Carp Reaction Paper

REACTION PAPER: COMPREHENSIVE AGRARIAN REFORM PROGRAM For a long period of time, Philippine land was owned by the private sectors. This started during the Spanish regime when the land was primarily owned by the large landlords and the friars. The Philippine farmers found it hard to acquire land during that time because the only basis for ownership is ancestral domain ship. Agrarian rights were established during the American occupation, but only few initiatives were given and the rich families still continue to own the Philippine land. The first comprehensive agrarian reform order was attempted in the country in 1972. A month after the martial law, President Marcos issued Presidential Decree no. 27 making the Philippines a land reform nation. This reform order states that an individual cannot own more than seven hectares of land. The remaining area will be given out in portions to individual tenants. The tenant may acquire a maximum of 3 hectares of irrigated land or 5 hectares of unused land in exchange for payments such as royalty taxes, etc. This reform program was unpopular thus making it a total failure. On June 22, 1987, President Corazon Aquino outlined the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL) through Presidential Proclamation 131 and Executive Order 229. The law was enacted by the 8th Congress of the Philippines and signed by former President Aquino on June 10, 1988. The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law is the basis of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) which was the centerpiece program of President Corazon Aquino’s Administration. The program was said to have an underlying political motivation for it formed one of the major points against Marcos during President Aquino’s Presidential campaign. The essence of CARP is asset revaluation or redistribution of wealth so that the landless farmers can have access to capital resources in order to promote their welfare. Its aim is the equitable distribution and ownership of land to the tiller and to provide opportunities for a dignified quality of life to the Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs). To accomplish these objectives, provisions were made for adequate support services for rural development and economic-size farms were established as the basis of Philippine Agriculture. The program was given a special fund of P50 billion. The sources of the Agrarian Reform Fund was proceeds of the sale of the Assets of the Asset Privatization Trust (ATP), the sale of the ill-gotten wealth recovered through the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) and other appropriate sources. The CARP has an 8. 1 million hectare scope. The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) was assigned to distribute 4. 3 million while the Department of Environment and Natural Resources was assigned with 3. 8 million hectares to distribute. As of December 2005, it was reported that The Department of Agrarian Reform had distributed 3. 5 million hectares and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, 2. 93 million hectares. Even though the DAR and the DENR distributed a large number of lands, it didn’t reach the goal set in the program. â€Å"Twenty Years later, the Government’s land reform effort has woefully short of its goals – by some 1. 3 million hectares of private farmland† (Facts not Slogan, t he Business Mirror) The distribution of land to the tiller is below the expected target. It was not accomplished during the first term of CARP which was 10 years. The government’s slowness in land transfer activities is because of the following factors: 1. lack of political will to implement agrarian reform 2. manifest in operational and legal bottlenecks 3. blockades by big land owners who have seats in Congress and posts in the Government bureaucracy But the main reason was the lack of resources to fund the program. The actual requirement estimated by the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) in 1987 was 221. 09 billion to ensure the program’s full implementation. However, only P100 billion was given under the law. The fund provided was less than half of what is required. There were numerous issues concerning the implementation of CARP. The biggest of which is the lack of support services for the ARBs to ensure the productivity of the lands that were distributed to the farmers. â€Å"Then there is the matter of official commitment to the program—or rather, the lack of it. Frequently cited is a study in Negros Occidental, which showed that 97 percent of agrarian-reform beneficiaries (ARBs) have received no government support services, that 41 percent of ARBs have either abandoned or sold the rights to the land awarded to them under the CARP, that 98. percent of ARBs have not paid land taxes, etc. Moreover, Negros Occidental has remained a hotbed of insurgent activity. † (Facts, not Slogans. Business Mirror) â€Å"Beneficiaries of land reform also lacked sufficient support to make their farms viable. Ownership is just one step in making a decent living out of farmland. The owner needs agricultural know-how as well as technical and financi al resources to plant the right crops at the right time, and use the proper pesticides and fertilizers. At harvest time he needs access to post-harvest facilities, and then assistance in marketing his crops. Knowledge of crop rotation could maximize the use of a small farmland. † (The Promise of Agrarian Reform. The Philippine Star, 6/02/09) â€Å"There weren’t enough farm-to-market roads, processing and distribution facilities, irrigation and market support. † Because of the absence of these minimum requirements, a number of CARP Beneficiaries were prompted to sell their farms, sometimes to â€Å"buyers† hired by the original owners. Without the necessary support, ownership is useless. Another problem is landowner resistance. The poor implementation of the program is the reason why private agricultural lands remain undistributed. A common carp loophole used by landowners to escape relinquishing their lands is through the reclassification of their land into residential, commercial and industrial lands which are excluded from CARP. Just this year, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed the extension of the Agrarian Reform Program, Republic Act No. 9700 or the CARP Extension and Reform Law (CARPer), which allocated P150 billion for agrarian reform, to be distributed in five years. Sixty percent of the budget will go to land acquisition and forty percent to support services. â€Å"The new law, a consolidation of House Bill 4077 and Senate Bill 2666, is called CARP Extension with Reforms (CARPer) and extends the program from July 1, 2009, to June 30, 2014. It provides a P150-billion outlay for the acquisition and distribution of 1. 6 million hectares of all agricultural lands, as well as support services for 1. 2 million farmer-beneficiaries. † (Booster Shot for Agrarian Reform. Business Mirror) â€Å"The reforms in RA 9700 include provisions on the sourcing of the funds, which will allow the Department of Agrarian Reform to target the acquisition and distribution of the remaining 1 million hectares or so of agricultural lands covered by CARP at a much faster pace; the creation of a joint Congressional Oversight Committee on Agrarian Reform, or COCAR, to closely monitor the implementation of the new law; the strengthening of the ban on land-use conversion by landowners eager to avoid CARP, by extending the scope of the ban to allow no exceptions, by levying heavier penalties for illegal conversion of agricultural land into non-agricultural use and by mandating the automatic coverage of converted land if the conversion is unimplemented or its terms violated—thus legislating the lesson from the Sumilao farmers’ issue. † (CARPer, Right and Wrong. Philippine Daily Inquirer) CONCLUSION In my opinion, the government focused only on distributin g lands and not in the other objectives that were stated in the law. As pointed out in the editorials which I’ve read. It’s not enough to own land in order to become prosperous in agriculture. A farmer needs the necessary equipment to harvest his crops and also knowledge in marketing in order to sell his crops. A poor farmer even if given rights to own land won’t be able to change financial status because what is given to him is not enough. As for the loopholes in the CARP, I hope the implementation of the CARPer will resolve the problem concerning the evasion of redistribution of estates. The revised CARPer should target the weaknesses of the old program and make sure that the implementation would be better this time than the previous program. The Philippines is still far from accomplishing agrarian reform even after 50 years. If they keep it up in this rate, it’ll take a very long time to lift our Filipino farmers from poverty.

