Conjugate the Japanese Verb Kuru (to Come)

Lord of the Flies Essay Essays

Master of the Flies Essay Essays Master of the Flies Essay Master of the Flies Essay Paper Topic: Master Of the Flies Dread triggers a characteristic battle that permits creatures or people to respond rapidly to dangers in their condition. Dread is a significant attribute for which can prompt either fierce or peaceful thoughts. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding shows that dread draws out the most exceedingly terrible in individuals which adds to the primary clashes in the novel and results to either contentions or savagery. Ruler of the Flies is a novel about youngsters that are no more seasoned than twelve years of age, that has slammed onto an island and must make due through different intense difficulties which they are confronted with. This tale will in general have numerous components where dread makes clashes. The components, human progress, valiance, and independence depict dread which thusly is added to the primary clashes in this novel. Human progress is a component of dread which prompts the primary clashes in the book. The conch and the fire give proof with respect to why human advancement is a component of dread. All through the novel, the contention is sensationalized by the conflict among Ralph and Jack, who speak to human progress. Ralph is a kid who was named boss in the start of the novel and is a delegate of authority, development, and request. Jack is a kid who needed to be boss and is an agent of brutality, viciousness, and want of intensity. The conch is spoken to as an image of harmony. The noteworthiness of the conch is that when somebody is holding the conch, everybody must hear him out as long as he holds the conch. Ralph shows this human advancement where he states, â€Å"I will give the conch to the following individual to talk. He can hold it when he’s speaking†(Golding 31). In any case, later in the novel, Jack concludes that the conch is pointless and overlooks it at whatever point Ralph brings it up. Subsequently, on account of Jack’s demeanor of not being boss, he chose to conflict with Ralph, which is the means by which a significant clash was created between these two young men. The contention brought about the gathering parting into two. To include, Roger had t

IB Extended Essay History Topics

IB Extended Essay History TopicsI have to say that I agree with one of the points the student made in his/her essay on IB Extended Essay History Topics. It is important to note that what the student wrote was not written in a true context, as he/she did not write it in context.What you need to understand is that if your IB students don't feel comfortable in writing their essays in an IB environment, then you should find someone else to write their essay for them. You will save yourself so much time and money by having a professional take care of it for you. It is not necessary to have someone else write their essay, but if you want your student to do something right, then you should find someone else to do it for them.The person that you choose to write your student's essay should be someone who understands the rules and procedures and policies of the IB program. This person should also be knowledgeable about the different IB extended essay history topics that are offered.This will a llow your student to feel comfortable while writing and shouldn't feel as though they are being attacked in any way by their professor. A good thing to consider is to choose someone who is really good at making his/her students write. As I stated earlier, you will find someone else to write your student's essay; just make sure the person you choose is someone who can really get your student to write their essay.Another thing to consider is that there are IB topics that many students may not know about, or they may not want to know about. Just like you want your student to be comfortable while they are writing; you also want them to be comfortable when you hand over your homework papers for them to grade.If your student wants to know more about IB Extended Essay History Topics, they will need to do some research on their own. If you can find someone who has more knowledge about IB extended essay history topics and can help your student by helping them research for their IB Extended E ssay History Topics, then you may want to consider this.Some of these students may have a lot of difficulty in researching because they do not have a background in this type of subject matter, or they do not know how to use the computer. Make sure you give them some guidance and some directions as well as some pointers on where to get the information they need, so they do not feel intimidated by the whole process.As I stated earlier, all of these things should be taken into consideration before you hand over your student's essays to someone else. You don't want to keep your student from their dreams of having a great career or getting their degree; which is why you should be the one to do the hiring.

