Introduction to criminal justice system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Introduction to criminal justice system - Essay Example nal Justice Act of 2003, Section 148, a Crown court is not to pass a community sentence except as a last resort, if the seriousness of the crime merits it3. The Magistrate Court and Crown Court are both courts of first instance and deal with criminal law offences. All criminal offences initially come to the magistrate Court, however the summary offences are dealt with here while offences that are classed as triable are sent up to the crown Court. Offences fall into two primary categories – summary offences where a defendant may not be entitled to a trial by jury and indictable offences which include serious charges such as murder and manslaughter4. Summary offences dealt with at the Magistrate Court include less serious ones such as traffic offences or failure to pay taxes and will generally include all cases, including triable offences, where the defendant has opted for a summary trial. However, the Crown Court hears those cases involving indictable offences which include the category of serious offences such as rape or murder. Approximately ninety six percent of criminal cases are dealt with summarily at a magistrates Court.â⠂¬ 5 The legal system is essentially an adversarial one and thus expensive; for example studies conducted on divorce have revealed that adversarial litigation costs 66 percent more than mediation.6 In the conventional legal environment, lawyers are trained to adopt an adversarial position in regard to the opposite party and the formal, court based, procedural environment that is laden with codes and rules of conduct. In a criminal trial, one of the most important rights that will accrue to any person accused of a crime is the constitutional right to every aspect of the due process of law that will ensure that his or her guilt is established by proof beyond a reasonable doubt.7 The due process of law is the right accorded to every person alleged to have committed a crime to be treated fairly when involved in a legal action. The notion that

Kingston Communications Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Kingston Communications - Assignment Example Using "Porter's Five Force Model" (http://www.12manage.com/methods_porter_five_forces.html), let us see where the issues may exist for Kingston Communications. Porter's model states that thefollowing forces can affect how business relates to the rest of the marketplace: The problem that Kingston had in converting from what was then a traditional telecoms industry using analogue technology to modern digital technology was that they did not readily have the expertise, technology or the agreements in place with providers such as British Telecom, in order to compete against established companies, such as Skype and recently, Vonage. Since then there have been a proliferation of VOIP providers. Various broadband providers have included VOIP as part of their services, when originally all they provided was a dial-up service to access the internet, and later broadband. There are now several companies on the market providing integrated services, including broadband as an 'add-on' as opposed to a primary service as was the case in the recent past. Examples are Sky Television, Orange mobiles, and even BT have got in on the act, by offering digital services alongside their communications offerings. Therefore, Kingston is not alone in feeling the heat of the com petition, as others strive to win market share. How this has changed from a few years ago, and especially for Kingston Communications who used to have a monopoly on these types of service. Kingston probably recognized this as they acquired companies and organizations that had the technology and the resources available. This would make the transition easier, but it came at a price. The acquisition of Affiniti, the business communications integrator,Information Services providing contact centre and directory services, plus the development of their own broadband services would allow Kingston to compete on a level playing field. 2. Threat of substitutes. With regard to VOIP, a substitute phone serviceis exactly what happened.Once the technology for Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) was developed, it became a real threat, not only to Kingston, but other large telecoms companies such asBritish Telecom (BT).The real threat was in the cost of the service. For example, Skype offer a free telephone service to other Skype users. This is now standard among most VOIP providers. It became obvious to Kingston and other telecom providers that drastic decisions had to be made with regard to their technology strategy. 3. Bargaining power of buyers. With the proliferation of VOIP and integrated providers, the relative bargaining power of buyers in this market is relatively strong, especially for the average consumer. They can now choose between integrated solutions, such as digital TV and VOIP services, or choose a relatively low-cost broadband only solution. The costs of these services continue to decline, as more and more suppliers compete for market share. 4. Bargaining power of suppliers.In the early days of VOIP, perhaps the

Types of Soil Essay Example for Free

