Informtion Technology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Informtion Technology - Essay Example Larkin university faces the dual challenge of integrating itself into a university from a diverse group of colleges and at the same time deploying a technology blueprint to launch itself as a modern competitive educational institution. While traditional thinking may argue that technology deployment is a secondary tool-oriented task, modern approaches to information technology suggest that a sound IT strategy is not only a key enabler for the institutional plan but also an integrated part of it. As a result, â€Å"correct technologies† can â€Å"enable the required IS and corporate strategies to be achieved† (Clarke, 2001, p. 107). A failure in an organisation’s IT and IS strategy can translate into a failure for the organisation itself. A strategy for IT is closely aligned and integrated with the institutions overall strategy for growth and competitive advantage. Organisations typically have a slow response time to change, particularly so in the case of wide scale technology shifts. Larkin University has the unique ongoing challenge of combining existing collages into a university. This challenge could be turned into an advantage by using the new IT infrastructure as the vehicle of change. Laptops for staff, lecturers and students are just the end user side of the sea change in IT infrastructure and IS strategy taking place at the university. A productivity environment with standardised IT/IS platform and common email would free the users from issues of compatibility and delays in support of disparate systems. An institution-wide Internet availability would allow the university’s intranet to be accessed from anywhere. This higher productivity environment would enable the staff and lecturers to concentrate on their core functions. Standardised administrative applications such as scheduling, registration, fee, etc. can be deployed across the campus with minimum integration issues. Lecturers and students would interact and have access to their

Marketing theory and concepts Essay Example for Free

Marketing theory and concepts Essay Every business wither its small or big, aim to meet the needs of their actual and potential customers. In order for them to do this, they need to follow some sort of theory and concept. This assignment will be looking at the marketing theory and marketing concepts which are portrayed in the traditional marketing literature, and how they have limited application in guiding small business marketing practice. Marketing plays a vital role not only in developing, producing, and selling products or services, but also in guiding recruiting labors and raising capital. Although it can be said that successful entrepreneurs undertake marketing in unusual ways. They mainly rely on interactive marketing methods, which is often communicated through word-of-mouth rather than a more traditional marketing mix. Entrepreneurs monitor the marketplace through informal networks rather than formalised market research, and generally adopt more entrepreneurial approaches to marketing activities. However, depending on the business model, a complex and formalised initial market research can be crucial for a successful market entry. There are many marketing theories that are used in traditional marketing literature such as Schumpeter (1934) who said that entrepreneurs proactively created opportunity, using innovative combinations which often included creative destruction of passive or lethargic economic markets. According to Schumpeter the role of an entrepreneur is to innovate, and by doing this, you move the economy from one equilibrium to another. This kind of innovation could come about from one or more introduction of a new product; a new method of production; the development of a new market; the use of new sources of raw material, and the reorganisation of a new industry or its processes. He also distinguished between the entrepreneur and the capitalist. Schumpeter agreed with the fact, that in practice an innovator could also actually be a capitalist. Another well-known theorist next to Schumpeter is Kirzner (1973) who said that entrepreneurs should have a sense of alertness to identify the opportunities in the market and exploit them accordingly . He states The  pure entrepreneur, on the other hand, proceeds by his alertness to discover and exploit situations in which he is able to sell for high prices that which he can buy for low prices. Pure entrepreneur profit is the difference between the two sets of prices. The discovery of a profit opportunity means the discovery of something obtainable for nothing at all. No investment at all is required; the free ten-dollar bill is discovered to be already within one is grasps (Kirzner, 1973, 48). The marketing concept has changed significantly over time. In todays business world the customer is at the forefront, not all businesses in the past followed this concept, as they placed other factors first rather than their customers this is shown as follows:Production Oriented was the focus of the actual business and not the customer needs, as where this has now changed and we can see that it is more focused on customer needs. Production Orientation is when the company believe that they have a superior product, based on quality and features. Due to this thinking the company assume the customers will like it to. In todays market the customers decide as to what product they like. Sales Orientation is the focus where the company makes a product or provides a service, and then sells or offers it to the target market. This causes problems, as consumers may not like what is being offered to them, which is why companies are making sure that they test their services out, to a small group of the target audience. Market Orientation concept has not actually changed over time, it puts the customers first, as the companies try to understand the needs of the customers by using appropriate research methods. These methods are then developed to make sure information from customers, are fed back to the company for them to see what the target audience are interested in . SMEs who may adapt the marketing concept or 4Ps do so fully rather than explicitly (Carson and Gilmore, 2000). Jaworski and Kohli, (1990) also commented on the limitations of the marketing concept (p15). Therefore, the  SME approach is characterized by networking with stakeholders awareness to customer needs (Gilmore, Carson and Grant, 2001; Hill and Wright, 2001). Which is characterized by the size of these firms and their closeness to customers, (Gilmore, Carson, ODonnell and Cummins, 1999) as well as inexpensive forms of marketing such as word of mouth (Gilmore 1999). It is vital for SMEs to set the 4Ps, target a market and position themselves, but how this is done and planned is an important issue as it helps guiding a small business to success. Differences between traditional market literature and variants produced during the 1960s were mainly attributable to the addition of concepts popularized during that decade. For example, Cundiff and Still covered an analysis of the 4 Ps of marketing with the concept that marketing is a subsystem of business. (Cundiff, E.W., Still, R.R. 1976)The basic principles of marketing are generally applicable to large and small businesses. Marketing in SMEs has been recognized as a problematic area for researchers for over 20 years (Chaston and Mangles, 2002; Siu and Kirby, 1998). SME marketing in practice is considered to be mainly done though networking (Gilmore 2001) or a combination of transaction, relationship, interaction and network marketing (Brodie 1997). Recently the use of Internet marketing (Chaffey 2000) or e-commerce (Rayport and Jaworski, 2001) has become popular in all types of businesses including SMEs. Marketing in practice in small firms seem to rely mainly on personal contact networks (Hill and Wright, 2001; Gilmore 2001; Brodie 1997) and is often driven by the particular way a manager does business. According to Gilmore (2001) marketing in SMEs is likely to be chaotic, informal, loose, unstructured, spontaneous, and reactive and conform to industry norms. Gilmore (2001) showed that as a result of networking there was a high level of communication between the SME manager and their competitors then what is usually reported in the marketing literature as well as competing firms may be quite supportive of each other. Similarly, networking with customers usually involves building a relationship with one or two key individuals in those companies. If these individuals were to leave then the relationship the company would break (Gilmore 2001). SME owners must recognize that  building relationships are vital to a companys success and they invest a considerable amount of time and effort in maintaining good relations with regular clients (Gilmore 2001). The foundation and existence of an effective networking is concerned with maximizing marketing opportunities and ensuring the enterprises survival and development (Gilmore 2001). Something, which is more important, in todays world, is having a foot in the business market, which is constantly changing to meet customer needs. The tables have been turned on the fortunes of many long-established firms. Its believed that a majority of firms that are in trouble, and those that have failed recently, have done so because they have been let down by their own marketing. Traditional marketing is now being turned. The ideas of marketing and branding strategy that passed for conventional wisdom before do not hold true today. A small but growing number of innovative firms have adopted completely new and differentiate approaches in marketing, reflecting a clear and unmistakable change in the global culture. In this era of globalisation and the Internet the consumer is behaving in a radically different way and is no longer vulnerable to the overworked ploys of marketing. The present times call for a new competition one that strays from the prescriptions that traditional marketing theory holds, that sometimes works in a way that it is counter to it and that lays focus on network-building and pulling the customer above all else. Many experienced hands in corporate boardrooms are oblivious to these shifting sands and evolving trends, and are paying the price as a result. In general the basic principles and concepts of marketing are as relevant to SMEs as it is to larger firms, but some theories, tools and techniques of marketing are not as relevant or useful to SMEs. The nature of SME marketing is the concept, which is mainly dominated by the inherent characteristics of the entrepreneur and the SME itself. Although not all small business may take the marketing theories and concepts in to consideration, while carrying out some sort of market research they will have come a across them. They may have limited application in todays marketing world but they do provide the basis for which a business can start their research on which helps guiding them in to the marketing practice. Therefore marketing theories and Concepts  portrayed in the traditional marketing literature has limited application in guiding small business marketing practice although they give the business a rough base to start their market practice. Competition and Entrepreneurship, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and LondonCarson, D. and A. Gilmore, (2000), Marketing at the Interface: Not What But How', Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Vol. 8Kohli, A. K. and B. J. Jaworski, (1990), The Construct, Research Propositions, and Managerial Implications, Journal of Marketing,(Gilmore, Carson and Grant, 2001; Hill and Wright, 2001). Gilmore, A., D. Carson and K. Grant (2001), SME Marketing in Practice, MarketingIntelligence and Planning, Vol. 19(Gilmore, Carson, ODonnell and Cummins, 1999) Added value: A QualitativeAssessment of SME Marketing, Irish Marketing Review(Cundiff, E.W., Still, R.R. 1976), Fundamentals of Modern Marketing, 2nd ed.)Chaston, I and Mangles, T. (2002) Small Business Marketing Management.Siu, W. and Kirby, D.A. (1998) Approaches to small firm marketing: A Critique. European Journal of Marketing, vol. 32, no. Brodie, R.J., Coviello, N.E., Brookes, R.W. and Little, V. (1997) Towards a Paradigm Shiftin Marketing? An Examination of Current Marketing Practices. Journal of Marketing Management,Chaffey, D., Mayer, R., Johnston, K. and Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2000) Internet Marketing. Prentice Hall, Harlow, EnglandRayport, J. F. and Jaworski, B. J. (2001) e-Commerce. McGraw-Hill, Boston, USA. Hill, J. and Wright, L. T. (2001) A Qualitative Research Agenda for Small to Medium-sized Enterprises. Marketing Intelligence and Planning,http://www.druid.dk/uploads/tx_picturedb/ds1998-9.pdfhttps://www.mises.org/journals/scholar/wood.pdfhttp://knight.fcu.edu.tw/~gunning/subjecti/workpape/kirz_ent.pdfBooksHandbook of Entrepreneurship Research and Interdisciplinary Survey and Introduction By: Zoltan J Acs, David B

