Newscorp strategic planning process model

NewsCorp (News Corporation) is a public company which is listed on the Australian and New York Stock Exchange. The corporation is also listed as a secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange. Newscorp was formerly incorporated in South Australia, and after a majority of the company’s shareholders approved relocation, Newscorp was re-incorporated in Delaware, in the United States on the 12th of November, 2004. Newscorp has its headquarters in New York, at 1211 Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Ave.), in the more modern 1960s-1970s corridor of the Rockefeller Center complex. I. HISTORICAL ANALYSIS Rupert Murdoch inherited assets in 1952, after his father died, and was able to create Newscorp was created in 1980, as a holding company for News Limited. Murdoch created news limited from assets he inherited in the year 1952 after his father, Sir Keith Murdoch died. A main asset left to him was the ownership of the Adelaide news. A. Businesses In: News corp. is today, to be one of the largest transnational media conglomerates on this planet. Its headquarters is in Sidney, Australia, almost every major parts of the world: United States, Continental Europe, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, Latin America Asia etc covered by its global business operations including production and distribution of motion pictures and TV, Publication of newspaper, magazines and books. (http://www.courses.psu.edu/comm/comm497d_amh13/fall01/newscorp.html) In 1987, the company [through subsidiary news international] mad an adjustment in the production process of its British newspapers, something the printing union had long maintained a highly restrictive grip. Some numbers of senior Australian media moguls were brought into Murdoch’s powerhouse, including John Dux, who was the managing director of the south china morning post. This resulted to conflict with the printing unions NGA and SOGAT. When News international’s London operation was to whapping in the East End, it resulted to nightly battles outside the new plant. Delivery vans and depots were frequently and violently attacked, ultimately the union capitulated. In 1995, fox network was scrutinized by the federal communication commission [FCC] when it was alleged that its Australian base made Murdoch’s ownership of fox illegal. They however ruled in his favor stating that his ownership of fox was in the public’s best interest. It was also noted that the stations themselves were owned by a separate company whose chief shareholder was U.S. citizen Murdoch, nearly all of the stations’ equity was controlled by Newscorp. Newscorp announced a deal in the same year with MCI communication to develop a major website as well as launch the foxtel pay television network in Australia in   partnership with Telstra and publishing and broadcasting limited. In 1996, fox established the fox news channel, a 24hrs cable news station. In 1999, its music holding in Australia was significantly expanded by acquiring the controlling share in a leading Australian based label, Michael Gudinski’s mushroom records, merging it with already held festive records [FMR]. They were both managed by Rupert Murdoch’s son James Murdoch for several years. In late 2003, newsdorp acquired a 34% in Hughes direct TV from General Motors for electronic operations of the largest American TV system, $6billion. Newscorp reached an agreement in 2007 to purchase Dow Jones publications of the wall street journal for an estimated $ 5.6billion. On 15 Oct 2007, the corporation spun off a business news channel from fox news, fox business news. â€Å"Their lawyers reviewed all the details of the contract between Dow Jones and cnbc† said Alex Glock fox business news’s vice president and the channel’s morning anchor. But she added, â€Å"We will actively use the other Dow Jones properties†. (Alex Glock) B. Goal Clarification Making the most of Dow Jones: Cohen pointed to newscorp’s. past statement that it could realize $50million in cost savings, specific offers were demurred by chermin, saying we believe there are significant cost savings on the print side. â€Å"We would like to see the deal close before we offer any number or predications. In the broadcast terms, Dow Jones NYSE News .people revenue comes from two areas and one of those areas print, is under -leveraged.† (http://rate.forbes.com/comments/CommentServlet?op=cpage&sourcename=story&StoryURI=2007/09/17/newscorp-earnings-digital-tech-cx_pco_0917paidcontent.html) C. Strategies and Tactics fulfilling the Goals Annual conference: News Corporation always organizes an annual management conference, discussing media related issues to geopolitics. Those that attend include news corporation executives, senor journalist, politicians and celebrities. Cancun, Mexico, Australia, hosted such events. They were private and secretive, records are not available for the agenda neither were talks given at the conference and no uninvited journalist are permitted access. The 2006 event was in pebble beach California led by Rupert Murdoch, leaked copy of the agenda to the Los Angeles Times and other media accounts showed that issues discussed related from Europe to broadcasting and new media terrorism to the national policy. The event included speeches from Rupert Murdoch, former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Prime Minister Tony Blair, Bono, Al Gore, Hillary and Bill Clinton etc. D. Environmental Analysis News Corporation made its first acquisition in the United States in 1973 when it purchased the San Antonio Express- News and after founded the National Star, a supermarket tabloid and purchased the New York post in 1976. in 1981, it bought half the movie studio 20th century fox and the other half in 1984. In 1958, it announced it was buying the metro media group of stations, setting the stage for the launch of a fourth U.S broadcast network. In September 4 1985, Murdoch became a naturalized citizen to satisfy the legal requirement that only United States citizens could buy and own television stations. In 1986, the metro media deal closed and the fox broadcasting company was lauded. This network known and seen as â€Å"FOX† can now be picked up in over 96% of US household. In 1987, newscorp bought the Herald and Weekly Times ltd. In Australia the company that Rupert Murdoch’s father had once managed. By 1991, newscorp had amassed Hugh debt which forced it to sell many of the American magazine interest it had acquired in the 1980s. Much of this debt came from its stake in the sky television satellite network in the uk, which incurred massive losses in its early years of operation which was subsidized with profits heavily from other of its holdings until it forced its rival to accept a merger on its terms in 1990. The merger company BSKYB has dominated the British pay- TV market since. E. Competitive Analysis News Corporation. [NYSE: NWS, NWSA, ASX: NWS, NWSLV.] As at December 2007, News Corp had total assets of approximately US $69billion and total revenue of $31billion. They are diversified in their entertainment with operations in eight industries segments: television, filmed entertainment, cable network programmes, direct broadcast satellite television, magazines and inserts etc. newscorp activities are conducted in the United States, Continental Europe, UK, Australia and Pacific Basin. F. Strengths and Weaknesses of the organization News Corp’s revenue for the year ended as at June 30, 2007 was $28.655billion with operating income of $4.452billion. â€Å"This does not include newscorp’s minority shares of the revenue from direct TV and British sky broadcasting, almost 70% of the company’s sales is from its U.S. business.† (http://www.newscorp.com/investor/investments.html) References Alex Glock http://www.courses.psu.edu/comm/comm497d_amh13/fall01/newscorp.html http://www.newscorp.com/investor/investments.html http://rate.forbes.com/comments/CommentServlet?op=cpage&sourcename=story&StoryURI=2007/09/17/newscorp-earnings-digital-tech-cx_pco_0917paidcontent.html http://www.hofstra.edu/Libraries/Axinn/axinn_jnstructions_busres_bzhmpage.cfm http://www.newscorp.com/Report2007/AnnualReport2007/HTML2/news_corp_ar2007_0069.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_Corporation http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/business/news/e3i729f8835496e3ace5be346c06e9db2f7 http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,23636,22617852-14334,00.html http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,960821-2,00.html http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,960821-3,00.html http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i118a16d2ff59590bd77181d8da9c9fb9 Fox Business makes TV debut, Hollywood Reporter, 16 October 2007. Accessed: 10-17-2007 Fox Business Network blazes new trail, USA Today, 14 October 2007. Accessed: 10-17-2007. Fox Business: Fluff meets financial, Toronto Globe and Mail, 16 October 2007. Accessed: 10-17-2007. http://www.theage.com.au/news/BUSINESS/News-Corp-Murdoch-trust-sells-shares/2007/11/16/1194766914058.html â€Å"Murdoch's son sees pay doubled ahead of exit† http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5248387077652418022&q=alwaleed&hl=en Kercheval, Nancy and Danielle Rossingh. â€Å"News Corp. to Sell U.S. TV Stations for $1.1 Billion (Update5)†, Bloomberg.com, 2007-12-22. Retrieved on 2007-12-22. â€Å"Murdoch's Pebble Beach shindig†, Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved on 2007-12-01. â€Å"Bono and Blair to join Murdoch on the beach†, Guardian. Retrieved on 2007-12-01. â€Å"The PM, the mogul and the secret agenda†, Guardian. Retrieved on 2007-12-01. FCC, (2001). FCC Approves Fox/Chris-Craft Merger with Conditions, FCC 01-209 www.fcc.gov Fox Entertainment Group, (2001). Annual Report www.fox.com Hoovers, (2001). Profile on News Corp. www.hoovers.com Hoovers, (2001). Profile on Fox Entertainment Group www.hoovers.com Hoovers, (2001). September 11 Consequences, www.hoovers.com, downloaded on 11/29/01. Hoovers, (2001). News Corporation Reports Double Digit Film Operating Income Growth in First Quarter, www.hoovers.com, downloaded on 11/29/01. News Corporation Inc. (2001). Annual Report www.newscorp.com News Corporation Inc. (2001). Executive Management www.newscorp.com/management/ The Star (2001). Murdoch says 50:50 chance to win Hughes, www.hoovers.com Valueline (2001). Profile on News Corp. www.valueline.com

