Mind My Karaoke †Music Business Plan Essay Example

Mind My Karaoke – Music Business Plan Paper Executive sum-up Karaoke is a Free Web based Application Software for personal computer. Smart phones and tablets. it is Initially Designer for the Indian Music Industry where people are Interested in societal Networking and interacting with each other through assorted Mediums. Karaoke will look near to Social networking. with a Fresh and New construct of people doing their ain karaoke version of their favourite latest vocals from All Different languages all over India and portion it With their friends and Well wishers. utilizing it as an Recreational medium. With Increasing and Incredible Piracy rate in India Karaoke will assist The record Companies. Artists and the Consumers every bit good. We will write a custom essay sample on Mind My Karaoke – Music Business Plan specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Mind My Karaoke – Music Business Plan specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Mind My Karaoke – Music Business Plan specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer A Web based Application Software. where sharing Karaoke vocals and Interacting with friends is new and easy to accommodate and interesting every bit good. The Karaoke offers up to day of the month Original karaoke paths with good quality and voice modulating options for the recreational vocalist who use it as a diversion and Fun. The karaoke itself acts as an Social Networking Medium where it meets Facebook. Twitter and Sound Cloud which are one of the Top rated Social mediums in this coevals to do it more Interesting. Business Idea The Increasing Piracy rate in India. particularly in the Music Industry where 95 % of the Music Downloaded in India is claimed to be Illegal ( RIAA study – 2010 ) . India when Compared to the Other Countries unhappily remains in the top five. with a High buccaneering rate in the Film Industry. The Film Industry suffered loss of ? 450 476 000 ( INR 4000 00 00 000 ) due to Video and Audio buccaneering. There is drastic increasing degree of music buccaneering through Online and Offline twelvemonth by twelvemonth. where there is no mark of diminishing buccaneering rate. The Indian Film Industry is a turning Industry where the Numberss is on addition. India is the Largest manufacturer of movies harmonizing to the BBC study 2009. In 2009 India Produced 2961 movies on celluloid includes 1288 characteristic Films. The are more than 10 subdivisions in the Indian Film Industry which contains more than 10 linguistic communications of Films. i. e. Hindi. Tamil. Kannada. Malayalam. Telugu. Assamese. Bengali. Gujarati. Konkani. Marathi. Punjabi. Sindhi and many more. where each province has an alone Language of their ain. Minimum of 100 Movies each from the linguistic communications of Tamil. Telugu. Hindi. Malayalam and Kannada release in Cinema theaters every twelvemonth. 95 % of the Movies has Songs which is a typical feature of the Indian Film Industry. Each Movie releases a Music Album from the Movie itself incorporating a Minimum of 4 Paths which helps the growing of this merchandise. The Main advantage of KARAOKE is the increasing figure of people who use societal Networking and Applications for Recreations. Fun and remaining in Touch with Friends. India ranks Third in the World for Social Networking users. In India now it has become a Manner that people Express their Emotions in Public through Social Networking Thus karaoke would be an Entertaining application for them. The karaoke besides offers the Original versions of the Songs for Download at cheaper Monetary value where the Customer can purchase it after Listening to the prevue of the Songs. As the Application Software is designed for Mul ti platform it can be used in Smartphones and Tablets every bit good This makes the Application Portable and Fun to utilize it Wherever we are. The KARAOKE has an Unique Feature of Auto Voice tuning Option. where it helps to cut off Background and Ambience noises doing it easy for the Users and it besides Helps the Amateur Singers to Tune their Voice for Better Quality and Fun. It provides assorted Features likes gives a opportunity to Listen to the Original path for a Limited figure of times before Buying are entering the Karaoke Version. in each purchase of a Karaoke Track it offers a Free online Lyrics Script for that Song. where people can even alter the wordss as good. non it any manner of offering the Composer. Artist or the Record Labels. The KARAOKE has a new Approach towards the Music Industry where it Helps to Reduce Music Piracy in India. Where people can Buy the vocals Merely which they like at cheaper monetary value alternatively of Buying the Whole Album. KARAOKE soles the Purpose of Interest of the Consumers from All over India who likes Songs and likes to Sing vocals. This merchandise will Catch the Kids and Youngsters every bit good. Peoples in In India are connected to Internet and Social networking most of the Time. About 620 330 040 Facebook Users prevail in India Ranking the Third Highest Facebook Users state in the World. So Publishing and Sharing the Product through Facebook would assist and which would besides Prefer the Facebook. The Karaoke has a Separate Webpage which acts like an Social networking Website where people can wish and notice on others Karaoke vocals. give an Unique name for their Karaoke vocal and portion them on Facebook. chirrup and Sound cloud. Though KARAOKE is Unique in its ain Kind with different Approach towards Karaoke. There are Six Prevailing Competitors for KARAOKE Rivals 1. Meraghana. com 2. Redkaraoke. com 3. Taranaa. com 4. Desikaraokedownload. com 5. Karaokehindi. com 6. Latestbollywoodkaraoke. com SWOT analysis Strength – new invention towards karaoke – works both as societal networking and helps music industry from Piracy every bit good – low cost – latest vocals – sharing with friends – can be operated through Mobile Phone and Tablets every bit Well. |Weaknesses – original karaoke versions released can be pirated – vocals Piquing the Composer and Record labels can be made – thought can non be copyrighted | Opportunities – low cost options for individual vocals alternatively of purchasing the whole album – listen to the vocals for limited figure of times before the Download. |Threats – bing and new competition can originate with similar merchandises – cost of Web hosting and server infinite in Rise | 3. Background The Team Consists of Members with Knowledge of Music Industry in India. Music Engineers. Application and Server Maintainers. Software Developers. Me therefore holding rather a Good cognition about the Indian Music Industry and prosecuting Audio Production Course geting Knowledge in Both Artistic and Technical facets and holding cognition about the Karaoke Music Interests in India will work out the Purpose. Recognizing the Piracy menace and Detailed research how buccaneering affects the Indian Music Industry helps to convey up this Business Plan. For Additional aid and proficient Assistance People will be recruited in Future of the Business if Needed. The Team shall be Expanded in Future of the Merchandise when it goes Global when it is introduced in Other Countries. shall incur Help from the Countries Respectively for Further Assistance. 4. Ownership The Ownership of this Merchandise this Project would Belong to the Creator of this Product and the Financier of this Undertaking in 15 % and 85 % severally in the Net income Margin. where the Creator would be Developing the Merchandise with Different Ideas and new Inventions doing it Interesting for the Consumers. where the Record labels would hold Partnership with the Composers and Artists for Making the Karaoke Version. which is Simple with the Same Original Track without the Vocal musics and the Record Label will hold Royalty and Copyright Agreement with the Composer and Artists of the Songs. 5. Company Structure The Company Structure includes the Team and the Space for Suiting the Server and Technical Support. Though This will be an Free Application Software the Investors Play a Critical function and they Handle the Artists and Composers sing the Royalties for each vocal that is sold through the KARAOKE. 6. Team Once the Merchandise is Developed by the Developers for introduced in the Market. it needs Technicians for Trouble shot and farther proficient aid during the First 3 Months of the Product Launch where the Developers will be responsible for Screening it out harmonizing to the Agreement they Have with the Company. Software will be Further Developed and maintained depending upon the Increase in figure of Consumers. 5. THE Merchandise The Product KARAOKE is a web based Application Software for Pc. Mobile phones and Tablets. KARAOKE is an Application Software which acts like an Social Networking web where Consumers From India can Sing and do their Favorite Karaoke Songs from All Different Languages in India. The Cardinal Feature of this Product is Consumers have entree to utilize Up to day of the month Latest Karaoke vocals from more than 10 Different Languages in India. The Product is Economic when compared to the other Karaoke Web downloads in India. where Peoples can listen and take their Karaoke vocals before purchasing it. and they can Buy individual original versions of the Song they like instead purchasing the whole Album. KARAOKE has assorted Facilities where people can sing and pull strings their voice to do it better or Hilarious harmonizing to their wish. with Assorted Vocal Auto Tune Option. When They buy a Song from KARAOKE. they can sing the Original Lyrics where they would be given a free online Free Lyrics book for that vocal or they can do their Own Lyrics within the Footings and conditions. Where any Vulgarity or in offense to jurisprudence shall be instantly removed from the Web. Once they are Done with Recording the Song. they can Upload it merely one time through the Application. But they can maintain their Downloaded Karaoke version With them. Consumers will hold all entree to Training and Trials on the web page. When they Uploaded a Song. they can Upload it with different entering once more and so they have to purchase the Track once more for Uploading and they can’t Claim Copyright for their Lyrics or the Tracks. Any Unlawful Act by the Consumers will be taken to Account where they can go on utilizing the Product. When Peoples report Spams or any other Disrespectful to one another. the vocal shall be removed with farther Notice. KARAOKE allows the consumers to wish and notice on Others vocals and can Rate on others Songs. consumers can Upload their Songs on Facebook. Twitter. Sound cloud and on the Same KARAOKE web page every bit good. As KARAOKE web page Acts of the Apostless as a Social Networking web. consumers can call their Own vocals with the name they like and give a Description or Story For that vocals. Where they can show the memories of the vocals and Emotions through words. In The Initial Stage of the Karaoke From the Launch of the merchandise till it gets Familiar with the people. they get a Beneficial Package when they Invite people to the Product. they get free Songs and can do their free vocal and Share it. which helps the Product as a Promotion. KARAOKE is speedy to Access even on Mobile phones and Tablets where they all need is Internet and the Product. KARAOKE will be Introduced as Free Subscription Application Software. Where People acquire a Free Songs from latest and Up to day of the month vocals on the Web. which helps them to cognize about the Product and acquire Familiar with and they are allowed to Share the vocal. They following Benefit they Get is. As they Invite Peoples to the KARAOKE they get a Free Songs After Inviting 20 people as they Join they KARAOKE which makes it More Interesting for them and Which could assist them more to cognize about the merchandise. Where these Beneficial Schemes helps the Product’s Promotion and Marketing and makes it Familiar to the Younger coevals who are Active on Social Networking. KARAOKE will Act as a Fun and Recreational Element. KARAOKE will besides sell Original Versions of Up to Date vocals at Cheaper monetary value. which helps The Indian Music Industry to Fight Against Piracy. There are More than Hundred Websites which Offers illegal Download. which the Government wants to close down but the Numberss are still on addition and this Product would assist Fighting Against Piracy. Subsequently After doing the Merchandise Familiar the Product can be Redesigned to establish in different Countries. KARAOKE after a Steady success. will hold a Dealership will Mobile Networking Companies. because in India Many people use a installation called company Tune where people naming one another would listen to their Favorite vocal alternatively of the normal ring. where KARAOKE would offer that they can utilize their ain karaoke vocal which they made as their Caller Tune. this would do the Consumers more Interesting where they ever in a hunt of Something New. 6. Selling Plan Having cognition of Indian Music Industry and being cognizant of the High Piracy rate in India and the Attitude of the Indian Consumers who are Keen on seeking something which is new to the market and which helps to Interact with one another. friends and Family. This Would assist them as an Diversion and to remain in touch with each other in an Alone manner like of all time earlier. So we understand that people need something new which would assist them Forget Illegal Download and do them purchase Original paths and karaoke versions and do this as an amusement more interesting which already prevails but non rather popular. Here Kotler’s 4Ps of Marketing Help to Address a selling Strategy ( laid-back 2009 ) . Merchandise The Consumers want to Try something new when Merchandises like this Launches in the Market. They are connected to Social Networking most of the clip to remain in touch with One another. As Peoples in India are Music Lovers and Movie Lovers every bit good they would wish to seek this merchandise every bit good. KARAOKE is a merriment Filled Entertainment and Recreational solution for the People who Love music and love to do Music where they can buy Original paths. This Merchandise will hold a strong connexion with the Amateur vocalists chiefly. as they want to sing vocals and do it sound good merely where they are. and to portion it with friends. this will assist them to achieve what they need. KARAOKE is a simple and effectual Application in which they can do their vocal wherever they are. all they need is a personal computer or Mobile phone or tablet with internet connexion. Karaoke provides more Interesting options which would do it User friendly. Topographic point As KARAOKE is a Free Version Application Software. they can Directly Download it from the Web page or through Online Application stares of their Mobile phones and Tablets. After Downloading the Application. when they need to Buy Karaoke Songs and Original Songs. they can Buy it with their Recognition Card games and Debit Cards. which the Webpage would give proper Guidance. Another Important point of sale will be through Advertisement links on Facebook. chirrup and Sound Cloud. where people can fall in and buy the vocals on spell. No direct hard currency dealing would take topographic point. everything would travel through secured on-line debit and Credit card payment. Monetary value The Product is Very Cheap and Economic when compared to its Competitor although this is a new Innovation and unique of its Kind. The Application Software would be Absolutely Free with free Ascents as good. When KARAOKE is compared to it market rivals it is economic. where the viing web sites offer monthly and Annual bundle of ?15 and more. which are higher than the KARAOKE. where merely few Web sites offer individual vocal download which is Much more expensive than our Merchandise. To do it comfy for the Consumers KARAOKE offers individual vocals downloads at cheaper monetary value where if people are non likely interested any longer they don’t have to lose their money. KARAOKE offers Original Songs and Karaoke Version at the same Cost where each of them would be charged ?0. 