Characteristics of Modern World

Introduction The world is made up of several social systems which are integrated to incorporate economic and political systems. There are three categories of world-systems: World-empires and world-economies and socialistic systems. According to Wallerstein (1976) a modern world-system may be defined as a social system that is composed of limitations, organizations, groups of individuals, rules and regulations and has unity among different groups.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Characteristics of Modern World-Systems specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The world-system has various forces which conflict with each other because each unit tends to seek its own benefits from the system. World-systems have organic characteristics in that they change in some aspects and maintain stability in others. Social systems are independent because they develop by themselves. However, you cannot delineate social systems from externa l forces even though these forces have little impact on the social systems (Wallerstein, p. 391). World-empires and world-economies Social systems are small and independent from other systems which demand external support. This definition disqualifies most systems which are said to be social systems such as tribes, communities and nations. These are large systems and have a large influence emanating from the external environment. Such systems have many cultures within themselves and division of labor is a common thing in these systems. There are two types of such world-systems which are classified as world-empires and world-economies. World-empires have only one political system which maintains the control of all social systems in a specific area. In world-economies there exists more than one political system which controls all the activities of a given area. In the past, world-economies were not stable and they were used as empires or were left to disintegrate by themselves. Howeve r, world-economies have been in existence for many years and they have never been converted into world-empires (Wallerstein, p. 391). Introduction of socialism The fact that world-economies have been in existence for many years and they have never been converted into world-empires has brought about the issue of capitalism. The existence of capitalism is based on the fact that world-economies are established on the basis of many political systems. Capitalism is not immune from state interference and instances of influence into the economic affairs by the state have been experienced in many capitalistic economies. However, in capitalistic system political control have minimal control and cannot entirely control the entire system. In a capitalism system economic loss is absorbed by the political systems while private individuals benefit from the economic gains. This means that political factors have minimal control in a capitalistic economic system (Wallerstein, p. 392). Therefore, cap italists have the freedom to maneuver the economic systems for their own benefits. This system distributes rewards to all people in the society unequally because a few individuals manage to tap the economic benefits. The process of making decisions is the best mechanism that can be used to alter the pattern in which rewards are distributed in an economic system.Advertising Looking for essay on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This calls for the establishment of a socialistic world system. This system of world governance requires that economic resources be equally distributed to avoid disparities in the society (Wallerstein, p. 392). Nature of world-systems The level of technology determines the size of world-economies. Specifically, the level at which transport and communication has been developed in a country determines the size of world-economies. Thus, the extent of world-economies keeps on changing because technology is never constant. Division of labour is a major characteristic of world-economies and this may be functional and/or occupational. Thus, economic tasks are not equally distributed in such a system. The cause of unequal distribution of labor is caused by ecological factors or social arrangements at the workplace. As such some groups of individuals exploit the work of other groups in the society by obtaining greater amount of benefits from labour (Wallerstein, p. 392). World-empires tend to introduce culture into the occupational activities while world-economies tend to link political systems with culture. This situation is experienced because world-economies have political pressure from the state. The cultural homogeneity found in the two systems is used to satisfy the needs of major pressure groups which aim at establishing cultural and national identities. Integration of state machinery and culture helps reduce disparities that exist in a world-system (Wallerstein, p. 39 2). A world-economy is explained in terms of core-states as well as peripheral areas. The core-states are the advantaged regions in a world-economy while the peripheral areas are the disadvantaged regions. In a peripheral state have a colonial characteristic and small degree of autonomy. This is called a neo-colonial situation and is a major characteristic of peripheral states (Wallerstein, p. 392). Semi-peripheral areas also exist and these share the characteristics of core-states and the peripheral states. These areas are known to have been core-states previously but they change and state acquiring the characteristics of peripheral states. On the other hand, some peripheral areas may have been promoted to become core-states and have not yet fully attained such status and therefore can be classified as semi-peripheral (Wallerstein, p. 393). In a world-economy there is division of labour which is established to achieve greater levels of capitalization. The capital invested in a worl d-economy must be rewarded to ensure fair distribution of resources. The labour market is characterized by unequal distribution of human capital (labour) and this causes unstable supply and demand of labour.