Environment Analysis Essay

Organizations analyze the environment in order to understand the external forces so that it could help to develop effective responses to secure or improve their positions in the future. There existed a positive relation between environmental analysis and profits of an organization. Top management looked at information in two ways: viewing and searching information. This information needed to be evaluated and disseminated to strategists within the organization and to help top management to make decisions that could create strategic advantage for the organization to succeed in a changing environment 1. There were research evidences that showed that environmental analysis was linked with improved organizational performance. Hence, it remained insufficient to assure performance, without aligning information with strategy. The main debate in strategy and environment was concerned with the primary importance of the environmental analysis in strategy formulation and implementation. 84 Reserve Bank of India The Reserve Bank of India is fully owned by the Government of India. Initially it was viewed to bring the greater coordination of the monetary, economic, and financial policies. During fifties objectives of Reserve Bank of India underwent changes. It was recognized that Reserve Bank of India needs to take on direct and much more active role, in developing machinery for financial development in order to ensure flow of finance in the country. Reserve Bank emerged as a regulatory and a growth promoting institution. In the beginning limited to the agricultural sector, the Bank later covered small-scale industries as well. The affairs of Reserve Bank of India are governed by the central board of directors. The board is appointed by the Government of India according to the Reserve Bank of India Act. The preface of the Reserve Bank of India describes the basic functions of the Reserve Bank as: â€Å"to regulate the issue of Bank Notes and keeping of reserves with a view to securing monetary stability in India and generally to operate the currency and credit system of the country to its advantage† 2. The Reserve Bank? s freedom may be viewed broadly to the areas like management including personnel matters, financial aspects, and to conduct polices. Managerial freedom refers to the procedures for appointment, term of office and dismissal procedures of top central bank officials and the governing board. It also includes the extent and nature of representation of the Government in the governing body of the central bank. 85 Financial freedom relates to the freedom to decide the extent of Government expenditures directly or indirectly financed by the central bank? s credits. Finally, policy freedom is related to the flexibility given in the formulation and execution of monetary policy, under a given authorization. Reserve Bank of India has over the years been responding to changing economic circumstances. The Reserve Bank of India performs the function of financial supervisor under the guidance of Board for Financial Supervision. This board undertake consolidated supervision of the financial sector comprising of Commercial Banks, Financial Institutions, and Non-Banking Finance Companies. The key functions played by this board were restructuring of the system of Bank, introduction of off-site scrutiny, strengthening the role of legislative auditors, and strengthening the internal defences of supervised institutions. Currently this board focus on supervision of financial institutions and legal issues in Banks. Reserve Bank of India acts as a guard for Commercial Banks. Commercial Banks are required to keep a certain proportion of cash reserves with the Reserve Bank and Bank provide them various facilities like advancing loans, underwriting securities etc. Reserve Bank of India controls the volume of reserves of Commercial Banks and thereby determines the deposits and credit creating ability of the Banks. Whenever Commercial Banks need funds they get it from the Reserve Bank of India. Apart from playing the role of Banker to the Banks, Reserve Bank of India also play promotional role. The aim is to establish and assist the establishments of a number of financial intuitions for filling up of various financial institutional gaps in the rural and semi-urban areas. 86 Other roles played by Reserve Bank of India are: Reserve Bank stabilizes the external value of the national currency. The Reserve Bank keeps gold and foreign currencies and manages foreign currency in accordance with the controls imposed by the government. Reserve Bank of India facilitate external trade and payment and promote orderly development and maintenance of foreign exchange market in India. Reserve Bank has taken the responsibility of meeting directly or indirectly all legitimate demands of Commercial Banks under emergency conditions and to a certain extent Reserve Bank influence the credit policy of Scheduled Banks. The Reserve Bank has instrument of control in the form of the bank rate, which it publishes from time to time 3. A list of the Reserve Bank of India Committees from 1990- 2008 was prepared to get an impression about developments with respect to Banking Industry (Appendix- III). The recommendations resulted into remarkable changes in products and policies of Banking Organizations. Indian Bank’s Association (IBA) Indian Bank? s Association is a leading service organization of Banking Industry in India. It aims to integrate Banking and finance system catering to all financial requirements of customer? s. It was formed in 1946 with 22 members. Today Indian Bank? s Association has more than 159 members comprising of Public Sector Banks, Private Sector Banks, Foreign Banks (having offices in India), and Urban Co-operative Banks. 87 The main objectives of Indian Bank? Association are: promoting and developing sound and progressive Banking principles and practices in order to assist Banks to develop and implement new ideas and innovative Banking services, operations and procedures; organizing co-ordination and co-operation on procedural, legal, technical, administrative or professional problems and practices of Banks ; circulating statistical data, informati on, views and opinions on the Banking System; conducting Management Development Programs for Banks; promoting education and knowledge of the law and practices of Banking Industry; to help in projecting good public image of Banking Industry ; and to promote harmonious relationships by devising ways and means for involving Banking personnel? in the growth and development of Banking Industry. Indian Bank? s Association tries to achieve excellent service quality and customer care through its focused efforts to make each customers experience a pleasant one. Towards this end Indian Bank? s Association stressed on to build staff potential by each Bank to address customer challenges and asked Banks to design a performance management system, which focuses on rewarding the staff for delivering flawless customer service. In 2000, Indian Bank? s Association reviewed the charters of different Banks and brought out a „Model Citizen Charter? explaining to the customer? s what they could expe ct from the Bank? s as a matter of right. Apart from this Indian Bank? s Association brought „bankers fair practices? in 2004 which was adopted by all Banks voluntarily. It also came out with „fair practice code for credit card operation? and „model code for collection of dues and repossession of security? with special concern to customer? s voice about Banking practices 4. 88 Ministry of Finance Ministry of Finance in India governs the entire fiscal system of the Government of India. The three departments headed by the Ministry of Finance in India include: economic affairs, expenditure, and revenue. Thus, it mainly centralizes around the economic and financial issues pertaining in India. Ministry of Finance Government of India, Banking Division is managing Government policies related to the working of Banks and the term lending to financial institutions. This Division is headed by Secretary (Banking and Insurance) and operates through three subdivisions: Industrial Finance; Banking Operations; and Banking and Insurance. Each subdivision is headed by a Joint Secretary. The Banking Operations sub-division deals with legislative proposals described to Banks, non-banking financial companies, and other related matters like appointments of Chief Executives and Government nominee Directors and non-official directors on the boards of Public Sector Banks. In addition policy matters relating to Private Banks, Foreign Banks, and improvement of customer? service in Banks and redressal of customers grievances are also dealt with this Banking Operations sub-division of Ministry of Finance. This sub-division also deals with vigilance matters and appoints Chief Vigilance Officers (C VO? s) in the Public Sector Banks to enable the Public Sector Banks to meet the credit requirements for the productive sectors of the economy in proportion to the economic growth of the country. The Government is committed to infuse capital funds in Public Sector Banks as well 5. 89 Nature of Banking Industry Bank? s safeguard money and valuables and provide loans, credit, and payment services, such as checking accounts, money-orders, and cashier? s checks. Banks also offer investment and insurance products which they were once prohibited. There exists variety of models for cooperation and integration among finance industries some of these traditional distinctions between Banks, Insurance Companies, and Securities Firms has diminished. In spite of these changes, Banks continued to maintain and perform their primary role of accepting deposits and lending funds from these deposits. Banks securely save the money of depositors, provide checking services, and lend the funds raised from depositors to consumers. Bank? s today are in a wide range of sizes, from large Global Banks to Regional and Community Banks. These Global Banks are involved in international lending and foreign currency trading, in addition to the more typical Banking services. Working Environment Employee? in a typical branch work weekdays, whereas in few Banks sometimes Banks were opened until late evenings or were open on Saturday morning? s and in few even on Sundays. Supervisory and managerial employee? s, usually work substantially longer hours. Some B anks are expanding the working hours in their branches which are located at non- 90 traditional locations, such as shopping malls, which remain open on most evenings and weekends. Branch office jobs, particularly front-end positions, required continuous communication with customers. Some employees needed to work for longer hours in a confined space. Loan officers might need to travel to meet clients, or work evenings for their clients. Loan officers also check loan applications, and solicit new business for Banks. Financial Service Sales Representatives might also have to visit clients in the evenings and on weekends to go through the client? s financial needs. To improve customer service and provide greater access to Bank personnel? s, Banks have staffed Customer Service Representatives. The remaining Bank employees, working at the headquarters or other administrative offices usually worked in comfortable surroundings and worked for a standard workweek. In general, Banks are considered relatively safer place to work with respect to injuries and illness. Banks also encourage higher education and training for their employee? as Banks require creative and talented people to compete in the market place so as to reach to more number of customers. The basic premise here is to Study the relevant data and derive some information related to the Strategic Environment pertaining to Indian Banking Industry, which may be used in due course in a broader context if not in specific context. Environmental factors influencing Banking Industry are: 91 Economic Factors Indian economy has registered impressive growth of over 9 percent for successive three financial years and experienced restraint in 2008-09. This restraint was caused due to the downturn in the global economy. The year 2008-09 was the most deficient year after 1972. To fight against this slowdown Government of India and Reserve Bank of India took many fiscal as well as monetary actions. It was expected that Indian economy could again register a robust growth rate in the year 2009-10. As per the revised estimates released by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO), Indian economy grew by 7. 6 percent in 2008-09 and 9. 3 percent growth in the 2007-08 6. Banks lending to industries, personal loans and service sectors witnessed a slow down while, Banks lending to agriculture and allied activities moved upward during 2008-09. The income as well as the expenditures of Scheduled Commercial Banks viewed a slow down leading to decrease in the net profit. The Return on Assets (ROA) as an indicator of efficiency with which Banks deployed their assets remained to 1 percent in 2009. The Return on Equity (ROE) as an indicator of efficiency with which the Banks used capital increased to 13. 2 percent in 2009 from 12. 5 percent in 2008, indicating increased efficiency with which Banks used capital 7. 92 Growth of income of Scheduled Commercial Banks during 2008-09 decelerated to 25. 7 percent from 34. 3 in 2007-08, but was higher than the growth rate of 24. 4 percent in 200607. Expenditure of Scheduled Commercial Banks was 24. 1 percent in 2006-07, which increased to 33. 9 percent in 2007-08 and again decelerated to 26 percent in 2008-09. The operating profit of Scheduled Commercial Banks increased sharply by 33. percent during 2008-09 from 26. 8 percent in 2007-08 and 21. 