11 ( INR = 10 ) which is the most inexpensive and sensible cost for a Path in the Indian Market. Where as iTunes sells each vocal at a cost of ?0. 14 ( INR = 12 ) . iTunes when compared to KARAOKE. it is moderately cheaper. As the this would be an attractive and inexpensive monetary value for the Consumers of the Indian Market. As the Competing Websites Offers Annual Packages. most of the Websites doesn’t Offer Latest vocals. which is more likely to be a draw back for their ain luck. where they are more like Coercing to Consumers to buy the Monthly or Annual Package. where as KARAOKE doesn’t gives the Consumers the Whole freedom where they can take what they would wish to Buy and Use. Promotion The Product will be Promoted in a Number of ways to Target the Younger coevals. These people Chiefly Include from the Age group of 16 – 35. where the Other Age Group Promotion would besides take topographic point. As the First Step of Promotion. The Application Software will be given as a Free Download where Peoples can research and understand about the Product. The Following measure would be that Each and Everyone who had joined the KARAOKE would be given a Free Karaoke Song of their ain pick which is Present on the Web. where people will now be allowed to see the Product and portion it with their Friends and acquire a good cognition about the Product. The following measure of publicity would be with Regional Celebrities from Different linguistic communications. will be making a karaoke version of a celebrated vocal and will be out on the Web and societal networking sites and their fan Pages. where it will be shared for publicity. this will assist the Product acquire popular. The Following Step would be. when people invite more than 20 people and as the invited people articulation. the Invite would acquire a free Song once more. This will increase the figure of users of the merchandise and makes it Quite popular among the Childs. Now KARAOKE would hold Enough users and they would get down wishing the merchandise as they Would get down Buying the vocals. Facebook. chirrup and Sound Cloud would play an Important Role in Promoting the Product as people make their Karaoke Song and portion it with their Friends Online. Ads on Social networking sites would take topographic point. As KARAOKE has new merriment filled Features like Auto Voice melody. Amusing effects. it is rather easy to acquire familiar and effectual with childs and Childs. Subsequently on After acquiring steady market and Consumers. KARAOKE will hold coaction withe Mobile Network Companies to utilize their ain vocals of the Consumers as their Caller Tunes. where we would acquire paid by the Mobile Network companies and they would be bear downing from the Consumers. As Each and Every hebdomad in India more than 2 Music Albums are released so people will be more Curious about doing new karaoke vocals and this will add up to their Entertainment. 7. Gross saless AND DISTRIBUTION Primary gross revenues would be through the Official Web page and Application shops of the Mobile Phones and Tablets. where Ads about new vocals and trades would be Published and shared through Social networking and the Followings in them. Ads about the release of new Albums and updates about Upcoming Songs would be done through the Official Webpage and Social networking. As Karaoke Acts as an Social Networking site it solves the Purpose. This would take quality clip to Get popular and effectual in the Market as this Involves people from Different provinces and Different Languages from India. As the Celebrity Advertisements would assist in Promoting the merchandise will assist the gross revenues of the merchandise in a period of Time. Distribution will be Done in the Web page and in Social Networking sites every bit good through Ads and information. where the Followers would acquire Up to day of the month information’s. Distribution will partially be done by the consumers every bit good as they do their vocal and portion it with others. which would be good for both the Consumers and the manufacturers. After a figure of people had acquired and history with KARAOKE. the following measure for the company would be upgrading the merchandise to do it functional for a big figure of people and doing it user-friendly after having feedback from the Consumers. 8. Rivals KARAOKE faces Competition in two Different ways. thought KARAOKE is a whole new different merchandise from their rivals. One manner of Competition would be through Existing Websites which are available for Karaoke vocals Downloads. The other manner of Competition would be through the Duplication of the Product and buccaneering of the Paths released through KARAOKE. There are Six chief viing web sites. which shall be stated below and compared with KARAOKE. 1. meraghana. com: which offers a Subscription Plan for $ 4. 95 ( INR = 270. 67. ? = 3. 05 ) a Month and $ 49. 95 ( INR = 2731. 27. ? = 30. 76 ) a twelvemonth for limitless use. The cost of this Product is really High for the Consumers as meraghana. com has really fer consumers. which doesn’t offer any new Songs and dressed ores on a Single linguistic communication from India and it does non offer any free add-ons like the Lyrics book and Movie Information’s. 2. Redkaraoke. com Which Offers a Subscription program for $ 2. 99 ( INR = 163. 49. ? = 1. 84 ) a Day. $ 6. 99 ( INR = 382. 21. ? = 4. 30 ) a Month and $ 39. 99 ( INR = 2186. 65. ? = 24. 63 ) a Year. where there rates are excessively high even for a individual twenty-four hours subscription and they do non offer any new vocals or sharing installations and there is no attention deficit disorder on to the Product as much. 3. Taranaa. com Which Offers a Annual Subscription for $ 20 ( INR = 1093. 60. ? = 12. 32 ) a twelvemonth. They do non offer any monthly Subscription or individual vocal Download options was KARAOKE does and they do non Offer any new vocals which disappoints the Consumers. and they do non offer different linguistic communications. 4. Desikaraokedownload. com it is a free karaoke vocals downloading Website. though it is illegal Downloads its Quite Popular where people can download the karaoke vocals and record it individually on their ain devices. where as the web site does non bring forth any installations for entering and Sharing the paths. As it is an illegal download there is no proper quality of the paths. 5. Karaokehindi. com Where Each Track Cost $ 5 ( INR = 273. 40. ? = 3. 08 ) which makes it excessively expensive for the consumers when compared to the other viing web sites. and they do non offer any monthly or annual subscriptions as the other web sites do. They offer merely old vocals and non the Latest paths which could catch the childs attending. 6. Latestbollywoodkaraoke. com This Website Offers up to day of the month karaoke paths. including the Latest releases for Free. but it is illegal Download where the vocals are non Copyrighted at all. The Tracks which they offer are manipulated hapless Quality paths. Though they provide latest vocals the do non supply any recording installations or sharing installations. SWOT analysis for KARAOKE when compared to its Rivals Strengths – Can be used in Mobile phones and Tablets excessively. which makes it Portable. – Easy to Use and an Interesting piece of Entertainment. – Sharing Facilities on Social Networking web sites. – new invention towards Karaoke because it is alone in its Own sort. |Weaknesses – duplicate of the merchandise – Piracy of Tracks which are released through KARAOKE – hazardous promotional Tactics. giving free paths ab initio for publicity where the Competitors don’t. – Heavy investing needed. | Opportunities – As it is Interesting for the Childs to utilize – support from music composers and record labels to advance the Merchandise – it is a free Application Software. which acts like a societal networking – immature coevalss involvement in music and doing music. |Threats – new clients exchanging to Similar Forthcoming merchandises. – people should afford to pass money for purchasing vocals and Karaoke Tracks. – monetary value / characteristic war with rivals – composers can officially let go of karaoke versions themselves. which would impact them the most once more | As the SWOT Analysis emcing the Competitors shows that KARAOKE offers a better trade and new interesting Elementss which would achieve success in market with the Younger coevalss Interest on it. Though it has its ain failings and menaces. by more offers and Ads and Development of the Product will assist the merchandise to stand up in the Market. KARAOKE is Unique in its ain sort as mentioned earlier and there is no similar merchandise this. though it has rivals. The viing web site are expensive and does non offer any New paths Usually which would do lose involvement among the Youngsters. who seek latest updates. even when few Web sites offer they are Illegal downloads with Poor Quality. KARAOKE would move as a Social Networking piece. which would affect the Younger coevals to pass Quality clip on it. this will give back the senses to the consumers where they get used to Buying vocals and Karaoke paths for minimum monetary value instead downloading it illicitly. The Strength of the Product lies in support from the Composers. Artist and the Record labels. as this is a new Innovation where people would wish to Invest and do money in return and this would pay the Royalty for the Artist and composer every bit good. By analysis the features of the rivals has been revealed where they are expensive and drawbacks in different signifiers. this would give back life to the karaoke involved Entertainment. 9. Customers The First set of Target Customers are the Younger Generation between the Age of 16 – 35 who are prone users of Social Networking like Facebook and chirrup. where the people who are interested in seeking new Merchandises. that makes them happy and Interactive. Thus KARAOKE would function as a medium for their Social interaction through karaoke paths and their vocalizing abilities. The following set of Target Customers will be from all age group who are Music lovers and who love to Sing. even if they are recreational vocalists. so this Merchandise will make justness to users from School pupils to working Professionals. This Merchandise will be good to the Aged people who are interested in singing supplications vocals and other spiritual vocals by themselves. Peoples From Different provinces of India would Buy and seek out Other Language paths in which they are Familiar and interested to prosecute. there are few Consumers who would cognize more than one linguistic communication and are interested in all linguistic communication vocals. this merchandise will assist to work out their demands. As there are Consumers from Different parts of India where each one has different involvement towards karaoke and Social Networking every bit good. this would assist to widen the market. As Peoples outside India are interested In Indian Songs and Indian Karaoke Tracks. they would even buy their likes from this Merchandise and this will assist in widening the market of the Product Internationally and Developing the Merchandise. India ranks 3rd in the usage of Social Networking Websites. There are 62 713 650 Facebook users as per the statistics record which has been taken late. where 48 % users are from the Age group 18 – 24 and 27 per centum users from the Age Group 25 – 34. which contains the bulk of more than 75 % below the age group of 35 which shows a figure around 47 035 238. Where most of the Childs will be Music lovers and interested in doing karaoke vocals Songs when something new is projected. even when merely 2 % of the people are interested from the age group 18 -35. there would be about 311 650 consumers for this merchandise. So this will be a certain figure where people will be interested in utilizing the Product which is Absolutely good for a new Merchandise during it launch. 10. Budget Initially the Business squad garlic necessitate a Time period of Six months for Developing the Software and Trouble hiting them. to do it perfect during the launch of the Product. it may take a month supernumerary for Fine tuning the merchandise for better Outcome. The Initial Investment for the First Six months including Software developing and assorted disbursals instead than Software Development will be ?12000 ( INR = 10. 68. 000 ) and ?4000 ( INR 3. 56. 000 ) severally. After finishing the Product and after rectifying the Products errors. the Product will be ready for it Launch. After the launch we need farther investings for Promotion and increasing figure of users. After the Launch. The fresher’s who are new to the Product will be Given a Free vocal of their ain pick. where it is approximately calculated with the figure of consumers estimated above. which would be about ?35 016 ( INR 31. 16. 500 ) where it is a whooping investing. after they invite Twenty more people to the Web and as they join the web application. the Invite would be Giver and extra free vocal where the figures are calculated at the upper limit and the maximal disbursal would be ?35 016 once more. The estimated Profit Margin will get down after One twelvemonth of the merchandise launch as it a new investing. where as if the Product is successful shortly and has many consumers. they get back the initial in Six Months clip. Ads for the Products will be ?3000 which can be compensated with the money the merchandise earns through Ads about films and music Album on the Official web page. As the Product gets households the advertizements gross for the Product will besides Increase. the estimation net income Margin on the sec on twelvemonth will be 30 % ensuing in a net net income of ?60. 000. 11. INITIAL INVESTMENT An estimated Initial Investment of ?16000 + ?73 032 in six month interval severally. a Sum of ?89032 will be needed for the Product. Which would include the Web development and Server direction cost including a amount of ?12000 and ?4000 for the Miscellaneous disbursals. this would cover all the disbursals including the labour charges and transit. Where ? 3000 from the whole Budget will be allocated for the Celebrity Advertisements and advertizements through other mediums. Free Ads of Facebook and chirrup would non incur any charges where they are reciprocally good. The projection is that at least 2 % of the entire societal Networking circle start utilizing the Product which will be about 311 650 consumers Using the Product. In the First Three Months 25 % from the merchandise consumers. which will hold 77912 consumers will purchase at least One vocal at a lower limit rate which would lend the gross at ? 8735. in the following Three months which Six months all together will hold 50 % of the consumer purchasing at least One vocal which would give another ? 8735. and the merchandise will be gaining through Ads of the web page which will lend a lower limit of ?3000 in the first six months which will bit by bit increase. Thus the Initial investing demands are explained. 12. Barriers Internal Barriers The Internal Barriers which could originate is. Effective investings from the Investors with Confidence to Bring up a Good Quality Product and the Time for Testing the Product and problem shot may take much clip as predicted to be. It could take Six to nine months for Marketing the Product through publicity and do the Product Familiar with the Consumers. This my be due to unanticipated Fortunes such as unwellness. occupation resettlement. etc. External Barriers Ageless Barriers would originate by the Lack of Potential Investors. who can get by up with the Development of the merchandise. Finding a Good Software development and waiter direction squad could besides be a barrier. Technical barriers like the velocity and effectivity of the merchandise in nomadic phones and Tablets could originate. Ads should make the consumers good before the merchandise is launched. Effective Competitors

