Polytechnic Education

In recent times, the discrimination of polytechnic education in Nigeria in the area of employment and even in admission has always created panic among polytechnic graduates and the youths in general. Various questions have been raised by students in the polytechnics and other similar institutions about the situation but there seems to be no answer. This paper therefore seeks to establish the relevance of polytechnic education in youth empowerment, economic self-reliance and national development. A sample of 200 respondents from different places was selected and a structured questionnaire was administered on them. It was established that, in spite of the discrimination on the National Diploma (ND) and the Higher National Diploma (HND), the demand for polytechnic education is on the increase. It was also noted that the polytechnics were established to train graduates for skill acquisition and practical knowledge necessary for industrial development. The paper concludes that though the Universities are the citadel of highest education, the polytechnic education was the first higher institution in Nigeria and West Africa in general and it has trained personnel for public and private organisations. Some of the recommendations made were: (a)The government should harmonize the admission criteria of the polytechnic in line with the universities (b) All Nigerians should change their orientations about paper qualification and learn to accept knowledge and experience in some areas during employment especially where practical knowledge is required.

Legalizing same-sex marriage Essay

Eliyahu Stiefel Mr.Hong English 1A 02/02/2012 Legalizing same-sex marriage has been a debate going on for quite some time. The recognition of such marriages is a civil rights, political, social, moral, and religious issue in many nations. Since 2001, ten countries have begun allowing same-sex couples to marry nationwide. In the United States the federal government does not recognize same-sex marriage, but such marriages are recognized by some individual states. Proposition 8 in November 2008 state elections, was a ballot proposition passed in California eliminating the right of same sex couples to marry. The measure added a new provision, Section 7.5 of the Declaration of Rights, to the California Constitution, which provides that â€Å"only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California. I will argue that same-sex marriage should be legalized as it does nothing to impede on heterosexuals and that same-sex marriage can possibly have very positive effects on society. I will also suggest that perhaps decisions such as same-sex marriage should not be under government jurisdiction and perhaps marriage altogether should be privatized. Legalizing same-sex marriage according to some opinions can have a very positive effect on society. Jonathan Rauch an avid proponent of same-sex marriage and author of Gay Marriage writes, †For gay couples, it will bring the stability and healthiness and happiness that marriage uniquely provides. For straight people it will bring all of the benefits of social stability that goes with marriage.†(Rauch) According to Rauch legalizing same-sex marriage can bring great benefits to society. Marriage causes people stay in more committed relationships, and when people are in committed relationships there is less promiscuity. A culture of marriage for gay people might not have stopped the [AIDS] virus altogether, but it certainly would have slowed the virus down, and saved who knows how many lives and who knows how much money and agony. Aside from the benefits that same-sex marriage can have on our society, the benefits that will reach the children of same-sex couples is also an important factor. Rauch estimates the number of children being raised in gay households to be around half a million. If society cares about marriage only for the sake of children, this is a large enough number to mean that, it ought to care about the many thousands of children in gay households. Children now being raised in gay households, feel left out because they don’t feel like a family since their parents are not permitted to be married. This is why many people feel that legalizing same-sex marriage will have no negative effect on society, and can in fact have a very positive effect on society. A great solution to the same-sex marriage debate would be to privatize marriage. Marriage contracts should not be written by the government, rather they should be written and agreed upon by the parties involved, and they should be enforceable by law. Lawrence Stone a historian noted for his work on marriage writes: â€Å"In the early Middle Ages all that marriage implied in the eyes of the laity seems to have been a private contract between two families. †¦ For those without property, it was a private contract between two individuals, enforced by the community sense of what was right.† (qtd Boaz) According to Lawrence Stone, marriage was always a contract between two individuals or two families that was created by them and enforced by the community based on what they felt was right or wrong. Privatizing marriage would therefore bring us back to the traditional way of marriage and would allow people to make decisions based on what they feel is right or wrong. In our society where the dissolution of a marriage is treated in much the same way as the dissolution of a business partnership; why not make the creation of marriage similar to the creation of a business partnership; agreed upon by parties involved and enforceable by law. Colin P.A. Jones a U.S. lawyer and professor at Doshisha University Law School in Kyoto, Japan suggested an idea on privatizing marriage: â€Å"Even greater efficiencies might be achieved through the establishment of marital corporations (MCs), each having hundreds or thousands of couples as stockholders, all sharing common values about marriage. Couples getting married would subscribe to the shares of an existing MC, whose charter documents would set forth the terms of the type of marriage to which the subscribing couples agree.† With this system all types of marriages would be available based on what MC you decided fits your moral standards. For some it may be a corporation that accepts same-sex marriage and for some it may be a marriage without any divorce solution. Governments and corporations may limit the types of MCs that they recognize for benefits purposes; however these decisions of what corporations to accept for benefits, would be based solely on what would benefit the economy and society. Also in 2006, Jewish libertarian Michael R. Paley author of When Secularism Becomes a Religion advocates the privatization of marriage, saying that the expression â€Å"holy matrimony†, ought to place marriage in the sphere of community, not state† Judaism agrees with the separation of community and state, at least until the Messianic Era; religious matters such as marriage ought to be within the jurisdiction of private religious officials, not public, civil ones. According to these opinions the same-sex marriage debate can be easily solved by privatizing marriage. According to some, legalizing same-sex marriage can have longtime negative effects on society. In today’s society we already experience the negative effects from unhealthy heterosexual marriages and divorces. By legalizing same-sex marriage we will just add to the instability that already exists in marriages. Legalizing same sex-marriage would tell society that marriage in general is â€Å"optional.† Giving people the option of same-sex marriage would change the definition of marriage. Marriage used to mean two people getting together in order to create a family, marriage will no longer be the creation of a family, but simply a confirmation of a relationship, or a commitment ceremony, with little meaning, and that would therefore cause fewer people to marry. With fewer marriages, the number of children being raised by single parents would increase. Research shows that children tend to do better when being raised by their two biological parents. While gay marriage would encourage adoption of children by homosexual couples, which may be preferable to foster care, some lesbian couples want to have children through anonymous sperm donations; this means that some children will be created purposely without knowledge of one of their biological parents. According to these opinions, legalizing same-sex marriage can therefore possibly cause negative effects on society. According to many opinions marriage privatization will not solve the debate on same-sex marriage. Opponents of marriage privatization argue that such a policy will simply shift the current debate over same-sex marriage to what kind of marriages the government should accept for benefit related purposes. Religious opponents of same-sex marriage feel that privatizing marriage and allowing people to create their own marriage contracts would be an endorsement of what they consider to be immoral unions between homosexual couples. Thus many of the same religious arguments aimed against same-sex marriage will still be applied to marriage privatization as well. Even if marriage contract were exclusively agreed upon between consenting adults, the vast types of contracts and corporations that administer these contracts would be so enormous, that it would be impossible for government to enforce these many different types of marriage contracts that would come about. This is why many people would agree that marriage privatization would not be the solution for the same-sex marriage debate. I would argue that these people that say that gay marriage will have a bad effect on society are wrong. We find these days those children who grow up in homes where they weren’t raised by their biological parents still end up growing up just as normal as children who are raised by their non-biological parents. The number of children that would benefit from legalizing gay-marriage by far outweighs the hypothetical negative effects that some say legalizing same-sex marriage would do. In a study by various pediatricians in 2005 on the effect that gay parenting has on their children. â€Å"In a Specific Census 2000 there are findings that in 96% of counties across the U.S., gay couples are raising children†, (Pediatrics Vol. 118) children raised by homosexual parents typically develop in ways that cannot be distinguished from their peers raised by heterosexual parents. In the study’s own words, â€Å"in fact, growing up with parents who are lesbian or gay may confer some advantages to children. (Pediatrics Vol. 118) They are described as more tolerant of diversity and more nurturing towards younger children than children raised by parents that are heterosexual. The benefit to the children is of primary, and the benefits of coming from a stable, committed, loving home are incredible and un-doubtable. Other aspects reviewed include the effect on the economy, which are startlingly positive. By allowing same sex couples to marry, the federal government would receive an additional $400 million in federal income tax revenue. With this study we can see that those who try to say that legalizing same-sex marriage will have a negative effect on society are wrong. I would like to conclude with saying that as a Jewish religious person it would be very easy for me to point out that the Torah forbids homosexuality and therefore my opinion would be that gay marriage should be absolutely unacceptable. However in America where we have many cultures and many different types of people with different ways of thinking their needs to be room for more than one way of life. Ethnocentrism throughout time has caused many hateful wars and there needs to be a way for people to reach agreement on issues like same-sex marriage which is a very strong issue in America. I would therefore hold the opinion that legalizing same-sex marriage does nothing to interfere with the rest of society. Ultimately the best thing that could happen to solve the same-sex marriage debate would be government taking itself completely out of the marriage business, and handing it over to the private sector.