Types of Soil Essay This is how one sixth-grader describes the way of playing video games. Such video games can seem like harmless fun, but what if the violence gets personal and addicts young teenagers, affecting their behavior and their view of reality? Some studies have shown that violent game players just do not leave it there on their game screens; they transfer the violent acts they get attached to, to the real world. Violent games have been shown to increase game player’s quest to experiment how all that stuff will look like in the real world. There is no doubt that violent video games have no effect on certain people, but for the most and especially in teenagers, the effects are negative and have led to fatalities and destruction of properties in certain instances. Although some parents claim that violence video games have bad effects on teenagers because they’re behavior changes, teenagers play too much violent games because they are very addicting. Some parents say that violent video games have bad effects on young teenagers. But most video- game players have normal lives. Most important, just because a player does not instantly take or follow violence found in video games does not mean the games will not have negative result on that player’s views and behavior. The violent games will have negative effects on teenagers. Young teenager’s behavior will have a big change. Because of this case, parents should be responsible for buying video games and should forbid young teenagers from buying those games that are violent. If parents do not take the responsibility than teenagers do not know what they are doing and what is good for them. Before teenagers take a big wrong step, parents should be there to take care of the situation. I have a little nephew in seventh grade and he loves violence video games. He loves playing call of duty. My aunt always gives him the money to buy any game that he likes. He loves the smell of money. She never checks to see what game he might have bought. Because of her not being responsible, my little cousin always gets into school fights with other children. So every parent must be responsible for their own child. Some parents say that violent video games have bad effects on young teenagers because a number of people claim that playing a violent video game does present a bad threat to user’s health. For an example, I have a younger brother who is seventeen years old. He loves playing violent video games. Every day, when he is home from school with his spiky brown hair, he starts playing the WrestleMania game. He does not eat anything and he talks to himself while playing the game. He does not realize that his behavior is changing by playing violent video games. One time, he tried to kick me in my stomach but a police man saw him and told him to stop. My parents made him quit playing violent video-games. Ever since he stopped playing violent video games his behavior has changed a lot. He now realizes he was out of control and it is all because of the violent video games. He sold his Xbox to one of his close friends. I am glad my parents took good care of it because it is their responsibility to look after their son. Some parents say that violent video games have bad effects on young teenagers because; there was a shooting in Colorado movie theatre. Twelve people were killed and fifty eight were injured by a graduate student. The guy who killed all these people was a very educated man. But he lost his sense of humor. He was out of control. People thought that the shooting was a part of the movie also. He was dressed up as the joker from the movie batman. Later the doctors found out he had some type of brain damage watching too much violent movies and playing games. So, he was not okay in his head. His behavior made so many people lose their lives. So many people lost their loved ones that day. And again violent community and games can damage people’s brains. Some parents say that violent video games have good effects on young teenagers because violent games can be new information to some teenagers, because it is something new and different from their daily lifestyle. They think violent games can help their child with memorization because it provides pretty text to look at. The video games have nice graphics for teenagers. It helps a teenager look at new information and advances them. Some parents think that teenagers learn better by looking at graphics and text that are provided by violent games. Parents think new and different inspires teenagers and games inspire them in a good way. But mostly business owner parents are saying this. But at the end of the day, it is every parent’s job to be responsible for their own child. Parents should pay more attention to their children while children are playing violent video games.

HSBC and Foreign Market Strategies

HSBC and Foreign Market Strategies 1. Introduction With assets of US $1,502 billion, HSBC Holdings is one of the largest banking and financial services organisations in the world.1 It provides a comprehensive range of financial services including personal financial services, commercial and corporate banking, investment banking and markets, private banking, and other activities. HSBCs international network comprised over 9,500 offices in 76 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the America, the Middle East and Africa. 1. 