Aqr Delta Strategy Essay

DANIEL BERGSTRESSER LAUREN COHEN RANDOLPH COHEN CHRISTOPHER MALLOY AQR’s DELTA Strategy In the summer of 2011, the principals at AQR Capital Management met in their Greenwich, CT, office to decide how best to market their new DELTA strategy. After launching in the late summer of 2008, the DELTA strategy had compiled an excellent track record, but David Kabiller, a Founding Principal and the Head of Client Strategies at AQR, was frustrated that the fund had not grown faster in light of its exceptional performance. In Kabiller’s experience, the combination of a solid track record plus an innovative product usually led to explosive growth in assets under management (AUM), but that had not been the case so far with DELTA. The DELTA strategy was a product that offered investors exposure to a basket of nine major hedge fund strategies. The DELTA strategy was innovative in two ways. First, in terms of its structure, AQR implemented the underlying strategies using a well-defined investment process, with the goal of delivering exposure to a well-diversified portfolio of hedge fund strategies. Second, in terms of its fees, the new DELTA strategy charged relatively lower fees: 1 percent management fees plus 10 percent of performance over a cash hurdle (or, alternatively, a management fee of 2 percent only). This fee structure was low relative to the industry, where 2 percent management fees plus 20 percent of performance, often with no hurdle, was standard. These features, while distinct relative to other related â€Å"hedge fund replication† products, had yet to fully resonate with investors, and Kabiller needed to decide on a more effective marketing approach given the large number of competitors entering this space. AQR AQR was established in 1998 and headquartered in Greenwich, CT. The founding Principals of the firm included Clifford Asness, David Kabiller, Robert Krail, and John Liew, who had all worked together at Goldman Sachs Asset Management before leaving to start AQR. Asness, Krail, and Liew had all met in the Finance PhD program at the University of Chicago, where Asness’ dissertation had focused on momentum investing. AQR’s over 200 employees managed $24.0 Billion in assets. A large amount of these assets were invested in hedge fund strategies. Professors Daniel Bergstresser (HBS), Lauren Cohen (HBS), Randolph Cohen (MIT), and Christopher Malloy (HBS) prepared this case. HBS cases are developed solely as the basis for class discussion. Cases are not intended to serve as endorsements, sources of primary data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management. Copyright  © 2011, 2012 President and Fellows of Harvard College. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, call 1-800-5457685, write Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston, MA 02163, or go to www.hbsp.harvard.edu/educators. This publication may not be digitized, photocopied, or otherwise reproduced, posted, or transmitted, without the permission of Harvard Business School. 212-038 AQR’s DELTA Strategy Hedge funds Voor- en nadelen Hedge Fund: While open-end mutual funds had to register with the SEC, calculate and publish daily net asset values (NAVs), and provide investors with daily liquidity, hedge funds were not automatically regulated by the SEC and enjoyed as much flexibility as they could negotiate with their clients with respect to liquidity. In exchange for this light-touch regulation, hedge funds were restricted in their marketing: only high net worth and institutional investors could directly invest in these funds. Nevertheless, academic work had by the late 1990s established that hedge funds offered a risk exposure that was less correlated with broad market indexes than most mutual funds, and potentially offered high risk-adjusted returns. The performance of the hedge fund industry during the 2001-2002 recession was  particularly good; Exhibit 1 shows that while stock market indices (S&P and NASDAQ) fell dramatically during this period, broad hedge fund indices (e.g., DJCS_Hedge and HFRI_FW, which were designed to track the overall performance of the hedge fund industry) rose. In response to the perception that hedge funds truly offered outperformance, institutional money flowed into hedge funds during the late 1990s and 2000s, and the size of the industry grew rapidly. Exhibit 2 charts the growth in the number of funds and total AUM (assets under management) in the hedge fund industry since 1997. With this growth in assets and managers, questions began to surface about the role of hedge funds in a portfolio and whether there were other ways to capture those returns without being exposed to some of the negatives of hedge fund investing. Alternatives to hedge funds Although many investors were attracted to the possibility of obtaining high returns and/or low covariance with other investments in their portfolio, many still found hedge funds themselves to be unappealing. Among the reasons for their distaste were: a) illiquidity, b) minimum investment requirements, c) high fees, d) the difficulty of selecting the right hedge fund manager, e) the inability to gain access to high quality funds, and f) the lack of established benchmarks in the industry. Most hedge funds only allowed redemptions on certain dates – often at the end of each quarter. Additionally many funds had an initial lockup – that is, investors could not redeem from the fund for a set period after investing; the period was often one year though some funds had no lockup and others had locked up investors for as long as five years. Most funds also had a minimum investment size of at least $1 million. In addition, many investors found the fees charged by hedge funds, which often amounted to 2% of assets under management (some funds even charged the full cost of their operations to their funds, amounting to more than 2% management fees) plus an additional 20% of profits generated by the fund, to be excessive and hoped to obtain similar benefits at a lower cost. Some investors also found the idea of selecting a portfolio from the many thousands of available hedge funds to be an intimidating task, especially given the lack of transparency (both as to investment process and holdings) that was common among hedge fund managers. And of course even if  an investor could identify a set of funds that made up an attractive portfolio, the managers of those funds might not accept an investment at that time or from that investor. Finally, in contrast to the mutual fund industry, there was a lack of established benchmarks fo r hedge funds, making it difficult to assess skill versus luck and idiosyncratic versus systematic returns. While hedge fund indices existed, these were just peer groups, not true benchmarks, and were biased by a number of things, including style drift and survivorship bias. In response to these criticisms, alternative products were soon introduced into the marketplace. 2 AQR’s DELTA Strategy 212-038 Funds of Hedge Funds (FOFs) One popular alternative to direct hedge fund investing was the funds of hedge funds (FOFs) structure. FOFs aimed to take investors’ money and allocate it among a select group of hedge funds – sometimes among a small number (even in the single digits in some cases), and sometimes among hundreds of funds. onerous= burdensome/ heavy This approach solved a number of the issues facing hedge fund investors, especially those with modest capital. FOFs had less onerous liquidity rules than individual hedge funds, and FOFs were less likely to encounter liquidity problems than individual funds since they could obtain liquidity from a number of underlying funds. Still, FOFs were ultimately subject to the underlying liquidity (both with respect to liquidity terms and underlying holdings) of the funds they were investing in. In addition, a single minimum investment bought a portfolio of many funds, and an experienced and hopefully expert financial professional, or team of such professionals, selected the funds, and chose allocations among them that (presumably) produced a well-optimized portfolio. Finally, FOF managers  claimed that their experience and connections provided access to hard-to-enter funds. Thus FOFs presented an appealing package, and indeed close to half of all money invested in hedge funds came through F OFs. However, many investors were put off by FOF fees, which historically included an additional layer of fees often as high as half the level of hedge fund fees themselves (thus making total fees paid about 1.5 times higher than for direct investing). Multi-strategy Funds Another approach to obtaining an alternative-investment portfolio while avoiding some of the challenges of one-strategy-at-a-time creation was to invest in multi-strategy hedge funds. Such offerings were often made by large hedge fund firms that offered a variety of individual strategies. Investors might have the option to invest in a multi-strategy fund that allocated assets across the different silos within the firm. One major advantage of multi-strategy funds over FOFs was fees: multi-strategy funds typically did not charge an additional fee layer over and above the hedge fund fee (as FOFs did). Further, multi-strategy funds only charged performance fees