Advantages of Participative Leadership Style Are Discussed Below

Question: Discuss About the Advantages of Participative Leadership Style? Answer: Introducation: While the course curriculum my university has conducted a Big Five Personality Test in which I had participated. My career goal is always to lead a group of motivated people. Therefore, participation in the personality test has been encouraging for me to get an insight of my leadership potentials and myself confidence. I always believed that I have always polished by expertise to be a successful leader in the near future; therefore, the test can be an effective tool that would mirror my both positive and negative qualities before me. Depending on the result of the personality test, I can take my further decisions. During my internship program, I had been grouped up with three other members from my university. We were assigned to a specific territory and asked to visit all the stores of the specific company. Our primary responsibility was to supervise the operations and employees behaviours towards the customers. On the other hand, our secondary responsibility was to make a presentation of the findings we derived from the store visits. Since we were fresher, thus, none of us had any knowledge in this field. I took the imitative to lead the team with the approvals of every other member. Initially, I conducted a short session with my team to explore their area of expertise, based on which I have taken further decisions. I am an extrovert person, thus always opt for public interactions and site visits. Moreover, the session further helped me to identify other members who had alike qualities of me. The rest of the members were specialised in the content domains, thus, were comfortable with the presentation part. Thus, I and my fellow partner used to visit the stores and supervised in the working environment and the employees' attitude towards customers. At the end of the day, the primary data were forwarded to the presentation team and the team prepared a professional PPT based on the delivered data. In this project, I ensured that all of our work as a team and eliminated all negative aspects that could hamper our projects quality. My leadership techniques have helped us to receive appreciation from the management and based on our presentation, the organisation had taken further action to improve its in-stores working environment. I was fortunate to get another chance to confidently help my team with my leadership abilities. In our university, we have been assigned with an NPO (non-profit organisations) project, where I along with 5 other members was clubbed in a group. Herein, we had to conduct certain activities to raise funds for the NPO stakeholders. Once again, I have taken the initiative to lead the team confidently. Two of the team members in my team were skilled artist. Therefore, I planned to utilise their skills to the maximum. I planned to purchase raw bases from the market and sell it to the customers after painting it. Myself and another member took the responsibility of exploring markets from where we could purchase the bases at minimum costs. One of the members has been assigned with the finance and book-keeping responsibilities and while another had a proficient understanding of using social media platforms. We used social media sites to promote our concept and receive valuable feedback. I plan ned to sell the product through an exhibition. Thus, the fourth members made a brilliant job in promoting each of the activities and made our concept famous amongst the social networking users. Moreover, the artists were excellent in parting the crafts. I managed to maintain coordination among the team members, which helped us to sell all the products at the maximum rate and donate the amount to the NPOs. The result of my personality test shows that I am an authoritarian leader, which characterises my traits with a high focus on tasks and less on relationships. I would like to disagree with the result of the test. While conducting both the projects, I have well-coordinated with my team members and also looked into the issue each of the members was facing with individual responsibilities. In the initial project, I had taken a firm and collective decision to explore the expertise qualities of my team members and assigned them responsibilities as per their comfort area. Whenever the team members faced the issue in their projects, I always have taken initiatives to conduct one and one session with the individual members and resole their issues. Therefore, at the end, I managed to receive appreciation from each of my team members for myself confidence. Similarly, in the second project as well I planned put task that has fit into every member specialised skills. As per the statement of Green (2016), authoritarian leaders are extremely task oriented and expect people to work as per the leaders instructions. But my leadership style in entirely different from the task result. I always have given preferences to the wills and expectations of my fellow team members. Based on the strength and potential of every member, I have confidently designed our project, which has motivated every member to show the positive and unified attitude towards the team. Therefore, I believe that my leadership qualities are categories under Team Leader" since I emphasise the equal focus on tasks, myself confidence and relationship with the fellow members. The areas I need to improve are: Sometimes, I lack in coming up with effective ideas. Sometimes, I get stressed and anxious about my performance and matching up to the expectations of my team members. Therefore, I think I tend to invest a lot of time and energy into thinking about the what-ifs rather than channelling them into productive work. This lowers me confidence. Thus, I believe that I need to increase my focus to channelize my energies in the positive and productive directions. This can effectively help me to overcome the issue of restricted ideas and help my team with productive strategies. As already discussed in the above section that I am an extrovert by nature, thus, prefer communication with people to the utmost. Sometimes, I fail to resist myself from speaking unproductive things in public. Thus, I believe that due to my extrovert nature, I remain very exposed in a public platform. Brief of the subject In the opinion of Chapman (2017), it can be identified that leadership is the significant aspects, which helps a business to maximise its efficiency and attain the future goals. In the similar context, Clark Beatty (2016) asserted that the most important skill of a leader is to have the ability to think strategically and enhance me confidence. According to Skelton (2016), a leader needs to have a concrete knowledge of the internal as well as the external scenario of organisations. The internal structures of organisations are designs based on the demands of the target customers. Therefore, the primary responsibility of a leader is to maintain a strong connection with its team members and motivate each of the members to work as per the organisational structure confidently. Areas to be developed to be a successful leader Maintaining positive attitude In the context of the present statement, Crowther Lauesen (2016) mentioned that positive tends to increase the production benchmark in an organisation. It has been identified that employees are the followers of leaders; therefore, it is highly essential for the leaders to maintain a positive attitude to imbibe the same quality amongst its team members. In the similar context, Singh et al. (2017) determined in the majority of organisations the employees are instructed to feel positive about the working environment. Therefore, in case of leaders fail to carry optimistic attitude, the same would reflect on its subordinates. Therefore, it is significantly essential for leaders to maintain its positive attitude and self-confidence to ensure that the followers remain well motivated and help the organisations to attain its future objectives. Team motivation ability In the circumstance of the present statement, Singh et al. (2017) asserted that with the passage of times, industrial competition is increasing. This is automatically increasing pressure within every organisation. According to Badewi (2016), customers are getting wider choices in the market, which is enhancing the pressure for the exiting organisation to survive the fierce competition of the market. Therefore, automatically, organisations are experimenting with in different activities and pressuring its employee for overtime. With reference to the previous context, Tacon Walters (2016) stated that the level of employee fatigue is increasing with time. It has been identified that organisations are getting more profit-centric; therefore, employees are often exploited and are not provided with the deserved payments. Thus, employees in major organisations are found demotivated, which adversely affects its final productivity margin. Therefore, the primary responsibility of a leader is to retain its employee motivation and ensure that the employees can utilise its expertise skills and self-confidence at the right places. Developing employee skill sets As per Bornman Puth (2017), employees are willing to serve organisation when management show a concerning attitude towards employee growth and development. It has been assessed that the employees can be retained in organisations where the hard works and dedications are valued. According to Haque Aston (2016), financial reward is not the only motivating factor that encourages employee retention. However, recognition appreciation, self-confidence and growth are also essential for an employee to serve an organisation with a long-term intention. Employees always expect a steady development and growth within organisations, therefore, it is the significant responsibility of a leader to make sure that each of the employees receives proper training session to polish their expertise and work with satisfaction and potential future prospects (Giles Bills, 2017). Relevant theories