The 25th of April, Anzac Day The one day of the year that evokes universal emotions in so many people

The 25th of April, Anzac Day – The one day of the year that evokes universal emotions in so many people. I am no different as I stand with pride as an Air Force cadet in my perfectly pressed blue uniform, time honored slouch hat, high polished belt buckle and black patent shoes that glisten like ebony in the sun. With a steel grey Styer rifle slung over my shoulder I stand guarding the Forest Lake War Memorial as part of the catafalque party. I feel honored to have been chosen along with three other cadets from 224 Squadron at Amberley to silently stand guard at this sacred memorial on Anzac Day 2010. With the blazing mid-morning sun, searing down on the back of my neck I silently plead with God. â€Å"Please don't let me faint in the heat, like so many have done on previous parades†. All the cadets from 224 SQN have taken bets on who would be the first cadet to collapse in the harsh sun; bets are on Brewell, who is nearly 15 kgs overweight and known to never make it through a bivouac without having to report to the First Aid station at least once. As I stand with my head solemnly bowed, my mind wanders as I stand perfectly still. I think of Granddad, who when he was not much older than me was â€Å"Chasing Japs around the bloody jungle†. This is the only insight I have of Granddad and the war as he seldom talks of it. I catch a quick glimpse of Granddad from the corner of eye as he stands in the massed crowd, at 85 years of age he still stands tall. It is nearly 65 long years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed and the war declared over, yet Granddad has never missed an Anzac Day ceremony. However, he has never marched on this day of remembrance or ever worn his medals, much preferring to blend in with the crowd and remain anonymous. Why he chooses to do this, I don't know. Although, I strongly suspect it has something to do with the fact that many of his childhood friends from the small country town in Victoria that he grew up in, never returned to Australia from the fighting in New Guinea. Or is it because he is a modest man? As he once said â€Å"You shouldn't have to be thanked or applauded for doing the right thing†. My mind is brought back to the present, when the silence is pierced by the sounds of â€Å"The Last Post† from the lone bugle and the Wing Commander of the day barking out the command for the flag to be lowered. As the sound of the bugle fades, my mind returns to Granddad. Like a time traveler, I am transported back to another Anzac Day parade when I was about 10 years of age. I am marching with the Moggill Boy Scouts, at the Kenmore parade, once again Granddad blending in with the crowd that throngs the side of the road. After the ceremony, I am walking back up the steep hill beside Granddad, having to take two steps to his one. I ask him why he never marches on Anzac Day and lets me wear his many medals on my right breast. He simply mumbles, â€Å"I have my reasons†. As we approach the bakery, where I know we will stop and he will buy me an ice cold Coke and sticky finger bun with bright pink icing, he turns to me, ruffles my hair and quietly says â€Å"But, you make it all worthwhile†. Suddenly a thunderous roar of an F1 11 resounds approaching from the east and interrupts the speech by Shane Neumann, the local sitting member for the Federal electorate of Blair. I suspect the crowd is rather pleased that this silver winged albatross drowns his lengthy speech out. The F1 11 is now directly overhead and the crowd raises its eyes to see the belly of this huge piece of flying machinery. I wonder why this obsolete aircraft that most countries have phased out years ago still can bring a crowd to a standstill. Is it that, like Anzac Day, people like tradition and want to have a connection with the past I start to gently sway from side to side to try and get a bit of circulation into my body. The temperature must be at least 30 degrees and I have been standing unmoved for nearly an hour. I start to plead with God again not to let me faint. Once again my mind wanders off and I find myself thinking of not only Granddad but of Nana, who is also a returned service woman, and who like Granddad and so many more gave away their youth to serve their country. I think of Nana in the small kitchen of their modest home in Taringa, fussing around making me and all the other grandchildren making morning tea. I find it hard to believe that she could have ever been in the army. Why would someone so quiet and caring like her want to serve during a war? She must have felt it was her duty, for at the time five of her older siblings were in the forces serving overseas. Her father, also being a returned veteran from World War 1, maybe this is why Nana also comes and watches me on Anzac Day. Once again my mind is brought back to the present when the silence is broken by sounds of music that accompanies the wreath laying. As the young and old solemnly walk and place a wreath at the foot of cenotaph, I listen to the words of the chorus of the accompanying song, â€Å"Lest we Forget† Yes, as I stand with the Styer slung over my shoulder, I realise it is those three words â€Å"Lest we Forget† why I am here today. I am here today to thank Nana, Granddad, and everybody else who served in the war, for making such huge sacrifices, to secure our nation's freedom. I hope that their sacrifices will not be forgotten. As the flag is again raised and the lone bugler plays the Reveille, I look around at the huge crowd, and I know for sure they will all be remembered.

PROJECT ON CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT WITH RELIGARE SECURITIES LTD Essay