when the total investment was in the money; whereas, in the case of FOFs and direct single strategy investments, an investor could be subject to performance fees even if the net, aggregate performance wasn’t positive. A second potential advantage of multi-strategy funds was in portfolio construction. Not only was the allocation among strategies performed by professionals, those professionals likely had a high level of insight and visibility into the opportunities available to the individual silo managers. Multi-strategy funds generally offered as good or better liquidity than individual-strategy funds, and of course there was no trouble gaining â€Å"access† to the underlying managers. Multi-strategy funds appeared to offer strong diversification, although in the famous case of the hedge fund Amaranth, investors thought they were investing in a diversified portfolio of strategies. However, extreme losses in one of the portfolio’s silos led to the loss of approximately 75% of total portfolio value. Consequently many investors felt they were not truly diversified if they had a large allocation to a multi-strategy fund, but this could be potentially mitigated through the right amount of transparency into the positions and  risks of the portfolio, or, of course, through diversification among several different multi-strategy funds, thereby minimizing single firm risk. silos= opslagplaatsen 3 212-038 AQR’s DELTA Strategy One potential concern with multi-strategy funds from the investor’s point of view was the question of portfolio manager quality. Although it was possible that a single firm could gather under one roof the very best managers in a variety of specialties, some investors found this implausible. Hedge fund replication Starting in 2006, a number of investment management firms also introduced â€Å"hedge fund replication† products. These strategies, implemented using liquid instruments, purported to give investors a ‘top-down’ exposure to the broad risk exposures of the hedge fund industry. These products could be viewed as an effort to provide ‘hedge fund beta,’ or the systematic part of hedge fund performance. The rationale for these products originated from studies of hedge fund returns that highlighted the idea that the line between ‘alpha’ and ‘beta,’ was potentially fluid. The alternative systematic exposures of hedge funds could be viewed as a kind of â€Å"exotic beta.† If hedge fund returns could be approximated with dynamically traded portfolios of liquid assets, then investors attracted to hedge fund returns, but potentially looking for a liquid or low-fee alternative to actual hedge funds could invest in a ‘hedge fun d replication’ product that attempted to mimic hedge fund returns using liquid assets. These top-down approaches aimed to use statistical methods to create a portfolio of liquid assets that had similar performance to hedge funds as a class. One top-down approach was to use linear regressions, or optimizations, to build a portfolio that had high correlations to historical hedge fund returns. An example of this  approach consisted of three steps. First one would obtain a long-run time series of returns on a diversified portfolio of hedge funds (e.g., the HFRI monthly hedge fund indices were commonly used). Then one would obtain returns on a large number of liquid investments-these could be indexes of stocks (e.g., S&P 500, MSCI EAFE, MSCI Emerging, Russell 2000, etc.), bonds (e.g., US 10-year government bonds), currencies (e.g., EUR-USD Spot Exchange Rate), etc. () Finally, one would use a standard statistical optimizer, or linear regression, to find the portfolio of liquid investments (either long or short and at weights implied by the statistical analysis) that most closely replicated the statistical characteristics of the hedge fund portfolio. Exhibit 3 presents the monthly returns from a set of indices that were commonly used for hedge fund replication purposes. 1 Specifically, the goal was to create a portfolio that historically moved as close to one for one with the hedge fund portfolio, so that it had high correlation with the hedge fund portfolio, and yet also matched other â€Å"statistical moments,† such as volatility, skewness, and kurtosis. Historically, and ideally on a forward-looking basis as well, this portfolio would fulfill a role in the diversified portfolio similar to the role that hedge funds would play. Exhibit 4 plots the recent return performance of a few commonly used hedge fund indices (e.g., DJCS_Hedge, HFRI_FW, and HFRX_Global), which represent composite indices of individual hedge funds and were designed to track the overall return performance of the industry; as well as a fund-ofhedge funds (FOF) index (HFRI_FOF) designed to track the overall return performance of funds of hedge funds. Exhibit 5 presents the return performance of four popular hedge fund replication index products, produced by Merrill Lynch, G oldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and Credit Suisse. Exhibit 6 presents the return performance of the overall hedge fund indices alongside the performance of these hedge fund replication products. 1 This is an excerpt of the data. The full data series is in the Spreadsheet Supplement to the case. 4 AQR’s DELTA Strategy 212-038 AQR’s approach For years, the principals at AQR had been working on understanding the underlying nature of hedge fund returns and exploring the possibility of being able to capture them in a transparent, liquid and cost effective way. Thus, they were initially intrigued by the introduction of these hedge fund replication products, but very soon came to the conclusion that an entirely different approach to delivering exposure to the systematic risk factors of the hedge fund industry was needed. Whereas AQR’s competitors focused on the ‘top-down’ products described above, AQR focused on creating a ‘bottom-up’ approach that sought to deliver significant risk-adjusted returns instead of simply replicating an index by: capturing classical, liquid hedge fund strategies that were uncorrelated with traditional markets, implementing them at low cost, and then bundling these strategies into a wellconstructed single portfolio focusing on portfolio construction, risk management and trading. Origins of AQR’s approach The idea of direct, simplified implementation of core hedge fund strategies was hinted at by the pioneering work into merger arbitrage of Mark Mitchell and Todd Pulvino. Mitchell and Pulvino were both former academics (at Harvard Business School and the Kellogg School of Management, respectively) who subsequently teamed up with AQR in 2001. A simple merger arbitrage strategy, for example, worked as follows: after the announcement by Firm A of a desire to acquire Firm B, the merger arbitrageur made a purchase of the target Firm B shares while shorting the acquirer Firm A’s shares (if the acquisition was to be made in cash, the arbitrageur merely purchased Firm B shares without shorting Firm A). Typically upon the announcement of the merger, the price of the target shares would not rise all the way to the price that would be appropriate if the merger were sure to be completed. When Mitchell and Pulvino studied the merger arbitrage industry, they found that merger arbitrage strategies did deliver substantial risk-adjusted returns. Specifically, the expected returns of putting merger arbitrage  investments into place was high, and while the risk was higher than one might naturally have expected — because mergers tended to break up exactly at times of market stress, and therefore the merger arbitrage strategy had more beta, or market exposure, than might be presumed — nevertheless they found that even accounting for this risk, the performance of a naà ¯ve merger arbitrage strategy that invested in every deal was substantial. Mitchell and Pulvino also looked at the performance of actual merger arbitrage funds. A merger arbitrage fund would be expected to add alpha by correctly identifying which mergers were more or less likely to achieve completion than the market anticipated. So, for example, if the market pricing of a deal was such that the expected return would be zero if the merger was 90% likely to be completed, the merger arbitrageur’s job was to try to figure out whether in fact the merger was substantially more than 90% likely to go through, substantially less than 90%, or about 90%, and then invest only in those deals that were substantially more than 90% likely to go through. What Mitchell and Pulvino found was that merger arbitrage funds made money, but that they did not show an ability to forecast which mergers would close over and above the market’s ability. That is, the outperformance that merger arbitrageurs were generating was no greater than the outperformance that would be generated by a simple strategy that bought every target and shorted every bidder, particularly net of fees. 5 212-038 AQR’s DELTA Strategy This opened the door to a potential strategy for the replication of merger arbitrage: simply participate in every merger arbitrage deal that met a set of basic screens (e.g., size and liquidity). The benefit to investors would be a potentially more diversified portfolio of merger deals than would be obtained from a fund manager who only