a relationship between free cash flow and capital expenditure is established. Literature Review Cash flow is determined by integrating the cash receipt and disbursement items from the income statement with the change in each balance sheet item; the sum of the cash inflows equals the sum of the cash outflows. Whereas capital expenditure is the amount a company spends buying or upgrading fixed assets, such as equipment, during the year and acquiring subsidiaries, minus government grants received. The free-cash-flow (FCF) hypothesis by Jensen (1986) suggests that excess cash flow is wasted on value-destroying expenditure because managers have a personal motivation to grow the asset base of the firm rather than dispense cash to shareholders in the form of dividends. Cash flow has always been somewhat of a puzzle in the literature on the determinants of investment. Gugler (2004) argues that in a strictly neoclassical world, cash flow does not belong in an investment equation. Even than pragmatic studies dating back over 4 decades invariably document that cash flow and investment are positively related. The influence of internally generated cash flow on financing capital investment expenditure is well studied. But what is less well understood is the cause behind this influence. Modigliani and Millers (1958) Irrelevance proposition asserts that firms undertake all positive net present value (NPV) investments regardless of the financing source. Firms that pay low dividends rely more heavily on cash flow as shown by Fazzari, Petersen and Hubbard (1988). The first two gentlemen also found that such firms use working capital adjustments and not external financing to maintain the needed capital expenditure in order to smooth cash flow fluctuations. They further argued that in order to save cash flow, firms choose a low dividend payout policy. Calomiris and Hubbard (1995) proved that those firms have heaviest dependence on cash flow to finance capital expenditure which pay the highest taxes associated with undistributed profits. Devereux and Schiantareelli (1990) found that as compared to smaller firms in the UK, the large firms depend more heavily on cash flow financing. The reason they pointed out for such a trend was the manager/shareholder agency problems in these large firms mainly because of lower managerial ownership and higher costs associated with monitoring mechanism. In this thesis, further evidence have been provided on the role of free cash flow and capital expenditure through observing the data provided by the Karachi Stock Exchange. To measure the market reaction to such expenditure plans, the over and above returns around capital announcements have been used. It was moreover, found that the impact capital expenditure has on firm value that is financed by cash flow depends upon the characteristics of the firm making the expenditures. Firms show a strong positive relation between the level of undistributed cash flow and the level of announced expenditure, although large firms depend less heavily on cash flow as compared to the small firms and those firms that have high managerial ownership. Jensen (1986) suggested that those firms which had a large level of free cash flow were likely to squander it on unprofitable investments. As a result undistributed cash flow must play an important role in explaining capital expenditure by these firms. In addition, certain firms are more prone to the agency problems of free cash flow, especially the large firms which, as discussed by Devereux and Schiantarelli (1990), generally have a more diverse ownership structure. Jensen (1993) discussed such firms as the ones that have more costly internal control mechanisms. About small firms, Jalilvand and Harris (1986) commented that they are more vulnerable to suffer from cash flow restraint mainly because they have limited access to external captial markets due to higher transaction costs of public security isssues and the information problems. Therefore, Vogt (1997) believes that small firms tend to have profitable and at the same time unexploited investment opportunities. The available ca sh flow should be the main source of capital expenditure by these firms. Moreover, if cash flow is used by these firms to fund the capital expenditure, such an announcement must show a positive reaction in terms of appreciated stock prices. Jensen (1986) argues that there are agency costs coupled with free cash flow. His study broadens that argument and speculates that shareholders form their valuation decisions on firms reputations regarding free cash flow exploitation. This notion was tested by examining the stock price responses to equity offers, which generally aggravate the cash flow quandary, for firms differentiated by their recent avaricious behavior. The results suggested that shareholders react more positively to equity issue announcements if firms have obtained only assets related to their key business than to other equity issue announcements. On another occasion, Jensen and Meckling (1976) explained the agency problem between managers and shareholders. They unarguably stated that managers are supposed to be the representatives of the shareholders. But they tend to make those decisions that will maximize their own benefits as opposed to the shareholders value. In order to restrict them from doing so, they must either be provided incentives or be monitored. They further