What are the major threats to democracy in a modern society Essays

What are the major threats to democracy in a modern society Essays What are the major threats to democracy in a modern society Paper What are the major threats to democracy in a modern society Paper There are many threats to democracy in modern societies; these threats however, differ depending on the type of democracy implemented and the nature of the society, for example; the democracies of the developing world are confronted with different threats when compared to the threats faced by the democracies of the developed world. This paper will seek to provide an examination of the main adversities to democracies mainly in the developing world. To gain a general idea, it is necessary to look at the conditions conducive for democratization so that we can fully comprehend the many obstacles that modern societies are faced with. Democracy is not a natural order; this is stated by Pinkney in 1993. Throughout history most rulers were instilled without the consent of the citizens, such rulers were born into a monarchy or they were voted in by ruling elites. The factors that allowed for the establishment and maintenance of democracy in the west were different to those needed by the developing world; there are a few exceptions however. The west had already formulated a very stable economic and social structure, which are essential conditions for the development and advancement of long-term democracies. Based on this it is evident that in order for the world to flourish under a democratic type system there are several crucial requirements that are required to be met. One of the main perquisites that are conducive to the formation of a democratic state is the constant need for continual economic development; therefore it is evident that a lack of economic development in a particular country will pose a major threat to the prevalence and advancement of democratic ideologies in that country. Economic development is an idea supported by Lipset (1959). Economic development is considered one of the main necessities needed to guide a state into democracy. Lipset believes that the correlation between the existence of democracy and such variables as per capita wealth, industrialization, urbanization and the level of education, are causes of democracy. This underlines and demonstrates the insurmountable obstacles faced by many parts of the world, most notably the developing world in terms of maintaining and encouraging democratic influences. Poverty and unemployment are rife throughout the developing world and therefore the ever-rising unemployment levels coupled with exponential population growth is crippling the economies of many nations which is rendering these nations susceptible to adhering to the conditions necessary for the instilment of other forms of political governance which obviously, poses a threat to existing and potential democratic prevalence and advancement throughout modern society. Social structure is another factor that is hindering democratic advancement and instilment amongst modern day societies; this is particularly a problem throughout the developing world and most notably Africa. The predominant issue with this idea in terms of the developing world is that many developing nations after decolonization were left socially and religiously divided. This is just one of the many burdens left behind by the colonizers that has rendered the many societies and tribes of Africa liable to the prevalence of unfair and unjust rule as well as racial and other forms of discriminatory action which has left many ethnic minorities having the arduous task of attempting to rule and unite conflicting tribal, cultural and religious groups. For example, within each state of Africa it is possible to see a number of tribes or mixtures of Christianity and Islam, where they were all put together to live as one by colonial powers. This has left many ethnic minorities thus making the job of ruling fairly, extremely difficult. Democracy is more likely to come about from a society where, for example, the monarchy checks the nobility and the aristocracy goes into commerce. (Pinkney, 1993). We can see this in states that have conventionally had monarchs or upper class forced hierarchy ruling, such rulers are more prone to alter the political requirements of a democracy once the totalitarian regime has been lifted. From the arguments gathered above, it is easy to see the most prominent threats to democracy that are currently facing modern societies. The necessities needed to attain democratic rule portray how far some states are from acquiring and implementing a democratic status. It is evident that economic development is the main threat that is preventing many nations from adhering to the criteria necessary to implement and obtain democratic systems. The other factor that is hindering the advancement of democratic systems is the complex social structure of many developing nations due to the effects of colonization. The divisions and creation of isolated ethnic minorities caused by the colonization and decolonisation processes has made it extremely difficult for democracy to achieve fair and equal ruling that would be so beneficial for the many social groups within a society.

Wk2 Progress a Assign. INTL304 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Wk2 Progress a Assign. INTL304 - Assignment Example There are different types of sensor suites. These are the easiest way to monitor the things inside a building from any part of the world. An Orbit refers to a path of an object found in the space. There are four types of orbit of satellite sensor. The first one is satellite orbit; this satellite follows an elliptical path, round the earth. One complete revolution is known as the orbital period. Geostationary orbits, this occurs when a satellite follows an orbit that is parallel to the equator that moves in a similar direction as the earth’s rotation. Near polar orbits, refers to the orbital plane that is inclined at an angle with respect to the rotation of the earth’s axis. Sun-synchronous orbits, follows an orbit whose altitude is in a way that the satellite will pass over a location at a local solar time. Technical intelligence is not easy because it not possible to collect complete information from the adversaries. This is because the chips may be down, and some of the strategies may fail. Designing a satellite of balanced force has been another drawback of the airborne sensors platform in collecting technical intelligence. 2 Resolution is the clarity of an image. It is the ability of the sensors to see the smallest objects in an image. Resolution determines the sharpness of an image. Spatial resolution refers to the ability of measuring how closely lines can be resolved in an image. Spatial resolution is limited by diffraction. The pixel spacing the ground sample of an image on the earth’s surface is small compared to resolvable spot size.

Fallacies Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Fallacies - Assignment Example One common source of fallacies is the media and this paper seeks to examine two exemplary and common fallacies from this source and illustrate how this source construes information to convince the audience. This is a common fallacy that is committed over the television. Ignoratio elenchi directly translates to "irrelevant thesis", which in formal perspective refers to a negation that fails to concentrate on the central argument (Destiny 2008). As commonly seen in televised political debates between presidential candidates, the interviewer might ask one of the candidates how he can handle the rising unemployment rates should he or she become the president, then the candidate may answer â€Å"I am glad you asked, since unemployment is a major problem facing our country, however, my opponent’s strategy to handle this situation is entirely insufficient,† (Destiny 2008). As illustrated from this example, the presidential candidate completely negated the question. This is a potent and a simple form of illogical fallacy. It occurs when an individual misinterprets the position held by the opponent (Destiny 2008). Such an argument was televised in the year 2001 when President George Bush assumed office he advocated for a new system of testing in schools, and then formed an argument that those opposing such a system were not interested in holding the schools responsible for their poor performance. On subjection to retrospection, such an assertion was not true, and it is dismissed on the basis that other political opponents had offered other adequate alternatives. After having studied logic, I explicitly understand how to distinguish between firmly grounded arguments that in essence have a basis from fallacious statements. Therefore, I do not think that I will be fooled by these fallacies. Presenters of fallacious arguments essentially construe information to appeal to the viewer, and as such they generally assume

The Mixtec Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The Mixtec Culture - Essay Example As the discussion stresses there is no definite history of the Mixtec, but the furthest that archaeology can trace their history is in the valley of Oaxaca, which was home to three major language groups: the Zapotecs, Nahus, and the Mixtec. History has it that the Zapotecs dominated the valley, while the other two occupied the centre of the valley, although some Mixtecs lived beyond the valley in the west. The Mixtec presence in Oaxaca is traceable to three full centuries before the invasion of Spanish conquest, in the 14th century, seemingly through intermarriage with the Zapotecs. Terraciano explains that a Mixtec lord got into marriage with a Zapotec maiden, and they were given the Culiacan population as a gift after the marriage. This was a contributing factor to the emergence and growth of the Mixtec population in the valley of Oaxaca. Before this event, the two would meet in trading gold and other commodities. However, after the two began co-existing, the Mixtec invaded and too k over the Zapotecs’ capital, bringing back the rivalry between them though it was not long before the Zapotecs got their land and city back.This paper discusses that  the Mixtecs in the early colonial and post-classic periods had an invention of their own writing that was pictographic. They painted on deerskin, paper and cloth before the Spanish conquest came in with their own dictatorial that the images be directed to Spanish officials. This forced the Mixtecs to come up with multicultural forms of communicating to both the indigenous natives and Spanish aliens. To write on the deer hide and paper made from fig tree barks, the Mixtec would apply gesso paste or lime plaster on two surfaces to create the smooth writing surface then sewed them together to form a screenfold manuscript. Such manuscripts could fold back over the other, allowing the two surfaces to be viewed individually. On average, a folded manuscript was the size of a book but after stretching, was about ten metres in full size. These forms of picturesque writings are referred to as codices. The writings usually featured three styles of expression: direct representation of images (logograms and ideograms), phonetic transcription (use of symbols to represent words), and conventional imagery (the use of images to pass an idea or word without using language). All these forms of writing applied throughout Mesoamerica, and were usually meant for public use as they mostly carried information concerning recitations and public performance guides such as music, dances, songs, and drama performances (Terraciano 15-16). The Mesoamerican calendar The Mixtecs had a sacred calendar similar to the other Mesoamerican cultures whose scared calendars had two-hundred and sixty days. This ritual calendar was called the Tzolkin and used to tell the day. In their