Number system is used in IT applications

Number system is used in IT applications In this documentation I have discussed of how the application of number system is used in IT applications in both hardware and applications, operating system and in programming language. I have discussed about the use of base 2 in the 8 bit bytes form use with the operation for subnet. The use of hexadecimal form addressing memory and classless inter Domain Routing. There are number of different numbering system which is in use for the unique ability to represent different numbers. Binary, Octal, Denary and Hexadecimal are number systems that are used in different aspects Denary number is the most commonly used number system which is frequently used in daily life. Nevertheless each number system has associated benefits which are the reason that different number systems are used in different areas. Each of the number system has a fix number of representation of numbers which are used to represent the numbers like, say for example Binary numbers are represented by either one or zero, Octal numbers are represented by numbers from 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 whereas Denary and Hexadecimal numbers are represented by the number of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 0, 1,2. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F, respectively. Binary Numbers Binary numbers are mostly used when there are only two options available so if one is false then the other is true. Examples of binary system can be their usage to represent bits in a computer which can have only 0 or 1 value a switch in a electric circuit which can be either on (1) or off (0). Binary system is widely used to represent situations in everyday normal life as well for example for electronic gates in electricity circuits, false or true statements can also be displaced in terms of binary digits where 0 represents false and 1 represents true states. Denary Numbers Denary numbers are frequently used in everyday life in accounting, calendar systems, financial systems or daily routine counting. The main benefits of Denary number system is that they are easier to use as compared to other number systems and have more number to present different situations though Hexadecimal number system has more representations but that representation can include characters in them as well which makes them more difficult to understand and use as compare to denary system. Denary number systems are so frequently used that a person even do not need to have a formal education to know or use them. One of the reasons can be that it is frequently use in daily life accounting. Other number systems are used in more specified fields such as computing and hence would need to be learned. Octal Numbers Octal numbers are not that commonly used as compared to other numbers and are mostly used in computing graphics, text and famous operating system such as UNIX also uses octal numbers for their file protection system. Octal numbers have total of 8 unique representations which can be combined together to make more octal number representations. Octal numbers are difficult to understand for a normal person who has limited number of understanding about the number system. As after 7 different numbers are used to represent numbers from 7 onwards and hence they seem physically bit difficult to comprehend. The number system needs to use a subscript of 8 with is number to represented they are not Denary but octal number otherwise confusion can easily occurred. Hexadecimal Number System Hexadecimal number are used where there are more options which needs to be represented off and are mostly commonly used in computing to represent different memory locations. Since binary, octal and hexadecimal have representations which are powers of 2 (power of 0 in binary, 3 in octal and 4 in hexadecimal) hence that makes them more suitable to different situations, which require different number representations. They are positively contributing to the daily life and to the technology and logical world as well and needs to be understood properly if one needs to take advantage of such technology. Whilst the above gives uses of the binary, octal and hex number systems in different areas of IT and while some example are given the manager encourages you to research a wide range of examples for him to look at. Binary Number System used in ASCII table and IP Address   Binary number system are also used in the ASCII table to represent different codes for different characters which then can be used into computing as well. ASCII number is more like a combination of binary numbers. Binary numbers are also used in IP addressing system again which is a combination of Binary number and are used in computing field. These IP addresses are of two different versions now one is known as IP 4 and other one is known as IP 6. These IP addresses are further sub divided into different classes such as class A, B and C where each class has a different number of hosts and network address. The ASCII character set, each binary value between 0 and 127 is given a specific character. Most computers extend the ASCII characters set to use the full range of 256 characters available in a byte. The upper 128 characters handle special things like accented characters from common foreign languages. In ASCII character set, each character is represented by 7 bits when stored in the computer and in an extended ASCII character set, each character is represented by 8 bits. Say for example: ASCII 0000000 represents NULL Similar the word ‘HELLO if converted into binary using the ASCII to binary conversation could be represented as follows. 01001000 01000101 01001100 01001100 01001111(in decimal   72 69 76 79) Please refer an ASCII character table for further understanding of this conversion. Octal numbering system for file protection in UNIX Every file or folder in UNIX has access permission. There are three types of permissions (what allowed to do with a file): Read Access Write Access Execute Access Permissions are defined for three types of users: The owner of the file The group that the owner belongs to Other users Thus, UNIX file permission are nine bits of information (3 types x 3 type of users), each of them may have just one of two values: allowed or denied. Simply put, for each file it can be specified who can read or write from/to the file. For programs or scripts it also can be set if they are allowed to be executed. Textual representation like â€Å"-rwxr-r-â€Å" It is used in UNIX long directory listings. It consists of 10 characters. The first character shows the file type. Next 9 characters are permissions, consisting of three groups: owner, groups, others. Each group consists of three symbols: rwx (in this order), if some permission is denied, then a dash â€Å"-â€Å"is used instead. For example -rrwxrr- 0123456789 Symbol in the position 0 (â€Å"-â€Å") is the type of the file. It is either â€Å"d† if the item is a directory or †l† if it is a link, or - if the item is a regular file. Symbols in positions 1 to 3 (rwx) are permissions for the owner of the file. Symbols in positions 4 to 6 (r) are permissions for the group. Symbols in positions 7 to 9 (r) are permissions for others. r Read access is allowed w Write access is allowed x Execute access is allowed Replaces r, w or x if according access type is denied Numeric (octal) representation like â€Å"664† If a numeric representation is used (like in chmod-command, for example), then it is in the octal format (with the base of 8), and digits involved are 0 to 7. Octal format is used for the simplicity of understanding: every octal digit combines read, write and execute permissions together. Respective access rights for owner group and others (in this order) are the last three digits of the numeric file permissions representation. Example: â€Å"0644†. Here the second digit (â€Å"6† in the example) stands for rights of the owner, the third digit (â€Å"4† in the example) stands for rights of the group, the fourth digit (â€Å"4† in the example) stands for rights of others. The below tales show what numeric values mean: Octal digit Text equivalent Binary value Meaning 0 000 All types of access are denied 1 x 001 Execute access is allowed only 2 -w- 010 Write access is allowed only 3 -wx 011 Write and execute access are allowed 4 r 100 Read access is allowed only 5 r-x 101 Read and execute access are allowed 6 rw- 110 Read and write access are allowed 7 rwx 111 Everything is allowed According to the above table we can see that â€Å"1† stands for execute only, â€Å"2† stands for write only, â€Å"4†stands for read only. To combine the permission you can simply add 1, 2 and 4 to get a needed combination. For instance, to get read and write permission, you add 4 (read) and 2 (write), thus getting 6 (read and write). To get read and execute permissions, you add 4 (read) and 1 (execute), this getting 5 (read and execute). Example: 755 on a file would mean rwx r-x r-w permission on the file. Simply convert the octal number to the binary equivalent and enable the permission where the bits are 1. 755 would mean 111 101 101 In addition there is one more octet representing the Set user ID, set group ID, sticky bit which works in a similar way. Octal digit Binary value Meaning 0 000 setuid, setgid, sticky bits are cleared 1 001 sticky bit is set 2 010 setgid bit is set 3 011 setgid and sticky bits are set 4 100 setuid bit is set 5 101 setuid and sticky bits are set 6 110 setuid and setgid bits are set 7 111 setuid, setgid, sticky bits are set Explain the use of binary in IP addressing for both V4 and V6? Use of binary in IP addressing for V4: Each IP in a V4 IP addressing consists of 32 bits. These 32 bits are divided into 4 octets of 8 bits each. An IP address is represented like this: 172.12.12.46. A computer can understand only binary values and therefore each IP is stored in binary. Each octet is represented as follows. For example if the value of the first octet is 128, it would be represented as follows: 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Therefore an IP 128.128.128.128 would be stored as follows: 10000000 10000000 10000000 10000000 Use of binary in IP addressing for V6: While IPv4 allows 32 bits for an Internet Protocol address, and can therefore support 232 (4,294,967,296) addresses, IPv6 uses 128-bit addresses, so the new address space supports 2128(3.4 x 1038) addresses. This expansion allows for many more devices and user on the internet as well as extra flexibility in allocating addresses and efficiency for routing traffic. The IPv6 128-bit address is divided along 16-bit boundaries. Each 16-but block is then converted to a 4-digit hexadecimal number, separated by colons. The resulting representation is called colon-hexadecimal. This is in contrast to the 32-bit IPv4 address represented in dotted-decimal format, divided along 8-bit boundaries, and then converted to its decimal equivalent, separated by periods. The following example shows a 128-bit IPv6 address in binary form: 0010000111011010000000001101001100000000000000000010111100111011 0000001010101010000000001111111111111110001010001001110001011010 The following example shows this same address divided along 16-bit boundaries: 0010000111011010  Ã‚   0000000011010011  Ã‚   0000000000000000  Ã‚   00101111001110110000001010101010  Ã‚   0000000011111111  Ã‚   1111111000101000  Ã‚   1001110001011010 The following example shows each 16-bit block in the address converted to hexadecimal and delimited with colons. 21DA:00D3:0000:2F3B:02AA:00FF:FE28:9C5A IPv6 representation can be further simplified by removing the leading zeros within each 16-bit block. However, each block must have at least a single digit. The following example shows the address without the leading zeros: Javascript:CodeSnippet_CopyCode(‘CodeSnippetContainerCode3); 21DA:D3:0:2F3B:2AA:FF:FE28:9C5A Binary in describing class A, B and C IP addresses The class of the address determines which part belongs to the network address and which part belongs to the node address. All nodes on a given network share the same network prefix but must have a unique host number. Class A Network binary address start with 0, therefore the decimal number can be anywhere from 1 to 126. The first 8 bits (the first octet) identify the network and the remaining 24 bits indicate the host within the network. An example of a Class A IP address is 102.168.212.226, where 102 identifies the network and 168.212.226 identifies the host on that network. Class B Network binary addresses start with 10, therefore the decimal number can be anywhere from 128 to 191. (The number 127 is reserved for loopback and is used for internal testing on the local machine.) The first 16 bits (the first two octets) identify the network and the remaining 16 bits indicate the host within the network. An example of a Class B IP address is 168.212.226.204 where 168.212 identifies the network and 226.204 identifies the host on that network. Class C Network binary addresses start with 110, therefore the decimal number can be anywhere from 192 to 223. The first 24 bits (the first three octets) identify the network and the remaining 8 bits indicate the host within the network. An example of a Class C IP address is 200.168.212.226 where 200.168.212 identifies the network and 226 identifies the host on that network. Hexadecimal for addressing memory Memory addresses are displayed as two hex numbers. An example is C800:5.   The part to the left of the colon (C800) is called the segment address, and the part to the right of the colon (5) is called the offset. The offset value can have as many as four hex digits. The actual memory address is calculated by adding a zero to the right of the segment address and adding the offset value, like this: C800:5 = C8000 + 5 = C8005 C8005   is called as the absolute or linear address of the memory. Similarly F000:FFFD can be computed to get the following memory address. F0000 + FFFD FFFFD   or   1,048,573(decimal) The Segment: Offset addressing was introduced at a time when the largest register in a CPU was only 16-bitslong which meant it could address only 65,536 bytes (64 KB) of memory, directly. But everyone was hungry for a way to run much larger programs! Rather than create a CPU with larger register sizes (as some CPU manufacturers had done), the designers at Intel decided to keep the 16-bit registers for their new 8086 CPU and added a different way to access more memory: They expanded the instruction set, so programs could tell the CPU to grouptwo 16-bit registers together whenever they needed to refer to an Absolute memory location beyond 64 KB. Classless Inter Domain Routing Classless Inter Domain Routing. CIDR was invented several years ago to keep the internet from running out of IP addresses. The classful system of allocating IP addresses is very wasteful. Anyone who could reasonably show a need for more that 254 host addresses was given a Class B address block of 65533 host addresses. Even more wasteful were companies and organisations that were allocated Class A address blocks, which contain over 16 Million host addresses! Only a tiny percentage of the allocated Class A and Class B address space has ever been actually assigned to a host computer on the Internet. CIDR specifies an IP address range using a combination of an IP address and its associated network mask. CIDR notation uses the following format xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/n where n is the number of (leftmost) 1 bits in the mask. For example, 192.168.12.0/23 applies the network mask 255.255.254.0 to the 192.168 network, starting at 192.168.12.0. This notation represents the address range 192.168.12.0 192.168.13.255. Compared to traditional class-based networking, 192.168.12.0/23 represents an aggregation of the two Class C subnets 192.168.12.0 and 192.168.13.0 each having a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. In other words, 192.168.12.0/23 = 192.168.12.0/24 + 192.168.13.0/24