2. Literature Review What determines foreign market entry strategies? To answer this question, most existing literature has focused on the characteristics of the entering firm, in particular its resources and capabilities (Barney, 1991; Anand and Delios, 2002) and its need to minimize transaction costs (Buckley and Casson, 1976; Anderson and Gatignon, 1986; Hill, Hwang, and Kim, 1990). While resources and capabilities are certainly important (Peng, 2001), recent work has suggested that strategies are moderated by the characteristics of the particular context in which firms operate (Hoskisson et al., 2000; In particular, institutions—the ‘rules of the game—in the host economy also significantly shape firm strategies such as foreign market entry (Peng, 2003; Wright et al., 2005). In a broad sense, macro-level institutions affect transaction costs (North, 1990). However, traditional transaction cost research (exemplified by Williamson, 1985) has focused on micro-analytical aspects such a s opportunism and bounded rationality. As a result, questions of how macro-level institutions, such as country-level legal and regulatory frameworks, influence transaction costs have been relatively unexplored, remaining largely as ‘background. However, a new movement in research posits that institutions are far more than ancillary elements, and that institutions directly influence what resources a firm has at its disposal as it strives to develop and launch strategy. Nowhere is this point more clearly borne out than in emerging economies, where institutional frameworks differ greatly from those in developed economies (Khanna, Palepu, and Sindha, 2005; Meyer and Peng, 2005; Wright et al., 2005; Gelbuda, Meyer, and Delios, 2008). Given these institutional differences, how do foreign firms adapt entry strategies when entering emerging economies? Focusing on this key question, it can be argued that (1) institutional development (or underdevelopment) in different emerging economie s directly affects entry strategies, and (2) investors needs for local resources impact entry strategies in different ways in different institutional contexts. In essence, we advocate an integrative perspective calling not only for explicit considerations of institutional effects, but also for their integration with resource-based considerations. An analysis of theory developed specifically out of changes to global markets shows little development of the standard theories of market segmentation, differentiated pricing and appropriate distribution channels which underpinned local and domestic marketing theory. However, the literature over the past five years has shown a particular set of theoretical models specific to global marketing. Hollensen, S (2007) discusses the Upsalla International Model which suggests a sequential pattern of entry into international markets with an increasing â€Å"commitment† to overseas markets as the international experience of the firm grows. He contrasts this with a traditional approach of what is termed as the Penrosian tradition which returns us to the economy of scale and a cost-led approach working from the firms core competencies. Dunning (1998) suggests a similar Ownership-Location-internalisation (OLI) framework identifying an â€Å"ownership advantage† of establishing overs eas production facilities, a locational advantage which builds a logistics network around the overseas production and, finally, an internalisation advantage where it must be economical for a firm to utilise the previous two advantages rather than sell them to a foreign firm. Similar to the development of the standardisation-localisation model emerging to deal with the specific choices related to international market entry the identification of risk mitigation factors salient to international marketing has developed rapidly. Baker, M (1993) recognises the risk mitigation inherent in internationalisation, protecting the firm from adverse fluctuations in the national economic cycle. Hollensen, S (2007) concurs, outlining the ownership, operating and transfer risk in being attached purely to domestic markets. All of the literature, in short, is strong on identifying the risks of domestic-based marketing, however there is scant coverage of the specific risks of internationalisation 2.1 Factors Affecting Market Entry Models Comprehensive models are easily identifiable in the literature and cover diverse entry modes, total product offer, and maturity models, Hollensen, S (2007). Earlier literature is more product-based than market-led, as with Majaro, S (1993) who presents three approaches to entering a product onto the international market: the development of new products, the deletion of weak products and the modification of new products. Hollensen, S more or less deals with market maturity as a key consideration of entry. Two distinct models suggested here are the waterfall approach where the product is disseminated from advanced through developing to less developed countries and the shower approach where all three are simultaneously targeted where early market penetration is a goal. Overall, the literature is consensual on the fact that shorter product lifecycles are the salient feature of internationalised markets. 2.2 Internal Factors With assets of US $1,502 billion, HSBC Holdings is one of the largest banking and financial services organisations in the world.1 HSBC provides a comprehensive range of financial services including personal financial services, commercial and corporate banking, investment banking and markets, private banking, and other activities. HSBCs international network comprised over 9,500 offices in 76 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the America, the Middle East and Africa. It was a pioneer of modern banking practices in a number of countries. A growth oriented company from its earliest days, in 2000, HSBC decided to launch concrete strategies to attain market leadership in all sectors it operated in. Though the company was amongst the leading players in areas such as consumer finance, personal financial services, commercial and corporate banking, it also wanted to establish its presence in areas such as investment banking, mortgage, insurance and credit card business. To strengthen its product portfolio and geographical reach, the company embarked on an aggressive acquisition strategy. The focus was on areas where HSBC was either weak or did not have a presence. Simultaneously, the company launched an aggressive branding exercise to complement its growth strategy. The geographical reach of the bank could be estimated by its presence in form of