Benefits of studying abroad

Studying abroad is one of the best experiences a student can have in the course of learning. Students who go through such an experience have been at advantaged position as they have been able to sample a different culture from their own. Studying abroad involves going beyond the border mostly to a foreign country. Students moves to a new environment which might be totally different from what he or she is used to. At times the students may be introduced a new system.The reasons as to why people go to study abroad are as varied as the number of students who go through such an exciting experience. (Cressy, W 2004) Studying abroad usually prepares the students to work and live in a multicultural setting where they interact and learn about the other cultures. It encourages students to have academic discipline as they learn to reason in a totally or slightly different system. Through such an experience students are taught to be independent where they get to do things on their own sometimes in environment which encourage tolerance and accommodation.Through such an exposure the students learn to respect other people’s ways of life despite the differences. This enhances their prospects for the future jobs especially those which are international in nature. (Cressy, W 2004) Studying in a foreign country affords the students many rare chances, these includes learning a new language and an opportunity to experience different cultures, history and environment. It accords the students an opportunity to witness some of the things learnt in text books firsthand.In the modern world employers are seeking skills which have been polished through overseas engagement. A student who has studied in a foreign country will be in a better position to secure employment as he or she will be bringing a new experience to an organization. Studying abroad is a very special opportunity which helps the students to develop certain skills, adaptability and confidence. It is an adventure tha t moulds the students into individual who can fit in different cultures around the world. Reference Cressy, W (2004) A guide to Studying Abroad, Princeton Review

Macbeth †Study Notes †Act II Essay

1.Who accompanies Banquo at the opening of Act 2? What is his relation to Banquo? Fleance is the one who accompanies Banquo. He is his son. 2.What is Macbeth’s hallucination before he murders Duncan? What does this mean? Macbeth’s hallucination is a dagger which he wants to grasp but of course he can’t, and he realizes that he is seeing the dagger that he plans to use in the murder, a dagger which beckons him toward King Duncan’s door, and a dagger upon which appear thick drops of blood. He understands that â€Å"It is the bloody business which informs / Thus to mine eyes† (2.1.48-49), but he is not horrified. Rather, he wants to be as deadly as that dagger. 3.What reason does Lady Macbeth give for not committing the murder herself? Duncan looks like a father and that is why Lady Macbeth does not want to commit the murder herself. 4.Why do Duncan’s sons decide to leave Scotland? They doubted something and by leaving Scotland, they’ll have a little additional safety, because no one will be able to kill them both at once. 5.In Scene 2, why couldn’t Macbeth say â€Å"Amen† when a voice said â€Å"God Bless Us†? In Scene 2, Macbeth could not say â€Å"Amen† when a voice said â€Å"God Bless US† because it was part of his hallucinations. 6.The images of blood and water are interwoven in lines 55-68 of Scene 2. What does each suggest? It is the blood on his hands that causes this horrible fascination, and he  feels that the blood can never be washed away. Before his hands are clean, they will make all the seas of the world turn red. The water usually represents being free of something, wiping away the guilt, and bringing back innocence even though just metaphorically. By washing his hands with water Macbeth thought he would erase the guilt that was behind it. 7.How do the difficult attitudes of Macbeth and his wife to their bloodstained hands serve to point up the basic difference in their characters? Both Macbeth and his wife want to clean their hands by using water, but Macbeth feels as if the blood will never go away because he is really feeling guilty for the crime he committed. While his wife, Lady Macbeth thinks that the water will clean the blood, and everything will be as before. 8.What is ironic about Macduff’s replying to Ross’ question, â€Å"Those that Macbeth hath slain† (Line 23)? Macbeth told them already what went on, but they were still discussing it because apparently Macbeth didn’t convince them much. It is ironic because Macbeth was the one who killed both King Duncan and the grooms.

Families of Patients with Asthma Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Families of Patients with Asthma - Essay Example The limits are as follows: "published in the last 5 years", "Core clinical journals", "Nursing journals" and "All Adult: 19+ years." The search: ((asthma education)) AND ((improved asthma control)) AND ("last 5 years"[PDat] AND (jsubsetaim[text] OR jsubsetn[text]) AND (adult[MeSH]) ) produced eight articles for review. Further limit of "Nursing journals" without "Core clinical journals" yielded four articles only. One study completed at the University of Florida College of Nursing, entitled Promoting adherence: effects of theory-based asthma education, utilized audiotapes, booklets, both, or no additional educational materials. This study revealed that out of the 46 adults participating, a significant benefit of improved adherence for medication use verified by pharmacy records was found in the education intervention group. The group was followed at three and six month intervals (Schaffer & Tian, 2004). Another study which closely relates the clinical question was conducted by department of Internal Medicine,, Croatia. The study implicates that by promoting different educational plans a better asthma control and also asthma related quality of life (QoL) can be achieved.

The value and importance of the small firm to the world economy Essay

The value and importance of the small firm to the world economy - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that in the recent times, the role of small firms has been recognized to be extremely important for socio-economic development. Gà «rgjaliu-Thaà §i stated that small firms in the current world economy are closely associated with employment and poverty eradication. It is claimed that small firms decentralize economic control and offer individuals a stake in the future. However, there has been constant debate being made-over the importance of small firms. Amid these constant debates, the proponents of small firms have stated that successful small firms are crucial for the global economic development. It has been claimed that small firms are the major source of innovation and development of entrepreneurship. In this section critical analysis of the article, first, the researcher wants to demonstrate the statistics presented in the article. Correspondingly, Day argued that most firms across the world are small firms based on the number of emp loyees employed. Taking the example of the United Kingdom’s (UK’s) business environment, the author has stated that 95 percent of firms in the UK employ less than 10 employees which imply that small firms are the predominant aspect of the socio-economic growth of the UK. Cromie firmly asserted that marketing in small firms is equally important as in the case of large firms. It is crucial that activities pertaining to marketing in small firms are relevant as well as appropriate considering the problems that it intends to resolve and the life cycle position of the firms.

Fiber Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Fiber - Essay Example However, with advances in the scientific field the various health benefits of fiber were identified. Hence regular consumption of generous amounts of dietary fiber in the diet has been proven to reduce the risk for developing several diseases such as coronary heart disease, diabetes, obesity, blood pressure, gall stones, diseases of the colon and it has also been found to boost the immune system (Dietary fiber, 1996; Anderson et al, n.d). Research studies have revealed that people consume less than the recommended levels of dietary fiber. The amount of dietary fiber intake depends on the age, gender and total calorie intake (Anderson et al, n.d). The major advantage provided by dietary fiber is the presence of a mixture of bio-molecules along with the fiber which may include vitamins, minerals or phytochemicals which actually contribute to protection against diseases (Dietary fiber, 1996). The occurrence of cardiovascular diseases such as coronary heart disease, stroke and hypertension which affects a majority of the population worldwide can be effectively reduced by consumption of sufficient amounts of dietary fiber. Fiber reduces the risk factors associated with cardiovascular diseases such as diabetes, obesity and dyslipidemia. Many studies beginning from 1982 have proven the effect of dietary fiber intake, especially the whole grains, on the risk of cardiovascular disease (Dietary fiber, 1996; Anderson et al, n.d ; Rosamond, 2002). While the exact mechanism by which dietary fiber reduces the risk of heart diseases is not known, it is however, found to effect serum cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol levels by binding to bile acids in the small intestine and thus increasing their elimination from the body via feces (Dietary fiber, 1996; Anderson et al, n.d). In addition, dietary fiber also has an advantage of low-cost can be beneficial to all classes of

Township Planning in and around Chennai City Limits Research Proposal

Township Planning in and around Chennai City Limits - Research Proposal Example With specific subject related colleges represented by Anna University and Madras Medical College. Despite its ongoing development as a leading commercial metropolis, Chennai is also responsible for housing 5% of the entire slum population of India, together with a significantly high migrant population.1 This proposal will outline a framework for consideration based on the principal that as a city Chennai needs to incorporate a great many factors into its attempts to expand and develop industrially, educationally and for the benefit of its existing residents and future population. In particular it will seek to demonstrate the advantages of recent city growth in the form of townships. How the city is developing and reinventing itself as a consequence of these new developments The literature for this research will broadly split into three categories. Each category will be the focus of the three fundamental chapters. With the fourth and final chapter dedicated to rationalizing the findings. The first category will focus on the history of Indian town planning. This will provide a context within which the current situation and consequences of modern day townships being developed throughout Chennai will be rationalized. It will explore the reminiscent British influence and the Victorian concept of municipality and how this was first established in Madras (now Chennai). Research Publications such as the Transformation of Housing Policy and other documentation sourced from the Indian Institute of Public Administration, together with books like Indian Government & PoliticsBy Sharma Manoj which detail the period of the 1960's amongst others as eras that can be defined as playing a major role in the development of urban planning models. The second category to be investigated will involve a demographic overview including the current economic and social situation in Chennai in the twenty first century. This will be achieved through the presentation of collated statistics the overall socio-economic situation of the population by illustrating the differences across the city and its outskirts. There have been a number of qualitative and quantative research studies carried out on the population of this particular city including Quality of Life of Migrant Households in Urban Slums, by S. Sundari, Alcohol Abuse Among The Coastal Communities In Chennai District, Tamil Nadu Tsunami Resource Centre, Prof. L. S. S. Manickam Ph.D. Dr. Joshi Basil PhD, An Adaptive Ecosystem Approach to Managing the Urban Environment for Human Health, Martin J. Bunch. The case for being able to demonstrate the current situation of the people of Chennai, their history of housing issues, poverty and deprivation as a result of demographic circumstance will help legitimise the overall picture of Chennai as a city whose population has suffered and continues to do so without the necessary changes to infrastructures a nd controls on building and residency issues. These statistics will be supported by a number of text based