The Downfall Of The Middle Ages :: essays research papers

The Downfall of the Middle Ages There were many reasons for the downfall for the Middle Ages, but the most crucial ones were the decline of the feudal system, and the declination of the Church's power over the nation-states. In feudal society, everyone had a definite place and a definite role, with the power resting in the hands of the local lords (instead of a central government). The lords, or nobles, lost power after the Crusades, when the Europeans came into contact with the more advanced civilizations of the Byzantine Empire and the Muslims. That spurred the growth of trade, which in turn gave rise to a money system. The money system in turn caused the birth of a middle class, which didn't fit anywhere into the feudal system. It was made up of the serfs and peasants that left the feudal system in search of making money in trade. For the middle class, the king granted Charters, made a uniform law, started banking, offered protection, and expanded territory. In return, the middle class payed taxes to the king. While t his money economy grew, the feudal lords were put into an economic squeeze. As one may see, that didn't leave much of a place for the nobles, who were rapidly losing power. Another thing that contributed to their loss of power was the enforcement of Common Law, which applied throughout the kingdom.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The effects of the Hundred Years' War hastened the decline of the feudal system. The use of the longbow and firearms made the feudal methods of fighting obsolete. Monarchs replaced feudal soldiers with national armies made up of hired soldiers. Finally, threats to the monarchy decreased as a result of the large number of nobles killed in the war.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another major factor that contributed to the end of the Middle Ages was the declination of the Church's power over the nation-states. Conflicts between the papacy and the monarchy over political matters resulted people losing faith in the Church. Events like the Babylonian Captivity and the Great Schism further weakened the Church's influence over the peole. Aside from that, people were disgusted at the actions of the corrupt church officials. They would charge the people money for all church services, and they also allowed church positions to be bought. The princely lifestyle of the clergy further eroded regard for the church. While some still believed that religion held all the answers, others were beginning to put faith into reason and science. The uncertainty of the existance of God made people question the Church. Perhaps one of the most vital blows to the Church was the printing of the Bible in the