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Characteristics of Modern World-Systems specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The forces of labour demand and supply require world-economies to search technologies which bridge the gap between the labour supply and labour demand. Some regions within a world-economy change their labour structures to accommodate the requirements being initiated by the labour market. However, different sections of a world-economy have different labor demands. As such, the peripheral and semi-peripheral areas of a world-economy will have different labour needs and demands (Wallerstein, p. 393). The ability of a particular area to maintain the status of a core-state is challenging because many modern wo rld-systems are dynamic and regions are changing very fast. Over a long period of time some states tend to be replaced by others, therefore a particular core-state cannot remain dominant for a long period of time. It is also argued that world-economies can only assume a capitalistic system and feudalism is not acceptable in this system. Socialist movement exists in a world-economy and they act as control measures to regulate the activities of the state. Without the regulatory measures in a world-economy the human resource would not be fairly distributed and human capital would be exploited for the gain of the capitalists (Wallerstein, p. 393). In a world-system there are social classes as well as status groups. The social classes are defined by geographical coverage of the people practicing certain cultures. In any world-system social classes exist by default but the conditions for the existence of these classes depend on the political and economic systems within the system. The exi stence of social classes creates conflicts among the various strata and social boundaries do exist to separate each social class. The class boundaries require privileges to be maintained within the world-system. The existence of social classes requires people to form alliances and this reduces the number of social classes in a world system. The social groups are defined by ethnicity, language or religion. To establish many social groups in a world system creates conflicts and several groups emerge to solve these conflicts. However, despite the fact that various social groups emerge these groups are later absorbed and the number reduces automatically. However, in some systems there may exist no social groups while in others there may exist more than two (Wallerstein, p. 394). Conflicts in a world system exist when there is more than one social class because conflicts involve two or more groups. Conflicts exist when one class of individuals identify itself as universal and when it ten ds to dominate other groups in the system.Advertising Looking for essay on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The capitalistic class defines itself as a universal class and it tends to carry out its political pursuit to rule the other social classes. There is correlation between political activities and economic systems in a social group. Therefore, social classes tend to use the political and economic systems to rule others in a world system (Wallerstein, p. 394). The European world-economy is an example of a system that applied the one-class system. This existed in the sixteenth century and this led to economic expansion of the system. Dynamic forces existed in the economy and this created more profits to the state. The core-states of this world-economy were very sensitive to class differences. Political groups were defined according to their political roles in the state. There were different occupations for different groups of people for example; there were farmers, merchants, entrepreneurs as well as industrialists. Each group aimed at obtaining profits from the economic activities they were involved in. However, each group had distinct characteristics from each other. For example, some groups were profit oriented while others are not. Some groups which advocated for the traditional aristocracy fought to gain status privileges while small farmers groups accepted their status without fighting (Wallerstein, p. 394). The existence of different cultural practices caused many groups to collaborate and form alliances. The alliances were developed from political centers. France is an example of a country that had political system that was based on cultural set up of the people. As such the Catholicism cultural practices influenced the shape and direction of the politics of the country. The issues about class differences in the society started to gain momentum during the sixteenth century. As such, capitalist class were started and gained a lot of influence to the political arena. The existence of state made a lot of influence on the extent to which the political, capital istic and social groups were formed. It is the state which controlled all the activities in a world-economy. However, no state machinery is strong enough to control all the systems and the capitalistic class had no systems to protect it from the gains and losses that would emanate from the entire system. State machineries are strong in some areas and weak in others (Wallerstein, p. 395). Strong state machinery refers to the existence of strong political, social and economic structures in a state. The existence of political, social and economic groups in a state exerts enough pressure to the state and they influence the decisions made by state leaders. However, state managers as well as the bureaucracies put in place within a state control the interests of different groups that exist within it (Wallerstein, p. 395). For example, the tax system in a state helps collect revenues which are used to implement the bureaucracies which have been placed in an economy. However, State bureaucra cies have many limitations which hinder many processes but they cannot be removed because they are required for the safety of the state machinery (Wallerstein, p. 396). In a situation where the state machinery is weak, the state leaders and managers play an insignificant role of coordinating all the mechanisms in the economy. As such they have limited legitimate authority to control the activities of the economy. The existence of these types of leaders has been phased out in modern days because state leaders and managers must be vibrant and they should ensure that every aspect of the economy is operating well. In the modern world, states are governed by profit making ideologies where state managers control all resources to achieve maximum profits possible (Wallerstein, p. 397). Conclusion Modern world-systems are made up of world-empires and world-economies and socialistic systems. The existence of modern political, economic and social systems is founded from the traditional world-s ystems. There exist classes in a world system which defines various economic, political and social classes. the state leaders and managers have the obligation of uniting the various groups in the state to avoid conflicts among the groups. Work Cited Wallerstein, Immanuel Maurice. Capitalist agriculture and the origins of the European world-economy in the sixteenth century. Michigan, Academic Press, 2010. ISBN 0127859209, 9780127859200. This essay on Characteristics of Modern World-Systems was written and submitted by user Brantley Diaz to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

