Culture Essay - 1357 Words

Culture Essay Mallory McBlaine Sociology 121 I decided to interview Ola Krupinksa, a polish sixteen year old currently living in the United States. Ola was born in Poland but moved here at the age of five. Interview: 1.Your definition of culture? Answer: Beliefs, customs and arts of a particular society. 2.How do you define family? Answer: Family is people who you care about and would do anything for. 3. Who holds the most â€Å"status† in your family? Why? Answer: My dad; he is the main person that receives income. 4. How do you define success? Answer: Success is a moment where you have completed your goal. 5. Do you consider your parents to be successful? Answer: I believe they are extremely successful because they†¦show more content†¦One’s culture shapes their beliefs, values, and goals. Although I am very prideful in my culture, I don’t believe I celebrate it quite like Ola. Two times a year I celebrate being Serbian.â€Å"Slava† is a Serbian Orthodox Church tradition involving the ritual glorification of ones familys passed down saint. This holiday involves pouring red wine in the cracks of Serbian bread and slowly turning it around while your family kisses it, as well as a home cooked meal. The next fascinating celebration I participate in is Serb Fest. This is a three-day festival that people come from all around Chicago land to eat Serbian food and dance to our cultures music. Although I feel like a â€Å"normal† American the rest of year, I am very prideful of where my ancestors have come from. In Ola’s case, she celebrates her culture every day of her life. At home, her family speaks in Polish as well as they carry on Polish beliefs including family being the main value in life. Ola loves to be constantly cooking with her mother their most favorite dishes. Ola does not celebrate any specific Polish holiday but for all celebrations she always adds flair by making her favorite Polish creations to share with her loved ones. Ola couldn’t have shown any more pleasure in sharing to me her Polish background and beliefs. I truly believe this is a huge part of her life that will continue to be woven into future generations. A key part of one’s culture would be there food. Serbian cuisine is known forShow MoreRelatedEssay on The Numbing of the American Mind: Culture as Anesthetic1405 Words   |  6 PagesENLIGHTENED SURRENDER How many essays have been written about American culture? How many books dedicated to the intense scrutiny of every aspect of our modern society? Countless thoughts, countless theories—many of them lost in the very chaos that the authors spent 300 pages explaining. There are always solutions, which their creators seem entirely convinced will solve this mess, but the truth is that these ideas are often impractical and unrealistic. But no one writes an entire book complainingRead MoreCulture Essay773 Words   |  4 PagesCulture Essay 7/5/2012 Culture Essay There is no specific definition when it comes to the term â€Å"culture.† Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving. Culture is the sum of total of the learned behavior of aRead MoreCulture Essay653 Words   |  3 PagesCulture Essay People in our world all come from an ethnic background, whether if the ethnicity is White American, African American, American Indian, Asian, and Hispanics our experiences and perceptions represent the values and decisions that are made in our life. This concept comes from the cultural that was taught and developed from after birth and through our adolescent years. In this paper, I will first explore the true meaning of culture, second I will then state what kind of culture I practiceRead More Culture Essay1339 Words   |  6 PagesCulture Culture is everywhere around us.It is what makes us who we are.When growing up in a certain environment for so long it is hard to adapt to anything else but what we have been brought up with.This past summer I took a trip where my culture in the United States did not match up with the vacation my family and I planned.Trying to adapt to a new cultural environment takes time and patience that took me about the whole trip to figure out.This trip to Italy was a trip of a lifetime, and toRead MoreEssay Cultures and Co-Cultures1178 Words   |  5 PagesCultures and Co-Cultures By: Anna Skidmore Delta College A Culture is the language, values, beliefs, traditions, and customs people share and learn according to Larry Samovar and his colleagues (2007). Culture includes two different groups called in-groups which are groups that you identify yourself with and out-groups which is a group of people we view as different (Frings amp; Abram, 2010; Quist amp; Jorgensen, 2010). Examples of culture is the foods we eat, holidays we celebrate, theRead MoreCulture Relativism Essays575 Words   |  3 PagesCulture Relativism Culture Relativism is a contradictory theory for the explanation of the way we ought to live because the roots of the theory don’t give any explanation for what is right and wrong but instead only a means for right and wrong to be judged. 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When an individual has a culture than the prevailing society they can be affected in either a positive way or a negative way. There have been in many instances were people change their culture due to joining the societies culture and others just use the culture for benefits like in Mukherjees essay. In other occasions individuals have been exposed to racism due to them being from another culture that does not accommodate to their society. With all these diverse cultures in AmericaRead More Americas Culture Essay1589 Words   |  7 PagesAmerica’s Culture America is cultural diversity. It is not home to one race or one culture. The building of American history was done through Irish, Black, Japanese, Korean, and many other cultures combined. The people of these various backgrounds came together for a common cause. To attempt create the society that they believed was better than there original origin’s way of life. Many of these founders undertook great hardships and some even death to create something that some people manyRead More The Importance of Culture Essay816 Words   |  4 PagesWhat is culture? The definition of culture as explained by the English Anthropologist Edward B. Taylor in his work Primitive Culture: â€Å"Culture or civilization†¦is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs, and other capabilities acquired by man as a member of society.† (Atafori). In addition, culture is the habits of people and is an important part of any society. Culture ties people of a co mmunity together, gives an individual a unique identity, and serves as