Contrastive Linguistics Essay

The Language of the Stock Exchange – A Contrastive Analysis of the Lexis V clanku je podana analiza jezika borze s stalisca slovensko-angleske protistave. Izrazje (samostalniske zveze) obeh jezikov smo protistavili tako v strukturnem kot v semanticnem smislu, pri cemer se je razkrilo vec protistavnih znacilnosti, med drugim razlicni nacini ubeseditve istega pojma, terminoloske praznine in lazni prijatelji, slovensko borzno terminologijo pa zaznamujejo tudi angleske tujke. The article analyzes the language of the stock exchange from a Slovene-English contrastive viewpoint. The specialized lexis of the two languages was juxtaposed as to the structural and semantic differences of their respective terms and expressions (nominal phrases), revealing such contrastive phenomena as different conceptualizations, terminological gaps and false friends, while the Slovene stock exchange terminology is also characterized by English foreignisms. 1. Introduction James characterizes contrastive analysis (CA) as a hybrid linguistic discipline (1989: 4), since it is neither particularist nor generalist and is interested both in the immanent genius of a language and in the ways in which one language compares to other languages. CA does not strive to classify languages and is interested both in the differences and similarities between them. Having had strictly pedagogical implications at first, the theoretical foundations of CA were initially laid down by Robert Lado in his Linguistics Across Cultures (1957). Lado supported the conviction that if learners of a foreign language (L2) were made aware of the ways in which their mother tongue (L1) and L2 differed, this would facilitate foreign language learning. He went even further by claiming that the elements of L2 that are similar to the learners’ L1 will prove simple to learn, with those that are different being difficult. Lado was the first to suggest a systematic set of technical procedures for the contrastive study of languages; this included descriptions of languages and their comparisons as well as predictions of L2 learning difficulties. In its most ambitious phrasing, the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis claimed to be able to predict all learners’ errors committed in using an L2. However, empirical studies conducted during the 1970s could not sustain this claim, making it clear that CA could only predict certain problematic areas for learners and some of the errors they are bound to make in their versions of L2 (James 1989: 145; my italics). All comparisons work on the basis of the assumption that the entities to be compared have certain things in common, and that any differences between them can be laid 154 Slovenski jezik – Slovene Linguistic Studies 7 (2009) against this common background. A CA thus always involves a common linguistic platform of reference, against which contrastive deviations are stated. This common platform is termed tertium comparationis (TC). Depending on the adopted TC, the same aspects of language may turn out be similar or different (Krzeszowski 1990: 16). In syntactic and lexical contrastive studies, the TC is often taken to be formal or semantic correspondence (ibid. ), chiefly in combination. Contrastive linguistics is not a unified field of study. The focus may be on general or on language specific features. The study may be theoretical (theoretical CA), without any immediate application, or it may be applied (applied CA), i. e. carried out for a specific purpose (Fisiak 1981: 2–3). Further, Gabrovsek (2005: 75–6) points out that contrastive work can be done at the levels of: phonology, graphology, lexicology, grammar, and textology. This is why any contrastive work must necessarily be limited in scope and thus always represent but a fragment of the overall contrastive landscape of a given pair of languages. Contrastive lexicology is the contrastive study of the vocabularies of two (or more) languages. It concerns itself with the transposition of lexical items from L1 to L2 and vice-versa, facing such difficulties as culture-bound vocabulary, interlingual mismatches, lexical gaps, etc (ibid.: 62–194). Equivalence between lexical items in two languages can be complete (trgovalni dan—trading day), partial (organizirani trg—regulated market), or nil (TUVL; insider). There are two possible scenarios in transposing such problematic lexical units: either the L2 equivalent is completely unknown to us (what, for example, is narocilo z razponom in odstranitvijo neizvrsene kolicine in English), which might lead to considerable confusion or even a communication breakdown, or we are uncertain as to the correct collocate (is SLO organizator trga EN market organizer or market operator?), which may make our L2 unidiomatic, but does not impede successful communication. Depending on the pattern and environment it appears in, a lexical item will typically benefit from additional semantic shading imposed by the surrounding lexical elements (semantic tailoring), and often consequently receive different counterparts in L2. Note the pairs svezenj—bundle, avkcija—auction, majhen—small, but (in a stock exchange context) svezenj—block (trade), prekinitvena avkcija—volatility interruption, mali vlagatelj—retail investor. The collocator and the base, even if lexically predictable in L2, may appear in the opposite order in the two languages (zascita vlagateljev—investor protection) or be joined by a different preposition (trgovati z obveznicami—trade in bonds). Another collocation-related problem, interlingually, is false friends: (borzna) kotacija ? (market) quotation. Lexicological CA also deals with divergent polysemy (vzdrzevalec likvidnosti—liquidity provider or market maker). This article focuses on lexical contrastive studies and chooses as its TC the English and Slovene lexis of the language of the stock exchange, juggling between formal and semantic equivalence of the terms and expressions in the two languages. Taking the Slovene-English contrastive viewpoint, we focused on nominal phrases (NPs), which have been examined as to the types of (non-)correspondence, on the structural as well as semantic level. The aim of this article has not been a discussion of terminology as such; terminology is here solely the object of contrastive lexicology, which lies at the core of this paper. B. Bozinovski, The Language of the Stock Exchange †¦ 155 As to the structural aspect, a divergence had been expected of the following kind: SLO simple NP complex NP EN simple NP complex NP complex NP simple NP On the semantic level, an occasional discrepancy had been anticipated between the meaning of a particular NP in isolation and that in a particular context (in different word combinations, most notably collocations), semantic tailoring being a feature of not only LGP (language for general purposes) but also LSP (language for special purposes). We had thus expected NPs to have different translation equivalents in different environments. English being the lingua franca of the financial world, we had also expected to find the English terms to be of a much more specialized nature than their Slovene counterparts. 2. Materials and methods The present CA entailed a lexicological comparison of pairs of (original) Slovene and (translated) English texts used in the regular operations of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange Inc. (LJSE). In juxtaposing texts with the same TC—the common platform for comparison was stock exchange terminology—pairs of lexemes (terms and expressions) relevant to our discussion were singled out and compared as to their structural and semantic properties. Given that we dealt with an LSP, our primary concern was with NPs, which constitute the main part of any LSP. The analysis was based on the thus-compiled database of over 1,000 pairs of headwords, of which only a selection appears in this article. 3. Analysis 3. 1. SLO: simple NP > avkcija CVS delnica delnicar dividenda glavnica indeks izdaja nalozba narocilo obveznica posel EN: simple NP auction NAV share shareholder dividend principal index issue investment order bond trade 156 Slovenski jezik – Slovene Linguistic Studies 7 (2009) 3. 1. SLO: simple NP > promet sklad svezenj trg EN: simple NP (continued) turnover fund block market The logical English equivalents for promet, posel and izdaja in general language or in isolation would be, for example, traffic, business and betrayal, with bond, auction and share being translated into Slovene as vez, drazba and delez, but in a stock exchange context the respective equivalents are LSP specific and uncontroversial. Svezenj and trg prove more problematic. The former can either be translated as block (of securities) or as block trade, since it can refer to a particular quantity of securities or to a trade executed in that particular quantity of securities—both svezenj in Slovene. Trg can either be rendered as single-word market or compound order book, depending on the context. In the case of the securities market in general, trg is equivalent to the EN market, but in combination with the trading platform and orders placed in the trading system, trg will normally be order book (narocila na trgu—orders sitting in the order book). SLO avkcija and dividenda are LSP terms of an international character, having been adopted from English (which their English counterparts clearly show), while the others are Slovene words. While avkcija, trg, izdaja, and narocilo are polysemous words of widespread use in Slovene LGP and only obtain specialized meanings when used in proper stock exchange contexts, dividenda, sklad, delnica, glavnica, nalozba and obveznica are financial terms of an inherently terminological nature. In English, the situation is slightly different; only dividend and investment belong to the financial field, while all other words have a wide range of uses and senses. In their full versions, CVS (cista vrednost sredstev) and NAV (net asset value) are structurally divergent but lexically transparent. 3. 2. SLO: simple NP borza dokapitalizacija kupnina lot nezaupnica pooblascenec pripojitev Statut VEP > EN: complex NP [N+N] [N+N] [N+N] [Adj+N] [N+PP] [N+N] [N+PP] [N+PP] [N+PP] stock exchange capital increase purchase price trading unit vote of no confidence proxy holder merger by acquisition Articles of Association NAV per unit Except for dokapitalizacija—capital increase, kupnina—purchase price, pripojitev—merger by acquisition and nezaupnica—vote of no confidence, which share at least some lexical elements, the remaining pairs are lexically completely divergent. B. Bozinovski, The Language of the Stock Exchange †¦ 157 3. 3. SLO: simple NP > EN: simple NP [N+N] [Adj+NP] [Adj+N] [N+PP] [Adj+NP] [N+N] [Adj+N] [N+PP] [N+N] [Adj+N] [Adj+N] unit futures point delisting derivative tick LJSE quote (n. ) ticket ticker security enota premozenja financne terminske pogodbe indeksna tocka izkljucitev iz (borznega) trga izvedeni financni instrument korak kotacije Ljubljanska borza narocilo za nakup in prodajo stevilka posla trgovalna koda vrednostni papir The lexically completely divergent Ljubljanska borza and LJSE deserve a word of mention. While having an adjectival premodifier (denoting the place) and a simple nominal head (denoting the institution) in Slovene, English lexicalizes the concept differently in several respects. First, Ljubljana in Ljubljana Stock Exchange is a nominal premodifier, as opposed to the adjective ljubljanski. Further, the simple borza has a complex equivalent in English, namely the compound stock exchange, the two terms being lexically miles apart (the word borza itself has nothing in common with stocks or securities or exchanges of any kind). What is more, all this is packaged into an English acronym of the stock exchange name, thus LJSE, which is common practice with English names of stock exchanges (New York Stock Exchange—NYSE, London Stock Exchange—LSE, National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations— NASDAQ), while less so in Slovene. The Slovene name of the exchange either appears in its full form or is shortened to borza. English abbreviations and acronyms are a common feature of stock exchange terminology and have penetrated Slovene in their original forms in large numbers. Examples include ETF (exchange traded fund—indeksni vzajemni sklad), SI (systematic internalizer—sistematicni internalizator), MiFID (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive—direktiva o trgu financnih instrumentov), OTC (over-the-counter, which has no lexicalized equivalent in Slovene), FOK (fill-or-kill—narocilo z razponom in odstranitvijo neizvrsene kolicine). In these cases, there are no equivalent Slovene abbreviations (although descriptive equivalents do exist), since the English ones are recognized and actively used by all Slovene speakers of the LSP in question. Note also the difference between the highly idiomatic fill-or-kill as opposed to the descriptive Slovene expression. 3. 4. 3. 4. 1. SLO: complex NP > EN: complex NP Structurally and lexically transparent equivalents auction trading brokerage house avkcijsko trgovanje borznoposredniska hisa 158 Slovenski jezik – Slovene Linguistic Studies 7 (2009) 3. 4. 1. Structurally and lexically transparent equivalents (continued) electronic trading financial instrument institutional investor public company trading day elektronsko trgovanje financni instrument institucionalni vlagatelj javna druzba trgovalni dan  Note further instances of the so-called international words in both columns, underlining the international character of the terminology: avkcijsko—auction, financni—financial, instrument—instrument, elektronsko—electronic, institucionalni—institutional. Although we do have a native Slovene word for institution, which is ustanova, there is no semantically corresponding Slovene adjective (ustanovni in this case would be a false friend); this is why the Slovene term employs the international premodifier. 3. 4. 2. Structurally parallel, lexically unpredictable equivalents official market regulated market retail investor semi-official market average price initial public offering bullish market registered shares private bonds government bonds open-end fund borzna kotacija organizirani trg mali vlagatelj prosti trg enotni tecaj prva javna prodaja bikovski trend imenske delnice podjetniske obveznice javne obveznice vzajemni sklad Here we have NPs of the uniform structure Adj+N on both sides, and what is problematic is the lexical choices—either of premodifiers or of heads. In place of official one would expect a fusion with the words stock exchange (judging from borzen). Kotacija does have a direct translation, namely quotation, but the English term refers to the highest bid or lowest ask price available on a security at any given time and thus the two are false friends. The very specific Slovene term borzna kotacija, which stands for the part of the LJSE regulated market intended for companies complying with strict reporting and disclosure obligations, only has one equivalent in English, namely official market. For organizirani trg, many would expect organized market, which, however, is a mistranslation. Instinctively, and not being familiar with stock exchange terminology, a translator might also be tempted to translate the seemingly unproblematic mali vlagatelj as something like small investor, which would of course result in implications divorced from the stock exchange context. If looked at in isolation, prost, enoten, prodaja, trend, imenski, kotacija, podjetniski, javen would all get translations different from those in the above right B. Bozinovski, The Language of the Stock Exchange †¦ 159 column. Here they appear in typical multi-word lexical items from the language of the stock exchange, and demand specific equivalents. The above pairs are also illustrative of the different conceptualizations in the two languages. Take podjetniske obveznice—they are not *entrepreneurial bonds or *company bonds, but rather private bonds. What is more, although one might expect, in view of the logic of things, the opposite of private to be public bonds, English nevertheless calls them government bonds (while Slovene does see them as public, thus javne obveznice). 3. 4. 3. Structurally divergent, lexically parallel equivalents 3. 