Unit 9 seminar Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Unit 9 seminar - Research Paper Example It entails measuring the costs of the program from a social view and which are measured against the willingness of the society to pay for the outcome. An advantage to this analysis is that both the benefits and program’s cost are measured in one unit; say in dollars hence creates social â€Å"profits." The third way human service professionals may consider is analyzing the impact of the program on public costs, thereby assessing intervention’s impact on the costs. All these three ways will go a long way to reflect the target audience and research budget (Kramar et al, 3013). A dropout prevention program in high school is cost effective since the benefits and key outcomes can be measured in relation to the costs. The benefits of this program are that lives will be saved and enriched, earnings increased, costs for taxpayers decreased, and quality of living increased (Schuler & Jackson, 2014). Participants will have a higher lifetime earnings since they will receive little welfare payments and have higher self esteem. To the society the government will in turn decrease its subsidies; tax paid by participants of the program will be increased, whereas social problems and crime will be decreased. Statistical significance is about measuring the importance of statistics to the results or how much statistics can be counted upon and usually based on samples. It is scanty about the magnitude of change or if the relationship is meaningful. The disadvantage of it is that it is inadequate to determine the importance of results. There s also the likelihood of getting similar results in the future (Zhu, 2013).  Where as in Practical significance provides information about magnitudes of change since it provides more digits in expressing results than makes sense. There is unlikelihood to obtain similar results in the future in practical

Corporate governance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Corporate governance - Essay Example All executive board refers to a unitary board structure whose directors are employees of the company. It is mostly popular among the privates and subsidiary companies in the United Kingdom. Executive board members are well versed with operations of the company and are more equipped with information about the company hence they can make better decisions. All executive board is criticized for non-effective corporate governance because the board performs both the management and governance roles. Majority executive board refers to the unitary board structure whose most board members are drawn from employees of the company and the remaining minority (outsiders) chosen outside the company. It is more effective in promoting effective corporate governance as compared to all executive board. However, when voting is done, the decisions of the majority (executive members) wins thus board capacity to undertake thorough outside monitoring is undermined. Executive directors are company’s em ployees operating under a contract serve while the non-executive directors operate under the contract of service. Majority non-executive board refers to a unitary board structure whose members are largely drawn from outside the company and the remaining minority (executive) members are drawn from the employees of the company. This is considered most effective unitary board structure that contributes to the effective corporate governance because majority (non executive) directors are concerned with company’s governance. However, outsiders may lack adequate information about the company because they do not have day to day contact with company’s operations (Macey, 2008, p. 55). On the other hand, Solomon (2007, p.78) said Two-Tier Board Structure refers to a board structure with two separate boards. One board is called management board and it comprises all executives. It is headed by the chief executive officer and

Macro-prudential Policies Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Macro-prudential Policies - Coursework Example A long-term environmental and social impact forms a group of another driver. A series of related events straight from resource limitations and climatic variations in unmanageable debt levels has significant implications for a long-term economic pattern. Consequently, the factors are so crucial in the long-term savings, particularly, in available pension schemes as well in the insurance industry. The third driver is Technological innovation. The use of information technology in communication as well in the commerce sector. This has contributed to the revolution in a manner that the financial transactions are processed and leads to the provision of totally new services as well as business models. To this effect, there are two different connected and overlapping technological systems.This has led to the increase in volume and variety of big data as well regular network connection (Acharya, and Yorulmaze,2008, p.2017). Hence, these probably need some components of financial systems. The aspects are significant since they help in adjusting the latter in order to sustain the relevance and profitability in the future financial system. Besides, Innovations in economics and monetary policy is one o the key drivers that affect the financial system. The financial calamity has led to an analysis of earlier theories and policy instruments that are found in the sectors of macroeconomics and finance. Consequently, the theories help manage monetary policies and regulations of the financial system.