Why Investors Invest In Hedge Funds

Why Investors Invest In Hedge Funds Abstract Hedge funds have gained a lot of popularity in the last decade and are one of the fastest growing industries. The main aim of most hedge funds is to reduce volatility and risk. It also attempts to preserve capital and deliver positive returns under all market conditions. Not all hedge funds are same therefore it is important to know the difference between them. It differs in terms of its risks,  investment returns and volatility among the different hedge fund strategies. The strategies which are correlated to equity markets deliver consistent returns and have low risk while the ones that are not will be more volatile. Main objective of hedge funds is to provide consistency in its returns for investor, lower portfolio volatility and preserve their capital investments, which is the reason why investors such as pension funds, insurance companies, institutional investors and high net worth individuals and families invest in hedge funds. This thesis reviews various issues relating to the investment in hedge funds, which have become popular with high net-worth individuals and institutional investors, as well as discuss their empirical risk and return profiles. The concerns regarding the empirical measurements are highlighted, and meaningful analytical methods are proposed to provide greater risk transparency in performance reporting. It also discusses the development of the hedge fund industry in Asia. Asian hedge funds have grown vastly in past few years. It is said to have grown nearly six times as many funds while managing ten times are much in assets since 2000 according to Eurekahedge. The industry is estimated to consist over 1100 funds, and managing roughly $175 billion in assets. International managers are starting up their own Asia-focused funds too. Allocators are increasingly eyeing investment opportunities in Asia. Funds with a global mandate are increasing their allocation to Asia. The paper presents an overview of hedge funds, describing their development and characteristics. It also discussed the various issues related to the measurement of hedge fund performance, as well as examined alternative performance measures. This thesis ends with some remarks on the development of the hedge fund industry in Asia. 1. Introduction There has several definition of hedge funds throughout the history. There isnt one particular sentence that defines what hedge funds really means. However, according to Chicago Board Options Exchange (No Date), hedge funds can be defined as: A conservative strategy used to limit investment loss by effecting a transaction that offsets an existing position. Alfred Winslow Jones was the first person to create hedge fund structure more than 50 years ago. The fund established had following feature: He created hedges by investing in securities that was said to be undervalued and funded these positions by taking short positions in overvalued securities hence creating market-neutral position. He designed an incentive fee compensation arrangement for fund mangers. They were paid a percentage of profit from the clients capital assets; and He so invested his own investment capital in the fund, to make sure that his capital and that of his investors were coordinated and in line so that it is not just an individual investment but a partnership Almost all modern hedge funds have above listed features in them, and are set up as limited partnerships with a lucrative incentive-fee structure. In most hedge funds, managers also have a significant portion of their own capital invested in the partnerships. The term hedge fund has been generalized to describe investment strategies that range from the original market-neutral style of Jones to many other strategies and opportunistic situations, including global/macro investing. There is a large variety of hedge fund investing strategies present today and therefore no standard way to classify hedge funds separately. Many data vendors and fund advisors set up their own major hedge fund styles according to their popularity. Under the classification by Credit Suisse, the categories of hedge funds with 9 differentiated styles and a fund-of-funds category: (a) Event driven funds are the funds that take positions on corporate events when companies are undergoing re-structuring or mergers. For example, fund managers would purchase bank debt or high yield corporate bonds of companies undergoing the re-organization which is often referred to as distressed securities. Another event-driven strategy is merger arbitrage where the funds seize the opportunity to invest just after a takeover has been announced. They purchase the shares of the target companies and then short these shares of the acquiring companies. (b) Global funds are categories of funds that invest in non-US stocks and bonds with no specific strategy reference. This fund has the largest number of hedge funds and it includes funds that specialize on the emerging markets. (c) Global/Macro funds are the funds that rely on macroeconomic analysis and invest in long and short position in order to capitalise on major risk factors and unforeseen markets such as currencies, interest rates, stock indices and commodities. (d) Market neutral funds refer to hedge fund strategy that involves utilizing strategies such as long-short equity, stock index arbitrage, convertible bond arbitrage and fixed income arbitrage. Long-short equity funds use the strategy of Jones by taking long positions in selective stocks and going short on other stocks to limit their exposure to the stock market. Stock index arbitrage funds trade on the spread between index futures contracts and the underlying basket of equities. (e) Dedicated Short Bias  funds are strategies that take more short positions than long positions and earn returns by maintaining net short exposure in long and short equities. Detailed individual company research typically forms the core alpha generation driver of dedicated short bias managers, and a focus on companies with weak cash flow generation is common. To affect the short sale, the manager borrows the stock from a counter-party and sells it in the market. Short positions are sometimes implemented by selling forward. Risk management consists of offsetting long positions and stop-loss strategies. (f) Convertible bond arbitrage funds typically capitalize on the embedded option in these bonds by purchasing them and shorting the equities. (g) Fixed income arbitrage is a strategy that bets on the convergence of prices of bonds from the same issuer but with different maturities over time. This is the second largest grouping of hedge funds after the Global category. (h) Short/long fund-, shorts focus on engineering short positions in stocks with or without matching long positions. They play on markets that have raised too fast and on mean reversion strategies. Long funds take long equity positions with leverage. Emerging market funds that do not have short-selling opportunities also fall under this category. (i) Emerging Markets  funds invest in currencies, debt instruments, equities and other instruments of countries with emerging or developing markets (typically measured by GDP per capita). Such countries are considered to be in a transitional phase between developing and developed status. Examples of emerging markets include China, India, Latin America, much of Southeast Asia, parts of Eastern Europe, and parts of Africa. There are a number of sub-sectors, including arbitrage, credit and event driven, fixed income bias, and equity bias. (j) Fund of funds refer to funds that invests in a pool of hedge funds. They specialize in identifying fund managers with good performance and rely on their good industry relationships to gain entry into hedge funds with good track records. Table 1 gives statistics about the various categories of hedge funds and past performance. The global/macro hedge funds provided the best mean return over the period studied, while the event-driven funds had the lowest standard deviation of returns. On a risk adjusted basis which is obtained by dividing the mean return by the standard deviation, the category of fund that ranks highest is the global/macro funds followed closely by event-driven funds. Hedge funds are not required to publicly disclose performance and holdings information unlike the registered insurance companies, which might be construed as solicitation materials. This is the reason why which makes it more difficult for investors to evaluate hedge fund managers. TABLE 1 Jan 2000   Nov 2009 Categories Mean Return (%) Standard Deviation (%) Risk-Adjusted Return Event driven 8.66 5.44 1.60 Global 6.60 6.23 1.06 Global / Macro 12.28 6.07 2.02 Market neutral 2.09 13.48 0.16 Short/Long 5.50 8.88 0.62 Emerging Market 9.23 11.05 0.84 Convertible Arbitrage 6.98 8.34 0.84 Dedicated Short Bias (1.95) 16.40 (0.12) Fixed Income Arbitrage 3.66 6.81 0.54 Source: Credit Suisse/ Tremont hedge index Notes: The mean returns are annually compounded returns over the period 2000 to November 2009, The annualized standard deviations were computed from of the standard deviation of monthly returns for each investment style. Risk-adjusted returns are obtained by dividing the mean return by the standard deviation. In 1990 the entire hedge fund industry was estimated at $20 billion. At the end of 2008, global hedge fund industry was estimated to be worth $1 trillion with 8350 active funds. It has gained a lot of popularity in the last decade and is one of the fastest growing industries. While hedge funds are well established in US and Europe, they have also been growing rapidly in Asia. Hedge funds have posted attractive returns. A seven year annualised return of 2.47% posted by Hedge Fund Research (HFR) from 2003 to 2009, higher than the SP 1200 of 1.18%. Hedge funds are seen as natural hedge to control downside risk because they employ investment strategies believed to generate returns that are uncorrelated to traditional asset classes. Hedge funds differ in strategies- a macro fund such as quantum fund generally take a directional view by betting in particular bond market or a currency movement. Other funds specialise in corporate events such as mergers or bankruptcies. They also vary widely in investment strategies and the amount of financial leverage. In the recent financial crisis, hedge funds have been heavily criticised in terms of their strategies and also for the fact that in 2008, they have had hard time fulfilling their absolute return targets. There have been other criticisms towards hedge fund regarding this particular crisis. Stromqvist (2009) writes that ever since the growth of hedge fund industry there has always been discussions regarding the role of hedge funds in a financial crisis. The main focus of the criticism was on highly leveraged hedge funds and that they may have a large impact on price stability on both currencies and equities. In an article written in The Times, Dillow (2008) observes that even though average return of hedge funds in 2008 has been poor, they have not been a serious source of instability in the wider financial system. Regardless of the recent financial crisis, hedge funds still generate a growing number of interests all around the world. Due to their private nature, it is difficult to obtain information about the operations of individual hedge funds and