How Biomedical Informatics Is Transforming Healthcare System

How Biomedical Informatics is Transforming Healthcare System in the United States: Its Advantages, Challenges, and Suggestions to Address the Challenges By Florence F. Odekunle Department of Health Informatics School of Health Related Professions Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey Assignment 1 Fall 2015 In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the application of biomedical informatics in many aspects of the healthcare system. This is due to an increasing recognition that a stronger healthcare information system is crucial to achieve a higher quality care at lower costs1. Biomedical informatics is defined as â€Å"the scientific field that deals with biomedical data, information and knowledge-their storage, retrieval, and optimal use for problem solving and decision making.†2Biomedical informatics plays significant roles in the healthcare system and it has been applied in various ways in the healthcare system, specifically in the aspect of health care information system such as electronic medical record (EMR), personal health record (PHR), computerized provider order entry (CPOE) systems, bar-coding medication administration systems, telemedicine, telehealth, and administrative information systems 2. Health care quality and patient safety emerge as top priorities at the start of the millennium. In 2000, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published the report â€Å"To Err Is Human: Building aShow MoreRelatedUse Of Big Data On Improving Patient And Health Related Outcomes1738 Words   |  7 PagesHealth-Related Outcomes Abstract: The world of healthcare is going through a transformation in the IT world. The capture of â€Å"Big Data† has only begun. Applications are being introduced that help individuals make sense of this raw data, which is proving to be very beneficial in the healthcare world. Although in its infancy, the advancements we see in this research paves the way for a very promising future in healthcare. The use of Big Data proves to show how raw data can be turned into very useful knowledgeRead MoreComputerized Provider Order Entry Pre-Deployment Evaluation Plan1894 Words   |  8 PagesIn an effort to improve clinician workflow and enhance patient safety, a healthcare facility has purchased and will soon be introducing a computerized provider order entry (CPOE) system for use within the electronic health record. A pre-deployment evaluation plan will permit the informatics team to appraise the usability of the CPOE and provide administrators with valuable data regarding its successful implementation. This paper describes the formation of this evaluation plan including the goalsRead MoreImproving The Ordering Clinician Workflow For Placing Ambulatory Consult Orders2017 Words   |  9 Pagesrecords that house the consult orders will be combined into one database which is not of the same design. The opportunity exists to re-design the combined order into one that allows optimal ordering clinician workflow when ordering a subsequent healthcare service. The project will only address the consult order, though the results of this process may be used to address other order types in the future. Search Strategy CINAHL, PubMed, Ovid Medline and PsycINFO were the databases utilized to searchRead MoreEthics And Security ( Of Data ) Essay1938 Words   |  8 Pagesaway from using paper-based records to adopting health information systems in healthcare settings. An important advent of health informatics is the introduction of electronic health records (EHRs) which is an information system that collects patients’ health data that can be shared across various health settings (Ahmadi M, 2008; Aultman and Dean, 2014). Despite the benefits of EHRs in modernising and improving the quality of healthcare services (Miller and Sim, 2004; Petersen et al., 1998; Valdes etRead MoreCurrent Issue Of Healthcare Information System3726 Words   |  15 PagesCurrent Issue in Healthcare Information System Data Management in Healthcare Information System Abstract Managing the performance of a facility data system or patient information is an important, yet challenging process for any manager. The process of monitoring what each employee does, how they are entering patient information, and how the information is used can be a difficult and somewhat challenging. A range of recently published research discussed the problems in many health information managementRead MoreEquipped for Efficiency: Improving Nursing Care Through Technology12192 Words   |  49 PagesCALIFORNIA HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION ï ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼December 2008 Equipped for Efficiency: Improving Nursing Care Through Technology Prepared for California HealtHCare foundation by Fran Turisco, M.B.A., research principal Jared Rhoads, M.S., senior research analyst CSC ï ¿ ¼December 2008 About the Authors Fran Turisco is research principal and Jared Rhoads is a senior research analyst at CSC’s Emerging Practices, the applied research arm of CSC’s Global HealthCare Sector. CSC is a global consulting, systems integrationRead MoreNursing Essay41677 Words   |  167 PagesROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION INITIATIVE ON THE FUTURE OF NURSING, AT THE INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE Donna E. Shalala (Chair), President, University of Miami Linda Burnes Bolton (Vice Chair), Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer, Cedars-Sinai Health System and Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA Michael R. Bleich, Dean and Dr. Carol A. Lindeman Distinguished Professor, Vice Provost for Interprofessional Education and Development Oregon Health and Science University School of Nursing, Portland Troyen