4. 3. a. Opposite order of lexemes or different parts of speech delnica [prostega trga] druzba za upravljanje [dvotirni] sistem [vodenja druzb] indeks [blue-chip delnic] indeks [celotnega trga] indeks obveznic posel s sveznjem struktura prometa vzdrzevalec likvidnosti N+[NP] N+PP [Adj]+N+ [NP] N+[NP] N+[NP] N+N N+PP N+N N+N [semi-official market] share management company [two-tier management] system blue-chip index [total market] index bond index block trade turnover structure liquidity provider [NP]+N N+N [NP+N]+ N N+N [NP]+N N+N N+N N+N N+N In phrases with indices, Slovene has plural nominal postmodifiers in the genitive case (indeks obveznic), while English will typically lexicalize the same concept though a singular nominal premodifier in the nominative (bond index). The delnice part of the respective Slovene NPs (indeks blue-chip delnic, indeks delnic investicijskih skladov) has a nil realization in English (blue-chip index, investment fund index). 3. 4. 3. b. Structurally different premodifiers avkcijsko trgovanje celotna trzna kapitalizacija delniska druzba osnovni kapital presezni certifikat tekoci podatki trzna kapitalizacija trzno narocilo cenovno obcutljiva informacija dobro pouceni vlagatelj auction trading total market capitalization joint-stock company share capital outperformance certificate real-time data market capitalization market order price-sensitive information well-informed investor 160 Slovenski jezik – Slovene Linguistic Studies 7 (2009) Slovene uses adjectival premodifiers where English has nominal ones, except in the last two cases, which both share the structure of a nominal head premodified by an adjective and even share the same head, but employ different premodifiers; the Slovene premodifier has the head obcutljiv premodified by the adverb cenovno, whereas in English the same information is lexicalized through a compound composed of a noun (price) and an adjective (sensitive). 3. 4. 3. c. Structurally different postmodifiers delnice investicijskih skladov predcasni odkup delnic stopnja donosa trzna kapitalizacija obveznic shares of investment funds early redemption of shares rate of return market cap of bonds The recurrent pattern here is a nominal postmodifier in the genitive case in Slovene as opposed to a postmodifying prepositional phrase (PP)—typically the of-phrase, as shown by all of the above examples—in English. Both groups of postmodifiers have the same function (namely that of expressing genitival relations), irrespective of their having different constructions; Slovene being a synthetic language, its expression of the genitive involves attaching genitival suffixes on postmodifying nouns, with English, an analytic language, having the same content expressed through an independent morpheme (the preposition of). Postmodifiers may be PPs on both sides, but with different heads: sredstva v upravljanju trgovanje z obveznicami sistematicni internalizator za delnice 3. 4. 4. N+PP N+PP NP+PP assets under management N+PP trading in bonds N+PP systematic internalizer in NP+PP shares Structurally and lexically divergent equivalents EN BTS trading system GBD brokerage house market maker TUVL segment 3. 4. 4. a. Explanatory equivalent BTS GBD TUVL segment The acronym TUVL stands for Trg uradnih vzdrzevalcev likvidnosti, BTS for borzni trgovalni sistem and GBD for Gorenjska borznoposredniska hisa, none of which have English counterparts. There are other Slovene acronyms and abbreviations that do not have direct English equivalents and need explanatory phrases when being translated into English, e. g. , CTG (celotna globina trga), ATVP (Agencija za trg vrednostnih paprijev), KDD (Centralna klirinsko depotna druzba), DZU (druzba za upravljanje), ID (investicijska druzba), PID (pooblascena investicijska druzba), and others. Disregarding the names of institutions, only a few are left, a situation B. Bozinovski, The Language of the Stock Exchange †¦ 161 somewhat different from that in English, which abounds in abbreviated forms. These, in turn, do typically not require explanatory Slovene phrases to be understood by Slovenes, being used world-wide by the speakers of the LSP in question. Slovene abbreviations, on the other hand, are not self-explanatory or known to English speakers, and therefore do need explanations. Cf. 3. 3. 3. 4. 4. b. Non-transparent equivalents Below are a few groups of recurrent constructions that appear in the two languages as equivalent: SLO: NP [NP(nomin. )+NP(gen. )] [Kodeks upravljanja] [javnih delniskih druzb] SLO: NP [N(nomin. )+N(gen. )] nihanje cen obrat kapitalizacije placilo kuponov revizija indeksov SLO: NP [N(nomin. )+NP(gen. )] indeks [delnic borznega in prostega trga] EN: NP [NP+N] [Corporate Governance] Code EN: NP [N+N] price volatility turnover rate coupon payment index review EN: NP [NP+N] [total market] index Note the contrastively problematic EN index review (similarly index performance, index structure, index constituents, etc), where the premodifying noun index is always in the singular, both if referring to a single index (SLO revizija indeksa) or several (SLO revizija indeksov). This calls for an attentive English-Slovene translator who must infer from context. SLO: NP [N(nomin. )+NP(gen. )] datum [zapadlosti zadnjega kupona] SLO: NP [N(nomin. )+N (gen. )] institut izstopa institut iztisnitve oddelitev druzbe SLO: NP [NP+PP] [prvi trgovalni dan] [brez upravicenja do dividende] [izvedeni financni instrumenti] [na blago] SLO: NP [NP/N+PP] [borzni clan] [z oddaljenim dostopom] narocilo [s preudarkom] EN: NP [N+N] coupon date EN: NP [cpd] sell-out squeeze-out spin-off EN: NP [N+N] ex-dividend date commodity derivatives EN: NP [Adj+N] remote member discretionary order. 162 Slovenski jezik – Slovene Linguistic Studies 7 (2009) SLO: NP [N+PP] delnice [v borzni kotaciji] 3. 4. 4. b. Non-transparent equivalents (continued) SLO: NP [N+PP] poslovanje [s sveznji] prenosi [med racuni istega imetnika] trgovanje [z vrednostnimi papirji] trgovanje [na podlagi notranjih informacij] SLO: NP [N+PP] potrdilo o pravnomocnosti SLO: NP [Adj+N] (borzni) clan kosovne delnice presecni datum EN: NP [NP+N] [official market] shares. EN: NP [N+N] block trading inter-accounts management securities trading insider dealing EN: NP [N(gen. )+NP] court’s [finality seal] EN: NP [N/NP+N] member (firm) [no par value] shares record date The above lists of corresponding construction patterns are far from exhaustive. We have merely made an attempt at classifying selected NPs both according to their structural (congruent or divergent) and lexical (transparent or oblique) properties, trying to show that there are innumerable patterns of correspondence between the two languages. 4.  Discussion and conclusion The present analysis has mapped out a complex web of interlingual correspondences between Slovene and English terms and expressions from the language of the stock exchange. The CA focused on the form of the identified pairs of NPs as well as on problems of meaning, discovering such interlingual difficulties as divergent polysemy, false friends, conceptual and lexical gaps. This was expected, since languages are known to differ in an unsystematic and largely unpredictable manner as to expressing the same content. We will now present our findings under the following three headings: a. Translation correspondence. Lexical (terminological) gaps The analysis has shown the prevalent type of translation correspondence between the identified Slovene and English NPs to be partial correspondence; it involves structural non-congruence, often coupled with complexities of meaning. Example pairs include: pooblascenec—proxy holder, trgovalna koda—ticker, posel s sveznjem—block trade, trzna kapitalizacija—market capitalization, promet clanov—turnover by member firms, nominalne delnice—par value shares, etc. There were also instances of complete correspondence, where the English and Slovene NPs were both structurally and semantically congruent, but these were a minority. Examples include: promet—turnover, trgovalni dan—trading day. B. Bozinovski, The Language of the Stock Exchange †¦ 163 Examples of nil correspondence between English and Slovene NPs have revealed lexical (or, rather terminological) gaps in the languages of the stock exchange, where certain concepts exist or have been lexicalized in one language but not in the other. English terms for which there are no ready-made Slovene equivalents include insider, blue-chip, OTC, and many others. Our expectations regarding the three types of translation equivalence to be found between lexical items in two languages, as laid down in the Introduction, have thus been confirmed. English is the lingua franca of business and finance, and this is also reflected (interlingually) in the language of the stock exchange. New concepts and terms for them are born in the Anglophone West, while the rest of the world adopts the English terminology and mostly just localizes it to a certain extent, often failing to come up with language-specific equivalent terms. As a result, Slovene stock exchange terminology abounds in carbon copies of English terms (blue-chip indeks, sistematicni internalizator, insajder), directly modelled upon their English counterparts, and descriptive expressions (izvedeni financni instrument, trgovanje na podlagi notranjih informacij, prvi trgovalni dan brez upravicenja do dividende). Especially tricky are virtually untranslatable English terms that have no lexical equivalent in Slovene at all (mistrade, market maker, OTC, hedge fund). Problematic as to their Slovene equivalents are also the idiom-like pumping dumping, painting the tape, wash sales, scalping, etc. When there are no ready-made translation equivalents (lexical, conceptual gaps), there are at least three options—a) to make up a new Slovene term, b) to opt for a descriptive equivalent, or c) to try to find an approximate â€Å"functional† equivalent. Descriptive expressions (posli, pri katerih je sprememba lastnistva financnih instrumentov zgolj navidezna for wash sales) can be long-winded. Functional equivalents (narocilo s skrito kolicino is a type of order very similar to iceberg order, but not identical to iceberg) can be inaccurate. The third option, to invent a new term, lies outside the scope of translation work, since in LSP it is not customary for translators to decide on preferred terms for concepts. These are for experts to agree on (sometimes in cooperation with linguists). Once they become used and catch on, the translator may recognize them as legitimate equivalents, based on expert advice, but not before, lest they become ghost words, i. e. terms that exist on paper, but not in actual use. There are also some Slovene terms with no mirror-image English equivalents, which is a general feature of any terminology, not just the language of the stock exchange. TUVL, BTS, and the like are limited to terms for concepts unique to the Slovene stock exchange trading platform. We can therefore speak of conceptual gaps. They are translated into English through explanatory equivalents, e. g. , market maker TUVL segment. b. Interference. Collocations, false friends and the like It is a known fact that language learners (translators as non-native speakers of an L2 included) are inclined to draw analogies with their L1 when constructing lexical units in L2. When the two languages overlap in their formal, semantic or grammatical features, this leads to positive transfer and correct L2 lexical items (terms and expressions). Slovene terms such as mednarodni razpis, nalozba, dividenda, obveznica and 164. Slovenski jezik – Slovene Linguistic Studies 7 (2009) their English translations are parallel in all of the above respects and thus unproblematic in translational and contrastive terms. If the formal, semantic or grammatical features of L1 and L2, however, do not overlap, or if they do but only partially (when meanings agree, but not forms, or the other way around), then constructing L2 terms on the analogy with L1 ones leads to lexical errors and we speak of interference or negative transfer from L1. This is a possibility with the bulk of Slovene stock exchange terms and expressions. Take aplikacija, for instance. A translator unfamiliar with the terminology of the field might be tempted to translate it as application, which, to my knowledge, has no specialized meaning in this field, the correct equivalent being the unpredictable cross trade. Or the much debated organizirani trg, which is not organized in English, but rather regulated market. Consider also the temptation of word-for-word rendering of korak kotacije, borzna kotacija, mali vlagatelj, prekinitvena avkcija and many others. Negative transfer works in the opposite direction as well, when it is known as backward interference; under the influence of L2, learners can be often tempted to remodel their L1 lexical items to match those in L2. Even if backward interference be at work, expressions such as financial markets, legal framework, investors would not cause any problems, since they are structurally and semantically parallel to their Slovene equivalents. It gets tricky when the Slovene term for open-end fund is not odprti sklad, but rather vzajemni sklad, and especially with terms such as quote. Quote has the attractive verbal equivalent kotirati that does exist and is widely used but with a different meaning, the correct rendering being narocilo za nakup in prodajo. The cross-linguistic floors are also slippery with terms such as regulated market, which appears unproblematic at first sight; in fact, however, regulirani trg is an expression that does not exist in the Slovene language of the stock exchange, where the same concept has been lexicalized through another lexeme—organizirani trg. Further, there are pairs of NPs that look deceptively similar, yet differ in important details, which we had anticipated in the Introduction to this article. For instance, trade in shares is trgovati z delnicami, assets under management is sredstva v upravljanju, right on a security is pravica iz vrednostnega papirja, bond (sg. ) index is indeks obveznic (pl. ), dobicek (sg. ) na delnico is earnings (pl. ) per share, and capital markets can either be kapitalski trg (sg. ) or kapitalski trgi (pl. ). Grammatical collocations are a notoriously difficult interlingual area, causing problems especially in encoding, and so are the singular—plural distinctions. When translating slovenski kapitalski trg into English, most would opt for the only reasonable choice, namely Slovene capital market. Yet the English prefer the plural expression, thus Slovene capital markets. Due to semantic tailoring, a lexical item may be endowed with a multitude of semantic shadings and consequently receive different counterparts in the other language. Trg, for instance, is not always market in the language of the stock exchange. Borzni and prosti trg are exchange and semi-official market, while for narocila na trgu we have orders sitting in the order book. Similarly, the adjective organizirani can either be organized (trading) or regulated (market) in English, while vzdrzevalec likvidnosti can either be liquidity provider or market maker, depending on the context. B. Bozinovski, The Language of the Stock Exchange †¦ 165 Conversely, the EN share is not always delez in Slovene; note the pairs share—delnica, official market share—delnica na borznem trgu, market share—trzni delez, share capital—osnovni kapital. This confirms our expectations worded in the Introduction on the possible discrepancy between translation equivalents of lexemes in isolation (aplikacija—application, organiziran—organized) and those of the same lexemes in a particular context (aplikacija—cross trade, organizirani trg—regulated market). It is one of the goals of contrastive lexicology to point out such controversial pairs of collocations and thus sustain the claim that translation equivalence is largely collocation-dependent. The analysis has also singled out Slovene and English NPs that look similar (have a similar form), but differ, at least partly, in meaning (the so-called false friends). One of them usually belongs to the LSP of the stock exchange, while the other has LGP applications divorced from the stock exchange context: quote (n. )—kotirati (v.), institutional inve.