to develop leadership qualities In the consideration of Robertson Byrne (2016), it can be identified that participative leadership would be the best possible framework to develop leadership qualities. Participative leadershipis considered as a managerial style that tends to invite input from internal resources on the company decision making process. Herein, the staff provides relevant information regarding company issues, based on which the final decisions are taken by the management. According to Heystek (2016), the initial stage of participative leadership style is to facilitate conversations, in the second sage, the employees are allowed to share individual information and knowledge about the concerned areas (Ferreras Mndez et al. 2017). In the third stage, the employees are further encouraged by management to share ideas. In the fourth stage, all the available information is synthesised (Giles Bills, 2017). In the fifth stage, the management takes the final decision and lastly, the final decisions are communi cated back to each internal group. Figure 1: Participative leadership theory (Source: Giles Bills, 2017) The advantages of participative leadership style are discussed below: Acceptance In the participative leadership style staff readily accepts strategies and decisions that are reached by general consensus (Tian et al. 2016). This decreases the resistance, which new organisational policies might experience and speed up the procedure of implementing fresh ideas. Employees are provided with a personal stake in the success of the companies strategies for being involved in the decision-making process and helping the firm to attain its future notions (Giles Bills, 2017). Morale The staff that are allowed to have a voice in the decision-making process of a company feel personally accountable for the success of the business. The employee morale remains at a higher level as there can be an appreciation for being a part of the companys decision-making process (Ferreras Mndez et al. 2017). This automatically encourages employees to take greater responsibility on behalf of the organisation and show further commitment. The above approach increases employee retention ratio and self-confidence. Retention A participative leadership style provides employees more than just the prospect to progress its income through superior performance. It offers internal staff with the chance to be proactive in shaping the future success of the business (Ferreras Mndez et al. 2017). Thus, the chosen style allows employees to remain active in the expansion of the organisation and also encourages the potential employees to confidently serve with a long-term motive. This would lead to improve employee retention and eliminate the costs of turnover. Conclusion Remain focused It is very important for a leader to remain focus in its individual jobs. In the similar context, Robertson Byrne (2016) determined that the primary responsibility of a leader ensure that all its team members utilise its expertise in the right place. Bornman Puth (2017) mentioned that team members often react negatively due to the excessive pressure of the organisation, however, it is the sole responsibility of the leader to remain focused on the positive sides and guide each f the leaders to carry a positive attitude within the organisation. As per Robertson Byrne (2016), leaders need to be focused on its professional responsibility and remain confident to increase the productivity of the organisation. Therefore, the specific context can be an effective action plan that can help a leader to be successful in the near future. Leaders always need to have creative ideas. It has been discussed in the above context that leaders often get pressurised by the negative attitude and reactions of its subordinates. Therefore, in the maximum percentages of times, leaders are often found to follow the traditional techniques, which tend to serve little advantage towards organisations (Ferreras Mndez et al. 2017). In the statement of Bornman Puth (2017), it can be identified that creative thinking is effectively important for an organisation to survive the competitive scenario and enhance the self confidence of resources. Bornman Puth (2017) mentioned that leaders shall always encourage employees to get creative through to the business. Since most organisations adopt traditional techniques, therefore, the probability to reach stagnancy is high. Against the latter context, Stanley Carvalho (2016) mentioned that leaders often get suppressed by the external pressure of the market; therefore, in the majority of times, the leadership styles are progressed as per the flow of the traditional method. Hence, it has been identified that initially leaders emphasise on creative solutions, but with the passage of time the level of pressure increases. Thus, since traditional methods are implemented by peers in the industry as well, thus, the leaders find it safe to resolve its operational issue through the well acceptable methods. Empathy A leader needs to have an empathetic attitude towards its team members. As per Lorincov et al. (2016), leaders can form a strong bond with its team members, when the issues and problems of the subordinates are felt. In a similar manner, the employees tend to follow the instructions of leaders, when the leaders tend to understand employees' issues and work on behalf. Display loyalty, confidence and commitment In the circumstance of the present statement, Domingues et al. (2017) mentioned that successful leaders always remain committed to its vision and values. The leaders always need to maintain a transparent communication with its subordinates. Since the employees tend to follow each of the qualities and instructions of its leaders, therefore, the leaders need to be transparent with its ideas, self-confidence and objectives. This can help the employees to decide whether to supports the leaders strategies or not. The leaders also need to show commitment towards its team and the organisation. It has been determined that a leader always needs to maintain a balance between its responsibilities towards organisations and relationship with its fellow members (Ferreras Mndez et al. 2017). The balance can help a leader to successful convey the organisational objectives to its team and motivate the members to align its career motives with the organisational goals. References Badewi, A. (2016). The impact of project management (PM) and benefits management (BM) practices on project success: Towards developing a project benefits governance framework.International Journal of Project Management,34(4), 761-778. Bornman, D. A. J., Puth, G. (2017). Investigating employee perceptions of leadership communication: a South African study.Journal of Contemporary Management,14(1), 1-23. Chapman, T. (2017). Journeys and destinations: using longitudinal analysis to explore how third sector organisational governance helps to navigate sustainable futures.Voluntary Sector Review,8(1), 3-24. Clark, K., Beatty, S. (2016). Making hospital governance healthier for nurses.Asia Pacific Journal of Health Management,11(2), 27. Crowther, D., Lauesen, L. (2016).Accountability and Social Responsibility: International Perspectives. Emerald Group Publishing. Domingues, A. R., Lozano, R., Ceulemans, K., Ramos, T. B. (2017). Sustainability reporting in public sector organisations: Exploring the relation between the reporting process and organisational change management for sustainability.Journal of Environmental Management,192, 292-301. Ferreras Mndez, J. L., Sanz Valle, R., Alegre, J. (2017). Transformational leadership and absorptive capacity: an analysis of the organisational catalysts for this relationship.Technology Analysis Strategic Management, 1-16. Giles, D., Bills, A. (2017). Designing and using an organisational culture inquiry tool to glimpse the relational nature of leadership and organisational culture within a South Australian primary school.School Leadership Management,37(1-2), 120-140. Green, M. (2016). Organisational Governance and Accountability: Do We Have Anything to Learn from Studying African Traditional Societies?. InAccountability and Social Responsibility: International Perspectives(pp. 75-100). Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Haque, A. U., Aston, J. (2016). A relationship between occupational stress and organisational commitment of IT sectors employees in contrasting economies.Polish Journal of Management Studies,14(1), 95-105. Heystek, J. (2016). Educational Leadership and Organisational Development and Change in a Developing Country.South African Journal of Education,36(4), 1-2. Lorincov, S., Hitka, M., BalÃ… ¾ov, Ã… ½. (2016). CORPORATE CULTURE IN SLOVAK ENTERPRISES AS A FACTOR OF HRM QUALITY-CASE STUDY.International Journal for Quality Research,10(4).56 Robertson, G., Byrne, M. (2016). Getting gender balance'unstuck': Taking action with a new strategic approach.Governance Directions,68(2), 79. Singh, S., Naeem, T., Darwish, T. K., Batsakis, G. (2017). Corporate Governance and Tobins Q as a Measure of Organisational Performance.British Journal of Management.2(1), 89. Singh, S., Naeem, T., Darwish, T. K., Batsakis, G. (2017). Corporate Governance and Tobins Q as a Measure of Organisational Performance.British Journal of Management. 5(3), 78. Skelton, C. (2016). Chartered secretary: NDIS: Is your approach to governance ready for the new environment?.Governance Directions,68(8), 458. Stanley, D., Carvalho, S. (2016). Organisational Culture, Clinical Leadership and Congruent Leadership.Clinical Leadership in Nursing and Healthcare: Values into Action, 109. Tacon, R., Walters, G. (2016). Modernisation and governance in UK national governing bodies of sport: how modernisation influences the way board members perceive and enact their roles.International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics,8(3), 363-381. Tian, M., Risku, M., Collin, K. (2016). A meta-analysis of distributed leadership from 2002 to 2013: Theory development, empirical evidence and future research focus.Educational Management Administration Leadership,44(1), 146-164.