selected a subset of the deals, and also potentially far lower fees, because there was no need to pay an analyst  to determine which mergers were more or less likely to succeed. With this as a template, one could easily imagine a whole roster of potential hedge fund strategies that could be captured in a systematic way (e.g., long value stocks and short growth stocks, convertible arbitrage, carry trades, trend following trades and trades exploiting other wellknown empirical asset pricing anomalies). Since the early work into merger arbitrage, AQR had spent years researching these other classical hedge fund strategies that could be captured from the bottomup. Bottom-Up versus Top-Down AQR preferred their bottom-up approach for a variety of reasons. First, they felt that many hedge fund strategies earned returns for bearing a liquidity risk premium, which you could not earn by trading solely in liquid instruments as in the hedge fund replication methods. For example, in order to capture the returns from a convertible bond that traded at a discount to fair value because of a liquidity risk premium, you needed to own the convertible bond, not simply liquid assets that were correlated with the convertible bond. Second, since top-down methods aimed to maximize correlations with recent past hedge fund performance, these approaches were necessarily backwardlooking and based on what hedge funds were doing in the past. By contrast, if you ran the actual strategies, one could respond to market opportunities immediately. Finally and perhaps most importantly, AQR felt that the hedge fund indices upon which most top-down replication strategies were based had a variety of biases (e.g., survivorship bias), had too much exposure to traditional markets (i.e., equity and credit beta) and also tended to reflect the weights of the most popular strategies. Since these popular strategies were crowded with many trades, the expected returns on these strategies going forward were potentially lower. In short, while they shared the noble goals of top-down replication products (i.e., attempting to provide liquid, transparent exposure to hedge fund strategies at a lower fee), AQR felt that the approach had fundamental flaws or, as Cliff Asness put it in a speech in October 2007 on hedge fund replication, â€Å"Not Everything That Can Be Done Should Be Done.† AQR’s DELTA Strategy In late 2007, AQR decided to focus their years of research on capturing the classical hedge fund strategies in a systematic way from the bottom up by â€Å"creating our own product that would seek to deliver these strategies in a risk-balanced and efficiently implemented way.† AQR viewed their â€Å"DELTA† product as superior to the newly-introduced replication products that were being marketed as offering ‘hedge fund beta.’ In fact, AQR staff bristled at comparisons between the existing hedge fund replication products and their DELTA product. To ensure that AQR was taking a broad approach and to avoid being insular, they formed an external advisory committee made up of some very seasoned hedge fund investors to help guide the development of the product. The DELTA name was an acronym that reflected the product’s characteristics: ‘Dynamic, Economically Intuitive, Liquid, Transparent and Alternative.’ The portfolio was designed to be uncor related with the overall stock market, and would be diversified across nine broad strategy classes: a Fixed Income Relative Value strategy, a Managed Futures strategy, a Global Macro strategy, insular = bekrompen 6 AQR’s DELTA Strategy 212-038 an Emerging Markets strategy, a Long/Short equity strategy, a Dedicated Short Bias strategy, an Equity Market Neutral strategy, a Convertible Arbitrage strategy, and an Event Driven strategy. Performance AQR decided to go ahead with the creation of the DELTA strategy in the late summer of 2008. By October 1, 2008, the portfolio was fully invested and had begun to compile a track record. At the time, the staff at AQR had worried that this might be â€Å"the worst possible time to be launching a product designed to capture classical hedge fund strategies.† Nonetheless, the DELTA  portfolio performed well in the fourth quarter of 2008 immediately after its launch, an impressive feat given the turbulence in the market. Exhibit 7 charts the monthly performance of the DELTA strategy since inception. Exhibit 8 shows the raw monthly returns of the DELTA strategy, compared to the raw monthly returns of stock market indices (S&P and NASDAQ) and broad hedge fund indices (e.g., DJCS_Hedge and HFRI_FW, which were designed to track the overall performance of the hedge fund industry). Exhibit 8 also presents the â€Å"beta† of the DELTA strategy with respect to these various market and hedge fund indices, while Exhibit 9 graphs the cumulative return performance of the DELTA strategy relative to these indices. Marketing DELTA Although DELTA was off to a great start, Kabiller felt like it was underperforming its potential. By the summer of 2011, despite its excellent performance, growth in DELTA’s AUM had been modest. After giving it a lot of thought, Kabiller identified three primary challenges AQR faced in convincing investors to allocate capital to DELTA. First, many of his institutional clients had grown very comfortable selecting a set of hedge funds and paying them both management and performance fees. Exhibit 10 presents the recent annual returns of some of the largest U.S. hedge funds, many of whom had delivered stellar returns over time. Kabiller was convinced that one of DELTA’s major assets was its ability to deliver hedge fund returns with a significantly lower fee structure. But many of his institutional clients had difficulty assessing just how large an advantage this provided DELTA. For instance, if a client selected the two percent management fee with no performance fee struct ure, how much higher could they expect their after-fee returns to be? Given that performance fees were typically only paid on returns in excess of a cash hurdle, was a twenty percent performance fee really that costly to fund investors? Related considerations applied to investors that invested primarily through Funds of Hedge Funds. These investment vehicles typically added a layer of fees on top of the after-fee performance of their hedge fund investments – typically a one percent management fee and a ten percent performance fee. Due to DELTA’s multi-strategy investment approach, its after-fee performance should perhaps be benchmarked against those of fund-of-funds alternatives. Conveying to such investors the fee advantage of DELTA in simple terms – for instance, how much better their competitors’ pre-fee returns needed to be than those of DELTA to offset the fee differential – would go a long way in convincing them that DELTA was the superior approach. A second challenge in marketing DELTA was the emergence of the so-called hedge fund replication strategies. These strategies were almost the polar opposite of the fund-of-funds – they had modest fees and, because they replicated hedge fund returns using highly liquid indices, they faced little in the way of liquidity risk. Institutional investors interested in low-fee exposure to hedge fund returns found these products attractive, and Kabiller found it challenging to convey the advantages of the DELTA approach. His inclination was to focus on two key limitations of hedge fund replication. First, he felt they relied heavily on the historical relationship between hedge fund returns and major stock and bond market indices. To the extent that the relationship was not stable, 7 212-038 AQR’s DELTA Strategy or to the extent that a large fraction of hedge fund movements could not be captured by an appropriate combination of these indices, the replication approach would be limited in its ability to truly deliver in real time the actual returns being earned by the average hedge fund investor. Second, even if the strategy could replicate a large fraction of the monthly fluctuations in performance of the average hedge fund, Kabiller felt it was likely that a â€Å"top-down† approach would be limited in replicating the actual edge, or â€Å"alpha,† of the average hedge fund. Even if much of the risks to which hedge funds were exposed could be found in broad stock and bond market indices, it was unlikely that any of the informational or liquidity edges they possessed would appear in the returns of these indices. A final challenge Kabiller faced in the marketing of DELTA was its track record. Although it had outpaced the broad HFRI index since its inception in the fall of 2008, th e track record was still a fairly limited one. Moreover, since the central appeal of the product was its ability to match average hedge fund returns  with modest fees, the outperformance ironically posed something of a challenge for DELTA. Kabiller felt it would be critical to understand its source before determining whether it was an aberration or whether they possessed a sustainable edge relative to the index of hedge funds. As Kabiller looked out beyond his infinity pool and into the calm waters of the Long Island Sound, he worried that without a proper grasp of these issues, many rough sales meetings lay ahead for him and his DELTA team. 8 AQR’s DELTA Strategy 212-038 Exhibit 1 Cumulative Return Performance of Hedge Fund Indices versus Stock Market Indices, since 1996. Cumulative Return Performance of Hedge Fund Indices Versus Stock Market Indices 500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 199601 199609 199705 199801 199809 199905 200001 200009 200105 200201 200209 200305 200401 200409 200505 200601 200609 200705 200801 200809 200905 201001 201009 201105 NASDAQ S&P_Index DJCS_Hedge HFRI_FW Source: Bloomberg. 