The House of the Spirits Essay Example

The House of the Spirits Essay Illegitimacy has always been stigmatized in society, particularly throughout the nineteenth century. This is reflected in literature by characters who are portrayed using stereotypical features of illegitimacy like avidity, intensity or vehemence. The prejudice was that children who are conceived in lust and irresponsibility will result in more sensual and fiery personalities. I will base my study of illegitimate children in literature on the characters of Therese Raquin in Therese Raquin and Esteban Garcia in The House of the Spirits.To study the way in which the two authors portray illegitimacy, Esteban Garcia who is Esteban Truebas illegitimate grandson and Therese Raquin, who is also an illegitimate child, will be compared. Even though it can be argued that these two characters lived in completely different times and have personalities that differ greatly, their illegitimacy and the prejudice that surrounds it brings them together. Because of the stereotype that comes with children who are born outside of marriage, authors sometimes write characters who are particularly passionate, unstable emotionally or impulsive as illegitimate.Both Esteban and Therese have very intense personalities and they are particularly impulsive. In Estebans case, this is shown through violence and physical as well as psychological torture. For Therese, her true nature is shown through her strong sexual desires and extremely passionate lovemaking. In The House of the Spirits, Esteban Garcia is shown to have a sickening morbidity to him from a very early age. We will write a custom essay sample on The House of the Spirits specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The House of the Spirits specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The House of the Spirits specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer He leads Esteban Trueba to Pedro Tercero and after his grandfather has injured Pedros hand, Esteban Garcia: had picked up the sliced-off fingers and was holding them like a bouquet of bloody asparagusI vomited all over my boots while the boy smiled impassively.(p.240)The novelist shows us here how perverted the child is as a scene which makes the stoic Esteban Trueba sick, only gets a smile out of Esteban Garcia. In Therese Raquin however, even though Therese had always been an inflamed child and adolescent, she hid it from the people around her and acted as a rather apathetic person. It is once she meets Laurent and they become lovers that her true personality that had been dormant inside her is revealed: It was as though her face had been lit up from within and fire leaped from her flesh. Her boiling blood and taut nerves radiated warmth, something keen and penetrating. (p.63)This shows that even though Therese attempts to conceal her true self, it still comes out eventually. This is an example of determinism, no matter how much effort she puts into hiding her lustful personality, it will still be revealed as it is a part of her. Following the prejudice, children born outside of marriage werent considered to have full membership of society, also their social status cannot have been as important as legitimate children.As it was considered that illegitimate children were closer to animals than proper human beings, they were expected to be more prone to mental ilnesses or being emotionally unstable. Perhaps this was because being seen as an outsider brought on frustration and resent towards society. In The House of the Spirits, Esteban Garcia clearly demonstrates resent as he speaks of Alba as She embodied everything he would never have(p.328) :He, barefoot in the mud, swore that one day he would make her pay for her arrogance and avenge himself for his cursed bastard fate. (p.469) Esteban Garcia kept to his promise and later on tortured and sexually abused Alba for weeks. In Therese Raquin, this kind of lower status is also seen. The novelist sometimes describes Therese as he would a domestic animal. She sounds like a type of apathetic pet who lacks a soul and personality: She had always shown such passive obedience that her aunt and husband no longer bothered to ask her opinion. She went where they went, did what they did, without a word of complaint or reproach, without even appearing to notice that she was moving at all. (p.43)It is as though the Raquin family had adopted a wild beast and tamed it into a pet. Zola does however, reveal Thereses true impulsive nature by sudden outbursts. He emphasises these using a lot of animal imagery. This is again an example of determinism. At unexpected times, Therese uncontrollably lets her instinctual side show: One day he (Camille) gave her a push and knocked her over : she leaped to her feet like a wild beast and with face aflame and bloodshot eyes flew at him with both arms raised. (p.41)Events like these reinforce the portrayal of Therese as a wild spirit trapped inside a passive womans body. Comparably, in The House of the Spirits, Esteban Garcia is sometimes described using animal imagery and seen by other characters to have beast like features. Particularly Alba, who was inflicted by most of his violence and torture. After Esteban forcefully kissed her on her fourteenth birthday Alba is traumatized and even has nightmares: She told no one of that repulsive kiss or of the dreams that she had afterward, in which Garcia appeared as a green beast that tried to strangle her with his paws and asphyxiate her by shoving a slimy tentacle down her throat. (p.374)The way Alba sees Esteban Garcia only emphasises Allendes character as being particularly violent, repulsive and brutal. Therese and Estebans sexual attitude also reveals their instinctive, almost subhuman selves. They both have an enormous apetite for sex and prove to be near savage in practice. In The House of the Spirits, Esteban comes across as sadistic when he fantasises about Alba as she is sitting on his lap:

To examine the determinants of FDI in China and India and the causes for their difference. The WritePass Journal

To examine the determinants of FDI in China and India and the causes for their difference. Abstract: To examine the determinants of FDI in China and India and the causes for their difference. Abstract:1. Introduction:2. Literature review:2.1. China:2.1.1. National determinants:2.1.2. Regional determinants:2.2. India:3. Theoretical model of FDI determinants:Market size and growth prospects:Natural and human resource endowments:Physical, financial and technological infrastructure:Trade openness and access to international markets:The regulatory, policy framework and policy coherence:4. Data and methodology:4.1. Data:  4.2. Methodology:4.2.1.Determinants of FDI in China and India:4.2.2. The difference in inward FDI between China and India:5. Empirical results:5.1. Individual country models:5.1.1. China:5.1.2. India:5.1.3. China and India:6. Policy implications:Conclusion:Related Abstract: This study aims to examine the determinants of FDI in China and India and the causes for their difference. Ordinary least squares models were first applied to analyse separately FDI determinants in China and India and then a panel data model was developed to explore the causes of the differences. It was found that China’s FDI was determined by inflation while India’s FDI was influenced by infrastructure and trade openness. Infrastructure was the main reason why India was lagging behind China. The results suggest that India needs to upgrade its infrastructure and create effective trade policies in order to attract FDI. Key words: FDI, China, India, inflation, trade openness, infrastructure. 