Culture & Values: Michael Haneke and Wislawa Szymborska Essay

Texts reflect the culture and values of their eras by presenting and addressing perspectives of the composers on the issues of the context. The poem The End and the Beginning by Wislawa Szymborska and the Austrian film 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance by Michael Haneke accomplish this by exemplifying issues in 1990s society such as the increasing influence of media and the breakdown of interpersonal communication. The End and the Beginning is a Polish poem by Wislawa Szymborska which captures a wars aftermath on its innocent citizens and how, in time, both the war and its origins are forgotten. It thus shows how the values of a country or society may change over time as the views and opinions of its citizens change. The overall tone of the poem is grim and bitter, with both clear references and poetical allusions to death throughout. The poem can be rendered into two parts the first focusing on rebuilding and the second focusing on the fading of memories with the passing of time. In the first part, the third and fourth stanzas highlight the citizens perspectives, accomplished through references to rebuilding on a much smaller scale, Someone must glaze a window, rehang a door. Szymborska addresses the fact that we are shown the impact of war on a much larger scale and highlights the importance of such small, almost mundane tasks that are required in the process of rebuilding a country. In turn, this can be seen as a microcosm for the larger effects of war on a country, such as the nations economic stability and global connections both of which became increasingly important in the 1990s, with issues such as globalisation and consumerism having profound impacts on the world. Szymborska also addresses the issue of the increasing impact of media in the 1990s. The opening lines allude to the news media and how it subsumes such tragic events into clichà ©d headlines and sound-bytes. We, as viewers, automatically assume that the devastating effects of war would be righted and our minds are immediately focused on the next article. Szymborska highlights the contrast between this assumption and actually having to deal  with the rebuilding in the line Things wont straighten themselves up after all. She continues in the fifth stanza with the line Photogenic its not, wryly commenting on the scopophilia of society in the 1990s. She also highlights the negative, shallow and sensationalist qualities of the media with its attraction towards violence rather than rebuilding with the line All the cameras have left for another war. Towards the end of the poem, Szymborska addresses the loss of knowledge with each generation. She is yet again commenting on the values of her society; on the obsession with the future, resulting in our forgetting the important events of the past events from which we must learn rather than repeat, particularly in the last stanza. The knowledge of the event has basically faded into as little as nothing. In contrast to the imagery used before, the tone suggested here is more relaxed, as seen with the words stretched out. However, the lines also carry dark, negative undertones with allusions to death someone must be stretchedgazing at the clouds, showing that as memories fade, we are liable to make the same mistakes again. Likewise, the Austrian film 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance (71 Fragments) by Michael Haneke offers a critique of Austrias affluent society and analyses the general breakdown of communication and understanding in a world with increasing technology and changing values. Set in the 1990s, it also takes the media to task for its desensitising role in society. The film is based on the news item of a bank shooting by a 19-year old, who then kills himself. Haneke uses the film to depict what he himself says is a cross-section of society. He exemplifies the breakdown and degradation of human interpersonal communication within our culture, despite the emergence of technologies in the 1990s which allowed us to communicate more effectively. By structuring the film into 71 fragments, Haneke splits up the narrative, reinforcing the theme of alienation and the breakdown of interpersonal communication. This fragmentation is also visually portrayed through the jigsaw-like paper game. Part-way through the film, a student fails to solve the puzzle leading to an outburst of anger, foreshadowing his final act of violence. Haneke has also used subtle film techniques to add to the sense of a breakdown of communication. The camera is always positioned in such a way that makes the audience feel detached from the characters. Rather than connecting emotionally with the characters, the audience is made to analyse them, thus reflecting the emotionless state which our society has assumed with changing values. The characters themselves are not named, allowing them to become representative of types within society. The use of media is also present throughout the film with Haneke showing the increasingly invasive presence of media within society as values change and mankind becomes more technological and industrialised. By repeating the same articles at the end with the embedding of the films event as another story, Haneke comments on how the media subsumes any disturbance into the even surface of society and integrates it into the unending stream of trivialised information. The film also serves a didactic purpose, as Haneke highlights and criticises the blatant use of violence in Hollywood action films, saying that his films are intended as polemical statements against the American barrel down cinema and its dis-empowerment of the spectator. The explosion of violence in the final scene is abrupt, with the gunshots seeming harsh and cold and the cries of agony of the characters chilling. The victims are not portrayed, thus adding a sense of ambiguity as to who the casualties actually are; the characters or the viewers for appreciating violence. The long take following this scene also tests the audiences patience, showing the grueling process of blood pooling around a body, allowing the responder to reflect upon the tragic events which have just taken place. Haneke also challenges the news medias desensitising role on individuals and society, as seen with the various stories on the conflicts in Northern Ireland and Sarajevo, which are ironically juxtaposed against news of Michael Jackson, whose pleading seems almost humorous in comparison. An analysis of the poem The End and the Beginning by Wislawa Szymborska and the film 71 Fragments by Michael Haneke reveals the changing values and culture of the 1990s. The texts highlight the breakdown of communication and the increasing importance of media within a society which is becoming  increasingly technological and thus, can be seen as a reflection of our own, slightly more advanced culture. Thus, they are examples of texts which reflect the culture and values of the era in which they are composed. Works Cited Szymborska, Wislawa. The End and the Beginning (Poem). Retrieved from: http://www.threepennyreview.com/samples/szymborska_su97.html. Haneke, Michael. 71 Fragmente einer Chronologie des Zufalls (Film). Released in 1994.