9 212-038 AQR’s DELTA Strategy Exhibit 2 Total Number of Hedge Funds and Total AUM (Assets Under Management) for the Hedge Fund Industry, since 1997. Growth in Hedge Fund Industry (1997-2010) 12,000 $2,500.00 10,000 Number of Hedge Funds 8,000 $1,500.00 6,000 $1,000.00 4,000 $500.00 Hedge Fund AUM (in Billions $) $2,000.00 Number of Hedge Funds Hedge Fund AUM 2,000 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 $- Source: Created by casewriters using data from Hedge Fund Research, www.hedgefundresearch.com, accessed August 2011. 10 212-038 -11- Exhibit 3 Excerpt of Monthly Returns on Indices Commonly Used for Hedge Fund Replication (1996-2011). The full data series is contained in the Spreadsheet Supplement to the case MSCI EM 7.6% -0.6% 1.1% 5.2% 0.1% 0.9% -6.2% 2.6% 1.4% -1.4% 1.7% 1.0% †¦ -2.1% -1.4% 4.3% 0.8% -1.6% -1.9% -0.9% -7.3% -7.4% 9.1% -3.8% 0.0% 7.4% 3.9% 7.0% 6.2% -2.5% 0.5% 15.0% -0.5% 0.5% 10.9% -0.2% 1.0% 4.5% -8.7% -4.3% -8.8% -11.4% -5.4% -7.0% -1.3% -1.2% -3.5% -2.0% -2.5% -3.7% -1.1% -1.7% -2.0% 0.4% 0.1% 0.2% 0.4% -0.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% -2.8% 2.0% 2.4% 2.6% 0.0% 3.0% -0.1% 0.5% 1.6% 2.4% -0.3% 5.4% 2.4% 3.4% 0.2% -0.1% -0.4% 0.0% 0.0% 1.6% 2.7% -0.7% 3.3% 5.7% 2.8% -2.0% 1.3% 2.0% 0.8% 4.0% -0.7% †¦ 4.0% 2.4% †¦ 7.6% -2.0% †¦ 0.8% 0.0% †¦ 2.8% -2.1% †¦ 4.6% -1.2% 3.7% -1.7% 5.6% 2.8% 0.9% 1.2% 2.2% 2.9% 0.9% 4.1% 0.4% 0.0% †¦ -0.7% -0.2% 1.1% 1.7% -0.9% -0.8% 0.6% -1.2% 1.4% 0.0% 1.0% 0.3% 0.0% 1.0% -4.9% 0.9% -4.2% -8.8% 5.7% 0.4% -4.4% 2.1% 0.8% 0.4% 0.4% 1.5% 0.0% -0.5% -0.3% -1.0% -1.4% 3.5% -1.2% 5.3% 3.9% 1.5% 2.6% 0.0% 0.2% -1.7% -0.6% 4.5% -1.4% -1.0% 2.8% 3.0% 1.8% 0.9% 1.0% -0.5% -0.2% -3.6% -1.1% -3.7% -0.3% 3.7% -0.2% 3.4% 0.9% 0.4% 5.1% MSCI EAFE RUSSELL 2000 S&P 500 US TREAS 2YR US TREAS 10YR CURRENCY HFRI HFRI FOF HFRI FW 1/31/1996 1.1% 2.7% 2.9% 2/29/1996 3/29/1996 2.8% 1.9% -0.6% 1.0% 1.2% 1.5% 4/30/1996 5/31/1996 5.3% 3.7% 3.1% 1.5% 4.0% 3.1% 6/28/1996 7/31/1996 8/30/1996 -0.7% -2.9% 2.6% 0.4% -1.9% 1.5% 0.2% -2.1% 2.3% 9/30/1996 10/31/1996 2.2% 1.6% 1.2% 1.6% 2.1% 1.0% 11/29/1996 12/31/1996 †¦ 1.7% 0.8% 2.3% 0.7% †¦ 2.1% 1.3% †¦ 1/31/2011 2/28/2011 0.4% 1.3% 0.1% 0.8% 0.4% 1.2% 3/31/2011 4/29/2011 0.5% 1.3% -0.1% 1.2% 0.1% 1.5% 5/31/2011 6/30/2011 7/29/2011 -1.3% -1.3% -0.3% -1.1% -1.3% 0.4% -1.2% -1.2% 0.2% 8/31/2011 9/30/2011 -4.9% -6.0% -2.6% -2.8% -3.2% -3.9% 10/31/2011 11/30/2011 12/30/2011 4.9% -2.0% -0.9% 1.1% -1.0% -0.4% 2.7% -1.3% -0.4% 1/31/2012 3.8% 1.9% 2.6% Source: Thomson Reuters Datastream. 212-038 AQR’s DELTA Strategy Exhibit 4 Cumulative Return Performance of Overall Hedge Fund Indices, since June 2007. Recent Performance of Hedge Fund Indices 120 110 100 DJCS_Hedge 90 80 70 60 200706 200708 200710 200712 200802 200804 200806 200808 200810 200812 200902 200904 200906 200908 200910 200912 201002 201004 201006 201008 201010 201012 201102 201104 201106 HFRI_FW HFRX_Global HFRI_FOF Source: Bloomberg. 12 AQR’s DELTA Strategy 212-038 Exhibit 5 Cumulative Return Performance of Hedge Fund Replication Indices, since June 2007. Recent Performance of Hedge Fund Replication Products 130 120 110 100 90 80 70 60 200706 200708 200710 200712 200802 200804 200806 200808 200810 200812 200902 200904 200906 200908 200910 200912 201002 201004 201006 201008 201010 201012 201102 201104 201106 ML GS JPM CS Source: Bloomberg. 13 212-038 AQR’s DELTA Strategy Exhibit 6 Comparison of Cumulative Return Performance of Overall Hedge Fund Indices versus Hedge Fund Replication Indices, since June 2007. Comparison of Recent Performance of Hedge Fund Indices Versus Hedge Fund Replication Products 130 120 110 100 90 80 70 60 200706 200708 200710 200712 200802 200804 200806 200808 200810 200812 200902 200904 200906 200908 200910 200912 201002 201004 201006 201008 201010 201012 201102 201104 201106 DJCS_Hedge HFRI_FW HFRX_Global HFRI_FOF ML GS JPM CS Source: Bloomberg. 14 AQR’s DELTA Strategy 212-038 Exhibit 7 Monthly Return Performance of AQR DELTA strategy, Since Inception. AQR DELTA Return Performance 5.00% 4.00% 3.00% 2.00% 1.00% 0.00% -1.00% -2.00% -3.00% -4.00% Source: Company documents. 15 212-038 AQR’s DELTA Strategy Exhibit 8 Monthly Return Performance (and Beta) of AQR DELTA strategy compared to Market Indices (S&P, NASDAQ) and Hedge Fund Indices (DJCS_Hedge, HFRI_FW), since October 2008. Date 200810 200811 200812 200901 200902 200903 200904 200905 200906 200907 200908 200909 200910 200911 200912 201001 201002 201003 201004 201005 201006 201007 201008 201009 201010 201011 201012 201101 201102 201103 201104 201105 Average DELTA 1.22% 1.72% 4.05% 2.79% -0.10% 2.32% 3.09% -0.35% 1.78% 1.93% 4.48% 2.70% -0.31% 0.96% 0.55% -0.66% -0.27% 2.23% 2.18% -3.37% 1.39% 1.62% 2.02% 3.33% 2.47% 1.03% 1.93% -0.41% -0.45% 0.92% 2.31% -0.84% 1.32% NASDAQ -17.73% -10.77% 2.70% -6.38% -6.68% 10.94% 12.35% 3.32% 3.42% 7.82% 1.54% 5.64% -3.64% 4.86% 5.81% -5.37% 4.23% 7.14% 2.64% -8.29% -6.55% 6.90% -6.24% 12.04% 5.86% -0.37% 6.19% 1.78% 3.04% -0.04% 3.32% -1.33% 1.19% 0.09 0.25 0.28 S&P_Index -16.94% -7.48% 0.78% -8.57% -10.99% 8.54% 9.39% 5.31% 0.02% 7.41% 3.36% 3.57% -1.98% 5.74% 1.78% -3.70% 2.85% 5.88% 1.48% -8.20% -5.39% 6.88% -4.74% 8.76% 3.69% -0.23% 6.53% 2.26% 3.20% -0.10% 2.85% -1.35% 0.64% 0.09 0.28 0.32 DJCS_Hedge -6.30% -4.15% -0.03% 1.09% -0.88% 0.65% 1.68% 4.06% 0.43% 2.54% 1.53% 3.04% 0.13% 2.11% 0.88% 0.17% 0.68% 2.22% 1.24% -2.76% -0.84% 1.59% 0.23% 3.43% 1.92% -0.18% 2.90% 0.69% 1.38% 0.12% 1.80% -0.96% 0.64% 0.25 HFRI_FW -6.84% -2.67% 0.15% -0.09% -1.21% 1.66% 3.60% 5.15% 0.25% 2.50% 1.30% 2.79% -0.20% 1.52% 1.28% -0.76% 0.66% 2.49% 1.19% -2.89% -0.95% 1.61% -0.13% 3.48% 2.14% 0.19% 2.95% 0.41% 1.23% 0.06% 1.45% -1.18% 0.66% 0.25 DELTA’s Beta with: DJCS_Hedge’s Beta with: HFRI_FW’s Beta with: Source: Company documents. 16 AQR’s DELTA Strategy 212-038 Exhibit 9 Cumulative Return Performance of AQR DELTA Strategy versus Market Indices (S&P and NASDAQ) and Hedge Fund Indices (DJCS_Hedge and HFRI_FW), since October 2008 Cumulative Return Performance of DELTA versus Market and Hedge Fund Indices 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 DELTA NASDAQ S&P_Index DJCS_Hedge HFRI_FW Source: Bloomberg and company documents. 17 212-038 -18- Exhibit 10 Annual Returns of Largest Hedge Funds (%) Fund Name Winton Futures USD Cls B Millennium International Ltd Transtrend DTP – Enhanced Risk (USD) The Genesis Emerging Mkts Invt Com A Aspect Diversified Programme Aurora Offshore Fund Ltd. Permal Macro Holdings Ltd USD A Canyon Value Realization Cayman Ltd A Permal Fixed Income Holdings NV USD A Absolute Alpha Fund PCC Diversified Caxton Global Investments Ltd GAM U.S. Institutional Trading K4D-10V Portfolio K4D-15V Portfolio Orbis Optimal (US$) Fund GAM Trading II USD Open Double Black Diamond Ltd (Carlson) GoldenTree High Yield Master Fund Ltd Bay Resource Partners Offshore Fund Ltd GAM U.S. Institutional Diversity Firm Name Winton Capital Management Millennium Intl. Management Transtrend BV Genesis Investment Management Aspect Capital Aurora Investment Management Permal Asset Management Canyon Capital Advisors Permal Asset Management Financial Risk Management Caxton Associates GAM Sterling Management Graham Capital Management Graham Capital Management Orbis Investment Management GAM Sterling Management Carlson Capital Goldentree Asset Management GMT Capital Corp GAM Sterling Management Size ($Bil) 9.89 8.84 8.38 6.70 5.71 5.56 5.35 5.21 4.51 4.47 4.40 3.57 3.54 3.54 3.43 3.09 2.98 2.65 2.45 2.43 2001 7.11 15.26 26.36 4.62 15.79 9.82 14.66 12.69 11.50 9.33 31.41 16.34 6.45 39.31 29.01 14.78 11.94 18.30 29.32 9.56 2002 18.34 9.61 26.26 -1.77 19.19 1.31 8.03 5.21 10.47 6.36 26.44 10.69 18.76 43.71 12.15 10.55 2.12 6.24 0.03 4.95 2003 27.75 10.89 8.48 61.98 20.59 13.58 12.56 21.87 17.59 8.07 8.09 14.74 8.46 21.60 10.84 14.49 7.62 31.42 23.24 14.60 2004 22.63 14.68 12.82 31.53 -7.72 8.15 4.86 13.56 9.37 4.06 9.97 3.55 5.56 -0.43 2.25 3.84 4.70 9.89 27.97 6.14 2005 9.73 11.31 5.99 37.86 12.01 9.47 10.65 8.35 7.69 7.00 8.03 4.98 -7.52 -16.97 8.60 4.80 5.08 13.35 30.95 10.48 2006 17.83 16.43 12.04 30.22 12.84 10.95 9.48 14.08 10.48 8.94 13.17 8.68 5.02 6.64 4.95 7.44 21.12 13.21 21.65 16.74 2007 17.97 10.99 22.38 31.68 8.18 13.14 8.90 7.52 8.42 16.33 1.06 9.48 11.62 16.57 6.98 7.93 15.96 4.60 19.84 7.76 2008 20.99 -3.04 29.38 -49.30 25.42 -21.69 -5.16 -28.36 -18.40 -23.02 12.96 7.57 21.82 35.67 -2.49 5.78 -12.40 -38.60 -20.88 -13.96 2009 -4.63 16.28 -11.27 90.44 -11.24 21.26 9.83 55.20 27.32 10.51 5.83 8.32 1.41 3.11 9.92 6.55 28.34 69.94 56.60 6.78 2010 14.46 13.22 14.89 25.06 15.36 7.31 6.38 13.46 10.40 5.36 11.42 7.80 2.46 4.58 -3.93 5.97 9.30 23.61 15.90 -1.14 2011 6.29 8.39 -8.65 -15.29 4.51 -6.01 -3.27 -4.66 -5.28 -2.06 -2.40 -2.32 -4.11 -2.67 -4.19 -2.79 Source: Morningstar Hedge Fund Database, accessed January 2012.