1. Introduction: Multinational Enterprises (MNEs), comprising 82,000 parent companies, 810,000 foreign subsidiaries and an excess of inter-firm arrangements worldwide, have played an important and growing role in today’s global economy (UNCTAD, 2009). The world’s top MNEs are the prominent driver of international production. In 2008, they accounted for around 4% of world GDP[1] and had combined assets of $ 10.7 trillion, combined foreign sales of $ 5.2 trillion and employed 8.9 million people (Table 1-1). Table 1-1:Snapshot of the World’s top 100 TNCs, 2006-07/08 Variable 2006 2007 2006-2007 % change 2008 2007-2008 % change    Assets ($billion)    Foreign Total 5,245 9,239 6,116 10,702 16.6 15.8 6,094 10,687 -0.4 -0.1 Sales ($billion)    Foreign Total 4,078 7,088 4,936 8,078 21.0 14.0 5,208 8,518 5.5 5.5 Employment (thousands)    Foreign Total 8,582 15,388 8,440 14,870 -1.66 -3.4 8,898 15,302 5.4 2.9 Source: UNCTAD (2009), p.19, Table I.17 (based on UNCTAD/Erasmus University database). The key measure of MNEs’ activities is foreign direct investment (FDI), defined as â€Å"an equity investment outside of the parent corporation’s home country, it implies some control over economic activity, usually a greater than 10% stake† (Baker et al., 1998). In line with the increasing importance of MNEs, global FDI inflows have grown significantly in the last 20 years (UNCTAD, 2010): average annual inflow between 1990-2000 was 492.86 $ billion, which reached a peak of $ 2,099.97 billion in 2007 before declining to $1,114.2 billion in 2009, reflecting the effects of the global crisis. However, FDI inflows are expected to increase further to $1.3 $1.5 trillion in 2011 (Figure 1-1). Figure 1-1: Global FDI inflows and projections, 1990-2011 Source: UNCTAD (2010). FDI inflows have been shifted noticeably to developing and transition economies owing to their economic growth and reforms as well as their progressive liberalisation of foreign investment regimes (UNCTAD, 2010). As a result, developing and transition economies attracted nearly half of global FDI inflows in 2009 (Figure 1-2). Among the largest FDI recipients from these economies, China and India have emerged as the second and third world most popular FDI destinations (UNCTAD, 2010). Figure 1-2: Shares of developing and transition economies in global FDI inflows and outflows, 2000-2009 (%). Source: UNCTADstat, calculated based on data of inward and outward FDI. China opened up its economy to foreign investment in 1979 and since then inward FDI in China has risen appreciably. By 2009, the absolute value of FDI inflows was $95 billion compared to only $0.057 billion in 1980 (UNCTAD, 2010). Over 10 years after China, India too liberalised its economic policies, replacing the existing for more relaxed and open policies towards foreign investment. The reforms have resulted in considerable increased inflows of FDI during the past decade: inflow in 2009 rose to $34.61 billion from only $2-3 billion during the 1990s (UNCTAD, 2010). Even so, the amount of FDI in India is still lagging behind most other emerging economies, especially China. On the global competitiveness scale, China ranked higher than India in all criteria of economic competitiveness (Table 1-2). Table 1-2: The global competitiveness index, 2010-2011    Pillars    Basic requirements Institutions Infrastructure Macroeconomic environment Health primary education Country Rank Rank Rank Rank Rank China 30 49 50 4 37 India 81 58 86 73 104    Efficiency enhancers Higher education training Goods market efficiency Labour market efficiency Financial market development Country Rank Rank Rank Rank Rank China 29 60 43 38 57 India 38 85 71 92 17    Innovation sophistication Technological readiness Market size Business sophistication Innovation Country Rank Rank Rank Rank Rank China 31 78 2 41 26 India 42 86 4 44 39 Source: World Economic Forum (2010). The differences in FDI inflows between these two countries suggest an intriguing area for further research. If China, with its â€Å"new-found† belief in capitalism[2] can attract significant amounts of FDI, why India which is endowed with Western-type institutions and capitalist organizations cannot? What causes the gap in volumes of FDI between the two? This paper is going to address these questions by evaluating factors determining FDI based on current literature on FDI in general and FDI in China and India in particular. The study is structured as follows: part 2 reviews the literature on FDI determinants in China and India. Part 3 presents the eclectic theory and empirical studies. Part 4 describes data and methods for analysis. Part 5 analyses FDI determinants in the two countries. Part 6 suggests policy implications and part 7 concludes. 2. Literature review: The emergence of China and India as the two most favoured hosts of FDI among developing economies has generated various numbers of empirical studies on the major determinants of FDI in each country as well as the two countries combined. 2.1. China: Studies on factors shaping FDI in China can be broadly categorized into two groups: studies at the national level and those at regional level. 2.1.1. National determinants: The empirical results from Chen (1996), Henley et al. (1999), Zhang (2001), Dees (1998), Hong and Chen (2001) and Liu et al. (2001) all concluded that market size and preferential policies, along with others, were primary factors for China’s FDI. Wei (2005) explored the determinants of FDI from OECD to China for the period from 1987 to 2000. The analysis found significant relationship between FDI and market size, real exchange rate and trade openness. Among these determinants, market size, measured by GDP[3] per capita, appeared as the major driving force for outward FDI from OECD countries to China. This seems to be convincing as China has a huge domestic market with a mass-production system, which considerably reduces production costs. This factor coupled with â€Å"FDI friendly† policies creates business opportunities for foreign investment and hence increase the attractiveness of China to multinationals. The analysis provides reasonable explanations for FDI inflows in China, however, it should be taken into account that the source of FDI from OECD countries only account for a small proportion of China’s inward FDI. Therefore, the results should be assimilated with caution. Mathew et al. (2009) provided evidence that corruption, as an indicator of political risk, determined the location decision of MNEs. In particular, the finding suggested that provinces with effective local governments and better efforts to tackle corruption tended to attract more FDI. The study indicated that if provinces could improve their â€Å"anti-corruption efforts† to the average level, they would be able to receive more FDI. For example, FDI would be boosted to more than $ 40 million in the following year as a result of a 10 % increase in the anti-corruption efforts. 2.1.2. Regional determinants: Some studies have investigated the determinants of FDI in China at a regional level. For instance, Xing et al. (2008), focusing on the Eastern Chinese area, found that FDI was positively related to market size and labour quality, whereas, education and infrastructure were statistically insignificant in explaining FDI. Wei et al. (2010) analyzed the location factors and â€Å"network relations† of MNEs in Nanjing, China. This study confirmed the importance of infrastructure and government policy in the location decision of MNEs. Government intervention through investment policies was one of the key factors determining FDI since it indicated the significant role of government in expanding FDI. 2.2. India: The growth of FDI in India over the last decade since its economic reforms has raised the interest for further investigation. However, there are only a nominal number of empirical studies trying to indentify major determinants of FDI in India. One of those studies is that by Pradhan (2010), examining the role of trade liberalisation on FDI inflows in India between 1980 and 2007. The results found that trade openness had a positive correlation with FDI and that this relationship was stronger after the economic reforms since 1991. This implies the necessity of maintaining an â€Å"open door† policy to attract more FDI into the Indian economy. Other factors were also found significant in the study including real exchange rate and terms of trade. In a current study of FDI determinants in India, Resende (2010) found the evidence supporting the positive impacts of technology growth, trade openness and market size on FDI. In particular, market size and market attractiveness appeared to be the most significant factors determining the inflows of FDI into India. Poor infrastructure, on the other hand, deterred MNEs from investing in the country. Green (2005) explored FDI in a specific Indian industry sector: telecommunications from 1993 to 2003. The results showed that FDI would gain more traction if the government could reduce the limits on investment, maintain transparent regulations and improve physical infrastructure in the telecommunication sector. This conclusion seems to be appropriate as the evidence of FDI performance in this sector during the chosen period suggested that foreign firms entering the telecommunication industry did not stay in the business for a long time. The reasons behind this were that FDI had long suffered from inadequate infrastructure, opaque regulatory and legal environment. Among infrequent macro-level studies on FDI in India, Mukim and Nunnenkamp (2010) investigated determining factors of MNEs’ location decision in 447 districts of India. The analysis indicated that infrastructure and skilled workforce influenced the location choice of MNEs. However, the study suffered from data limitations with regards to FDI determinants at district-level. This may reduce the reliability of its results and hence cannot be applied generally. There seems to be a few studies considering FDI in India such as those by Green (2005), Pradhan (2010) and Resende (2010) investigating FDI determinants in India. However, their studies only focus on a particular industrial sector or factors instead of looking at different industries or various factors. Mukim and Nunnenkamp (2010) attempted to examine the determinants of FDI at a macro-scale level. Nevertheless, their research suffers from data limitations and hence cannot always apply. In comparison, FDI in China is well-documented: there is a range of studies from regional level such as those by Xi et al. (2008) and Wei et al. (2010) to national level including those by Chen (1996), Zhang (2001) and Wei (2005). Furthermore, there are not many studies concerning FDI in China and India to eventually compare and justify the differences in total FDI between two countries. For example, except a study by Sinha (2007) that gives adequate attention to India, other studies such as Wei (2000) and Wei (2005) centre predominantly on China. There is not enough focus on India in terms of FDI determinants. This study will attempt to fill the gap indentified in current knowledge. In particular, two homogeneous models of FDI determinants in China and India will be developed to identify important factors in each country and then a final model for both countries will be included to ultimately compare and explain the gap between China and India’s FDI inflows. 