The company can then use the information to learn about the behavior of its customers and improve the way it does a business. It can look at recurring complaints from multiple customers to solve a problem which would otherwise go unchecked with a normal formats and management system of the company. The main objective of my project is to find effective solution for the Customer Relationship Management and accordingly increase the credibility and profitability of the company. This study is more related to consumer behavior and perception about the facilities and convenience provided by the company, Customer Satisfaction is emphasized in this management. o Helping an enterprise to enable its marketing departments to identify and target their best customers, manage marketing campaigns with clear goals and objectives, and generate quality leads for the sales team. Assisting the organization to improve telesales, account, and sales management by optimizing information shared by multiple employees, and streamlining existing processes (for example, taking orders using mobile devices) o Allowing the formation of individualized relationships with customers, with the aim of improving customer satisfaction and maximizing profits; identifying the most profitable customers and providing them the highest level of service. o Providing employees with the information and processes necessary to know their customers, understand their needs, and effectively build relationships between the company, its customer base, and distribution partners. CHAPTER 2. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT A. Title of the project: Customer Relationship Management (CRM) with Religare Securities B. Objective of the Study: The objective of the project was to analyze „Effective Customer Relationship Management‟ for Religare Securities Ltd., Pune for that we have to understand current CRM System and Services provided from the company and its effect on Customer Needs, Satisfaction Level, their response and emotions. The objective of this study to analyze existing customer satisfaction as those customers are the key sources to new customers with respect to the performance, sales efforts and sales service. As the company stands second in India in aspect of turnover after Kotak Mahindra Securities, it‟s clear that it has very strong Customer Relationship Management System and perfect people to handle it properly for the benefit of customers and company as well. Actual and personal meeting with existing customers and employees has brought me to the reality of the effectiveness of the system and their success. For analyzing the same factor I staked my whole duration of the project and simultaneously for internal study and market watch and other group assignments. Questionnaire is based on the existing services and the satisfaction level of the existing customers which includes questions like Name, Age, Gender, Income, Investment Frequency, feedback about services which they are provided like conformation, calls, suggestions, solutions on stuck money like dead investment and all. On an average all the customers are happy with the company and look forward to the growth of it. C. Scope of the study: Scope the this study is it will assist Religare to get its own Customer Relationship Management system mirror well and it will get all the important things before eyes to apply all the possible ways to provide a superb service to the customers and accordingly make them loyal and retain them long lasting and also to get new customers to be served. Scopes can be stated in few points as follows. o Maintain current / existing customers. o Achieve new potential customers. o Retain all the customers. o Profitability Increment o Reputation and credibility Increment, etc. The heart of CRM is not being customer centric but rather to use customer profitability as a driver for decision making and action. Before exploring this assertion, it is useful to review the process of resource allocation as it is practiced in most organizations. The budget process largely consists of an extrapolation of the past. Resource constraints pit function against function with back room deals that are based on internal politics versus the marketplace. This decision process has little insight as to what is working and what is not working (as it applies to the marketplace) or for that matter why? Without insight relative to cause and effect, the organization has no choice but to follow intuition and anecdote. It is analogous to the story about the marketing VP who admitted that half the advertising budget was wasted; the problem was he did not know which half. CHAPTER 3. PROFILE OF THE COMPANY Profile of company Religare Enterprises Limited (REL): Religare, a Ranbaxy promoter group company, is one of the leading integrated financial services institutions of India. The company offers a large and diverse bouquet of services ranging from equities, commodities, insurance broking, to wealth advisory, portfolio management services, personal finance services, Investment banking and institutional broking services. The services are broadly clubbed across three key business verticals- Retail, Wealth management and the Institutional spectrum. Religare Enterprises Limited is the holding company for all its businesses, structured and being operated through various subsidiaries. Religare‟s retail network spreads across the length and breadth of the country with its presence through more than 1,217 locations across more than 392 cities and towns. Having spread itself fairly well across the country and with the promise of not resting on its laurels, it has also aggressively started eyeing global geographies Religare Enterprises Limited (REL) is one of the leading integrated financial services groups of India. REL‟s businesses are broadly clubbed across three key verticals, the Retail Institutional and Wealth spectrums, catering to a diverse and wide base of clients. The vision is to build Religare as a globally trusted brand in the financial services domain and present it as the „Inv estment Gateway of India‟. All employees of the group guided by an experienced and professional management team are committed to providing financial care, backed by the core values of diligence and transparency. REL offers a multitude of investment options and a diverse bouquet of financial services with its pan India reach in more than 1800 locations across more than 490 cities and towns. REL operates globally following its acquisition of London‟s oldest brokerage and investment firm, Hichens, Harrison and Co. plc. With a view to expand, diversify and introduce offerings benchmarked against global best practices, Religare operates its Life Insurance business in partnership with the global major- AEGON. For its wealth management business Religare has partnered with Australia based financial services major- Macquarie. Religare has also partnered with Vistaar Entertainment to launch India‟s first SEBI approved Film Fund offering a unique alternative asset class of investments. Religare Securities Limited (RSL), a 100% subsidiary of Religare Enterprises Limited is a leading equity and securities firm in India. The company currently handles sizeable volumes traded on NSE and in the realm of online trading and investments; it currently holds a reasonable share of the market. The major activities and offerings of the company today are Equity Broking, Depository Participant Services, Portfolio Management Services, International Advisory Fund Management Services, Institutional Broking and Research Services. To broaden the gamut of services offered to its investors, the company offers an online investment portal armed with a host of revolutionary features. o RSL is a member of the National Stock Exchange of India, Bombay Stock Exchange of India, Depository Participant with National Securities Depository Limited and Central Depository Services (I) Limited, and is a SEBI approved Portfolio Manager. o Religare has been constantly innovating in terms of product and services and to offer such incisive services to specific user segments it has also started the NRI, FII, HNI and Corporate Servicing groups. These groups take all the portfolio investment decisions depending upon a client‟s risk / return parameter. o Religare has a very credible Research and Analysis division, which not only caters to the need of our Institutional clientele, but also gives their valuable inputs to investment dealers. Trading in Equities with Religare truly empowers you for your investment needs. We ensure you have superlative trading experience through – ï‚ · A highly process driven, delight approach ï‚ · Powerful Research & Analytics and ï‚ · One of the „best-class‟ dealing rooms Further, Religare also has one the largest retail networks, with its presence in more than 1800* locations across more than 490* cities and towns. This means, you can walk into any of these branches and connect to our highly skilled and dedicated relationship managers to get the best services. The Religare Edge o Pan India footprint o Powerful research and analytics supported by a pool of highly skilled research analysts o Ethical business practices o Single window for all investment needs through your unique CRN Religare Enterprise Limited, through its subsidiaries, offers a range of integrated financial products and services to retail inventors, high net worth individuals, and corporate and institutional clients in India. It operates in three divisions: Retail Spectrum, Wealth Spectrum, and Institutional Spectrum. The Retail Spectrum division offers equity brokerage, commodities brokerage, personal financial services, including insurance brokerage and mutual fund distribution; internet trading; loans against shares; and personal loans. The Wealth Spectrum division provides portfolio management services, wealth advisory services, and private client equity services, such as international equity services. The company was formerly known as Religare Enterprises Private Limited and changed its name to Religare Enterprises Limited in July 2006. The company was incorporated in 1984 and is based in New Delhi, India. Industry Profile 19 Industry Profile While regulation and reforms have made major improvements in the quality of the equity markets in India, its rapid growth and development are largely due to strong and efficient market intermediation. The robustness of the Indian markets today is attributable to a healthy blend of the quality of market Structure and efficient intermediation. Even as several countries are instituting procedures to commence. Equity derivative markets, India ranks amongst the top five countries globally in this segment, in less than five years of its introduction. This is an example of the proactive and progressive nature of the Indian brokerage industry. In the last decade, the Indian brokerage industry has undergone a dramatic transformation. From being made of close groups, the broking industry today is one of the most transparent and compliance oriented businesses. Long settlement cycles and large scale bad deliveries are a thing of the past with the advent of T+2 (Trading day + 2 days) settlement cycle and dematerialization. Large and fixed commissions have been replaced by wafer thin margins, with competition driving down the brokerage fee, in some cases, to a few basis points. 20 There have also been major changes in the way business is conducted. Technology has emerged as the key driver of business and investment advice has become research based. At the same time, adherence to regulation and compliance has vastly increased. The scope of services have enhanced from being equity products to a wide range of financial services. Investor protection has assumed significance, and so has providing them with education and awareness. Greater need for capitalization has induced several firms to access the capital market; foreign firms are showing increasing interest in taking equity stakes in domestic broking firms. Major developments in equity brokerage industry in India: 1. Corporate memberships There is a growing surge of corporate memberships (92% in NSE and 75% in BSE), and the scope of functioning of the brokerage firms has transformed from that of being a family run business to that of professional organized function that lays greater emphasis on observance of market principles and best practices. With proliferation of new markets and products, corporate nature of the memberships is enabling broking firms to expand the realm of their operations into other exchanges as also other product offerings. Memberships range from cash market to derivatives to commodities and a few broking firms are making forays into obtaining memberships in exchanges outside the country subject to their availability and eligibility. 21 2. Wider product offerings The product offerings of brokerage firms today go much beyond the traditional trading of equities. A typical brokerage firm today offers trading in equities and derivatives, most probably commodities futures, exchange traded funds, distributes mutual funds and insurance and also offers personal loans for housing, consumptions and other related loans, offers portfolio management services, and some even go to the extent of creating niche services such as a brokerage firm offering art advisory services. In the background of growing opportunities for investors to invest in India as also abroad, the range of products and services will widen further. In the offing will be interesting opportunities that might arise in the exchange enabled corporate bond trading, soon after its commencement and futures trading that might be introduced in the near future in the areas of interest rates and Indian currency. 22 3. Greater reliance on research Client advising in India has graduated from personal insights, market tips to becoming extensively research oriented and governed by fundamentals and technical factors. Vast progress has been made in developing company research and refining methods in technical and fundamental analysis. The research and advice are made online giving ready and real time access to market research for investors and clients, thus making research important brand equity for the brokerage firms. 4. Accessing equity capital markets Access to reliable financial resources has been one of the major constraints faced by the equity brokerage industry in India since long. Since the banking system is not fully integrated with the securities markets, brokerage firms face limitations in raising financial resources for business and expansion. With buoyancy of the stock markets and the rising prospects of several well organized broking firms, important opportunity to access capital markets for resource mobilization has become available. The recent past witnessed several leading brokerage firms accessing capital markets for financial resources with success. 23 5. Foreign collaborations and joint ventures The way the brokerage industry is run and the manner in which several of them pursued growth and development attracted foreign financial institutions and investment banks to buy stakes in domestic brokerage firms, paving the way for stronger brokerage entities and possible scope for consolidation in the future. Foreign firms picked up stake in some of the leading brokerage firms, which might lead to creating of greater interest in investing in brokerage firms by entities in India and abroad. 6. Specialized services/niche broking While supermarkets approach are adopted in general by broking firms, there are some which are creating niche services that attract a particular client group such as day traders, arbitrage trading, investing in small cap stocks etc, and providing complete range of research and other support to back up this function. 7. Online broking Several brokers are extending benefits of online trading through creation of separate windows. Some others have dedicated online broking portals. Emergence of online broking enabled reduction in transaction costs and costs of trading. Keen competition has emerged in online broking services, with some of these offering trading services at the cost of a few basis points or costs which are fixed in nature irrespective of the volume of 24 trading conducted. A wide range of incentives are being created and offered by online brokerage firms to attract larger number of clients. 