Principles underpinning the role of the practitioner working with children Essay

in this unit I will be explain the principles and values and why reflective practice is needed for a practitioner and what ways they can improve on their practice. I am also learning `what the responsibilities of the practitioner when maintaining professional relationships. The principles and values in a child care setting are in place to give the practitioners a guideline to help keep up hood standard of child care practice. The EYFS framework promotes the four overarching principles. The child’s welfare and safety is one of the main principles because; â€Å"the welfare of the child is paramount.† (Jago, 2011) When a child is under the care of the setting the practitioner will work closely with them; which means that they will get to know the child’s background including any medical information that they need to know about. Also the setting should use correct behaviour management. Never use physical punishment is a main principle as it is used to keep children safe; this means the setting is trying to keep them away from harm and abuse. While in the setting practitioners should follow the emergency procedures so that no one including themselves will get hurt during an evacuation; emergency evacuations should also be carried out so that when there is a fire drill or an actual fire in the setting then the children will know what to do in that type of situation. The author carried out a risk assessment in the setting which involved moving cleani ng substances so that no child could get to them and so that it didn’t cause any harm to the child. Another principle is respect the parent as the primary carer and educator of the child which means the practitioner should work closely with parents to understand their views and wishes and they should be respected where possible. â€Å"Practitioners work with parents and families who are in the care, learning and development of their children and are the child’s first and most enduring educators†. (Ruthierhyme, 2011) Practitioners work with parents if their child is getting a special mention in an assembly then they could invite the parents in to watch. The parent and child come for visits before they actually start at the setting so they know what the setting is like and who their practitioner is; this may help the child to settle in to the setting quicker when they actually start. One of the main principles is upholding the child’s rights and dignity; practitioners have to make sure that they are not stereotyping or discriminating anyone in the setting. This means that if there are a wide variety of cultures in the setting; the practitioner could do arts and crafts from their cultures. If in the setting children want to read or play then the practitioner could let them use multi-cultural dolls and books about other cultures. â€Å"Workers should not discriminate and should encourage children to avoid prejudice† (Park, unknown) The author has done this in the setting by having a boy who is Chinese; so then in the setting the author did a wide range of activities on Chinese New Year so that other children knew about the festival. A point in the CACHE statement of values and principles is â€Å"confidentiality and agreements about confidential information are respected as appropriate unless a child’s protection and well-being are at stake.† (CACHE, 2010) This means that if you are taking notes on a child’s behaviour or reading a child’s file to see special requirements, never leave it lying around for anyone else to see and when you have finished with the file place it in a locked filing cabinet. When practitioners do observe children they should not mention names or the place where the observation has been done. The author had done this in the setting to evaluate a child’s physical development and to see what could be done to improve on these skills. There are many ways that a practitioner can find out about children’s interests; some of these are, by doing observations on the children to see what they like to play with; talk to the children to see what they enjoy doing and what their hobbies may be and also discuss with parents to see what the child likes to do while they aren’t at the setting. There are benefits for the practitioner which include that they can plan a suitable environment for the children; the practitioner can engage with the children to suit their individual needs. This way the practitioner will be able to build positive relationships with both the children and their families as it extends their learning experiences. There are also many benefits for the children as well which include; the children will make a contribution to planning which will raise the child’s self-esteem which will also improve their self-confidence; this will help them to develop their skills and knowledge, it also increases chance for communication by the children communicating with the practitioner, friends and their family this will also help the children develop a positive relationship with their practitioner and peers in the setting. The author has used the wide range of ways to find out about children’s interests in the setting as there is children from various age ranges in the setting so the author used observation techniques and talking to parents to find out what type of activities children like to do so that the author can develop adult led activities around the children’s interests which will make them more engaged in the setting and want to experience a wide range of activities put into place. Reflective practice is ‘a process by which you: stop and think about your practice, consciously analyse your decision making and draw on theory and relate it to what you do in practice.’ (Physiotherapy, unknown)As a practitioner it is important to reflect on your practice as it can create a higher quality of practice. Reflective practice is an ongoing dynamic process if thinking honestly, deeply and critically about all aspects of professional practice with children and families; it occurs spontaneously as well as in planned reflection. Practitioners use reflective practice to recognise and continue good practice as well as to challenge practices that are taken for granted; to change and improve what is not working well in the setting; to monitor all aspects of practice on an on-going basis and to know how to find out more information and support from others. When a practitioner is reflecting on their practice they should usually follow the reflection cycle â€Å"formally known as the Gibbs cycle† (P, K, K, & H, 2007, p. 228) to show what they need to do â€Å"processing in order to deal with a problem. This type of reflection may take place when we have had time to stand back† (QMU, unknown)from their practice. Practitioners need to reflect on their practice because then they will bring a higher quality practice and better outcomes for children and families; the practitioner will also be aware of and values and beliefs in the setting; they are more likely to challenge other practices; they can make an inclusive environment â€Å"means accommodating, recognizing and meeting the learning needs of all students.† (Jeeves, Unknown). Practitioners also reflect on their practice as it leads to seeking out research, resources and advice and it also promotes collaboration between professionals. When practitioners reflect on their practice there is many ways they can do this. Some of the ways are: keeping reflective journals, go to meetings, talk to a mentor or critical friend, have reflective practice notice boards in the setting, professional learning experiences and action research are just a few ways in which practitioners use to reflect their practice. The author uses reflective journals as a record of thinking of all aspects of their practice. The author uses stories about the practice that she does; she uses meaningful words and drawings she also uses pictures to use as a memory to whether the activity worked well or not and whether to use the activity in the future and a reflective account on what the children involved thought of the activity. When the author does a reflective journal she can also keep an online copy for future reference if she loses the hand written one. When doing reflective practice the author also uses a mentor or critical friend to talk to, as they will be able to challenge the authors practice from another point of view. The mentor or critical friend can be there for advise, a guide, for the author to ask them questions, provide resources and shared rights; also they offer a perspective from a 3rd person angle. This  can be a colleague or someone outside of the workplace and be face-to-face, online or over the phone. Practitioners have the responsibility to maintain a professional relationship with children, families, colleagues and other professionals in a range of settings. When working in an early years setting you will be expected to work with other professionals that may be on the same site as yourself or from the community where they will be required to come into the setting. A practitioner’s main responsibility in a professional relationship varies between children, adults and other professionals. The practitioner must carry out a professional relationship whilst working with the children; to ensure that all the children are treated equally and fairly; although children should be treated equally it is also important to value diversity and understand that children do not have the same individual needs. Keeping consistent boundaries and rules are important in order for the children to become familiar with the rules and for them to develop an understanding of what they are not allowed to do while in the setting. This can be done by ensuring that there is no favouritism shown to a particular child or children. It is also essential that no child is discriminated against while they are under the practitioners care. Practitioners also need to keep a professional relationship with families. â€Å"there are many reasons for doing so, but in terms of building relationships with children this makes a significant difference† (P, K, K, & H, 2007, p. 137) So if there is a problem or worry that a parent may have about their child while in the setting then the family can talk privately with the practitioner and can discuss what they think would be a suitable way to help the child with their worry so that they can resolve the issue as this will also build a trusting relationship. Also this way the practitioner can explain to the child’s family what activities they are doing in the setting and if there are any parent and child sessions being held for them to join in with. Practitioners need to also keep a positive relationship with colleagues and  other professionals in the setting; as they will need to discuss with each other about children’s holistic development and what help the child may need to get them to their expected milestone for their age and stage of development. All practitioners in the setting can learn from each other, if you don’t fully understand how to deal with a situation in the setting , or if you need help with an activity you can watch and learn from other team members and adults; sharing responsibilities, this is a great benefit while working within a team and with other adults as there are a lot of responsibilities working in childcare; sharing the work load, by sharing the work load with adult or team members the day to day running of the setting can go quit smoothly. Practitioners need a positive relationship with multi-agency teams as then practitioners will be able to learn new skills i.e. learn techniques to do if a child has to have massages on their legs due to illness or injury as then they will have been taught from the physiotherapist what to do with the child and how many times during the day in the setting; as this will help the child be more comfortable. By practitioners building positive relationships with multi-agency teams they will be able to build a relationship with them so that they can discuss information on what they think the next steps for the child may be; this can be through social services, physiotherapist or even a speech therapist. Keeping information about children and their families confidential is essential in maintaining professional relationships because; if a child has told you information that may need to be passed on then it may need to be looked into to get to the bottom of what has happened so then the practitioner will only need to pass the information on to the correct member of staff and not tell others that don’t need to know as if this happens then they are breaking the confidentiality policy. â€Å"The nature of our work in school brings us into contact with confidential Information. All those involved with handling information working in, or with school must be able to do so sensibly and with confidence.† (School M. P., 2011) This is because if the practitioner breaks the confidentiality policy it could become a risk for the child and also the child may feel like they cannot trust the  practitioner anymore which then they will not build a positive relationship with the practitio ner and may become withdrawn for the setting. For the practitioner to have positive relationships, they will need to demonstrate and model effective Communication skills, this means that practitioners should consider both how they approach other people and how you respond to them. We are more likely to communicate information to each other if we have positive relationships. Parents and other adults either colleagues or multi agency team workers who come into the school are more likely to give beneficial support if communication is strong and effective. It is also important for pupils that we model effective communication skills. If we ask pupils to behave in a particular way when communicating and then forget to do so ourselves, they will find it harder to understand the boundaries of what is acceptable. Multi professional approach is â€Å"working together to meet the needs of a child /children by Education; Health & Social care.† (M B. , 2011) This is where professional teams from all over come to work with children that need a specific teams help and support for their learning and development. In the Every Child matter 2007 it states that there are two types of multi professional approach which are; Bibliography: Beaver M; Brewster J; Green S; Neaum S; Sheppard H; Tallack J; Walker M. (2008). CACHE level 3 Child Care and Education. London: Nelson Thornes. C, C., & A, R. (unknown, unknown unkown). Sequential transition patterns of preschoolers’ social interaction during child-initiated play. Retrieved April 29, 2014, from science direct: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0885200603000036 CACHE. (2010). CACHE Level 3 award in early years and Child Care for play workers 5th edition. Essex: Health and Education. children, A. f. (unknown, unknown unknown). developing effective positive relationships. Retrieved May 13, 2014, from action for children: http://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/policy-research/policy-priorities/developing-effective-professional-relationships Department for Children, S. a. (2009, November unknown). Every Child Matters Change for Children. Retrieved

Analysis of Strategic Leadership Qualities Needed In Modern Dissertation

Analysis of Strategic Leadership Qualities Needed In Modern Organisations - Dissertation Example So at times, the leader would have a coaching style while at other times there would be a commanding style. Kelly (2000) argues that while leaders are free to adopt styles as per the situation, however, the leader would have one dominant style that would force all interactions. Some even though a leader would shift between visionary styles or pace setting style, the leader would ultimately be following the dominant style. The gap in the literature is that the desired qualities in a leader are not apparent. The subject of strategic leadership in organisations has been discussed in a number of publications (Boal, 2000), (Crossan, 2008), (Daily, 2002). Strategic leadership is about the quality of leadership in providing a direction for a planned and strategic direction for the growth of a firm. The focus is on adopting a growth plan that has a fully reasoned and logically structured growth plan. A strategic leader would be planning the organisation activities. The leadership is predicti ve and this means that the actions taken by the organisation are planned to meet the stimulus from the market forces. The actions are not reactive in the sense that the organisation would not be pulled in all directions by the market forces. A strategic leader would play many roles, that of a friend, mentor, guide, disciple, critic, detractor and well-wisher. Crossan (2008) speaks of five features that strategic leader should demonstrate. It is assumed that a leader who manages these five qualities will have the ability to achieve the business objectives. The five lessons are creating organisation wealth, bringing in a culture of innovation, leveraging the present to focus on the future; leading teams with a vision and inspiration and relying more on personal charisma and... This essay stresses that Strategic leadership is about the quality of leadership in providing a direction for a planned and strategic direction for the growth of a firm. The focus is on adopting a growth plan that has a fully reasoned and logically structured growth plan. A strategic leader would be planning the organisation activities. The leadership is predictive and this means that the actions taken by the organisation are planned to meet the stimulus from the market forces. The actions are not reactive in the sense that the organisation would not be pulled in all directions by the market forces. A strategic leader would play many roles, that of a friend, mentor, guide, disciple, critic, detractor and well-wisher. This paper makes a conclusion that a combination of literature review and primary research will be used. For the primary research, a survey instrument will be designed and administered to top managers of medium and large organisations in UK. These leaders would be approached through the college department and the cooperation of the managers will be requested. Contact will be made by calling up personally and through emails. The replies will be assessed and the results analysed. The difficulties anticipated are that these managers would not be willing or have the time to cooperate. The author of this paper will persist in his efforts to elicit responses. Secondary research will be performed by reviewing peer reviewed Journals and books on strategic leadership.

Zaras Supply Chain Management Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Zaras Supply Chain Management Strategy - Essay Example As one of the well-known Spanish clothing company around the world, Zara was able to come up with the clothing design that suites the unique preferences of most modern men, women, the young adults, and children. As of 2010, Zara managed to become the second largest clothing company within the global fashion industry (Zara 2011; BBC News, 2008; Manning-Schaffel, 2004).As one of the well-known Spanish clothing company around the world, Zara was able to come up with the clothing design that suites the unique preferences of most modern men, women, the young adults, and children. As of 2010, Zara managed to become the second largest clothing company within the global fashion industry (Zara 2011; BBC News, 2008; Manning-Schaffel, 2004). Ever since Zara was established by Amancio Ortega Gaona in 1975, this company managed to expand and open up to 2,692 retail store outlets all over 62 different countries around the world. To make the company able to rapidly expand its business in many count ries, the management group of Zara decided to hire the services offered by the Inditex Group with its global market distribution.Zara and Its Preferred Target Market Having a strong and powerful brand is even more effective when it comes to developing a special attachment between the clothing company and its target buyers.In line with this, one of the business strategies that Zara is currently using in order to win the attention of its target global markets is to select countries wherein they can effectively promote their brand   as a unique clothing designer and seller that is totally different from what other clothing companies are offering to its target consumers (Neumeier, 2006). By nature, clothing and fashion business offer homogenous products to the end-consumers. For this reason, Zara has been very focused and keen on being able to come up with new clothing designs that are relatively new to the eyes of its target market. Even though Zara is actually selling homogenous clo thing products to its target buyers, its ability to produce new fashion and clothing designs faster than what its close competitors like Gap or H&M could offer in the market gives them the edge to sell its clothing items at a premium price. Because of Zara’s ability to establish a strong positive brand within the global fashion industry, this company was able to capture the interests of millions of loyal â€Å"fashionistas† who are more than willing to spend more money just to be able to be the first one to wear its latest fashion designs and other related merchandises. This particular edge or business advantage enabled Zara to avoid spending large sum of money on its product advertisements (Aaker 1991). Actual Production and Distribution System of Zara Zara has always been trying to narrow down and make its supply