Recycled Toothbrushes Make Sense Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Recycled Toothbrushes Make Sense - Essay Example The great advantage to Recycline is that they get raw materials for production at free cost in partnering with Stonyfield Farm. It is cost-effective and time saving as it eases the efforts made on collecting raw-materials through this partnership deal. An array of techniques can be applied for the sales promotion of these recycled products. In the current business scenario people are exceedingly influenced or affected by the power of advertisement. The celebrities appear in advertisements have an intangible influence on people as they attract public to the respective products. So deploying contemporary celebrities will certainly increase the sales. Announcing special offers on product sale is an emerging trend these days which Hudson can also implement as one of his marketing tactics. In addition to product offers, giving price reduction during special events can also promote sales at a considerable range. It is very difficult for a firm to withstand in the modern business world without being highly competitive. As the business trends change, business policies should also be changed. For this, entrepreneur must be up to date with appropriate strategies to meet the challenges of market fluctuations. Since consumer based marketing is the core of current businesses, the company can launch regional outlets in order to be available the products as and when required by consumers. House door delivery is also a suggestive method. The company can also make use of Information Technology to provide services to customers and collect feedbacks from them. At the same time company should maintain quality of the

How Does the American Public School Philosophy address the concept of Research Paper

How Does the American Public School Philosophy address the concept of Democracy aad the individual - Research Paper Example In this case, before undertaking to explore the role that American schools play in educating children in about democracy, it is crucial to attempt explaining the relationship between the two concepts of education and democracy. Thus, from a contemporary point of view, democracy can be considered to be that which results from and is reflective of modern day societies political and market economy, it personified by activities such as choosing political representatives and an autonomous judicially (Loflin, 2008). In these premises, school provides education to the minority future political figures, the majority to fit into their future role as consumers and producers in the society, and ultimately the decision makers in the society. Hence, such an education, will ideally involve educating them by practical activities so that they can experience democracy in their own personalized setting such as participating in their student centered committees and organizations, in their schools. This paper is an introspection of the role played by public schools in perpetuating the concept of democracy and individual through pedagogy by discussing the rationale; examining the objectives of teaching democracy in schools, the methods and implementation as well as the challenges that are encountered in the endeavor. The culture of democracy should be taught to schoolchildren for a number of reasons; prominent among them is the need to create self-awareness to them, which is instrumental in helping them take responsibility for their lives and the country’s destiny. This is because when children understand democracy, they will appreciate its importance and can easily apply it in their lives as students. This is concerning activities such as voting for prefects and student leaders as well as in simple things like solving a dispute on where to eat lunch among friends or which bus to take home (Rosenthal and Burroughs, 2003.). While these might seem like minor considerations, th ey set ground for bigger issue that the students will have to make in their adult lives, and it helps socialize them into democratically sensitive individuals. Although it is hailed and praised for facilitating legitimate governance, democracy can only be as strong as those who practice it. As a result, in America, students should be taught about democracy in order to ensure they are able to make judgments for themselves on what is democratic and what is not democratic. The process of democracy in America is often fraught with conflict and can often be messy, thus, teaching schoolchildren democracy is crucial since it helps them to appreciate the potential for conflict that result even with democracies, in order to develop democratically acceptable ways of dealing with these conflicts. In addition, youths might mistakenly assume that what happens in congress, and in national politics, is the epitome of democracy due to its lofty position. Nonetheless, the truth is that democracy is frequently abused and overstepped by politicians in their search for political mileage. Therefore, education about democracy provides learners with wisdom enabling them to contemplate the political climate and happenings critically so that they do not get mislead by these populist shenanigans. Electronic and print media has failed miserably in their attempt to convey to

Marketing transportation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Marketing transportation - Essay Example Managers within the mid-level within the business division make them. Functional-level strategies concerns single functional undertakings and related concepts that allow for the establishment of tactical decision. It concentrates on comparatively limited plan offering objectives for various functions, allotment of resources amongst diverse operations within certain functional divisions. The logistic strategy bears connections with the corporate strategy since logistics offers input in the creation of corporate strategy. Logistic strategy is affected the objectives presented by corporate and business-level strategies. Additionally, logistic strategies are affected by the strategic decisions made in various sectors of functional divisions of marketing with manufacturing. The capacity of logistic function to effect the triumph of a corporation grounds from the capacity of the logistic manager to create and employ strategies that are associated with corporate strategy. Performance measurement can be considered intricate within a global logistic context given that in the measurements, there is assortment or diversity in various equipments utilized in terms of category, magnitude and commodities. Therefore, the measurements cannot be considered simple since measurements have to be established for every component. Information is considered quite influential in relation to supply management and logistics. Extensive familiarity and visibility within these areas allows for replacement of inventories with data. Extensive knowledge concerning consumer demands through sale point information assists in improving planning and lessens inconsistency with the supply chain. It allows for excellent synchronization of various concepts such as marketing and supply via ERP tools. It ensures updated order processing and diminished lead times achieved through synchronized logistic data arrangements. Utilization of

Le Confessionnal - Research paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Le Confessionnal - - Research Paper Example This not only shows a cultural type of grammar toward Quebec and the French during this time frame but is also directly linked to other movies which associated with the same cultural beliefs. Historical Background of the Film Le Confessional was first written in 1994 and released in 1995 as a Canadian film in Quebec. The background also links to the shooting of Hitchcock’s film, I Confess, released in 1952. There are several shots and references to this particular movie as a flash back and as an association with the culture of Quebec when this film was created. The approach which this took as well as the unique perspective which was associated with the film led to distinguished responses from viewers. This included the Genie Award for Best Canadian Film in 1996. The noticed reactions were not only based on the double storyline and philosophical approach that was taken. There were also attributes to the cinematography, acting and the structure that the film had in revealing the double time periods and the twisting of plots (Canadian Film Encyclopedia, 115). The inspiration for the film is one that is directly linked to the instructions of Robert LePage and the approach which was taken with the film. LePage was born in Quebec City in December of 1957. He was not only known as a director, but also worked as a playwright, actor and stage director. LePage began theater in high school as an outlet for his personality. From 1975-1978, he began to study theater at the Conservatory for Art Drama. He also studied in France under the direction of Alain Knapp for direction in theater. After coming back to Quebec, LePage began to participate in different theater opportunities, including the Theater Repere in 1982. Through this time, LePage used independent films and short cuts as his main outlet. In 1984, LePage released his first full film, Circulations, which was recognized for the best Canadian production at the International Theater of Quebec. After this release, he began producing several films that continued to gain wide recognition and international critiques for their unique plot lines and cinematography (Caux, Gilbert, 7). Even though LePage was working with film, he also continued to work on the theater. From 1989 – 1993, LePage produced a variety of stage plays, including Shakespeare classics and his own writing. It wasn’t until 1994 that LePage was able to move into a complete studio that he opened, known as Ex Machina. He became the artistic director of the productions that were worked on, including The Far Side of the Moon and Elsinore. LePage directed a total of four films, with Le Confessional as his first approach. He was also known for his acting in Jesus de Montreal and Stardom, both feature films by Denys Arcand. His acting is followed by his musical talent where he worked with providing funding for tours while working in opera as well as acting. The works of LePage are continuously involving both theater and f ilm productions as well as experimental works, such as street plays, that LePage works with to make statements related to societal problems and philosophies. The several areas of success by LePage have caused him to be one of the most recognized forces of talent in Canada. In 1994, he was made Officer of the Order of Canada for his works. This was