argued that in firms where managers have low level of insider ownership, have greater incentives to invest in unprofitable projects that stretch the firms beyond its optimal size and the expected return on new capital expenditure can be negative for such firms. Such actions would obviously be inconsistent with firms value maximization objective. Jensen (1986) suggests that stock prices are tendered downward to imply agency costs coupled with a firms free cash flow. In particular, managers have an enticement to use unfettered funds to benefit themselves instead of the shareholders. John and Nachman (1985) claim that agency costs can be alleviated through reputation building. Particularly, they demonstrate that the agency problem of underinvestment can be determined through reputation. The observed results recommend that managers build reputation through covetous activity whereas the shareholders state their response on pre-acquisition activity. In an ideal world, managers would disburse the entire free cash flow among the shareholders provided; the interests of shareholders and managers complement each other. This would maximize shareholders wealth and allow them to use the available cash for capitalization. Amihud and Lev (1981) however argued that managers have an enticement to minimize their employment risk. Employment ris k aims to explain the insecurity inbuilt in a managers tenure or the term of employment. Managers have an option of increasing the certainty of their tenure by diversifying the real asset portfolio of the firm and they do it by purchasing those assets that are unrelated to the primary line of business of the firm. Managers have an option of financing diversification projects by using the free cash flow that has been held back and not been distributed to shareholders, thus they need not seek funds from the capital markets. Easterbrook (1984) believes that it is easy to watch the managerial behavior of the firms when they seek funds from the well-performing capital markets. Therefore, on one hand it becomes difficult to keep a check on the performance of managers if they use the hoarded cash flow for the purpose while on the other hand, investors are unable to measure free cash flow as they are incapable of scrutinizing the investment opportunity schedule of the firm. Shareholders are expected to take any unencumbered cash request negatively, coming from the management for the purpose of diversifying. Unless they are provided sufficient proof, they will assume the request to be the acquisition of free cash flow. As a result of this ambiguity, stock prices will fall and show the residual loss caused by the probable misuse of free cash flow by management. Further, managers may wish to expand firm size, irrespective of the fact that it increases shareholders wealth or not, based on the assumption that exec utive promotion and compensation are positively related to firm size (Donaldson 1984; Baker 1986; and Baker, Jensen, and Murphy 1988). Cash flow is related to the expected return from new investment as shown by Myers and Majluf (1984). Those firms which have a shortage of cash flow and liquid assets might let go profitable investment expenditure instead of issuing mispriced securities to fund the investment. As a result, these firms might have unexploited investment opportunities that would increase firm value if sufficient cash flow could be generated to finance them. Capital expenditure of high ownership firms must show a dependence on cash flow and positive excess returns must be observed for these firms when they declare new capital expenditure. Morck, Shleifer, and Vishny (1988) described high levels of insider ownership to be associated with high levels of cash-flow-financed capital expenditure because of managerial-establishment issues. Firms with high insider-ownership levels might wish to finance expenditure with cash flow solely to avoid loss of control associated with weakening their ownership position or restrictions imposed by creditors. Lehn and Poulsen (1989) and McLaughlin, Safieddine, and Vasudevan (1996) defined Free Cash Flow to be operating income before depreciation, less interest expense on debt, less income taxes, less preferred and common dividends. Vogt (1997) calculated both cash-flow measures net of interest expense and dividends in order to control for managerial decisions affecting the level of undistributed cash flow. Ignoring these other decision variables might create a bias in the observed relation among cash flow, capital expenditure, and market returns. As an example he referred to a firm with high levels of cash flow that does not manipulate the agency problem. Such a firm will minimize undistributed cash flow by choosing high interest and/or dividend levels. It might pursue profitable investment expenditure and is unlikely to rely heavily on cash flow for financing. This firm must be associated with positive market responses around expenditure announcements. Using a cash-flow figure gross of interest expense and dividends would incorrectly combine positive market returns to firms with high cash flow rather than the correct low level of cash flow that it actually maintains. Vogt (1997) used 421 firms to observe relationship between cash flow and capital expenditure. When these firms announced expenditure increases, the level of announced capital expenditure seemed to be positively and strongly