Regulations Influencing The UK Construction Industry Essay

Regulations Influencing The UK Construction Industry - Essay Example Due to this concern, sustainable construction’s concept emerged, while national governments passed a number of regulations to help in the management of the large construction industry. Undeniably, sustainable construction remains an imperative channel of improving the construction industry’s performance, hence rendering it more sustainable. Consequently, national governments have helped to reduce the environmental challenges posed by the diverse construction activities (Hackett et al, 2006). The construction sector remains an imperative industry in the UK. It has profound social, environmental, and economical impacts. According to Barkham (2012), the construction industry of the UK contributes around 10 percent of the total GDP of the UK. Besides, it provides over 1.5 million individuals with employment. However, it has dire environmental effects attributed to the diverse construction activities. For instance, the UK reports an annual average waste of about 70 million t ones with about half of all generated energy being used by the sector. The UK has passed several acts, including the Anti -Corruption Act of 2012. Such developments have improved sustainable construction levels throughout the nation, even though it still lags much behind compared to the other European nations (Morton, 2007). The purpose of this paper is to examine some regulations, which impact upon the UK construction industry and the impacts they have had upon it. The first regulator of the construction industry is the CIS (Construction Industry Scheme). The CIS stipulates the rules and procedures of how contractors must handle their subcontractors’ payment during construction work within the construction sector. The CIS applies primarily to construction contractors and subcontractors within the mainstream construction activities. Conversely, the firms and businesses whose central work is not construction are required to handle their work as contractors within the construct ion sector; they consequently fall under CIS. This is usually applicable to firms and businesses that have a relatively high yearly expenditure on construction work (Morton, 2007). All contractors under CIS must follow some stipulated regulations when paying their subcontractors. Subcontractors are advised to register themselves with the HMRC and ensure they inform them about any changes they make to their businesses in order to ascertain that they are paid their dues correctly (Morton, 2007). Contractors under CIS are also obliged to make their monthly returns every month. Finally, both contractors and subcontractors working under the CIS should update the HMRC about any alterations they make to their business since their registration with the scheme. These changes or details include change in address, business legal structure changes, liquidation, and cessation of operations among other issues (Ruddock, 2008). Another important regulation is the 2008’s Climate Change Act of the UK, which became a law on first December 2008. This act concerns itself with the cutback of greenhouse gases emission. It goes further to affirm that the UK government has a binding duty of assessing the diverse risks associated with climate change within the UK. Conversely, this act only guarantees a certain level of carbon cutback by the year 2050. In addition, it affirms that carbon emissions must be minimized by at least twenty six percent and eighty percent by 2020 and 2050 respectively. The government intends to achieve this via several ways involving increased carbon pricing and utilization of renewable energy (Myers, 2008). Therefore, it is advisable to mull over

Sexism in workplacements in services sector and how that affects the Essay

Sexism in workplacements in services sector and how that affects the whole organizational structure of a business - Essay Example The broadening of the expression sexism has promoted the denomination of sexism, classism, in addition to even sexism at workplace, together with the well recognized exclusiveness. In spite of their apparent effectiveness, all these provisions have the excellence of descriptions. During the practice of a few they disclose definite self-righteousness, a self-belief that we are better than them. an additional expression that has had a little transmission is heterosexism, distinct as the supposition that heterosexuality along with its institutional structures are the single legitimate moreover communally advantageous understanding, moreover that heterosexual principles have got to overcome, without adaptation. regrettably, within the political practice of sexism non supportive corporations the expression tends to be conflict-ridden turning away from the prospective associates within the civil rights resistance who go on to be heterosexual. It tends to a grouping in search of pluralistic broadmindedness of its principles as well as life habits to come into sight to denigrate those of the mainstream. Contemporary industrial civilization is experie... hat heterosexuality along with its institutional structures are the single legitimate moreover communally advantageous understanding, moreover that heterosexual principles have got to overcome, without adaptation. regrettably, within the political practice of sexism non supportive corporations the expression tends to be conflict-ridden turning away from the prospective associates within the civil rights resistance who go on to be heterosexual. It tends to a grouping in search of pluralistic broadmindedness of its principles as well as life habits to come into sight to denigrate those of the mainstream. Justification: Contemporary industrial civilization is experiencing speedy technical as well as communal alteration, moreover within the route of this changeover it is impracticable to anticipate what the eventual preparations will be. At the same time as the conversation of sexism has time and again been intense as well as metaphorical, attentive onlookers of social course of action have got to stay behind and thus thankful to it for hoisting indispensable questions of human self-esteem as well as influence. It has been practically 40 years ever since it was legitimately banned within the workplace. For that reason on the exterior the whole thing seems to be fine. The females of all ages are excited and are outshining at school as well as university moreover are toward the inside the place of work within numbers equivalent to men. It is now against the law to reimburse a female less than a man, give notice to her when she becomes expectant, or else turn her downhill for encouragement on the founda tion that she is female. The elements and occurrences of Sexism otherwise sexual aggravation is explained as favoritism otherwise obnoxious behavior toward an individual that