3 percent in 2006-07 (Table II. 1). The net profit of Scheduled Commercial Banks also showed a significant increase of 36. 9 percent during 2007-08 as compared to 26. 9 p ercent in 2006-07, but it decelerated to 23. 5 percent during 2008-09(Table II. 1) TABLE II. 1 VARIATION IN INCOME-EXPENDITURE OF SCHEDULED COMMERCIAL BANKS 2006-07 Income Expenses Operating Profit Net Profit 24. 4 24. 1 21. 3 26. 9 2007-08 34. 3 33. 9 26. 8 36. 9 2008-09 25. 7 26. 0 33. 2 23. 5 Source: Reports on Trend and Progress of Banking in India 8, 9 The Bank Group-wise analysis is presented in Table II. 2. Even though the achievements of technological changes in Banking Industry in India were impressive but there is a need to take greater advantages from new technologies and information based system to maximize the coverage. Pricewaterhouse Coopers report 18 suggested that Banks should take up automation that would be a combination of centralized networks, operations and a Core Banking applications that included Business Intelligence (BI), Business Process Re-engineering (BPR), and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) that catered to operational and analytical business needs. The multi-channel Banking has acquired further dimensions to include third party payments such as utility bills through different channels including Automated Teller Machines and mobile banking. Bank? internal groups examined the issues, relating to rural credit and micro-finance opportunities in the sector with several possible options like smart card-based kisan credit cards, smart card solutions for self-help groups, Automated Teller Machines with local language and voice facility and call-center amenities with added services given by various Banks. Introduction of Kisan Credit Cards (KCCs) for providing credit to farmers had increased in the number a multi-fold since its inception in the late 1990? s and the total percentage share of these cards reached above forty percent 19. 97 Banks had transformed themselves into Universal Banks by adding new channels with lucrative pricing. Recent innovations in the form of total quality management, reengineering work processes, flexible systems have only one thing in common serving the customers well through improved operational efficiency. Consolidation in the Banking Industry followed by technological up-gradation acted as a key factor to boost the international competitiveness of the Indian Bank? s. Adapting technology had brought down the cost of transactions visibly and at the same time aided in business continuity. A Study mentioned that the cost per transaction through a branch was Rs. 66, cost per transaction ; through Automated Teller Machines was Rs. 22, and cost per transaction through internet was Rs. 0, ignoring the extreme variations owing to the investment cost and nature of transactions 20. This low cost benefit was opted by Commercial Banks as it helped them to reach to poor people, particularly those working in the rural areas and those who earn and spend cash. In order to handle their cash transactio ns Banks formulated two types of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). People could either use Automated Teller Machines that could accept, store or dispense cash or they could use a biometric device, which were mobile in nature. Infrastructure in India, has improved resulting into widespread use of Automated Teller Machines facility in villages as well. These machines consisted of additional features that included fingerprint use as a mean of authentication with a view that rural people were more comfortable with fingerprints than plastic cards. 98 The wide geographical coverage to access Banking related products and services with the help of mobile phone technology and the use of internet for banking transactions has gained superior usage. These modes of transactions required a safe and secure environment and provide a variety of options available for customers with different requirements. The numbers of mobile phone subscribers in India were about 261 million (March 2008). Towards this end, Reserve Bank of India issued guidelines for mobile banking transactions. Initially Banks offered the facility to their customers subject to a daily cap of Rs. 5,000 per customer for fund transfer and Rs. 10,000 per customer for transactions involving purchase of goods or services 21. Usage of internet banking in India is mainly dominated, by Private and Foreign Banks. Still, the number of individuals utilizing internet services has increased considerably. In 2006, about 12 percent of the 38. 5 million internet users in India used online banking and the figure for online banking increased to 16 million in 2007-08 22 . The average cost of servicing a customer through internet banking is the tenth of the services extended through a branch. Thus, there is a direct contribution to the profitability for a Bank and therefore, internet banking became a potential low cost alternative 23 . From customer? s viewpoint, internet banking is highly convenient as it help to avoid branch queues and makes customer free from depending on the inconsistent quality of services at the branch, which varied from person to person at the service desk. Internet Banking allowed customers to operate their accounts at their convenient hours instead of being dependent on the Banks working hours. Moreover, internet banking permitted customers to transact on a 24Ãâ€"7 basis from any part of the world. 99 Therefore, internet banking delivery channel has the potential to contribute directly towards the nation? prosperity as it allowed more people to join the Banking stream without adding cost and it is tremendously convenient to customers. Reserve Bank of India started measures to create multi-lingual links on its website for thirteen Indian language s on all matters concerning Banking in June 2007 24. In the recent years, the use of electronic payments has witnessed manifold increase reflecting increased adoption of technology. The electronic payment systems comprised of the large value payment systems like Real Time Gross Settlements (RTGS), National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) and card based payment systems. The growth of volume of transactions directed through electronic payment has decelerated from 41. 4 percent in 2007-08 to 24. 8 percent in 2008-0925. The numbers and usage of Automated Teller Machines had gone up substantially during the last few years. Automated Teller Machines were primarily used for cash withdrawal and balance enquiry. In 2008-09, the total number of Automated Teller Machines installed by the Banks grew by 25. 4 percent. Automated Teller Machines of State Bank of India group registered a sharp growth of 34. 5 percent. While the Automated Teller Machines installed by new Private Sector Banks and Foreign Banks was 3 times of their respective branches 26, 27 . In March 2008, the population per automated teller machines in India was more than 29,500 as against the range of 1,000-9,500 in some of the other emerging market economies 28, 29 . In June 2009, Reserve Bank of India permitted Scheduled Commercial Banks to install off-site Automated Teller Machines at places identified by them, without any need to take permission from the Reserve Bank of India. Cash withdrawal from Automated Teller Machines of the Bank? s was made free of charges, April 2009 onwards. This made Automated Teller Machines more popular among customers. 100 Banks had deployed Information Technology solutions to facilitate automation in transaction management, reporting and risk management. Most of the Banks across the segments had already implemented Core Banking Systems. In the 2007, 85. 6 percent and in the 2008, 93. 7 percent Public Sector Banks were fully computerised 30, 31 . Other rograms such as internet based transactions, self-service kiosks, mobile banking were either underway or planned in near future by Public Sector Banks. Foreign Sector Banks and old and new Private Sector Banks in India, had progressed well in the areas of technology up-gradation i n operations. Technology up-gradation helped to introduce new products and services to enable Banks to improve the quality of service and value added services. Overall, Indian Banks score well with respect to technological adaption and the three key characteristic contributing towards the effective use of information technology in Banking Industry were: ? Factor Cost Advantage- information technology related labour costs in India remained cheaper as compared to other countries; ? Distribution Strategy- Indian Banks adopted a unique business model, acquiring customers rapidly with minimal technological investments; and ? Information Technology Governance- Indian Banks emphasized on information technology governance with the strong in-house Information Technology Division and a Chief Information Officer (CIO) directly reporting to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in most cases. 101 It is information that made the Banking Industry stable. The pressure of competition and the need to improve productivity has generated a need for better information. In order to manage Banking operations to meet the needs of managers operating at tactical and strategic level and to improve their quality of decisions and policymaking processes within the Banks. Banks needed to set up an efficient and comprehensive Management Information System (MIS) without which asset and liability management and risk management were not possible. However, adoption of technology by Banks provided them competitive advantage in their operations but at the same time Banks became dependent on outsourcing for most of their technological applications. Therefore, Banks needed to employ caution to put in place mechanisms for vendor management. As an insecure system, could expose Banks towards serious operational regulatory and reputational risks. Banks have taken measures to safeguard the risk factors, emerging due to the use of technology. Towards this end, the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) helped Banks to bring in technology and enabled them to work in secured environment while operating Real Time Gross Settlements System, Centralised Fund Management System (CFMS), corporate e-mail, and internet banking. It also acted as a „certifying authority? for the Banking Sector in India by issuing Digital Certificates 32 . Still there exists need to ensure much more accountable systems with regard to online payments with uniform standards all over the world. 102 Social Factors Before nationalization of the Banks, their control was in the hands of the private parties and only big business houses and the effluent sections of the society gained benefits from the Banking in India. Thus, adoption of the social development model in the Banking Sector was necessary for speedy economic progress consistent with social justice in democratic political system. Bankers were directed to help economically weaker sections of the society and to provide needed finance to all the sectors of the economy with flexible and liberal attitude. India? s demography had undergone transition and the demographic trends 1950 – 2050 studied, illustrates that India? s fertility rate is consistently falling from the peak 5. 91 percent in the first decade after independence to 2. 76 percent today and expected to fall further to 1. 85 percent. Even the death rate also likewise showing consistent decline from its peak 25. 5 in 1950-55 to 8. 5 today and to the lowest of 7. 9 in 2020-2025 33 . This ignifies towards steady number of customers for Banking Sector with longer income in the coming years. Indeed, India would be one of the youngest nations with its median age lying between 25 a nd 30 years over the next 15 years (2010 to 2025) 34. This signified that India would enjoy its prevalence of young age population for almost four decades. Thus, India? s demographic transition needed to be exploited by Banking Sectors viewing it as an opportunity. 103 Increase in the per capita income of the working class population of India, enabled individuals to purchase goods, which were far out of their reach earlier. It also encouraged people to buy goods for their personal use and for their family. Today societies have shifted towards nuclear family, resulting into the growing needs for home consumer durables like washing machine, television, bike, car etc. This showed how we as a society have moved from a socialist society to a consumerist society. Understanding these changes and to use them as an opportunity Banks provided various types of loans to farmers, working women, professionals, education loan to the students, housing loans, and consumer loans. Even customers life style, their behaviour, and consumption patterns have changed which acted as an opportunity as well as a threat for Banking Industry. Deposits showed a subdued growth during this decade. In 2008- 09 personal loans by Commercial Banks was 12. percent with respect to 10. 8 in 2007-08 of which housing loan was 11. 6 percent in 2007-08 and 7. 4 percent in 2008-09 35 . This deceleration was observed in housing loans especially due to economy slow down. Literacy rate in India is low as compared to other developed countries. Illiterate people hesitate to transact with Banks. Therefore, this influenced negatively on Banking Industry. Nevertheless, there exists positive side of this as well that illiterate people trust more on Banks to deposit their money as they do not have market information they do not put money in stocks or mutual funds so they look Bank as their sole and safe alternative. For a common man Banks have emerged as the key players to provide variety of products and services like saving accounts, insurance, remittance and other facilities to the under privileged and the poor in rural, semi-urban and urban areas or socially disadvantage as well as the small and medium enterprise sector . 