Chris McCandlesss Journey into the Wild - 703 Words

On the road again, I cant wait to get on the road again. The words of Donkey, from Shrek, seem to sum up Chris mccandless very well. He was a wondering soul, whose drive for adventure eventually lead to his death. He spent a majority of his short adult life tramping around the country and even parts of Mexico and canada. IT is well known that the straw that broke Chris’s back was finding out about his fathers actions during the early part of his marriage to Chris’s mother.The real question is not what his breaking point was,but it is why he went on his journey in the first place.What did he hope to find when he stuck out his thumb and hit the road? In the end only him and god will know why he left. There are a few theories as to why he left. Chris mccandless could have left to find spiritual peace, get a grip on his mental state, or to live a free life. Chris McCandless found solace in nature. Eden was the untapped wilds of Alaska to Chris. As krakauer said at the end of into the wild he was a monk with god. A monk is defined as a member of a religious community of men typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience . This was chris. he gave up all of his possessions to people he barely knew. His only temptation seemed to be the call of the alaskan wild, and he kept to his own strict moral code. He didnt need a church or a priest to be with god. He just need a bus in Alaska with a bear skull to find his happiness, His inner peace, his oneness..Show MoreRelatedInto the Wild: Chris McCandless is a True Hero970 Words   |  4 PagesThe famous story of Chris McCandless’s journey, Into The Wild, provokes the reader to ask a certain question at the end of it all: Is Chris McCandless someone people should look up to? Or is he just another person who bit off a little more than he could chew? With various accounts from people who met this young man in the novel, it’s hard for someone not to show bias on this topic. Many viewed him as brave and heroic for his accomplishments; others viewed him as an unpreparedRead More Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer Essay840 Words   |  4 PagesInto the Wild by Jon Krakauer Chris McCandless was just a victim of his own obsession. The novel Into The Wild written by John Krakauer revealed the life of a young bright man named Chris McCandless who turned up dead in Alaska in summer 1992. In the novel, John Krakauer approached carefully McCandlesss life without putting too much authorial judgment to the readers. Although Chris McCandless remained an elusive figure throughout the novel, I can see Chris McCandless as a dreamy young idealistRead MoreUse of Literary Techniques by Jon Krakauer When Writing Into the Wild1585 Words   |  7 Pages In the novel â€Å"Into the Wild† by Jon Krakauer, Krakauer tells the story of a Chris McCandless through different points of view perceived from people close to him. 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Chris McCandless â€Å"had been raised in the comfortable upper-middle-class environs of Annandale, Virginia†Read MoreLiterary Analysis of Into the Wild1669 Words   |  7 PagesLiterary Analysis of Into The Wild Imagine spending thirty days alone in a tent or a cabin in the wilderness with no technology, electricity, running water, and any form of communication. Every day you wake up to the sight of the beautiful, tall trees and the various wildlife living in the area. Most of the time, you can hear the many sounds of nature: the majestic songs of birds, the whistling in the wind, and trees rustling. But sometimes all you can hear is nothing but silence. Most of usRead MoreInto The Wild By Chris Mccandless Essay1747 Words   |  7 PagesInto the Wild is a true story based on Chris McCandless’s life. A young, prestigious graduate of Emory University who is found dead at twenty-four years old in the Alaskan wilderness in September 1992. Chris McCandless was very gifted athlete and scholar, and possessed important qualities such as passion, intensity, and high morals. McCandless discovers his father’s fatal secret and it upsets Chris’s whole life as his parents continuall y hide it from their family. Upon Chris’s graduation from EmoryRead MoreChris McCandlessa Adventure: Foolish or Heroic?1173 Words   |  5 Pagesan intense, dangerous, and wild journey, a person most likely has some deeply thought out reason as to why he or she is embarking on the mission. Chris himself seems to have had some reasons, besides his curiosity, as to why he explored. However, he made a decision to leave without truly thinking about just how dangerous his journey was going to be. Due to his rash actions, Chris eventually died in an abandoned bus out in the wild. Now, some folks today think that Chris was a hero for doing what interestedRead MoreUse of Literary Techniques in Into The Wild, by John Krakauer1073 Words   |  5 Pagesgive details about Chris’s lifestyle and his choices that affect his journey. Another literary element Krakauer uses is theme. The many themes in the story attract a diverse audience. Krakauer’s telling is world famous for being the truest, and most heart-felt account of Christopher McCandless’s life. The use of literary techniques including irony, characterization and theme help convey the authors purpose and enhance Into The Wild. One of the most important literary devices Jon Krakauer use in hisRead MoreChris Krakauer s Non Fiction Book Into The Wild1515 Words   |  7 Pagestrace to venture off into the wild and â€Å"discover† himself. 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Krakauer openly states that he â€Å"won’t claim to be an impartial biographer† (Author’s Note) due to the parallels he struck with McCandless, and provides a more idealistic approach to the biography