related to the level of cash flow. The strength of this relation increases for firms with profitable earlier investment opportunities, as firm size declines, and as the proportion of insider ownership increases. His further analysis suggested that considerable diversity exists in the capital markets response to capital expenditure financed by cash flow. The positive and statistically significant excess returns found in the sample of firms announcing increases is concentrated in the smallest of the sample firms, in firms with low cash flow relative to capital expenditure, and, to a lesser extent, in firms with high levels of insider stock ownership. Tests explaining the cross-sectional variation in returns reveal that excess returns for medium and small firms in the sample are positively associated with unexpected increases in planned expenditure. These tests also suggest that the capital market responds more favorably to the announced expenditure by small firms when the planned expenditure is more dependent on cash flow. On the other hand, excess returns for the largest firms in the sample are negative, however not statistically significant. Vogt (1997) observed that due to the fact that small firms and high ownership firms are most likely to face the liquidity crunch associated with asymmetric information, they are also the most likely to let go profitable investment opportunities in times of cash flow shortages. As cash flow rises, the set of profitable capital investment projects the firm can carry out also increases. As a result, capital expenditure announcements are met with positive shareholder reactions, particularly when expenditure is dependent on cash flow. Vogt (1997) concluded by observing that the apparent diversity in the markets response to capital expenditure decisions suggests different capital expenditure financing policies for firms that seek to augment shareholder value. The market values of small firms, firms with significant insider ownership, and firms that are generally cash flow confined appear to be improved, on average, by financing capital expenditure with cash flow. These firms might consider policies of saving undistributed cash flow through low payout and leverage policies. Such an action therefore encourages new capital expenditure from internally generated funds. However, all other firms seem to be less dependent on a cash flow retention policy to facilitate capital expenditure. In 1986 while explaining the free cash flow (FCF) hypothesis Jensen (1986), focuses on the agency issue. He argues that managers can increase their wealth at the cost of shareholders by not paying out the funds from a firms free cash flow in the form of dividends or debt financed share repurchases, rather investing them in unprofitable investment prospects. Devereux and Schiantarelli (1990), Strong and Meyer (1990), Oliner and Rudebusch (1992) and Carpenter (1993) later studied the role that agency problems play in the cash flow-investment relationship. Their findings turned out to be conflicting vis-a-vis the importance of free cash flow. Strong and Meyer (1990) found that share prices of firms that undertake investment expenditure with unrestricted cash flow experience negative performance while Oliner and Rudebusch (1992) found little evidence regarding ownership structure affecting the cash flow-investment relationship. The firms dividend decision has connotation for the FCF theory. According to Lang and Litzenberger (1989), dividends are one means of eliminating free cash flow. Vogt (1994) developed a model in this research paper where he showed that firms with the opportunity to exploit free cash flow will follow low dividend payout policies and cash flow will have a strong influence on investment expenditure. On the other hand, if firms are confined from obtaining external funds because of whatever reason, those firms with profitable investment opportunities will maintain low dividend payout policies in order to preserve on cash flow. Therefore his model was found to be consistent with Fazzari, Hubbard, and Petersen (1988); it predicts that low payout firms should be associated a strong cash flow-investment relationship. There has been considerable empirical evidence which indicate that internally generated funds are the primary way of financing firms investment expenditures. Gordon Donaldson (1961), in a detailed study of 25 large firms, concludes as follows: Management strongly favored internal generation as a source of new funds even to the exclusion of external funds except for occasional unavoidable bulges in the need for new funds. A later survey of 176 corporate managers by Pinegar and Wilbricht (1989) discovers that managers prefer cash flow to finance new investment over external sources as 84.3% of sample respondents showed their preference for financing investment with cash flow. Vogt (1994) explains the relationship of cash flow and capital expenditure by analyzing the free cash flow theory of Jensen (1986). As monitoring is assumed costly, and managers can benefit from overinvestment, he predicts that cash flow will significantly influence investment expenditure after controlling for the cost of capital. Investment expenditure of firms not paying dividend will be more influenced by cash flow than investment expenditure of firms that pay dividends. This follows because no-dividend firms are able to retain all cash flow and