Public Service Announcement Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Public Service Announcement - Assignment Example For breast cancer survivors, the PSA will be designed for them to cope with life after the treatment. 4. Define strategy. In order to meet the objective, the planning of the PSA will start by a market research which will take note of the appropriate medium, presentation, and layout that can efficiently attract the attention of the specific audience. The PSA will also be designed so that it will be understandable by everyone regardless of educational attainment, age, and background. The language will also be modified in order to take into account the difference on ethnicity and race in a single locality. 5. Define content. The program will be about the challenges faced by women who are currently undergoing and have undergone treatment. The PSA will contain input from medical practitioners specializing in the field as well as breast cancer survivors who have successfully overcome post-treatment changes. 6. Define appropriate medium. Recognizing the need to discuss lengthy topic with the interest of a relatively few audience, the PSA's best medium will be a CD-ROM which can be given to the husband of women undergoing treatment and survivors who had completed their therapy. In this way, the PSA becomes more targeted and can reach the intended audience. The format will be in the form of feature story news which includes audio and visual and facilitated by a host. 7. Create the concept. The PSA will be shown as a feature story which will start with the showing of the organizer's logo and its sponsors. The next scene will be an introduction given by the host. The next will be a series of interviews showing what to expect during treatment. The main speakers will be practitioners in the field of cancer treatments. The stories of patients who survive breast cancer will be shown next together with the struggle they have undergone. Lastly, the PSA will wrap-up with the host emphasizing main points and giving words of encouragement to the audience. PSA for children 1. Define the communication problem. This public service announcement is to give a general view of cancer, its causes, and how it can be prevented. 2. Define the target audience. The target audience will be children aged six to 13 years old. 3. Define objective. Since this PSA is targeted to a young audience, the general objective is to acquaint children of what breast cancer is, what causes it, and what they can do to prevent it. With this education about breast cancer at a young age, it is expected that children will exert effort in fighting and preventing its occurrence. 4. Define strategy. The knowledge that children are fond of cartoon characters, the content of the PSA will be delivered using their favorite cartoon friends. The PSA will also utilize language which can be easily understood and most appropriate for the audience. 5. Define content. The program will talk about the basics of breast cancer, what is it, its causes, and preventive methods. The presentation will be colorful and entertaining in order to catch the attention of children. As stated above,

Human Resource Management Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Human Resource Management - Research Paper Example ed customer requirements, difference in the cultural values among the people or the workers, an overabundance of stakeholders like customers, investors and so on with varied claims, diverse economic, political as well as legal environments and lastly the assortment of strategies of the competitors (Financial Times, 2007). Cultural Factors Cultural factors are considered to be the slightest substantial factor but for international organizations, they turn out to be one of the most important factors. Culture is perceived to be the features and behavioral structure of the people of a particular society. Cultural factors include religion, customs and approaches, language, values and mind-sets, education, material constituents, social foundations and aesthetics. Culture can also be said to be the complete system of life of the people in a specific society. For organizations to be successful, it is vital that they take into deliberation and adapt to the culture of the country or society. U nderstanding the cultural factors assists in endowing with competitive advantage to some extent to the organizations (Lan & Unhelkar, 2005). For instance, the Indian culture is quite open to new products, ideas and thoughts and accepts change without much hesitance. Thus, the people in India working as employees can adapt to the different working style and ways without much hesitance, whereas the Japanese culture is quite rigid and is not open towards accepting all and every kind of alterations in their society. Thus, organizations branching out in Japan should take it into concern and should be careful to practice their business operations according to the societal ways. Any alteration in the ways of working in the organizations would not be readily accepted by the local employees and... This essay stresses that the growing organizations require complying with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development or the OECD. This is considered as the developer of rules in case of industrialized countries. The International Labor Organization, involved with the issue of ‘direct investment’ in the developing nations, can also be considered as another developer of code of conduct for globalizing companies. This article makes a conclusion that organizations need to concentrate and focus on multiple factors while planning their global expansion. The success or the failure of organizations is dependent on the proper treatment and understanding of the above mentioned factors. It is quite important for organizations to take these issues into consideration so as to attain competitive advantages along with global success. Successful global expansion would ensure the sustained existence of such organizations in this fiercely competitive age. It should be kept in mind that the adaption of effective human resource management strategies is the most significant aspects to be considered while expanding globally. It can not only minimize the risks associated with environmental and cultural divergences, but can also reward the organization with better productivity and sustainable growth in the market. With this concern, the human resource management practices should be altered according to the cultur e, preference and trends of the host market.