Finance Management free essay sample

In a world without FIs the users of corporate funds in the economy would have to approach directly the household savers of funds in order to satisfy their borrowing needs. This process would be extremely costly because of the up-front information costs faced by potential lenders. Cost inefficiencies would arise with the identification of potential borrowers, the pooling of small savings into loans of sufficient size to finance corporate activities, and the assessment of risk and investment opportunities. Moreover, lenders would have to monitor the activities of borrowers over each loans life span. The net result would be an imperfect allocation of resources in an economy. 3. Identify and explain three economic disincentives that probably would dampen the flow of funds between household savers of funds and corporate users of funds in an economic world without financial intermediaries. Investors generally are averse to purchasing securities directly because of (a) monitoring costs, (b) liquidity costs, and (c) price risk. Monitoring the activities of borrowers requires extensive time, expense, and expertise. As a result, households would prefer to leave this activity to others, and by definition, the resulting lack of monitoring would increase the riskiness of investing in corporate debt and equity markets. The long-term nature of corporate equity and debt would likely eliminate at least a portion of those households willing to lend money, as the preference of many for near-cash liquidity would dominate the extra returns which may be available. Third, the price risk of transactions on the secondary markets would increase without the information flows and services generated by high volume. 4. Identify and explain the two functions in which FIs may specialize that enable the smooth flow of funds from household savers to corporate users. FIs serve as conduits between users and savers of funds by providing a brokerage function and by engaging in the asset transformation function. The brokerage function can benefit both savers and users of funds and can vary according to the firm. FIs may provide only transaction services, such as discount brokerages, or they also may offer advisory services which help reduce information costs, such as full-line firms like Merrill Lynch. The asset transformation function is accomplished by issuing their own securities, such as deposits and insurance policies that are more attractive to household savers, and using the proceeds to purchase the primary securities of corporations. Thus, FIs take on the costs associated with the purchase of securities. 5. In what sense are the financial claims of FIs considered secondary securities, while the financial claims of commercial corporations are considered primary securities? How does the transformation process, or intermediation, reduce the risk, or economic disincentives, to the savers? The funds raised by the financial claims issued by commercial corporations are used to invest in real assets. These financial claims, which are considered primary securities, are purchased by FIs whose financial claims therefore are considered secondary securities. Savers who invest in the financial claims of FIs are indirectly investing in the primary securities of commercial corporations. However, the information gathering and evaluation expenses, monitoring expenses, liquidity costs, and price risk of placing the investments directly with the commercial corporation are reduced because of the efficiencies of the FI. 6. Explain how financial institutions act as delegated monitors. What secondary benefits often accrue to the entire financial system because of this monitoring process? By putting excess funds into financial institutions, individual investors give to the FIs the responsibility of deciding who should receive the money and of ensuring that the money is utilized properly by the borrower. In this sense the depositors have delegated the FI to act as a monitor on their behalf. The FI can collect information more efficiently than individual investors. Further, the FI can utilize this information to create new products, such as commercial loans, that continually update the information pool. This more frequent monitoring process sends important informational signals to other participants in the market, a process that reduces information imperfection and asymmetry between the ultimate sources and users of funds in the economy. 7. What are five general areas of FI specialness that are caused by providing various services to sectors of the economy? First, FIs collect and process information more efficiently than individual savers. Second, FIs provide secondary claims to household savers which often have better liquidity characteristics than primary securities such as quities and bonds. Third, by diversifying the asset base FIs provide secondary securities with lower price-risk conditions than primary securities. Fourth, FIs provide economies of scale in transaction costs because assets are purchased in larger amounts. Finally, FIs provide maturity intermediation to the economy which allows the introduction of additional types of investment contracts, such as mortgage loans, that are financed with short-term deposits. 8. How do FIs solve the information and related agency costs when household savers invest directly in securities issued by corporations? What are agency costs? Agency costs occur when owners or managers take actions that are not in the best interests of the equity investor or lender. These costs typically result from the failure to adequately monitor the activities of the borrower. If no other lender performs these tasks, the lender is subject to agency costs as the firm may not satisfy the covenants in the lending agreement. Because the FI invests the funds of many small savers, the FI has a greater incentive to collect information and monitor the activities of the borrower. 