reliable summary statistics about the industry as a whole. It is a common belief that investing in hedge funds can have superior returns. Many success stories have emerged in the past and the most popular of which is the George Soros story. In September of 1992, he risked $10 billion on a single  currency  speculation when he shorted the British pound, which gave him an international fame. He was right, and in a single day he successfully generated a profit of $1 billion â‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" ultimately, it was reported that his profit on the transaction almost reached $2 billion. Therefore, he is famously known as the the man who broke the  Bank of England. The greates investor: George Soros, http://www.investopedia.com/university/greatest/georgesoros.asp 16-12-09 As seen in Table 1, the hedge funds as a group can generate positive returns. For example, over the period 1990-1997, all the hedge funds had positive absolute returns. Global/Macro funds obtained mean returns of 28.1% p.a. with a standard deviation that is comparable to equity funds. Traditional asset allocation makes the most of the use of equities, bonds, real estate and private equity to invest in a portfolio that maximizes returns and minimizes the portfolio risk. Therefore, in an investment portfolio hedge funds can play a vital role in maximising returns. Moreover, in a bear market, many investment and fund mangers find it dull to just beat the market index, which may have negative returns. They generally prefer to go short or avoid long positions to have positive returns. Choosing an appropriate hedge fund to invest increases the possibility of obtaining positive absolute returns. It is also generally believed that hedge funds have returns that are generally uncorrelated with the traditional asset classes. In fact, hedge funds may even have a lower risk profile. For example, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter (2000) reported that hedge funds exhibit a low correlation with traditional asset classes, suggesting that hedge funds should play an important role in strategic asset allocation. The answer to the question Why invest in Hedge funds? simply is to make money. The common analogy in all hedge funds strategies and the underlying rationale for investing in hedge funds is the search for absolute returns. This is sometimes called alpha. Alpha is the extra return a skilled manager can produce over and above the market return (or beta). Whereas many conventional fund managers aim simply to outperform their chosen benchmark index, hedge fund managers seek to produce positive gains in all market conditions. http://www.fleetstreetinvest.co.uk/shares/trend-investing/hedge-fund-investing-00128.html Research Question By using quantitative study, I will try to answer the following questions: Why investors invest in hedge funds? To answer this question I will be looking at the return, risk and performance associated with investing in hedge fund and how the fund mangers. By looking at the annualised return, standard deviation and risk adjusted returns of different styles of hedge funds their performance can be measured. What are the issues relating the investment in terms of risk, return and performance measurement? Although hedge funds are popular in terms of an investment vehicle, there are various issues. The issues related are its cost/ management fee structures, collection of data, survivorship bias and selection bias. Various performance measure techniques are available for hedge funds too. I will be looking at some of the performance measurement approaches. Purpose There are several purpose for this paper. First is to give an overview of hedge fund as an investment vehicle with a short description of different characteristics and styles of hedge funds. Second is to describe why hedge funds are attractive for investors and fund managers by presenting different theories where risk and returns of hedge funds are investigated in order to evaluate the performance measures. Third purpose is to investigate the issues related to the investment in hedge funds where several sets of issues are evaluated and various performance measures are identified. LITERATURE REVIEW There is no one particular definition of hedge fund as mentioned earlier. According to the Investment Company Act 1940 of the US, hedge funds were defined by their low degree of regulatory controls. In comparison to mutual funds, hedge funds were seen to have higher level of risk. This led to a 100-investor limit as well as wealth requirement of the investors. Fung and Hsieh (1999) claim that another reason for 100-investor limit is the use of leverage and short selling in hedge funds. The limit restrictions were later abandoned and wealth requirement lowered. Many definitions of hedge funds have been cited-most of them mainly based on its characteristics. Some of them are: Investment companies that by their charter can buy on margin, sell short, hold warrants, convertible securities and commodities and otherwise engage in aggressive trading tactics in order to profit from forcasting market swings.- Polhman, Ang and Hollinger (1978) A mutual fund that employs leverage and uses various techniques of hedging- Soros (1987) hedge funds are vehicles that allow private investors to pool assets to be invested by a fund manager. Unlike mutual funds, hedge funds are commonly structured as private partnerships and thus subject to only minimal SEC regulation. Moreover, because hedge funds are only lightly regulated their managers can pursue investment strategies involving, for example, heavy use if derivatives, short sales and leverage.- Bodie, Kane and Marcus (2008). Murguia and Umemoto (2004) claims that the reason why there is no proper definition of hegdge funds is because they are not classified by the different asset classes but by the type of strategies employed by the fund mangers is what classifies them. Such strategies range from very aggressive to conservative, which is the reason why there is no clear definition. Several studies have been carried out about hedge funds performance and risk issues. Fung and Hsieh (1997a) extend Sharpe (1992) style analysis and conclude that there are more diversified hedge fund strategies and suggested that hedge fund strategies are more dynamic. The literatures also conclude that option-based factors can enhance the power of explaining hedge fund returns. Brown, Goetzmann and Ibbotson (1999) examine the performance of offshore hedge funds and attribute fund performance to style effects rather than managerial skills. Brown, Goetzmann and Liang (2003) found, in a study using the TASS database, that fund of hedge funds reduce by a third the standard deviation of monthly hedge fund returns, as well as significantly reduce the value at risk of hedge fund investment. Hence, fund of hedge funds can also provide significant diversification potential. A well-diversified fund of hedge fund manager can therefore take advantage of market-specific risks while maintaining low correlations to stock, bond, and currency markets. As a result of which the fund of hedge fund manager can provide superior returns and generate alpha which reflects managerial skills. More generally, since fund of hedge funds deliver more consistent returns with lower volatility than individual hedge funds, they are considered to be ideal for diversifying traditional portfolios. During 1993â‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"2001, fund of hedge funds outperformed the SP 500 index on a risk-adjusted basis (Gregoriou, 2003a). Koh, Koh, Lee and Phoon(2004) state that traditional asset allocation optimizes the use of equities, bonds, real estate and private equity to invest in a portfolio that maximizes returns and minimizes the portfolio risk. Thus, hedge funds become vital in enhancing returns in an investment portfolio. Following the growth in hedge fund industry, fund-of-hedge funds (FOF) have become more and more popular. Liang (2003) states that FOF mixes various strategies and asset classes together and creates more stable long-term investment returns than any of the individual funds. It invests in underlying hedge funds and diversifies the fund specific risks and relieves burdens on investor to select and monitor managers, and providing asset allocation in dynamic market environments. Fund-of-funds require less initial investment as compare to hedge funds and therefore are more affordable for small investors. To participate in the investment, small investors may be willing to pay extra fees as it might be the only way for them. Previous studies in this area by Brown, Goetzmann and Liang (2002) conclude that combining hedge funds with fund-of-funds not only causes the double counting but also hides the difference in fee structures between hedge funds and fund-of-funds. Liang (2003) state that a hedge funds charges a management fee and incentive fee while a fund-of-funds not only charges these fees at a fund-of-fund level but also passes hedge fund level fees in the form of after fee returns to the fund-of-fund investors whether or not the fund-of-funds make a profit. Brown, Goetzmann and Liang (2002) examine this issue and propose an alternative fee which provide a better incentive for fund-of-fund managers and reduce the cost for investors under the current fee structure, which is that the fund-of-fund managers absorb the underlying hedge fund fees and establish their own incentive fees at the fund-of-fund level. Liang (2003) conclude that because of the above issues fund-of-funds need to be separated from hedge funds in academic studies and address the difference in performance, risk and fee structures. However, the FOF mangers can add value to the portfolio through selection, construction and continuous monitoring of the portfolio. They provide professional services and have access to the information that are expensive and difficult to obtain otherwise. The FOF mangers quite often use different investment strategies and styles through a diversified portfolio of individual fund managers. Considering these advantages for an investor, investing in fund of hedge funds is not cheap. The cost can be as high as the cost of buying a building, according to Koh, Koh, Lee and Phoon (2004). This structure allows for more diversified portfolio and much reduced risk at the fund level which comes at a price. More diversified the portfolio is it is more likely that it will incur more incentive fees. Therefore, there are many persuasive reasons why investing in hedge funds are considered as alternative investments. Some uninformed investors may be misled about the risks and returns on hedge funds as it relies heavily on statistical compilation from the database vendors which is filled with data bias such as survivorship bias and selection bias. Fung and Hsieh (2001a) found that estimates of survivorship biases differed across two commonly used databases, HFR and TASS. The survivorship bias was much higher in TASS than that in HFR. They estimated that survivorship bias would over-report hedge fund mean returns by about 1.5% to 3% per annum. Brooks and Kat (2001) stated that around 30% of newly established funds do not survive the first three years, primarily due to poor performance. Thus, not including defunct funds is likely to lead to over-estimation of the returns and profile of hedge fund industry.