Comapring with life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Comapring with life - Essay Example Discrimination becomes an ugly word especially when it is associated to race or color. We continuously wonder why such difference in skin color or genes would merit a severe consequence. Discrimination in any form teaches us that the value or quality of an individual lies in the physical or the material not by his virtue or ability, that those who are deemed inferior because of the standards that popular culture or society has set deserve less which unfortunately mean cruelty and animosity. Science has always purported that man is of one kind, one species. There are no other breeds, no other classifications, no subdivisions. Any man is a man in his essential or universal form or nature, sub specie aeternitatis. Furthermore, diversity does not necessarily mean inequality. In the face of such injustice, man must at all times take action. Inasmuch as we openly celebrate whatever is good and beautiful, humankind must also earnestly articulate resistance for injustice and evil. We can be patient in the pursuit of our dreams but not in the search for justice. This has been proverbially expressed as "justice too long delayed is justice denied. Those who are oppressed must rise or must be lifted from the dark dungeons of complacency." (King, Jr.) These actions have taken various names as well resistance, strike, campaign, direct action, protest, which in legalistic term is freedom of expression. As King stated, steps have to be taken to bring these evils in the open, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured, the same way boils must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light. Then again, people have differing opinions on what should be done and how it is to be done. Those in opposition are often accused of unreasonable impatient dissatisfaction. Thus, man grapples whether those in authority are flawed or those who react are just simply dissatisfied. Subsequently, they are cautioned to practice sobriety. The so-called peacekeepers say "Wait!" and this, in the long run, would mean "delay" or "never". (King, JR) However, our conscience dictates that spectators, those who are not in the face of suffering are not in the proper position to judge those who suffer. According to King, "We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." which gives man more reason to take direct and immediate action. Then, man must always take caution in all his actions, lest he ends up breaking the law and bring about anarchy. At all times must he upheld what is both legal and moral. Reason dictates that all conflicts must be taken to the courts but many times people would question the infallibility of our courts. Moreover, is legality always equivalent to morality The line must be drawn, especially in matters of opinion, especially when opinion matters. Does the law apply to all How do we establish morality in a multicultural world Practically, the root of all these things is differences and these differences have been a constant challenge to man, something that he must always try to reconcile with and understand. Taking things to a higher plane, reconciliation, compromise, tolerance, empathy, and compassion might turn up to be the better answers to the issue of discrimination and conflict. We must realize that we should always choose

How did the United States justify and achieve Manifest Destiny Research Paper

How did the United States justify and achieve Manifest Destiny - Research Paper Example Because of their cultural, political, and racial superiority, they believed their destiny was to escalate their and rules to enlighten other nations that were not exposed. The pride and superiority of possessed American settlers forced them to acquire its neighboring territories by force and compulsion leading to the Mexican War in 1840. They had the notion that God would give them land from Pacific to Atlantic Ocean. The Americans had diverse justifications of the components leading to achievement of their Manifest Destiny. The ideology of manifest destiny had many components treating an individual in various ways reflecting the pride and superiority by Americans in Mid 19th century. Justification of the idealistic vision of social excellence through God and church created separate opinions to conquer new land. The American Unified ideology was to dominate the whole world from pole to pole. The following factors and occurrences were imperative in justification of United States to achieve manifest destiny. According to many people, Manifest Destiny depended on the notion of American having a divine Providence. They believed that America had a future controlled by God to expand its borders without any limit to country or area. All the activities involving traveling and expansion were also a factor of the Manifest Destiny. It compounded with the notion that it was Gods will for Americans to spread over the whole continent controlling and populating the country, as they required. Since many expansionists believed that God had explicit power to sustain and guide human destiny, they concentrated in conquering and Christianizing the land. The Manifest Destiny was the mass settlers move across the land in advance to replace darkness with light and ignorance with civilization. The Manifest Destiny increased by the inclusion of strong Gods will in the individual’s ideology while others

THEORIES OF MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

THEORIES OF MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT - Essay Example Therefore, not all lessons in management development are products of theories alone. It can be said that management development theories give a framework of analysis and understanding in modeling the learning process in real world experience. It is imperative for business organizations to give emphasis to management development. In fact, it â€Å"should be central to business strategy† and â€Å"learning should be a cherished organizational value† (Thomson et al., 2011). This paper aims to provide a brief discussion on the basic theories involved in management development. To do so, every theory would be provided ample space for articulation and are divided into sections of this essay. Steps in Management Development Mumford points out that management development, generally, cannot be planned or intentionally initiated. What can be done, however, is that the experiences of managers which may be accidental, unintentional, and informal should be assessed and considered as a learning experience afterwards (Mumford & Gold, 2004). However, there is an opposing view on this matter. Ashton defines management development as a conscious and systematic decision making process to control the development of managerial resources and achieve organizational goals and strategies (Dalton, 2010). Ashton’s model defines three patterns that an organization can take up in management development. The first pattern is where there is little or no commitment to management development from line managers. The second is where the line managers are uncertain about the merits of development and participate with low commitment and the third is where the line managers embrace the development concept and integrate it with normal activities. The model emphasizes on the contextual elements such as the goodwill and motivation of key stakeholders in determining the nature of management development. It is apparent that Ashton takes into consideration the three possible attitude s of managers towards the aspect of continuous build-up of leadership skills. The Ashridge 4F Model The model holds out the prospect of steady movement to higher levels of management development sophistication, strategic integration and purpose. This model has four stages which include the fragmented approach, the formalized approach, the focused approach and the fully integrated model (Select Knowledge, 2001). At a glance, this theory may be considered as the combination of the Mumford’s thesis and the Ashton management development model. This is because the 4F model actually integrates the essential assertion of Mumford that learning in management is not always formal or planned. However, it also takes a proactive approach, overcoming the empiricist tendency of Mumford’s argument. The fragmented approach is where management development is unplanned thus little connection between the development of organizational goals and the management development. The formalized ap proach is systematic, planned and integrated with other human resources management functions. This approach is a formal analysis and practice which may be a demerit to the organization. The focused approach is based on continuous learning and there are clear links between organizational goals and development plans, while the fully integrated model is where all kinds of management learning is integrated in everyday works of the organization and reflects on lessons of development tied to

American Playwright Charles Ludlam and his impact on the arts world as Research Paper

American Playwright Charles Ludlam and his impact on the arts world as a Renowned Arts Leader - Research Paper Example After this, he wandered to a freak show where he saw a group of armless black dwarves busy painting pictures with their toes. The Catholic Church, with its high pageantry and religious ritual was a prominent force in his family. Right across the street from his home, there was a movie theater. Ludlam was therefore encouraged to explore his vivid childhood imagination, producing basement and backyard plays and vignettes with other children in the neighborhood (Gary, 2005). Throughout his high school, Ludlam as known as a rebel and outcast and his first formal exposure to theatre was through an apprenticeship in 1958 at the Red Barn Theater, a summer stock company. Here, Ludlam was exposed to the often haphazard, frantic and chaotic theater experience. Ludlam then begun pursuing his interest in theatre arts by travelling to New York where he saw a variety of theatrical entertainment ranging from the commercial to the avant-garde productions to the experimental. The Living Theatre in particular was of significant motivation and influence Ludlam such that at the age of 17, he founded his own avant-garde arts company which he named the Student’s Repertory Theater. This was in Northport, New York. Later on in life, the multidimensional, prolific artist became responsible for responsible for founding and growing The Ridiculous Theatrical Company, one of the most unique theater enterprises in America. As the founder of the Ridiculous Theatrical Company, Ludlam’s work in theatre and film had made him a recognized renowned arts leader. This is mainly because his theatrical work made a break with the existing dominant trends in theatre of realistic settings and naturalistic acting. The introduction of some elements of queer performance to avant-garde theatre was very evident since the formation of Ridiculous Theatrical Company (Wilmeth and Miller, 1996). This was the major stage

Participative Leadership & Empowerment Case Study

Participative Leadership & Empowerment - Case Study Example Methodological Problems with Participative Procedures There are some inherent challenges with the establishment of the effectiveness of participative procedures. This is because there are no laid down procedures or formula for the calculation of the effectiveness of participatory procedure. This is because of two reasons. First of all, it has to do with human behavior and it is not easy to measure that since human behavior changes with time. Secondly, it has elements of contingency in that the relevant factors could change and this will change the mood and setting and make the results variable for different situations. In the absence of a scientific method, most people use subjective methods of measuring the effectiveness of participatory leadership drives through surveys and other experiments. These are open to bias. Secondly, the short-term nature of such social science experiments comes with issues. Most people will do well and try to impress when they are being studied but when t hey are not studied, they might put up a very different attitude. There is also a case of having only two variables.

The Diverse Nature of Psychology Essay Example for Free

The Diverse Nature of Psychology Essay Psychology itself attempts to define people’s behavior through aspects of the human minds ability to process information and stimulants. The diversity of psychology is very evident within the many different branches of the American Psychological Association, each addressing a unique perspective within psychology of understanding human behavior (Plante, 2011). This diversity within psychology, allows psychologists the ability to expand in all areas of explanation, assessment, and diagnoses, which furthers the science of psychology through many different subfield specialties. This paper will discuss the subfields of psychology, the importance of diversity, and the practical applications of psychological principles. The Impact of Diversity in Psychology Each of the major concepts within psychology emphasizes different parts of human behavior, such as the cognitive, social, spiritual, and unconscious factors, which contribute to a person’s behavior. One main defining feature of psychology is that it is a data based scientific study of behavior, in which each step of research used to procure knowledge has contributed to advancements in the development of sound theories within psychology. Three important features related to the science of psychology include the use of systematic empiricism, the production of public awareness, and the examination of problems (Plante, 2011). Psychology attempts to understand and explain psychological phenomenon using empirical techniques to advance scientifically. As the study of psychology progresses, it has further advanced into a diverse field. Subfields within Psychology Some of the major divisions of psychology include clinical psychology, psychotherapy, forensic psychology, industrial/organizational psychology, and environmental psychology. These major fields of psychology then branch off into subfields within psychology. One such example is Abnormal Psychology, which derives itself from roots in psychotherapy, clinical psychology and even neuroscience. Abnormal psychology studies abnormal behavior and psychopathology and emphasizes the research and treatment of mental disorders (Plante, 2011). Within Abnormal psychology there are further subtopics such as each individual mental illness and their implications on behavior, in addition to treatments for such disorders, illnesses and diseases which could also vary based on subtopic. Another good example of a subfield within psychology is Lifespan Development, which derives its roots from developmental psychology, the nature vs nurture psychological debate and behavioral psychology. Lifespan Development devotes it’s time to studying the effects of childhood development on human growth and the lifespan of an individual and their experiences. Lifespan development aids in the popular ideas of raising children and disciplining unruly teens. In addition Lifespan Development seeks to understand and justify adult behavior based on childhood experiences, and then retrain the adult to more practical behavioral practices. This type of theory can be applied in contemporary society through detention and juvenile delinquent facilities (Landrum Davis, 2010). Conclusion Psychology is a scientific study of behavior and mental processes. The discipline is divided into a variety of subfields, each focusing on specific areas of psychological functioning. The diversity of the discipline allows psychologists a broader array of speculation to advance in areas of understanding, prediction, explanation, and intervention measures. Psychological principles can be applied to a wide variety of human functioning including clinical diagnosis, personality measures, legal operations, phobia treatments, and many more. The discipline of psychology focuses on behavior and mental processes advancing the field with scientific techniques to help optimize the lives of others. The diverse character of the psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral perspectives exemplifies the distinct nature of psychological perspectives, although both support the unifying goal of psychology to improve the quality of life for people and resolve human conflict. Although viewpoints and perspectives in the science of psychology sometimes appear different in nature, each attempts to address disease and disorder from its distinct scientific point of reference. Each perspective addresses human behavior from a distinct viewpoint, although none is an all-encompassing. Diversity permeates the major perspectives in psychology as well as their divisions and subtopics, which affects other disciplines as well as secular and popular thought. Abnormal psychology and lifespan development affect thought in education and neuroscience as well as other disciplines and fields of psychology (Plante, 2011).