20 Dissertation Topics in Project Management Un-to-the-Point in 2018

20 Dissertation Topics in Project Management Un-to-the-Point in 2018 It can be a challenge to come up with dissertation topics. Sometimes, finding an idea can be the hardest part. You might feel like there are not enough options out there, especially once you narrow your focus to a particular subject. Students have said that this is one of the most difficult parts of writing a dissertation in project management. For now, we are going to focus on project management dissertation topics that could be a great start point to crafting a masterpiece. There are more dissertation topics in project management than you might think. The purpose of using one of these topics is really just to get the ball rolling. Once you come up with an idea, you can begin researching and writing about it. You don’t want to be stuck searching for a topic when you could be spending that time actually on a dissertation writing. Here are some of the topics that can help you write a strong project management essay. They aren’t in any specific order, so you can just choose the one that is the most relevant to you or helps you to achieve your purpose. Keep in mind that these can be altered to better fit your goals and interests. You might even want to combine a couple of ideas to take a new stance! Budgeting Tools and Their Importance to Technological Projects How to Successfully Manage the Communication of Remote Project Teams What Can Be Expected of Remote Teams in the Future and Why? What Improvements Are Causing a Shift in Remote Work Environments? How Will Emotional Intelligence Affect the Overall Dynamics of a Workspace? How Does Emotional Intelligence Influence Leadership Positions? What Is the Future of Resource Management, and Why Is It Gaining Importance? When Should Remote Workers Be Hired as a Part of Resource Management? What Tools Are Available for Digital Project Management Opportunities? What Could Be Leading to the Rise of Digital Project Management Jobs? Why Are Training Courses Essential to an Effective Project Management Structure? How Does the Culture of a Company Influence Its Overall Success in the Technology Industry? Which Factors Are Causing Project Staff to Remain an Ongoing Issue? How Does Up-and-Coming Digitalization Contribute to Employee and Team Portfolios? What Changes Will Be Made in the Organizational Structures with New Technological Advancements? How Should Responsibilities Be Divided Among a New Technologically-Driven Team? What Can Be Expected of Project Management Offices as They Continue to Evolve? What Types of Cloud Servers Will Be Used In Place of Internal Solutions and What Are the Benefits? What Are the Pros and Cons of Agile and Iteration Methods within the Project Management Space? As Project Management Improves, Are Specialization or General Skills More Effective? As you can see, the possibilities are endless. Some of these topics do have overlapping content areas, so you can easily blend those to create a different topic. After you decide on a general idea, you are able to move to the more important details - the content itself. Mind to use hooks that will involve the audience in your piece.   In case you have no idea what could serve you as an attention grabber, we have made a list of 10 facts you could insert in your paper. Sample Essay on How Responsibilities Should Be Divided Among a Team? When a team begins working on an important project, there is a lot for them to consider. It is usually required that they break down the different elements and discover a logical solution. Once they do this, they also need to distribute the workload. It might seem easy to just assign each team member a task and get to work. But, this is not the most effective way to accomplish a task, and there are much better methods to turn to. One of the best ways to assign responsibilities for a project is to evaluate the team members’ individual skills. Each of them should have their own skill set, such as technology, writing, or design. In addition, some members might have more specific skills. This might be based on their actual job title, their interests, or their personal experience. Giving people the tasks that they are most familiar with is important for a number of reasons. First, this will save time. If someone agrees to a writing task that is a piece of the whole project, they have to be aware of the proper etiquette of writing. Perhaps, they have written something of the same nature before. The same goes for someone who offers to design an image or a handout about the project. This will help cut down on time spent on the research. This will also provide team members with the opportunity to work on what they are passionate about or what they truly care about. Sometimes, the skillset is just too narrow. This happens usually if every employee is knowledgeable about the same topics or where there is a limited number of employees working at a team. There might not be a team member who is experienced in computers or coming up with budget details. This can leave teams in a tough spot with an important position to fill. This does not have to be difficult though, as there are ways to accomplish the tasks without seeking more team members. That is definitely an option, but it does not have to be the first one. Team members can come together to apply the basic knowledge that they might have in the needed area. From there, they can all work to dig deeper and understand the other concepts. A team might also decide to assign the research portion to one or two of its members. This can take a lot of time, especially if it requires the team members to learn how to utilize the new information right away. This means that these individuals should not be given much other work, which will give them adequate time to learn the new skills. If the project has equal opportunities for everyone involved, this is ideal. This is a good place to narrow the project to the areas where each person has a task that is