8. Compliance oriented With stringent regulatory norms in operation, broking industry is giving greater emphasis on regulatory compliance and observance of market principles and codes of conduct. Many brokerage firms are investing time, money and resources to create efficient and effective compliance and reporting systems that will help them in avoiding costly mistakes and possible market abuses. Brokerage firms now have a compliance officer who is responsible for all compliance related aspects and for interacting with clients and other stake holders on aspects of regulation and compliance. 9. Focus on training and skill sets Brokerage firms are giving importance and significance to aspects such as training on skill sets that could prove to be beneficial in the long run. With the nature of markets and products becoming more complex, it becomes imperative for the broking firms to keep their staff continuously updated with latest development in practices and procedures. Moreover, it is mandated for certain types of dealers/brokers to seek specific certification and examinations that will make them eligible to carry business or trade. Greater emphasis on aspects such as research and analysis is giving scope 25 for in-depth training and skills sets on topics such as trading programs, valuations, economic and financial forecasting and company research. 10. From owners to traders A fundamental change that has taken place in the equity brokerage industry, which is a global trend as well, is the transformation of broking from owners of the stock exchange to traders of the stock market. Demutualization and corporatization of stock exchanges bifurcated the ownership and trading rights with brokers vested only with the later and ownership being widely distributed. Demutualization is providing balanced welfare gains to both the stock exchanges and the members with the former being able to run as corporations and the latter being able to avoid conflict of interests that sometimes came as a major deterrent for the long term growth of the industry. Emerging challenges and outlook for the brokerage industry .Brokerage firms in India made much progress in pursuing growth and building professionalism in operations. Given the nature of the brokerage industry being very dynamic, changes could be rapid and so as the challenges that emerge from time to time. A brief description on some of the prospects and challenges of the brokerage firms are discussed below. 26 11. Fragmentation Indian brokerage industry is highly fragmented. Numerous small firms operate in this space. Given the growing importance of technology in operations and increasing emphasis on regulatory compliance, smaller firms might find it constrained to make right type of investments that will help in business growth and promotion of investor interests. 12. Capital Adequacy Capital adequacy has emerged as an important determinant that governs the scope of business in the financial sector. Current requirements stipulation capital adequacy in regard to trading exposure, but in future more tighter norms of capital adequacy might come into force as a part of the prudential norms in the financial sector. In this background, it becomes imperative for the brokerage firms to focus on raising capital resources that will enable to give continuous thrust and focus on business growth. 13. Global Opportunities Broking in the future will increasingly become international in character with the stock markets being open for domestic and international investors including institutions and individuals, as also opportunities for investing abroad. Keeping abreast with developments in international markets as also familiarization with global standards in broking operations and assimilating major practices and procedures will become relevant for the domestic brokerage firms. 27 14. Opportunities from regional finance Regional economic integration such as that under the European Union and the ASEAN have greatly benefited businesses in the individual countries with cross border opportunities that helped to expand the scope and significance of the business. Initial measures to promote South Asian economic integration is being made by governments in the region first at the political level to be followed up in regard to financial markets. South Asian economic integration will provide greater opportunities for broking firms in India to pursue cross border business. In view of several of common features prevailing in the markets, it would be easier to make progress in this regard. 15. Product Dynamics As domestic finance matures and greater flow of cross border flows continue, new market segments will come into force, which could benefit the domestic brokerage firms, if they are well prepared. For instance, in the last three to four years, brokerage firms had newer opportunities in the form of commodities futures, distribution of insurance products, wealth management, mutual funds etc, and as the market momentum continues, broking firms will have an opportunity to introduce a wider number of products. 28 16. Competition from foreign firms Surging markets and growing opportunities will attract a number of international firms that will increase the pace of competition. Global firms with higher levels of capital, expertise and market experience will bring dramatic changes in the brokerage industry space which the local firms should be able to absorb and compete. Domestic broking firms should always give due focus to emerging trends in competition and prepare accordingly. 17. Investor Protection Issues of investor interest and protection will assume centre stage. Firms found not having suitable infrastructure and processes to ensure investor safety and protection will encounter constraints from regulation as also class action suits that investors might bring against erring firms. The nature of penalties and punitive damages would become more severe. It is important for brokerage firms to establish strong and streamlined systems and procedures for ensuring investor safety and protection. 29 Chapter 4. Literature Review Literature Review Historical Background: Customer relationship management (CRM), a concept that has been around since the mid 90s, has its roots in the technology of sales automation and call center operations. At that time, it was thought that merging the customer data from the field (sales) with the call center interactions would result in more informed interactions with the customer. The concept resonated with user organizations and soon mergers and acquisitions created a host of software vendors all claiming to have an integrated set of capabilities that became known as CRM. On a parallel track, Internet-based tools such as e-commerce, Internet marketing, personalization, and self-help were evolving. These products competed outside of the CRM sphere due to the newness of the technology, and they were referred to as e-business. When the concepts of CRM and e-business melded together there was a short period of e-madness where vendors talked about eCRM and e-everything. There are still vestiges of this transition in the industry such as essentially using e-business to add value to vendors and referring to it as partner relationship management (PRM) or providing tools for employees and referring to it as employee relationship management (ERM). 31 Similarly, enterprise resource planning (ERP) vendors realized that the 360-degree view of the customer has to include transaction data, so they have likewise developed an integrated package with CRM capabilities. Thus from a technology perspective CRM consists of a set of applications that address the needs of customer-facing functions that in turn feed a common database that is supported by business analytics. Each vendor has variations on this theme. On the other hands, CRM can be defined as a process or methodology used to learn more about customers‟ needs and behaviors in order to manage and develop stronger relationships in an organized way with them. 32 Components of CRM: 1. Contact an Account Management: Relevant data for customer profile is captured with the help of the software. Necessary information is captured from prospective customers. CRM system stores data in common customer database. The database integrates customer account information and presents it in desirable format to the company. The data is used for sales, marketing, services and other applications. 33 2. Sales: Sales process management follows a customized sales methodology with specific sales policies and procedures. Sales activities include – Product information, Product configuration, sales prospectus and sales quote generation. CRM also provide the history of customer account so that the sales call can be scheduled accordingly. 3. Marketing and fulfillment: CRM helps the professionals in product marketing, target marketing, relationship marketing and campaign management. By analyzing customer and business value of direct marketing can be estimated. CRM also helps in customer retention, behavior prediction, channel optimization, personalization. Customer response and requests can be quickly scheduled and hence sales contacts. 34 4. Customer Service and support: CRM system provides service representatives with adequate access to customer database. It also helps to create, assign and manage the service requests by customers. Calling format is designed to route customer calls to respective attendants as per the skills and authority to handle special cases. Help desk system is developed to help customer service representative to help customers who face problems with product or service to resolve it. Web-based Self Service means help customer to access personalized information at company website. 5. Retention and loyalty programs: The primary objective of CRM is to enhance and optimize customer retention and loyalty. CRM systems are also useful in determining most loyal and profitable customers and reward. 35 The essential link between Marketing, Sales and Customer Service: Too often, the three key functions that directly affect customers -Marketing, Sales and Customer Service – operate independently of one another. This can create confusion and inconsistency in how you communicate and service your customers. For examples, marketing staff may come up with a price promotion. However, if that is not communicated to the sales team, the result could be incorrect billing, which may take time or resources from the customer to rectify and could create ill will and mistrust, making it seem like your company does not adhere to its word. 36 Similarly, if a salesperson makes a sale and gives certain guarantees to a customer but those are not communicated to the customer service team or even to the other sales team members, then the customer may fees as if the company is not standing behind its assurance. This can be particularly problematic if there is employee turnover and poor communication between or even departments. This „silo effect‟ – where information is between vertically in departments that may or may not communicate with each other- could actually damage your business. With comprehensive CRM system, however, customer communication is captured and housed in an accessible database, making the most current information available to anyone who needs it and has access to the system. By breaking through barriers between various business functions and making communication transparent, your company can act in a more consistent and unified fashion with its customers, instilling a greater level of trust and strengthening customer relationships. Religare Securities Limited (RSL) provides a host of financial services under one roof following a ONE STOP SHOP philosophy. It has a dedicated team of professionals to cater to the variety of services to Individuals, Corporate and Institutions. The team updates its clients with opportunities – with a sense of competitive urgency and risk management. What‟s more, their special analysts design customized services for HNI and Institutions. 37 Over the years Religare Securities Ltd. has played a successful role in client’s wealth creation. In the process Religare Securities Ltd. also refined itself, as an investment advisor and is poised to provide complete Investment Management Solutions to its valued clientele. The following is the product profile of the company. ï‚ · Equity Broking – BSE and NSE ï‚ · Derivatives Futures and Options ï‚ · Internet Broking- Online Trading ï‚ · Commodities Trading – NCDEX & MCX ï‚ · Institutional Broking ï‚ · Depository Services – NSDL & CDSL ï‚ · Portfolio Management Services ï‚ · NRI Investments ï‚ · Initial Public Offerings (IPO) ï‚ · Mutual Fund Investment NEWS: Religare Securities bags LIPPER-STARMINE Award for Excellence in Research Mumbai, February 18, 2009: Religare Securities Limited a wholly owned subsidiary of Religare Enterprises Limited has been recently awarded the LIPPER-STARMINE broker award for â€Å"Earnings Estimates in Midcap Research for 2008†. The Lipper| StarMine Awards organized by Thomson Reuters, for Asset Management and sell-side broking Companies in India, were announced last week in Mumbai. The awards recognize analysts who are more accurate than their peers in forecasting earnings, awarding credit to those who demonstrate an ability to make accurate estimates earlier than their peers. On receiving the award, Mr. Amitabh Chakraborty, President (Equity), said, â€Å"We are extremely proud to receive this award as a validation of our efforts in what was the most difficult and volatile year in stock market and corporate history. It is in these difficult times that the ability of a team to accurately estimate corporate earnings stands its truest test and we have succeeded in enabling our customers to make informed buy or sell recommendations in order to give above average returns to investors.† 40 Equities What is equity? Funds brought into a business by its shareholders is called equity. It is a measure of a stake of a person or group of persons starting a business. What does investing in equity mean? When you buy a company’s equity, you are in effect financing it, and being compensated with a stake in the business. You become part-owner of the company, entitled to dividends and other benefits that the company may announce, but without any guarantee of a return on your investments. Dematerialization What is Demat? Demat is a commonly used abbreviation of Dematerialisation, which is a process whereby securities like shares, debentures are converted from the â€Å"material† (paper documents) into electronic data and stored in the computers of an electronic Depository (SEE next page). You surrender material securities registered in your name to a Depository Participant (DP). These are then sent to the respective companies 41 who cancel them after dematerialization and credit your Depository Account with the DP. The securities on dematerialization appear as balances in the Depository Account. These balances are transferable like physical shares. If at a later date you wish to have these â€Å"Demat† securities converted back into paper certificates, the Depository can help to revive the paper shares. What is the procedure for the dematerialisation of securities? Check with a DP as to whether the securities you hold can be dematerialised. Then open an account with a DP and surrender the share certificates. What is a Depository? A Depository is a securities â€Å"bank,† where dematerialised physical securities are held in custody, and from where they can be traded. This facilitates faster, risk-free and low cost settlement. A Depository is akin to a bank and performs activities similar in nature. At present, there are two Depositories in India, National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) and Central Depository Services (CDS). NSDL was the first Indian Depository. It was inaugurated in November 1996. NSDL was set up with an initial capital of Rs 124 crores, promoted by Industrial Development Bank of 42 India (IDBI), Unit Trust of India (UTI), National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. (NSEIL) and the State Bank of India (SBI). Who is a Depository Participant (DP)? NSDL carries out its activities through business partners – Depository Participants (DPs), Issuing Corporates and their Registrars and Transfer Agents, Clearing Corporations/Clearing Houses. NSDL is electronically linked to each of these business partners via a satellite link through Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATS). The entire integrated system (including the VSAT linkups and the software at NSDL and at each business partner’s end) has been named the â€Å"NEST† (National Electronic Settlement & Transfer) system. The investor interacts with the Depository through a Depository Participant of NSDL. A DP can be a bank, financial institution, a custodian or a broker. 