Chin The Largest Economy - 1726 Words

At present, China is the largest economy in the world, overtaking the US in January 2015. It is also the world’s second largest oil consumer behind the US (Chen 2015) and the world’s largest net importer of crude oil (Dunn 2014). Its net importer status was driven by steady economic growth, with rapidly rising Chinese petroleum demand outpacing production growth (EIA 2014). China is also the fourth largest oil producing country in the world (Refer to Appendix ___). The growth in the developing nation’s economy over the past 3 decades was heavily dependent on its low cost advantage compared to those of other countries. During this period of growth, foreign companies flocked to China to set up production facilities and factories to capitalize on this cost advantage. Raw materials are shipped to China, where factory workers build the final products and export them out to various countries (Wassener 2014). However, recently, china’s economy has experienced a significant slowdown due to the shift in growth of the nation to rely more on private enterprise and domestic consumption. This shift in economy reduces its demand for industrial raw materials for manufacturing, which translates to a decrease in demand of oil for use in production plants. A survey of China s industrial heartland identified decreases in key areas of new orders, export orders and output prices (Letts 2015). Furthermore, being the world’s second largest consumer of oil, this move that China makes will haveShow MoreRelatedChallenges And Challenges Of Global Market As Indonesia1595 Words   |  7 PagesINTRODUCTION Business Spectator (2014) maintains Indonesia is possibly becoming the world s fourth largest economy by 2035-40. Numerous factors committing business opportunities in Indonesia such as high consumer market, remarkable consumer growth, and abundant natural resources (Global Indonesian Voices 2013). 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India’s native citizens did not take lightly to theRead MoreAsian Tigers Essay1057 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿ It is evident that the global economy has moved on from the Asian Tigers and the present and future of the global economy does in fact lie elsewhere, in particular India and China.   The Asian Tigers are a group of countries which are the first set of NIC s; Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea. They underwent rapid development in the 1960 s by encouraging TNC s to invest by opening up manufacturing plants by offering cheap labour and less strict pollution laws. TNC s also had the advantageRead MoreCultural Communication Differences Between Cuba and India1333 Words   |  5 Pagescountry that has always been influenced by cultures around it, the Muslim invaders from the West, the Chinese Buddhists from the East, and the European colonial powers from the Sea. (Difference, 2011) It is the second largest country by population in the world, and has a bustling economy and a liberal democracy for government. Time is fast in India, and getting faster. In cities like Mumbai, where century old neighborhoods are being torn up for new construction, and massive projects are underway toRead MoreMexico : A Potential Market For J Tec Industries Essay1287 Words   |  6 PagesOffice of the United States Trade Representative notes US trade of goods and services totaled $583.6 billion in 2015 alone. $267.2 billion were exports whereas $316.4 billion were imported. Additionally, Mexico is the US’ 3rd largest trading partner of goods and 2nd largest export market. Top export categories include machinery, mineral fuels, and plastics. 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(Turban) â€Å"Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (branded as Wal-Mart) is an American public corporation that runs a chain of large, discount department stores. It is the worlds largest public corporation by revenue, according to the 2008 Fortune Global 500.† â€Å"Wal-Mart is the largest private employer and the largest grocery retailer in the United States.† (Wikipedia). To be the industry leader, Wal-Mart must have its own competitive business strategies, the first one I want mention is growthRead MoreNepal, Like Most Other Countries Is Culturally Diverse.1331 Words   |  6 Pagesin the late eighteenth century. The Nepalese culture is a fusion of Indo-Aryan and Tibeto-Mongolian influences with a long history of migration and trade. The country is roughly the size of Nebraska, which makes it the 94th largest country in the world by size, but 41st largest in population (Compare The United States To Nepal, 2017). The country has fourteen main spoken languages, with Nepali being the official and most common, but more than 50 languages exist. There are four main religions in