Strategic Human Resource Management Meaning and Benefits

Introduction In the late 1970s for the first time strategic human resource management started getting attention from the researchers. The focus of the modern human resource practice shifted from personnel management or administration to other newer concepts that can help the organization to manage their human resource is a much better manner. Strategic planning process in human resource management in short HRM contributes in several different ways to the organization like evaluation of performance, planning, selection, training and wage management of the employees (Armstrong 2007). In many organizations today strategic implementation process is integrated with HRM systems. The human resource departments today are learning modern strategic and proactive planning methods and thus has helped the organizations to unmitigated the function of the employees beyond their traditional activity limits. It is now believed both in the world of business as well as in the academic that a strong, motivated and well trained human resource of an organization can give them competitive edge over the others but the human resource planning should be well aligned with the strategic planning of the company (Ulrich 2007). The success of the strategic plan of any organization greatly gets reduced when all the initiatives related to growth, merger or acquisition or providing customer services do not considerably take care of the human resource practices like that of staffing, training, rewarding, motivating and having proper communication between the employees and management (Ulrich 2007). Consistent employee performance aligned with objectives of the organization of capabilities of the organization for future to meet those objectives is not considered while looking into human resource supply demand forecast might adversely affect the company in the market. Planning is a crucial part of strategy because it helps the company to find out the gaps that exist in the present capabilities that might affect the company to successfully implement all its strategies in the market or if there is surplus in the capabilities found it helps to enhance the efficiencies and also help to check whether the valuable resou rces within the organization are underutilized due to inappropriate human resource practices. Thus it is quite clear that organizations today link human resource management practices with strategy in order to develop and implement the right kind of organizational initiatives and objectives (Butenski Harari 2004). Some authors have urged that human resource practices are critical for HR planning of an organization and are an important aspect to have clearer focus and help to understand the areas that are critical for attaining success. Several methods of HR planning have been developed and some organizations have customised them according to their requirements to attain success. It should be noted that effective planning in HR depends on the context of its usage (Ansoff 2009). The diverse methods of proper HR planning are suitable only in the light of the specific objectives. Functional objectives look for existing capabilities and extrapolate active trends, with scrupulous stress on impending work needs. These objectives highlight the organisation s skill to manage implementation, using past and present HR costs to add to budgets and other organizing mechanisms. A second group of objective falls in the rubric of what textbooks classically refers to as HR planning. The principal objective of conventional HR planning is to integrate forecasts about the kinds and numbers of workforce who will be required to meet up longer-term demands, including a variety of programmes such as career development, executive training, external recruiting, succession plan, employee assessment and departure programmes (Butenski Harari 2004). Functional data enable HR planners to precisely forecast the costs and possibility of HR initiatives on the basis of acknowledged parameters. These data can be engaged inside HR planning to ground forecasts about demand and supply. In totting up, HR planners call for precise operational information about the employees in order to comprehend the future implication of meticulous projections. For instance, a deficit or a surplus of a particular type of ability means slight with no knowledge of how that expertise contributes to the resource transfer practice, what it overheads are and whether other expertise or technologies can be used in that place (Schuler 2009). Both these kinds of objectives and its detailed knowledge helps the organization to successfully do its strategic planning and implement it is various ways within the realm of the organization. For instance, if a company lack in HR planning then the strategies that it has planned to adopt while there are changes in the environment like it the organization have employees with obsolete skills due to change in technologies will force the company to spend extensively in acquiring the right kind of expertise through dicey training and recruitment activities. Similarly, functional data related to the outcomes of the HR performances, appraisal practice are essential in determining whether changes are required to find potential individuals with leadership capabilities that will be required in the future if any change occur in the business environment (Ulrich 2007). The HR strategic planning process also helps the organization to determine whether with the existing resources in hand is it pos sible to achieve the set strategic objectives of the company. It helps the company to identify or reconsider the core functional competencies of the organization. This might also have primary implications on the overall strategic direction of the organization. A refined HR planning process can be annoying if it does not match with the overall strategic planning of the company. Thus it helps to bring the entire organizational focus to set a whole new set of objectives that are associated with the strategic HR planning process. It also involves the managers in developing and evaluating all the existing HR practices of the company. It also provides the HR planners with all the significant and constructive information that has been collected via forecasting and functional HR evaluation. This might contribute valuable insight for overall strategic planning of the organization. It also helps to have a regular communication flow with the organization between the management and the employee s and helps them to keep themselves updated with the requirements of the changing environment and also seek commitments from the staffs to attain the said objectives of the companies and check priority issues (Schuler 2009). Key challenges faced by Researchers and Practitioners Strategic Human Resource management and organizational performance is not as easy as it seems. The challenge of recruitment, retention, motivation, and training the employees more often than not becomes very challenging. In the case of the industry that is service oriented the onus is on the employees. Therefore the employees are expected to give service in a manner that will increase the customer base. In case of the organization that is linked with marketing, the challenge is to bring the value to the end user (Lado Wilson, 1994). It has also been seen in researches that the HR managers find it difficult to allocate the budget on for the strategic activities and keep the pace with the finances of the organization. This is because the training and development programmes are created from the finances of the company that affects the bottom line profits in return (Simons, 2002). Now a days the challenges for the HR managers are double edged, on one hand they are expected to show the o rganization the worth of strategic HR activities, on the other hand they are to create the value for the investments made. This is possible with the help of the effective employee practices that create value. It is often a challenge that the organization creates efficiencies and creates competitiveness even in the industry that has lean margins. Some of the researches on the SHRM and the Organizational performance have mentioned that the biggest challenge is the retention of the employees. The employees are often lured to new avenues for growth however retaining them is very cost effective for the company. Another challenge that is often faced by the organization is the creation of leaders and leadership qualities in the firms. The leader is a motivator and can get the work done from the employees. In the absence of the leader the vision and organizational objectives gets missed. The role of the SHRM is to develop the future leaders. Training and development of the employees is equally critical as is recruitment and selection of the employees. The recruitment and selection is the process of finding right employees meeting the organizational targets while there development is beneficial for the organizational performance. Conclusion It can be concluded that strategic human resource planning not only recognise the organizations capabilities in terms of resources to fulfil all the set objectives but also helps the organization to have its contingent plan ready if there is any change in the business environment. It also helps the organization to have a strong and performance focused human resource that will act as a added advantage to the company along with the other resources that the company have. It also helps to identify the gaps that are present and might act as a barrier in the path of successful implementation of the strategies and also keep the HR planner ready with all the tools and methods that are crucial for the organizations success. It should also be noted that a proper and appropriate strategic human resource planning also helps the company to fight competition in the market and stay ahead of competition in this highly dynamic and completely volatile marketing environment (Butler et.al. 2005). References Ansoff, I. (2009). `Critique of Henry Mintzberg the design school: reconsidering the basic premises of strategic management. Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 12, pp. 449-461. Armstrong, J. S. (2007). `The value of formal planning for strategic decisions: review of empirical research. Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 3, pp. 197-211. Butenski, C. F. Harari, O. (2004). `Models vs reality: an analysis of 12 human resource planning systems. Human Resource Planning, Vol. 6, pp. 11-17. Butler, J. E., Ferris, G. R. Napier, N. K. (2005). Strategy and Human Resource Management, Cincinnati: South-Western Publishing Co. Lado, A. A., Wilson, M. C. (1994). Human resource systems and sustained competitive advantage: A competency-based perspective. Academy of Management Review, 19, 699-727. Schuler, R. S. (2009). `Repositioning the human resource function: transformation or demise? Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 49-60. Simons, T. (2002). The high cost of low trust. Harvard Business Review, 80(9), 18-19. Ulrich, D. (2007). `Strategic human resource planning: why and how? Human Resource Planning, Vol. 10 (1), pp. 37-56.