the subsidiaries and franchises. It has nearly 200,000 shareholders in some 100 countries and territories. The shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange in the form of American D epositary Receipts. HSBC was also listed on the London, Hong Kong, New York, Paris and Bermuda stock exchanges. In late 1998, the Group adopted the HSBC brand and the hexagon symbol as a unified brand in all the markets where it operated. The bank adopted the tagline ‘Your world of financial services in 1999. With the new tagline, HSBC hoped to acquaint customers with the extent and the range of its financial services. The tagline and the unification of the business under one name emphasised the global reach of the group. In early 2000s, HSBC vigorously worked towards developing its banking and financial services to gain market leadership. In 2002, the HSBC changed the tagline to ‘The worlds local bank, the tagline emphasised the groups experience and understanding of a great variety of markets and cultures. The group chairman said ‘We are committed to making HSBC one of the worlds leading brands for customer experience.1 as part of the ‘Managing For Value Strategy In 1998, HSBC launched the above strategy to set the conditions for future success in a fast-changing market. The company hoped to beat the total shareholder return delivered by competing financial institutions. To do so, it needed to enter areas that promised returns that were higher than the risk-adjusted cost of capital. It decided to offer wealth management services, personal asset management and insurance services to its customers. Its objective was to cross-sell a wide range of products around the globe, including mortgages, insurance, mutual funds, and credit cards. As a first step, the company decided to eliminate bad growth strategies i.e. those which had failed to cover the cost of capital. As a part of its value-based profitability drive, it adopted several measures which targeted higher-value creation at the bank. Managers and staff adopted behavioural practices such as targeting high-net-worth customers through several prestigious credit card schemes, strengthened the sales culture of staff by ways of incentives and promoting client cross-referral across the different business divisions, running more loyalty programmes for customers to capture a greater share of creditworthy customers. Like some other companies, HSBC has also developed international programs with their own incentive and compensation systems, performance metrics, and opportunities to groom managers for global positions (Exhibit 3, on the next page). Such programs, which often provide training focused on tolerance and cultural awareness, aim to produce managers who are well versed in a companys distinctive capabilities but flexible enough to deal successfully with novel situations. These managers learn to distinguish the nonnegotiable aspects of a business model from those that can be modified as necessary. Ranbaxy, whose current CEO is British, is one of the companies working to develop this kind of global cadre. Its country managers move to new locations as soon as they are ready to assume larger challenges. 2. 3. External Factors 3.1 Barriers to market entry 3.1.1 Regulation Firms in regulated industries face a significant strategic dilemma when expanding abroad. On the one hand, established theory and practice recommend following a gradual, staged model of international expansion so as to minimize risks and cope with uncertainty (Johanson and Vahlne, 1977; Chang, 1995; Rivoli and Salorio, 1996; Guill ´en, 2002; Vermeulen and Barkema, 2002), that is, to overcome the so-called liability of foreignness (Hymer, 1976; Zaheer, 1995). On the other, the regulated nature of these industries tends to require a strong commitment of resources anda fast pace of entry into foreign markets. This is the case for three interrelated reasons. First,these industries tend to be highly concentrated, and they often exhibit certain features of the ‘naturalmonopoly.1 Second, entry may be restricted by the government, frequently under a system oflicenses. And third, the government may own significant parts of the industry. Under these circumstances, foreign entrants face strong incentives to commit large amounts of resources and to establish operations quickly, whenever and wherever opportunities arise, and frequently via acquisition as opposed to greenfield investment (Sarkar et al., 1999). Thus, the regulated and oligopolistic nature of these industries generates strong first mover advantages (Doh, 2000; Knickerbocker, 1973). Recent research in strategy argues that firms in regulated industries follow ‘asymmetric strategies in that they seek to defend their home-country position by preventing rivals from competing on a level playing field while pursuing entry into foreign markets as deregulation occurs. Given that deregulation has taken place at different moments in time and to different degrees from country to country, firms in regulated industries tend to follow a multidomestic strategy of foreign expansion, namely, they pick and choose which markets to enter depending on the specific circumstances A natural monopoly emerges when it is possible to exploit economies of scale over a very large range of output. As a result, the optimally efficient scale of production becomes a very high  proportion of the total market demand for the product or service. present in each foreign country, arranging their operations with a local rather than a global logic in mind, and engaging in limited cross-border coordination (Bonardi, 2004). Another distinctive feature of regulated industries is the role of the state as a shareholder. Some of the most active firms in regulated industries expanding abroad are former monopolies in which the state has or has had a controlling stake (Doh, Teegen, and Mudambi, 2004). 