9. What often is the benefit to the lenders, borrowers, and financial markets in general of the solution to the information problem provided by the large financial institutions? One benefit to the solution process is the development of new secondary securities that allow even further improvements in the monitoring process. An example is the bank loan that is renewed more quickly than long-term debt. The renewal process updates the financial and operating information of the firm more frequently, thereby reducing the need for restrictive bond covenants that may be difficult and costly to implement. 10. How do FIs alleviate the problem of liquidity risk faced by investors who wish to invest in the securities of corporations? Liquidity risk occurs when savers are not able to sell their securities on demand. Commercial banks, for example, offer deposits that can be withdrawn at any time. Yet the banks make long-term loans or invest in illiquid assets because they are able to diversify their portfolios and better monitor the performance of firms that have borrowed or issued securities. Thus individual investors are able to realize the benefits of investing in primary assets without accepting the liquidity risk of direct investment. 1. How do financial institutions help individual savers diversify their portfolio risks? Which type of financial institution is best able to achieve this goal? Money placed in any financial institution will result in a claim on a more diversified portfolio. Banks lend money to many different types of corporate, consumer, and government customers, and insuran ce companies have investments in many different types of assets. Investment in a mutual fund may generate the greatest diversification benefit because of the fund’s investment in a wide array of stocks and fixed income securities. 2. How can financial institutions invest in high-risk assets with funding provided by low-risk liabilities from savers? Diversification of risk occurs with investments in assets that are not perfectly positively correlated. One result of extensive diversification is that the average risk of the asset base of an FI will be less than the average risk of the individual assets in which it has invested. Thus individual investors realize some of the returns of high-risk assets without accepting the corresponding risk characteristics. 13. How can individual savers use financial institutions to reduce the transaction costs of investing in financial assets? By pooling the assets of many small investors, FIs can gain economies of scale in transaction costs. This benefit occurs whether the FI is lending to a corporate or retail customer, or purchasing assets in the money and capital markets. In either case, operating activities that are designed to deal in large volumes typically are more efficient than those activities designed for small volumes. 14. What is maturity intermediation? What are some of the ways in which the risks of maturity intermediation are managed by financial intermediaries? If net borrowers and net lenders have different optimal time horizons, FIs can service both sectors by matching their asset and liability maturities through on- and off-balance sheet hedging activities and flexible access to the financial markets. For example, the FI can offer the relatively short-term liabilities desired by households and also satisfy the demand for long-term loans such as home mortgages. By investing in a portfolio of long-and short-term assets that have variable- and fixed-rate components, the FI can reduce maturity risk exposure by utilizing liabilities that have similar variable- and fixed-rate characteristics, or by using futures, options, swaps, and other derivative products. 15. What are five areas of institution-specific FI specialness, and which types of institutions are most likely to be the service providers? First, commercial banks and other depository institutions are key players for the transmission of monetary policy from the central bank to the rest of the economy. Second, specific FIs often are identified as the major source of finance for certain sectors of the economy. For example, SLs and savings banks traditionally serve the credit needs of the residential real estate market. Third, life insurance and pension funds commonly are encouraged to provide mechanisms to transfer wealth across generations. Fourth, depository institutions efficiently provide payment services to benefit the economy. Finally, mutual funds provide denomination intermediation by allowing small investors to purchase pieces of assets with large minimum sizes such as negotiable CDs and commercial paper issues. 6. How do depository institutions such as commercial banks assist in the implementation and transmission of monetary policy? The Federal Reserve Board can involve directly the commercial banks in the implementation of monetary policy through changes in the reserve requirements and the discount rate. The open market sale and purchase of Treasury securities by the Fed involves the banks in the implementation of monetary policy in a less direct manner. 17. What is meant by credit allocation regulation? What social benefit is this type of regulation intended to provide? Credit allocation regulation refers to the requirement faced by FIs to lend to certain sectors of the economy, which are considered to be socially important. These may include housing and farming. Presumably the provision of credit to make houses more affordable or farms more viable leads to a more stable and productive society. 18. Which intermediaries best fulfill the intergenerational wealth transfer function? What is this wealth transfer process? Life insurance and pension funds often receive special taxation relief and other subsidies to assist in the transfer of wealth from one generation to another. In effect, the wealth transfer process allows the accumulation of wealth by one generation to be transferred directly to one or more younger generations by establishing life insurance policies and trust provisions in pension plans. Often this wealth transfer process avoids the full marginal tax treatment that a direct payment would incur. 19. What are two of the most important payment services provided by financial institutions? To what extent do these services efficiently provide benefits to the economy? The two most important payment services are check clearing and wire transfer services. Any breakdown in these systems would produce gridlock in the payment system with resulting harmful effects to the economy at both the domestic and potentially the international level. 