3. Theoretical model of FDI determinants: The theoretical framework for this study is based on the location advantages of â€Å"ownership, location, internalization† (OLI) paradigm proposed by Dunning (1973). The OLI model demonstrates reasons for firms that successfully operate abroad and their mode of entry (Table 3-1). In the theory, FDI is explained by identifying three main elements which guide the investment decision process of MNEs. They include: ownership (O), location (L) and internalization (I). Ownership advantages refer to the firms’ production process which allows it to have a competitive advantage in overseas markets. Location advantages are benefits that a host country can offer a foreign firm. Internalization refers to transaction costs and the ability of multinationals to exploit ownership and location advantages through FDI. While ownership and internalization advantages vary among investing firms, location advantages are specific to the host country. This latter advantage provides a strong grounding for further research on the determinants of FDI. Table 3-1: Relationship between OLI-advantages and mode of entry    Advantages Mode of entry    Ownership Location Internalization FDI Yes Yes Yes Exports Yes Yes No Licensing Yes No No Source: Perlitz (1997) There is a vast number of studies on the location advantages of FDI such as those by Culem (1988), Estrin et al. (1997), Butler and Joaquin (1998), Wei (2000), Razafimahefa and Hamori (2005), Ang (2007), Sinha (2007) and Pradhan (2008). The organisation for economic co-operation and development (OECD, 2002) summarizes the main FDI determinants as follows: Market size and growth prospects: Countries with large market sizes (measured by GDP per capita) and sustainable economic growth (measured by the growth rates of GDP) offer better opportunities for MNEs to access the market, develop economies of scale and explore profitability. As an example, Ang (2007) confirmed that a large domestic market resulted in more FDI inflows, owing to the benefits of economies of scale. Natural and human resource endowments: These are factors of importance in MNEs’ location decision process. Export-oriented FDI in particular seeks to take advantage of those factors related to low labour costs and abundant natural resources. Moreover, the quality of human capital in a country is crucial for technology transfer, managerial techniques and spill-over effects of FDI. Sinha (2007) suggested that the recent â€Å"business process outsourcing† boom in India occurred thanks to the qualified workforce well-skilled in English and technologically educated in â€Å"IT enabled services†. Physical, financial and technological infrastructure:   Infrastructure comprising transport, electricity, communication networks, education, health facilities and other forms are significant determinants of FDI. MNEs are more likely to be attracted to areas with good infrastructure. For example, Sinha (2007) found the significant impacts of port based infrastructure and its proximity on FDI as it lessens inland transportation and reduce costs. Lack of investment in infrastructure, on the other hand, deters FDI. Trade openness and access to international markets: Trade reforms, the degree of openness to trade (measured by the proportion of exports and imports to GDP) and access to regional and global markets are important factors in determining FDI. In particular, openness makes the transfer of goods and capital in and out of the host country easier in the absence of restrictions and thus stimulates production and reduces costs. In realisation of the importance of trade openness, the World Bank has been requiring developing economies to open up their markets so that free trade can help boost growth in these countries (IMF, 2006). The regulatory, policy framework and policy coherence: Macroeconomic stability (indicated by exchange rate stability and low inflation) and political stability (signified by transparent regulatory, legal framework and business environment) are essential for attracting FDI. For instance, Wei (2000) concluded that if China and India could reduce red tape and corruption to a level comparable to Singapore, FDI inflows would be 218% and 348% higher respectively for these countries. 4. Data and methodology: 4.1. Data: Based on the theoretical model and empirical studies discussed previously, five location indicators were chosen to reflect the factors that are most likely to affect FDI. The explanatory variables comprise of infrastructure, trade openness, political risk, inflation and exchange rate. An overview of these variables and their predicted signs is presented in table 4-1: Table 4-1: Determinants of FDI according to theory and empirical studies Variables Predicted sign Empirical studies Physical, financial and technological infrastructure: Infrastructure (+) (+):   Green (2005), Mukim and Nunnenkamp (2010), Wei et al. (2010), Sinha (2007).(-):   Ã‚  Pradhan (2008).No effect: Xi et al. (2008) Trade openness and access to international markets: Trade openness (+) (+): Culem (1988), Wei (2005), Pradhan (2010), Resende (2010). The regulatory, policy framework and policy coherence: Political risk (-) (-):   Green (2005), Mathew et al. (2008), Butler and Joaquin (1998). Inflation (-) (-):   Estrin et al. (1997), Razafimahefa and Hamori (2005). Exchange rate (-) (-):   Wei (2005), Pradhan (2010).(+): Resende (2010). A regression analysis was carried out in order to investigate the links and trends of the presented indicators, specific to FDI in China and India. The regression analysis consists of data from 1984 to 2008 for both countries. FDI net inflows per capita in current US dollars are used; this allows us to take into account the relative country size. The data on FDI was drawn from the World Bank database (IMF, 2010). The period choice of this analysis was partly determined by the availability of variables’ data and is thus somewhat restricted. For example, investigation prior to1979 for China could not be applied due to the unavailability of several independent variables. This limits the number of observations and makes it difficult to justify the effects of economic reforms on net FDI inflows in China. Therefore, this data limitation potentially leads to the study missing a key turning point in China’s policy and regulatory regime following its economic reforms in 1979. ‘Human resources’ was identified as an important determinant of FDI in the theoretical framework. However, the data for possible indicators of human capital, such as secondary school enrolment and literacy rates, was insufficient. For example, some figures for the years studied were unavailable. As a result, human resources was not included in the regression. Busse and Hefeker (2007) used 12 indicators of political risk which could have been applied to this analysis. However, due to budgetary constraints these were not available. Furthermore, dummy and slope dummies (INDIA=1if India, otherwise China) were used to assess if FDI inflows and the chosen factors’ effects on FDI were significantly different between two countries. FDI was specified as a function of the following form: fdi = f ( infra, trade, pol, infla, exc) Where the variables are listed and defined as below: Table 4-2: Determinants of FDI in China and India Variable name Proxy for variable Measures fdi FDI inflows Net inflows of FDI as a percentage of real GDP infra Infrastructure Telephone lines per 100 people trade Trade openness Sum of exports and imports as a percentage of GDP pol Political risk Scale 0-1 (0=unstable, 1= stable) infla Inflation Annual growth rate of the GDP implicit deflator. Exc Exchange rate Official exchange rate (local currency units per US $) Data sources and Summary statistics, time series plots: see appendix table A-1, A-2 and figure A-1, A-2.   