still not reach the retention constraint. For liquidity-constrained firms, cash flow and changes in the stock of the firms liquid assets should have a significant influence on investment expenditure. Firms with many profitable investment opportunities or large information asymmetries will have investment expenditure that is most sensitive to changes in cash flow, and should conserve on cash flow by paying low or no dividends. Firms indicat ing a liquidity constraint by not paying dividends will have the most significant cash flow/investment relationship. In a study; Fazzari, Hubbard, and Petersen (1988) discovered that cash flow has a strong effect on investment expenditure in firms with low dividend payout policies. They argue that this result is consistent with the belief that because of asymmetric information costs associated with external financing, low payout firms are cash flow confined. One reason these firms keep dividends to a minimum is to preserve on cash flow from which they can fund profitable investment prospects. Later in the year 1993, Fazzari and Petersen (1993) found that the same group of firms paying low dividends, even out fluctuations in cash flow with working capital to maintain desired investment levels. This result is consistent with the findings done by Myers and Majluf (1984) which states that the underinvestment problem arising from asymmetric information can be alleviated by the liquid financial assets. Carpenter (1993) studied the relationships between debt structure, debt financing, and investment expenditure to test the theory of free cash flow, comparing the restructured firms with the non-restructured firms. He observed that firms had increased their investment expenditure that was restructured by substituting large amounts of external equity with debt as compared to non-restructured firms. To him these results seemed to be inconsistent with free cash flow behavior. He believed that cash flow committed to debt maintenance must be correlated with reductions in later investment expenditure. Devereux and Schiantarelli (1990) and Strong and Meyer (1990) conducted studies that support the free cash flow interpretation. Strong and Meyer (1990) studied separately the investment and cash flow of firms in the paper industry into sustaining investment and discretionary investment, and total cash flow and residual cash flow. Discretionary investment and share price performance are negatively and strongly related. Discretionary investment and residual cash flow are found to be positively and strongly correlated. This evidence suggests that residual cash flow is frequently used to finance unprofitable discretionary investment expenditure. Study conducted by Vogt (1994) related to cash flow and capital expenditure predicts that firms not paying dividends should exhibit the strongest relationship, while those paying high dividends should show the weakest relationship between cash flow and investment expenditure. His result suggested that cash flow-financed capital expenditure is slightly inefficient and provides facts in support of the Free Cash Flow hypothesis. Regarding the small firms that paid low dividends over the sample period, Vogt (1994) commented that such firms relied heavily on cash flow and changes in cash to fund capital expenditure. Cash flow-financed growth by small, low-dividend firms is likely to be value- creating, whereas cash flow-financed growth is value destroying for large, low-dividend firms. He concluded by suggesting that managers of cash flow-rich companies may consider increasing dividend payouts as a method of increasing the efficiency of their capital expenditure decisions. A continued hig h-dividend-payout policy may also signal to shareholders that extra and expensive monitoring of capital expenditure decisions is unnecessary. Furthermore, since capital expenditures typically add to the amount of assets under managerial control and create more predictable future cash flows, such expenditures generate the opportunity to exploit free cash flow in following periods. Alti (2003) found out that investment is sensitive to cash flow. The sensitivity is substantially higher for young, small firms with high growth rates and low dividend payout ratios. The uncertainty these firms face about their growth prospects amplifies the investment-cash flow sensitivity in two ways. First, the uncertainty is resolved in time as cash flow realizations provide new information about investment opportunities. This makes investment highly sensitive to cash flow surprises. Second, the uncertainty creates implicit growth options relate to long-term growth potential but not to investment in the near-term. Having a weaker relationship with the value of long-term growth options, cash flow acts as a useful instrument in investment regressions. Gentry (1990) analyzed capital expenditure with total cash flow and found out that the percentage of cash flows going to capital investment ranged from an outflow of 60 percent or more. The giant companies invested a higher percentage of their total outflow in plant and equipment than companies in the other size categories. The small companies invested the lowest percentage of their total outflows in capital. There has been a research done previously that was applied to agricultural firms by Jensen (1993). The results were found to be consistent with previous studies for nonagricultural