104 On the other hand Banks deal with big clients or big companies which required personalized banking as these customers do not believe in running and waiting in queues for getting their work done . To these customers bankers provided special provisions and at times benefits like individualised hosting to these types of customers. It was brought to the notice of the Reserve Bank of India that visually challenged persons were facing problem in availing Banking facilities. Reserve Bank of India in June 2008 advised all Banks to ensure that all facilities such as cheque book including third party cheques, Automated Teller Machine facilities (at least one third of new Automated Teller Machine installed with Braille key pads and located strategically), net banking, locker, and credit cards to be provided to visually challenged persons without any discrimination 36. Banks related crimes are rising. These crimes included the typical ones such as Bank robbery, false statement to a Bank in order to obtain loan, false entry in a Banks book, Bank bribery, and Bank fraud. The other new types of crimes have also emerged like accessing to the whole or any part of information technology system without rights. These also included manipulation of Banking system, data alteration, or data destruction to make unauthorized identity theft with reference to Automate Teller Machines. Indian police has initiated by opening of special cyber cells across the country and started educating the personal against these crimes. 105 Political Factors Before 1990, the lack of accountability and lack of profit motive in Nationalized Banks was credited to political interference. After the economic reforms of 1991, the Indian Banking Industry entered into the new horizon of competiveness, efficiency, and productivity. Reserve Bank of India? s control system and its monetary policies acted as a major weapon in India? financial market. However, sometimes looking into the political advantage of a particular party, Government declares some measures for their benefits like short-term agricultural loans to attract farmer? s votes affecting the profits of the Banks. Even according to Banking Banana Skins, survey 2010 political interference was considered as the greatest risk for Banking Industry 37. In the Budget provisions, Finance Minister increased the farm credit target for 2009-10 at Rs. 3, 25,000 crore compared to Rs. 2, 87,000 crore in 2008-09. The Union Budget 200910 extended the debt waiver scheme by six more months for farmers owing more than 2 hectare of land. The Union Budget 2008-09 allowed farmers 25 percent rebate on 75 percent of their overdue repayment within the stipulated period 38 . Government also announced setting up of a task force to examine the issues of debt taken by a large number of farmers in some regions of Maharashtra from private moneylenders who were not covered under the loan waiver scheme 39 . With Government bearing this burden, Banks would not be affected much. As Government assured to help, Banks to clear their most stubborn non-performing assets accounts on Banks Book. In addition, the emphasis on expanding network with Automated Teller Machines, opening of Banking centre in unbanked blocks were some of the positive moves taken by Government. 106 Political interference by the leftist political parties claimed that various regulations with respect to Foreign Banks would benefit only those Banks, which intend to make a quick jump by providing high-profile corporate services, instead of those who wish to intensify their rural operations. Left political parties also cautioned that foreign players could increase their holding size in a particular Bank that would lead to an imbalance of power. Banks under the conventional system of recovery of loans had a considerable amount of money blocked in form of unproductive assets. Hence, to beat this difficulty parliament enacted Recovery of Debts to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993 also refereed as Debt Recovery Act. This Act created a separate apparatus in the order of Debt Recovery Tribunals, which were handed over the responsibility of administering disputes pertaining to non-payment of debts. As this legislation was general in nature, another legislature by Parliament was enacted , referred as Securitization Act with an objective to give the Banks, more power over defaulting borrowers 40,41. Unions The post nationalization era in the Banking Industry in India, particularly in the Public Sector, witnessed consolidation of trade unions. All the nine unions had all-India presence in the Banking Industry. Five workers unions and four officers unions represented almost 100 percent of the workforce in the industry and joined hands to form a United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU). United Forum of Bank Unions comprised of All India Bank Employees Association, (AIBEA), All India Bank Officers Confederation (AIBOC), 107 National Confederation of Bank Employees (NCBE), All India Bank Officers Association (AIBOA), Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI), Indian National Bank Employees Congress (INBEC), Indian National Bank Officers Congress (INBOC), National Organization of Bank Workers (NOBW) and National Organization of Bank Officers (NOBO) 42. Representatives of unions were encouraged to give suggestions. However, in many cases undue interference of unions in decision-making has adversely affected, leading to the deterioration in discipline, efficiency, and performance effectiveness. With the growing strength of these organizations, the issues relating to employees interests were no longer determined by Bank? s managements alone. The massive introduction of technology into the industry made union policies defensive. Unions focused almost entirely on the immediate consequences of technological change on the workforce, especially the aspect of possible job losses. Employees in Public Sector Banks were repulsive to move from one table to another of the same branch. Now the trade unions seem to be willing to allow mobility for employees within a district as mergers enforced them to move from one state to another. Other issues taken up by unions were like introduction of New Pension scheme and variable pay which were resolved with the help United Forum of Bank Unions. Banks unions are also involved in demanding salary hikes, job losses, disinvestments in Public Sector, and issues related to violation of labour laws, and allocation of funds for schemes for unorganised workers. 108 After attempting, the macro level environmental analysis of Indian Banking Industry a micro functional level Human Resource Environmental Analysis has been attempted with the help of SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats), it would help to further develop strategic viewpoint about the industry (Table II. 4). TABLE II. 4 HR SWOT ANALYSIS WITH RESPECT TO INDIAN BANKING INDUSTRY STRENGTHS ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Educated Manpower Higher Compliance Amongst Employees Experienced Employees Training Infrastructure Availability Safe Working Environment Responsiveness to Needful Change Strong Regulatory Institutional Framework ? ? ? ? ? OPPORTUNITIES Liberalization of Banking Sector Preferred Industry for Employment Availability of Multi-specialist staff Technology for Improved Interpersonal and Communication Skills Workforce Diversity WEAKNESSES ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Limited Technology Skills Repetitive Tasks Structure Inadequate Remuneration for Attracting Talent Lacking Career Growth Path Rigid Recruitment Policies Hierarchal Structure Rigid Wage Negotiation Process Leadership Deficit at Senior Level ? ? ? ? ? ? ? THREATS Movement of Skilled and Quality Staff Difficulty in Hiring Highly Qualified Youngsters Trend Towards Downsizing Changing Workforce Demographics High Staff Cost Overheads Changing Employees Expectations Entrenched Trade Unionism 109 Key Concerns for Indian Banking Industry The macro level analysis of Banking Industry and micro level analysis with respect to Human Resource functions helped to identify the key concerns related to the Banking Industry. Competition in Banking Industry is very high as Banks are fighting for same share of customers. There are many Banks and non-financial institutions which gave rise to intensified competition. Amongst these, there existed relatively no differentiation in services and every Bank tried to copy each other? s services and technology which increased the level of competition. Competition from the non-Banking financial sector is increasing rapidly as there are substitutes like mutual funds, stocks (shares), government securities, debentures, gold, and real estate acting as a high threat of substitutes. The continuous deregulation has made the Banking Market extremely competitive with greater autonomy, operational flexibility, decontrolled interest rate, and liberalized norms for foreign exchange. The deregulation of the industry coupled with decontrol in interest rates had led to the entry of a number of players in the Banking Industry 43. Alliances and takeovers had occurred on a transatlantic basis. The market share for financial services that Banks hold had declined, while securities firms, mutual funds, and finance companies has grown 44 . Banking Sector needs to build up a strong and efficient financial system by emphasizing on risk based management. 110 In Banking Sector, customers have high bargaining power due to the presence of very large number of alternatives. Banks together with the specialized financial companies that provide finance to customers are available. Recently it was observed that depositors had withdrawn funds from Private and Foreign Banks and invested their money with Public Sector Banks as the cost of switching from one Bank to another was low and almost all Banks provided undifferentiated services. Today customer? s have more information and better understanding about the market, Banks have to be more competitive and customer friendly to serve them. To retain customer? s and market share, Banks started contemplating on building strong relationship with customers. United Bank of India created a revolution in Banking Industry by opening up a boutique branch in Pune in November 2007, as its priority was to provide services to the high net worth customers. Thus, United Bank also recognized the needs of high net worth individuals different from the other customers. United Bank organized corporate golf tournament for customers, music concerts, and screening of Mani Ratnam directed film „Guru? 45 . Bank? s top management has started carefully evaluating the impacts for their actions. Recently, before cutting jobs in Private and Foreign Banks, Human Resource managers tried to assess reactions beforehand and they came out with certain proactive steps. Banks persistently worked in the interest of the Society. This chapter focussed on the environment analysis which is, undoubtedly, required for strategy formulation, and at the same is relevant as a backdrop for strategy implementation. For instance, the needful Human Resource Practices have to be continuously evolved and implemented against the ever-changing macro and micro environment of the Banking Organizations. 111 REFERENCES 1. Wei, C. C. (2001) Environmental Scanning as Information Seeking and Organizational Learning, Information Research, 7(1). 2. About us retrieved on 26 December 2010. 3. Goyal, O. P. (1979) Financial Institutions and Economic Growth of India, New Delhi: Light and Life Publishers. 4. About Us retrieved on 26 December 2010. 5. retrieved on 28 December 2010. . Reserve Bank of India (2008) Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India 2007-08, < www. rbi. org> retrieved on 25 December 2009. 7. Reserve Bank of India (2008) Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India 2007-08, p. 115. 8. Reserve Bank of Ind ia (2008) ibid (7), p. 114. 9. Reserve Bank of India (2009) Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India 2008-09, p. 125. 10. Reserve Bank of India (2008) ibid (7). 11. Reserve Bank of India (2009) ibid (9). 12. Reserve Bank of India, (2008) ibid. (7), p. 115. 13. Reserve Bank of India, (2009) ibid. (9), p. 125. 14. Chandrasekhar, C. P. (2005) What is Happening to Indian Banking? Frontline, 22(4): 12 – 25. 15. Reserve Bank of India (2008) ibid. (7), p. 116. 16. Reserve Bank of India (2009) ibid. (9), p. 127. 112 17. Reserve Bank of India (2009) ibid. (9), p. 142. 18. PricewaterhouseCoopers Report (2006) retrieved on 25 December 2009. 19. Raju, S. (2010) Financial Inclusion: Enabling Inclusive Growth. The India Economy Review, 7:42-49. 20. Sekar, G. V. Emerging Trends in Technology Adoption by Indian Banks and IT Governance – A Practical Guide, < http://www. cab. org. in/Lists/ Knowledge% 20Bank/ Attachments/43/Emerging%20Trends. pdf> retrieved on 3 June 2008. 21. Reserve Bank of India (2008) ibid. (7), p. 81. 22. Chandrashekaran, N. (2009) CII Banking Tech Summit, < http://www. financial express. com/news/indian-banks-behind-global-peers-in-technologypwc/438064> retrieved on 24 March 2009. 23. Jayawardhena, C. and Foley, P. (2000) Changes in Banking Sector – The Case of Internet Banking in UK. Journal of Internet Research: Networking and Policy, 10(1):19-30. 24. Rao, R. (2000) Banking @ The Speed of Thought, Business India, October 30November 12: 71-108 25. Reserve Bank of India (2009), ibid. (17). 26. Reserve Bank of India (2009) ibid. (9), p. 141. 27. Reserve Bank of India (2009) ibid. (9), p. 261. 28. Reserve Bank of India (2008) ibid. (7), p. 130. 29.