Scientific method Essay Example for Free

Scientific method Essay 1)What type of team was formed here? Was it necessary, in your opinion? 2)Use the team effectiveness model and related information in chapter 8, to identify the strengths and weaknesses of this team’s environment, design and processes. 3)Assuming that these four people must continue to work as a team, recommend ways to improve the team’s effectiveness. An average, or typical, case is often not the richest in information. In clarifying lines of history and causation it is more useful to select subjects that offer an interesting, unusual or particularly revealing set of circumstances. A case selection that is based on representativeness will seldom be able to produce these kinds of insights. When selecting a subject for a case study, researchers will therefore use information-oriented sampling, as opposed to random sampling. Outlier cases (that is, those which are extreme, deviant or atypical) reveal more information than the potentially representative case. Alternatively, a case may be selected as a key case, chosen because of the inherent interest of the case or the circumstances surrounding it. Or it may be chosen because of researchers in-depth local knowledge; where researchers have this local knowledge they are in a position to â€Å"soak and poke† as Fenno[6] puts it, and thereby to offer reasoned lines of explanation based on this rich knowledge of setting and circumstances. Three types of cases may thus be distinguished: Key cases Outlier cases Local knowledge cases Whatever the frame of reference for the choice of the subject of the case study (key, outlier, local knowledge), there is a distinction to be made between the subjestorical unity [7] through which the theoretical focus of the study is being viewed. The object is that theoretical focus – the analytical frame. Thus, for example, if a researcher were interested in US resistance to communist expansion as a theoretical focus, then the Korean War might be taken to be the subject, the lens, the case study through which the theoretical focus, the object, could be viewed and explicated. [8] Beyond decisions about case selection and the subject and object of the study, decisions need to be made about purpose, approach and process in the case study. Thomas[3] thus proposes a typology for the case study wherein purposes are first identified (evaluative or exploratory), then approaches are delineated (theory-testing, theory-building or illustrative), then processes are decided upon, with a principal choice being between whether the study is to be single or multiple, and choices also about whether the study is to be retrospective, snapshot or diachronic, and whether it is nested, parallel or sequential. It is thus possible to take many routes through this typology, with, for example, an exploratory, theory-building, multiple, nested study, or an evaluative, theory-testing, single, retrospective study. The typology thus offers many permutations for case study structure. A closely related study in medicine is the case report, which identifies a specific case as treated and/or examined by the authors as presented in a novel form. These are, to a differentiable degree, similar to the case study in that many contain reviews of the relevant literature of the topic discussed in the thorough examination of an array of cases published to fit the criterion of the report being presented. These case reports can be thought of as brief case studies with a principal discussion of the new, presented case at hand that presents a novel interest.

The Spread Of Hellenism History Essay

The Spread Of Hellenism History Essay The Hellenistic Period dates between Alexander the Greats death, in 323 BC, to the Roman annexation of Egypt in 30 BC. At that time, Greek power and culture spread out to the world. Hellenism resulted from conquests by Alexander the Great. Between 334 BC and 323 BC, Alexander had managed to take over the entire Persian Empire and to bring down its ruler, King Darius III. Alexanders empire covered parts of Europe, Africa and Asia. It included Egypt, Assyria, Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, Levant, Persia, Media and parts of present day Pakistan and Afghanistan (Heckel, 2008). While Hellenism was the result of Alexanders conquests, it took off after his death in 323 BC. This paper discusses the beginnings and spread of Hellenism. Alexander was a son to Phillip II of Macedon. When his father died, Alexander battled with Greek city States against Macedon. He inherited his fathers role as supreme commander. After he had managed to consolidate Grecian City States, he re-launched the war his father had begun against Persia. Alexander and his forces easily moved across whatever was left in western Persia. He conquered all areas towards the east of the Euphrates. Darius gathered his troops in a final attempt to reclaim his empire, and the two met at the Gaugamela plain (Stoneman, 2004). Heckel (2008) narrates that after easily crossing both the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, Alexander came face to face with Darius troops. Their battle seemed to be almost a stalemate, but Darius had the advantage of numbers. When Alexander found a chance, they attacked Darius and he fled. Most Persians gave up and Darius was killed by his own men. Alexander then became the king of Macedonia, Persia and Greece. He was not satisfied and headed for India but his forces refused and he went back hoping to continue with his conquests later on, but he suffered from Malaria and died shortly thereafter. Alexanders commanders competed for control of the empire and eventually divided it into three parts; Greece/ Macedonia, Pergamum/Asia Minor, West Asia and Egypt. This marked the end of Alexanders Era and the beginning of the Hellenistic Age. In the Hellenistic times, the Macedonians did not only control the territory. They also initiated an active exportation of Greek culture. Greek literature, politics, art literature and law found their way into Asia, Africa and Europe. The exportation of culture in such a scale was a new phenomenon at the time. It led to a strong influence of Greek culture on others that later emerged in these areas. Greek culture had a role in shaping Islam, Christian, Roman and Jewish cultures. Throughout the new empire, Hellenization occurred. Where Greek art and architecture was introduced, the Greek way of life and language were also adopted. The influence covered a very large territory that extended from Greece to India then Mongolia and further to states beyond the Oecumenas frontiers (Spielvogel, 2007). According to Stoneman (2004), Greek culture and language spread as Alexanders armies progressed. The Romans on their part took up a considerable amount of Greek culture. They preserved and spread it to other areas of the world. When Rome fell, Greek culture was kept and revisited during the Byzantine Empire years. It was also spread into the Arab world and transmitted to the West during the Renaissance. Ancient Greece therefore impacted on a variety of subjects for instance scientific medicine, mathematics, literature, poetry, language and theater. Architecture, politics, history and philosophy in virtually every part of the world gained a Greek characteristic and names such as Hippocrates, Herodotus, Plato and Aristotle had new meaning. The new testament of the Christian bible was translated to Greek. Herodotus came to be considered as being the father of history. The concepts of democracy and philosophy were related to scholars such as Plato and scientific theory was linked to Gree k scholars. After Alexander died, the Hellenism era started fully. During the time, the known parts of the world accepted and adopted Grecian ideals and culture. Cities that were established by Alexander became the centers of trade, government and culture. Greeks introduced their theatres, temples and schools, as a result of which Greek culture was easily exported. In a way, much of the world embraced Greek culture and the Greek language took up a new international status. Arts and education were founded on classical Greek ideals. They were therefore characterized by ideas of figures such as Aristotle. With Hellenization, there was also a spiritual revolution and change in religious viewpoints. With time, there was a reduction in the influence of Greek gods. This was replaced by a strong influence from Eastern religion which led to the development of the cult of Isis (Spielvogel, 2007). Stoneman (2004) explains that while Alexanders empire had expanded fast, its demise was even faster. His death was untimely, leaving no arrangements for his succession. He therefore left the kingdom in turmoil. Hellenisms complete decline started as from 146 BC. In this year, Romans conquered a large part of mainland Greece. It took away the entire ancient Macedon and marked the beginning of the Roman Empire. By 30 BC, even the Egyptian side of the Hellenistic kingdom had been taken over by Rome. This marked the end of Hellenistic civilization. In conclusion, the death of Alexander the great marked a turning point in world civilization. His ambition for power led to the creation of a large empire that passed through three continents. As the conquests occurred, Greek culture was transmitted to the areas. After his death, the Hellenistic period started in earnest. Practically every aspect of Greek culture was exported and gained prominence in terms of influence. Subsequent historical periods were characterized by Greek aspects of culture, both in artifacts and intellectual contributions.

Free Cash Flow with a Firms Capital Expenditure

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

Good Use: What is it Good For? :: Teaching Writing Education

Good Use: What is it Good For? I sit here at my computer surrounded by writings about good use. They are beside me, in front of me, next to me. I have read them all many times and I still wonder if I have figured out an answer to "What is good use and what is it good for"? Good use is something that I feel is ingrained in us from kindergarten on. We are taught the proper way to write and the proper way to talk. It distinguishes the educated from the uneducated. Oh, we may try to say that good use does not matter, but we notice when 'bad use' is evident. We see words that are misspelled and sentences that make no sense at all. We hear words used totally out of context or mispronounced. We try not to be judgmental, but, in the back of our minds, there is a little gnome whispering little opinionated thoughts about the ignorance before us. Okay! Okay! I can see everyone getting defensive on that last comment. But if we are honest with ourselves, it is true. We talked in class about good use being a class distinction. There is no avoiding it. Of course, there are the extremes. The example of Niles from 'Frazier' is the utmost extreme in constant good use. Or is it? Maybe it is just an example of class. But Frazier would be of the same class as his brother and he does not speak in such extremes. This is very sad. Now I am arguing with myself in this paper. I think I have triggered an idea, though - Niles is not an example of good use. He is using a dialect that he is comfortable with, that is not common among us. It makes us think of good use because it is so formal. The dialect does consist of good use, but it is not the epitome of it. Frazier and even his Dad speak in ways that would constitute good use. You do not have to use formal english to be considered using good use. Now it may sound like I am getting away from the class distinction, but I don't think that I am. I think the class still shows up, especially in people who have not had a chance at an education. Then there is a definite lack of good use, as we know it.