3.1.2 Cultural Barriers By September 2000, the Hong Kong operations of HSBC were falling behind in implementing the MfV strategy. The strategy set the goal of the bank doubling shareholder value over a five years through growth in its core businesses in addition to a massive reduction in operating costs. One major cost-saving initiative was the migration of the banks Network Services Centre (NSC) in Hong Kong to its new global processing centre in Guangzhou, a Chinese city on the mainland. Implementing this initiative which involved moving staff and resources to the Guangzhou Data Centre (GZC) came up against major operational and public relations issues. (MB) Technically, there were no major obstacles to the bank following a global trend in financial services; seeking economies of scale by moving back-office operations to lower cost areas. The average salaries of staff in the GZC were only 20% of those in the NSC. From this angle, moving professional positions to GZC and to HSBCs other new Indian global processing centre seemed perfectly in line with MfV objectives. Most duties were highly routine involving few important decision-making duties. Nevertheless, The staff, who were initially offered a choice to move or risk losing their positions, felt betrayed by the bank, since there was an expectation among the workers that dutiful service should be recognised with job security. 4. Market Opportunities available to HSBC 4.1.1. Micro-Financing With significant operations in the emerging markets and expertise in transactional solutions, and supported by our office network, services, processes, capital, and customer relationships, HSBC are well placed to serve the micro finance sector. The banks approach to this sector is based on commercial viability with high social benefit, with the aim of creating self-sustaining, stable financial services to help people out of poverty. HSBC integrate micro-finance activities Global Business and Organizational Excellence DOI: 10.1002/joe January/February 2009 17 with local business capabilities rather than as a separate business line. Following pilot projects in 2005, HSBC has engaged more closely with micro-finance enablers and MFIs on the ground to understand the principal issues facing the sector, and the findings have informed and shaped our priorities. HSBC is currently working with MFIs in Argentina, India, Mexico, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Turkey through our operations in th ose countries. The bank is at the forefront in arranging foreign investments into the country and deals for Indian companies investing overseas, and it is custodian of more than 40 percent of the foreign institutional investments (FIIs) in India, with total assets under management in India that exceed $5 billion. Although HSBC in India has 47 branches and 178 ATMs in 26 cities, it lacks a branch network and accessibility in rural areas, where the majority of Indias empoverished population lives. The rural poor need a diverse range of financial services, including credit and safe and flexible savings services, to run their businesses, build assets, stabilize consumption, and shield themselves against poverty. However, access to quality financial services in rural India is still heavily inadequate. Eighty-one percent of villages in India do not have banks within a distance of 2 km (1.2 miles); 41 percent of the population does not have a bank account; and available credit in rural are as meets just 10 percent of the actual need. Microfinance established a foothold in India during the 1990s, but this decade has seen rapid growth, with a distinct shift away from a â€Å"welfare† model toward a â€Å"business model† for delivering these services.Since it is quite expensive for HSBC in India to provide services directly to the rural poor, it lends funds to microfinance intermediaries, the MFIs that further on-lend the funds to the ultimate clients. HSBC in India established a team for microfinance under its Commercial Banking division in December 2007 and plans to eventually create regional-level teams to facilitate initiatives in their respective parts of the country. 4.1.2 North America Market Entry HSBCs initial motivation for its acquiring retail banks in North America and the UK was to diversify away from its home in Asia. After it acquired Marine Midland Bank and Midland Bank, HSBCs motivation may have changed subtly. It is becoming increasingly difficult for banks that are large relative to their home markets to grow at home. In many developed countries banking has become quite concentrated (Marquez and Molyneux, 2002). In response, policymakers in these countries have started to bar the banks from further domestic mergers and acquisitions. Some recent failed attempts in Canada are a case in point (Tickell, 2000). The only remaining possibility for growth then is cross-border. Interestingly, each of the owners of the largest subsidiaries of foreign banks in the US is disproportionately often the largest bank in its own home country (Tschoegl, 2002 and 2004). Assessing the viability of this strategy is the classic question of how a foreign firm competes against local firms t hat do not face any liability of foreignness (Zaheer, 1995), that is, costs that come from operating in a  foreign environment or at a distance. One issue then is whether having operations in contiguous countries represents a competitive advantage. Tschoegl (1987) and Dufey and Yeung (1993) have argued that where markets are well developed and competitive, there is no reason to expect foreign banks in general to be better than local banks at retail banking. At the same time there is