Cause And Effects Of Smog Pollution Environmental Sciences Essay

Cause And Effects Of Smog Pollution Environmental Sciences Essay Smog pollution is a major problem that this planet is suffering from everyday. It has affected our homes, weather, and health. It is a very dangerous situation for us if we do not do anything about it. Smog pollution is caused by chemicals, automobiles, factories and corporations. The greatest thing we can do as a society is try to find a way to help prevent and stop smog pollution. If the people on this planet do not do anything to stop smog pollution we are going to have a BIG problem and it will hurt us in the future. We need a plan and we need to put a stop to smog pollution. The American Lung Association (ALA) has been trying to find ways to help stop and prevent smog pollution from hurting us and the environment. If we can just do our part and find a way to prevent this problem from getting any bigger, it will benefit us all. We all have heard of smog pollution, but do we really know what it is. Smog pollution has many causes that can be hazardous and dangerous to our health a nd well being. The term smog pollution is also known as photochemical smog. It is formed by the interaction with sunlight with different types of chemicals in earth’s atmosphere (Oblack). The main component of smog pollution or photochemical pollution is ozone. Ozone is in the earth’s stratosphere, which the shields the earth from dangerous UV radiation from the sun. The problem with ozone is when it touches down on the earth’s surface it can be very dangerous and can cause serious health problems for people on the planet (Oblack). The ground level ozone is made by the emissions of automobiles that put nitrogen oxide into the air, which is caused by the vehicle’s exhaust fumes (Oblack). The organic components from the fumes combined with the ozone and fume evaporation that combines with sunlight, causes smog pollution on the planet (Oblack). Many people try to find ways to help avoid smog in a more planet friendly environment, so some people use substitut es for their everyday use. There is just one problem with that, and that is the sun. Many people don’t understand that sunlight and warm climates cause pollution. For example, places like California, Florida, and Arizona and even North America are some of the most polluted places in the country (Oblack). Another problem that causes an increase in smog pollution is the increased usage of fossil fuels for industrial, heating, and of course transportation purposes (â€Å"All that smog†). Also, cutting down, burning trees, and disposing of agricultural and organic waste can also lead to emissions of smog pollution and harmful problems for the planet (â€Å"All that Smog†). Sunlight mixed with different types of dangerous chemicals (secondary pollution) also makes it difficult to stop smog pollution from occurring on the surface of the planet (â€Å"All that Smog†), which creates another big problem. Climate is a major factor for the cause of smog pollution. M any places in the world can try to be more environmental friendly to help save our planet. Some people ride bicycles instead of driving cars. Other people try to reduce their use of using fire to warm themselves. The only problem that these people cannot get away from is something that they cannot control, and that is the sun. California is ranked in the top 10 most polluted areas in the United States. Ozone pollution that is caused by the sun has a major affect on this planet. Smog and air pollution is having a serious impact on the environment and can condemn all ecosystems (â€Å"seirraclub†). The reason why the sun causes so many problems is because the ozone layer that is supposed to protect planet earth is practically destroyed. Without the protection, the sun is able to shine radiation onto the planet and is the main reason for many health issues that people go through every day. Issues like skin cancer, radiation poisoning, and sun burn are having fatal affects on peo ple. This type of pollution not only harms humans, but it can also harm wild life and the environment. Smog can harm different plants, which can lead to damaging consequences. Because the plants are damaged, it makes it hard for plants to make and save food for themselves in their living environment (â€Å"seirraclub†). In addition, the sun and smog can destroy leaves and plants it would make many of the plants vulnerable to getting diseases. And, they cannot defend themselves from different types of bugs and insects that can cause a huge decrease in plant life (â€Å"seirraclub†). Smog pollution is a yearly problem for places like Texas, Georgia, Florida, and many other southern and sunny parts of the world, but there is also a big increase in smog pollution in the summer (â€Å"seirraclub†). This is caused by strong sunlight that burns the earth’s surface. However, the one thing that is helping smog pollution is all of the problems that are on this plan et. All of the power plants, automobile emissions, industrial, and chemical vapors are other causes of pollution (â€Å"seirraclub†). Climate changes are part of the problem as well. Within the months of June, July, and August, it makes it harder to try and control the smog pollution, due to the sun. This planet has gone through billions of years of evolution. It survived dinosaurs, the ice age, and the black plague, but because of smog pollution this planet might not be able to survive this new attack.

Guest lecturer reports Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Guest lecturer reports - Essay Example Thus engineers are part of the problem solving process and apply an analytical approach in providing solutions. The knowledge of social construction of technology aids in the comprehension of societal problems in relation to the existing economic needs of the people. Therefore engineers are able to device appropriate solutions technically to suit the changing economic trends. Engineers are social scientific practitioners who mainly link scientific discoveries and the commercial applications to meet the day today societal and consumer needs (Anastasia & Reshma, 2009). This is incredibly plausible through the ideas this clever bunch of professionals put forward to act as economic solutions to technical problems in relation to the application of scientific principles. Sociology of technology is a theory that argues on the basis of human action shaping technology. One of the distinctive characteristics of technology is that it’s socially shaped i.e. a new technology available at o ne time may be developed and implemented following consumer interests. Thus a working technology is rendered unsuccessful when it does not meet the prevailing standards of consumer interests (Bijker, Wiebe, Thomas, Hughes, Trevor, & Pinch, 1987). Engineering socio-technical system defines societal roles in determining what design should be used by engineers to construct a device that is generally accepted, at certain limits. It is this design that influences the implementation of a particular technology at a particular time. As a theory and a methodology, SCOT analyses the causes of success and failure to a particular technology through formalizing appropriate scientific procedures and principles. This argument is evident in the evolution of bicycle, innovating different designs. The first invention of the bicycle was the velocipede, which was difficult to mount, had a poor braking system and the front wheel tended to clean itself on the cyclist's trousers while negotiating bents. T his paved way for penny-farthing part of the developmental process to find an efficient form of personal transport. Similarly, it took a cyclist some practice to learn how to get into and off the high wheel. This, accompanied by risks of tumbling for longer distances when one lost control, called for a new invention. The bicyclette, also known as safety bicycle, is the first chain-drive with advantages over the other inventions. The bicycle invention may be summarized in an innovation model continuum, as shown below. The linear innovation model suggests that the technical change in bicycle occurs in a linear fashion as illustrated in the flow chart below. On the other hand, multi-directional model provides a wider view on the relationship of the subsequent designs (Sismondo, 1993). Illustration 1: Linear Model of Innovation Illustration 2: Multi-directional Model Social analytical approach spells out clearly the diverse problems that need corrections, thus, which are very fundamenta l for my understanding. The interpretive flexibility stage analyses the problems affecting the male, elderly and female cyclists. By this, understand the requirements of the elderly, male, and female cyclists. The ordinary bicycle contributed major to the development of bicycles albeit having limitations on the elderly cyclists and female cyclists. It was rendered for young and athletic men who were thought to withstand its tumbling menace when it suddenly hit a rough surface, and also the rider's position over the centre of the

Causes and Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes in Urban China Essay

Causes and Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes in Urban China - Essay Example 2005 pp2132) (Appendix i). Because of the human body's need to properly process and synthesize dietary sugar, an ailment which interferes with that process intrudes into fundamental health and lifestyle choices of affected individuals. In addition, because the disease can also include debilitating complications such as blindness or sensory impairment (WHO_FS 138 2002: 1), diabetes not only has a devastating impact on individuals, but also on their regions, their countries, and the world at large. To fully understand the crisis represented by this disease, it is important to establish its causes and contributing physiological and behavioural phenomena. Diabetes is a chronic condition that occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. The resulting hyperglycemia and related metabolic disturbances can lead to serious damage to many of the body's systems, particularly nerves and blood vessels (WHO_FS 138 2002: pp.1). There are two principle forms of diabetes, known as type 1 and type 2. Type 1 is characterized by failure of the pancreas to produce insulin, and type 2 by the inability to properly utilize insulin. Treatment normally consists of insulin injections type 1 diabetics, and oral medications in conjunction with lifestyle changes for type