Puzzle of King Tuts Inner-Coffin as Recreational Activity :: King Tutankhamun History Essays

Puzzle of King Tut's Inner-Coffin as Recreational Activity The King Tutankhamun jigsaw puzzle consists of 1000 individual, cardboard pieces which fit perfectly together to form a 13.75 X 38.5 inch portrait of his inner-coffin. It serves a dual purpose, not only as a two-dimensional replica of King Tut's coffin, but also as a form of recreational activity. The fun lies in methodically assembling the pieces together to create a desired image. Its intended consumer ranges from kids to adults. The puzzle can be found in the gift section at the UCSD bookstore. The bookstore is located in the middle of a college campus, primarily dependent on the patronage of college students. As its name suggests, it mainly sells textbooks for college courses, as well as clothing, school supplies, and assorted gifts. While the puzzle functions as an entertaining diversion, the actual inner-coffin of King Tutankhamun served a much more significant role. The discovery of this historical artifact offers a glimpse into the lifestyle and beliefs of the Egyptians. The Egyptians were deeply religious people, incorporating religious ideology into their everyday life. They believed in an inner-spirit, called the ka, which persists long after a person's death. With this in mind, they went to great lengths to ensure that the ka of a departed king enjoyed a comfortable, luxurious after-life existence, as it was crucial to the well-being of the Egyptian state. So, when King Tutankhamun died in 1327 BC., they lavished his tomb with funerary decorations and expensive furnishings. They paid particular attention to the quality and extravagance of his inner-coffin, where his remains reposed. The marked difference in the function and significance of the jigsaw puzzle and King Tut's actual coffin is reflected in the monetary value placed on each item. The inner-coffin is made of several hundred pounds of solid gold which theoretically reproduced the bodily and facial features of King Tutankhamun. However, the level of accuracy to which it was done is not known. Colored enamel and semi-precious gemstones decorate its surface, as well as very finely incised linear designs and hieroglyphic inscriptions. The king is depicted as holding a crook and a flail, both symbols closely associated with Osiris, the god of the dead. Taken together with the coffin's historical significance, it is worth several million dollars. While the average consumer may not have the purchasing power to afford such a luxury, he or she can trot over to the UCSD bookstore and buy a jigsaw puzzle depicting its likeness for a scant $11.

Life Frankenstein Essay

Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein in 1818. Frankenstein was a gothic novel and the book was based on Mary Shelly’s life as she had a lot of death in her life as her mother died giving birth to her she and she lost her only baby. Mary Shelly want to bring her back as that is what Frankenstein did when his mother die giving birth to his brother. There was a lot of increase of science at time which drove Frankenstein to make the monster. Chapter 5 is the most important chapter as it is when he brings the monster to life but when the monster comes to life Frankenstein would not take responsibility and would not go back to his house â€Å"I did not dare return to the apartment which I inhabited.† It shows that man should not play god if they are not willing to take responsibility for their action which Frankenstein didn’t do. He runs out of his house â€Å"seemingly to detain me, but I escaped, and rushed down stairs.† Just because he didn’t want to take responsibility for the  Monster. This chapter shows that he is a coward as he made the monster but when he saw it he was scary to him even though he was the one who made it. It also show he is very selfish as he doesn’t think of the monster he only thinks of him self and what would happen if one of his friends sees it â€Å"I dreaded to behold this monster but I feared still more that Henry should see it† this show that he thinks more about him self then he does about the monster as he don’t want Henry to see it as it would damage his reputation. Shelley used the language to create atmosphere like at the start it is depressing as Frankenstein realises that making the monster was morally wrong â€Å"it was on a dreary night of November that I behold the accomplishment† but at the end it becomes a scared atmosphere as he doesn’t want to think of the monster â€Å"could he allude to an object on whom I dared not even think.† The time of day is night â€Å"my candle was nearly burnt out†.  The chapter talks about appearance and reality â€Å"I behold the wretch – the miserable monster whom I had created† he called the monster a wretch which means he doesn’t see him as a human and he thinks of him as a thing that he can just throw away when he feels like it and make something else just because he look different to every one else when really Frankenstein is the monster. The chapter also talks about isolation and loneliness as  During all that time Henry was my only nurse† when he isolated him self he when insane as he wanted to finish his work and not to rest, but he doesn’t ask his friends for help.  The chapter shows man should not play god as it is too much responsibility for them to take. â€Å"Dreams that had been my food and pleasant rest for so long a space were now became a hell to me† this show that mortals react to they emotions. Human’s emotions change very quickly and this shows that they should not play god if they are not willing to play it out to the end and that no human can control they emotions. Studying this chapter has showed that man should not push science too far as it can cause very dangerous things that can hurt people but if we are going to play god which means we should not be allowed to change our emotions and take responsibility for what they have made or done. It also shows that just because you love someone you are aloud to give them a new life as this is going against god.