related to the overall skills of the team. Additionally, this allows for proper fact-checking and revisions. If each member is an expert in the project, they will be able to verify the information for accuracy. Sometimes, it becomes necessary to look for extra help outside of the office or team. This is a good way to ensure the expertise is going to be brought to the table, but it can be costly. This should only be considered if it fits into the project’s budget. Overall, there are a few ways to assign responsibilities to different team members. If in doubt, teams can divide the tasks randomly and make changes if needed. It is a good idea to do this logically though, as it will increase the efficiency. Some teams will decide to outsource new members that have stronger skill sets. This is an excellent option if the budget gives the green light. References: Burke, R., Barron, S. (2014). Project management leadership: building creative teams. Chichester: John Wiley Sons. Fleming, Q. W., Koppelman, J. M. (2012). Earned Value Project Management Fourth Edition. Chicago: Project Management Institute. Frame, J. D. (2014). Reconstructing Project Management. Project Management Journal, 45(1). Heagney, J. (2016). Fundamentals of project management. New York: McGraw-Hill. Lebedeva, A. (2015). Five essential project management skills for RM and IG professionals. Overland Park. 28-33. A Peek into the Future of Project Management. (2015). Project Management 2.0, 25-35. Schwalbe, K. (2006). Information technology project management. Boston, MA: Thomson Course Technology.

1. What is your Managerial Philosophy Under what conditions it will Assignment

1. What is your Managerial Philosophy Under what conditions it will work and what may make you reconsider your managerial philosophy 2. What is ethics and what is ethical behaviour - Assignment Example The other condition where it would work is where the management lenders challenging but job related tasks, guidance to their success in these challenges rejuvenates the energy to work harder. However, there are extreme cases that lead to the reconsideration of this philosophy; when brooding and checking for potential leaders within the team, as a manager one has to drop this philosophy to observe the best skills or who could coordinate others in your absentia yet via the right business track. Ethics can be defined as a control mechanism involving systemization, defending and recommending various concepts termed as right or wrong that often address moral disputes or limit chances of moral dispute occurrence all together (Barbara, 2010). Ethical behavior means acting in a manner consistent with individuals or the society typically regard as good values. This behavior is healthy for any goal-oriented business. Ethical behavior is known to involve demonstration of respect for important and morally upright principles, which includes fairness, dignity, honesty individual rights, equality and diversity. In conclusion, management philosophies guide a business leader, but would be eased further by training the staff on the benefits of work ethics where they can guide themselves in the manager’s

Accounting Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Accounting - Case Study Example Case in point, the author ought to get 80% of the tender. Redone showcasing battles are essential for this situation to enhance productivity. More also, it is central for the author to be dynamic in advancements. To expand eminences, books ought not to be sold straight forwardly to retailers on a refundable basis. Furthermore, short rebates are vital so as to augment sovereignties. Specifically, an organization can be spoken to through a blend of three primary components: 2) administration exercises, That can be recognized in operational and vital. Functional activities are normally short term situated and concentrated on proficient use of accessible organization assets (e.g., gear, human good). Control costs. The point of interest of controlling costs is that for each money you spare by reducing a price, there will be an additional money in benefits, Reduce promoting expenses, Manage your stock, Develop a database, Seek add-on deals (McGee and Preobragenskaya 2). Nearby its current item run; that Slim Choice embrace a crisp and sound picture and be advanced in the media utilizing thin, vigorous and youthful models; Dont stretch out credit to moderate clients. Diminish credit terms. Enhance endeavors to gather obligations i.e. enlist a debt gathering office. Offer rebates to right on time

Reviews on Financial Risk Management Essay Example for Free

Reviews on Financial Risk Management Essay The definition and types of financial risk III. Risk management and the theoretical foundation IV. The process of financial risk management V. The challenges faced by the modern financial risk management theories ?Abstract? Financial risks are exposures of uncertainties for those participants in financial market. Financial risks can be divided into four categories: market risk, credit risk, liquidity risk and operational risk. Risk management has become more and more crucial for a market participant to survive in the highly competitive market. As the development of the global financial market, there are many phenomena that cannot be explained by traditional financial risk management theories. These phenomena have accelerated the development of behavioral finance and economic physics. The financial management theories have already improved a lot over the past decades, but still facing some challenges. Therefore, this report will review some important issues in the financial risk management; introduce some theoretical foundation of financial risk management, and discuss the challenges faced by the modern financial risk management. I. Introduction Financial risk is one of the basic characteristics of financial system and financial activities. And financial risk management has become an important component of the economic and financial system since the occurrence of financial in human society. Over the past few decades, economic globalization spread across the world with the falling down of the Bretton Woods system. Under above background, the financial markets have become even more unstable due to some significant changes. Many events happened during the decades, including the â€Å"Black Monday† of the year 1987, the stock crisis in Japan in 1990, the European monetary crisis in 1992, the financial storm of Asia in 1997, the bankruptcy of Long-Term Capital