Pvr Cinemas Essay Example for Free

Pvr Cinemas Essay INTRODUCTION Over the last decade, India has registered the fastest growth among major democracies and is now the fourth largest economy in terms of ‘‘purchasing power parity’’.Over the years, spending power has been steadily increasing in India. On an average, 30-40 million people are joining the middle class every year. The consumption spending is rising due to increasing disposable incomes on account of sustained growth in income levels and reduction in personal income tax over the last decade. The Indian Entertainment Industry is expected to significantly benefit from this fast economic growth, as this cyclically sensitive industry grows faster when the economy is expanding. When incomes rise, proportionately more resources get spent on leisure and entertainment than on necessities. Although over 90 years old, the Indian film industry was only accorded the status of an industry in 2000. Consequently, it is only during the last five years that the Indian film industry has been able to attract financing from banks, financial institutions, private equity investors and corporations. Prior to 2000, the industry was almost solely reliant on private and largely individual financing. Although corporatisation of the film industry has started, the film industry is currently largely unorganized and fragmented. Going to the cinema is one of the most popular entertainment options in India. PVR CINEMAS Priya Exhibitors (p) ltd is a part of the diversified Bijili Group, which has interests in transport, finance and construction sectors all over India. After a downturn in the industry in late 80s when the onslaught of video wars at its peak cinema has now been rejuvenated with the latest international trends in cinema exhibition reaching India’s shores swiftly with the arrival of satellite TV. The capitals cosmopolitan audience is becoming increasingly aware of the advanced cinematic technology that enhances the movie going experience and this has whetted their appetite for watching movies on the â€Å"big screen â€Å".To cater to the increasingly sophisticated tastes of the audience Priya exhibitor Pvt Ltd. totally refurbished the existing cinema in June 1991 including installation of a Dolby stereo sound system. They also gained exclusive rights to screen blockbusters from major distributors mainly Warner brothers, 20th century fox, united international pictures, small wo nder then that the cinema has become the focal point for entertainment in the capital for both the young and old attracting over 30,000 patrons a week. Infact, â€Å"Speed† set a national box office world record of Rs.785000 in its first week of screening at PVR (the highest ever for an English film), which is remarkable considering the relatively low price of a cinema ticket in India.Buoyed by the overwhelming success of the cinema after upgrading, Priya exhibitors ltd have taken he next initial step for setting up the first multiplex in the country in a joint venture with Village Roadshow Ltd, Australia’s entertainment corporation.PVR is a brand name synonymous with state-of-the-art cinema exhibition in India. PVR specializes in developing and operating state-of-the-art Multiplexes.PVR Cinemas are the leading cinemas in the country with an emphasis on design, technology and service. Over the last three years, PVR has established itself as a very strong brand associated with movies, quality exhibition and youth-targeted promotions.The company was conceived as a Joint Venture between the Bijli family,headed by Mr. Ajja y Bijli as Indian Promoters and Village Roadshow Limited of Australia, one of the largest multiplex operators in the world with more than 1500 screens under operation. PVR has been a pioneer in multiplex development by setting up India’s first multiplex PVR Anupam4 at Saket in city of Delhi. The company has since grown to become the largest cinema exhibition player in the country and has 5 theatres with 19 screens in city of Delhi/Gurgaon under its operation.The Cinema can boast of the highest box office collections in India for five consecutive years since its opening. Located around the Cinema in the same complex are a number of up-market restaurants, pubs and fast-food eateries that make it a popular youth hangout place and indeed an entertainment experience for the entire family.PVR Priya, a 25-year-old cinema still considered the best Cineplex in Delhi, was completely renovated and brought into the fold of PVR in January 2000. PVR Priya boasts of the highest box office collections in the city of Delhi after PVR Saket. It also has the distinction of having the widest screen in India. Following the tremendous success in South Delhi, PVR expanded to WestDelhi in 2001 with the launch of two new multiplexes PVR Naraina, and PVR Vikaspuri. PVR Naraina, with four screens and 830 seats, was launched in August 2001. PVR Vikaspuri (3 screens, 921 seats) was launched in November 2001.PVR Group has re-opened one of Delhis oldest and most popular cinema hall, Plaza; now known as PVR Plaza. With a seating capacity 22 of 300 seats, the all new single screen auditorium has been renovated and refurbished to bring back its former glory. The cinema, unique in its nature, combines the look and feel of the 50s with the state-of-the-art cinema viewing technologies of today. The most recent addition to the chain is PVR EDM, this three-screen multiplex, located in the popular East Delhi Mall, is equipped with the stateof- the-art technology and is one of its kind in the vicinity.The three-screen multiplex has a total seating capacity of 723 seats. It is equipped with the latest THX-approved three-way surround sound system with real life sound effects and state-of-the-art projection facility with the latest Xenon-based technology. The stadium seating arrangement ensures unobstructed viewing from anywhere in the auditorium. STP OF PVR CINEMAS SEGMENTATION On the basis of customer preferences, we may classify PVR under the Clustered category. This is owing to the fact, that out of the entire masses they have clearly defined their target audience and aim to cater to them. Also, PVR is a Concentrated Market because they only cater to the premium movie-going audience i.e. SEC A and SEC B.PVR Cinemas has approx. 22 million movie goers per month Consumer Demographic Segmentation Age: 61% between 18 and 49 Gender: 47% Males / 53% Female Income: 61% have income over 50K Education: 55% of adult movie-going audience has attended/graduated college*. Of these adults, 37% have college degrees or higher Consumer Psychographic Segmentation PVR Movie Goers are people with high resources and can be classified as â€Å"Experiencers† who seek variety and entertainment. Spend a comparatively high proportion of income on fashion, entertainment, and socializing. â€Å"PVR Movie Buffs† generally have the following major tendencies:- -Go outside the home for entertainment -Participate in sports and other active lifestyles -Hard to reach through other traditional media -lighter television and radio users, but heavy internet users -Receptive to advertising in movie theatres, consider as part of their movie going experience Consumer Behavioral Segmentation Usage rate: 1/3 of the population attends the movies one or more times per month. WHAT? 1. What benefits that the customer seeks? – Complete movie going Experience. 2. Factors influence PVR’s demand? – Price, movie, day, time of the day, day of the week, month etc. 3. What function can the product perform for the customer? –Entertainment. 