Internal Factors Affect Change of Leadership in Organization

The circulating(prenominal) issue and full text enumeration of this journal is available at www. emeraldinsight. com/1753-8351. htm IJWHM 2,1 endure- link closelyness attri thoions their equal on take on attitudes ? ? Sara Goransson, Katharina Nasw every stand firm(predicate) and Magnus Sverke 6 De wearment of psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden Abstract drive The mark of this field of battle is to introduce the i mound of knead-related hale-setness attri besidesions and investigate the accomplishments of much(prenominal) acquaintances as head as of wellness view on run for-related attitudes and dis raise imaginationions.Design/ modeological outline/approach Building on attri thation possible action, the sketch tests the trust that prejudicial bleed-related wellness attributions impair employee w suppurater-related attitudes and intentions, and retain the complaisant intercourse in the midst of wellness precondition and get to-related attitudes. Cross-sectional questionnaire info from 785 Swedish retail white-collar lay downers be collected to test these assumptions by utilizing take appreciationd fixing analyses.Findings The results show that detri psychical perish-related wellness attributions be related to petty(a)er levels of hypothesize bliss and place rational committal as well as spunkyer levels of overthrow intention, nonwithstanding afterward controlling for demographics, ferment temper variables, and noetic b oppo situate. Further, the signi? put forwardt funda psychical funda psychical interaction amidst attributions and psychical melancholy hints that it makes a disaccordence of opinion for employees employee overturn intentions if an person with lavishly mental detriment ascribes it to lay down or non.Practical implications fail-related wellness attributions should be interpreted into account in site to avoid impaired levels of employee fit mot ivation. The measure introduced renders it come-at-able to identify and support those individuals who count that ladder affects their wellness shunly. Originality/ esteem The results underscore the rele cutting edgece of how individuals think their wellness is touch by their pass, and contributes to the understanding of how wellness office relates to solution-related attitudes.Since the measure of meet-related wellness attributions is easy administered it is as well valuable for practitioners on the vocation(p) with employee wellness and attitudes. Keywords Personal wellness, pipeline merriment, Employee employee perturbation rate, Sick result, Sweden musical composition type Research paper foreign journal of essay Health digest Vol. 2 zero(prenominal) 1, 2009 pp. 6-21 q Emerald Group issue Limited 1753-8351 DOI 10. 1108/17538350910945974 1. Introduction The high rates of sick abdicate and the distinguish regarding the effects of work on employe e wellness in general view as trustworthy increase attention in twain question and media as of ? ate (Catalan Matamoros et al. , 2007). This increase attention, a want with the importance of work and wellness to individuals, is plausibly to substantiate contributed to an increased interest among employees in how work actually affects their wellness (Harding and Hikspoors, 1995 Harpaz, 2002 Kallenberg and Larsson, 2000). The Third European look at on spraining Conditions indicates, for exemplify, that 27 portion of employees recall that their wellness and prophylactic atomic number 18 at risk because of their work (European al-Qaeda, 2001).Further, a Swedish submit on persons on long sick- progress frame that 66 portion of those asked named work as the underlying cause for ? their sick-leave (Goransson et al. , 2002). Moreover, Ettner and Grzywacz (2001) erect that individuals perceptions of how work affects wellness consort to differ mingled with opp osite work subroutines, so far after dispositional dis arrangements were controlled for. no(prenominal)e of these studies, however, have analyse how employee attitudes and bearingal intentions whitethorn be touch on by such(prenominal)(prenominal) a oppose view of how work affects wellness.We introduce the creation of work-related wellness attributions, which we argue may institute to the understanding of the parts that contribute to variation in hypothesise mirth, organisational commission, and the go forth to tarry with the organization. Whereas numerous studies have documented ill-wellness at work to be related to depressed hire out mirth (Bradley and Cartwright, 2002 Fairbr early(a) and Warn, 2001 Judge and Watanabe, 1993 Spector, 1997 Wright and Bonett, 2007), low organisational shipment (Leong et al. 1996 Mathieu and Zajac, 1990), as well as disturbance cognitions and behaviors (Houkes et al. , 2001 Lee, 1988 Wright and Bonett, 2007), a close at ha nd(predicate) examination of these studies reveals that in that location are differences in the strength of the association among ill-wellness and variant outcomes depending on the measures utilize, but also among studies victimisation the corresponding measures. We declare that work-related wellness attributions burn down be an meaning(a) part of the mechanism de bourneining the relativeship surrounded by ill-wellness and various outcomes.It is credibly that an individual who is not feeling well and who attributes this to elements at work will be slight satis? ed with work, less committed, and to a wideer extent prone to leave the organization, compared to an individual with said(prenominal) level of ill- wellness but who does not associate their wellness status with genes at work. The purpose of the have study is to investigate whether shun work-related wellness attributions are separate from ill- wellness, and if the sentiment contributes to the understandi ng of cast out attitudes towards the handicraft and the organization, and turnover intentions. . 1. Work-related health attributions Work-related health attributions concern the stop to which the individual considers working conditions to be a robust lend factor to her health status. The coverd voice of work to health f dismaypot be positive, minus, or none at all. We propose that work-related health attributions re kick in an grave factor in explaining the link betwixt health and work-related attitudes.By taking work-related health attributions into account it is possible to study differences mingled with those who live on ill-health and attribute this to working conditions and others with ill-health which they do not look at is ca utilize by work. According to attribution theory, muckle tend to look for causes for events and features they amaze (Michotte, 1963 Weiner, 1985 Stratton, 1997), oddly when the outcome is invalidating, such as in the campaign of ill-he alth.Work-related health attributions, then, can be viewed as a type of attribution, since they imply the individuals explanation of events (in this study how work in? uences health). Further more than than(prenominal), work-related health attributions point on how the individual evaluates the contribution of work to her current or prox health status, implying that even if the individual currently does not experience whatsoever ill-health collectible to work, she may see a risk of work affecting her health proscribely if the situation does not change.Drawing on theories on neighborly re enteration (e. g. Moscovici, 2000), we also suggest that beliefs are organize from individuals experiences as well as socially created and shared ideas and knowledge in groups. much(prenominal) knowledge may exist of health complaints and sickness absence among concourse surrounding an individual, as well as the carriage work and its in? uence on health is discussed in question and media (see, for ? example, Catalan Matamoros et al. , 2007), and is of the essence(predicate) in shaping the individuals perceptions of the strike of working conditions on health.Thus, disconfirming work-related health attributions may swot both from an individuals possess experiences of a veto impact of work on health and from the individuals awareness of a connection betwixt Work-related health attributions 7 IJWHM 2,1 8 work and ill-health in the organization and society. The social aspects in the formation of attributions have been observed in previous enquiry such as, for instance, a study where it was raise that norms and social deliberate affected the overall attitude towards absenteeism in organizations ( train Vuuren et al. 2003). At this point, one burning(prenominal) sign should be made. We consider work-related health attributions to be separate from actual ill-health at work. developed ill-health is a general concept and takes a persons current health status and well- world into account, including such factors as problems with social functioning, sleeping problems, low self-esteem, and depression. Work-related health attributions, on the other hand, are work-focused and implicate to what extent individuals perceive that work in? ences health, and do not have to be connected to actual symptoms or health status. Work-related health attributions can, in other words, be negative in spite of a person being in comfortably health. Conversely, an individual can have symptoms of ill-health but believe that work has nothing to do with these symptoms. This discrepancy betwixt health status and work-related health attributions may be due to early signs of health problems, or a conviction that the current work situation is not bene? ial to ones health in the long run, but it is in the end based on the individuals evaluation of the situation. Figure 1 summarizes the relation surrounded by ill-health and work-related health attributions, and how they are anticipate to relate to work attitudes and turnover intentions. 1. 2. Consequences of work-related health attributions Expectancies and beliefs, of which work-related health attributions are one example, tend to affect attitudes and behaviors (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980 Holland et al. , 2002 Weiner, 1985).In addition, the encourage placed on an object of interest spiels an important part in shaping the attitudes toward that object (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980). Since health is important and highly precious by nigh individuals, we expect that individuals with negative work-related health attributions also hold more negative attitudes towards work, such as lower clientele satisfaction and organizational trueness, and higher levels of turnover intention, compared to individuals with less negative work-related health attributions.In all business kinships, it is the employer who is responsible for providing a becoming work humor, preventing health risks at work, and fashi oning efforts to keep the employees healthful (Walters, 2002). Employees expect to sting healthy at work because of grok legislation which emphasizes the employers responsibility for occupational sanctuary and health. Employers who take measures to safeguard the work surroundings show that they value their employees and care close to their public assistance, and reinforce the Figure 1. The relation between ill-health and work-related ealth attributions and their impact on work-related attitudes employees expectations of fair intervention in the employee-employer race. In response to such support from the organization, employees may develop more positive attitudes toward the bank line and increase their allegiance towards the organization (see Robinson et al. , 1994 Shore and Wayne, 1993). However, employees with negative work-related health attributions plausibly hold their employer more or less responsible and exhibit strong negative reactions toward the organization (c f.Robinson and Morrison, 2000 Shore and Tetrick, 1994). Such reactions can include feelings of anger, disappointment, or gall toward the party perceived as being responsible, which can be manifested as take down satisfaction with the problem and decreased commission to the organization. Moreover, it has been argued that employees (especially those most quali? ed) tend to leave the guild when they experience unfavorable working conditions (e. g. Hirschman, 1970 Pfeffer, 1998).The same might apply to individuals high on negative work-related health attributions those who have the resource may very well leave the organization if the employer does not take stairs to remedy the conditions perceived to be big(p) the individuals health. We suggest that work-related health attributions should be taken into account when canvass the relation between employee health and attitudes toward the organization, especially given that previous inquiry on this relation has found differing resul ts.However, the studies conducted consistently indicate that employee health may have a negative impact on phone line satisfaction, commitment and the intention to re important with the organization (see, for example, Leong et al. , 1996 Wright and Bonett, 2007). We believe that work-related health attributions make up an important part of the mechanism between employee health and its potential outcomes. 