20. What is denomination intermediation? How do FIs assist in this process? Denomination intermediation is the process whereby small investors are able to purchase pieces of assets that normally are sold only in large denominations. Individual savers often invest small amounts in mutual funds. The mutual funds pool these small amounts and purchase negotiable CDs which can only be sold in minimum increments of $100,000, but which often are sold in million dollar packages. Similarly, commercial paper often is sold only in minimum amounts of $250,000. Therefore small investors can benefit in the returns and low risk which these assets typically offer. 21. What is negative externality? In what ways do the existence of negative externalities justify the extra regulatory attention received by financial institutions? A negative externality refers to the action by one party that has an adverse affect on some third party who is not part of the original transaction. For example, in an industrial setting, smoke from a factory that lowers surrounding property values may be viewed as a negative externality. For financial institutions, one concern is the contagion effect that can arise when the failure of one FI can cast doubt on the solvency of other institutions in that industry. 22. If financial markets operated perfectly and costlessly, would there be a need for financial intermediaries? To a certain extent, financial intermediation exists because of financial market imperfections. If information is available costlessly to all participants, savers would not need intermediaries to act as either their brokers or their delegated monitors. However, if there are social benefits to intermediation, such as the transmission of monetary policy or credit allocation, then FIs would exist even in the absence of financial market imperfections. 23. What is mortgage redlining? Mortgage redlining occurs when a lender specifically defines a geographic area in which it refuses to make any loans. The term arose because of the area often was outlined on a map with a red pencil. 24. Why are FIs among the most regulated sectors in the world? When is net regulatory burden positive? FIs are required to enhance the efficient operation of the economy. Successful financial intermediaries provide sources of financing that fund economic growth opportunity that ultimately raises the overall level of economic activity. Moreover, successful financial intermediaries provide transaction services to the economy that facilitate trade and wealth accumulation. Conversely, distressed FIs create negative externalities for the entire economy. That is, the adverse impact of an FI failure is greater than just the loss to shareholders and other private claimants on the FIs assets. For example, the local market suffers if an FI fails and other FIs also may be thrown into financial distress by a contagion effect. Therefore, since some of the costs of the failure of an FI are generally borne by society at large, the government intervenes in the management of these institutions to protect societys interests. This intervention takes the form of regulation. However, the need for regulation to minimize social costs may impose private costs to the firms that would not exist without regulation. This additional private cost is defined as a net regulatory burden. Examples include the cost of holding excess capital and/or excess reserves and the extra costs of providing information. Although they may be socially beneficial, these costs add to private operating costs. To the extent that these additional costs help to avoid negative externalities and to ensure the smooth and efficient operation of the economy, the net regulatory burden is positive. 5. What forms of protection and regulation do regulators of FIs impose to ensure their safety and soundness? Regulators have issued several guidelines to insure the safety and soundness of FIs: a. FIs are required to diversify their assets. For example, banks cannot lend more than 10 percent of their equity to a single borrower. b. FIs are required to maintain minimum amounts of capital to cushion an y unexpected losses. In the case of banks, the Basle standards require a minimum core and supplementary capital of 8 percent of their risk-adjusted assets. c. Regulators have set up guaranty funds such as BIF for commercial banks, SIPC for securities firms, and state guaranty funds for insurance firms to protect individual investors. d. Regulators also engage in periodic monitoring and surveillance, such as on-site examinations, and request periodic information from the FIs. 26. In the transmission of monetary policy, what is the difference between inside money and outside money? How does the Federal Reserve Board try to control the amount of inside money? How can this regulatory position create a cost for the depository financial institutions? Outside money is that part of the money supply directly produced and controlled by the Fed, for example, coins and currency. Inside money refers to bank deposits not directly controlled by the Fed. The Fed can influence this amount of money by reserve requirement and discount rate policies. In cases where the level of required reserves exceeds the level considered optimal by the FI, the inability to use the excess reserves to generate revenue may be considered a tax or cost of providing intermediation. 27. What are some examples of credit allocation regulation? How can this attempt to create social benefits create costs to the private institution? The qualified thrift lender test (QTL) requires thrifts to hold 65 percent of their assets in residential mortgage-related assets to retain the thrift charter. Some states have enacted usury laws that place maximum restrictions on the interest rates that can be charged on mortgages and/or consumer loans. These types of restrictions often create additional operating costs to the FI and almost certainly reduce the amount of profit that could be realized without such regulation. 