Social Networking Playing A Role In Our Generation Media Essay

Social Networking Playing A Role In Our Generation Media Essay Social networking websites play a major role in our generation as time increase. Social networking is all around us any where we go. One Famous website consider a social networking website is schoolnotes.com .Websites like Facebook allow for relationships to be created on their website. Thiers is a lot of hidden benefits you may not see at first. Small and invisible things like these websites builds creativity and help develop computer skills in younger generation as well as old. When there is good in something there are lots of negatives that come with these kinds of websites such as; the information post on theses website causes a danger for the user. These websites can also be used for evil with crimes such as cyber bullying. These social networking websites come with many benefits such as reconnecting family and many down falls for example these websites have many sexual predators Networking Today. The way Social networking works is fairly new to this generation but is greatly embrace at a rapid speed. These websites work by you signing up to their website. Once you are stored in their database you can add friends you know by searching for them. Once you find your friends that you know you are part of their network and they are as well a part of you network. From this connection you can see who else is in your friend network and see if you know them. You can even see who is in your friends friend network Social Networking in Plain English. These websites just connect different users who know each other together with the middle man being the website removing the position of a postal service. This can be problematic too because different people can search and find you and add you. This can be very bad allowing all your information posted on these websites to be view to many unwanting people. The first of its kind was sixdegree.com social networking.  and followed other major we bsites for example Facebook, MySpace, eHarmony. A major websites implanted in our life is YouTube. YouTube  is a video-sharing Web site on which users can view, upload, and download video (YouTube). Social networking websites can be used to build relationship with other users with the user accessing the website Networking Today. Websites like MySpace and Facebook can be international accessed for almost any country. Many families in other countries can communicate with distant family in real time. From personal experience of being an immigrant in the United States of American i can personally say that this feature is very helpful. This feature that allows me to keep international connects with my family in Trinidad helps keep the bond that was broken with the migration. These features are available absolutely free with these websites. Many of my friends are created in school, but these websites offer a whole new way to communicate with these individuals. Instead of text messaging or emailing students can communicate real time using IM or Instant Messaging. These services are free to the standard user. This website gives a user the ability to learn new information about their fri ends and find out what might be the best present for their birthday the next time. Social Networking websites also builds creativity in students in many ways. Websites like MySpace give the ability to anyone to create and edit photo and videos for the world to see, rate, or comment on the image they created. Other opportunities rise from these websites like the way of being invited to a social event and entertain and have fun meeting new people. Social networking websites is close to eliminating the social hierarchy in high schools allowing everyone to talk and share information about their selves. Social networking has many opportunities to be very potential. President Barack Obama used websites like these for his presidential race social networking. The President right now gives weekly updates on Youtube about what was accomplished the current week in the White House. This is very important because it involves the youths in more important subject matters and gets them involved in what the government is doing. This is why the President chooses Youtube because it has a larger group of youths accessing this website. Fans can also find these websites of great benefit for their craving desire for their favorite musician, actor, and other symbolic figures of their choice. Many celebrities create their profile on websites like twitter and keep their fans updated with the latest information happing in their life and upcoming performances to keep their fans updated and interested in events. As for the good in anything there is always a bad. The bad in these websites is mostly concentrated on the privacy and security of the user. Websites like Facebook state in their term and conditions for all signing up users WE TRY TO KEEP FACEBOOKà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦SAFE, BUT YOU USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK (Facebook). This statement must be put heavy on the scale of signing up for one of these social networking websites. All the information anyone posts on these websites is saved and poses a danger to the user. Whichever information you post on these sites you leave a virtual footprint. This footprint can be easily tracked back to your exact location. Any one that can view a photo or video of you on these websites or on a computer to be in general can save it their computer and print this image and share around or save it for their own sake. Plus that embarrassing picture or video of you gulping down a keg of beer even has the potential to mess up your next job interview or review. Companies looking to hiring can view these embarrassing moments and have doubts in hiring you leaving you looking for a new job opportunity Networking Today. Many sexual predators also prey on these can of websites to manipulate their victim into thinking they are safe and friendly. There is no way of blocking these can of inhumane acts when signing up. Anyone can create a fake user name and convince their victims to meet them. Many shows like Dateline: To catch a predator gives us a glimpse on how easy someone can manipulate young teens into setting up conference with them to do sexual activities. MySpace identified 90,000 registered sex offenders with profiles on the site (Networking Today). Cyber bulling is the official name for when kids go on these websites and make fun at other children, these the acts can lead fatal (Cyber bullying). Cyberbullying is what I like to call killing the youths from the inside out. Teens go on to these websites and just taut and make fun of other children to make them depress and keep them down. This constant barrage of false lies and abuse can easily lead to suicide. This soon became a true reality check for Tina and Ron Meier when their daughter Megan Meier han ged herself after being cyber bullied. Not only are teens are doing these crimes adults too. It is also said that the use of Social Networking websites can lead to the brain disorders in children. When workers using these websites during work hours they cost their business millions of dollars. A 2007 study found that workers using Facebook in the office were costing Australian businesses up to $4.5 billion (US) per year Networking Today. The productivity of the workers drop immensely when they search the internet all day talking on websites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and not complete their daily task Networking Today. These companies are now forced to emplace proxy servers and remote computer monitors to view if their workers are staying on task. They servers can cost millions annually to install and maintain. In many ways social networking websites affect our daily life today. Whether for the good or the bad these websites are here to stay. These website help children in poverty ,with the access, to the internet to build basic knowledge on how to operate computers and design pictures and edit videos. Websites like MySpace help develop many computer fields skills like edit, write, and understand HTML with picture and video editing. Social Networking Websites does not even charge the user any money to learn these skills. The user learns these skills by the interface provide by these websites to customize their own homepage. However certain websites like Facebook does not offer much customization of the user page. In contrast to these wonderful befits these websites can cause personality and brain disorders in kids (Derbyshire). They also have many of evil people with access to these websites. If they have access to these websites that means they have access to our children and their profile information. In addition when some teen post information like school, location, age, grade and other information about themselves on these websites they are opening the doors to sexual predators. These website cannot offer real protection to our children on these websites and they hold no responsibility for anything that happens on their website. Work Sited Page Cyberbullying. What Is Cyberbullying?. 12/7/2009 http://www.ncpc.org/cyberbullying David Derbyshire, Social Websites Harm Childrens Brains: Chilling Warning to Parents from Top Neuroscientist,  Daily Mail,  Feb. 24, 2009   Facebook. Social Networking Website. 12/7/2009 . Jones, Steve. YouTube.  World Book Advanced. World Book, 2010.  Web.   7 Jan. 2010.(Book) Networking Today. Are social networking sites good for our society?. 12/7/2009 . social networking.  Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. 2010. Grolier Online. 7 Jan. 2010 . Social Networking in Plain English. Common Craft. 1/7/2010 .(Video) Word Count: 1,591

Controlling Soil Fertility Essay -- Agriculture Farming Essays

Controlling Soil Fertility Approximately 2 billion hectares of land, 17% of the total vegetated area of the earth has been degraded for agricultural purposes since 1945 (Oldeman et al., 1990). Oldeman et al. (1990) classify about half of this degraded area as still permitting agricultural use, but with greatly reduced productivity, and in the rest no agriculture is deemed possible. The causes of this degradation are overgrazing (35%), agricultural activities (28%), deforestation (30%), over exploitation (7%) and industrialization (1%). Wind and water erosion are the principal mechanisms of this soil degradation, accounting for about 56% and 28% respectively of the total; 12% is attributable to chemical degradation (due to insufficient manure and fertilizer returned to cropped areas, salinization by unwise irrigation or drainage, soil acidification not corrected by liming, and pollution caused by industrial and other urban uses) and the remaining 4% is physical degradation from compaction or flooding. (Oldeman et al., 1990) Moreover, it has become increasingly evident that although crop yields seem to be increasing, they are increasing at a decreasing rate. Krauss and Allmaras (1982) argue that this is largely due to the fact that in many areas, poor soil management is leading to soil degradation which is ignored as long as crop yields continue to rise. Technological advances such as improved cultivation systems, irrigation and pest control mask the negative effects of poor soil management on crop yields (Krauss and Allmaras, 1982, p85). What are the factors that contribute to the suitability of a soil for agricultural purposes? To what extent can people control these factors to halt soil degradation and maintain, enha... ..., L.R., V.W.P van Engelen, and J.H.M. Pulles. 1990. The extent of human induced soil degradation. Annex 5 of World Man of the Status of Human-Induced Soil Degradation: An Explanatory Note, rev. 2nd edn., International Soil Reference and Information Center, Wageningen, Netherlands as cited by J.Schnoor and V. Thomas, 1994, Soil as a Vulnerable Environmental System pp233-44 in R. Socolow, C. Andrews, F. Berkhour and V. Thomas (eds.), Industrial Ecology and Global Change: Cambridge University Press. Robinson, C.A., R.M. Cruse, and K.A. Kohler, 1994, Soil Management, pp 109-134 in J.L. Hatfield and D.L. Karlen (eds.) Sustainable Agricultural Systems: Boca Raton, Florida, Lewis Publishers, 316pp. USGS, 1988, Essential Elements and Soil Amendments for Plants: Sources and use for agriculture: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1017, U.S. Government Printing Office, 48pp