Management in 1998, and the most recent global financial crisis triggered in the year 2008. All these changes brought enormous destruction of the smooth development of the world economy and the financial market. At the same time, they also helped people realized the necessity and urgency of the financial risk management. Why did the crisis happened and how to avoid the risk as much as possible? These questions have been endowed more significant meaning for the further development of the economy. Therefore, this report will review some important issues in the financial risk management; introduce some theoretical foundation of financial risk management, and discuss the challenges faced by the modern financial risk management. II. The Definition and Types of Financial Risk The word â€Å"risk† itself is neutral, which means we cannot define risk a good thing or bad. Risk is one of the internal features of human behavior, and it comes from the uncertainty of the future results. Therefore, briefly speaking, risk can be defined as the exposure to uncertainty. In the definition of risk, there are two extremely important factors: first is uncertainty. Uncertainty can be considered as the distribution of the possibility of one or more results. To study risk, we need to have a precise description about the possibility of the risk. However, from the point view of a risk manager, the possible result in the future and the characteristic of the possibility distribution are usually unknown, so subjective factors are frequently needed when making decisions. The second factor is the exposure to uncertainty. Different human activities were influenced at different level to the same uncertainty. For example, the future weather is uncertain to everyone, but the influence it has over agriculture can be far deeper than that over finance industry or other industry. Based on the above description about risk, we could have a clearer definition of financial risk. Financial risk is the exposure to uncertainty of the participants in the financial market activities. The participants mainly refer to financial institutions and non-financial institutions, usually not including ndividual investors. Financial risk arises through countless transactions of a financial nature, including sales and purchases, investments and loans, and various other business activities. It can arise as a result of legal transactions, new projects, mergers and acquisitions, debt financing, the energy component of costs, or through the activities of management, stockholders, competitors, foreign governments, or weather. (Karen A. Horcher). Financial risk can be divided into the following types according to the different sources of risk. A. Market risk. Market risk  is the  risk  that the value of a portfolio, either an investment portfolio or a trading portfolio. It will decrease due to the change in value of the market risk factors. The four standard market risk factors are stock prices, interest rates, foreign exchange rates, and commodity prices. The influence of these market factors have over the financial participants can be both direct and indirect, like through competitors, suppliers or customers. B. Credit risk. Credit risk  is an investors risk of loss arising from a borrower who does not make payments as promised. Such an event is called a  default. Almost all the financial transactions have credit risk. Recent years, with the development of the internet financial market, the problem of internet finance credit risk also became prominent. C. Liquidity risk. Liquidity risk  is the risk that a given security or asset cannot be traded quickly enough in the market to prevent a loss. Liquidity risk arises from situations in which a party interested in trading an  asset  cannot do it because nobody in the  market  wants to trade that asset. Liquidity risk becomes particularly important to parties who are about to hold or currently hold an asset, since it affects their ability to trade. D. Operational risk. Operational risk is the risk of loss resulting from inadequate or failed internal processes, people and systems, or from external events. Nowadays, the study and management of operational risk is getting more attention. The organizations are trying to perfect their internal control to minimize the possibility of risk. At the same time, the mature theory of other subjects, such as operational research methods, are also introduced to the management of operational risk. Overall, financial risk management is a process to deal with the uncertainty resulting from financial markets. It involves assessing the financial risks facing an organization and developing management strategies consistent with internal priorities and policies. Addressing financial risks proactively may provide an organization with a competitive advantage. It also ensures that management, operational staff, stockholders, and the board of directors are in agreement on key issues. III. Risk Management and the Theoretical Foundation Financial market participant’s attitude towards risk can be basically divided into the following categories. A. Avoid risk. It is irrational for some companies to think that they can avoid the financial risks though their careful management because of the following reasons. First of all, risk is the internal feature of human activities. Even though it doesn’t have direct influence, it could generate indirect influence though the competitors, suppliers or customers. Moreover, sometimes it might be a better choice for the manager of the company to accept risk. For example, when the profit margin of the company is higher than the market profit margin, the manager can increase the value of the company by using financial leverage principle. Obviously, it will be harder to increase the value of a company if the manager is always using the risk avoidance strategy. B. Ignore risk. Some participants tend to ignore the existence of risks in their financial activities, thus they will not take any measures to manage the risk. According to a research of Loderer and Pichler, almost all the Swedish multinational companies ignored the exchange rate risk that they are facing. C. Diversify risk. Many companies and institutions choose to diversify risk by putting eggs into different baskets, which means reaching the purpose of lower risk by holding assets of different type and low correlation. And the cost is relatively low. However, as to small corporations or individuals, diversifying risk is somehow unrealistic. Meanwhile, modern