8. What is the purpose of the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act? What are the social benefits desired from the legislation? How does the implementation of this legislation create a net regulatory burden on financial institutions? The HMDA was passed by Congress to prevent discrimination in mortgage lending. The social benefit is to ensure that everyone who qualifies financially is provided the opportunity to purchase a house shoul d they so desire. The regulatory burden has been to require a written statement indicating the reasons why credit was or was not granted. Since 1990, the federal regulators have examined millions of mortgage transactions from more than 7,700 institutions each calendar quarter. 29. What legislation has been passed specifically to protect investors who use investment banks directly or indirectly to purchase securities? Give some examples of the types of abuses for which protection is provided. The Securities Acts of 1933 and 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940 were passed by Congress to protect investors against possible abuses such as insider trading, lack of disclosure, outright malfeasance, and breach of fiduciary responsibilities. 30. How do regulations regarding barriers to entry and the scope of permitted activities affect the charter value of financial institutions? The profitability of existing firms will be increased as the direct and indirect costs of establishing competition increase. Direct costs include the actual physical and financial costs of establishing a business. In the case of FIs, the financial costs include raising the necessary minimum capital to receive a charter. Indirect costs include permission from regulatory authorities to receive a charter. Again in the case of FIs this cost involves acceptable leadership to the regulators. As these barriers to entry are stronger, the charter value for existing firms will be higher. 31. What reasons have been given for the growth of investment companies at the expense of â€Å"traditional† banks and insurance companies? The recent growth of investment companies can be attributed to two major factors: a. Investors have demanded increased access to direct securities markets. Investment companies and pension funds allow investors to take positions in direct securities markets while still obtaining the risk diversification, monitoring, and transactional efficiency benefits of financial intermediation. Some experts would argue that this growth is the result of increased sophistication on the part of investors; others would argue that the ability to use these markets has caused the increased investor awareness. The growth in these assets is inarguable. b. Recent episodes of financial distress in both the banking and insurance industries have led to an increase in regulation and governmental oversight, thereby increasing the net regulatory burden of â€Å"traditional† companies. As such, the costs of intermediation have increased, which increases the cost of providing services to customers. 2. What are some of the methods which banking organizations have employed to reduce the net regulatory burden? What has been the effect on profitability? Through regulatory changes, FIs have begun changing the mix of business products offered to individual users and providers of funds. For example, banks have acquired mutual funds, have expanded their asset and pension fund management busin esses, and have increased the security underwriting activities. In addition, legislation that allows banks to establish branches anywhere in the United States has caused a wave of mergers. As the size of banks has grown, an expansion of possible product offerings has created the potential for lower service costs. Finally, the emphasis in recent years has been on products that generate increases in fee income, and the entire banking industry has benefited from increased profitability in recent years. 33. What characteristics of financial products are necessary for financial markets to become efficient alternatives to financial intermediaries? Can you give some examples of the commoditization of products which were previously the sole property of financial institutions? Financial markets can replace FIs in the delivery of products that (1) have standardized terms, (2) serve a large number of customers, and (3) are sufficiently understood for investors to be comfortable in assessing their prices. When these three characteristics are met, the products often can be treated as commodities. One example of this process is the migration of over-the-counter options to the publicly traded option markets as trading volume grows and trading terms become standardized. 34. In what way has Regulation 144A of the Securities and Exchange Commission provided an incentive to the process of financial disintermediation?

Five Of My Favorite Content Marketing Acronyms

Every industry has its own set of jargon and acronyms, and marketing is certainly no exception.When it comes to content marketing, KISS doesn’t mean locking lips with your other half, and AIDA has nothing to do with a love of the opera. I personally love acronyms, which as you can imagine drives my friends and colleagues a little crazy – I’m working on it. For today, I thought I’d shed some light on five of my favorites: 1. KISS:Keep It Sweet and Simple You may be familiar with â€Å"Keep It Simple, Stupid,† but I’ll use a more polite version.KISS should be applied to every aspect of your content and here are a few ways you can do just that: Use images – they speak a thousand words and work especially well on social. When ascribing text to an image, make it compelling and brief. Keep emails short – concise and simple are best practice if you want results. Make content scannable – unless you’re at a deeper level of the site with more engaged users, detailed technical specifications are not your friend. People on average only read 28% of the words on a page, so keeping things simple is critical. That does not mean you have to have short copy. Rather, it means you need to make your key points clear as a bell. When you think content, especially in the early stages of your consumer decision making journey (CJD), aim for a minimum viable experience to attract and engage. If we think about marketing resources and keeping things simple from a scalability and operational point of view, social provides a great example. Do you really need to have a presence on every single social network? Probably not. It’s far better to have a strong presence and engaged followers on a couple of social platforms where you know your users are engaged, than to spread yourself too thin and neglect your accounts. 