43 Chapter 5. Research Methodology 44 Research Methodology Research Design: Research design means adopting that type technique of research which is most suited for the research and study of the problem. For the study and the research of the problem proper material has to be selected and collected for the investigation. â€Å"A research design is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data in a manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with economy in procedure.† – Jahoda, deutish. Cook. In order to know about effectiveness of Customer Relationship Management in Religare Securities Ltd., it was necessary to interact with the customer. The sample taken comprised of respondents from Pune city. A questionnaire had to be designed to collect valuable information from the different customer groups. The questionnaire which was designed suitably to meet the objective of research work. 45 Nature of Research: In this project report I have undertaken quantitative type of study. Type of the questions: The questions in the questionnaire asked to the visiting customers of Religare Securities Ltd, Regional office in Pune, are Straight Forward and Limited Probing. Type of the Questionnaire: The questionnaire in this project report is straight forward and formalized. Type of Analysis: The analysis done in this particular project report is statistical. 46 Sources of Data: a. Primary Data: The Primary data are those data which are collected fresh and for the first time and thus happen to be original in character. The primary data that was collected through interview conducted in Regional Branch with daily visiting customers. The primary data sources include copies of questionnaire and data of their respective responses. b. Secondary Data: The secondary data are those which have already been collected by someone else and which have been passed through the statistical process. Secondary data was collected through company websites. Some of the web sites http://www.religaresecurities.com/ and some others like. 47 Chapter 6. Primary Data Collection 48 Primary Data Collection Research Technique: As the researcher, I adopted survey method as a research technique for this particular project report. Contact Method: I as a researcher interviewed the respondents by personal interview. Sampling Plan: a) Population: The population covered in this project report refers to the existing (Office Coming) customers of Regional Office, who have their trading and D‟mat A/c with Religare Securities Ltd. b) Sample Size The sample size undertaken by me for this particular project report is 100 respondents. 49 c) Sample Element The respondents contacted and interviewed in this project report are all from different domain some of them were Businessmen, High Net-worth Investors, Proprietors, even Students also invest in Share Market. d) Sample Extent As a researcher, I conducted this survey only for the customers in Regional Office of Religare Securities, Pune. e) Sample Duration The survey was undertaken from the 01st June, 2009 to 30th July, 2009 i.e. for two months. f) Research Instrument: Questionnaires containing both open ended and close ended questions were used as a research instrument in this particular project report. 50 Chapter 7. Data Analysis & Interpretation 51 Data Analysis & Interpretation 1. Respondents: Respondents Businessmen HNIs Proprietors Individuals Number of respondents Interpretation: Above pie chart represents that research contains 100 respondents which are Businessmen, HNIs, Proprietors and Individuals and they are 30, 8, 24, 38 respectively in numbers and percentages. 30% 8% 24% 38% Businessmen HNIs Proprietors Individuals 52 2. Income Group(Annual): Income Group (INR) 10000 – 1 Lakh 1 Lakh – 5 Lakh 5 Lakh-10 Lakh 10 Lakh – Above Number of respondents Interpretation: Above pie chart represents that the research contained 100 investors and customers of Religare Securities Ltd. All the people were from different different Income group which are in numbers shown above. W e can clearly see sample includes more customers from first income group i.e. INR 10,000 – 1 Lakh 43% 37% 13% 7% 10000 -1 Lakh 1 Lakh -5 Lakh 5 Lakh -10 Lakh 10 Lakh -Above 53 2. Company Interaction via Email and Telephone Calls: Interaction Via Email and Telephone Calls Interpretation: From the above result of Company Interaction via Email and Telephone calls, we can imagine the satisfaction level of customers and accordingly Customer Relationship is managed through electronic media to maximize the wealth of customers. In Religare mostly dealers are in touch of regular traders / customers and customers also get loyal to the company through this practice. Every call is taped by default for the evidence of orders to buy or sell the stocks and Emails too. Excellent Interpretation: When it was asked sudden and on the time answer was the same of maximum people, it means the credibility and trustworthiness of the company is on the height. It‟s nothing but the result of Relationship Management. It is said that Share Market means „Well of Loss‟, nevertheless Religare‟s Customer don‟t have any tension in investing because they believe in Company‟s Researchers and Analysts and their investment tips too. 96% Number of respondents Interpretation: From the above answers Customer Relationship can be very well highlighted because out of 100, 43 people have rated Religare on the scale of 1 to 10 and again in remaining maximum customers say that they rate Religare at on the scale of 1 to 10.Every customer has his own value and consideration about Religare because they invest their Hard Earned money and take risk to earn more cause of Religare‟s Services and Attachment and it is all the output of Customer Relationship Management. 4% 5. Where do you invest/ trade mostly? Where Customers Invest mostly Equity Commodity Currency Number of respondents 66 19 15 Interpretation: One general question was asked in questionnaire to know the investment flow of customers towards Religare Services. When it was asked why they invest in specific area mostly then it was answered by many people that liquidity market is easy to make money out of investment and take money out whenever we feel not to put. And other reason many customers don‟t want to invest for long time.And about currency some people were not interested. 66% 19% 15% Equity Commodity Currency 57 6. Where do you trade mostly? Where Customers Trade mostly Intraday Delivery Both Number of respondents 48 37 15 48% 37% 15% Intraday Delivery Both 58 Interpretation: From the above view of graph we come to know that maximum people, 61% customers trade in Intraday Trading. On this customers say they like to trade in Intraday because of Short term investment and high level of excitement and sometimes they feel their money seems to sink. It‟s like One Day Cricket play for many customers. In Delivery, people say here is „No / Low Risk, More Money‟ , in this people say if scrip goes down like „Satyam‟, then also we get chance to book profit buying current stocks in low price and putting old stock aside temporarily. Here we find people hesitate to invest in Intraday and confident to trade in Delivery trading. Very less traders population do trade in both area, for few people it‟s nothing but fund managing, if one finds difficulty in making money in Intraday, they simultaneously manage their fund for Delivery, but very few people feel do this type of management. Eventually Religare is the Broking firm and it doesnâ₠¬Å¸t lose its attention from making money for its customers and lose its attention from Customer Relationship Management. 59 7. Do you trade in any other broking firm? Trade in other Broking Firm Yes No Number of respondents Interpretation: Above pie chart represents the maximum people have their D‟mat A /c and Trading A/c somewhere else also nevertheless they say they trade from Religare only and few of their other A/cs are put Non-Operating by them. Here we get a fact that Religare‟s Customer Relationship Management really has something very attractive and attachable to emotions cause of services. Few of them were hesitating while answering this question. 8. Are you satisfied with the services provided by Religare? Satisfaction Strongly Yes Slightly Yes No Strongly No Slightly No Number of respondents Interpretation: Above chart represents us the output of Customer Relationship Management with the help of the services and customers satisfaction can show a mirror of the efforts of the company towards making their customers loyal to them. Here 64% customers have selected and stated that they are fully satisfied with the services that they are getting from Religare Securities Ltd. 64% 9. Since last how many years you are in field of trading? Since when customers are trading ? Less than 1 year More than 1year More than 2 years Number of respondents Interpretation: This question was asked intentionally to know the loyalty of customers with Religare Securities Ltd., which is nothing but the back-screen coding of on screen output. These all things are the proud of Religare and its customers are also very proud to be in Religare. 17% Customer Relationship Management Business Drivers and Benefits ï‚ · It empowers management with a real-time pipelines and forecasting so they can build and focus on high profit, sustainable relationships. ï‚ · It empowers staff wit customer intelligence and best practices to increase their likelihood of successful transactions. ï‚ · It increases customer‟s acquisition, retention, loyalty, and profitability by integrating information across the enterprise. ï‚ · It enables executive and management to gain customer insight. 64 Customer Relationship Management Risks ï‚ · Effective internal controls must be in place to prevent customer information from becoming scattered across databases and servers. ï‚ · CRM can be associated with significant revenue cycle. ï‚ · CRM should be kept and handled and carefully kept inside the company only otherwise Customers Database can be misused by rivals. Customer Common Findings while contacting: ï‚ · Generally people whom I have contacted they were from different domains like Business, Proprietors, High Net worth Income Group (HNIs) and students. ï‚ · Their responses may not be proper because of their „Busyness‟ in Dealing Room. ï‚ · This data is called Primary Data, which is considered very genuine but is this case it misrepresents the Reality and Credibility. 65 ï‚ · Some people, its felt that they gave fake response, with impression that this questionnaire is from Religare Securities internal. ï‚ · Some people did not take it serious because this was not important to them as they are busy for trading at dealing Room. ï‚ · Every data interpretation and statistics cannot be think worthy from their results because this study is for only two months altogether. 66 Chapter 8. Limitations 67 Limitations Findings are according to the observations. 1. Many consultants, vendors, and analysts today define CRM in terms of being a customer-centric business strategy that is enabled by a set of applications that support customer-facing functions and management decision making. That may capture the essence of what CRM is, but while it does not concentrate on the extra expenses occurring on Company‟s A/c due to increment in expenses in serving customers all the ways and Return on investment means consideration may not be more than expected. Customer may not give that much business transactions which is estimated or expected. 2. It needs specific staffs to handle all the tasks of Customer Relationship Management because the data that is feed in system cannot be handled merely by Relationship Managers who has to make new customers and take care of their dealings and also to accomplish their additional responsibilities. 68 Suggestions 69 Suggestions 1. Short Duration: o Project research duration was only for two months, in this tenure neither study nor observation can be done properly. For example, we saw sample plan – in that only 100 customers could be contacted and now the problem is- from this samples we cannot think of Macro Level Perception of customers. Many people may be from same point of view and many may not and those 100 people may not contain these type of people. So duration of Research Project should be more than two months. 2. Customer Category: o To find effective Customer Relationship Management, Broking firm can do one more thing which will be very beneficial to them in finding Asset Customers from the bottom level management to top level management. Religare should adopt system of allotting Customer Categories according to their transactions, due payments, exposure, loyalty, frequency of trading and all. 70 o In this system at all the level where CRM is handled and watched by Top class officials of the company, they also get to know the list names and details of the loyal customers and CEO or Board of Directors also get to know total customers and at last their turnover of the total transaction. 3. Affiliated Awareness Programs: o Religare should arrange affiliated programs within its own groups to come to the sense of new people and accordingly to prospecting and acquiring new customers. o With the help of it companies CRM will help it to get height of success and dominate the world of Services. Because CRM affects Marketing, Sales and profitability and these all can be achieved by CRM. o For E.g., Religare Securities can play few awareness documentaries and Advertisement with „Religare Vistaar‟ this will result in getting more and more customers to serve and accordingly Religare can become the first ranker in turnover very soon. 71 Appendix I. Copy of questionnaire II. Bibliography , 72 Questionnaire 1. Name:________________________________________________ 2. Contact No:________________________________________________ 3. Occupation: ï‚ £Businessman ï‚ £Proprietor ï‚ £HNI ï‚ £Individual 4. Income Group(Annual): ï‚ £ 10000 – 1 Lakh ï‚ £1 Lakh – 5 Lakh ï‚ £ 5 Lakh-10 Lakh ï‚ £ 10 Lakh – Above 5. How do you find Company Interaction via Email and Telephone Calls ? ï‚ £Poor ï‚ £Fair ï‚ £Good ï‚ £ Very Good 73 6. Do you find company’s investment tips useful and beneficial? ï‚ £Yes ï‚ £No ï‚ £Can’t Say 7. Where do you rate Religare on the scale of 10 in terms of Services? ï‚ £4 ï‚ £6 ï‚ £8 ï‚ £10 8. Where do you invest/ trade mostly? ï‚ £Equity ï‚ £Commodity ï‚ £Currency 9. Where do you trade mostly? ï‚ £Intraday trading ï‚ £Delivery Trading 10. Do you trade in any other broking firm? ï‚ £Yes ï‚ £No If Yes, name of the broking firm__________________________________ 74 11. Are you satisfied with the services provided by Religare? ï‚ £Yes ï‚ £No Since last how many years you are in field of trading? ï‚ £Less than 1 Year ï‚ £More Than 1 Year ï‚ £More than 5 Year 12. What improvement do you want be done in company’s services? ï‚ £__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________ 13. Which service do you like most in Religare? ï‚ £_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 75 Bibliography Websites = http://deadpresident.blogspot.com http://religareonline.com http://www.religaresecurities.com Newspapers = The Hindu Books =