A Pragmatic Approach for Comparative Analysis of Linear and Rotary Generators :: Essays Papers

A Pragmatic Approach for Comparative Analysis of Linear and Rotary Generators ABSTRACT This paper identifies the need for consolidating analysis techniques for the purpose of designing linear electrical generation systems. Additionally, it identifies a need for concise system development tools that help designers make practical comparisons between linear and rotary machines. INTRODUCTION The basic principles for converting mechanical energy to electrical energy have been known for over a century. It would seem that after this much time, advancements in electrical generation should have reached their limits; however, up to the late 1980’s and early 90’s the use of linear generators for the generation of electricity has not been seriously considered [1] [4]. Linear generators and motors are classified as linear motion electromagnetic systems (LMESs) [1]. LMESs that are used as electric generators function by directly utilizing the translational (back and forth or up and down) thrust from mechanical systems to generate electricity as opposed to the more conventional generation approach of rotational mechanical energy conversion. For an engineer to determine the feasibility of using a linear electric generator in a system’s design many comparisons between rotary and linear machines must be made. Several points to consider when making this comparison include: practicality of using linear power generation for that particular system, cost to build and design, total system efficiency, role of modern day power electronics, type of driving force (linear or rotational) applied to the generator system, system power factor, force density and force ripple on the drive components, cost to maintain, and the system’s reliability. The relative weights of these considerations will vary from one system to the next. The motivation behind this question was the decision on whether to use a linear or rotary generator on a buoy driven, ocean wave electrical generator project [6]. During this decision process, many opinions and assumptions between these competing systems were made, but finding hard data that compa red the two methods was not readily available. Taking the time to thoroughly evaluate the electrical and mechanical technical aspects of this choice (rotary vs. linear) conflicted with the tight scheduling requirements of the project. This situation forced the team to make a best approximation based on limited experience instead of a deliberate and thoroughly evaluated approach. WHY LINEAR GENERATORS ARE USED Electrical energy generation is being expanded by creative innovation, and linear generators are a large part of this trend.