4.2. Methodology: 4.2.1.Determinants of FDI in China and India: Having considered all the variables that are used in the analysis, this paper applies time series regression models and the least squares method to examine FDI determinants in China and India. As in other studies (Wei, 2005; Busse and Hefeker, 2006) the log-linear model was adopted to adjust for heteroscedasticity. Furthermore, by taking the log-linear form, any expected non-linear relationship between FDI and the explanatory variables could be transformed into a linear one. Therefore, the estimated equation is: A unit root test was conducted to test whether the independent variables were stationary. The results of the tests are presented in appendix table A-3. It appears that in the case of India, most of the variables were non-stationary with an exception of lnexct. The data for China also resulted in most of the explanatory variables being non-stationary apart from lninfrat. Since the use of non-stationary variables can lead to spurious regression problem, making the analysis wholly unreliable, those variables were made stationary by using finite differences. Hence the new estimated model is: Although taking the differences could remove the unit root, it would reduce the number of observations by one for each variable. This, in turn, may weaken the explanatory power of the models. 4.2.2. The difference in inward FDI between China and India: In order to assess whether there is any difference in FDI inflows between China and India, a joint model of both countries during the period from 1984 to 2008 was conducted in the analysis. This would also assess whether the chosen explanatory factors affected FDI differently between China and India in the same period. Dummy and slope dummies were added to complete the model and panel data method was used. The estimated model is as follows: 5. Empirical results: 5.1. Individual country models: Table 5-1 shows the results obtained for China’s and India’s models. For both China’s and India’s models, the hypotheses of non-autocorrelation and normality were not rejected at 5 % critical value. Therefore, the parameter estimates could be concluded as being unbiased and consistent. Although, RESET tests suggested that the functional forms were mis-specified, the models were the best results to be found. The original form (1) increased the model fit and did not fail the RESET tests, however, this would lead to spurious regression problem as discussed above. In addition, possible interactions between variables were examined. A statistical interaction occurs when the effect of one explanatory variable depends on another explanatory variable, which makes the simultaneous impacts of these variables on the dependent variable non-additive. This may cause the estimated model to be incorrectly specified. As a result, variable interactions were explored through a two-way effect experiment, however, no sensible interactions between variables were found. Parameter stability was tested using the N-step Chow tests and the hypothesis of parameter stability was not rejected at 1% critical value for both China’s and India’s models (test results are displayed in appendix figure A-3). Table 5-1: FDI determinant modelDependent variable: fdi China: Model 1 Colinearity diagnostics (VIF) 2 Colinearity diagnostics (VIF) Constant -0.236 -0.186 Δlninfra 1.776 1.118 1.747 1.117 Δlntrad 1.084 1.298 Δlnpol 0.574 1.174 0.713 1.159 Δinfla 0.083 1.450 0.094* 1.207 Δlnex -0.911 1.209 -0.918 1.209 N 24 Mean VIF: 1.25 Mean VIF: 1.17 R-squared 0.238 0.229 F 1.125 1.408 RESET 9.2866** 11.174** Autocorrelation 0.96802 1.0143 Normality (Chi^2) 5.4895 5.5462 India: Model 1 Colinearity diagnostics (VIF) 2 Colinearity diagnostics (VIF) Constant 0.185 Δlninfra -1.708* 1.345 Δlntrad 1.584* 1.104 Δlnpol 0.020 1.136 Δinfla 0.007 1.211 Δlnex 0.433 1.235 N 24 Mean VIF: 1.251    R-squared 0.412 F 2.521* RESET 36.691** Autocorrelation 0.17512 Normality (Chi^2) 0.15490 Note: *** significant at 1% level; ** significant at 5% level, * significant at 10% level.For more details of the test results, see appendix table-A-4, A-5, Figure A-3. The possibility of multi-collinearity was also taken into account since the introduction of closely related variables in the model may cause serious multi-collinearity problem. This could result in an unexpected increase in the standard error of the coefficients and therefore renders the t-statistics unreliable. Multi-collinearity diagnosis was hence conducted and the results were shown in appendix table A-4. Variation inflation factors (VIF) were reported for each specification. In all models, multi-collinearity did not seem to be serious as mean VIFs were not substantially greater than 1. Having evaluated the models, it was generally concluded that the models were satisfactory. The estimated results for individual country are analysed below: 5.1.1. China: Interestingly most of the factors did not have the expected signs except trade openness and exchange rate. However, apart from inflation, the other variables did not prove to be statistically significant. Inflation, in particular, had a significantlypositive impact on FDI inflows in China. The result is somehow surprising given that many empirical analyses such as those shown in table 4-1 have concluded that MNE’s investment decision is adversely affected by price volatility as it raises the costs of doing business. However, according to Foad (2007), inflation may affect FDI through two ways. The first is that a rise in host country’s price level would make local produce more expensive in local export-markets. As a result, export behaviour would be reduced and hence discourages direct foreign investment. The second suggests that inflation in the host country gives MNEs a competitive advantage over domestic firms. In particular, since foreign firms can have access to resources from home parent companies; they are more protected from domestic inflation. Therefore, host country inflation may generate greater volumes of FDI. The second effect appears to be dominant in the case of China as the trends in FDI inflows and inflation over the period 1984-2008 shows that there were a few years, for example the early 90s and late 2000s, when the changes in FDI and inflation moved in the same patterns (Figure 5-1). Figure 5-1: FDI and inflation in China 1984-2008. Source: based on UNCTAD (2010). 5.1.2. India: The explanatory power for India’s models is fairly higher than that for China’s (41.2% compared to 23.8% and 22.9% respectively). However, only infrastructure and trade openness were found to be significant. Infrastructure was negatively correlated with FDI inflows in India. This is in line with the study by Pradhan (2008), however, contrasts with other findings by Green (2005) and Mukim and Nunnenkamp (2010). The negative effect of infrastructure is most likely due to sluggish investment in infrastructural facilities in India. Badale (1998) indicates that the regional differences in infrastructure have become an important location determinant for foreign investors. However, despite the efforts of Indian government to upgrade its infrastructural facilities in recent years, more work is still required to reach the levels comparable to other developing countries. State-controlled physical infrastructure has long been considered as the weakest link in the Indian economy (Steel, 2001). This bottleneck in the form of inadequate infrastructure may discourage FDI flows into the country. According to the world economic forum, backwardness of infrastructure is the most concern for foreign investors while conducting business in India (Figure 5-2). In particular, one of the biggest infrastructure problems is electricity supply (Yallapragda, 2010). Since the state power supply is so uncertain that most businesses have started to use their own power generators. These evidences combined with the model result reinforce the suggestion that poor infrastructure could deter potential foreign investment into the Indian economy. Figure 5-2: The most problematic for doing business in India Source: World Economic Forum (2010). The trends of FDI inflows and trade openness in India during 1984 and 2008 seem to suggest a positive association between openness and FDI (figure 5-3). Figure 5-3: FDI and trade openness in India 1984-2008. Source: based on UNCTAD (2010). The results have verified this relationship: trade openness was found significant and had the predicted positive sign. Its positive impact on FDI inflows confirms the success of India’s policy reforms since 1991. Prior to the reforms, India followed an â€Å"inward-looking import-substituting† regime with â€Å"one of the most complicated and protectionist regime in the world† (IMF, 1998). In particular, the government imposed high import restrictions with quantitative restrictions on 90% of value-added of manufacturing, maximum tariff rate of 400% and significant export controls (Rajan and Sen, 2000). However, following the economic liberalisation in 1991, India has made drastic changes in its trade policy in order to integrate itself with the global economy. India’s average imported weighted rate declined to 27% in 1999, effective protection rate came down to 72% in 1995, export controls were removed and emphasis was placed on promoting exports (Rajan and Sen, 2000). As a result, trade liberalisation has made the transfer of goods and capital into and out of the country easier with lower restrictions, thus stimulating production and reducing costs. Trade openness is, therefore, seen as a major catalyst for inward FDI in India. 