asset portfolio theory also tells us that diversifying risk could only lower the unsystematic risk, but not systematic risk. D. Manage risk. Presently, most people have realized that financial risk cannot be eliminated, but it could get managed though the financial theory and tools. For instance, participants can break down the risk they are exposed to by using financial engineering methods. After keeping some necessary risk, diversify the rest risk to others by using derivatives. But why do we need financial risk management? In other words, what is the theoretical foundation of the existence of financial risk management? The early financial theory argues that financial risk management is not necessary. The Nobel Prize winner Miller ;amp; Modigliani pointed out that in a perfect market, financial measures like hedging cannot influence the firm’s value. Here the perfect market refers to a market without tax or bankruptcy cost, and the market participants own the complete information. Therefore, the managers do not need to worry about financial risk management. The similar theory also says that even though there will be slight moves in the short run, in the long run, the economy will move relatively stable. So the risk management that is used to prevent the loss in short term is just a waste of time and resource. Namely, there is no financial risk in the long run, so the financial risk management in the short run will just offset the firm’s profits, and therefore reduce the firm’s value. However, in reality, financial risk management has already roused more and more attention. The need for risk management theory and measures soar to unprecedented heights for both the regulator and participants of the financial market. Those who think risk management is necessary argue that the need for risk management is mainly based on the imperfection of the market and the risk aversion manager. Since the real economy and the financial market are not perfect, the manager can increase a firm’s value by managing risk. The imperfection of the financial market is shown in the following aspects. First, there are various types of tax existing in the real market. And these taxes will influence the earning flow of the firm, and also the firm’s value. So the Modigliani ;amp; Miller theory does not work for the real economy. Secondly, there is transaction cost in the real market. And the smaller the transaction is, the higher the cost. Last but not least, the financial market participants cannot obtain the complete information. Therefore, firms can benefit from risk management. First, the firm can get stable cash flow, and thus avoid the external financing cost caused by the cash flow shortage, decrease the fluctuation range of the stock and keep a good credit record of the company. Secondly, a stable cash flow can guarantee that a company can invest successfully when the opportunity occurs. And it gets some competitive advantage compared to those who don’t have stable cash flow. Thirdly, since a firm possesses more resource and knowledge than an individual, which means it could have more complete information and manage financial risks more efficiently. If the manager of a firm is risk aversion, he can improve the manager’s utility through financial risk management. Many researches show that the financial risk management activities have close relation to the manager’s aversion to risk. For example, Tufano studied the risk management strategy of American gold industry, and found that the risk management of firms in that industry has close relation to the contract that the managers signed about reward and punishment contracts. The managers and employees are full of enthusiasm about risk management is because that they put great amount of invisible capital in the firm. The invisible capital includes human capital and specific skills. So the financial risk management of the firms became some natural reaction to protect their devoted assets. In conclusion, although controversy is still going on about the financial risk management, there is no doubt that the theory and tools of financial risk management is adopted and used by market participants, and continue to be enriched and innovated. IV. The Process of Financial Risk Management The process of financial risk management comprises strategies that enable an organization to manage the risks associated with financial markets. Risk management is a dynamic process that should evolve with an organization and its business. It involves and impacts many parts of an organization including treasury, sales, marketing, tax, commodity, and corporate finance. Company’s financial risk management can be divided into three major steps, namely identification or confirmation risk, measure risk and manage risk. Let’s illustrate it using the market risk as an example. First, confirm the market risk factors that have a significant influence to the company, and then measure the risk factors. At present, the frequently used measure of market risk approach can be divided into the relative measure and absolute measure. A. The relative measure method It mainly measures the sensitivity relationship between the market factors fluctuations and financial asset price changes, such as the duration and convexity. B. The absolute measure methods It includes variance or standard deviation and the absolute deviation indicator, mini max and value at risk (VaR). VaR originated in the 1980s’, which is defined the maximum loss that may occur within a certain confidence level. In mathematics, VaR is expressed as an investment vehicle or a combination of profit and loss distribution of ? -quantile, which stated as follows: Pr ( ? p ;lt;= VaR ) = ? , where, ? p said that the investment loss in the holding period within the confidence level (1 –? ). For example, if the VaR of a company is 100 million U. S. ollars in 95% confidence level of 10 days, which means in the next 10 days, the risk of loss that occurred more than 1 million U. S. dollars may of only 5%. Through this quantitative measure, company can clear its risks and thus have the ability to carry out the next step targeted quantitative risk management activities. (Guanghui Tian) The last step is management risk. Once the company identified the major risks and have a quantitative grasp of these risks through risk-measurement methods, those companies can use various tools to manage the risk quantitatively. There are different types of risk for different companies, even the same company at different