The #1 Left-Handed Scholarship

The #1 Left-Handed Scholarship SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips You’ve struggled all your life with scissors. You felt distinctly discriminated against during handwriting classes in grade school. And shaking hands feels downright unnatural. In short, you’ve suffered. And everyone knows that for every challenge out there, there’s a college scholarship to reward those who have struggled through it. Read on to hear about scholarships for you long-suffering lefties. Unique Scholarships for Unique People Did you know that one of the top search terms for scholarships is â€Å"left handed scholarships†? There is certainly a lot of demand, and many students have heard rumors of scholarships that will reward them for interesting physical attributes that they were born with. In fact, there are several scholarships out there for tall people, short people, fat people, healthy people, disabled people, and people who are visually impaired. And it’s true – there’s also a scholarship out there for you lefties! Congratulations! But let me emphasize that: there is A scholarship out there for you lefties. As in singular. One. And it’s from a college you’ve probably never heard of. You’re Just Not That Special Just kidding. You are special. Really. â€Å"But why only one?!† I can hear you shouting despairingly. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but left-handed people are just not that special. The government doesn't consider left-handed people to be handicapped. Left-handed people haven't really suffered in any significant way. And they haven’t been discriminated against apart from in the relatively minor ways mentioned at the beginning of this article. In fact, about 10percent of the population is left-handed. There are approximately 700 million of you in the world. I’ll repeat: You are just not that special. (At least, not because of your dominant hand. Otherwise, you're a snowflake! Promise!) The good news is now that you know this, you can move on and start finding better scholarships. If you're determined to get an unusual scholarship, check out our list. There are alsothousands of scholarships out there and you are most likely qualified for at least some of them already, and others you can work to get qualified for. In short, the sooner you stop looking for left-handed scholarships, the better. The Only Left-Handed Scholarship But in case you're not convinced that you should seek money elsewhere, read on to hear about the only scholarship in the country for left-handed people. The Frederick and Mary F. Beckley Scholarship is awarded to one or two left-handed students each year at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. Never heard of Juniata? According to a press release on their web site, this is quite common. Many students only learn about the college when they are looking for a left-handed scholarship. In case you would like to learn more, Juniata is a quite strong liberal arts college with about 1,600 students. In addition to offering the country’s only left-handed scholarship, they are unique for having â€Å"Programs of Emphasis† instead of majors, a very eco-friendly campus, and accomplished men’s and women’s Division III volleyball teams. They also host some fun annual events, including a Pig Roast and the Mr. Juniata Pageant. So How Did This Scholarship Come Into Being? Back in 1919, students Frederick Beckley and Mary Francis were paired together in their tennis class because the coach thought that left-handed people couldn’t play tennis as well as the other students. Though they ended up married because of this, Frederick and Mary apparently took the discriminative act to heart and set out to help future generations of Juniata students who might also be unfairly treated because of their unusual dominant hands. The final question on the Juniata’s financial aid questionnaire asks if students are right or left-handed, but students who choose the â€Å"left-handed† option don’t have to prove it. From this, demonstrated financial need, and academic record at the college (the award is only for sophomores and above), a few students are chosen every year for the award. Once students receive the scholarship, they continue to receive the scholarship yearly until they graduate. In case it isn’t obvious, you cannot receive this scholarship unless you attend Juniata College. And seeing as there is no application process, even if you do choose to attend Juniata College to be awarded for your left-handedness, you can’t do much to ensure you get this scholarship except do well academically. The awards range between $1,000 and $1,500. Juniata’s estimated cost of attendance is $51,740 per year. In conclusion, Juniata may be a great fit for you – for a lot of reasons that do not include this scholarship. But if money is a big consideration, and being left-handed is your only distinguishing feature, it seems like a gamble to choose this school on the off-chance that you will get awarded a minor scholarship for three of the four years. What’s Next? As I’ve said, there are hundreds of thousands of scholarships out there. Check out our list of crazy scholarships if you would like to be unique. Many of them are open to all students willing to put in a bit of effort. If you can't get a full ride, don't give up! There are a lot of otherscholarships out there based on extracurriculars, such as community service, instead of academics. Not sure how much college would cost without a free ride? Check outthe real cost of attending college. Have you heard about a left-handed scholarship that we missed? Let us know in the comments. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

How to Make Homemade Gel Air Fresheners

How to Make Homemade Gel Air Fresheners You can buy gel air fresheners, but if you make your own, you can choose your own scent, color, and decorations. Its easy, fun and takes less than an hour to make! For holiday appeal, consider layering different colored gels or using seasonal fragrances (e.g., pine or cinnamon for Christmas). Ingredients 2 cups distilled wateressential oil/fragrance4 packages unflavored gelatinempty jarfood coloring (optional)mold inhibitor (optional) How to Make a Gel Air Freshener Heat 1 cup of distilled water to boiling.Stir in 4 packages of unflavored gelatin (e.g., Knox) until dissolved.Remove the mixture from heat and stir in the other 1 cup water.Add 10-20 drops of essential oil or other concentrated fragrance. If desired, add food coloring to tint your gel. You may also wish to add a mold inhibitor, such as 1-2 T salt OR a small amount of potassium sorbate OR a splash of vodka.Pour the gel into clean baby food jars or other small, decorative containers.The gel will set at room temperature, although you can place the air fresheners in the refrigerator for a quick set (and scented fridge).Decorate your jars as desired and enjoy! Useful Tips This project requires heat, so adult supervision is required.Feel free to scale the recipe up or down to make the amount of gel you need (e.g., 1 cup water to 2 pkg gelatin).If you wish, you can (carefully) dissolve gelatin in concentrated liquid potpourri (no other ingredients needed) to make your air fresheners. Use a ratio of 1 cup liquid to 2 packages gelatin.You can make multi-colored gels by pouring a new color over one which has already set up (like making a layered gelatin dessert).