2. FAB:Features, Advantages, Benefits (or RTB: Reasons To Believe) Customers don’t necessarily care what your business does – they care about what it can do for them. Information about your brand’s products or services isn’t useful unless you can connect it to your customers’ needs. This might seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how many marketers fail to relate their products to the specific pain points of their customers.That’s where FAB statements can help.These statements have three components that let customers know why they should buy your product or service: Features: Identify differentiating product-specific details. Advantages:Clearly describe what sets you above and apart from the competition with respect to solving for your customer’s need. Benefits: Identify the additional benefits that come from choosing your product. Another great way to convey the same powerful message is to switch up your FAB statements: Name a benefit first, then explain how this benefit is brought about by your product or service’s features. Steve Jobs captured the essence of FAB and RTB in a nutshell: â€Å"Your customers don’t care about you. They don’t care about your product or service. They care about themselves, their dreams, their goals. Now, they will care much more if you help them reach their goals, and to do that, you must understand their goals, as well as their needs and deepest desires.† 3. AIDA:Attention, Interest, Desire, Action If you’ve ever bought something after seeing a commercial or advertisement, you were probably influenced by the AIDA technique.This four-step process is a start-to-finish formula for creating powerful content – it hooks the reader right from the start and keeps them interested until they take action.Here’s the breakdown: Attention: Grabs readers’ attention, makes them want to learn more.Interest:Build interest by clearly explaining your understanding of their painpoints. Desire:Create an emotional connection with your audience and move them from liking your product to wanting your product. Action:Motivate the customer to take action with your call to action. 4. BANT: Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline This is less about your content and more about your prospective customers.BANT stands for set of criteria used to qualify leads.When assessing a prospect, you need to keep the following questions in mind: Budget:Can they afford us? Authority:Are they the decision-maker? Need: How deep is their need for our product or service? Timeline:Where are they in their decision making journey? 5. SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound Our final acronym comes in handy when you’re setting goals or refining your content marketing strategy.Ask yourself the following questions to decide whether a goal is SMART: Specific:Are the desired outcomes clear, and are they tied to specific strategies and tactics? Measurable: Are outcomes measurable? Achievable: Is this a reasonable goal given any applicable constraints? Relevant: Does this content marketing goal align with bigger business objectives? Time-bound: What’s the endpoint for this goal? This list only scratches the surface – if I attempted to list them all, this article would be venturing into TL;DR territory. 😉 What are your favorite marketing acronyms? Add them to the comments below!

Scarlet Letter & Hester essays

Scarlet Letter & Hester essays It is adequate to begin a composition of this caliber with the quote, It (the scarlet letter) had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and enclosing her in a sphere by herself (56). This confinement, undoubtedly, keeps Hester closer to God than without the scarlet letter attached to her bosom. Throughout The Scarlet Letter, an extremely religious book, the letter A, which was impressed on Hester Prynnes bosom, did not completely shun her out of society. Even in a Puritan society, the letter actually brought Hester closer to God himself. A direct reference to the scarlet letter bringing Hester closer to God would be easily exemplified in Hawthornes continuous attempt to connect Pearl with the letter. It was most obviously seen when Hester stated, God gave me the child... See ye not, she is the scarlet letter (116). Pearl was an emblem and product of sin (97) because of Hester, yet God gave Hester the child. Clearly, the letter A, a symbol of sin, is constantly reminding Hester that she is directly tied to God. Another strong connection of Pearl to the scarlet letter is when Pearl actually makes a letter of her own to place on her bosom. Pearl took some eel-grass, and imitated... on her own bosom, the decoration with which she was so familiar on her mothers: A letter- the letter A (185). Hesters own gift from God, as she had stated before, then wore the same symbol as her mother did. Even more so, Hester would always have rather wore the scarlet letter on her bosom than announce Pearls father. In fact, Hest er once told the clergymen, my child must seek a heavenly Father; she shall never know an earthly one (71). At times, Pearl seemed to see the scarlet letter as a symbol of her father. When she was just a baby, Pearl would often ...