stages of development. So it requires specific conditions for the optimization of different risk management strategies. In general, when the company considers its risk exposure more than it could bear, the following two methods can be used to manage the risk. The first way is changing the company’s operating mode, to make the risk back to a sustainable level. This method is also known as â€Å"Operation Hedge†. Companies can adjust the supply channels of raw materials, set up production plants in the sales directly or adjust the volume of inflow and outflow of foreign exchange and other methods to achieve above purpose. The second way is adjust the company’s risk exposure through financial markets. Companies can take advantage of the financial markets. Companies can take advantage of the financial markets wide range of products and tools to hedge its risk, which means to offset the risk that the company may face through holding a contrary position. Now various financial derivative instruments provide a sufficient and diverse selection of products. Derivative products are financial instruments whose value is attached to some other underlying assets. These basic subject matters may be interest rates, exchange rates, bonds, stocks, stock index and commodity prices, but also can be a credit, the weather and even a snowfall in some ski showplace. Common derivatives include forward contracts, swaps, futures and options and so on. V. The Challenges Faced by the Modern Financial Risk Management Theory Over the recent years, as the focus of risk management hifts from a control function to one of global financial optimization, the concern shifts from modeling the behavior of engineered contracts in selected markets to modeling the evolution of the entire economy. This change of focus calls for a vastly improved ability to model the time evolution of economic quantities. (Sergio Focardi). While those who do risk management are interested in predicting if assets will go up or down, the over-riding interest is in the relationship in movement to different assets. Though linear methods such as variance-covariance help to understand the co-movements of markets, a different set of tools is necessary to better manage risk. (Jose Scheinkman). Paradigms such as learning, nonlinear dynamics and statistical mechanics will affect how risk – from market and credit risk to operational risk – is managed. While the first attempts to use some of these tools were focused on predicting market movements, it is now clear that these methodologies might positively influence many other aspects of economics. For instance, they could be useful in understanding phenomena such as price formation, the emergence of bankruptcy chains, or patterns of boom-and-bust cycles. Lars Hansen, Homer J. Livingston professor of economics at the University of Chicago, remarks that these new paradigms will bring to asset pricing and risk management at enhanced understanding once the implicit underlying fundamentals are better understood. He says â€Å"What needed is a formal specification of the market structure, the microeconomic uncertainty, and the investor preferences that is consistent with the posited nonlinear models. Commenting on the need to bring together the pricing of financial assets and the real economy, he notes that an understanding of what’s behind pricing leads to a better understanding of how assets behave. â€Å"For risk management decisions that entail long-run commitments,† he observes, â€Å"it is particularly important to understand, beyond a purely statistical model, what is governing the underlying movements in security prices. † Blake LeBaron, professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin-Medison, observes that there is now more interest in macro moves than in individual markets. But traditional macroeconomics typically provides only point forecasts of macro aggregates. In the risk management context, a simple point forecast is not sufficient; a complete validated probabilistic framework is needed to perform operations such as hedging or optimization. One is after an entire statistical decision-making process. The big issue is the distinction between forecasts and decisions. (Blake LeBaron) Arriving at an entire statistical decision-making process implies reaching a better scientific explanation of economic reality. New theories are attempting to do so through models that reflect empirical data more accurate than traditional models. These models will improve our ability to forecast economic and financial phenomena. The endeavor is not without its challenges. Our ability to model the evolution of the economy is limited. Prof. Scheinkman notes that unlike in a physical system where better data and more computing power can lead to better predictions, in social systems when a new level of understanding is gained, agents start to use new methods. Prof. Scheinkman says â€Å"Less ambitious goals have to be set. Gaining an understanding of the broad features of how the structure of an economic system evolves or of relationships between parts of the system might be all that can be achieved. Prof. Scheinkman remarks that we might have to concentrate on finding those patterns of economic behavior that are not destroyed, at least not in the short-run, by the agent learning process. VI. Conclusion The theory foundation of modern financial risk management is the Efficient Markets Hypothesis, which notes that financial market is a linear balanced system. In this system, investors are rational, and they make their investment decision with rational expectations. This hypothesis shows that the changing of the future price of financial assets has no relation with the history information, and the return on assets should obey normal distribution. However, the study of economic physics shows that financial market is a very complicated nonlinear system. At the same time, behavioral finance tells us that investors are not all rational when making decisions. They usually cannot completely understand the situation they are facing unlike hypothesized. And most times they will have cognitive bias, when they use experience or intuition as the basis of making decisions. It will lead to irrational phenomena like overreaction and under reaction when reflected on investment behaviors. Therefore, it will be meaningful to study how to improve the existing financial risk management tools, especially how to introduce the nonlinear science and behavior study into the measurement of financial risk.