20 Highest Paying Jobs With the Highest Growth

20 Highest Paying Jobs With the Highest Growth Whether you’re entering the job market or are just looking for a change, The Bureau of Labor Statistics is a great source of information to  aid you in your job search. You can find details on employment rates, jobs, and industry specifics. And now with the changing political climate, it has become more important than ever to keep an eye out for trends that may impact your job search. That being said, the BLS has projected the top 20 highest paying jobs that are expected to grow in the next 10 years. Take a look at the chart below for specifics.If you’re interested, you can apply below.1. Accountant and auditors2.  Combined food preparation and servers3. Computer systems analysts4. Construction laborers  5. Cooks, restaurants  6. Customer service restaurants7.   First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers  8. General and operations manager9. Home health aides10. Janitors and cleaners  11. Laborers and freight  12. Licensed practic al and licensed vocational nurses  13. Maids and housing cleaners  14. Medical assistants15. Medical secretaries  16. Nursing assistants  17. Personal care aids18. Registered nurses  19. Retail salespersons  20. Software developers  Source:[bls.gov]

Mexican-American War - Aftermath

Mexican-American War - Aftermath Previous Page | Contents Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo In 1847, with the conflict still raging, Secretary of State James Buchanan suggested that President James K. Polk send an emissary to Mexico to assist in bringing the war to a close. Agreeing, Polk chose Chief Clerk of the State Department Nicholas Trist and dispatched him south to join General Winfield Scotts army near Veracruz. Initially disliked by Scott, who resented Trists presence, the emissary soon earned the generals trust and the two became close friends. With the army driving inland towards Mexico City and the enemy in retreat, Trist received orders from Washington, DC to negotiate for the acquisition of California and New Mexico to the 32nd Parallel as well as Baja California. Following Scotts capture of Mexico City in September 1847, the Mexicans appointed three commissioners, Luis G. Cuevas, Bernardo Couto, and Miguel Atristain, to meet with Trist to discuss peace terms. Commencing talks, Trists situation was complicated in October when he was recalled by Polk who was unhappy with the representatives  inability to conclude a treaty earlier. Believing that the president did not fully understand the situation in Mexico, Trist elected to ignore the recall order and wrote a 65-page response to Polk outlining his reasons for doing so. Continuing to meet with the Mexican delegation, final terms were agreed to in early 1848. The war officially ended on February 2, 1848, with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The treaty ceded to the United States the land that now comprises the states of California, Utah, and Nevada, as well as parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Colorado. In exchange for this land, the United States paid Mexico $15,000,000, less than half the amount offered by Washington prior to the conflict. Mexico also forfeited all rights to Texas and the border was permanently established at the Rio Grande. Trist also agreed that the United States would assume $3.25 million in debt owed by the Mexican government to American citizens as well as would work to curtail Apache and Comanche raids into northern Mexico. In an effort to avoid later conflicts, the treaty also stipulated that future disagreements between the two countries would be settled through compulsory arbitration. Sent north, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was delivered to the US Senate for ratification.   After extensive debate and some alterations, the Senate approved it on March 10.   In the course of the debate, an attempt to insert the Wilmot Proviso, which would have banned slavery in the newly-acquired territories, failed 38-15 along sectional lines.   The treaty received ratification from the Mexican government on May 19.   With Mexican acceptance of the treaty, American troops began departing the country. The American victory confirmed most citizens’ belief in Manifest Destiny and the nation’s expansion westward. In 1854, the United States concluded the Gadsden Purchase which added territory in Arizona and New Mexico and reconciled several border issues that had arisen from the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Casualties Like most wars in the 19th century, more soldiers died from disease than from wounds received in battle. In the course of the war, 1,773 Americans were killed in action as opposed to 13,271 dead from sickness. A total of 4,152 were wounded in the conflict. Mexican casualty reports are incomplete, but it estimated that approximately 25,000 were killed or wounded between 1846-1848. Legacy of the War The Mexican War in many ways may be directly connected to the Civil War. Arguments over the expansion of slavery into the newly acquired lands further heightened sectional tensions and forced new states to be added through compromise. In addition, the battlefields of Mexico served as a practical learning ground for those officers who would play prominent roles in the upcoming conflict. Leaders such as Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Braxton Bragg, Thomas â€Å"Stonewall† Jackson, George McClellan, Ambrose Burnside, George G. Meade, and James Longstreet all saw service with either Taylor or Scott’s armies. The experiences these leaders gained in Mexico helped to shape their decisions in the Civil War. Previous Page | Contents

Organisational Culture of the Grameen Bank Coursework

Organisational Culture of the Grameen Bank - Coursework Example Grameen Bank is one of such banks which stand apart from any other banks, not just for its banking service, but also for the service it provides to the nation. Muhammad Yunus is the person who is to be credited for coming up with such a unique concept of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh that started in the year of 1976. He believed that credit is a human right, and everyone should be allowed to receive the facility of loans and just for the reason, an individual is poor he or she should not be deprived of getting credit facility from the banks (PBS, 2011). He prepared a methodology and institution focused on the circumstances and needs of the people who are very poor. The government of Bangladesh took an initiative of changing this project into an independent bank through the help of government legislation in the year 1983 (Grameen Bank, 2011). Mohammad Yunus was rewarded with Noble Prize in the year 2006 for his effort of struggling against the poverty by enabling poor people with credit facility through the medium of Grameen Bank. This was a noble cause indeed, as no individual has ever thought of coming up with ideas for poor people. Grameen Bank has achieved quite a success in alleviating poverty from the country, Bangladesh, over the past decades. Unlike others, he thought that Charity is not a right initiative towards solving poverty, so the Grameen Bank was formed. The Grameen Bank has adopted certain initiatives for encouraging the poor to use their under or unutilized skills by providing them with small collateral-free loans. The Grameen Bank has been successful in incorporating group-based lendings, obligatory savings and insurance systems, facility of repayment rescheduling in the time of disasters, and encouraging similar other schemes that have proved to be effective in minimizing both material and behavioral risks of lending (Khandker, 1996). Grameen Bank has been well-organized in terms of designing its programmes, most of which were for the betterment of the poor people and female members. One of the reasons behind its success as a rural financial intermediary is its subsidy dependency. It is renowned for its reliability even outside Bangladesh and its impact on the poor and the women is incredible. Its mission stands as to help the poor families along with special attention upon female members to overcome poverty, by themselves. It is entirely targeted to the poor, mainly towards poor women, empowering poor female members has become their one of the main motives (Grameen Bank, 2011). The culture of the organization mostly emphasizes on empowering the poor women. It is believed that if the lady of the house is empowered, the house itself is empowered. They provide various supports and initiatives in encouraging the women to earn their livelihood through microfinance. This paper deals with the organizational culture of the Grameen Bank with regards to microfinance and impact of those initiatives on the women (Strong, 2007). Organ isational Culture Organisational culture is a process of shared beliefs, values, assumptions, and customs of the members of an organization. In general terms, it can be said that it is the reflection of the working environment and members’ perceptions towards the organization.

Summer school Personal Statement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Summer school Personal Statement - Essay Example When I studied in junior classes, I understood that I love photography. But I did not have a camera. I just watched nice pixes and admired their beauty. Fortunately, now I have a camera, so in free time I can do what I really like. Thanks to my hobby, I met new interesting people and even found good friends. Communicability is one of my positive qualities. Also, I consider myself as responsible and serious person. At school teachers and classmates always can count on my help. I hope that these qualities will help me to become a businessman. In addition to this, to implement such goal I need to improve my leadership qualities. Furthermore, I like writing. When something catches my attention, I want to incarnate it not only in the form of the photographs. I want to write on the paper what I see and feel, and it is great to show the emotions in this way. I try to dream up, because I want my poems and stories are more interesting and exciting. The first acquaintance with your courses began from collecting particular information about it. I can say that on your courses I will be easy to get knowledge. I am sure my teachers will be real professionals. Moreover, I will be able to study with people, who will have similar interests with me. So we will discuss the different details and share our knowledge. Thus, I want to attend the Summer Challenge program to improve my skills. I am sure that they will make me more confident person, who preparing for a new phase of the life after graduation. No doubt, this year is really hard for me. I will have to pass exams and go to university. Before entering I must completely be confident in my knowledge. In conclusion, I would like to say that if I attend your courses, I promise to be a worthy member of the team. I do not want to miss the chance to help myself. Ill try to be positively adjusted and strong. My efforts will not be in vain. I will be available for interview at any time after a graduation my school. Also, I will

Reflection of Stock Market Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Reflection of Stock Market Project - Essay Example Mostly in the stock market, human psychology gets reflected by either greed or fear. During the period when the share prices of the MSFT was considerably decreasing, fear lead me to sell the shares immediately the prices reached the original price. The Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp shares prices decreased, but for the past four days the prices have exceed the $47 price margin I had anticipated selling the shares. Greed to profit from the increasing prices led more people to buy these shares by the close of the stock market on 10th December 2014(Graham 189-98). I sold least Apple Inc. shares because the company intends to launch its new iPhone models in 2015. The entry of the new iPhones will increase the earnings of the company considerably, and the shares will as well increase. Therefore, in anticipation of the increase, I will keep the shares and sell them when the new iPhones premiers in the market. From the experience in the stock market, I learned to rely mostly on the more scientific and economic factors. Human psychology slightly affects the stock as compared to the scientifically and economically conscious factors (Graham

MGT3150 MANAGERIAL LEADERSHIP Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

MGT3150 MANAGERIAL LEADERSHIP - Essay Example Furthermore, the study seeks to identify actual implementations of the said ethical policies to personnel of all levels. The methodology used was primary research through Lufthansa's official website, www.lufthansa-financials.com, as well as news articles involving the company. Secondary research on business ethics practices online and in school libraries were also conducted. During the course of the research, several limitations were encountered: direct interview with company officials and employees due to inaccessibility. Deutsche Lufthansa AG is a globally operating aviation group with around 400 companies and subsidiaries. It is active in five (until the end of 2006, six) business segments. Passenger Transportation is the Group's core business activity. Logistics, MRO, IT Services, Catering and Leisure Travel are further segments of the group. The Leisure Travel segment is due for disposal according to the supervisory board decision on 7 March 2007 and after approval of the competition commission.Annual average Group employee numbers were 93,541. The Group generated around EUR 19.8bn in revenue ("Portrait")." Lufthansa is a publicly traded company. As such, it is under the scrutiny of the German government. "It operates with the customary two-tier management system in Germany comprising an Executive and a Supervisory Board. The Executive Board is independently responsible for company management. The Supervisory Board appoints, supervises and advises the Executive Board ("Corporate Governance at Lufthansa")." This two-pronged approach checks and balances senior and junior managers. It encourages transparency in the workplace; effecting self-regulation by decentralizing power that could lead to collusions and unethical practices. Staff & Welfare In its quest to offer competitive remuneration, permanent jobs and attractive working conditions, the company has implemented a wide range of career-development measures such as trainings and an integrated study/work courses. "Each year Lufthansa invests around 300m in training measures for their employees. The Lufthansa Group offers over 40 different vocational courses with a technical, commercial or information technology focus. Another growing field is eLearning. Last year around 450 different learning programmes with a total of 1,762 teaching hours were in use at Lufthansa ("Employees")." Lufthansa employs people from all over the world, seeing opportunities in diversity. It provides in-house medical service for staff in handling health and safety issues. Governance Code International standards on Corporate Governance have been developed in recent years with primary focus on protecting the interests of the shareholders. The Corporate Governance Code was developed by the German Commission in February 2002 "to make the Corporate Governance System transparent and comprehensible. The code recommends clear and transparent presentation of a company and its business development, establishment of structures and processes which lead to proper and responsible management, administration and supervision. Such increases the trust of the investors and other providers of capital ("In General")." Since 2002 up to present, Lufthansa has been complying with the code in full, amending the Articles of Association to reflect relevant regulations. The