Marketing Research- Report on service encounters Assignment

Marketing Research- Report on service encounters - Assignment Example Based on the textbook learning about service marketing, the experiences will be categorised and aging theories will be related to the encounters. The study will be divided in two parts, in this part experience of the service encounters will be highlighted and in the second part, the theories and classifications will be done. Along with that a suitable conclusion and recommendations will also be provided. Service Encounters This section of the report covers the description of the various service deliveries I have encountered in the last week. Although I have come across various service encounters in the recent past, only six of them will be described. The service encounters ranging from banking to tourism services. I have decided to only highlight those service encounters that actually offered something to learn from that experience. Also it should be noted that each of the service encounter that I proposes to shed light on are from different sectors. The entire segment of my service encounters can be found in the appendix section of this study (Refer to Appendix section). PART II Introduction Service marketing is considerably a new concept of marketing and is often dubbed as the subfield of marketing. Service marketing typically refers to the business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) services (Storbacka, Strandvik and Gronroos, 1994). The notion and real life application of services marketing are evident in sectors such as travel, telecommunication, health care and financial services to name a few. The study is meant for the purpose of understanding the nature of services and to test the viability of the statement ‘service customers is a core competency that marketing managers must develop’. In the section of the study, I will reflect upon my experience of service delivery and will try to relate the same with the theories portrayed by scholars across the world. Lastly, suitable conclusion to the study will be drawn and along with th at recommendation will be provided. Service Classification It is an imprudent act to generalise the concept of services because the services offered by the companies greatly differs. The differences in the services of two companies become more visible when these companies belong to different industries. According to industry experts and academicians, one of the wisest approaches to segment the services of the firms is to use marketing relevant characteristics (Lovelock, Patterson, and Wirthz, 2010). In general, the services are classified on the basis of various factors such as the strategic implication of the characteristics of the services by considering the fact that customers are involved in the production process. The services can be classified as the tangibility/intangibility of the service process, on the basis of the direct service recipients, the place in which the service is being delivered, on the basis of customization and standardization, relationship with the customer, discrete and continuous services, and high & low contact services. In the context of my personal service encounters, I will choose the degree of tangibility or intangibility involved in the process of service delivery. This basis of classification describes the fact that whether the services being offered by the company involves anything physical or the process is more intangible. In my cases, all the services are intangible and but involves different

Answers to 6 questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Answers to 6 questions - Essay Example Majority of the business oriented network sites have the profile of its members optimized for search engines and this has several benefits for the social network members. The member has the ability to control the business profile including the listing that will appear on the search engine results of the company. A business with a link is able to benefit from the authority especially if the business oriented social network has Google or any other search engine. On the contrary, enterprise social networks mainly focus on the various social networks for businesses and individuals that have the same business interests. An ESN is enterprise social software and in most circumstances regarded as an Enterprise 2.0 component used by various businesses for commercial purposes. ESN has corporate intranet alterations and various classic software stages that many large companies use to organize message sending and receiving, collaboration among other intranet features. ESN are thought to include standard social external service network which is essential in generating visibility for an organization (Thaw, 2013, p. 907). Popular mobile gambling has become popular after the business started to collect and send unwanted contents; the business has become a legitimate business especially in small islands. The reason behind this is that the carriers of the business have set guidelines and best practices for the mobile industry; this has been fruitful in developing these regions. Mobile gambling sites located in Small Island are considered to have a lot of integrity and this is evident from its history, trustworthiness and the security they put on a customer’s money (Yani-de-soriano et al., 2012, p.481). The online sites are similar to that of the real casinos while the services of others are much better, majority of this casinos offer the clients the opportunity to win cash easily as compared to the brick and mortar casinos. The mobile gambling sites offer a variety of sof tware features to its large users and this serves the work of satisfying the different types of customers. The mobile casinos are currently favorable because they have the best genres of real money casino games represented in the mobile gambling site. All that is required is to have the desired game downloaded and one can play it from any portable gaming device, such games include video poker, and many of these games come with bonuses that are designed the gamer enjoys a unique mobile experience. Botnets have the ability of turning computers into zombies they used as attackers for various sites, spreading email spam or stealing information that is important. When the PC is turned into a zombie, the malicious nature of the bots will be hidden from the owner. It is possible to cultivate thousands of botnet networks to thousands of computers and this is by commanding a bot herder who guides the computers to commit crimes, spams, and accessing a single site in order to shut it down rapi dly; this creates false traffic to the site which eventually inflates standing, adware spyware while spreading botnet to other PCs. Botnets evil forms of work distributed over computers and the power of processors are awesome forces botnet herders seek for new ways to use this power in gaining money and clout (Young et al., 2007, p. 281). Computers are becoming more powerful and prevalent and this creates more opportunity for the

Analysis of Cement Industry in India

Analysis of Cement Industry in India INTRODUCTION People invest in stocks to make their money grow. And to help investors identify the suitable and the appropriate way to invest, there are various modes of analysis. A number of approaches have been developed over time. One most important analytical approach among them is EIC analysis (E for economy, I for industry and C for company). EIC analysis is also sometimes referred to as Fundamental Analysis or the Top Down approach to Fundamental analysis. . In this approach, the investment decisions are taken on the basis of the strength of the economy, industry and company. The major objective of undergoing a project on EIC analysis or top down approach to fundamental analysis is to answer the question as What to buy. At economy level, fundamental analysis will focus on the economic indicators of the country to assess the present and future growth of the economy. Major economic indicators include the GDP growth rate, inflation, imports, exports, monetary and fiscal policies, foreign exchange reserves, IIP, etc. The basic assumption is that if the economy grows, companies would do well. At the industry level, apart from economy other factors like government attitude, entry barriers, competition level, threat of potential entrants, substitute products, cost structure, foreign entrants, also affect the way an industry evolves in time and hence affects the stock prices of companies in that particular industry. This industry analysis will also include Porters five force model (wherever applicable) which will give a better approach to it. The next task to be done in the project is to identify and analyze two companies i.e. ACC and Ultratech cement Ltd. For that a number of factors will be taken into consideration, say, the companys SWOT analysis and the financials of the company. Thus, on the foundation of some major factors, this EIC analysis will analyze the overall economy, industry and company which will give a clear picture and practical approach of stock identification. The second part of the project is Technical analysis which is a method of evaluating securities by analyzing the statistics generated by market activity, such as past prices and volume. Technical analysis looks at the price movement of a security and uses this data to predict its future price movements. Thus a technical analyst approaches a security from the charts. 