faulkner :: essays research papers

The Southern Social Themes of Barn Burning William Faulkner undoubtedly ranks one of the best and most influential writers both in America and in history. Among his various works of art, the most famous ones are those set in his fictional Yoknapatawpha County, which is molded out of his â€Å"native soil.† Despite their Southern setting, these works convey something universally true. As Faulkner often claims, he is just a story-teller, telling about man in conflict, about how he â€Å"endures and prevails.† Before he received due recognition, Faulkner wrote quite a few short stories which he expected would help him improve his economic condition, so that he could write novels at ease. Nevertheless, although he was motivated by economic interests, many of these short stories turned out very prominent. "Barn Burning" is one of Faulkner's most frequently anthologized, though its prose is a bit more ponderous than the garrulous first-person narration of "Emily." Set roughly 30 years after the Civil War, the story focuses on two members of the Snopes family: Ab Snopes, a poor sharecropper who takes out his frustrations against the post-Civil War aristocracy by burning barns, and his adolescent son, "Sarty," who dislikes his father's destructive tendencies and ultimately must choose between family and morality. This powerful coming-of-age story is notable for its conscientious prose styling, in which Faulkner mimics the inward turmoil and questions faced by his principal protagonist, as well as its carefully rendered settings of three historical milieus, each of which has important thematic concerns in the story: the sharecropper's cabin, the planter's mansion, and the town's general store. Faulkner incorporated the basic narrative of the story into his novel The Hamlet, though it is told in vastly different language and tone. Written as it was, at the ebb of the 1930s, a decade of social, economic, and cultural tumult, the decade of the Great Depression, William Faulkner's short story "Barn Burning" may be read and discussed by most of us as just that--a story of the '30s, for "Barn Burning" offers students insights into these years as they were lived by the nation and the South and captured by our artists. This story was first published in June of 1939 in Harper's Magazine and later awarded the 0. Henry Memorial Award for the best short story of the year. Whether read alone, as part of a thematic unit on the Depression era, or as an element of an interdisciplinary course of the Depression '30s, "Barn Burning" can be used to awaken students to the race, class, and economic turmoil of the decade.

How will you measure your life? Essay

1. How can I be sure that I’ll be happy in my career? Some people assert that money is the most powerful motivator in their lives, and the more money they earn, the more happiness they will have. However, from my personal perspective, I believe that getting more opportunity to learn what I am not familiar with, taking responsible for my behavior, contributing to others in need in the society, and trying my best to achieve my goals in my career are the most happiest things in my professional career life. In addition, from my point of view, management is the most effective way to get these points, if management practice well. The author states that â€Å" No other occupation offers as many ways to help others learn and grow, take responsibility and be recognized for achievement, and contribute to the success of a team.† So, it is important for me to learn well about management. This occupation of management also help the managers improve their skills. Learning from the process of doing business , what I have learned, is able to mak e my career more successful. For me, it is the reason to enable that I will be happy in my career. 2. How can I be sure that my relationships with my spouse and my family become an enduring sourceof happiness? In the business relationship, people invest to a program probably get reward immediately, but contributing to a family is not the same case of investment. For example, family may bring me what I need of happiness is a long-term process. In my case, the reason I try my best to work hard is to give my family members better lives and it is an indispensable goal of my life. In addition, I believe most individuals take the same responsibilities to hold a family. With the personal development, some people change their focus from families to their work. Consequently, they might forget the original purpose., so people should balance their work and family because of everyone’s limited resource, if not, people might make their lives to the different places what they previous intended to. Paying attention to what my family members need and how they feel about in this period is the most important thing for me.