Coffee Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Coffee - Essay Example The finest coffee in the world that is grown in shade instead of sunlight is found in India. The number of coffee-growers in India is around 250,000, and 98 per cent of them grow it on a small scale. White flowers appear on the coffee plants and have an average life of three days before maturing into seeds. The duration between the fruit’s blooming and maturing stages varies from one region to another and from type to type. This duration for Arabica is around seven months whereas it is almost nine months for Robusta. The coffee plant needs around 90 per cent humidity and 70 degrees Fahrenheit of temperature to grow (Smestad, 2012). Coffee plants may catch fungus if not treated for it. There are two basic methods of processing coffee; the dry processing method and the wet processing method. In the former, coffee beans are dried in the sun whereas in the latter, they are fomented and washed. The power of coffee as a commodity is immense. â€Å"Coffee began as an export commodity in Yemen before 1500† (Topik and Samper, n.d., p. 6). Today, coffee is one of the most traded products around the world and is the largest food item imported by the US. The coffee commodity chain comprises producers, workers, exporting agencies, importing countries, roasters, and shops. This is how they reach the consumers. A lot of developing countries depend upon coffee as the prime export item. â€Å"Some 20 million families in 50 countries now work directly in the cultivation of coffee; an estimated 11 million hectares of the world’s farmland are dedicated to coffee cultivation† (Coffee News, 2008). Developing countries are the main exporters of coffee. Coffee is chiefly exported by Brazil and India. While the consumers of coffee are largely spread all across the world, the US is the biggest consumer of coffee in the world. Brazil, Colombia, and Vietnam make more than 50 per cent of the total amount of coffee in

Cultural Perspectives from another Country - Pakistan Essay

Cultural Perspectives from another Country - Pakistan - Essay Example (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan) The second most populous Muslim country was formed on the 14th of August 1947. Before Pakistan gained independence, the country was under the rule of the British Empire. The British entered the Subcontinent as the British East India Company, a private trading company, when the Mughals had Jehangir as an Emperor. Slowly and gradually the huge Mughal Empire began to crumble because the emperors and nobles alike had grown so accustomed to living a life of pure pleasure with the wealth their ancestors had accumulated. Many historians blame Aurangzeb, the Emperor Shah Jehan's son for sowing the seeds of decline, as it was after he started ruling that the kingdom began to fall apart. Aurangzeb couldn't rule very well, his administration left a lot to be desired. The nobles were often power hungry and the consequence of the lack of supervision was that they became highly powerful at court and the emperors couldn't control them. The empire was huge and when rebellions broke out it took the emperor months to take decisive decision to end them. The cost of maintaining a huge army to continuously quell these rebellions and that wasn't the only cost. When an emperor died, the succession dispute resulted in a waste of huge sums of money. When riddled with such... In the beginning The East India Company only had a few bases along the coast of the Subcontinent but then they started expanding and spread out to Bombay (Mumbai), Calcutta (Kolkata) and Madras (Chennai). The EIC were good at fighting and protected India from other European countries such as France, Portugal and Denmark. After the battle of Plassey and the exploitation of Bengal the British government decided that the misgovernment of India had to be stopped. So they passed the India Act in 1784 in which the British government took direct control of Indian possessions and appointed a Governor-General. From then on the British influence could be seen everywhere. However things weren't made a 100% percent official until the 1857 War of Independence (as the Indians called it) or the 1857 Mutiny (as the British called it). The Indians, the Indian army in particular rose in revolt against the British and they were crushed. The British government took complete control of India and a member of the British cabinet, the Secretary of State for India. The Governor -General was now called Viceroy and in 1877 the British Queen Victoria became the Empress of India. Gradually the Muslims in India began to become aware of their individuality and cultural identity. They were of the opinion that they could not live together with the Hindus and under the regime of the British. They wanted an independent country of their own. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was one of the earliest pioneers of the independence movement. His "Two-Nation-Theory" was later supported by people like Allama Muhammed Iqbal and Chaudri Rehmat Ali Kahn. Both Allama Muhammed Iqbal and Chaudri Rehmat Ali Kahn had studied in Britain and when they came back they both believed that a

MGT3150 MANAGERIAL LEADERSHIP Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

MGT3150 MANAGERIAL LEADERSHIP - Essay Example Furthermore, the study seeks to identify actual implementations of the said ethical policies to personnel of all levels. The methodology used was primary research through Lufthansa's official website, www.lufthansa-financials.com, as well as news articles involving the company. Secondary research on business ethics practices online and in school libraries were also conducted. During the course of the research, several limitations were encountered: direct interview with company officials and employees due to inaccessibility. Deutsche Lufthansa AG is a globally operating aviation group with around 400 companies and subsidiaries. It is active in five (until the end of 2006, six) business segments. Passenger Transportation is the Group's core business activity. Logistics, MRO, IT Services, Catering and Leisure Travel are further segments of the group. The Leisure Travel segment is due for disposal according to the supervisory board decision on 7 March 2007 and after approval of the competition commission.Annual average Group employee numbers were 93,541. The Group generated around EUR 19.8bn in revenue ("Portrait")." Lufthansa is a publicly traded company. As such, it is under the scrutiny of the German government. "It operates with the customary two-tier management system in Germany comprising an Executive and a Supervisory Board. The Executive Board is independently responsible for company management. The Supervisory Board appoints, supervises and advises the Executive Board ("Corporate Governance at Lufthansa")." This two-pronged approach checks and balances senior and junior managers. It encourages transparency in the workplace; effecting self-regulation by decentralizing power that could lead to collusions and unethical practices. Staff & Welfare In its quest to offer competitive remuneration, permanent jobs and attractive working conditions, the company has implemented a wide range of career-development measures such as trainings and an integrated study/work courses. "Each year Lufthansa invests around 300m in training measures for their employees. The Lufthansa Group offers over 40 different vocational courses with a technical, commercial or information technology focus. Another growing field is eLearning. Last year around 450 different learning programmes with a total of 1,762 teaching hours were in use at Lufthansa ("Employees")." Lufthansa employs people from all over the world, seeing opportunities in diversity. It provides in-house medical service for staff in handling health and safety issues. Governance Code International standards on Corporate Governance have been developed in recent years with primary focus on protecting the interests of the shareholders. The Corporate Governance Code was developed by the German Commission in February 2002 "to make the Corporate Governance System transparent and comprehensible. The code recommends clear and transparent presentation of a company and its business development, establishment of structures and processes which lead to proper and responsible management, administration and supervision. Such increases the trust of the investors and other providers of capital ("In General")." Since 2002 up to present, Lufthansa has been complying with the code in full, amending the Articles of Association to reflect relevant regulations. The

Cultural Perspectives from another Country - Pakistan Essay

Cultural Perspectives from another Country - Pakistan - Essay Example (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan) The second most populous Muslim country was formed on the 14th of August 1947. Before Pakistan gained independence, the country was under the rule of the British Empire. The British entered the Subcontinent as the British East India Company, a private trading company, when the Mughals had Jehangir as an Emperor. Slowly and gradually the huge Mughal Empire began to crumble because the emperors and nobles alike had grown so accustomed to living a life of pure pleasure with the wealth their ancestors had accumulated. Many historians blame Aurangzeb, the Emperor Shah Jehan's son for sowing the seeds of decline, as it was after he started ruling that the kingdom began to fall apart. Aurangzeb couldn't rule very well, his administration left a lot to be desired. The nobles were often power hungry and the consequence of the lack of supervision was that they became highly powerful at court and the emperors couldn't control them. The empire was huge and when rebellions broke out it took the emperor months to take decisive decision to end them. The cost of maintaining a huge army to continuously quell these rebellions and that wasn't the only cost. When an emperor died, the succession dispute resulted in a waste of huge sums of money. When riddled with such... In the beginning The East India Company only had a few bases along the coast of the Subcontinent but then they started expanding and spread out to Bombay (Mumbai), Calcutta (Kolkata) and Madras (Chennai). The EIC were good at fighting and protected India from other European countries such as France, Portugal and Denmark. After the battle of Plassey and the exploitation of Bengal the British government decided that the misgovernment of India had to be stopped. So they passed the India Act in 1784 in which the British government took direct control of Indian possessions and appointed a Governor-General. From then on the British influence could be seen everywhere. However things weren't made a 100% percent official until the 1857 War of Independence (as the Indians called it) or the 1857 Mutiny (as the British called it). The Indians, the Indian army in particular rose in revolt against the British and they were crushed. The British government took complete control of India and a member of the British cabinet, the Secretary of State for India. The Governor -General was now called Viceroy and in 1877 the British Queen Victoria became the Empress of India. Gradually the Muslims in India began to become aware of their individuality and cultural identity. They were of the opinion that they could not live together with the Hindus and under the regime of the British. They wanted an independent country of their own. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was one of the earliest pioneers of the independence movement. His "Two-Nation-Theory" was later supported by people like Allama Muhammed Iqbal and Chaudri Rehmat Ali Kahn. Both Allama Muhammed Iqbal and Chaudri Rehmat Ali Kahn had studied in Britain and when they came back they both believed that a