Mamma Mia free essay sample

Mamma Mia is a global musical phenomenon which is playing simultaneously around the world in more countries than any other musical. It has become a global entertainment experience and has brought back to life the tremendous writing talents of ABBAs Benny Andersson and Bjorrn Ulvaeus. ABBA Fans simply cant get enough of Mamma Mia! as tickets sales are always in demand and the musical continues to sell out to packed houses night after night. Mamma Mia’s claim to fame has been a long roller coaster ride. The show had its ups, downs, twists and turns. It had gained a lot of critics and fans. It had its fair share of controversies. But nonetheless, It made people get up on their seats and dance to the song â€Å"Dancing Queen† and made everyone sing along with â€Å"Thank You For The Music. † Love the show or hate it, you can’t deny the fact that it is a phenomenal feel-good musical. We will write a custom essay sample on Mamma Mia or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I. Main Issue Basically, the main issue is how did â€Å"Mammia Mia! † achieve success in musical theatre? The executive producer of the musical, Judy Craymer reflected on the recent failure and wondered about the factors that had contributed to Chess’s Broadway failure. On the other hand, how did the production team deal with the opportunities, options available and consequences in creating Mamma Mia. SWOT Analysis OpportunitiesThreats ABBA music is very popular among the people of London and Europe making them a likely market. There was a rescission and loss of tourism on the 11th of September causing many shows a loss of income. The bombing of the world trade center placed the city of New York in a state of depression. This posses as an opportunity for a show like Mamma Mia to step in and brighten the mood or lift the load. Only a handful of U. S. citizens know and or like Abba music making the U. S. a hard market to attain. This poses as a problem for launching on Broadway. Bringing Ulvaeus and Andersson into the world of theater, offering the duo a unique platform for continuing their love of composing while also offering them a fresh start. Some still continue to question whether the production team’s praises are reasonable since nothing new has really been created with an exemption of a story line around some old hit songs. Mamma Mia was not a Broadway branded production. Being compared with Broadway classics like â€Å"Les Miserables† â€Å"Miss Saigon† and â€Å"Cats† StrengthsWeaknesses The quality of the whole performance of Mamma Mia gained the loyalty of the audience. The better the show, the more compliments that it will get. Making it popular to other people because the viewers would disseminate the thought of how good the production was. The reputation of Judy Craymer may be brought down by her previous flop Chess. If this happens, people may have second thoughts on watching the show. One of the writers of the script, Catherine Johnson is a renowned script writer with a pedigree in London theatre and has worked with Tim Rice, Cameron Mackintosh and Andrew Lloyd Webber on productions such as Cats and Phantom of the Opera. The production hired the great director Phillida Lloyd, a renowned director known for her work at Englands Royal National Theatre. Helped the project gather further momentum. Together with creative team of Mark Thompson (design), Howard Harrison (lighting), Andre Bruce and Bobby Aitken (sound), Martin Koch (musical supervisor) and Antony Van Laast (choreography). They have weak marketing strategies. They just depend on the word-of-mouth advertising. At first this may be effective for lowering cost and at the same time having enough viewers but it would be better to have concrete advertisements for more viewers and faster generating sales. On London theater, audiences see performances of the highest quality, made possible by conditions not often met in commercial theater: longer rehearsal periods, freedom to commit to new work and innovative approaches, support from expert voice coaches, the security of a firmly scheduled run and the devotion of seasoned British actors. II. Critical Factors †¢The production team is composed of credible experts in theater. The team is composed of known people in their fields that may be a huge factor in their success. †¢Bringing Ulvaeus and Andersson into the world of theater featuring 22 of their best songs. The ABBA music in the production could bring several advantages. One is bringing fans of Ulvaeus and Andersson as additional audiences in the show. Another is that the two could be the upper-hand of Mamma Mia compared to other productions. But, bringing the two singers in the world of theater could be a risk since they are known as singers not actors, and there may be conflicts with people who do not appreciate their music. †¢The productions story line is non-traditional. Mamma Mia built its plot around the songs, different from classic productions wherein the songs are only complimentary to the storyline. The story is feel-good and not much thinking is required. It may be considered as innovative although it may cost the audience who prefer the traditional theater. III. Alternatives/Options 1. Opportunity: ABBA Music popular in the market Action: Emphasizing or featuring ABBA music in marketing the production. People who are considered fans of ABBA could be a great addition to the viewers of Mamma Mia. 2. Opportunity: Gloomy mood due to the bombing of world trade center Action: Allot a percentage of benefits to the victims of the bombing so the audience would have a dual purpose n attending the show: for entertai nment and for social responsibility. 3. Opportunity: Entrance of Andersson and Ulvaeus in theaters Action: Provide proper training for them because it is different when they just sing on television or record their songs but in theater they should know how to express their feelings. 4. Threat: Rescission and loss of tourism Action: They could do new dance choreography for each song. They could add more stunts and redesign costumes. They could reinvent the stage and props. 5. Threat: Only a handful of U. S. citizens know and or like Abba music Action: The team could partner up with radio stations to play up their songs. In exchange, the radio station will be given complimentary tickets to the show and they can raffle it up for the listeners. 6. Threat: Being compared with Broadway classics like â€Å"Les Miserables† â€Å"Miss Saigon† and â€Å"Cats† Action: Improving the script, choreography, giving the audiences something new to expect while retaining the â€Å"good-time feeling† Our group has chosen the main alternatives to help improve the show. One is to improve their strategies. Marketing is too important to be left only to the marketing department. Marketing contributes directly to achieving the show’s objectives, which is to entertain, survive, earn profit and grow as a company or a business. So what more can they do to improve their marketing strategy? They can make a deal with radio stations, let them play ABBA songs and have a commercial to promote the show. To entice the people more, they could have a buy-one, take one promo. They could also give out free tickets to the radio to be given as prizes for a contest or so. Another thing that they could do is to partner up or be sponsored by a big-time company such as Coca Cola, which is a company that has popularity over the people. For example, Coca Cola has been producing limited edition cans and bottles with a partner such as McDo. Mamma Mia could do the same. Another marketing strategy would be to spend a bit of money in advertisement. It may be costly but it would be helpful and effective. Lastly, the Mamma Mia show being a benefactor of the victims of the bombing of world trade center to attract more viewers, IV. Recommendations a. Change the advertising and marketing strategy of Mamma Mia Since Mamma Mia relied on the â€Å"word-of-mouth† approach on getting the production known, many could not have known about it. The corporation should invest on advertisements and other promotions. They should feature both having ABBA music and being a benefactor to the bombing victims in their campaigns. Fans of ABBA would be a great addition to the target market. Also, being a socially responsible corporation would entice many to support the production. The production should also schedule more show dates in theaters in Europe or in the places they are more popular in. b. Implementation: Ulvaeus and Andersson should host a promotion campaign. The campaign could include press-conferences, autograph signing and other promos. The group is not too popular in the United States so they should partner up with radio stations to play their songs. In exchange, they could provide complimentary tickets or pay a fee which they can get from partnering up with another sponsor. Publishing printed-ads that indicate that the production would give benefits to the bombings could help spread the word. The corporation could get help from the government, TV networks, Radio stations and other large companies since Mamma Mia is supporting a cause. If approved, free commercials, announcements, printed advertisements could be obtained. c. Possible what ifs? 1. ) What if the victims of the bombings are fully recovered in the next few years? 2. ) What if Ulvaeus and Andersson become less popular in the next few years? 3. ) What if the Mamma Mia productions had reached its maximum audiences? Would they form a whole new production?