1. 3. The pledge studyThe purpose of the present study was to investigate the routine of work-related health attributions in the context of mental straiten and work-related attitudes ( stemma satisfaction and organizational commitment) and behavior (turnover intention). We propose that low employee well-being and negative work-related health attributions, respectively, are associated with lower levels of wrinkle satisfaction and organizational commitment, and higher levels of turnover intention.We also propose that work-related health attributions moderate the relation between mental melancholy and work-related outcomes, in the sense that the negative effect of ill-health on work-related attitudes is stronger among individuals who hold negative work-related health attributions than among those with more neutral work-related health attributions. Since work-related health attributions can be considered a quite an peeled empirical fabricate, we analyze its abstract relation to mental suffering in the beginning going on to testing our propositions.Research has shown that characteristics of the work environment are important in shaping attitudes such as melodic line satisfaction and organizational commitment (Fairbrother and Warn, 2001 Parker et al. , 2003), and turnover intention (Griffeth et al. , 2000 Lambert et al. , 2001). In order not to overestimate the effect of work-related health attributions on outcome variables, we control for factors describing the mode at work (job self-reliance, quantitative manipulation overload, soft function over load, workgroup tat, and job argufy), in addition to demographic characteristics (gender, age and breeding).The question model is graphically represented in Figure 2). Work-related health attributions 9 IJWHM 2,1 10 Figure 2. Research model 2. manner 2. 1. Participants and procedure Data were collected indoors the framework of a project analyse how to attract, develop and retain white-collar workers in the Swedish retail and wholesale sectors. A random sample of 1,589 individuals was drawn from the rank and file roster of the Union of Commercial compensated Employees (HTF), which is af? liated with the Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees (TCO).The HTF, which is the essence representing white-collar employees in this item sector, has a unionization rate of approximately 80 part (Kjellberg, 2001). Questionnaires were mailed to the members homes during the spring of 2002. A cover letter explained the general experience of the study and included information somewhat(predicate) compensation for confederation in the study (a gift certi? cate was raf? ed off among the respondents) and that participation was voluntary. Participants returned their questionnaires in pre-addressed, postage- compensable envelopes. Two follow-up mailings were administered to increase the response rate, one with a new questionnaire.The response rate after cardinal follow-ups was 52 percent (n ? 829). After listwise baseball swing of missing selective information, the sample comprised 785 persons. The recall age of the participants was 44 years (SD ? 11), women made up 54 percent of the sample, 14 percent had a university exam, and the average organizational elevate was 11 years (SD ? 10). 2. 2. Measures Table I presents the correlations, sloshed values, standard deviations, and reliability estimates (Cronbachs alpha) for all study variables. In general, the measures exhibited seemly reliability (alpha exceeding 0. 70), with the exception of qualitative c haracter reference overload (alpha ? . 59). 2. 2. 1. Demographics. sexual urge (1 ? woman, 0 ? man) and education (1 ? university degree, 0 ? lower education) were assessed as dichotomous variables. Age was calculated in years. 2 Mean SD Minimum level best Alpha 0. 54 0. 50 0 1 43. 57 1. 92 21 65 Gender (woman) Age 2 0. 06 Education (University) 0. 01 2 0. 04 Job self-reliance 2 0. 15 0. 13 quantifiable role overload 2 0. 08 0. 00 qualitative role overload 2 0. 09 0. 05 Work group cohesiveness 2 0. 04 0. 04 Job challenge 2 0. 17 0. 15 Negative work-related health attributions 0. 01 2 0. 10 affable agony 0. 12 2 0. 10 Job satisfaction 2 0. 03 0. 15organisational commitment 2 0. 04 0. 23 disturbance intention 2 0. 03 2 0. 20 1 0. 14 0. 35 0 1 2 0. 05 0. 00 2 0. 09 2 0. 02 2 0. 03 0. 02 2 0. 04 2 0. 08 2 0. 11 0. 08 3 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 3. 54 0. 90 1 5 0. 78 3. 44 0. 91 1 5 0. 78 2. 22 0. 78 1 5 0. 59 3. 74 0. 96 1 5 0. 84 3. 57 0. 87 1 5 0. 74 2. 52 1. 08 1 5 0. 84 9. 19 5. 56 0 32 0. 88 3. 74 0. 91 1 5 0. 88 3. 08 0. 94 1 5 0. 71 2 0. 13 2 0. 08 0. 31 0. 32 2 0. 09 2 0. 13 0. 38 0. 14 0. 13 0. 35 2 0. 40 0. 42 0. 35 2 0. 35 2 0. 20 2 0. 37 0. 28 0. 27 2 0. 34 2 0. 26 0. 56 0. 63 2 0. 09 2 0. 11 0. 47 0. 55 2 0. 52 2 0. 49 0. 48 2 0. 02 0. 03 0. 8 0. 53 2 0. 34 2 0. 32 0. 71 2 0. 39 0. 10 0. 10 2 0. 35 2 0. 35 0. 50 0. 40 2 0. 65 2 0. 56 4 no.es nary(prenominal) applicable for r . 0. 06, p , 0. 05 r . 0. 08, p , 0. 01 r . 0. 10, p , 0. 001 (n = 785) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Variable 2. 04 1. 06 1 5 0. 80 13 Work-related health attributions 11 Table I. correlations and descriptive statistics for the variables in the compend IJWHM 2,1 12 Table II. Results of con? rmatory factor analysis of work-related health attributions and mental di express 2. 2. 2. Work temper. every last(predicate) climate variables were metrical exploitation a ? ve-point Likert weighing machine (1 ? strongly disaccord 5 ? trongly agree). Job autonomy was assessed with a ? leash-item king (Sverke and Sjoberg, 1994), including items (e. g. I have enough freedom as to how I do my work) drawn from Hackman and Oldham (1975) and Walsh et al. (1980). numeric role overload was heedful exploitation a three-item scale (Beehr et al. , 1976), consisting of items such as I often have to a fault much to do in my job. Qualitative role overload was measurable with three items (e. g. I consider my responsibilities to be unreasonable Sverke et al. , 1999). Three items drawn from Nystedt (1992) were used to assess work group cohesiveness (e. g. Members stick together in my work group). Job challenge was measured with a three-item scale (e. g. Im learning new things all the season in my job) developed by Hellgren et al. (1997). 2. 2. 3. Health-related variables. We used the short version of the general Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) to measure mental scathe (Goldberg and Williams, 1988). The 12 items (e. g. Have you been feeling hard-press ed and depressed during the last both weeks? ) were scored on a scale ranging from 0 (never/ hardly ever) to 3 (always/almost always). Work-related health attributions were measured with a three-item scale developed for the present study.The items (I believe that my work affects my health in a negative way I think I can move to work as I do now and remain healthy in the long run reverse coded If I had some other job my health would probably be offend) were scored on a ? ve-point Likert scale (1 ? strongly disagree 5 ? strongly agree). The scale meter work-related health attributions demonstrated a satisfactory inseparable consistency (Cronbachs alpha ? 0. 74), and we went on to investigate whether work-related health attributions and mental distress represented two distinct pass waters. This was tried and true using con? rmatory factor analysis.Three subscales with four-spot GHQ items in every scale were constructed (see Mathieu and Farr, 1991) creating three parallel indic es. The GHQ subscales and the items measuring work-related health attributions were then subjected to the con? rmatory factor ? ? analysis procedures in Lisrel 8 (Joreskog and Sorbom, 1996). The chi-square value did not indicate a perfect(a) ? t between the two-factor model and the information (see Table II), but since the chi-square test is in the raw to sample size (Bentler and Bonett, 1980), we also relied on other indicators to determine model ? t. The familiarized goodness-of-? t index ? ? AGFI Joreskog and Sorbom, 1996), the normed ? t index (NFI Bentler and Bonett, 1980), the Akaike measure (AIC Akaike, 1987), the alike(p) root mean square ? ? residual (SRMR Joreskog and Sorbom, 1996) and the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA mug and Cudeck, 1993) indicated that the two-factor model provided an improvement in ? t as compared to a model that tested for a wizard factor. Thus, our results indicate that work-related health attributions and mental distress rep resent two distinct constructs. The factor loadings ranged from 0. 78 to 0. 81 Model df x2 RMSEA SRMR AGFI AIC NFI Ddf Dx 2 Null 1 factor factors 15 9 8 2,851. 07* 426. 74* 7. 11* 0. 49 0. 24 0. 10 0. 42 0. 09 0. 04 0. 23 0. 64 0. 92 2,863. 07 450. 74 96. 11 0. 00 0. 83 0. 97 6 1 2,424. 33* 356. 63* nary(prenominal)es * p , 0. 05 not applicable for mental distress, and from 0. 73 to 0. 76 for work-related health attributions, indicating good local ? t. The inter-factor correlation was 0. 68. 2. 2. 4. Work attitudes. All attitude variables were measured using a ? ve-point Likert scale (1 ? strongly disagree 5 ? strongly agree). Job satisfaction was assessed with a three-item measure (e. g. I am satis? ed with my job) developed by Hellgren et al. (1999) on the basis of coquette? ld and Rothe (1951). organisational commitment was measured using three items (e. g. The comp whatsoever means a lot to me personally) from Allen and Meyers (1990) scale re? ecting the affective dimensio n of commitment. Three items were used to assess turnover intention (e. g. I am actively looking for other jobs). The scale is based on items from Lyons (1971) and Cammann et al. (1979), and ? modi? ed and translated to Swedish by Sjoberg and Sverke (2000). 2. 3. Analyses Three moderated hierarchic lapses were conducted with job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention, respectively, as drug-addicted variables.The interaction term between mental distress and work-related health attributions was formed by centering the prognosticators and calculating the harvest-tide term, following the procedure described by Cohen et al. (2003). The control variables were entered in the ? rst (demographics) and second (work climate) measurements. The main effects of mental distress and work-related health attributions were entered in the third and fourth step, respectively, bit the interaction term was entered in the ? fth and last step. 3. Results Table III contains th e results of the hierarchical septuple regression analyses.The demographic variables (gender, age, and education) explained 3 percent of the variance in job satisfaction. When the work climate variables were added in the second step, the meat amount of explained variance increased easily to 58 percent, and an additional 2 percent was explained by mental distress in the third step. In the fourth step, when negative work-related health attributions were entered, a total of 62 percent of the variance was explained (DR 2 ? 0. 02). However, the interaction term between mental distress and work-related health attributions ( stones throw 5) did not contribute signi? antly to the explained variance. The regression coef? cients from the last step showed that women and those without a university degree were more satis? ed with their job. Furthermore, autonomy, quantitative overload, work group cohesiveness, and job challenge were positively related to job satisfaction. Of most importance t o the present study was the ? nding that both mental distress and negative work-related health attributions were negatively related to job satisfaction and that they remained signi? depository financial institution predictors of job satisfaction when demographics and work climate variables were controlled for.In the next analysis, where organizational commitment was the dependent variable, the demographics explained 7 percent, the climate variables another 36 percent, and mental distress added 1 percent to the explained variance. Negative work-related health attributions added another 1 percent to the explained variance, whereas, again, the interaction effect was found to be non-signi? banking community. Taken together, the model variables explained 43 percent of the variation in organizational commitment. All three demographics evidenced signi? cant effects in the last step being a woman, beingWork-related health attributions 13 IJWHM 2,1 14 Table III. Results of hierarchical b igeminal regression analyses (standardized regression coef? cients from the last step) bloodsucking variable touchstone 1 Gender (woman) Age Education (university) DR 2 Step 2 Job autonomy valued role overload Qualitative role overload Work group cohesiveness Job challenge DR 2 Step 3 rational distress DR 2 Step 4 Negative work-related health attributions DR 2 Step 5 Mental distress* Negative work-related health ttributions DR 2 Model R 2 alter Job satisfaction organizational commitment Turnover intention 0. 2*** 0. 02 2 0. 06** 0. 03*** 0. 10** 0. 14*** 2 0. 08** 0. 07* 2 0. 13*** 2 0. 