Beach Rental Case study Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Beach Rental Case study - Assignment Example That will ensure that they have good accommodation and a good environment in which the students can be working from. The efficiency of the company can be done by measuring of the efficiency of workers in the company. The measurement of performance by employees is a critical thing for ensuring that there is success in the running of a business organization. The measurement of performance is done so as to ensure that the employees of a company provide value for the money that they earn. Performance may be measured by the number of hours worked or by the quality of work done or the output that accrues from an individual or group of employees. The report will give details of a number of performance measurement metrics that may be used by the Company. Performance measurement metrics The measurement of the performance of employees is a thing that is advantageous to the company. Performance measurement usually ensures that there is equitable distribution of incentives. The performance measu rement also ensures that there is increase in efficiency and productivity in the company. A performance metric that is effective should ensure that there is a gauge that is accurate and one that would ensure that the employees are valued according to their performance and output in the company. Productivity metrics One of the components of measuring the performance of a company or business is by the use of productivity. Productivity metrics usually measures the amount of work done by an employee within a specified time period. Employees usually have a different learning curve. That means that new employees would be less productive as compared to old and experienced employees. In a manufacturing company, productivity can be measured by the total output of an individual in a specified time period. In a sales department, productivity is usually measured by the total sales made by a single employee. Efficiency metrics Efficiency can be described as an attempt to increase on productivity by utilizing minimum resource or by the use of the most cost-effective method. Efficiency usually deals on cutting on time of production and the costs that are incurred during production. That can be done by the company introducing processes that are efficiency and using quality raw materials that are cheap so as to ensure that there is cost cutting. Training metrics Training among employees usually increase on the performance or productivity of employees. The training of employees would ensure that the employees use the most cost effective working processes. The training efforts should be quantified so as to measure the level of productivity that accrues from the training of employees. Goal setting The use of performance review systems that are collaborative usually ensure that supervisors and their juniors are able to set their own personal goals that should be achieved so as to increase the efficiency of the company or business. That can be termed as management by the use of obj ectives and that can be done so as to individually measure the performance of an employee. The employees of the company should undergo training so as to ensure that they are efficient enough in the execution of their roles in the business. Design process Analysis The first process that is involved in designing the training is analysis. The objectives and goals have to be analyzed so as to be able to develop the

The Role of Hong Kong in International Trade Research Paper - 1

The Role of Hong Kong in International Trade - Research Paper Example   The greatest financial activity in Hong Kong is international trade and its government policies in terms of trade demonstrate its position as a hub for free trade. These policies comprise of minimum constraints and permit the market dynamics to standardize exportation and importation activities. It thus prohibits protective actions such as tariffs and rations as well as subsidizations as a method of circumventing deficits that may be experienced in balances-of-trade. â€Å"Much of the impetus driving the changing patterns of global trade since 1950 can be attributed to the role played by transnational corporations which are sometimes called multinational corporations†. Development of Hong Kong’s import and export industry.The activities associated with the import and export industry can be categorized as imports, domestic exports and re-exports and Hong Kong have embraced a free trade policy while erecting limited barriers to trade. â€Å"Adopting pro-export policy promoting exports through tax breaks, subsidies, and tariffs, and at the same time discouraging imports through taxes, duties, or quotas, is a common practice among emerging markets and developing nations†.There is no imposition of tariffs in Hong Kong in regard to importing and exporting goods, and the licensing requirements are maintained at a minimum. The imposition of licensing only takes place in the event that there is a genuine need for meeting obligations that are undertaken by Hong Kong to its partners in trade.

International Youth Forum Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

International Youth Forum - Term Paper Example We are expecting to have an average of 800 audiences per day. The charges for the tickets will be collected on the days of the show. The speakers have agreed to receive 50 percent of their fees right after the programme and the remaining after 45 days. The speakers are professionals and some of them are from different parts of the world. Their fee varies from 3,200 to 6,800 per day. The artists belong to a single agency that has agreed to charge a lump sum fee for the entire programme. The agency promotes art derived from various cultures in the world. Due to the close connection between our motives, it has agreed to provide us a discount. A local restaurant owner has volunteered to take care of the brunch arrangements. He has provided an estimation of 14.55 per plate. The payment for the brunch will partly be paid after 30 days of the programme. A situation where the actual income would be less than the expected income by more than twenty five percent has been considered. In such a situation, the Foundation can recover the difference by conducting a Fund Raising Show. The artists' agency that has agreed to perform in the Forum has also volunteered to work hand-in-hand with the Foundation in the future. The Foundation also intends to encourage the youngsters participating in the Forum to promote the Foundation's activities in their countries. This step is expect

Imbalance and maldistribution of physicians Essay

Imbalance and maldistribution of physicians - Essay Example The Bureau of Health Professions (1992) proffered that â€Å"the relative shortage of physicians in rural areas of the United States is 1 of the few constants in any description of the US medical care system. About 20% of the US population—more than 50 million people—live in rural areas, but only 9% of the nations physicians practice in rural communities†. The relevant findings of the study by Rosenblatt & Hart indicated that factors such as specialty choice, gender, and managed care influence the prevalence of physicians in rural areas. As stipulated, the more specialized the physicians are, the more likely that they will settle in urban areas. Likewise, the increase in the number of women in the medical profession reveals preferences of practicing in urban areas than in rural areas. Finally, the effect of managed care to physician imbalance and maldistribution is clearly explained by Rosenblatt & Hart (2000, 1), to wit: â€Å"managed care is a 2-edged sword, both with regard to geographic maldistribution and rural medical underservice. Managed care networks have the potential to provide organizational vehicles for hiring and deploying physicians in areas that could not support independent physicians on their own†. With the disparity, the health care industry must seek ways and means to address this dilemma to enable all Ameri cans to avail of professional health care services on an equal

Rome Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

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Philosophy Questions Essay Example for Free

Philosophy Questions Essay Question One A causal claim, by definition, is a statement about the causes of things. Regular (non-causal) claims are considered to be any declarative statement. While the regular claim can simply be made about anything as long as it is a declaration, causal statements require a certain sense of cause and effect. Causal claims examine the complex processes in which people, forces, events, and other things interact to cause certain phenomena. Causal claims rarely are proven due to the different things that may happen to cause things. Feedback: I agree with the answer because causal claims are definitively hard to prove. It depends on how you look at the event in question. Impartiality is a virtue when exploring causal claims and is often hard to keep when personally involved in the matter. Question Two A real life example of common thread reasoning in advertising is Listerine. Listerine is a mouthwash that claims to kill more germs than any other leading mouthwash. In actuality, mouthwash does not actually kill germs and the rate of germs killed does not meet FDA standards for antiseptics. The common thread would be that all mouthwashes claim to kill germs and they really do not. Most of them also claim they are antiseptics when they do not meet current FDA standards. Feedback: Listerine is a mouthwash which makes false claims as does many mouthwash companies. The common theme among these companies is their determination to market a product with falsehoods. If all of these companies make false claim, then what are they to be called?

Two-Factor Authentication Essay Example for Free

Two-Factor Authentication Essay According to the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, verifying someones identity online involves at least one of a few factors. These factors are the following: Information the Person Knows This could be a username and password combination, social security number, a PIN they chose, or something else that the person could know but others wouldnt. Something the person is able to Physically Posses A good of this is the persons ATM card. A more secure physical factor could be a use flash device with a key on it. The final factor that can be used is something unique to that person only, a Biometric Fingerprints and Rental Scans are examples of this. Â  The difference between single and multi-factor authentication is that single factor would only use one of these, like a username/password combination, which could be easily stolen through a variety of methods both local and remote to that persons physical location (keygrabbers, network sniffing, trojans, observation, brute force attacks, or just loose lips). Multi-factor authentication requires at least one other input. Therefore an example of two-factor authentication would be having to enter your username and a password and also your ATM card number and security code from the back, or a fingerprint scan and entering your ATM card number, or even all three for three factor authentication. The FDIC feels that financial institutions should be using two-factor authentication. There have been a number of recommendations made to the financial institution industry, and most large banks and investment houses are now using two-factor. The bank should definitely be using multi-factor authentication. Two-factor authentication will not only protect their customers, but it will help protect them against liability in the event that one of their customers does have their identity stolen. Since they are a small bank, budget will be a serious consideration when making the switch to two-factor authentication. A method that has been used in the government and military, and that is now easily accessible is the use of a hardware sequential number generator. This involves the use of a small (cigarette lighter sized) device that generates a new unique number every few minutes. It is based off of a algorithm the bank computer knows and each person has their own unique seed number, so each persons numbers are unique to them. When they log in, they are asked for a username/password combination and the number off their hardware key. According to the FDIC this is now one of the most commonly used technologies used by online banking services. Considering that the bank is small, the above suggestion of a hardware key that generates one-time passwords is really the best option. However, USB fingerprint readers are not too expensive now, and using biometrics like this could be an option especially for business customers. The upside of the hardware key is that you can bring it with you wherever you go, but that brings up the downside that it can be stolen. Your fingerprints cannot be stolen so easily. Either way, two-factor authentication should be implemented as soon as possible to protect the bank and their customers.