5.1.3. China and India: Table 5-2 shows the results for joint model of FDI determinants in China and India. Overall the models passed the auto-correlation tests; however, the R-squared obtained is not very high: the independent variables explain about over 23 % of the variation in the change in FDI inflows in both models. Table 5-2: FDI determinants in China and India INDIA = 1 if India, otherwise 0 Model  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   1 2 Constant -0.236 -0.186 Δlninfra 1.776 1.747 Δlntrad 1.084 Δlnpol 0.574 0.713 Δinfla 0.083* 0.094** Δlnex -0.911 -0.918 INDIA 0.421 0.486 ΔlninfraINDIA -3.485 -3.965* ΔlntradINDIA 0.501 ΔlnpolINDIA -0.554 -0.446 ΔinflaINDIA -0.076 -0.094 ΔlnexINDIA 1.345 1.565 N 48 48 R-squared 0.265 0.235 F 1.179 1.298 Autocorrelation (1) 0.2297 -0.02330 Autocorrelation (2) -1.483 -1.610 Note: *** significant at 1% level, ** significant at 5% level, * significant at 10% level. It is expected that there is a considerable difference between China’s and India’s volumes of FDI as illustrated in figure 5-4: generally, FDI inflows in two countries fluctuate over the estimated period. However, China’s FDI seems to follow a downward trend while the trend for India’s seems to move upwards. Figure 5-4 a: Changes in FDI inflows in China, 1984-2008 Source: World Bank (2010).    Figure 5-4b: Changes in FDI inflows in India, 1984-2008 Source: World Bank (2010). The dummy variable used to estimate these differences between the two countries’ FDI, nevertheless, was not statistically significant. Furthermore, the findings show that apart from infrastructure, other factors did not have any significant different effects on FDI inflows in China and India. India’s poor infrastructure is a deterrent for its attraction towards FDI as compared to China. More precisely, the lack of infrastructure reduced the volumes of FDI received by India to around 3.965% less than China. Infrastructure inadequacy is therefore one of the reasons why India is lagging behind China in attracting potential FDI. China has been ahead of India in developing its infrastructure to desirable levels for foreign investment. This can be demonstrated in the case of Chinese special economic zone (SEZ) model. Following the reforms in 1979, SEZs were created and the first one was based in Shenzhen. It used to be a small fishing village and was successfully transformed into one of the most modern cities in the world with 120,000 MNEs in operation, contributing $40 billion to the total GDP and was recently the world’s sixth largest port (Sinha, 2007). India, in comparison, has adopted the Chinese SEZs strategy only over the last decade. However, most of the SEZs are relatively small in size and not reach their full potential. In addition, many Indian ports are undersized, with a high density of traffic and inflicted with poor management (Sinha, 2007). The results also suggest that for both countries, inflation is the determinant of inward FDI but it has unexpected signs. In particular, inflation positively influences FDI. Possible explanations for the positive effect of inflation are the same as discussed in section 5.1.1. 6. Policy implications: Based on the individual country models and the findings from Chinese-Indian joint model, policy suggestions are made to create a more friendly business environment for foreign investment in India. India’s infrastructural bottlenecks have been proved as a major deterrent of FDI flows. India should therefore take a more balanced focus on developing desirable infrastructure throughout the whole country. In particular, Sinha (2007) suggests that India needs to invest at least $300 billion in infrastructure and it could be funded by foreign exchange reserves and public sector equity off-loading (PSU-offloading). Specifically, India has foreign exchange reserves worth more than $150, together with offloading PSU, which can be funded for upgrading infrastructure. Power and electricity is another concern that Indian authority needs to resolve immediately. Power sector has given a return of 26% on government equity in state electricity boards (SEBs) (Economic survey, 2006). Privatizing power distribution companies and SEBs is necessary to improve the efficiency and tackle the long-term problems in inadequate power supply. Furthermore, India should develop high standard transportation and telecommunication networks to better serve the economy. In the telecommunications sector, for example, the penetration of mobiles and telephones has been widely successful and it should continue to benefit all people in the country. In addition, Indian railway is highly below efficiency which should be privatized like Chinese railway. India should also replicate successful stories in the infrastructural efforts it has made. For instance, expressway networks should be established in all metro cities and link all parts of the country. Another infrastructure concern is the creation of SEZs. Although India has adopted the Chinese SEZ model, it has not been really successful. The size and development of those SEZs do not fully reflect the potential of the Indian economy. It is thus crucial that Indian government should consider developing larger SEZs combined with world-class infrastructure, human resources and good management. This would consequently attract MNEs to invest in these SEZs. Moreover, India should build larger ports equipped with good facilities which would help develop â€Å"state of the art† ports that can receive larger ships. Additionally, developing strategic ports in major states could help improve trade and linkage between India and other parts of the world. The second factor determining FDI in India that has been discussed in this study is trade openness. Liberalization of foreign trade policy has brought in substantial benefits for India in terms of trade integration and foreign investment. Trade liberalisation, according to Balasubramanyam and Mahambare (2001), does not means an export promotion strategy being totally favoured. But a neutral regime which neither favour export-oriented industries nor import-substituting industries is appropriate since it provides a comparative advantage to determine the investment distribution between the two groups. Such a neutral regime is likely to attract larger volumes of FDI and promote its efficiency. Creation of export processing zones (EPZs) is another recommended policy to promote exports and attract FDI (Balasubramanyam et al., 1996). Within these EPZs, no restriction on exports of final goods is imposed and duty-free of imports is permitted. It is considered as a small free-trade area and is well provided with infrastructure facilities and telecommunications. In summary, evidence and results from this study have suggested fundamental policies, focusing on infrastructure and trade reforms, to provide congenial investment climate in India for attracting FDI and promote its position comparable to China as a FDI destination. Conclusion: The phenomenon of FDI inflows in developing and transition economies has attracted a significant number of analyses looking into the determinants of FDI in these countries. Based on previous literature and research, this study has attempted to examine important factors shaping FDI in two emerging markets: China and India. India and China are the most favourite FDI destination among developing countries. China was a highly closed economy completely isolating itself from the global economy before 1979. Its closed economic policy almost limited China’s potential development. Eventually, the Chinese government began to liberalise its economic regime and opened its domestic market to the rest of the world. As a result, remarkable volumes of FDI have been attracted into the country. The same picture has been drawn for India since its reforms in 1991: FDI inflows into India have increased rapidly which places it to the second most popular FDI host after China. However, as compared to its neighbour in the East, India is still far behind in terms of volumes of FDI received. India, despite being the world largest democracy with a huge promising market is still overlooked by foreign investors. The study tried to explore this paradox and to investigate the factors driving