evidence for the existence of a liability of foreignness vis-à  -vis the foreign banks host-country competitors  (Parkhe and Miller, 2002). Of course, there is also evidence that suggests that the liability is minimal (Nachum, 2003) or wanes over time (Zaheer and Moskowitz, 1996). However, these last two studies examine the liability in the context of corporate and wholesale banking markets. The liability may be more salient in the retail markets, where national differences between the home and host market are likely to be more profound.Demirgà ¼Ãƒ §-Kunt and Huizinga (1999) and Claessens et al. (2001) found that foreign banks tend to have higher margins and profits than domestic banks in developing countries, but that the opposite holds in industrial countries. Similarly, Dopico and Wilcox (2002) found that foreign banks have a greater share in under-banked markets and a smaller presence in mature markets. The implication is that one should not expect much in the way of cross-border mergers in commercial banking within developed regions. We can speculate that on the production side, differences in products  across markets and privacy laws appear to be limiting parents ability to consolidate processing. As far as depositors are concerned, there seems to be little value to having an account with a bank that operates in other countries, especially now that travelers can draw cash from networked automated transaction machines (ATMs). HSBC does have a service for wealthy indivi duals-HSBC Premier-that provides for such crossborder advantages as transfer of an individuals credit rating when they relocate, and some other services. However, these facilities are not available to ordinary accounts. The literature on trade flows is instructive here; the evidence on NAFTA has shown that borders have a substantial damping effect on trade flows (McCallum, 1995). In North America HSBC is even poorly positioned to take advantage of the one form of cross-border retail banking that is currently drawing attention: remittance flows from Mexican workers in the US. Although HSBC now has a strong presence in Mexico, it has almost no offices in California or other US states with large populations of Mexican immigrants. By contrast, Bank of America, which is the largest bank in California and is present in many other US states, in 2002, bought a 25 percent stake in Santander-Serfin, Santanders subsidiary, which has amalgamated Mexicos oldest and third largest bank. If there is little reason to believe that HSBC benefits from cross-border demand or production effects, what is left as a source of advantage? One candidate is what Kindleberger (1969) has called â€Å"surplus managerial resources.† When a bank such as HSBC can no longer grow at home, it may find itself with a management team that is underemployed in terms of the demands on its time. The bank may then choose to grow abroad when it can combine these surplus resources with what Berger et al. (2000) call a global advantage. Berger et al. argue that some US banks succeed in the competition with local banks elsewhere in the world simply by being better managed. In their survey of the literature on productivity, Bartelsman and Doms (2000) draw several stylized lessons, among them that firms differ in their productivity and that this difference may persist for years. Obviously, not all US banks necessarily partake of the advantage of better management and by contrast some non-US banks may. HSBC may simply be one of these. As Nachum et al. (2001) point out, the competitiveness of firms depends on the kind of assets that firm s can transfer internally from country to country, but that are difficult to transfer from one firm to another, even within a country. Still, it is, unfortunately, extremely difficult to measure an intangible asset as subtle and hard to define as better management (Denrell, 2004), especially when, as recent events have shown, stock market performance or accounting measures are of doubtful reliability. HSBC began its growth in North America by acquiring failed and weak banks. In effect, shareholders lacking a comparative advantage relative to HSBC, with respect to owning and governing given banks or branches (Lichtenberg and Siegel, 1987), sold them to HSBC. Generally, growth by acquisition is difficult to execute and as a strategy it is vulnerable to problems of over-reach due to managerial hubris (Roll, 1986; Baradwaj et al., 1992; Seth et al., 2000). Peek et al. (1999) found that generally the US subsidiaries of foreign banks have not done well. The poor performance of foreign bank subsidiaries was a result of the foreign banks acquiring poorly performing US banks and being unable to improve their performance sufficiently within the period that the authors examined. (One cannot arrive at strong conclusions from studies of the profitability of subsidiaries. Banks transfer profits across borders (Demirgà ¼Ãƒ §-Kunt and Huizinga, 2001), and foreign banks may prefer to book some bu siness from their headquarters (Peek and Rosengren, 2000).) Still, HSBCs operations in the US and Canada are survivors of a winnowing process that saw other banks from Canada, Japan, the UK and the US sell their Canadian or US subsidiaries, in some cases to HSBC. As Mitchell and Shaver (2003) show with respect to firms in the US medical sector, firms differ in their ability to absorb and manage business on a continuing basis. They use the biological metaphor of predation and their evidence is consistent with the idea that some predators are better able to target desirable prey and better able to overpower the prey they target. HSBC appears to have found that it is one such successful predator. One may surmise that HSBC initially chose to acquire weak banks as much out of