Literature Review Of Mph Bookstore Information Technology Essay

Literature Review Of Mph Bookstore Information Technology Essay For this section, it is all about the literature review on MPH bookstore with E-commerce system which is commonly used in today businesses network environment, their strengths and to achieve information on its history and how businessman operate their business with current architecture. The author will develop an E-commerce system for enchant the web login. 1.2 History of MPH Bookstore In 1815, MPH Bookstores has originally roots when William Milne, a young pioneer, starts a lasting mission enter in Malacca. The establishment migrated to Singapore when 1890 with the environmental objective of printing literature. During 1906, the organization change into the Methodist Publishing House. In 1927, it was formed into a legal corporation as Malaya Publishing House after it became a public listed company. According to the notification of the Malaysian nation in 1963, the company moved its name to Malaysia Publishing House with new bookstores were available in Malaysia (Penang, Malacca and Kuala Lumpur). To the public, Malaysia Publishing House as known as MPH. In 1972, Jack Chia from Hong Kong acquired MPH. However, MPH became known as Jack Chia-MPH Ltd. In March 2000, current Company changed its name into MPH Ltd in March 2000 to throw back the different in its majority ownership since 1998. MPH Bookstores Sdn Bhd was 100% owned by MPH Group Pte Ltd which in turn was a controlled by a holding of MPH Ltd, the public company revealed on the stock exchange of Singapore. In 2002, Malaysian company owned MPH Bookstores (S) Pte Ltd, Jalinan Inspirasi Sdn Bhd, which is part of a large Malaysian conglomerate owned by Malaysian businessman Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary. However, MPH becomes a entirely Malaysian-owned company. As the MPH group (Jalinan Inspirasi) to throw back its core businesses and it now owns MPH Bookstores (Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia), MPH Distributors (Singapore and Malaysia). (mphonline, 2009) 1.3 MPH Bookstores Business Operation Figure 1 this is example of MPH bookstores online On wholly MPH Bookstores website, the ways they implement their e-business are to allow the consumer can get the latest book with cheaper prices and free delivery services. To register as their memberships, consumer can register directly through the official website. The site contains a shopping cart, order from listing products or services selected and credit card payment. At the same time, to make it become more attractive, they offered consumer may get the latest release books, cheaper prices for online transactions, and on the spot view the catalogue or information. With e-commerce system that provided by MPH bookstores, consumers will now have the ability to enjoy their services in better way. The prices displayed from the official website were no different with physical bookstores. For the delivery stage, for West Malaysia delivery it takes from 3 to 5 business days, for East Malaysia it takes within 14days and also available for globally. If the consumers received the books were damaged, MPH bookstore policy allows for a refund. However, the policy requires that the damaged book be returned to the following address within 7 days from the date of receipt of the book. Besides that, the objectives of this business operation are cause visitors to come to a place or participate in a venture by offering something of interest or advantage. If the MPH bookstore runs out of stock, consumers can order book from MPH online for Rm4 postage, if order above RM80 it will free delivery. 1.3.1 What should consumers do if they forget their password? Consumers require clicking on the Forget Password option, and then enter in your user Id and password. You will be prompted for an answer to the question of your choice. Once the answer is justified, the forgotten password will be displayed on the website. 1.3.2 What are the standard browser versions? MPH bookstores online is preferred with Internet Explorer 6.0 and above. Technology infrastructure for E-business system E-business infrastructure is vital to all companies adopting e-business. The infrastructure directly affects the quality of service experienced of users of the systems in terms of speed and responsiveness. E-business infrastructure refers to the combination of hardware such as servers and client PC in an organization, the network used to link this hardware and the software applications used to deliver services to workers within the e-business and also to its partners and customers. Infrastructure also includes the architecture of the networks, hardware and software and where it is located. Finally, infrastructure can also be considers to include the date and documents accessed through e-business applications. Introduction of E-commerce Now we are survive in an eagerness age of human innovation, where only one generation can witness very great shifts in technology and way of life. E-commerce not only just big, is also major refer to selling, services and buying products over internet or computer networks. Millions of companies that selling products to other companies have bring out that the Web not only provides a 24hours services and show that their products can reach a quick way to reach the right people in a company for the complete detail.(Ecommerce Definition,2006) 2.1.1 The E-commerce marketplace In this section we look at how electronic communications have changed relationships between the different participants of commercial transactions. Since the nature of these changes according to whether the transaction is between business and consumer or between businesses (inter-organizational, we start by reviewing differences between these types of transactions. We then look at how the channel structures of organizations have been changed through the process of disintermediation and reinter mediation. Locations for trading and mechanisms of commercial exchange in the electronic marketplace are then reviewed. Management terms have difficult decisions to take about which of these new models of trading is relevant to them, so we questioning approach, looking at some examples that have worked and some that havent it. 2.1.2 Benefits of Ecommerce Ecommerce enables people to go in businesses without the longer movement of time or distance. E-commerce systems can operate all day every day, once consumers access to the Internet at any point of time whenever day or night and purchase or sell anything one desires through the mouse clicking. The internet braces the world market through web businesses operate is the global market and wide. However it is possible to run business with any business or people who are connected to the Internet. For simple local businesses, as specialist record stores are enabling to market and selling using e-commerce. This is the current global opportunity is attend to the fact, different from traditional communications methods, users are not allow to charged according to the distance over which they are communicating. 2.2 Identify the e-business development Nowadays, as we discovered on Electronic business, it play a major role in the current worlds economy. Business development is a combination of marketing, strategic analysis, trade, regular occupation and sales. To perform your organization and business development being successful and greater is reliant on better knowledge of management theories and regular practice. Business development professional occupation is typically to identify new business opportunities whether that means latest markets, partnerships with other businesses, proper ways to reach existing markets, and product or service offerings to better meet the needs of existing markets and then to go out and make full use of those opportunities to bring in more revenue. Business development professionals are able to connect in everything to the development of their employers services and products. (E-business development, 2003) 2.3 Study on the innovations of e-commerce system The maturation ubiquity of current information technology is enabling the development of advanced services which consumers can access with existing devices such as computers or mobile phones. One of the innovations of e-commerce has affected the way people buy goods, services, choice, convenience and cost. Consumers may wish to give their own impressions of such sites, but better grades may be secured where further research is carried out, for example consumer surveys. It may also be possible to gain an insight into the benefits of using such websites through contact with e-commerce businesses. Second, consumers should be encourages to use the correct technical terminology in all the brief reports or descriptions produced for this unit. It is expected that higher grade consumers will use the correct terminology in their reports and will also produce more considered reports rather than one example of a benefit and/or limitation as would be expected for pass consumers. 2.4 Management Innovation Strategies in E-commerce Era When goes into the Era of e-commerce, business enterprises have several different features. To receive full benefits of e-commerce, enterprises should bring out appropriate management innovations. Enterprise innovation management allow helping enterprises to achieve great rate development to win over business opportunities and get opportunity to approach into markets and obtain higher profits. This stage is to investigate the new requirements on enterprise management through an e-commerce era, including occurring continuously updating thoughts of business management, flat organizational structure, management epitaxial expansion, informationization of means of production and marketing, flexible production management. Facts reveals that the business process reengineering, organizational development, creativity, cultural transformation, skill management and communication management have serious impinge on the enterprise development in terms of management and innovation. (Management Inno vation Strategies in E-commerce Era, 2008) E-Commerce Strategies The most importance ecommerce strategy is to enforce a proper secure E-commerce website. The appropriate way to achieve this is to protect the websites with security protocols and digital certificates. Major clients are attracted to ecommerce sites because of the good security and transaction mechanism. With ecommerce web site certified from the leading online security agencies is one of good way to promote E-commerce and supply the mechanism more authenticity and the quality of being trusted. Besides that, ensure that control the ecommerce operational specifications are brought out promptly tables and the databases are developed using programming language skills which display down all the data entry in a queue. Maintaining the record of the entire transactions which are brought out using the ecommerce mechanism can help the system to track all the complete details in more convenient and timely manner. E-commerce site design also plays an important role in its effectiveness. The interface of E-commerce sites is generally design to be user friendly and easily operational by the consumers so that they can make the online transaction more convenient or easily and in a manner which is very clear to the clients. Make the research on the existing websites Study on existing website with security enhancements Figure 2.1 this is one of the security enhancements that what Digi company had implemented. To key in username and password must through provided clicking the button provided. Figure 2.2 this figure show the second example of security enhancements. The figure 2.1 and 2.2 given on the top is the some part of the website of Lelong and Digi company in Malaysia how they operation their businesses.Lelong.com users can use standard or secure mode in security position. For the Digi company, they design a simple virtual keyboard on the registration webpage to avoid the data keyed by user can be protected from malicious key logger a harmful application which has been designed to capture keystrokes. Security enhancements developed for to prevent intruders go into certain network or user account to store media to view or retrieve the client information. With different security features implemented, users might attract with those security development. 3.2 Investigate the Security Issue 3.3 Digital Signatures and Certificates A digital signature is a common a way to enable that an electronic document (e-mail, spreadsheet or text file, etc.) is authentic. Authentic refer to that you know who created the document and know that it has not been changed in any way since that person created it. Digital signatures bound on several types of encryption to enable the authentication. Encryption is the process of data taken of computer, when sending to another computer and encoding it into a form that only the destination computer will be able to decode. Authentication is to process of ensure that information is coming from a trusted source. There are several ways to authenticate a person or information on a computer: Password The function of username and password provide the most usual method of authentication. Users can key in their name and password when prompted by the computer. It checks the username and password against a secure file to confirm. If either the username or password does not match with default registered, then users are not allowed further access. Checksum Possible only one of the origin methods of ensuring that data is accurate, checksums will provide a form of authentication when the wrong checksum suggests that the data has been compromised. The checksum is remaining in one of two ways. Assume the checksum of packet is around 1 byte long, which means that it can provide a maximum value of 255. If either the sum in other bytes in the packet is 255 or less then, then the checksum will contains that exact value. Yet if the sum of other bytes is more than 255, so the checksum is the remainder of the total value after it has been divided by 256. The example given for following page: Byte 1 Byte 2 Byte 3 Byte 4 Byte 5 Byte 6 Byte 7 Byte 8 Total Checksum 212 232 54 135 244 15 179 80 1151 127 1151 divided by 256 equals 4.496 (round to 4) Multiply 4 X 256 which equals 1024 1151 minus 1024 equals 127 3.4 Digital certificates To enforce the public key encryption on a large scale, such as a secure Web server might need, requires a different approach. This is where digital certificates come in. A digital certificate is basically a bit of information that says the Web server is trusted by self-reliant source as known as a Certificate Authority. The Certificate Authority pretends as the agent that both computers trust. It ensures that each computer is in fact who they say they are and then provides the public keys for each computer. 