DAD :: essays research papers

Let me start by saying straightforwardly that the meaning of God is God himself. We must look at the meaning of God in God himself, not "outside" him. God is the fundamental meaning for the existence of the Universe, the creator, the supreme One: that is why everything exists. Why is something there? How did this universe come to exist, or others that might be? Why do we exist? For most people in the world —scientists, philosophers, ordinary people, — the answer is because God-Existence is. If he had not existed neither anything else would. Of course, not everybody agrees that God is the origin of the universe. Although, because of our faith, there is no need of proofs of God's existence: if something exists, then it is because that God exists. God-Existence is an evident fact. What other theories affirm when they say that there is an eternal universe is, in fact, that God-Existence, I Am, has always been, which is true. The only difference would be to see this eternal Existence as Somebody, "personal," or simply as Something, impersonal. If we look at the Old Testament, the biblical God is a God, who plays an active and immediate roll in all the happenings of the world and in human life; a God who constantly intervenes and changes the laws of nature. In addition, if we look at the New Testament, the image of God is very similar to the Jewish conception of God. God is "inside" the world, not to make miraculous changes in it, but to give existence to it. He is involved in the whole creation and into human life, not to change the natural order or to "manipulate" the free will of men, but to keep everything existing, moving, alive and in order. A meaningful God does not mean that he will intervene in the physical and biological facts and processes of nature, or in the free actions of men. God does intervene for keeping them existing and acting, not to change them, at least ordinarily. God-Existence created, is always present and conserves the order, balance and harmony of the whole universe, human life included, for our welfare; we are the "beneficiaries" from this balance, order and harmony. God-Existence is the One who makes all these details of our senses and organs, of our mind and body —which we usually take for granted,— to function, and in a similar way He is the One by whom all these laws that govern the quantum, plants and animals, as well the stars and galaxies, never fail.

It’s Time to Regulate the Use of Cell Phones on the Road :: Argumentative Persuasive Argument Essays

It’s Time to Regulate the Use of Cell Phones on the Road When a cell phone goes off in a classroom or at a concert, we are irritated, but at least our lives are not endangered. When we are on the road, however, irresponsible cell phone users are more than irritating: They are putting our lives at risk. Many of us have witnessed drivers so distracted by dialing and chatting that they resemble drunk drivers, weaving between lanes, for example, or nearly running down pedestrians in crosswalks. A number of bills to regulate use of cell phones on the road have been introduced in state legislatures, and the time has come to push for their passage. Regulation is needed because drivers using phones are seriously impaired and because laws on negligent and reckless driving are not sufficient to punish offenders. No one can deny that cell phones have caused traffic deaths and injuries. Cell phones were implicated in three fatal accidents in November 2003 alone. Early in November, two-year-old Morgan Pena was killed by a driver distracted by his cell phone. Morgan’s mother, Patti Pena, reports that the driver â€Å"ran a stop sign at 45 mph, broadsided my vehicle and killed Morgan as she sat in her car seat.† A week later, corrections officer Shannon Smith, who was guarding prisoners by the side of the road, was killed by a woman distracted by a phone call (Besthoff). On Thanksgiving weekend that same month, John and Carole Hall were killed when a Naval Academy midshipman crashed into their parked car. The driver said in court that when he looked up from the cell phone he was dialing, he was three feet from the car and had no time to stop (Stockwell B8). Expert testimony, public opinion, and even cartoons suggest that driving while phoning is dangerous. Frances Bents, an expert on the relation between cell phones and accidents, estimates that between 450 and 1,000 crashes a year have some connection to cell phone use (Layton C9). In a survey published by Farmers Insurance Group, 87% of those polled said that cell phones affect a driver’s ability, and 40% reported having close calls with drivers distracted by phones. Scientific research confirms the dangers of using phones while on the road. In 2003 an important study appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine. The authors, Donald Redelmeier and Robert Tibshirani, studied 699 volunteers who made their cell phone bills available in order to confirm the times when they had placed calls.

Being a vegetarian

It is extremely important to take good care of your health. Our health is our wealth. As much as possible we do not want to get sick and become regular hospital visitors as hospitalization serves as an eye opener telling us to slow down because we are risking our health and our lives. It is pretty obvious that every year more and more people die because of unhealthy living.In industrial countries, life-style diseases such as obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease, and cancers are widespread. (â€Å"Home for Animals- A Farm Sanctuary†). We do not want to have any of those diseases isn’t it?We need to prevent those diseases from ruining our lives and one of the many solutions is Vegetarianism. Vegetarianism is the practice of not consuming meat, with or without the use of other animal derivatives, such as dairy products or eggs (â€Å"What is vegetarianism†). The term vegetarian generally means a person who does not consume animal p roducts; this includes land and sea animals. Most vegetarians generally do consume eggs and dairy products (milk products). The four main types of vegetarians are: †¢ Lacto-vegetarians – they consume dairy products, but no eggs.Most do consume honey. †¢ Ovo-vegetarians – they consume eggs, but no dairy. Most do consume honey. †¢ Lacto-ovovegetarians – they consume eggs and dairy. Most do consume honey. †¢ Vegans – only consume plant-based foods (no dairy, eggs or honey). (â€Å"What Is The Vegetarian Diet? What Are The Benefits Of A Vegetarian Diet†). It is very difficult imagining yourself in a restaurant eating vegetable salad when the person seated beside you is eating steak, chicken or turkey. But if you come to think of it there are many health benefits you could get by being a vegetarian.Many studies indicate that a vegetarian diet helps you combat several unwanted diseases, and vegetarian people are 50% less likely to dev elop heart diseases as compared to non-vegetarian people. Do you know that apart from heart diseases, saturated fat and cholesterol present in meat and dairy products also cause brain strokes? Research confirms that strokes kill an Americas every three minutes. Research also reveals that people consuming good quantity of fruits and vegetables face the lowest risk of developing heart or brain stroke.Many doctors claim that a low fat vegetarian diet reduces the risk of suffering a heart attack by more than 80% and the risk of developing cancer by nearly 60%. (â€Å"Health Benefits of Being a Vegetarian†) Weight loss is one of the many benefits of being a vegetarian. You will never find a fat vegetarian anywhere. Meat takes quite a while to be digested. It is easier for our stomach to digest fruits and vegetables. Aside from that they contain vitamins and minerals. You are not aware that you are losing weight and gaining more energy as time passes by.Do you know vegetarians are less likely to die from heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and prostate and colon cancer? The reason is simple. The vegetarian diet is rich of cancer preventing foods including vegetables, whole grains, fruits, soy, nuts, and beans. In fact your chances of developing cancer reduce manifolds if you minimize the intake of meat. (â€Å"Health Benefits of Being a Vegetarian†). Avoiding meat and being a vegetarian is challenging and very hard to do. But if you will try to embrace its long term benefits you will then realized that it is better to be a vegetarian than sorry. Works CitedSmith Jenny R. , â€Å"Health Benefits of Being a Vegetarian†. Ezine Aricles. 21 May 2010. . â€Å"Home for Animals- A Farm Sanctuary†. Expert Article. Web. 21 May 2010 . â€Å"What Is The Vegetarian Diet? What Are The Benefits Of A Vegetarian Diet?. Medical News Today. â€Å"27 May 2004 . 21 May 2010. â€Å"What is vegetarianism†. veggieheaven. com. 21 May 2010.

North American Expansion for Threads Apparel

Unit I: Question 7 Case Study: North American Expansion for Threads Apparel Managing Information Technology (Brown, DeHayes, Hoffer, Martin, and Perkins, (2012) In this electronic age, the recent trends in Information Technology (IT) have influenced competition and have changed the way we work. Let’s examine how this has happened. In regards to competition, we can walk into any electronic store like Best Buy and see numerous brands of computer and computer software.HP and IBM were primarily hard ware vendors but have taken a significant slice of the pie in this competitive market. Currently they rank #1 and #2 in the world as IT companies. Some other IT companies that are major players in this industry are Dell, Acer (Taiwan), Lenovo (China), and Apple. Additionally, from Japan, you have Toshiba, Fujitsu, and Sony. In regards to software alone, Microsoft dominates the market. Apple has its own operating system, but with all the other companies listed, you will see a Microsoft operating system.With all the companies that were listed, it is easy to see how competition has helped tremendously in keeping prices down. The first computer I bought cost me $2500. It was a Pionex, 512 mb of RAM, Pentium processor, 120GB Hard Drive and a 15inch monitor than could be used for a boat anchor. The computer I have now cost me 1/3 the price. It has an Intel Core I5 processor, 1TB hard Drive, 6 GB of RAM, DVD RW drive, and a 24 inch monitor that weighs about 5 pounds.Now that we have seen that computers are made bigger, better, and cheaper, let’s discuss how they have changed the way some companies do business. One way is, thanks to the internet, almost anything you want to buy can be delivered to your doorstep in just a few days. You can trade stocks, file your taxes or even unemployment online. IT has helped more people to conduct business from home instead of the, sometimes, long commute into work. In the business world, information travels faster and faster.It allows virtual meetings and also the ability to send files via email in a matter of seconds. IT has moved from huge computers to laptops or even smaller with smartphones. With my own smartphone, I have sent email, browsed the internet, accessed sport channels, watched movies, taken pictures, taken videos, viewed Microsoft Word and Excel files, downloaded music, and, oh yes, made phone calls. I even had a BlackBerry work phone that my Computer Support Assistant (CSA) from the AF base linked up to my government secure email.In conclusion, we have discussed how the IT industry is very competitive and how this competition has helped keep prices down while they continuously make improvements. We also discussed how IT has influenced some of the ways we work. With the speed IT is changing, if there is something you don’t like, wait a few minutes, the industry has just changed again. Brown, Dehayes, Hoffer, Martin, and Perkins, (2012), Managing Information Technology: (7th Ed). Uppe r Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson/Prentice Hall 2 Retrieved from http://money. howstuffworks. com/technology-changed-business. htm