4. What are the important buying criteria? – Price, ambience, placement, quality service, premium positioning, status symbol. 5. What risks does the customer perceives – risk of being overcharged, risk of being in an emergency like fire at the theater. HOW? 1. How does customer buy the product? – Online /Telebooking / In person 2. How long does the buying process take? – Simple and prompt 3. How do the various marketing mix elements influence the customer at each stage of buying? 4. How does product fit in to their lifestyle? – Entertainment product for the premium. 5. How much would they be willing to spend? – PVR had started with tickets being priced at Rs 125 with special counters available for tickets worth Rs 7. Even when all tickets are now priced at Rs 145, there is no change in the amount of customers that PVR receives, which means that people are willing to pay. 6. How much do they buy in one transaction? – Almost always more than 1 ticket. Depends upon the person, movie playing. TARGETING PVR being the first of its kind has always been a market leader and therefore its offering to the customer is Innovative. PVR has premium pricing and they target mainly SEC A and SEC B. PVR has brought to its customers the experience of Luxury Cinema. PVR uses the concentrated method as they have target a much focused audience out of the entire masses. PVR witnessed tremendous success Europe Lounge in Delhi. PVR Cinemas has also recently introduced the concept of luxury viewing to Bangalore. Gold Class Cinemas have been introduced for the first time in India, are two ultra luxurious exclusive auditoriums, each equipped with plush and fully reclining seats and generous legroom. Patrons can also enjoy star like treatment at the exclusive Gold Class lounge which provides an excellent pre cinema experience with scrumptious food and beverages PVR Priya of PVR’s chain use Differentiation method for pricing. It practices different price slabs for different target audience. For instan ce, they have tickets ranging from Rs 45 (for the youth) to Rs 140 (for the upper-class i.e. SEC A). POSITIONING PVR had, and still has a very well planned market position. Its premium positioning affects the customers perceptual positioning. Therefore, they decided on their marketing strategy and pricing, keeping the target market in mind. In case of PVR, they make use of all their tangible elements to prove to their customers that their movie tickets are worth the price they are paying. Also, since some of the other movie theatres (which are not multiplexes) are still offering movies at rates as low as Rs 35, it is the task of its marketer to ensure that PVR comes across as a superior brand in terms of cinema viewing as well as the experience. It’s positioning is evident in its mission statement also which says† A commitment to deliver the best quality cinema viewing Everywhere, Every time.† MARKETING MIX – 7 Ps 1. SERVICE PRODUCT/ SERVICE PACKAGE A product (in the marketing context) may be tangible, intangible or both. In case of services, on the contrary, the tangible component is nil or minimal. In services, there is no or very little tangible element because of which they are considered as benefits, which are offered to the target market. First, a service is a bundle of features and secondly, there benefits and features have relevance for a specific target market. Therefore while developing a service product, it is important that the package of benefits in the service offer must have a customers perspective. 5 product levels are as follows:Core Benefit is the MOVIES that the customer comes to a cinema hall for,along with the attendant experience of PVR. The expected product in PVR’s case would be ambience, hygiene, good service, parking, candy bar etc.PVR has augmented its product offerings: * Luxury cinema PVR has brought to its customers the experience of luxury cinema.After the tremendous success of Cinema Europa in Delhi, PVR Cinemas has introduced the concept of luxury viewing to Bangalore as well. Gold Class Cinemas have been introduced for the first time in India, are two ultra luxurious exclusive auditoriums, each equipped with 32 plush and fully reclining seats and generous legroom. Patrons can also enjoy star like treatment at the exclusive Gold Class lounge which provides an excellent pre cinema experience with scrumptious food and beverages. * Bulk Bookings There are special arrangements for bulk bookings (of twenty or more tickets) done by corporates. Details can be filled online and PVR executives themselves get in touch with the concerned people. * E-booking and tele-booking PVR also provides the factility of e-booking, which was first started by PVR, it has now been copied by Satyam cineplexes as well. It also offers telebooking * Parties at PVR PVR has also started helping customers in planning birthday/kitty parties at PVR. They have made PVR a wholesome entertainment experience than just a movie watching spree. * Movie newsletter and magazine To keep its customers hooked on to movies and to PVR, it has also come out with an online newsletter called ‘PVRWire’ is directly mailed to the subscribers and can also be downloaded from their website.They have also launched a movie magazine called ‘Movies First’ . * Movie vouchers They have also taken out the unique concept of movie vouchers which people can use as gifts. Many corporates have also started using these as incentives and rewards for their employees.The vouchers are available in denominations of Rs 100 to Rs 350 and a * minimum of 25 coupons needs to be purchased to avail of the offer.The following options are available in Delhi/NCR The Delhi PVR Movie Money Voucher costs Rs 150/- and is valid right through the week across all cinemas (except PVR Gurgaon Cinema Europa)PVR Gurgaon (Cinema Europa) PVR Movie Money Vouchers cost Rs 160/- The following options are available in BangaloreClassic Mon -Thur : Rs 100/-All Week (including Weekends) : Rs 130/-Europa Mon -Thur : Rs 130/-All Week (including Weekends) : Rs 150/-Gold Class All Week (including Weekends) : Rs 350/- + Rs150/- for food and beverages (optional) THE SERVICE PACKAGE The â€Å"package† concept of services product suggests that what you offer to the market is a bundle of different services, tangible and intangible, but there is a main or substantive or ‘core’ service and around it are built the auxiliary/peripheral/facilitator. It is important to note that facilitating services ate mandatory and if these are left out, the entire service would collapse. Yet another type called supporting services, don’t facilitate the consumption of core services but are used to increase the value and thus differentiate from the competition.Quality Assessment through RATER in case of PVR Focused on developing a procedure for quantifying customer’s service quality can be measured in following dimensions: * Reliability – Ability to perform promised service dependably and accurately. PVR is a very well established brand name, and the audience is given excellent experience of the basic product i.e. the movie as well as the other elements involved. Hence, it is very much capable of good delivery of the service it provides. There is no flaw in the quality of the service and is always delivered on time. * Assurance – Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey truth and confidence.Since PVR is a high contact organization, the employees are well trained in all areas regarding customer interaction and courtesy. PVR movies being a service, heavily relies on its employees, as they are the only mode of direct communication made with the customers. They are well trained