FDI in China and India. For these purposes, two separate models were developed to identify the determinants of FDI in each country and then a joint model was conducted to compare and explain the difference in FDI between two countries. The individual model suggested that inflation, though concluded with an unexpected sign (coefficient was found to be positive), had significant impact on China’s inward FDI. On the other hand, trade openness and infrastructure proved to be major determinants of FDI in India. The model for both countries indicated that among factors examined, inflation was important for FDI inflows in the two countries. Furthermore, the analysis resulted in no significant difference between China’s and India’s FDI. Infrastructure appeared to be one of the main reasons why India was falling behind China in attracting FDI. Based on those results, policy recommendations have been made to create a congenial business climate in India for improving its attractiveness towards foreign investors. Firstly, Indian government should take immediate actions to resolve the infrastructure bottleneck. This can be achieved by developing strategic infrastructure, popularizing telecommunication and transportation networks, establishing large SEZs and ensuring efficient power supply. Secondly, India needs to create an appropriate trade policy which balances export promotion and import substitution. In addition, growing EPZs with low trade barriers are desirable for attracting MNEs. This study has provided decent explanation for the determinants of FDI in China and India. It has, to some extent, been able to answer the research question on why India is falling behind China in attracting foreign investment. The research, however, has some limitations which need to be addressed in further study. First of all, it was difficult to obtain sufficient data on FDI determinants for India and China over the last twenty five years and hence the number of chosen factors was restricted. This may explain for the low models’ explanatory power and insignificant F-statistics. Also, industry wise study can be conducted to identify which industry is the main contributor to FDI growth in China and India. Finally, this analysis only compares India with China and does not include other emerging economies such as Brazil and Russia. A study on FDI determinants in BRIC countries[4] thus would complete the comparative picture between India and other emerging countries.

Marketing Management 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Marketing Management 4 - Essay Example Such a broad scope of functions and activities would be unfamiliar to people who handled the marketing side of companies in the past when nothing was expected of the marketing department other than producing sales brochures and executing advertising or promotional campaigns. The reason for this is the heightened level of complexity and competition in the business environment, with too many companies, too many products and too much marketing noise vying for customers’ attention. Thus, the product-driven marketing approach of old that generates a single sales transaction became impractical and was replaced by the customer-oriented approach, which strives to establish a long-term relationship with customers for repeated and continuing patronage (Kotler & Keller, 2006). A customer-focused marketing approach requires a range of activities that consists not only of market research and analysis, marketing strategy and implementation planning but also of organizational management and leadership and the setting up of efficient reporting, measurement, feedback and control systems (McKenna, 1991). The need for organizational management and leadership and for feedback-measurement-control systems is relevant to me, especially in my career plan to go into human resource management, since these particular marketing activities invariably call for proper handling of people. According to the literature, such organizational management and leadership require extensive interaction with the HR department on such issues as recruiting, training, leadership development, performance appraisals and compensation. Logically, the success of any marketing strategy depends on how well motivated and responsive are the people implementing it down the line. The same employee att itudes and dedication are important for the effectiveness of the monitoring system on the progress of the marketing program. There is an HR management tenet that says happy and contented

Television Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Television - Essay Example Williams looks at television in a broad sense, looking at the social history of television as a technology and the social history of the uses of television technology, as well as looking at cause and effect of technology and society. Spigel looks at television by examining how it affected domestic life in the 1950s, while also reflecting this domestic life. Adorno looked at television by how it affected the psyche and the personality. Williams (3) begins his essay by looking at looking at the general statement that television has altered our world. He argues that technology, in general, has profound social change, and television is a kind of technology that promotes this type of change. The technologies which had come along by Williams’ time, including the steam engine, the car, the atom bomb, and the television, are responsible for making modern man and making television. Or, alternatively, instead of looking at technology as changing and making the modern man, the technology is actually the consequence of a certain societal change. In this case, the new technology is a symptom of social change, not the cause of it. He also states that television, like most technology, sprung up as the result of a specific need that was expressed by society (Williams, 12). That was that technology was necessary because there was a need to spread the word of mouth communication, which is the dominant mode of getting a message out to the masses. There was an extension of the social, economic and political system, and television was a response to the crisis within this system. There came a time where there was a great complex group of technologies which were needed for society, including photography for community, family and personal life; the motion picture for entertainment; and the telephone for business communication (Williams, 12). The television, then, was the result of these needs coalescing, as the television essentially brings all of these technologies together. T herefore, the television, according to Williams (13), is a way for there to be social integration and control. While Williams viewed television in terms of how it was used, and why it was invented, Spigel (337) took a different tact. For her, television was not simply a matter of technology that is responding to different social needs, but television has also played a complex role in the individual households and individual lives that view it. Specifically, television was a representation of the gendered patterns of work and leisure in the average American home (Spigel, 337). Spigel examined advertisements that ran in women’s magazines to determine how television was integrated into the family life, particularly in the life of the woman. These advertisements provided a clue to how television was made sense of by the people and how television related to their lives. For a time, television was a way to restore the faith in the family. During the 1950s, Spigel (340) explains, th ere was much fracture in families, as the war had just ended, which left many broken homes. On television, however, there were portraits of happy and domestic people living lives that were not so fractured, so this was a way of restoring faith in the family. Moreover, women were affirmed through television, as television showed them that they were important. They often felt devalued, because their work was not seen as important in the overall scheme of things, but television helped them see that