Program Evaluation for Non-Profit Organization

An organization needs to put in place an evaluation process to ascertain whether it is accomplishing its goals or not. Such evaluation would then become a very important part of the ensuing planning process. There are two ways in which an organization conducts an evaluation. One is intended to proceed with the evaluation through the goals established by the organization. The other is to conduct the evaluation through the processes in place in the organization. With goal-based evaluation, the organization seeks to understand whether the avowed goals have been achieved or exceeded. It has an emphasis on outputs instead of processes. Even with limited resources and difficult situations, the goal-based evaluation looks at the outputs based on the inputs and other raw materials put into the process. It is usually useful for organizations that are beating deadlines, or seeking to meet targets given limited resources, time, and manpower. Results are given primacy in this kind of evaluation (Edvardsson & Hansson, 2003). Process-based evaluation focuses on efficiency and effectiveness. It is geared towards minimizing costs while ensuring that the goals are achieved. With this kind of evaluation, the goals to be achieved are given and are expected to be delivered. In doing so, the organization is freed from looking at the achievement of the goals because such is expected. What the organization is focusing on, however, is the way that the goals are being achieved. Are they effective and efficient? Are they contributing to the overall objectives of the organization? Is there a way that such processes could be improved and geared to help the organization achieve more? Are the policies of the organization sound and the different departments coordinating smoothly with each other? Through these questions, the organization is taking a look at the way in which it can achieve its goals by improving its processes. The goals are important but processes are more important in certain respects because of their systemic nature. Depending on the circumstances, however, a goal-based organization may be more important than a process-oriented one (Ott, 2001). In addition to this, process-based evaluation takes a look at the policies, programs, coordination systems, and other processes at work in the organization. It makes use of a systemic view of the organization and seeks to integrate every important aspect of the organization in the evaluation process. It is more comprehensive than goal-based evaluation as it may take more time to be completed (Ott, 2001). Application of Evaluation Styles Goal-based evaluation may be more appropriate in situations where the non-profit organization is evaluating together with their clientele. In the case of an organization dedicated to community development, a goal-based evaluation would be suitable for a discussion with the community regarding the achievements of the goals. Usually, if the goals are not accomplished or achieved, the people, together with the non-profit organization can brainstorm on the problems that are being faced by the community. In addition to this, it would be important to evaluate themselves about the hindrances that they face in accomplishing the goals identified during the planning phase. Goal-based evaluation also looks at the actual outputs of the organization’s project. If the project is about reducing the number of substance addicts in the neighborhood, then a goal-based evaluation would say that the program is successful if there is a significant decline in the number of offenders. On the other hand, process-based evaluation would take a look at the overall systemic performance of the organization. Even if the results are phenomenal if the processes are not firmly in place, then such an evaluation would be careful in proclaiming success. It would look at the coordination systems, the teamwork of the organization, as well as the ethical side of things. With such an evaluation, it becomes important to look at the overall strategy of the organization instead of simply focusing on achieved goals (Ott, 2001). Establishing the Framework of a New Nonprofit Organization As a new Executive Director of a nonprofit organization, there are several things I need to do in order to ensure that the organization is setup and would thrive in the process. Without the necessary legal and financial framework, the nonprofit organization is bound to fail. The following strategies outline what needs to be done for this organization. The first step, of course, would be to define what the organization is all about—the kinds of services to be offered and the way it will be structured. The vision, mission, and goals of the organization have to be defined. The structure, on the other hand, would enable the organization to achieve its goals. Registration and Legal Personality The nonprofit organization should acquire its legal personality by being registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission or its equivalent. Through this, the nonprofit organization will be able to transact legally under the laws of the country and will be able to purchase property and open accounts under its own name. This also prevents unscrupulous persons to setup accounts and secure properties in their own names at the expense of the organization. With a legal personality, however, also comes responsibility. As such, the organization may sue persons and it can also be sued. It therefore needs to comply with legal requirements of organizations. Securing Advisers The nonprofit organization also needs legal and financial advisers so that it would not violate any law or ordinance even accidentally. A legal counsel would be needed. Although there are lawyers offering pro-bono services, it would also be a good idea to include the lawyer’s fee in the budget of the organization. Securing Funding As part of the strategy of the organization, the Executive director also needs to look for sources of funding from different organizations. Private corporations and even countries do fund initiatives for development. It takes a careful research of these organizations. Without a steady source of funding, the organization will not prosper and will only flounder if there is no steady funding. As part of the financial framework of the organization, there should also be a means to ensure transparency and accountability. This would be important in ensuring that the donors trust the organization and for the organization to adhere to governmental rules such as Sarbanes-Oxley. Although SOX, as Sarbanes-Oxley is called, was meant for companies for profit, it has provisions for non-profit organizations. Adhering to these accounting regulations can also help in enhancing the overall strategy, integrity, and transparency of the organization. Reference Edvardsson, K. & Hansson, S. O. (2003). When is a goal rational?. Social Choice and Welfare, 24 (2), 343-361. Ott, J. S. (2001). The Nature of the Nonprofit Sector. New York: Westview Press. Â   Â  

The Impact of Firm Size on the Process and the Role of SME in Creating Essay

The Impact of Firm Size on the Process and the Role of SME in Creating Innovation in New Zealand - Essay Example The paper tells that New Zealand bases much of its support to research and development by awarding the sector the necessary support it deserves. This is evident in 2010 when the expenditure in R&D reached a whopping $2,444 million and $ 2,161million in 2008 most of which led to innovative findings. The research and expenditure represented 1.31% of the GDP representing an increase over the years. The total business expenditure on research and development in the year 2010 was estimated to be around $1,013 million an increase of 8% of the 2004 allocation. In the year 2010, the experimental research got most of the funding followed by applied research and basic research in that sequence with the latter getting the least funding. This is quite opposite in the last decade when basic applied research used to get more funding than other type of research. Most of these research funding come from the government and businesses with minor funding coming from universities, oversees and other fund ing sources. The government is very supportive in matters relating to research and development and this is evident in the year 2010 when it contributed about 46% of the money mean for research and development. This is higher compared to 28% of the government contribution in R&D in the year 2008. From all the sectors funded by research, the New Zealand business sector got 38% of the research funding in the year 2010 representing a decrease of 41%. Most of the research personnel in New Zealand had a bachelor’s degree or higher making most of their research to be of high quality and of international recognition. New Zealand environment, Economic and Culture The new Zealanders exhibit strong cultural ties that were weakened by the British Empire during colonial rule. Of late, the New Zealand culture has been broadened by globalization and immigration from various parts of the globe, the European and the Maori are the two main ethnic groups in occupying the region together with ot her tribes but in minority status. New Zealand is a geographically isolated country with unique natural environment across its landscape making it a very beautiful country. The country experienced a long period without human habitation. Its richness in biodiversity boast over 80,000 species of native animals plants and fungi some of which have not been found anywhere in the world. The country’s population is just about four million people with a good population growth rate which offers good market for its innovative services. Most of the people in New Zealand live in urban areas most of which are within beautiful coastlines with beautiful beaches. The population density is low making it a sparsely populated country which consists of two main islands with several small islands in beautiful environment. Environment dominates almost every aspect of New Zealand life thus they take great efforts to conserve it in ways that protect economic wellbeing, social systems and cultural we alth. The SME sector employs about 31% of the country’s population making it very significant for the economy and to the government in matters of development. Most of these SMEs are largely managed and operated by their owners who are motivated by the view of making profits. Just like other SMEs in the world, the SME in New Zealand lack specialist staff at their managerial levels like big businesses and companies. The self employed in this are about 10.5% of the workforce with 5 or fewer employees accounting for about 12%.

Analyzing Customer Relationship Management case Essay

Analyzing Customer Relationship Management case - Essay Example Customer relationship management is something that cannot be done haphazardly. Indeed, to achieve a workable customer relationship management, one needs to put in place a lot of factors that would come together to form what would be known as a strategic plan. Perhaps the presence of a strategic plan for customer relationship management is one major different between a customer relationship management that works and one that does not work. By a customer relationship management that works, reference is being made to a customer relationship management that goes a long way to ensure that customers are pleased and that they make decisions out of what they have seen to continue doing business with a particular company or organization. In today’s contemporary business world, a lot of business managers have only being concerned with putting to practice any customer management theory they hear without taking time to research into what each customer management theory should be made up o f. For a management that is geared towards enhancing customer relationship management for instance, such as a management would recruit all necessary components that make a strategic plan for customer relationship management workable and result oriented. Such as a strategic plan would inculcate the principles of social media team, which has been identified as one of the world’s most modern means of succeeding in customer relationship management. In the plan therefore, there are four levels of social generations for the company. These four levels may well represent five years whereby one of the levels is implemented in each of the years. The four levels of social generations are discussed below. Level 1 – Generation of Social Relationship – Year 1 Though customers are the major money makers for every business, it is important that business owners and customer relationship managers see customers as an integral and socially bonding part of their companies. Most ofte n than not, customers are seen as a reserved part of the business. For this reason, the customer is seen to be useful only when the company is sure to make some earnings from them. It has however been proven that this is an unworkable principle for maximizing the impact customers can make in a business financially. Though customers do not have defined portfolios in the running of business expect when they are shareholders,

Why Do Wars Happen Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Why Do Wars Happen - Essay Example Adopting the framework of Henry Nau, the basic insights offered to understand why wars and peace can happen are the realist, liberalist, and identity perspectives (Humphreys, 180). The class lectures of our course heavily used the book of Henry Nau and, thus, this discussion heavily used the lecture materials. The realist perspective holds that states must protect themselves and that the best protection will be found wherein states balance each other, meaning that no state is in a position to bully the other states because all states have the capability to subvert a bully either alone or with allies (Lecture 3, Slide 2). However, holding the other states in check so that no one would be in a position to bully or conquer another, require that states must arm themselves (Lecture 3, Slide 3). In addition, states will be unable to tap allies if they themselves are not armed (Lecture 3, Slide 3). For realists, transitional peace is possible if countries disarm. Yet, if a country disarms a nd others do not, the country that disarmed will not be in a position to defend herself. The country will be vulnerable to attacks and will be vulnerable to being conquered by the country that did not disarm. If on the other hand, all countries arm themselves to the teeth, a situation is created wherein a war scenario or an armed standoff can emerge (Lecture 3, Slide 6). This means there is a potential for war with an armed standoff (Lecture 3, Slide 6). There is a dilemma: if a country does not arm, she risks being bullied or conquered. If a country arms, she will risk a war or an armed standoff (Lecture 3, Slide 6). For a realist, countries will usually consider subjugation unacceptable. On the other hand, a country can consider peace to be too fragile and vulnerable to become a situation in which one country could re-arm to conquer the other. Thus, for realists, the â€Å"realistic† or appropriate situation to target is a situation of stand-off or parity of power (Lecture 3, Slide 6). On the same dilemma and situation confronted by realists, liberalists or liberalism holds that peace remains possible if institutions are created to make negotiations work better (Lecture 4, Slide 2). Liberalism argues that peace can be enforced if countries or states unite to punish states that fail to disarm (Lecture 4, Slide 2). Liberalists hold that another route towards peace is available if states who are disarming implement the disarmament by stages wherein participants to the disarmament observe each other (Lecture 4, Slide 3). Each country can implement the disarmament proportionate to the goodwill or initiative of each other (Lecture 4, Slide 3). A country can also reduce her arms in a manner calculated to inspire reciprocation from other countries to reduce their arms. In doing so, all countries in a disarmament program can reduce arms until the disarmament becomes full and complete (Lecture 4, Slide 4). A country can initiate goodwill reducing arms in the ex pectation that other countries will reciprocate the goodwill by implementing a proportionate disarmament. In the liberalist perspective or liberalism, institutions play an important role in the disarmament process because they can serve as third parties that can help countries involved in the disarmament (Lecture 4, Slide 4). The forerunner of the United Nations, for example, the League of Nations provided a mechanism whereby countries involved in international disputes are able to submit their dispute to the league for arbitration (Lecture 4, Slide 4). If the league finds or has come to believe or has deemed that a country is guilty of aggression, the league can enforce peace by imposing economic blockade or sanctions against the assumed aggressor (Lecture 4, Slide