and are definitely able to convey the confidence that the brand name represents. * Tangibility – Appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel etc PVR movies have a lot of tangible elements present like the employees (staff), the movie halls, the candy bars, rest rooms etc, all of which are highly maintained and well kept. * Empathy – Caring, individualized attention to the customer.Even though in a service like this customization is not possible, the employees of PVR Cinemas are always very helpful and provide the customers with good assistance whenever needed. From the employees made to sit at the ticket counter to the employee that guides customers to their respective seats in the cinema hall, all employees deliver a very helpful attitude towards the target audience. * Responsiveness – Willingness to help customer with prompt service.The employees of PVR are fast and prompt at delivering their service and are taught to cause as less inconvenience as possible to the customers. If a customer places an order via telebooking / online reservation etc, the delivery of the tickets is made well before the show timing at the customer’s doorstep. The employees are well trained. 2. PRICE To many customers, high price means high quality. Services pricing follows the price and practices of pricing of goods and therefore are either cost based or market based. Within these, categories of price may be profit oriented, government controlled, competition or customer oriented. But the characteristics of services do influence the pricing and therefore different methods of pricing are followed in their case. PVR when started off had a huge advantage of being the only one of its kind in Delhi to begin with. Therefore, they could charge a higher amount to its target audience, as they did not hesitate to pay the sum for the new concept. This high pricing helped them make maximum gains. Also, PVR had, and still has a very well planned market position. Its premium positioning affects the customers perceptual positioning. Therefore, they decided on their marketing strategy and pricing, keeping the target market in mind. Hence,we may say that the pricing as well pays a strategic role in their marketing plans.In case of PVR, they make use of all their tangible elements to prove to their customers that their movie tickets are worth the price they are paying. Also, since some of the other movie theatres (which are not multiplexes) are still offering movies at rates as low as Rs 35, it is the task of its marketer to ensure that PVR comes across as a superior brand in terms of cinema viewing as well as the experience. The movie theatres market is a Free Market, even though the government in the past regulated it. This allows PVR as the market leader to set its own prices. Prices that had originally started from Rs 125 (for evening shows) and Rs 90(for morning shows and weekday plans) have increased to a high of Rs 150 and the lowest is Rs 100. The high pricing however has not led to any change in the footfalls that PVR gets. Even in slighter crowded shows, the occupancy rates as low as 35% reaches PVR’s break-even points.PVR Priya has a slightly different pricing system, which varies from Rs 45 to Rs 150 for different slabs of consumers. This has been done to mainly attract the youth and to keep the concept of movie going still affordable at one of its chains.The pricing at PVR Europa is Rs 160 and a Gold Class ticket is charged at Rs. 750. It offers superior ambience, environment, seating, viewing etc in the sum. 3. PLACE / DISTRIBUTION Services are generally created and delivered to the buyer at the same time,therefore creation of time and place utilities is a vital function in services marketing. Irrespective of middlemen or direct sales channel, the factor of location keeping in view the potential markets is the most significant in channel selection and distribution.The issue of location here plays a very important role, as all PVR Cinema Halls are stationed at good locations in the city, which gathers a large number of footfalls for them every day. PVRs usually open at an eventful yet untapped location, followed by which (as we saw in case of Anupam PVR Saket) other retail chains get opened around it as well. Their places are always well situated and are well linked. PVR does not have any other channel of distribution, as their service is sold solely at their chains. They do follow any franchisee outlets, even though they indulge in ticket sales online and via telebooking. The only intermediary involved for proc uring movies are Indian as well as international movie distributors, by way of whom they acquire the movies. * Distribution of Movies The Company has also recently forayed into the Distribution of Hollywood film titles in the country through its 100% subsidiary, PVR Pictures. By virtue of its strong brand equity and partnerships with major independent Hollywood studios like Miramax, Newline Cinemas etc. that are not represented in India through their own offices, PVR has managed to procure and distribute titles in the country. With the advent of the multiplex revolution across the country, the company sees a great opportunity to fill up these upcoming multiplex screens with Hollywood titles. The has successfully distributed major Hollywood titles like Rush Hour 2 , Wedding Planner Chicago , Choclat ,Spy Kids 2 , Makdee etc. 4. PROMOTION Promotion is a very vital part of the marketing mix especially in the case of services. The customer needs to trust or have belief in the service, as he has to pay for it pre-experience. Therefore, it is very important to sell the service in the best possible way. Usually the objective of promoting a service may be to create a brand image, establish a personal relationship with the client and to create an impression of competence, honesty and sincerity to win the buyers’ confidence in sellers’ abilities to deliver the service efficiently. To promote these, the marketer generally employs indirect selling techniques, as it is usually not possible to use the conventional promotion tools like advertising. Promotion activities like community relations, event management, media blitz, corporate identity programs have relevance. 3rd parties like government, unions and interest groups are important, as they are capable of influencing market access. PVR as a brand indulges into print advertisements on every Friday giving out the latest movie schedules. Any new developments are communicated to the audience via press releases. Hence there is a strong element of PR involved. Apart from that, they usually have contests pertaining to latest festivals like Valentines Day, New Years Eve, Oscar Movies Week etc. PVR also has a host of online promotional contests associated with movies The latest one relates to the film King Kong.They are also in collaboration with cellular services like Airtel have SMSand-win contests and give out free tickets to the winners. Also, PVR attracts a lot of commercial shooting / media coverage via programmes etc which promotes it as a brand in a big way. Organizing Star Events on Premiers of movies like ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ helps PVR relate better with its target audience i.e. the youth. The whole PVR banner and its exterior environment including movie hoardings, banners etc help promote the concept of movie viewing as well as PVR as a strong and successful brand. PVR also hosts premiere shows with leading movie stars visiting the various PVR cinemas. They also host numerous fun events for children while screening animations etc.