firms which showed that internal cash flow variables are important in explaining investment. It was found that the addition of internal cash flow variables can improve the explanatory power of agricultural investment models. In terms of elasticity, investment was more responsive to internal cash flow variables. Worthington (1995) has found that cash flow measures industry-level investment equations positively and significantly, even after investment opportunities are proxied by capacity utilization variables. The effect of cash flow is greater in durable goods industries than in non durable goods industries. Moyen (2004) explained the fact that the cash flow sensitivity of firms described by the constrained model is lower than the cash flow sensitivity of firms described by the unconstrained model can be easily explained. In both models, cash flow is highly correlated with investment opportunities. With more favorable opportunities, both constrained and unconstrained firms invest more. Raj Aggarwal (2005) conducted a study in which he concluded that investment levels are significantly positively influenced by levels of internal cash flows. Also, the strength of this relationship generally increases with the degree of financial constraints faced by firms. Overall, these findings seem strong to the nature of the financial system and indicate that most firms operate in financially incomplete and imperfect markets and find external finance to be less attractive than internal finance. Research Methodology Introduction The hypothesis tests the relationship between free cash flow and capital expenditure, concentrating on the Sugar Industry of Pakistan. The aim is to ascertain the strength of the relationship between the variables. In order to do that, linear regression seems to be the best test as it attempts to model the relationship between two variables by fitting a linear equation to observed data. One variable is considered to be an independent variable while the other is considered to be a dependent variable. The objective of multiple linear regression analysis is to use the independent variables whose values are known to forecast the single dependent value selected by the researcher. (Hair, 2006) Data Annual financial statement data for 27 sugar mills of Pakistan listed on KSE is taken to calculate free cash flow and annual capital expenditure for the period 2000 through 2008. Variable 1. Independent variable = Free Cash Flow (FCF) 2. Dependent variable = Net Capital Expenditure Independent variable: The FCF is calculated they way Lehn and Poulsen (1989) and McLaughlin, Safieddine, and Vasudevan (1996) defined it. It is operating income before depreciation, less interest expense on debt, less income taxes, less preferred and common dividends. Free cash flow = Operating income before depreciation – interest on debt – income taxes – preference common stock dividend. Dependent variable: Net capital expenditures are those where funds are used to acquire or upgrade physical assets such as property, industrial buildings or equipment. Change in fixed assets over a year is taken as net capital expenditure by the firm. Net capital expenditure = Current year fixed assets – last year fixed assets. Net capital expenditure = Ln (FA) Ln of fixed assets is taken to control the variability of the data. Sampling criteria Sample companies that are taken for the purpose of research are 27 sugar mills of Pakistan that are listed on Karachi Stock Exchange. Hypothesis Free Cash flow has a significant relationship with capital expenditure. Data analysis Annual financial statement data for 27 sugar mills of Pakistan, listed on Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE), was taken to calculate free cash flow and annual capital expenditure over the 2000-08 period. Model Summary R R Square F Sig. 0.302 0.091 23.676 0.000 Predictors = (Constant), FCF Dependent Variable = Ln FA The researcher has used statistical software SPSS 13.0 to process the data and run regression analysis on the variables. The results are interpreted in light of statistical text book by Hair (2006). All FCF and (ln) FA figures are in Million Rupees. R value: It is the sample correlation coefficient between the outcomes and their predicted values, or in the case of simple linear regression, between the outcome and the values being used for prediction. R value of 0.302 means that the strength of the relationship between FCF and capital expenditure is 30.2%. R squared value: the coefficient of determination, R2 is the amount of variance in the dependent variable that can be explained by the regression model. The R square of 0.091 means that 9.1% of the variability in the data is explained by the predictor. Out of the total free cash flow, 9.1% is used for capital expenditure. The F test for the regression model is significant which proves that regression model is best fit. Regression model summary is showing that FCF has a positive impact on net capital expenditure. Coefficients Model Unstandardized Standardized Sig. Coefficients Coefficients B Std. Error Beta (Constant) 3.251 0.107 0.000 FCF 0.004 0.001 0.302 0.000 Dependent Variable: Ln FA Unstandardized Equation: Ln FA = 3.251 + 0.004 FCF Standardized Equation: Ln FA = 0.302 FCF If FCF changes by 1 million, ln of net capital expenditure changes by 0.004, which means Net Capital expenditure increases by 1.004008 million. The regression coefficie