Golden Ratio

Golden ratio ; The Definition of Beauty â€Å"Geometry has two great treasures: one is the Theorem of Pythagoras; the other, the division of a line into extreme and mean ratio. The first we may compare to a measure of gold; the second we may name a precious jewel. †Ã‚   Johannes Kepler, 1571-1630 The golden ratio is present in everyday Life. The golden proportion is the ratio of the shorter length to the longer length which equals the ratio of the longer length to the sum of both lengths. It can be expressed algebraicay like : This ratio has always been considered most pleasing to the eye.It was named the golden ratio by the Greeks. In the world of mathematics, the numeric value is called â€Å"phi†, named for the Greek sculptor Phidias. The Golden Ratio is also known as the golden section, golden mean or golden rectangle. The Golden Rectangle has the property that when a square is removed a smaller rectangle of the same shape remains, a smaller square can be removed an d so on, resulting in a spiral pattern. It is a unique and important shape in mathematics which also appears in nature, music, and is often used in art and architecture. Our human eye „seesâ€Å" the golden rectangle as a beautiful geometric form.Leonardo Fibonacci discovered the unusual properties of the numeric series, that’s how it was named. It is not proven that Fibonacci even noticed the connection between the Golden Ratio meaning and Phi. The Renaissance used the Golden Mean and Phi in their sculptures and paintings to achieve vast amounts balance and beauty. Throughout the centuries, artists have used the golden ratio in their own creations. An example is â€Å"post† by Picasso. The Golden Ratio also appears in the Parthenon in Athens. It was built about 440 B. C. ; it forms a perfect Golden Rectangle. Another example of the Golden Ratio is shown in Egyption Pyramids.Ancient Egyptions used the Golden Ratio to build their pyramids. The pyramids show one o f the first examples of using the golden ratio in architecture. The Golden Ratio was used to build these wonders of the world back in around 2500 B. C. In India, the Golden Mean was used in the construction of the Taj Mahal, which was completed in 1648. After writing this essay an interesting result has occurred. Now I see the examples of the Golden Ratio everywhere. It is like my eyes were opened whole time but didnt take any attention about those detais. And I'm glad because it changed.

Introduction to York Essays

Introduction to York Essays Introduction to York Essay Introduction to York Essay The aim of this project is to prove or disprove if York is a Regional Shopping Centre. To prove or disprove this theory. I have set out a set of hypothesis, that are what make up a Regional Business Centre. By the end of the project depending on weather York has met enough of the requirement, I will be able to conclude if York is infact a, Regional Business Centre.York is situated in North Yorkshire on the east coast of the UK (see fig 1.0). York has excellent motorway links to all regions of the UK. York by train is simple, excellent rail links bring you from London, Edinburgh, and Manchester in around 2 hours. Situated midway between Edinburgh and London. York is within comfortable travelling times of most regions in the UK. Travelling to York by train is probably the easiest of all, situated on the east coast main line, in the centre, it is home to the train company GNER, York has rail links to all major cities. My task is to find out if your is a regional shopping centre (RSC), t o do this I will be examining the central business district (CBD) and completing the analysis of certain hypotheses to determine my final thoughts.Although York is a relatively small city, its is historical, and houses over 2000 shops, which means that it pulls in a lot of tourists which will be shopping and also pulls people in just for shopping purposes. York also has one of thepedestrianized zones in the UK, adding to the safety of the tourist and shoppers in York. The city boasts many good places of interest, ranging from museums, galleries, restraunts and shops. One of the main geographical features of York is the two rivers it is based on, the rive Ouse and the river Foss (left). The Ouse, being the main river, has many boat trips and even boat hire available everyday, on a regular time basis. Some more of Yorks features include:York Castle Museum, Eye of YorkEnglands most popular museum of everyday lifeYork Minster, DeangateLargest medieval cathedral in northern Europe, compl eted in 1472 after 250 years construction. (1st picture)National Railway Museum, Leeman RoadA collection of engines, trams, paintings and photographs supported by special exhibitions and interactive displays.Cliffords Tower, Tower Street13th Century Keep of York Castle, offering great views across the city. (2nd picture)Jorvik Viking Centre, CoppergateTake a time-car journey back 1,000 years to a reconstruction of the Viking city of Jorvik, (York).Resources that I have used to complete my tasks.Books To find out about York and the people it attracts I used some books to research background information on the city, and up-to-date information on the sort of businesses in and around York.Worksheets Taken from school these sheets help to focus me on the task that is at hand.Computer/Internet Up-to-the-minute and fast to look something up, make computers one of the best ways to find maps and/or background information about Yorks CBD.Leaflets that can be acquires from just walking aro und town or looking in a tourist information centre, will help to recognise where main interest points are in York.Fieldwork notebook this notebook contains all of the information that our group recovered from the day of fieldwork.Hypothesis 1.) Most shops in the CBD are comparison stores.I would expect to find the most shops in York to be comparison. On Coney Street(fig 1.3 and 2.0) and fig we found that all but two or three shops, which were bakeries, were comparison, (as shown in fig 2.0). Coney Street seems to be used as the main source of comparison shops in York as the other main street in York (parliament street) is used mainly for services. Coney Street is ideally suited for comparison shops because of its size and shape. It is very long and so allows more shops to fit, but it is quite narrow so u can get from one shop to another easily. There are many comparison shops in Coney street because the rent prices for the street are so high, and therefore the companies that rent properties in the area must be successful and therefore have a high profit margin, to do this they need to sell high order good, which is what comparison shops do.The shops in the area must also consider that in order for them to be successful, and therefore be able to afford the rent prices they must aim to cater for the targeted age group, from our questionnaires, we found that the majority of people were under 25, this is why most of the shops would be where people of 25 and under would visit. Looking at other Regional shopping centres, such as Leeds and Manchester, and many shopping villages aswell the shops found on Coney Street are usually found in many other regional shopping centres, these are chain stores. Coney Street serves its purpose as a main street in a regional shopping centreHypothesis 2.) Most people shopping in the CBD are from outside YorkI wouldnt expect many of the people in the Yorks centre to be from the centre of York, and I would expect that there would be quite a number of people from out side of York. On the day we did the fieldwork the weather was bad, it was cold, wet and slightly windy. We thought that because of this people wouldnt be out as much, and if they were they would be moving fast to avoid the rain. Tourists would be at an inside attraction rather than out site seeing.If the weather had been different and it had been a day with good weather, I would have thought that there would be more people out, with people sitting on benches and lingering, but they could not do this when we were doing the fieldwork because it was raining an so the benches were wet. Once started interviewing people we noticed that many people did not want to take part, we came to the conclusion that this was because thy did not want to stop, because of the weather, and that they did not want to get wet. Many of the shoppers did come from York but there were still a few from outside of York. I think that there were more people from York because they w ere on their lunch break, as the fieldwork took place at 1pm, and that tourists would be at an indoor attraction because of the poor weather. Although shown by our figures most people visit daily to York, I would have thought that you would pay weekly or even less visits to Yorks CBD if it were to be a RSC.Hypothesis 3.) Most people will travel to York by car.I think that most people will have been travelling to York by car, as the weather was bad and people will not want to get wet whilst walking or waiting for public transport. Even if the day was sunny I would still expect most people to come by car as they need something to carry home their shopping in. There are many car parks in and around town and this provides relatively easy parking.From our questionnaires we decided that people were prepared from about a 1-1/2 hour radius around York. Our results showed different as we found that not nearly as many people came by car as we expected in fact less than 1/4 travelled to York b y car, although this was still a large section of the people. With more people walking than using a car. Although at this time of day it may have been explain as people being at work or collage, people who would travel by car, were not out on the streets.Hypothesis 4.) The CBD will have many traffic restrictions.I think that there will be a lot of traffic restrictions in York city centre as if there were not, the amount of pedestrians mixing with a lot of cars would end up with accidents. This would make shops less accessible too. We did traffic counts by having one person stand on each side of the road, one person tallies down the amount of traffic going left, the other the amount of traffic going right, we did this for a set amount of time (10 minutes). Keeping the traffic count down with traffic restrictions makes the consumers feel safer and encourages them to explore more shops, thus spending more money. From our research we were right about the traffic restrictions there were virtually no vehicles that passed us in the 10-minute period that we were recording. All shopping centres should have strict traffic restriction, as they prevent accidents and encourage sales.Hypothesis 5.) The flow of pedestrians will be towards the CBDThe direction of travel at the time we were investigating could have been mixed between morning shoppers leaving and afternoon shoppers arriving, the time was 1pm. I would have thought that at this time though, most people would be travelling to the city centre, for lunch, or just to the main areas of comparison shops just for bargain hunting. We did a pedestrian count in the same way that we did the traffic flow count. There was only a slight difference in direction, this could because of the above mentioned reason or it could be because the centre of York is accessible I two different directions as you can circle around onto another street to explore more shops. As it was a dull day people may have been moving to get out of the rai n in no particular direction.Hypothesis 6.)The advantages of shopping in the CBD overcome the DisadvantagesI would expect advantages of shopping in York to overcome the disadvantages. I know from experience that York is often very fully, if the disadvantages out weighed the advantages this would not be the case and York would almost certainly not be as big a city as it is. In the questionnaire there were questions about the pros and cons of York. Many of the cons were from locals about parking, this is why park and ride has been introduces from outside of the CBD, but a lot of the tourist didnt have cons. The advantages were recorded and most of them were about cleanliness. There always seems to be someone cleaning, said one woman. There are scarabs going around York each day, these are miniature dustbin vans.EvaluationOn the day the weather was not to good, it was a dull, wet, and windy day. This meant that a lot of people were rushing and so avoided answering our questionnaires. T he weather will have had a large effect on the pedestrian and vehicle counts and the questionnaire answers.The day, was a weekday, so many people will have been at work, and the time was 1-3pm this is usually a lunch break, meaning that this played havoc with the pedestrian flow, and direction of travel, as people were rushing back and forth from cafes and snack shops, in their lunch break. If I were to repeat this task, I would come on a Saturday, at either an earlier or later time, this would account for people on lunch breaks and the people working would be cut down, as it was a weekend. I would try to come on a day where the weather was better as well, a sunny, dry day where people would be lingering on benches and such, and would be more prepared to answer questionnaires.The weather played a key factor in our investigation, and should not be overlooked, there is no doubt that humidity and other weather factors such as pressure effect people, behaviour patterns alter dramaticall y depending on what the weather is like, or indeed a countries climate. As it was cold on the day we were in town people seemed to be moving in set directions and not wandering about too much, but on the day that I repeated the experiment in my local shopping area in Acomb, people were seen to be stopping to look in shop windows and walking back wards and forwards with no planned motion or direction.There were also faults in the way we collected some of the data, in the way that when we were collecting data on the environmental survey, we had to give opinions on certain factors of the city, this data is obviously subjective but we had to give it a number to rate it, therefore changing it into objective data, this was hard because not everybody had the same views and we had to average out, thus making our results in accurate.Another problem was our questionnaires, this wouldnt have been such a problem if it wasnt for the bad weather, the results we did get were rushed, and most peopl e did not want to answer any questionnaires, because they did not want to get wet. Even though we had an umbrella people still did not feel like stopping.People who stopped were mostly tourists or old people, as everyone else was in a rush because of lunchtime.