necessity as design. For any given size, a profitable bank will cost more than an unprofitable one, and to achieve its goal of diversifying, HSBC needed to acquire large banks. Now that HSBC is one of the worlds lar gest banks, whether one measures by market capitalization or total assets, it has more leeway. Conclusion Assuming that there is a positive relationship between marketing spend and market share, marketing activities, if well-targetted should have a incremental impact on market share. However, this does not always seem to hold true within the â€Å"big four† banks. Barclays and HSBC both developed their market share by 1% between 1995 and 2000, in spite of greatly varied levels of investment in marketing. Lloyds TSB market share fell by 2% although the bank spent significantly more than either Barclays or HSBC while NatWest and RBS have both declined by 4% despite having a collective expenditure of more than double Barclays. This perhaps, at least partly, explains why HSBC has adopted a highly acquisitive strategy, realising that, although the core brand is strong, customer recognition may have saturated, therefore integrating both fresh brands into subsidiaries in tandem with launching new, retail-focussed services, keeps the proposition fresh. Recommendations With the disproportionate focus on retail banking, HSBC has yet not come over as a major player in investment banking. However, with the wave of recent milestone deals during over the last three years, the bank is beginning to emerged as an investment banking brand. HSBC played a central role in two of Europes biggest-ever merger and acquisition deals i.e. Mittal Steels hostile bid for Frances Arcelor and German utility company E.Ons offering for Spanish rival Endesa. However, the development in the direction of investment banking requires some acceleration as the retail ban king sector continues to be heavily impacted by the sub-prime mortgage fallout and credit tightness. The bank has been planning to further enhance its business in the UK by investing  £400m in retail and commercial distribution network and setting up 500 new ATMs, 250 new Express terminals, however this is has not yet materialised and may be badly-timed if implemented within the year. HSBC has considered the Asian region as its major focus area and it can expect a bigger share from the Asia-Pacific region in the future. In early 2007, Asia-Pacific, the Americas (including South America) and Europe each contributed one third in HSBC groups overall bottom line. Bibliography Amel, D., Barnes, C., Panetta, F.,Salleo, C. (2004). â€Å"Consolidation and efficiency in the financial sector: A review of the international evidence,† Journal of Banking and Finance, Vol. 28, No. 10, pp. 2493-2519. Anand J, Delios A. 2002. Absolute and relative resources as determinants of international acquisitions. Strategic Management Journal 23(2): 119-134. Barney JB. 1991. Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management 17: 99-120 Baradwaj, B.G., Dubofsky, D., Fraser, D.R. (1992). â€Å"Bidder Returns in Interstate and Intrastate Bank Acquisitions,† Journal of Financial Services Research, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 261-73 Berger, A., DeYoung, R., Genay, H.Udell, G. (2000). â€Å"Globalization of financial institutions: Evidence from cross-border banking performance,† Brookings-Wharton Papers on Financial Service, Vol. 3 Buckley PJ, Casson MC. 1976. The Future of the Multinational Enterprise. Macmillan: London, UK. Buckley PJ, Casson MC. 1998. 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societhf Seclusion from Society :: Adventures Huckleberry Huck Finn Essays

Huckleberry Finn – Seclusion from Society Imagine the amount of freedom one feels as they drift down a river voluntarily stranded on a raft. The thought of it is relaxing to the mind, but actually experiencing it for yourself is a whole new happening. The freedom, no worries, no sounds but the noise of the river water rushing and the sounds of boat horns off in the distance. In Mark Twain's novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the author effectively symbolizes the river as a place outside of society. In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Twain uses the river as an escape from society for the characters Huck and Jim. Twain is showing examples of his own life through the character Huck. The reason for saying this is that Twain had grown up amongst many rivers in his life time, including "a New York town named Riverdale which is now a part of the Bronx, New York City's northernmost borough, Riverdale was a separate residential community when Mark Twain rented a house there in 1901."(Rasmussen, 391) Twain loved the water so much that he piloted many steamboats on the Mississippi River. The last steamboat on which Twain worked as a pilot was the "Alonzo Child." "The Alonzo Child was a 493-ton side-wheeler, the Child was built in Jeffersonville, Indiana for the Missouri river trade around 1856" (Rasmussen, 8). This is an example of how Twain lived by many rivers and how Twain used the river to get away from society. In Twain's novel the character Boggs shows an excellent example of someone who is lost and uses seclusion as an escape from society. "In chapter twenty-one, Huck is idling in the scruffy village of Bricksville, when Boggs charges in on a horse during his monthly drunk. A red faced man in his in his fifties. Boggs rides about wildly hurling insults and threats proclaiming that he has come to kill Colonel Sherburn."(Rasmussen, 39) This shows that people don't give him as much respect as he would like because when he gets drunk he acts very irresponsible and he is a bad role model. There for Boggs secludes himself to his home to hide his embarrassment.