Manage change task 2 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Manage change task 2 - Research Paper Example In most cases, organizational change tends to be radical and can lead to reorientation of the business. Organisational change tends to be deep seated, thereby impacting the stakeholders of the company as well (Smith, Vasudevan and Tanniru). Organisational change is based on external factors and these factors impact the organisation and also act as driving forces in a number of times. Benefits of Change Specialists: Change in an organisation means an impact on the processes of an organisation. This impact can be very wide spread or simply concentrated on one aspect of the business; however it does create major ripples in the organisation. Consulting or hiring a change consultant is crucial for a business attempting change and the benefits of hiring a change consultant is very high (Hiatt and Creasey). Firstly, change management consultants are experienced and well versed with the various aspects and change and have clear resources as well as methods of dealing with change. Also, chang e management consultants have the expertise to manage communication within the organisation, which is crucial. Change is not well accepted in most organisations and having a change consultant, who can communicate the change details effectively, makes the process smoother and more effective (Nelson and Aaron). Consultants of change also design the communication plans, training and development plans, documentation, improvements of the organisation, career development plans, and also the designing, developing of plans to bring about the improvements within the organisation. Also, consultants work with the clients and learn their requirements, make the project plans and also work on the tasks and value added solution. Change management is a professional job and it is best left to individuals with the expertise for it. Need for Change: Strategic change involves a number of changes to the organisation as a whole. Hence before an organisation decides to make a strategic change to itself, a few questions and areas need to be considered. These include the following: Firstly, is the organization a start up business? If yes, then implementing a strategic change is crucial and is a necessity rather than a luxury. The strategic change plan helps identify the business plan and also helps in linking all other elements like marketing plan, financial plans, management plans and also communication plans together (Smith, Vasudevan and Tanniru). Secondly, the next question that the company needs to ask itself is, Are we planning for a new major venture? Here if the company is opting for a major venture like product expansion or brand extensions, new department or division etc, then it is crucial for the businesses to implement strategic change. Is the company due for the annual strategic plan update? If so, it is crucial that the company has the strategic change plan developed and set as well. Companies need to focus on the various performance meters within the organisation and k eep a tab on the trends. This will help the company determine whether or not a change management is necessary or not. Strategic Objectives: The rationale and objectives for any change management program are important aspects. Objectives are in most cases specific and achievable and in most cases these objectives are the most

New German spelling Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

New German spelling - Case Study Example Trotzdem wurde die Reform sehr kritisiert, und man stellt die Frage: Ist die neue deutsche Rechtschreibung eine L'sung f'r die deutschen Sprachler, oder ist sie ein Problem f'r alle Leute und Texte, die die klassische Rechtschreibung verwendet haben' Das amtliche Regelwerk von 1902 regelte die deutsche Rechschreibung bis die Einf'hrung der Neuregelung. Am 1.8.1998 tritt das neue amtliche Regelwerk in Kraft. W'hrend einer 'bergangszeit durfte man nach den alten Regeln schreiben. Die lange Dauer der 'bergangszeit hat positive und negative Aspekte gehabt. Die Absicht dieser 'bergangszeit war die Reform nicht dramatisch zu machen. Dies erm'glichte die Erneuerung von Sprachlehrb'cher, W'rterb'cher und andere Ver'ffentlichungen. Au'erdem konnten die Sprachler an die neue Orthographie sich gew'hnen. Diese Situation gibt jedoch den Leute die Hoffnung, dass die alte Rechtschreibung noch mal wiedersetzen wird, und dies erlaubte die gleichzeitige Pr'senz von verschiedenen Rechtschreibungen. Die amtliche Regelung des Ministeriums der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft enth'lt einen Regelteil und ein W'rterverzeichnis mit etwa 12.000 W'rtern. Der Regelteil hat die neuen Regeln 'ber die Laut-Buchstaben-Zuordnungen, die Getrennt- und Zusammenschreibung, die Schreibung mit Bindestrich, die Gro'- und Kleinschreibung, die Zeichensetzung und die Worttrennung am Zeilenende (Ministerium der DG 1998). Die neue Regelung verfolgte das Ziel, die Schreibung der Wortst'mme konstant in allen W'rtern einer Wortfamilie zu machen, und die Ausnahmen zu einschr'nken (Heller 2002). Das macht die Kenntnis der Regeln einfacher f'r Sprachler. Jetzt erlaubt die Schreibung von Fremdw'rtern zwei Formen: die originale Form und die eingedeutschte Form (zum Beispiel: Geographie / Geografie, Photograph, Fotograf). Deswegen ist es m'glich, drei gleichen Konsonantenbuchstaben in Komposita zusammenzutreffen. Zum Beispiel: Ballettt'nzer (aus Ballet und T'nzer), Schifffahrt (aus Schiff und Fahrt). Trotzdem erlaubt die neue Rechtschreibung den Gebrauch eines Bindestriches in einigen F'llen (z.B. Schiff-Fahrt, Kafee-Ersatz). Wichtige Ver'nderungen gibt es auch 'ber die Benutzung des Buchstabes '. "Der Buchstabe ' steht nur noch nach langem Vokal oder Doppelvokal, nach einem kurzen Vokal wird er durch Doppel-s ersetzt (z.B. "Fu'", "hei'en", aber: "Fluss")" (Duden 1997: 610). Man schrieb die Konjuktion dass mit ' seit der Mitte des 16. Jahrhunderts, aber in neuer Rechschreibung wird mit ss geschrieben. In der Schweiz und Liechtenstein verwendet man dass vor der Reform. Die neue Rechtschreibung k'nnte eine L'sung f'r die Ausnahme und die dialektalen Varianten sein. Trotzdem erkl'ren die neuen Regeln 'ber die ss-'-Schreibung nicht alle Zweifeln der Sprachler. Die Reform der Rechtschreibung macht, im engeren Sinne, Deutsch schwieriger zu lernen. Diese Schwierigkeit gilt f'r Muttersprachler und Fremdsprachler, weil die Regel, die sie gelernt haben, ver'nderten. Die Leute, die deutsche W'rterb'cher vor 1996 benutzen, w'rden nicht ihre Zweifel erkl'ren. Au'erdem kann man viele B'cher mit den alten Rechtschreibung finden. Die neue deutsche Rechtschreibung hat einen Einfluss an der Sprachlehre im Ausland. Die Sprachschulen und Universit'ten k'nnten nicht die neuen B'cher, W'rterb'cher und Lehrmaterial bezahlen. Diese Reform k'nnte positiver f'r neue