2. ECONOMIC ANALYSIS EIC analysis is not just about balance-sheets or analysis of a companys financial performance. It is also crucial to look at the broader picture- the macro-economic factors that may directly or indirectly affect the economy, industry and stocks of the company. Economic Analysis is the First Step in a three step security analysis process. An economic slowdown has implications for the earnings and margins of companies. At economy level, fundamental analysis will focus on the economic indicators of the country to assess the present and future growth of the economy. It aims at analyzing the overall Economy and identifying the general direction, in which the economy is heading. Although there are many macroeconomic indicators that are relevant to markets, given below are some must-track-indicators GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth rate is the most important macroeconomic indicator of a nations economic health. If the GDP is growing, so will economy, businesses, jobs and personal income. If GDP is slowing down, then businesses will hold off investing in new investments and hiring new employees, waiting to see if the economy will improve. If the GDP growth rate actually turns negative, then it means the economy is in a recession. Thus, on the basis of the GDP data, we can analyze the economy and interpret the future of Indias economy up to some extent. Given below is the data of real GDP growth rate from the year 2006 till the year 2010. In the year 2008, Indias GDP growing at 7.9%, was the lowest in three years and was indicative of slowdown in Indian economy. Recorded for the months of April-June 2008, Indias economic growth rate was 7.9% which was less than what it was at the same time last year. The economy had expanded by 7.6 per cent in the July to September quarter of 2008. Indias economic growth slowed to just 5.3 per cent in the last three months of 2008, its slowest pace of expansion in the last six years, as the global financial crisis took its toll on local manufacturers and farm output fell. The International Monetary Fund has forecast Indias economy to grow at 6.75 percent in 2009-10 and 8 percent in 2011-12 on the back of an expected pick-up in private consumption and investment. Indian economy grew 8.6 percent from January to March of 2010, keeping in line with governmental projections. During the quarter, mining and quarrying, manufacturing and trade, hotel, transport and communication saw year-on-year growth of 14 percent, 16.3 percent and 12.4 percent. The country strives to attain 8.5 percent growth of GDP in fiscal year 2010-2011 with the aim of realizing 9 percent growth in the following year. INFLATION Inflation is no stranger to the Indian economy. It is an increase in the price of a basket of goods and services that is representative of the economy as a whole. Inflation is an upward movement in the average level of prices. Because inflation is a rise in the general level of prices, it is intrinsically linked to money. It denotes too much money chasing too few goods. High rates of inflation can have critical effects on economy. It is characterized by depreciation in the value of money. Economists attribute a number of factors to inflation that can be broadly categorized under supply side factors like increased production costs and demand side factors like excessive demand created by tax cuts, cheaper borrowings etc. High rates of inflation can have serious consequences for the economy in general. Therefore, for governments all over the world, reducing movements of prices to a minimum is seen as a primary economic objective. The above effects can be exemplified by taking the current scenario of the Indian economy. Annual Inflation in India in May 2008 was 7.4% which was the highest since November 2004. As a result Industrial production growth declined to 8.6 % in February 2008 as compared to 11 % in February 2007. Thus, high inflationary rate is harmful because the value of the money falls, cost of living rises, reduces the value of savings, discourages future investment and savings and slows down the overall growth of the economy. The Indias economic story can be traced by seeing the general trend of inflation rate in the year 2008. In the Year 2008, RBI had revised its key rates several times to maintain the liquidity in the banking system. The lower interest rates will allow the banks to cut their benchmark lending rates, though the deposits will also see the reduction in interest rates. Lower commodity prices and crude oil prices is driving the Inflation on a downside. This will be wonderful as the lower inflation means, lower cost of credit, which drives the economy on the upside. For 2009, Indian inflation stood at 11.49% Y-o-Y. On March 19, 2010, the Reserve Bank of India raised its benchmark reverse repurchase rate to 3.5% percent, after this rate touched record lows of 3.25%. The repurchase rate was raised to 5% from 4.75% as well, in an attempt to curb Indian inflation. The inflation rate in India was 13.73 percent in June of 2010. This is because of the prices of pulses were up by 34.40 per cent from a year ago, milk by 21.12 per cent, fruits by 13.67 per cent, cereals by 5.41 per cent, rice by 6.76 per cent and wheat by 3.97 per cent. On 19th august, cheaper vegetables pull down inflation to 10.35%. UNEMPLOYMENT RATE India has been facing huge problem of unemployment and underemployment from years. Unemployment is much higher in urban areas than in rural areas and too women face the unemployment more. Various problems like enormous increase in the population, age, vocational unfitness and physical disabilities, technological and economic factors have caused this problem. Other problems also contribute towards unemployment. Several socio-economic problems like poverty, malnutrition, antisocial and criminal activities, drug and substance abuse, etc. are the result of ill effects of unemployment. Underemployment, Disguised unemployment, regional imbalances in the unemployment scenario in India are another important factor. The decline in job creation in agriculture has been identified as one of the important reasons behind the increasing unemployment in India. But players like TCS, BSNL WIPRO have announced their plan to hire more and more people in 2010. IMPORTS Indias merchandise imports witnessed a growth of 44.9 per cent during April-September 2008, and thereafter it showed a deceleration, reflecting the slowdown in industrial activities due to global economic crisis. The overall imports during April 2008-January 2009 at US$ 241.5 billion, recorded a lower growth of 24.4 per cent than 30.9 per cent recorded a year ago. POL imports during April 2008-January 2009 at US$ 82.1 billion, however, maintained broadly a similar growth of 30.6 per cent (31.9 per cent a year ago) reflecting the high pace of crude oil prices. Imports during January 2009 at US$ 18.5 billion also declined by 18.2 per cent for the first time during the current year 2008-09 so far, as against an increase of 64.0 per cent in January 2008, mainly due to sharp decline in oil imports. The overall imports during April 2008-January 2009 at US$ 241.5 billion, showed a growth of 24.4 per cent lower than that registered during the comparable period of previous year (31.0 per cent ) on account of deceleration in both oil and non-oil imports. Indias imports during March, 2010 were valued at US $ 27733 million (Rs.126175  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  crore) representing a growth of   67.1 per cent in dollar terms (48.4   per cent in Rupee terms)   over the level of imports valued at US $ 16597 million ( Rs. 85022 crore) in March, 2009. Oil imports during March, 2010 were valued at US $ 7730 million which was 85.2   per cent higher than oil imports valued at US $   4175 million in the corresponding period last year.  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Non-oil imports during March, 2010 were estimated at US $ 20003 million which was 61.0 per cent higher than non-oil imports of US $ 12422 million in March, 2009. EXPORTS Indias merchandise exports, after recording a steady growth of 35.3 per cent during April-August 2008, declined in all the subsequent months so far, during the current year, viz., (-12.1 per cent in October), (-9.9 per cent in November), (-1.1 per cent in December) and (-15.9 per cent in January 2009) on account of global financial turmoil and economic slowdown. With the result, the overall exports during April 2008-January 2009 at US$143 billion increased by 12.4 per cent as compared with 24.1 per cent during the corresponding period of the previous year. Exports of labor intensive sectors such as, textiles, gems and jewelers, agricultural and allied products, ores and minerals, leather products have registered decelerated growth as these sectors have been adversely affected under the impact of demand recession, mainly in the developed regions, viz., the US and the EU. Exports in2009- 2010 is 90573 crore as compared to 66169 crore in 2008-09, hence showing a growth of 36.9%. EXCHANGE RATE Since the international business environment has no universal medium of exchange, exchange rates is a necessity for international trade. Presently, both translation and conversion of foreign currency involve the use of exchange rates. Therefore, in order to gain a more through understanding of foreign currency translation, it is important to examine the nature of exchange rates and the critical role they play in the international economy. The recent Asian currency crisis demonstrates how critically exchange rates impact economic developments. Economic factors affecting exchange rates include hedging activities, interest rates, inflationary pressures, trade imbalances, and market activities. The political factors influencing exchange rates include the established monetary policy along with government action or inaction on items