A Runners Guide to Writing

A Runners Guide to Writing Writers, Even though it may cut into your writing time, picking up a running habit can help you become a more motivated, disciplined, and well-paid writer. Heres my advice for running and writing: 1. Just thinking about it doesnt get you anywhere. With both running and writing, you have to actually do the work, and not just think Boy, I should really do some work today. In both running and writing, its easier to keep up your pace and good habits when youve got plenty of momentum. If you need a little help getting started, Fitness Magazines Running 101  guide is a great place for beginning runners to get their bearings. 2. Consistent work is required to make progress. You are never going to beat any personal bests when it comes to running speed unless you run on a regular basis. Likewise, you arent going to finish that novel without putting in regular effort. If you go too long between sessions, itll almost feel like you have to start from scratch. 3. It doesnt have to be a solo pursuit. Some athletes prefer to run alone, but others prefer to run with a group. Likewise, while writing does require some degree of isolation, you can find the support you need to keep you motivated through social connections. Try doing a work-in-progress readings at your local bookstore, or workshopping your piece with a local writers group. 4. Youll hurt yourself if you go at it too hard. Run too long or too hard, and youll risk an injury. Carpal tunnel jokes aside, this applies to writers as well, who can burn themselves out when working under a tight deadline. Even marathon runners take a break the day after a race: If you can bang out 40 pages in one day, thats awesome, but give your brain (and your fingers) some time to recuperate afterwards. 5. Do it, rain or shine. Once you have a streak going, you wont want to break it. A little rain shouldnt stop you from running, and it will even make you feel happy on a dreary day. Likewise, forcing yourself to write a page or two on a day when you mental weather is a bit gloomy is a great way to feel like youre in control of your future as a writer. Once youve developed discipline, its almost like the work does itself. Ill always remember the day I went out on a casual jog, looked down at my phone, and saw Id run a 10k without even trying to. Likewise, with disciplined writing habits inspired Picked up a running habit? Write about your experiences for one of these fitness magazines: Runners World Submission Guidelines TrailRunner Magazine Submission Guidelines Canadian Running Submission Guidelines Womens Running Submission Guidelines Womens Adventure Submission Guidelines

Work Place Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Work Place Analysis - Essay Example Work Place Analysis Business organizations have been established to serve varied purposes. Financial enterprises, of which one belongs and works for, served the needs of diverse clientele and stakeholders. Since more organizations have opted to become global, competition becomes fiercer and stiffer. Clients are able to differentiate on various financial institutions that apparently offer similar services in terms of three relevant factors: organizational culture, management and leadership style, and ethical considerations. In this regard, the current paper aims to present a more in-depth analysis of one’s work place in terms of these three factors and how the presence or absence of these crucial ingredients affect the attainment of organizational goals. An organization’s culture was learned to comprise of a set of symbols and components which include the company’s observable atmosphere, shared values, common assumptions, stories-rites-rituals-symbols, and cultural roles. As a financial organization, one’s work place defined in mission and vision statements as follows: ‘to become a consistently excellent leader in providing varied financial services to a wide array of clients and that which caters to their distinct and specific needs’. Given this statement, the financial organization had developed a recognizable behavior that exudes focusing on providing customer satisfaction through the training and development of its human resources. Thus, the organization has been noted by customers to provide excellent customer service through the exemplary behavior and conduct of all personnel they get to interact with. The behavior that exhibited conformity to ideals of providing excellent customer service incl udes sharing the following corporate philosophy: Values for Customer Service: Being attentive to customers’ needs and demands; Exuding a happy and optimistic disposition while attending to customers’ needs; Offering personalized service; Finding out other products and services which could be extended beyond what is being asked for; and Surpassing the customers’ expectations for services rendered. Likewise, the organization has also recognized that a fully motivated staff and personnel would be able to deliver the expected values for customer service if and when they are duly trained and develop to respond to the customers’ varied needs and demands. As such, the values for employees are hereby part of the corporate philosophy: Values for Employees The organization recognizes the crucial role and importance of human resources towards delighting the customers and achieving organizational goals; Regular training and development programs that focus on customer service, performance of responsibilities; and preparing for advancement are frequently scheduled and conducted; and Employees are to be provided with incentives and benefits with include promotions, bonuses, as well as acknowledgements to reward exemplary performance in providing excellent customer service, as well as in contributing to the achievement of organizational goals. Given the shares values, it is therefore part of the organization’s culture that the following common assumptions are adhered to: integrity, honesty, commitment in one’s performance of duties and responsibilities, professionalism, respect for authority, and conformity to the code of discipline and work ethics as stipulated in the organization’s policies and procedures. It is therefore a familiar practice to encourage customer feedback through brief customer survey forms that are provided by the bank tellers and front desk personnel to encourage solicitation of information from the

Homework Debate Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Homework Debate - Essay Example I am not sure that there are really positive effects of homework. I know myself that if I understand the class, homework goes very fast. When I do not, it does not matter whether I have homework because I do not understand what I am doing. I often think that homework is redundant and it really does not help me. I think it is a good idea to practice things, but if your parents cannot help you it does not make a lot of sense. Students have to do more homework because of the No Child Left Behind legislation. Because teachers teach to the standardized tests, we have more homework than ever before and it takes a long time to complete, depending on what grade you are in. There are no statistics that really say that homework is valuable to a student and it is not something that everyone likes to do or that they do it well. Homework also can lower self-esteem. When a student does well on their homework, they get a better grade than if they do not. Many times homework is graded as a separate part of what a student must do to pass. If they do their homework well, they are often happy to do more of it. However, if they do not do well their self-esteem suffers. I know many students who are upset because their homework scores are lower than their test scores and they do not know why; teachers do not explain why these scores are different. Some teachers agree that homework should be abolished. According to Shola Adenekan, some schools are trying to get rid of homework in England. One of the reasons that teachers state is the fact that many children do not have time to play when they have to spend so much time on homework. Many teachers are looking at ways that they may be able to change how homework looks. Research does not support that homework is of value. A 2006 report in Time Magazine by Claudia Wallis describes information from two books about how homework is not of value. Some of the statistics from the report include: 3. Harris Cooper, from Duke University did