Pros and Cons of budgeting in modern environment

Pros and Cons of budgeting in modern environment Budgets are recognized as time-honored tools for planning and setting organizations goals, for communicating among corporate constituencies, and for providing basis for operating results review as well as performance evaluation. While it is difficult for firms to have perfect budgets that make use of all functions equally well, differential emphasis on the respective uses of budgets reflects the environment variation and contracting needs. The modern economic environment is associated with a rapidly changing environment, flexible manufacturing, short product life cycles and highly customized products and services (Abdullah N.B. 2008). The keys to survive is flexibility and rapid response whereby companies are able to move quickly to exploit opportunities as they arise and does not operate according to elaborate business plans (Abdullah N.B. 2008). We were being overtaken by events. Traditional planning and budgeting strategy had to give. Senior vice-president in Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Kevin T. Parker said that, department managers budgeted at the detail level before the company had agreed on strategic objectives. (Banham, R. 2000.) Fujitsu were long on process and short on valuable information to run the business. Department managers would forecast product availability and customer expectations independent of one another, then negotiate with top management for few times until they were final. This circuitous routine took two months, an exceptionally long period of time in the fast-paced computer industry. (Banham, R. 2000.) Most organizations recognize budgets as a key element in their management control systems, but the usefulness of budgets has generated intense discussion and debate. Budgets have been proven by some of the researches that budgets are less useful in todays highly challenging business environment. Traditional budgeting, budget planning is a top-down process which will not support the types of extreme decentralization and employee empowerment initiatives that are required for firms to be competitive today (Libby T., and Lindsay M., 2007). Budgets are no longer useful in the current environment Budgets constraint responsiveness and flexibility and are often a barrier to change. Traditional budgeting is focused on the achievement of the specific plan or budget and this resulted in organizations eyesight to constantly focus on how to achieve and beat the budget. But indeed, the objectives of a company should not be to beat the budget but to beat the competition. (Leone, A.J and Rock, S. 2000) Whereas, in traditional budgeting there is rarely an opportunity to amend, change or update the budget once it has been approved, should there be any changes in the environment or assumptions employed (Abdullah N.B. 2008). Thus, managers only can decision within the budget, but the particular decision that he make, might not be the perfect solution; managers are tended to abandon best solution due to not exceed the budget, and thus inhibits management response to change. This focus can act as a constraint, decreasing the firms flexibility and ability to adapt and deal with new opportunit ies, threats or changes in customers requirements (Abdullah N.B. 2008).Traditional budgets prevent empowerment and the opportunity for employees to contribute to the achievement of strategic objectives. It is blocking employee initiatives and demotivated employees, where employee initiative and motivation are needed in todays highly challenging environment, which can make a marked improvement in performance and productivity, thus it is a barrier to continuous improvement and success, because, less focus is given on how to maximize the organizations potential. According to the Shastri K. and Stout D.E., many segment-level employees1 than corporate-level employees felt that budgets had negative behavioral consequences in terms of employee initiatives, motivating short-term decision making, and pressure to achieve targets. Budgets encourage gaming and dysfunctional behavior. (Abdullah N.B. 2008). Libby T., and Lindsay M., (2007) explicitly addressed the issue of budget gaming. Majority of the respondents surveyed indicated that three gaming phenomena occur at least occasionally: spending money at year-end to avoid losing it the old-age use it or lose it syndrome, deferring necessary expenditures and negotiating easy targets the Segment-level was defined variously as a subsidiary, division, department, or product level. sandbagging syndrome (Libby T., and Lindsay M., 2007).This is especially the case when meeting the budget is directly linked with rewards and incentive payments to individuals and/or team. Indeed, many organizations incorporate budgetary performance subjectively into the overall performance evaluation of managers (Libby T., and Lindsay M., 2007). Moreover, managerial compensation plans, including incentive compensation formulas, incorporate achievement of specified budget objectives for financial performance measures. (Shastri K. and Stout D.E. 2008) The dual roles of budgeting gives rise to agency problems in the budget-setting process and affect the accuracy of budgets. Majority of participants seek to maximize their personal gain during the process of setting budgets. Once, goal congruence is not achievable, there are conflicts of interest between company and employees, and this is where the agency problems are occurred. Tying budget targets to compensation contracts encourages ma nagers to game the budgeting system to increase the probability they will receive positive performance evaluations and, therefore, any related bonus (Libby T., and Lindsay M., 2007). Budget gaming is when managers are use to receive positive performance. For examples, when companies are using budget integrated with incentive program, managers will try they best to show a good performance but gaming the budgets. Managers might defer necessary expenditures (such as, maintenance of machine, advertising cost, research and development) to meet current period budget targets, which will affect effectiveness and efficiency of company. Besides that, managers will take big bath when budget targets could not be attained, which mean the effort of producing the budget is not appreciated. Using budget as the tools of evaluating performance will lead to negative behavioral consequences. Budgets can still be useful in the current environment Budget should use as the basic for performance evaluation but not the only means to evaluate performance. As mentioned above, solely focus on budget as the only way to evaluate performance and compensate managers will result in agency problems. Agency problems will lead to company underperformance. Budget can be useful once, the incentive program is not mostly depending on it. In order to measure performance, budget is not the only option; companies should design an effective performance measurement system by integrated financial2 and non-financial3 indicators as tools of measuring efficiency or performance. Moreover, companies should design an effective system which can link to strategy and goals of the organization to encourage goal congruence, recognize controllability and emphasize on employees empowerment. By designing a system besides budget to measure performance can solve agency problem. Measure performance of managers based on controllability and responsibility, which mean t op management should back out non-controllable variances before comparing actual to budget. For instance, companies such as Allstate, Fujitsu, Nationwide Financial Services, Owens Corning, Sprint and Texaco, are compensating the managers for achieving measurable results (Banham, R. 2000). For example, when evaluate performance of production managers should back out the machine breakdown hours, because it was not under his controllability but is engineers responsibility. Besides that, provide incentive to managers who manage to generate an accurate budget, managers will tend to provide secret information to the budget, thus, it make the budget more accurate. In addition, Hope and Fraser propose a new management model to take the place of budgeting for control purposes. This new model is based on employee empowerment and alternative methods of performance management, which to suit the requirement of todays highly challenging environment (Libby T., and Lindsay M., 2007). Financial indicator such as, return on investment (ROI), residual income (RI) and economic value added (EVA). Non-financial indicator such as, benchmarking, balance-score card, customer satisfaction measures, defect measures, product quality measures, accident measures, machine downtime measures, delivery time measures and etc. Moreover, there is a new model which known as Beyond Budgeting was developed by two consultants, Jeremy Hope and Robin Fraser, in order to find and develop alternative tools to the planning and budgeting process (Abdullah N.B. 2008).This new model is based on employee empowerment and alternative methods of performance management (Libby T., and Lindsay M., 2007). Most of the organizations which are high profile companies, have abandoned the major annual budget preparation, the Beyond Budgeting Round Table (BBRT4) members realized that attempts to make incremental changes to improve the budgeting system by introducing zero-based, activity-based or faster budgeting are not solving the problems caused by the fast-changing business world (Abdullah N.B. 2008), but to change the underlying culture of contract, compliance and control embedded in the traditional budgeting. Beyond Budgeting model, BBRT have developed a generic model that is based on 12 principles to create a flexible a responsive management model with an underlying culture of responsibility, enterprise and learning. Companies that operate in a business environment that is market led, highly competitive and unpredictable, and in which intellectual capital is the key strategic resource; and which have already successfully implemented various management tools like the Balanced Scorecard, Activity-Based Management and Rolling Forecast, should be the ideal candidate for the Beyond Budgeting model. The BBRT is the combination of a new concept (beyond budgeting) and a community (round table). The BBRT community is an independent research collaborative that shares its knowledge across its global network through conferences and workshops. Source: Abdullah N.B. 2008. Chapter 3: Scenario of Corporate Planning and Budgeting in a rapidly changing environment. These 6 principles (Table 1.a) concern creating a flexible organizational structure in which authority is devolved to employees. The following 6 principles (Table 1.b) deal with designing an adaptive management process for a flexible organizational structure. Table 1.b: The 12 Beyond Budgeting Principles and Practices Source: Abdullah N.B. 2008. Chapter 3: Scenario of Corporate Planning and Budgeting in a rapidly changing environment. Conclusion Budgeting, despite being proven to effectively act as one of the building blocks of management control system, was commonly viewed as a restriction of companies flexibility and competitive ability. Yet, despite various criticisms, budgets are in fact alive and well, rather than becoming obsolete, most organizations use a traditional budget because they are easy to put together and simplify coordination of budget assumptions across different departments. This is the simplest method of budgeting. But, indeed, with a traditional budgeting, company might be underperformance. In order to be more competitive in today challenging world, adopting advanced budgeting approaches is needed as it is focus on empowerment employees as well as responsibility.