such as the money supply, inflation, taxes, and deficit financing. Psychological factors also influence exchange rates. These factors include market anticipation, speculative pressures, and future expectations. MONETARY AND FISCAL POLICY Fiscal Policy Riding on the path of fiscal consolidation, in February 2008, the world economy was hit by three unprecedented crises first, the petroleum price rise; second, rise in prices of other commodities; and third, the breakdown of the financial system. The combined effect of these crises of these orders is bound to affect emerging market economies and India was no exception. The first two crises resulted in serious inflationary pressure in the first half of 2008-09. Series of fiscal measures both on tax revenue and expenditure side were undertaken with the objective of easing supply side constraints. These measures were supplemented by monetary initiatives through policy rate changes by the Reserve Bank of India and contributed to the softening of domestic prices. Additional budgetary resources of Rs.1, 50,320 crore was provided as part of stimulus package and various committed liabilities of Government including rising subsidy requirement, implementation of Central Sixth Pay Commission recommendations and Agriculture Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme for Farmers contributed to the higher fiscal deficit of 6 per cent of GDP in RE 2008-09 as compared to 2.5 per cent of GDP in B.E.2008-09. The measures taken by Government to counter the effects of the global meltdown on the Indian economy, have resulted in a short fall in revenues and substantial increases in government expenditures, leading to a temporary deviation from the fiscal consolidation path mandated under the FRBM Act during 2008-09 and 2009-2010. The fiscal policy for the year 2009-2010 is continued to be guided by the objectives of keeping the economy on the higher growth trajectory amidst global slowdown by creating demand through increased public expenditure in identified sectors. Monetary policy India has rapidly integrated into the global system and has linkages with the rest of the world not just through trade channels, but also through two-way movements of capital and finance. As an integral part of a globalizing world, India cannot be expected to remain immune to a global crisis and in responding to the crisis, India has to share the uncertainty on the way forward just like the rest of the world. Both the Government and the Reserve Bank have acted to protect the economy from the adverse impact of the crisis since mid-September 2008. While the Government has announced three major fiscal stimulus packages, the endeavor of the Reserve Bank has been to provide ample rupee liquidity, ensure comfortable dollar liquidity and maintain a monetary policy environment conducive for the continued flow of credit to productive sectors. Towards this endeavor, the Reserve Bank has adopted both conventional measures such as, for example, reduction of the cash reserve ratio (CRR), as well as unconventional measures such as, for example, the dollar swap facility for banks. To improve the flow of credit to productive sectors at viable costs so as to sustain the growth momentum, the Reserve Bank signaled a lowering of the interest rate structure by significantly reducing both its key policy rates the repo rate and the reverse repo rate.   The statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) has also been reduced by one percentage point releasing funds to banks for credit deployment. In the space of just one quarter, the repo rate has been reduced from 9.0 per cent to 5.5 per cent and the reverse repo rate from 6.0 per cent to 4.0 per cent, thereby bringing down both of them to historically lowest levels. The Reserve Bank of India lowered its benchmark repurchase rate to 7.5 percent from 8 percent. At the same time the central bank also reduced the cash reserve ratio to 5.5 percent from 6.5 percent, and cut the amount of money lenders are required to keep in government bonds to 24 percent from 25 percent. But the measures taken by government and the Reserve Bank will continue to maintain vigil, monitor domestic and global developments, and restore the economy to its potential growth path. INDUSTRY ANALYSIS INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT The Indian Cement Industry with a capacity of around 125 Million Ton Per Annum (MTPA) is the fourth largest in the world after China, Japan and USA. However, the per capita consumption in the country is only around 90 kgs as compared to the world average of approx. 250 kgs. The Cement Industry is highly fragmented comprising of more than 50 players operating from more than 125 plants. The Cement Industry is cyclical and capital intensive. Cement is a key infrastructure industry. It has been decontrolled from price and distribution on 1st March, 1989 and delicensed on 25th July, 1991. However, the performance of the industry and prices of cement are monitored regularly. The constraints faced by the industry are reviewed in the Infrastructure Coordination Committee meetings held in the Cabinet Secretariat under the Chairmanship of Secretary (Coordination). Its performance is also reviewed by the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure. The Cement Industry witnessed a slow start in the FY 2005 due to change in the Government at the centre; slow down in infrastructure spending during the transition and adversities of drought like conditions in the South and West. The subsequent regaining of momentum enabled the industry clock a dispatch growth of 7% for the full year. The Cement sector appears to be on a sustainable growth path, given the strong outlook for the housing sector and the renewed momentum in infrastructure spending. The Cement sector appears to be on a sustainable growth path, given the robust outlook in Government infrastructure spending. It is expected that the industry would grow at an average 8% annual growth in the long run. The industry has witnessed consolidation in the recent years which is likely to increase with the entry of global players. Cement being an energy intensive industry; power and coal are the major cost contributors. Logistics also form a significant portion of the cost. The looming coal shortage will not only affect the cost, but also the quality of coal. Cement prices are expected to firm up across regions in the medium term on account of a better demand- supply balance and greater consolidation. The induction of advanced technology has helped the industry immensely to conserve energy and fuel and to save materials substantially. India is also producing different varieties of cement like Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC), Portland Blast Furnace Slag Cement (PBFS), Oil Well Cement, Rapid Hardening Portland Cement, Sulphate Resisting Portland Cement, White Cement etc. GROWTH PROSPECT The one Indian industry which is set for growth over the coming years is the Cement Industry. The industry is heavily dependent on 3 sectors; coal, power and transport. Energy and freight are the two major cost components. Over the last few years, while the proportion of energy cost has increased marginally, freight costs have declined. Increasing government expenditure on infrastructure sector and rising demand for commercial and residential real estate development has resulted in higher demand for cement in the country. According to a report by the ICRA Industry Monitor, the installed cement capacity is expected to increase to 241 million tones per annum by the end of 2010. It also expects that driven by higher domestic demand and increasing utilization, Indias cement industry may record an annual growth of 10% over the coming years. Taking cue of the global economic slowdown which was affecting cement companies in India last year, Governments initiative to re-impose counter-veiling duty and special counter-veiling duty this year will help provide a level playing field for domestic players. Moreover, it also appointed a coal regulator to facilitate timely and proper allocation of coal blocks to the important sectors like cement. As coal is one of the prime raw material used in cement production, this seems to be a positive move. Growth potential of cement industry can be judged by the fact that the per capita cement consumption (156 kg) in India is still well below the global average consumption (396 kg). This gap can be expected to be covered in the coming years. Besides, housing sector accounts for almost 50% of the total cement consumption in the country and the large young population will ensure that the demand for infrastructure stays put. The rising cost of energy, transportation raw material continues to pressure the industry as a whole. To sustain profitability, companies will have to explore alternate source of energy while at the same time enhance their operational efficiency. Industry experts opine that the cement industries should now increase their focus on investing adequately in developing human resources that will be capable enough to address the professional needs of construction industry including advanced technologies and construction practices, project management construction and litigation. We expect that the cement production and consumption both will grow substantially over the years. PORTERS FIVE FORCES MODEL Rivalry among Competing Firms Inter firm rivalry is very high in this sector. Reasons for this are manly large number of players in the market, intermittent overcapacity, marginal product differentiation, high storage cost and high exit barriers in the form of huge capital investment. Potential Entry of New Competitors In cement Industry