4RFUTURE Organization Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

4RFUTURE Organization - Assignment Example   In order to make students between the ages of 18-25 more aware about their impacts on resource depletion and overpopulation, we are planning to incorporate Guerilla Marketing by traveling across the U.S. to a variety of universities to speak about their effects. Our goal is to increase the number of students’ knowledge of resource depletion and overpopulation 40% across the 10 largest colleges in the U.S. over three weeks. While our budget may be low, we are thankful to the World Health Organization, and the Forest Stewardship Council, supporters in both educating people about the issue of overpopulation, and using recyclable resources. Both organizations plan to fund our trip across the nation (which includes driving in hybrid vehicle), and the cost of our thousands of flyers.   Along with using Guerilla Marketing as part of our campaign, 4RFUTURE plans to hand out plantable informational flyers in order to spread the word about our campaign. These flyers contain wild f lower, herb, or vegetable seeds that can be replanted into the earth. Furthermore, we plan to promote a paid internship program for the following year, where interns will not only be able to put that experience on their resume, but they will travel across the nation to 10 different universities with hopes of further spreading the issue of overpopulation. ... The surveys will provide us with a basis of what our target market knew before and after our presentations; ultimately adding to our research about how we can further educate our target market, or the areas in our campaign that require change. Strengths: †¢ We act on our own campaign. We recycle, we replant our flyers, and teach others how to do it. †¢ Since we are passionate about teaching our target market about their impacts on resource depletion and overpopulation, we’re traveling across the nation with funds from reliable sources, and on a cost-efficient budget. †¢ Our trip across the nation will be driven in a hybrid car to show our dedication in decreasing carbon emissions and helping the environment. †¢ We are original. Rather than using media to convey our goals and objectives, we’re using a social marketing campaign in order to interact with our target market. †¢ Part of our social marketing campaign includes a paid internship program for students interested in partaking in the same trip the following year. Weaknesses †¢ Students that throw away our flyers, and disregard our message. †¢ Students who don’t support our message. †¢ Students who think other issues are more important, and counteract our objectives. †¢ Traveling on a low budget. †¢ Limit of universities that we’re presenting to. Opportunities: †¢ No other organization is doing a campaign like ours; targeting students with a main focus on overpopulation and resource depletion. †¢ No other organizations have incorporated an internship program that will enable students to participate in the same campaign. †¢ A large market to reach, because we’re traveling across the nation! †¢ We

Market Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Market Economics - Essay Example Economists basically realize 4 kinds of markets i.e. perfect competition, monopoly, oligopoly and monopolistic competition. Under perfect competition the firms are numerous and the buyers have perfect knowledge of the current market situation and hence the sellers are known as price takers because no one buyer or seller can influence the market to charge their desired market price and hence have to sell products at the price where the market tends to clear. In this form of competition there are only short term profits because there are virtually no barriers to entry and hence when the demand increases there are supernormal profits to be earned for a short period of time because when other suppliers see that the industry is earning super normal profits they tend to move into the market to get their share of the market, this tends to increase the supply of the industry and the profit levels tend to decrease as more and more suppliers move into the industry. This type of earning of a sh are of the super normal profit is known as hit and run competition because suppliers move in when the industry is earning super normal profits and leave as soon as the super normal profits are not earned any more due to increased supply. In conclusion a firm in perfect competition is a price taker because of the perfect knowledge and the number of firms and the output decisions are influenced by the demand of the goods and the number of suppliers. Monopolies consist of only one firm in the industry which is the sole supplier of the goods for that particular industry. Such a situation emerges when the firm has total control over the resources that are needed to produce that particular good in this case it is known as a 'natural monopoly'. The other scenario could be that the firm could have set very high or very rigid barriers to entry and hence no other firm can break through these barriers to gain entry into the industry. The monopolistic firm can control either of the two things at a time a) the price of the good b) the quantity that they wish to sell The monopolist cannot control both because he cannot control demand, if he wishes to sell the product at a certain price then the demand curve for that industry or that good would determine what quantity of goods are sold at that particular price and if he wishes to sell of a particular quantity then the demand for that good would establish the price at which the good would clear the market. The monopolist power to influence price depends upon two factors: a) the number of substitutes b) the power to restrict the entry of the firms into that particular industry Monopolistic competition is one where there are a large number of firms in the industry producing similar products but no two products are the same hence the concept of brand image and quality is catered to in this market structure and hence products are differentiated, the firms are price makers. In order to change the price firms will have to tinker with the level of quantity. The monopolistic competition market earns normal profits in the long run because there are very few barriers to entry into the in

Research Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Research Analysis - Essay Example The research took the form of Questionnaires that 300 teachers from different educational levels were to fill, aimed at judging their skills and knowledge, against their willingness to share the same skills and knowledge with their students, and the reasons that affected their performance in that respect. The following questions were to be filled in the questionnaires for data collection; To better analyze the data collected, an average number of the teachers with the same answers were to be categorized in the same class, from which the mean number would be taken as the representative of the actual status quo. Among the 300 teachers who filled the questionnaires, from all ages, sex and marital status, approximately 75% attributed the employers' judgment of their performance(s) on the remuneration they were paid. The same percentage (75%) of them felt motivated by an increment in their pay by their employers as a method of encouraging their individual development. 13% of the teachers indicated having timely, accurate, open two way communications with their employers. According to Pauline, & Fausel, (2007), pay in itself as the only method to compensate teachers for their performances could be deceiving.

Anthropology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

Anthropology - Essay Example The people of the Samoan Islands share a common language – Samoan, a common culture – fa’a Samoa and an indigenous form of governance called fa’amatai.2 â€Å"Due to colonialism, the Samoa Islands and people were divided by Western powers. Today, politically the islands have two jurisdictions, the independent country of Samoa at the western half of the islands, and the territory of American Samoa comprising the islands to the east. The two regions are separated by 64km of ocean. Most Samoans are full-blooded and comprise one of the largest Polynesian populations in the world.3 Fa’a Samoa means the Samoan Way.4 Fa’a Samoa dictates how Samoans should conduct themselves. This brings out the Samoan Identity and how they should fulfill their obligations towards their families, their communities, the Church and their fellow Samoans. At the heart of the Samoan Identity is Respect, an unquestioning respect for their established institutions, their systems and their elders. Religion is a very important part of the Samoan Culture. Samoa’s motto in fact is based on religion – â€Å"Samoa is founded on God†5 Originally Samoans had a polytheistic religion. This belief is divided in to two – the Atua (non-human) and Aitu gods (human) which also include ancestor worship.6 Thus, when religious expeditions arrived in Samoa, assimilation of the new world was not met by too much resistance. Today, the main religions in Samoa include Congregational, Catholic, Methodist, Assembly of God, Seventh Day Adventist, Bahai,, the Latter Day Saints and Jehovah’s Witnesses.8 Paganism was replaced by the promise of eternal life of these new religions. But what remains is that religion plays a central part in the lives of Samoans. In Samoa, the aiga (extended family) is all important.9 Villages are composed of aiga’s and the greater