Consensual Relationship Agreements Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Consensual Relationship Agreements - Case Study Example Some people believe that workplace romantic relationships should be allowed and that employers should never try to inhibit them. Others, on the other hand, believe that these relationships should be inhibited and that the employees should not be allowed to express their feelings and emotions at work because this interferes with proper workplace ethics (Cohen, 2009). Consensual relationship agreement is a process that has been suggested for managing workplace relationships. A consensual relationship agreement is like a relationship contract where two individuals sign an agreement that explicitly reveals their personal and romantic relationships. As they sign the agreement, they agree to be in the relationship willingly and that their relationship will not affect their professionalism in the workplace. Advantages Consensual relationship agreements are extremely useful both to employees and the organization. Having employees sign this kind of agreement will be useful in making sure that any personal relationships in the workplace are well managed (Hellriegel, 2007). Employees will be sure that if the relationship takes a different course that it was meant, they will not be victimized by their partners by being sued for sexual harassment. A consensual relationship agreement will also help the employees to be sober about their professionalism and be able to separate their personal and professional life. Moreover, signing a consensual relationship agreement will be a better way of aiding the employees in having a relationship that they are not ashamed of and that has a better foundation. Consensual relationship agreements are no more of privacy intrusion than a marriage contract, especially considering that there is nothing for employees to be shameful about if their relationship is open and not based on negative foundations such as immorality or cheating other existing spouses. Employees can also benefit from the consensual relationship agreement because it will pro tect them from getting into relationships with people who are not serious about the relationship. All these factors indicate that the workplace will be improved and that the negative effects that come from personal relationships in the workplace will not be a problem. Argument Against Consensual relationship agreements also have negative impacts. For one reason, the use of consensual relationship agreements assumes that the relationships have a starting point. It is not easy to determine when and where a romantic relationship starts so that the parties involved can decide to sign the contract. While the whole idea of consensual relationship agreements is good because it is meant to make the workplace a better place and avoid confusions in the workplace, its implementation can only remain to be elusive. Studies show that employees resent being micromanaged even from a professional point of view, let alone from a personal point of view. Telling employees that they have to sign a contr act or an agreement in order for them to have a personal relationship is not as practical as it is theoretical. The spirit of consensual relationship agreements may be good, but how to implement is the problem. The other issue with consensual relationship agreements is that it fails to consider that relationships are volatile and always shifting. For instance, two people in a

Importance Of Time Management And Teamwork

Importance Of Time Management And Teamwork Personal development is very useful and influence people to be success. Personal development means activities which can improve the self-knowledge and identity. It also develops the talents and potential in order to support human development at the individual level in an organization. Besides that, personal development can identify the strengths and development needs. It also is an importance for managers which can let them know which parts employee need to develop their personal awareness and skills. In this assignment, it will through four questions to perform my personal development. Everyone have different personal experience, but most of the things we can remember are those unforgettable things. One of the things was happened during my learning in the university in china. In that time, I just graduated from senior middle school, and as a new student join into the university. In class, I join the evidence match for monitor and identified with classmates, and I become my class monitor. Soon or later, I joined my department student council. In the student council, the hardest thing was to arrange my study time and activity time. Every day we got a full time study, from morning to afternoon and then, we even got a night study. The left time just used for entertainment and council work. Our work was to make show to present our department feature, and some evidence among the different departments. I usually feel time is not enough, without study, there have some class things need to do and help my coordinator to control my class. And I need to join the student counci l activities. The competition is strong. Through the life is busy, Im happy. The thing was cause by a school department ending year meeting. All the departments in school would join and got an evaluation by school president. And in this time, I would get my exam soon, Im a bit worry about exam and Our council got a big challenge because most of tasks we need to do. I was arranged to lead and teamwork with other five people to gather information and work to make a report for a presentation. My senior told me a lot of attentions for my working because this speech is very important. But in that time, I was in bad temper, I ignore what he said. I thought I understand what he said and my computer operation skills were good enough. I also think I can do the thing with not a hurry, the team was surplus. I arrange many work for them, just left me some easy one. This was the first time I did not fair things for my teammates. Through the different media tools, I found the information and I finished my work before council arrangement. I was so happy and proud because I finished the work, but unfortunately, the result is not good. When my senior check my PPT he got a cry, he was very disappoint for our work, because I ignored many attentions he told to me, and I not told my team. It was t he last day, and he help us to correct our mistake in a hurry night. From this things, I start to get a change, tell myself to do things seriously, if I perfunctorily to finish, it is waste others times and myself times. What have you learnt about yourself thorough these experiences? Everyday we can get different experiences and from these experiences we can learn several of knowledge and it makes us growth. Through this event, I learned a lot and everything not just like what I think going. For myself by the thing, I recognize that I got some problem in my working pattern. The basic I dont have a good hearing behavior to take care the attention problem, it will cause a bad result. A good hearing is respect to other, and it will let opposite know you are well bred. With in the student council and work as a monitor I find time is hard to control and it pass very fast. To get a good time management is very important. Everyone no matter busy or lazy just only have 24hours a day, or 1440minutes. No matter how to use it, it will run away from us. During I work in the student council, I found it hard to use time with my personal entertainment. If I want after work get a play, it will influence the next day study. I understand a good time management is very important. I use a paper to calculate my spend time in a day and know which parts I worse the time. I get a schedule to do good arrangement of my time, I put study first, then use the free time like time before lunch and after class time to deal with the council work and coordinators work. Then the left night time I can share with my friends for entertainment or get a over time for student council, with this arrangement, I not lose any friends and get a good work in my class and student council. The other things I learn are it is important to use your team to finish the work. Teamwork is very important. One persons power cannot bigger than the group. It is important to know each others advantage and disadvantage, and then do an appropriate arrangement. In the student council, I find no matter do what things there always get a meeting. The meetings talk always makes a thing more depth to consider. If just let me to do it, I think my ignorance and arrogant will make me fail. With the work, I find one important weak. I need to develop my leadership. Stress management skill is one of the important skills of the leadership. Stress management required to maintain control and stability. To maintain a team success, the leader must be calm and various consider. For myself, I always feel lose if the work heavier than I can afford when I am a team leader. It also called lack-confidence. With to development this skill, I start to learn the SMART strategy. How have you developed your skills during the practice of management skills module? The practice of management skills is not like other subjects only have theory and calculation, it showed us something we need and can used in our life and study. Our lecturer provides the chance to have us improve our management skills systemic for several weeks. Through the study, I recognize different parts like importance of active listening and giving verbal feedback, time management, teamwork and good presentations and make a C.V. are real useful for my life. During the session active listening, I know a guy who dont listen others and later he got problem. And