technology and manpower are easily available but still entry of new firms is not that viable. This is because of huge capital investment, broad distribution network and oversupplied market. Potential Development of Substitute Products Only bitumen in road and engineering plastics in building offer some element of competition otherwise no close substitutes are popular in India. Bargaining Power of Suppliers The bargaining power of suppliers of raw materials and intermediate goods is very high. Because of monopolistic control of external cost elements i.e. coal, power, transportation and taxes suppliers are enjoying high bargaining power with the government. Bargaining Power of Consumers Rising share of retail purchase, declining share of bulk purchase by government has taken away the bargaining power of customers. SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths Second largest in terms of capacity- In India there is approximately 124 large and 300 mini plants with installed capacity of 200 million tonnes. Low cost of production- Because of easy availability of raw material and cheap labor. Weakness Demand supply gap, overcapacity- the capacity additions distort the demand supply equilibrium in the industry thus affecting the profitability. Increasing cost of production due to increase in coal prices. High interest rate on housing- increase in interest rate from 7% to 12% has resulted in slowdown in residential property market. Opportunities Increase in infrastructure projects- Infrastructure accounts for 35% of cement consumption in India. And with increase in government focus on infrastructure spending such as roads, highways and airports, the cement demand is likely to grow in future. Growing middle class- There has been a increase in purchasing power of emerging middle class with rise in salary and wages, which results in rising demand for better quality of life that further necessitates infrastructure development and hence increase yhe demand for cement. Technological changes- At present 93% of the total capacity in industry is based on modern and environmental friendly dry process and only 7% is based on old wet and semi dry process technology. The induction of advanced technology has helped the industry immensely to conserve energy and to save materials substantially and hence reduce the cost of production. Threats Excess overcapacity can hurt margins as well as prices. COMPANY ANALYSIS ACC LIMITED Established in 1936, has been a pioneer and trend setter in cement and concrete technology. A prominent overseas presence and figuring on the elite list of consumer super brands of India but most importantly acc has been amongst the first Indian companies to make environment protection as cornerstone of its corporate objectives. The historic merger of ten existing companies has led to the established of acc- melding into a cohesive organization in 1936. It offers the services of ready made concrete and consultancy services. This company is listed by Bombay stock exchange, National stock exchange and in London. During year 2007 company acquired 100% equity stake in Lucky Minmat Private limited for Rs 35 crores and also acquired 43% stake in Shiva Cement Limited. Meanwhile the company divested its entire equity shares in Almatis ACC limited to the Almatis group. The overseas contact with YANBU Cement Company in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is successfully ongoing relationship from last 28 years and has been renewed up to Feb 28, 2011. The companys various manufacturing units are backed by a central technology support services centre the only one of its kind in the Indian cement industry. ACC has rich experience in mining, being the largest user of limestone. As the largest cement producer in India, it is one of the biggest customers of the domestic coal industry, of Indian Railways, and a considerable user of the countrys road transport network services for inward and outward movement of materials and products. The company has developed comprehensive expansion plans to meet the requirement of its agenda for growth with a view to attain leadership position in the cement industry, for that company made a project for augmentation of clinkering and cement grinding. Also it implements projects for augmenting grinding capacity at Madukkaria by 0.225 MTPA and New Wadi at 0.60 MTPA. Ready mix concrete business has been identified as area of strategic priority. ACC commissioned a Wind Energy Farm in Tamil Nadu to promote clean and green technology. The company foresees substantial scope for growth of this business in India. The company actively promotes the use of alternative fuels and raw materials and offers total solutions for waste management including testing, suggestions for reuse, recycling and co-processing. When we look at the values that are obtained using the DCF and the stock prices we can say that the prices of the companies stock are mispriced to a large extent. The intrinsic values for four consecutive years turned out to be negative which means that the shares are highly over priced. The investments in these stocks are very risky. ULTRATECH CEMENT Ultratech Cement Limited (UltraTech) is India-based one of the largest cement manufacturing company. UltraTech Cement was incorporated as a public limited company on 24th August 2000, as LT Cement Limited a 100% Subsidiary of Larsen Toubro Limited. The name of the Company was changed to UltraTech CemCo Limited with effect from 19th November 2003. The name of the company was again changed to UltraTech Cement Limited with effect from 11th October 2004. UltraTech Cement has an annual capacity of 18.2 million tones. It manufactures and markets Ordinary Portland Cement, Portland Blast Furnace Slag Cement and Portland Pozzalana Cement. It also manufactures ready mix concrete (RMC). The company has five integrated plants, six grinding units and three terminals- two in India and one in Sri Lanka. It is the countrys largest exporter of cement clinker. The export marketspan countries around the Indian Ocean, Africa, Europe and the Middle East. The company has an annual cement production capacity of 18.2 million tones. It is a subsidiary of Grasim Industries Ltd. The company operates two subsidiary companies namely, Dakshin Cement Limited and UltraTech Ceylinco (P) Limited. The company is headquartering at Mumbai in India. The company reported revenues of (Rupee) INR 66,643.30 million during the fiscal year ended March 2009, an increase of 16.43% over 2008. The operating profit of the company was INR 13,678.20 million during the fiscal year 2009, a decrease of 9.73% from 2008. The net profit of the company was INR 9,780.60 million during the fiscal year 2009, a decrease of 3.17% from 2008. According to the analysis done by DCF model the value of the share are 1403.89. five year daily data has been taken for the analysis. RISK ANALYSIS A risk analysis involves identifying the most probable threats to an organization and analyzing the related vulnerabilities of the organization to these threats. In quantitative risk analysis, an attempt is made to numerically determine the probabilities of various adverse events and the likely extent of the losses if a particular event takes place. Qualitative risk analysis, which is used more often, does not involve numerical probabilities or predictions of loss. Instead, the qualitative method involves defining the various threats, determining the extent of vulnerabilities and devising countermeasures should an attack occur. NOTE: The values given in the above tables are calculated for the daily data taken for a period of 5 years for both the companies and the BSE Index (1st January 2006 31st January 2010) ANALYSIS: From the values in the average return, variance and standard deviation we can understand that the return in cement industry was negative for an investor who invested his money in those stocks for that particular period. The risk associated with Ultratech company stock is very high as it has very high standard deviation and variance when compared to the other company ACC Cement. The standard deviation and variance of Ultratech stock are greater than that of Index. Risk Analysis: To analyze the risk associated with a stock we have calculated 3 parameters. Beta, Sharpe and Treynor à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ¢ (Beta) Co-efficient (A Measure of Systematic Risk): The beta is a measure of systematic risk or Non-diversifiable risk. The beta of a stock measures the sensitivity or volatility of the stock with reference to a broad based market index, e.g. SENSEX in India. Sharpes Measure of Performance: Sharpe Measure measures the risk Premiums of the portfolio (average portfolio return less risk free return) relative to the total amount of risk in the portfolio (standard deviation of the portfolio). It is also called reward-to-variability ratio. The Sharpe ratio tells us whether a portfolios returns  are due to smart investment decisions or a result of excess risk. The higher the Sharpe ratio for a portfolio, the better the portfolio has performed. Treynors Measure of Performance: The Treynor measure is a relative measure of performance for investment managers and measures the return premium per unit of systematic risk (risk that cannot be diversified) as measured by the beta or relative volatility of the portfolio. While a high and positive Treynors Index shows a superior risk-adjusted performance of a fund, a low and negative Treynors Index is an indication of unfavorable performance. It is also called reward-to-volatility ratio. Analysis: Rf: The risk free return taken is a government treasury bill which has a return of 8% per annum. When we compare the movemen