Social Work Essay Example for Free

Social Work Essay There is a crisis in social work which requires a radical analysis of the contradictions within contemporary social work. The confusion about the role of social work and the declining morale and self-confidence of social workers have resulted in the loss of experienced staff and reluctance of young people to consider a career in social work. This analysis inevitably challenges the present culture of professional training. Proposals to increase the professionalism among social workers have created a crisis in social work. Increasing professionalism will remove social workers further from the people they serve. Questions are already being asked about the value of academic social work training and whether it adequately prepares people for the realities of the job. The social work task is best learned by students working with people in the community who are committed to social change. There is more to social work than simply conforming to, and fitting in with organizations that employ social workers. The ability to show a certain independence of thinking is what makes the social worker a professional. Social work has a rich history of this independent thinking. Social work as a profession should assert that the assessment of a clients needs should not only be driven by the availability of resources but should also be concerned with the reduction of inequality and social injustice. Unfortunately, the social work profession now seems divorced from its roots in socialist ideology and too narrowly concerned with its promoting itself. These elitist pressures are contributing to the current crisis in social work and must be resisted. Proposals to increase the length of training of social workers and elevate their status are not the answer. Increasing professionalization will remove social workers further from the people they serve. Questions are already being asked about the value of academic social work training and whether it adequately prepares people for the realities of the job. The social work task is best learned by students working with people in the community who share their expertise and knowledge with each other and are committed to social change. At present the middle class training establishments are blind to class issues. They claim to be teaching non-oppressive practice but in reality it is a myth. Anti-discriminatory training has failed to put the spotlight on the position of the invisible oppressed i.e. the working class. It can only be assumed that social work  training takes the view that the s ituation of the working class is the natural order of things. If social workers genuinely seek to serve all the members of society there must be an overhaul of training and a radical shift in social work practice to ensure it reflects the centrality of class issues. Social workers today need to draw upon this rich heritage and challenges the increasingly conservative environment within which it operates. The gulf between the services that social service organizations say they deliver and the services that they actually they deliver. Departments may claim to provide services for people in need but social workers know that many people who are suffering material and social deprivation do not get essential services. Many service organizations today have actually become narrower in their focus because of new reforms such as welfare reform. In many instances, social workers titles have actually been changed to that of Case Managers where their roles have been reduced to that of mediator between the client and services they locate for them with other organizations. The overall effect of such changes has been to obscure the high level of poverty and deprivation of service users and to seriously undermine social work values. There is a crisis in social work which requires a radical analysis of the contradictions within contemporary social work. The confusion about the role of social work and the declining morale and self-confidence of social workers have resulted in the loss of experienced staff and reluctance of young people to consider a career in social work. This analysis inevitably challenges the present culture of professional training. Proposals to increase the professionalism among social workers has created a crisis in social work. Increasing professionalism will remove social workers further from the people they serve. Questions are already being asked about the value of academic social work training and whether it adequately prepares people for the realities of the job. The social work task is best learned by students working with people in the community who are committed to social change. There is more to social work than simply conforming to, and fitting in with organizations that employ social workers. The ability to show a certain independence of thinking is what makes the social worker a professional. Social work has a rich history of this independent thinking.  Social work as a profession should assert that the assessment of a clients needs should not only be driven by the availability of resources but should also be concerned with the reduction of inequality and social injustice. Unfortunately, the social work profession now seems divorced from its roots in socialist ideology and too narrowly concerned with its promoting itself. These elitist pressures are contributing to the current crisis in social work and must be resisted. Proposals to increase the length of training of social workers and elevate their status are not the answer. Increasing professionalisation will remove social workers further from the people they serve. Questions are already being asked about the value of academic social work training and whether it adequately prepares people for the realities of the job. The social work task is best learned by students working with people in the community who share their expertise and knowledge with each other and are committed to social change. At present the middle class training establishments are blind to class issues. They claim to be teaching non-oppressive practice but in reality it is a myth. Anti-discriminatory training has failed to put the spotlight on the position of the invisible oppressed i.e. the working class. It can only be assumed that social work training takes the view that the situation of the working class is the natural order of things. If social workers genuinely seek to serve all the members of society there must be an overhaul of training and a radical shift in social work practice to ensure it reflects the centrality of class issues. Social workers today need to draw upon this rich heritage and challenges the increasingly conservative environment within which it operates. The gulf between the services that social service organizations say they deliver and the services that they actually they deliver. Departments may claim to provide services for people in need but social workers know that many people who are suffering material and social deprivation do not get essential servi ces. Many service organizations today have actually become narrower in their focus because of new reforms   such as welfare reform. In many instances, social workers titles have actually been changed to that of Case Managers where their roles have been reduced to that of mediator between the client and services they locate for them with other organizations. The overall effect of such changes has been to obscure the high level of poverty and deprivation of service users and to  seriously undermine social work values. The Crisis in Social Work There is a crisis in social work which requires a radical analysis of the contradictions within contemporary social work. The confusion about the role of social work and the declining morale and self-confidence of social workers have resulted in the loss of experienced staff and reluctance of young people to consider a career in social work. This analysis inevitably challenges the present culture of professional training. Proposals to increase the professionalism among social workers has created a crisis in social work. Increasing professionalism will remove social workers further from the people they serve. Questions are already being asked about the value of academic social work training and whether it adequately prepares people for the realities of the job. The social work task is best learned by students working with people in the community who are committed to social change. There is more to social work than simply conforming to, and fitting in with organizations that employ social workers. The ability to show a certain independence of thinking is what makes the social worker a professional. Social work has a rich history of this independent thinking. Social work as a profession should assert that the assessment of a clients needs should not only be driven by the availability of resources but should also be concerned with the reduction of inequality and social injustice. Unfortunately, the social work profession now seems divorced from its roots in socialist ideology and too narrowly concerned with its promoting itself. These elitist pressures are contributing to the current crisis in social work and must be resisted. Proposals to increase the length of training of social workers and elevate their status are not the answer. Increasing professionalisation will remove social workers further from the people they serve. Questions are already being asked about the value of academic social work training and whether it adequately prepares people for the realities of the job. The social work task is best learned by students working with people in the community who share their expertise and knowledge with each other and are committed to social change. At present the middle class training establishments are blind to class issues. They claim to be teaching non-oppressive practice but in reality it is a myth.  Anti-discriminatory training has failed to put the spotlight on the position of the invisible oppressed i.e. the working class. It can only be assumed that social work training takes the view that the situation of the working class is the natural order of things. If social workers genuinely seek to serve all the members of society there must be an overhaul of training and a radical shift in social work practice to ensure it reflects the centrality of class issues. Social workers today need to draw upon this rich heritage and challenges the increasingly conservative environment within which it operates. The gulf between the services that social service organizations say they deliver and the services that they actually they deliver. Departments may claim to provide services for people in need but social workers know that many people who are suffering material and social deprivation do not get essential services. Many service organizations today have actually become narrower in their focus because of new reforms   such as welfare reform. In many instances, social workers titles have actually been changed to that of Case Managers where their roles have been reduced to that of mediator between the client and services they locate for them with other organizations. The overall effect of such changes has been to obscure the high level of poverty and deprivation of service users and to seriously undermine social work value