3.5 Secure Socket Layers (SSL) In network environment, SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. SSL is a protocol that developed for sending information securely over the Internet. Many websites use SSL for secure for their sites, such as user account pages and online checkout. Usually, when you are asked to log on on a website, the consequent page is secured by SSL. SSL encrypts the data being transmitted so that a third party cannot retrieve while the transmission and view the data being transmitted. Only the administrator and the secure server are able to recognize the data. SSL help to keeps information such like name, address, and credit card between users and merchant to which users are providing it. Without this kind of protocol, online shopping would be far too insecure to be practical. When you view a Web address starting with http or https indicates the website is secure. These websites frequent using SSL certificates to verify their authenticity. 3.6 Virtual Keyboard for Web Interface Figure 3 this is the layout of virtual keyboard A virtual keyboard development is to increase the security for those users had their own user account for several E-commerce services website by entering the username and password. Besides that, the virtual keyboard login is an application  in which a data entry layout will change once the page is refreshed. In general, virtual keyboard can help protect from malicious Spywares and Trojan Programs designed to capture keystrokes. Consequently, you can reduce risk of use and allow secure and safer authentication. Chapter 4: System Analysis 4.1 Fact-Finding Fact-finding is the method that used for the system developers to collect the information from groups or individuals. In this method, the analyst sits face to face with peoples and records their feedback or responses. As the interviewer, they can clear and cross check the doubts there itself by collected information with accurate and reliable. Through the fact-finding, it would make their business requirements such as good under ­standing of the organization and its business objectives. 4.2 User requirement 4.2.1 System Administrator The duty of system administrator usually plays an important role to managing the information, installing, updating, supporting and maintaining serves for computer systems. For this section, the proposed system administrator is responsible to manage the books information, tag prices and quantity arrangement for consumers. Input /Modify the control Administrator allows change the information, uploading the photo or catalogue, updating and responding to service outages and other problems. Maintaining the server performance and efficiency. Output The catalogue, book titles, prices, and information will show. Process Processing the Storage Locate the information of books ,CD or DVD or prices in the database Performance None 4.2.2 MPH bookstores consumers The consumers will frequently enter the MPH bookstores official websites to view the latest updates and informations such as promotion or new release. The reason why of MPH launched this online shopping or e-business is to make their consumers shopping with more convenient way. Input Click on the option and it will automatically add to the cart. Output Login Username and Password/ forgot your password option. The proposed system will display the appropriate information of the books once the consumers had selected through the options that available on website interface. Process The book information or prices label will get directly from the database. Control None Performance None Chapter 5.0 Choose on appropriate tools or software 5.1Overview For this chapter, the author had review on available tools on the internet is performed in order to select suitable tools to be used to develop the system. 5.2 Study on available development software. 5.2.1 Java Figure 4.1 this is interface of java programming language Java is a high-level programming language that developed by Sun Microsystems. Java was originally called OAK, it was develop for several proposes such like handheld devices and set-top boxes. Oak was unsuccessful so in 1995 Sun changed the name to Java and modified the language to take benefits of the burgeoning World Wide Web. Java is an object-oriented language which is similar to C++, but simplified to get rid of language features that cause common programming errors. Java source code files (a .java extension) are compiled into a format called byte code (files with a .class extension), which can then be performed by a Java interpreter. Compiled Java code can execute on most computers because Java interpreters and runtime environments, known as Java Virtual Machines (VM), available for major operating systems, including Windows OS, the Macintosh OS, and UNIX/LINUX. Byte code able to converted directly into machine language instructions by using just-in-time compiler (JIT). In general, the purpose of java programming language with a number of features those make the language suitable for use on the World Wide Web. Small Java applications are called Java applets and able downloaded from a Web server and execute your computer by a Java-compatible Web browser, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Netscape Navigator. 5.2.2 ASP.NET   Figure 4.2 this is interface of asp.net programming language ASP.NET, the next version of ASP, is a programming framework used to create enterprise-class Web Applications. These applications are accessible on a global basis leading to efficient information management. Microsoft has been continuously working to shift its focus from Windows-based platforms to the Internet. As a result, Microsoft introduced ASP (Active Server Pages) in November 1996. ASP offered the efficiency of ISAPI applications along with a new level of simplicity that made it easy to understand and use. However, ASP script was an interpreted script and essentially  unstructured code and was difficult to debug and maintain.  The web contain many different technologies, software integration for Web development was complicated and required to understand many different technologies. An application grew bigger in size and became more complex, the number of lines of  source code in ASP applications increased  attractive and was difficult to maintain.  Therefore, the arch itecture was needed that would allow development of Web applications in a structured and consistent way. (Asp.net, 2004) 5.2.3 Visual Basic.Net   Figure 4.3 this is interface of visual basic.net programming language Microsoft-created object-oriented programming language as known as Visual Basic.NET which combines features of Microsofts .NET Framework and Web Services, such as SOAP, which is originally, developed using XML. Visual Basic.NET, which thought would be a sequel to Visual Basic 6.0, has a totally different language core. There is no backward or forward compatibility between Visual Basic 6.0 projects and code and Visual Basic.NET projects and code. Visual Basic.NET is a language developed to create .NET applications, Windows or Web applications, and Web Services. (Visual Basic, 2006) 5.3 Comparison on Java, Asp.net and Visual Basic Java Advantages In general, advantages of Java are platform-independent: One of the most significant advantages of Java is its ability to move easily from one computer system to another. The ability to run the same program on many different systems is crucial to World Wide Web software, and Java succeeds at this by being platform-independent at both the source and binary levels. Java is distributed: Distributed computing involves several computers on a network working together. Java is designed to make distributed computing easy with the networking capability that is inherently integrated into it. Disadvantages For the performance, Java can be perceived as significantly slower and more memory-consuming than natively compiled languages such as C or C++. Java is predominantly a single-paradigm language. However, with the addition of static imports in Java 5.0 the procedural paradigm is better accommodated than in earlier versions of Java and default interface and feel of GUI design is too complicated. ASP.NET   Advantages The latest set of controls that are able to use in the same way with HTML control like Calendars controls. It will execute without the requirement of ActiveX Control and without bringing up issues of Browser compatibility. ASP .NET Server take over the Controls that have an object model from the traditional HTML and provide single set of properties and methods that can make the change of the outlook and behavior of the controls and reduces the amount of code required to build huge applications. Disadvantages The control of Asp.net coding is inbuilt with the web server controls so users have no much of direct control on these controls. Visual Basic Advantages For the visual basic language, its simple language. Some program that might be difficult to program with other language can be done in Visual Basic very easily. It is because Visual Basic is so popular; beginner can find the answers to your programming problems much more easily than other programming languages. Disadvantages The disadvantages of Visual Basic are powerful language, but its not suit for programming really sophisticated games and slower than other languages. 5.4 Study on available data management software Microsoft SQL Server 2008 SQL Server 2008 delivers on Microsofts Data Platform vision by helping any organization to manage data, place, and time management. It provides can store data from structured, semi-structured, and unstructured documents, such as images and rich media, directly within the database. SQL Server 2008 hand over a rich set of integrated services that enable you to do more with your data such as query, search, synchronize, report, and analyze. SQL Server 2008 provides the highest levels and advanced of security, reliability, and scalability for your applications. To take newer advantage of new opportunities in today is fast-moving into business world, companies need the capacity to create and deploy data-driven solutions quickly. SQL Server 2008 is reduces time management, cost of management and development of applications. SQL server 2008 is able to access the data from your enterprise and provide control over your data, no matter where its stored from the largest servers within the data center to desktops to mobile devices. SQL Server 2008 provides a comprehensive platform that delivers intelligence where your users want it. For the Information workers can access data directly using the tools they use every day, such as the Microsoft Office system that provide by Microsoft. (MicrosoftSqlServer2008, 2010) 5.5 The chosen software to be used for the proposed system The author selects Microsoft SQL Server 2008 as the database management system and Visual basic language design for web interface. It is because SQL Server 2008 provides the common function by helping manage the data, place and time and Visual Basic is easier to learn and popular compare with other language such as (Java or C++ ) and yet it is enough powerful programming language to develop certain system. SQL provides the highest levels of security, reliability and scalability. In other way, the reason why the author chosen the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 is because it has the ability to support with the system which means that be able to connect with Visual Basic language tool that has been chosen as the development tool or software for proposed system. REFERENCES (BACKGROUND READING MATERIALS): MPH Bookstores Sdn Bhd, 2009, MPHonline, online, cited on 13th Jan 2010. Available from: http://www.mphonline.com/welcome/welcome.aspx MPH online, 2009, About the MPH, online, cited on 15th Jan 2010.Available from: http://www.mphonline.com/help/aboutus.aspx Mariosalexandrou, 2010 E-commerce definition, online , cited on 20th Jan 2010.Available from: http://www.mariosalexandrou.com/definition/ecommerce.asp Freetutes, 2008 Learn Visual Basic online, cited 15th Feb 2010. Available from http://visualbasic.freetutes.com/ Techterms, 2010 ASP.Net online, cited 17th Feb 2010. Available from http://www.techterms.com/definition/aspnet Java,2010 Definition of Java ,cited 13th Feb 2010. Available from http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=Javai=45557,00.asp Microsoft, 2010 Microsoft SQL Server 2008, cited 14th Feb 2010. Available from http://blogs.technet.com/dataplatforminsider/archive/2008/01/25/microsoft-sql-server-2008-roadmap-clarification.aspx. Digi, 2010 Online Customer Service, cited 22th Feb 2010. Available from https://www.digi.com.my/sso/try_login?v=1pid=2pssid=379e2d9011216b706f93f84247ce3e88baca7d3150cd33bfdb5f6c01e0699d4dprid=19a30572366f1c0df3b4cea76759a1afpurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.digi.com.my%2Focs%2Fmyaccount%2Fmain%2Fhome.do%3Fssologin%3Dtruecurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.digi.com.my ***END OF REPORT***