The Characters, Setting, and Symbols of Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Co

     Ã‚  Ã‚   Beyond the shield of civilization and into the depths of a primitive, untamed frontier lies the true face of the human soul. It is in the midst of this savagery and unrelenting danger that mankind confronts the brooding nature of his inner self.   Joseph Conrad’s novel, Heart of Darkness, is the story of one man's insight into life as he embarks on a voyage to the edges of the world. Here, he meets the bitter, yet enlightening forces that eventually shape his outlook on life and his own individuality. Conrad’s portrayal of the characters, setting, and symbols, allow the reader to reflect on the true nature of man. The two main characters in Heart of Darkness, Marlow and Kurtz are used to show the true nature of man, that is, the capacity for good and evil within humanity. The central character is a thirty two year old sailor, Charlie Marlow. Marlow is the primary narrator in the novel, therefore his thought’s, opinions, experiences and revelations, shape the entire novels themes and the value system put forward. Marlow illustrates how forces of light and darkness serve to weave the human soul together; thus, essentially how good and evil are reflected in an individual. This is particularly important regarding the construction of Marlow, who is essentially a biased narrator, and a product of his European upbringing. An example is his inability to deal with the dying natives at the â€Å"grove of death†, offering a native a biscuit as an apparent kind gesture. Yet this is only due to him not being confronted with situations like this previously where his own values, and the whole p remise behind colonialism, the exploitation is revealed. The patriarchial views of women he displays also outline the background of Marlow and the a... ...o man can live on the island without becoming a brutal savage. Inside his heart lies the raw evil of untamed lifestyle" (Heart of Darkness: A systematic evaluation).    Works Cited "The Congo" Created December 07, 1995. Web. 23 February 2007. Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. New York: Penguin, 1999. Print. "The Fear" Created December 07, 1995. Web. 9 February 2007. "Heart of Darkness: A systematic evaluation of the darkness inherent in men's souls" "The Perfect Native" Created December 07, 1995. Web. 12 February 2007. "The Setting" Created December 07, 1995. Web. 12 February 2007.    Works Consulted Goonetilleke, D.C.R.A. "Heart of Darkness: Overview." Literature Resources from Gale. Gale, 1994. Web. 18 February 2007. Loe, Thomas. "Heart of Darkness: Overview." Literature Resources from Gale. Gale, 1991. Web. 12 February 2007.

Cleanliness: Recycling and Comprehensive National High

CLEANLINESS By: Edgardo Eleccion ( GCCNHS) The often quoted saying is â€Å"Cleanliness is next to Godliness†. People are so busy thinking what possible solution to make in order to maintain cleanliness for a worldwide issue. The air, water and soil are not polluted. This is the very issue of cleanliness that need an immediate action, a problem to be addressed. Gingoog City Comprehensive National High School ( GCCNHS) community has campaigned on zero waste management program on waste segregation by bio and non-biodegradable scheme. Stakeholders either direct and indirect have been oriented on this scheme on waste segregation. However, students either young or old still can’t follow simple instructions. A kind of system within a person to discipline him to do what is good in saving the environment and saving the generation ahead. United Nations and some of the environmental friendly establishments and organizations have join forces to launch a program for a greener world. The join effort is now part of their mission in their business and organization. However, if one is not performing its task to save this planet, then who else would clean up our mess? We should not wait for others to do the task, today is the right time. Sometimes our mind set reflects our own actions. Do we mind the earth we are living now? Are we ready to pass this world to the next generation after us? What else should we do to give this legacy a worthwhile for them? Symposium, memorandum, policies, bills, laws and rules have been done even in school and communities. Reduction, reforestation, redirection, recycle and reuse policies have been adopted. Still we continue making dirt to this paradise God given gift to us. This world is the package of our existence. This is not ours. We just borrow this. We live this for free, is it not proper to clean the earth we lend form the Maker? Edgardo Eleccion is a secondary teacher of Gingoog City Comprehensive National High School ( GCCNHS) Gingoog City, Philippines. He is a Values Education Teacher.