this story vividly told me the importance to understand others speaking. It has a direct influence to me. Through I laugh the guy in video I recognize I also do the same mistake. I find it is important to change the bad habit. A good listener should listen and responding the other by observes the other persons behavior and body language. And we need to give respect to the speaker no matter what he says good or not, and then we can get good communication with each other. Factors which contribute to active listening: A relaxed but alert posture Frequent eye contact Feedback to speaker Checking understanding Avoiding expressions of judgment During the time management, we do a calculation for one days time and be aware of time is really important and no matter how you spend your time, it still will go over. A good time management can help me reducing stress, gaining time, reducing avoidance, promoting reviews and eliminating cramming. Another advantage is managing time helps us to stay motivated while we avoid procrastination. A good start from how you arrange your time, the time management is really a important session for me to learn. During the teamwork study, class separate as several parts and choose one leadership to lead to use creativity to match. The different person works in the team help me understand how teamworks important and suitable use it will have a good result. During the good presentations, I learn how to make a good presentation. To do a good effective presentation, firstly need to formulate strategy for specific audience, secondly to develop a clear structure, thirdly, support the points with evidence. Then combine the ideas with an enhancing presentation style. To do better, you must good preparation and practice, practice and practice. A good presentation is very useful in my life, obviously, it is a useful session in my study. During make a C.V. I really got a clear understand about how to write a C.V. in before through I want write a C.V., I dont know the form to write .with the session learning, I get a correct thought to write my C.V. a good C.V. should not be long, it need short and enough, can exhibited your feature. To understand this is very important and avoid fail in the working way. Through our textbook not heavy and every session is simple, and not many lectures for PMS, I think I got a good unstinting about it, every lesson is marrow and after class I can find what I doing is not enough and wrong, it help me get a good check for myself. The class is vivid and emotion and I very enjoy the learning atmosphere. How will you develop this skill? Napoleon said He who doesnt want to be a general isnt a good soldier. For the student, who do not want to success in the future? I m one of these want success in the future. So I need to have a good development to operate myself. I have a lot of defects, like not calm, hurry to be success. It needs a clear goal, just like SMART goals. The SMART goals include: Specific A specific goal is much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. Understand the specific goal ,I need to know who involved and what I want to accomplish. Get more detail like location and time schedule and with a clear reasons or purposes. For example, a general goal would be finish my homework but a specific goal would be finish the homework at home by three days with five books for references Measurable It establishes concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set. When I want to measure my progress,, I will ask myself the question such as when can finish ,how to accomplish . Give me a target time, and experience the exhilaration of achievement to reach my goal. Attainable When I identify the goal is most important, I try to figure out way I can make it come true. I try to develop my skills, abilities and attitudes to get it. Realistic The goal must represent an objective toward which I can work and willing to work. Try to keep myself get a good conditions. Some of hard work I can finish because I get the exhilaration which I love it and can do it simple Timely It is a goal should be grounded within a time schedule. If with no time schedule, there is no sense of urgency. A good timely will help you set your unconscious mind into motion to begin working on the goal. From this, I start my action from now. my action planning is to get clear goal and make everyday useful. I learning the session from lecturer like time management, stress management, teamwork, and I think I will mix mum them together to arrangement my life, and make me feel enough per day. No matter what I do the thing, I will consider its smart goals and give me a detail specific method to finish it. Conclusion In my assignment, I represent my experience of the study in university and work in student council and class. From the experience, I recognized the importance of time management and teamwork. I identified that stress management is a weakness for me especially some activity make me stress. I also emphasized the important learning from my session and these learning are very important and strong influence for my life. At last, I get how to develop my skill and my action planning. And I think with this preparing, my personal development will have a large growth.

Relationships Essay -- essays research papers

Relationships are one of the most unstable aspects of life today, no matter what two people are involved. How you feel about something or someone can change within a day, an hour, or even a moment. Friends come and go, families get torn apart, and boyfriends never last. It’s all part of life’s cycle. And although we all wish we could do without, sometimes you never can.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The hardest part of life is letting go. Growing up in the same place for 17 years will give you friends that go way back. But guess what? Who you were 17 years ago isn’t who you are today. People change. And yes, it’s sad and hard to acknowledge that, but it’s a fact of life. You can grow up with someone and at the same time grow apart. Why is that? Experiences shape how people are. Just because you’ve spent years with someone doesn’t mean you’ve gone through everything with them. Yes you’ve been there for them when they needed to cry and someone to hold. But you can’t understand how that experience affected them. You may think you do, because you know how you would react if that same situation happened to you. News flash: You aren’t them so it doesn’t really matter what you think. All you can try to do is just be there and help them through all the hurt and the pain, but sometimes that just isn ’t enough. Each of you goes your separate ways with nothing but memories left behind. And when that awkward moment arises when you do run into each other, all you have is â€Å"Do you remember†¦?† and â€Å"I can’t believe†¦!† and then it’s over and you’re on your way. You go back to your Pacelli 2 house and shift through your pictures and remember all those once upon a time’s when you were younger. You laugh as you recall the time you both got stuck in the fence when the construction workers were chasing you out of the school. â€Å"Now that was a fun time,† you recall. But college happened and of course you promised you’d stay in touch but then her parents got divorced and you had a new boyfriend and it was just easier said then done. By the time the summer came you didn’t even know each other anymore. Maybe you weren’t as good as friends as you thought.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The relationship between friends is a very complicated one at that. They are the people that may very well know you better than yourself. They’ve seen you at your best and they’ve seen you at your worst n... ...r his phone call. But you’re too scared to be without him because you don’t want to be alone, and you’re worried he’s the best you’ll ever find. Of course, if he were the best he wouldn’t ask you out to dinner and then cancel last minute, three nights in a row. He wouldn’t call you from a party at his friend’s house the night you and him were supposed to go out to the movies. No, that wouldn’t happen. He wouldn’t stop by you’re apartment to see if you wanted to go out to breakfast, but then not call you in an hour. You’re friends tell you that you’d be better off alone, but you don’t think so. You feel better thinking that someone out there cares, even though you know he doesn’t. But no one needs to know that. They don’t need to know you cry yourself to sleep every night thinking that something’s wrong with you. They don’t need to know that he makes you ha te yourself. No, they don’t need to know that. Nobody does.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Relationships don’t exist. You merely interact with people, not knowing when they’re going to be leaving next. You want and wish them to stay, you want them to be there for you and to love you. But can that happen? Sadly, I wouldn’t know.