Rights of Homosexuals Essay Example for Free

Rights of Homosexuals Essay Almost everyone knows Ellen DeGeneres—she is just the very famous TV personality who publicized her admission that she is a â€Å"homosexual,† even chronicling her daily life (in a very comical and amusing way) in a television show in the early 90’s. Even until now, she is still a famous person as she is now a much-acclaimed TV host with her own show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and is married—to a girl. Ellen’s story can be a proof of how far society and the press have openly accepted the homosexuals. Homosexual people can be pertained to both gay people (who are usually involved in a male-male relationship) and lesbians (who are in a female-female relationship). However, being â€Å"gay† can also be applicable to both male-male and female-female relationships and is now accepted more by the general public compared to the period before the 50’s. The visibility of the gay people is now so flamboyant that a person is left to wonder: â€Å"Was there a time when they were persecuted? † The answer to that question is a resounding â€Å"yes. † There was indeed a time when the gays and lesbians were thought of as a minority group in the most degrading way possible. It is surprising and amazing how they were once regarded as criminals and â€Å"mentally ill and immoral† (Gross xiv). Today however, they are now so accepted that shows, series, and movies are being produced and have become popular one after another. Their story of how they fought for visibility, recognition, and liberation from being closeted is worthy of a re-telling and a movie that can be surely made into a Hollywood hit. This paper will recount the important events and personalities which has made homosexual empowerment possible and the tremendous role that the media played in the whole thing. The Power of the Press Mass media is undeniably a very powerful force that has a great and influential impact in the daily lives of the people. Weather reports, economic and political news, fashion forecasts, music videos, commercials, and infomercials—the media holds a great variety and a vast amount of information which is being fed and devoured by the general public, and whether they like it or not, these information are affecting them on a personal and naturally, on a major scale, too. What is media exactly and what is its purpose? There are a great number of these speculations, but it actually depends on how it is being used and by who: â€Å"The purposes of communication have always remained the same: artists wish to entertain and stimulate; entrepreneurs aim to make money; governments and interest groups hope to inform or persuade; advertisers help to sell goods and ideas† (Cannon). Because of the media, communication to the greater and general public is faster and easier. Even if it is undeniable that the mass media has brought negative effects, there are still positive things which everyone should be and is grateful for. As what Buckingham has written in his report, the negative and positive effects are undeniably linked together, as what is expected from everything in the society today: The negative effects of media may be impossible to separate from their positive effects. Potential positive effects relate to learning and education, as well as processes such as social interaction, identity formation and cultural experience. Apparently ‘inappropriate’ content may also provide valuable opportunities for learning. In seeking to prevent negative effects, it is important to ensure that we do not also undermine or preclude the potential for positive effects. (3) There are a lot of things which people and the society should credit to media. Aside from the usual studies and researches that prove the effects and influences that it does to people (as that to Buckingham’s) that are both positive and negative, and the information (overload) that is happening on an almost daily basis, the media can also be credited to the fact that a lot of important historical events have happened because of them—they either made it such a big issue that it is impossible for people not to mobilize and address the conflicts or issues. Media (or the people from the press) have more than often put their lives on the line in order to inform the public about the truth that is happening around them. The press can perhaps be perplexing because they are just so powerful that they can mobilize the people when they tell the truth (or sometimes, their version of it) whether people want to hear it or not. Sometimes, they are even more so powerful that they can not tell the truth and keep the public in the dark. Almost many events that have happened globally are reported by the press, and sometimes, these events are even caused by the media. In addition, all these things that have happened in the past can still affect the present and the future. Harvey Milk and Matthew Sheppard for example are just two individuals whose advocacy and death was made known to the public television that it made thousands of people act against the discrimination to lesbian, gay and transgender people (Lacayo, Barovick, Cloud and Duffy). Their stories which have been so abuzz with controversies were so popular in the past, and yet, years later, people still look back to these two brave individuals and how their death has affected many. Hollywood, for instance, has even made a movie based on Harvey Milk and his advocacy for the equal protection for the gay and lesbian community. In simple terms, media has immortalized important historical events, and life-changing and influential people by talking about them that even in later years, people are still influenced by them. In short, media has played such a very important role in the people’s lives, and the best way to exemplify this conclusion is through a recount of the evolution and expansion of the gay rights which has been well chronicled by the press. The journey that the gay, lesbian, and transgender people have endured and lived through is such an agonizing story of death, sacrifices, and eventually, of freedom and respect. Homosexuality There has been a great confusion of the definition of who are the gay, lesbians, bisexuals, and the transgender. Vast studies and characterization can be used as a reference to define these people. Over the years, the description of gay, lesbians, bisexuals, and the transgender has also evolved along with their liberation and the development of their basic human rights. Homosexuality is not new and not a disease—according to today’s judgment, that is. However, decades ago, it was a different case altogether. In the past, gay people were defined by having relationships with people of the same sex—if one made out or has a â€Å"special friend† that is the same gender that he or she does, and then he or she is defined as a gay person. However, different groups suggest otherwise. Long ago, being a gay person meant that one is a â€Å"criminal, mentally ill, and immoral† (Gross xiv). There are different cases though as according to TIME Magazine, being a homosexual person has grounds based on â€Å"The Institute of Sex Research, founded by Alfred C. Kinsey, [which] defines a homosexual as anyone who has had more than six sexual experiences with a member of the same gender. † However, as of now, as human rights are being demanded by people of all groups, being a gay person is not so considered as a crime anymore—in many parts of the globe, that is. Homosexuality has become very apparent in the society nowadays that if a person is to declare him- or herself as gay (like Ellen DeGeneres for example), it is not such a big and horrifying issue, but it is still an issue. How far has the â€Å"outing† (Gross ix) of homosexual people gone through in the past until the current time? If a person would look at the facts, it would not be surprising and only right to be amazed. Homosexual Advocacy, its Evolution and their Human Rights Homosexuality can be traced even as far as to the ancient Romans whose emperors were rumored to be bisexuals, and the surprising thing is—the society back then was not as against it compared to the American society back in the 50’s or 60’s. Moreover, farther from the ancient Romans are the biblical passages and accounts of homosexuals being punished in the Promised Land of Israel with the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. God was furious with the sexual criminal acts that the Sodomites were doing that He decided to destroy the city completely. Unfortunately, this story is what is usually used by Christians or anti-homosexual groups in trying to voice out their opinion and displeasure with the gay people. However, the call for the gay rights did not exactly happen overnight or in a snap. This was a very slow and painstaking process that actually originated with the call of the African-Americans to equality with the white Americans. Racial discrimination has been a long standing issue experienced globally but was most experienced in the United States of America since people from all parts of the globe were actually migrating to the US as they were lured by its promise of greener pastures. Eventually, the discrimination against the minority groups—African-Americans, Hispanics, and Asians who constituted the population of the majority, were advocated by a number of famous people, and most notable of them is in the person of Martin Luther King Jr. He was assassinated for fighting in what he believed in—that equality should reign among age, gender, and most especially that of race. The advocacy and dispute of the blacks vs. the whites eventually paved the way for the fight for recognition of the homosexuals (Gerstmann 3; TIME). However, even if the homosexual (and bisexual) community were inspired by the advocacy of the African-Americans, they still had a far way to go with regard to their decision to be out in the open and eventually fight for their liberation. There were many factors which comprised the fight of the homosexual community, and unfortunately, it involved a lot of death and sacrifices that were publicized by the media. According to Larry Gross in his book, Up from Invisibility: Lesbians, Gay Men, and the Media in America, the first ever advocacy for gay recognition and empowerment happened in the person of Lisa Ben who gave out copies of a magazine that â€Å"signaled the first stirrings of the modern gay rights move ¬ment in the United States† (xiii). What she did was both courageous and dangerous, for in those years, being a homosexual person meant persecution because it was considered a crime. As what a gay person was found saying in the BBC video about the Stonewall Riot, â€Å"the word homosexual cannot even be uttered. † Years later after Lisa Ben’s small magazine and advocacy, gay movements were mobilized little by little but were not very successful as they were often beaten up by the police for being â€Å"fags† or â€Å"drag queens. † The early 1960s can be also said that it had the same turn of events as that of the 50s. It was only during the late 1960’s that people finally acted and pursued their one goal—equality—freedom, respect, basic rights will follow after and come with it (Bendersky; Gross). The most famous Stonewall riot that happened in the month of June 1969 in Greenwhich Village, New York City was a historic landmark for their fight for equality: â€Å"The turning point came in the summer of 1969 in Manhattans Greenwich Village, when 400 gays flooded the streets for several nights to protest police raids on the Stonewall Inn, a homosexual bar on Christopher Street† (TIME). With the riots, movements, and publication of weeklies (like of Grant Ford’s Gay Life), the community of the gay, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender was soon heard and felt by the people not only in the United States of America; people around the globe also became aware of their fight: The struggle is being fought on many levels. Politically, the movements victories are now barely balancing its defeats. Thirty-nine cities, towns and counties, including Detroit, Washington, D. C. , and Minneapolis, have enacted ordinances forbidding discrimination against homosexuals in jobs and housing, but only five of those communities have been added to the list in the past two years. (TIME) When the famous Harvey Milk was elected in the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, another milestone in their advocacy was again met. Harvey was out in the open as a gay person, and he was elected in a high position in the society. Milk made such a great impact because not only was he a politician—he was a politician who is gay and who is demanding for an anti-discrimination gay act to be passed. Moreover, when the advocacy of the Church was made clear that they were against gay rights and that teachers who are gay should not be deemed fit to teach in public schools, Milk fought hard against that judgment. Eleven months later, Milk was killed, and the act was passed. In addition, the Civil Service Commission ruled in 1975 that being a homosexual person should not be the grounds for a person to be unemployed. When Milk died, it was not only the gay community who was enraged by this event but also people from all over. Even the straight ones were now on the same side, and the fight was biggest and strongest as ever with the equality for the homosexual people (Bendersky). People have now become more open to the concept of homosexuality and has come to grips with the reality that people should be accepted for how they are. How unbelievable it may seem when years ago, the gay and lesbian people were being beaten up by the police and or being horrifyingly mistreated by the straight community that they are even publicly put on trial and/or persecuted; and yet, decades later, the world has opened up to them. As what appeared in the TIME Magazine issue which has been cited for seemingly countless times in this paper, companies and corporations on a national level have publicly voiced out that â€Å"they do not discriminate in hiring or promoting people because they are homosexual. † The most ground breaking is the support and the next step of the media. As what is understandable, if the media is able to openly portray and even give a spot on stories or characters who are homosexuals in a non-villain role, then it means the general public is able to accept and watch such role being enacted out: â€Å"Television and movies are treating gay themes more openly and sympathetically. ABCs hit series Soap, for example, has two homosexual characters, one a macho football player† (TIME). Years later, although things have been better in terms of the gay people being not regarded as retards or criminals, they are still far from fully realizing their goal. If in the past they were fighting for freedom from discrimination or safety and survival from those people who made it a point to not only discriminate the gay people but to also hurt and in some cases, even kill them, the 90’s brought in a new fight—the homosexual people want to get married. According to Gerstmann, there is even no such thing as gay rights. There are only basic human rights which can be enjoyed by people no matter their gender, age, or race. Marriage is a basic human right, and yet, people who are of the same sex are deprived of it (Gertsmann 3-4). Their community in the past seemed to be fighting for survival—for their endangered lives because of the discrimination happening. Now, the homosexual community is fighting for their basic human right—to be married to the person they love—even if it means that they belong to the same gender. When the then President Bill Clinton made a speech in 1996 that he supported the marriage and union of people who are of the same-sex, homosexual people were overjoyed, for it meant a huge leap for them. However, when only a short time later, the Doma Bill was passed wherein a marriage can only happen between a man and a woman, the gay community was outraged at Clinton’s treachery and lies. Years later, Bendersky of the Huffington Post writes in November 2008 of the Proposition 8 in California that calls a marriage to be made only between a man and a woman. In some countries and states, being a homosexual person is still a crime and is subject for persecution—death penalty in public. There are still some states in America which openly oppose same-sex marriages and outing of closeted homosexual people; they even forbid some basic rights—like entrance to schools. Clearly, there is still a discrimination going on even if it is not openly voiced out. Even if the entertainment industry has long been open to the portrayal of gay or lesbian people and has produced shows, series, and movies, even that of cartoons and commercials where the characters are blatantly gay or the plot revolves around them, there is still an underlying tension with regard to the subject of homosexuality. Famous shows like Will and Grace or The Ellen DeGeneres Show may be famous on national television show and is already accepted by the general public, but it does not necessarily mean that they have already achieved their goal. In Aaron Belkin’s article for example, he writes that President Barrack Obama is going to fire his Arabic linguist because the linguist declared on national television that he was a homosexual person. There is a reason for that however. In the same article of Belkin, he further writes that there is a law that states that the â€Å"military MUST fire any service member who acknowledges themselves as being gay. † Years later, the death of Milk and the appalling and well-publicized death of Matthew Sheppard seem to be a waste as the homosexual community has still not met their goal for their fight for equality (Lacayo et al. ). Conclusion In conclusion, from the â€Å"outing† of the homosexual people to the fight for their equality and to the expansion of their rights, they have come a long way. From the ancient Romans to the Harvey Milk and Matthew Shepard, homosexuality has long been present, will always be present, and the press has played a big part in both its development and dramatic sensationalization. Whether people like it or not, the events of the past will continue to haunt and affect the events of the present and of course, the future. One thing that everyone should remember is, the whole adventure that the gays and lesbians went through is one amazing roller coaster ride, and that despite the sickening downs they experienced, the exhilarating ups are definitely worth it—one is merely to look at the entertainment industry today and acknowledge where they are now. Works Cited Buckingham, David, Natasha Whiteman, Rebekah Willett, and Andrew Burn. â€Å"The Impact of the Media on Children and Young People With A Particular Focus on Computer Games and the Internet. † Byron Review, Centre for the Study of Children, Youth an Media, Institute of Education, University of London. 30 Apr. 2009. 7 May 2009. http://www. dcsf. gov. uk/byronreview/pdfs/Buckingham%20Impact%20of%20Media%20Literature%20Review%20for%20the%20Byron%20Review. pdf. Belkin, Aaron. â€Å"Obama To Fire His First Gay Arabic Linguist. † The Huffington Post. 7 May 2009. 8 May 2009. http://www. huffingtonpost. com/aaron-belkin/obama-to-fire-his-first-g_b_199070. html. Bendersky, Ari. â€Å"Where is Harvey Milk Today? † The Huffington Post. 1 Dec. 2008. 8 May 2009. http://www. huffingtonpost. com/ari-bendersky/where-is-harvey-milk-toda_b_146933. html. Cannon, John. â€Å"Mass Media. † The Oxford Companion to British History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. Encyclopedia. com. 30 Apr. 2009 http://www. encyclopedia. com. Gerstmann, Evan. Same-Sex Marriage and the Constitution. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Gross, Larry P. Contested Closets: The Politics And Ethics Of Outing. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 1993. . Up from Invisibility: Lesbians, Gay Men, and the Media in America. New York: Columbia University Press, 2001. Lacayo, Richard, Harriet Barovick, John Cloud, and Washington Duffy. â€Å"The New Gay Struggle†. TIME Magazine. 26 Oct. 1998. 8 May 2009. http://www. time. com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,989406,00. html? loomia_si=t0:a16:g2:r2:c0. 177585:b22455434xid=Loomia. Time Inc. â€Å"How Gay is Gay? †. TIME Magazine. 23 Apr. 1979. 8 May 2009. http://www. time. com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,920281-1,00. html.