11*** 0. 07* 0. 05*** 0. 36*** 0. 05* 2 0. 01 0. 14*** 0. 31*** 0. 55*** 0. 24*** 0. 04 0. 06 0. 12*** 0. 34*** 0. 36*** 2 0. 13** 2 0. 08* 2 0. 04 2 0. 09** 2 0. 16*** 0. 24*** 2 0. 11*** 0. 02*** 2 0. 05 0. 01**** 0. 11** 0. 04*** 2 0. 20*** 0. 02*** 2 0. 12*** 0. 01*** 0. 35*** 0. 07*** 2 0. 04 0. 00 0. 63*** 2 0. 00 0. 00 0. 43*** 0. 06* 0. 00* 0. 39*** no(prenominal)es * p , 0. 05 ** p , 0 . 01 *** p , 0. 001 older, and having a lower education were all associated with higher levels of organizational commitment.All climate variables except quantitative overload were positively related to organizational commitment. Mental distress was unrelated to organizational commitment, whereas negative work-related health attributions were negatively related to the criterion. The demographic variables explained 5 percent of the variance in turnover intention in the ? rst step and the work climate variables in Step 2 added 24 percent to the variance explained. Mental distress in Step 3 added 4 percent and negative work-related health attributions another 7 percent in the next step.In the last step, when the interaction term was included, the variance explained increased by 6 units and the total model explained 39 percent. The interaction term was signi? cant individuals high in mental distress and reporting negative work-related health attributions exhibited the strongest intention s to quit whereas those with low levels of distress and less negative work-related health attributions expressed the strongest willingness to stay within the organization. This indicates that it makes a difference for the intentions to turnover if an individual with high mental distress attributes it to work or not.There were lower-ranking effects of the demographic variables, indicating that men, younger persons, and individuals with a university degree had stronger intentions to leave the organization. In addition, most work climate variables, as well as mental distress (those high in mental distress describe higher levels of turnover intentions), predicted turnover intention. The strongest standardized regression coef? cient was found for the relation between negative work-related health attributions and turnover intention. 4. Discussion disdain the increased research interest in work-related stress and health problems, little attention has been paid to whether, or to what ext ent, individuals attributions of ill-health due to work ( do negative work-related health attributions) affects attitudes towards work and the organization. Those few studies that have investigated this phenomenon (see for example Ettner and Grzywacz, 2001) have not canvas how these work-related health attributions contribute to the understanding of job satisfaction, organizational commitment and turnover intention.The present study indicates not solo that the construct of negative work-related health attributions is distinct from inalienable mental distress, but also that it has important implications for employee attitudes and behavioural intentions. Our results show that employees who reported negative work-related health attributions also expressed less satisfaction with their job, less commitment to the organization, and stronger intentions to leave the organization even after demographics, mental distress, and factors related to the work climate were controlled for.We pro posed that there would be an interaction effect between mental distress and work-related health attributions on attitudes and turnover intention, such that the relation between mental distress and the outcome variables would be stronger for those with more negative work-related health attributions than for those not attributing their mental distress to their job. This proposition received partial support. While work-related health attributions failed to moderate the effects of mental distress on job satisfaction and organizational commitment, the interaction term was signi? ant for turnover intentions. This indicates that individuals with negative work-related health attributions and mental distress were more prone to leave the organization compared to individuals with the same level of mental distress but positive work-related health attributions. Hence, whether the individual attributes ill-health to work or not appears to be important for the effect of health status on outcomes, at least in the case of the intention to leave the organization.This result indicates that the concept of negative work-related health attributions may play an important role in explaining employees work-related behavioral intentions, and should be taken into account when the relation between health and outcomes is investigated. Another guiding light ? nding is that work-related health attributions were more important than mental distress for the prediction of work attitudes and onanism method cognitions. In crease to mental distress, which plainly predicted job satisfaction and turnover intentions, work-related health attributions predicted all three outcomes.That mental distress only appears to contribute to a particular(a) extent is contrary to previous arguments that health status is important for employee work motivation and behavioral orientations (e. g. Hom, 2002). One explanation for our ? ndings may have to do with the fact that work-related health attributions concer n perceived health risks that are associated with the overall work situation, whereas measures of ill-health, such as mental distress, may concern any aspect of an individuals life, not only factors related to the job. As long as the individual does not hold negative work-related healthWork-related health attributions 15 IJWHM 2,1 16 attributions, it is conceivable that subjective health and well-being are only marginally prognostic of attitudes towards work. Negative work-related health attributions may thereof be a better predictor of work-related attitudes and behaviors, and should be included in future research on work-related outcomes. The construct of work-related health attributions can thus have great practical utility, since it in a alternatively simple and direct way captures how individuals perceive that their work affects their health.This is also in agreement with Harter et al. (2003), who suggest that researchers have conceived employee well-being similarly broadly and often in a way which is not intuitively unjust for managers and employees. It is also important to note that negative work-related health attributions predicted work attitudes and turnover intention after controlling not only for mental distress and demographics, but also for characteristics of the psychological work climate.Our info from Swedish white-collar workers showed that, consistent with meta-analysis ? ndings (Parker et al. , 2003), job autonomy, role overload, work group cohesiveness, and job challenge were associated with lower levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The present study also goes beyond previous research by suggesting that the apparent effects of work climate variables remained after subjective well-being and work-related health attributions had been taken into account.The fact that negative work-related health attributions emerged as one of the strongest predictors of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover inten tion understandably indicates that models for the predicting of employee attitudes and behavior could be improved by the inclusion of work-related health attributions. The results from the present study and previous research (see for example ? European Foundation, 2001 Ettner and Grzywacz, 2001 Goransson et al. , 2002) indicate that attributions of work-related ill-health can be understood in price of psychological compact theory (e. . Rousseau, 1989). well-nigh employees expect that their employers will strive to provide a healthy employment, and such an assumption is typically sustained by working class law regulations and collective bargaining agreements. If employees experience a work situation which they make as likely to bring about ill-health, it will be in contrast to their expectations, and thus most likely be perceived as a disruption of the psychological engagement with the employer (see Robinson and Morrison, 2000).Perceptions of a separate of the psychological capture are likely to result in negative work-related attitudes and withdrawal behaviors (Davy et al. , 1997 Turnley and Feldman, 1999). The ? nding that negative work-related health attributions were associated with impaired job satisfaction, lower organizational commitment, and stronger turnover intention may be interpreted as the result of a perceived break of serve of the psychological get down. However, while psychological contract breach was not the main focus in the present study, future research may bene? from explicitly including this concept in the explanatory framework. 4. 1. Limitations and future research Although the results of the present study point to the relevance of the concept of work-related health attributions, our conclusions may be affected by a number of methodological issues. For instance, we utilized data from a single point in time, thus prohibiting the study of temporal order between negative work-related health attributions and its postulated consequ ences. However, cross-sectional research is a necessary ? rst step to empirically search theoretical hypotheses before investments in ongitudinal data are fruitful (Spector, 1994), and two events moldiness be found to co-vary with one another before the causative link can be explored. Furthermore, our results were based on Swedish white-collar employees in a particular service industry, and a replication of the present study using longitudinal data as well as data from different industrial sectors in different countries would be necessary before any ? rm conclusions concerning the generality of the ? ndings can be drawn. All variables were assessed using questionnaires, thus potentially making the results susceptible to mono-method bias (Campbell and Fiske, 1959).Even though meta-analytic research suggests that method variance represents less of a problem than has been assumed in the ago (Crampton and Wagner, 1994), the use of other types of data, such as interviews or diaries, w ould contribute to a better understanding of the role played by work-related health attributions. In addition, while we controlled for a number of factors known to be related to job satisfaction (Loher et al. , 1985), organizational commitment (Mathieu and Zajac, 1990), and turnover intention (Griffeth et al. 2000), it would be relevant to take additional control variables, such as personality characteristics, into account in order not to over-estimate the effects of work-related health attributions. Finally, only three potential outcomes of negative work-related health attributions were considered. Despite the consistent associations found between negative work-related health attributions and employee attitudes and turnover intention, it might be that negative work-related health attributions are less predictive of other factors, such as job performance, safety behavior, and more importantly, occupational injuries and sick-leave. . 2. Concluding remarks Despite these potential limi tations, the results of the present study clearly suggest that the investigation of employees negative work-related health attributions is an important avenue for future research on work and well-being. The results suggest not only that individuals evaluate how work may affect their health and well-being, but also that such perceptions may have important implications for their attitudinal and behavioral orientations toward work.The measure of negative work-related health attributions could be used as a diagnostic instrument for identifying those individuals who are more likely than others to perceive health-threatening conditions at work. The construct can be useful for employers in order to identify and help employees who experience threats to their health due to their jobs. Given that designer imbalances may inhibit the direct discourse of interests with an employer (Rousseau, 2001), such that more vulnerable individuals, for instance temporary employees, are less likely to shar e ? nformation on health risks at work (Aronsson and Goransson, 1998), the collection of information regarding work-related health attributions could be one means for employees to declare this important information with their employer. Work-related health attributions may also constitute a more direct way of assessing the effect of work on health, and may therefore be more useful as a complement to research which gathers information on aspects of the work situation in order to predict health.An important area for future research is how individuals may take these work-related health attributions into account when making decisions regarding their Work-related health attributions 17 IJWHM 2,1 18 work situation, such as changing work tasks, work setting, or even occupation. 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