Lady Lazarus Poem by Sylvia Plaths

Introduction Sylvia Plath’s poem Lady Lazarus gives an account of her life. The speaker talks about her life and her three suicide attempts.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Lady Lazarus Poem by Sylvia Plath’s specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The poem depicts the speaker as a victim before a cruel crowd that watches her in her suffering. She also suffers in the hands of a cruel doctor. She uses imagery throughout her work to communicate her message. She uses the image of biblical Lazarus to show how she comes back to life. To capture her sufferings she alludes to the Jews and Nazis. The Jews suffered in the hands of the Nazis during Adolf Hitler’s reign because he wanted to wipe them out of existence because they considered them inferior and a threat to the superior Aryan race. The focus of this paper will be to trace references in imagery to horrors of Jewish holocaust under Nazi Germany. Ima gery Medical experiments The poem has imagery that refers to the horrors of Jews under the Nazi regime in Germany. Plath talks of doctors who save her life and bring her back after a suicide attempt. She despises the doctors that save her life because what she wanted to do was die and says â€Å"So, so Herr Doktor/ So, Herr enemy† (Plath 65-66). The doctors are similar to the doctors in the Jews concentration camps who would do experiments on the Jews in the cruelest manner for instance would test drugs on them, place the human specimen in pressure chambers. Moreover, they did brutal surgeries on them and even the Jewish children did not escape the horrific medical experiments. The Nazi’s doctors used the Jews as guinea pigs in the medical researches. In the poem, Plath says, â€Å"I am your opus/I am your valuable† (Plath 67-68) which means that the doctors used her for their own benefit. Similarly, the Nazi doctors did so by experimenting on the Jews because t hey wanted to build their name in the medicine field at the expense of the innocent Jews. In the hands of her doctor, she was â€Å"The pure gold baby† (Plath 69). Thus, the speaker sees herself as a victim of the doctors just as the Jews were victims of the Nazi in the concentration camps. She is a helpless victim because she cannot stop the doctors from bringing her back to life. Likewise, the Jews were helpless under the barbaric Nazi regime and suffered great atrocities in the German society.Advertising Looking for essay on american literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Stealing from the Jews The Jews who went to the concentration camps were stripped of all their valuables such as fine clothes, valuable rings and gold teeth and so forth. The speaker in the poem refers to the stripping of the Jews with this allusion â€Å"A wedding ring/ A gold filling (77-78). It is said that the remains of the Jews were used to make soap and Plath captures this allegation in â€Å"A cake of soap† (Plath 76). Suffering at camps Jews were collected from their homes and locked up in concentration camps. They suffered greatly just as the speaker did because she attempted suicide many times. She alludes to the Jews suffering by talking about lampshades, which illustrates the cruelty committed against them when she compares her skin to them â€Å"Bright as a Nazi lampshade. â€Å"(Plath 5). The Jews become labor slaves in the camps and often died of starvation and the hunger would make their eyes pit collapse â€Å"The nose, the eye pits, the full set of teeth?† (Plath 19). Just as the speaker says she was a walking nightmare so were the Jews in the camps that lived the nightmare every single day. Conclusion The poem Lazarus Lady captures Plath’s attempts at suicide because she could not bare the suffering she experienced. She saw death as the answer to her troubled life even though it became elusive. She used Jew Nazi illusion in the poem to pass her message of suffering. Her poem is powerful because it creates vivid description of the Jew’s plight during the Nazi era through her skillful use of imagery. Work Cited Plath, Sylvia. Lady Lazarus. n.d. Web. This essay on Lady Lazarus Poem by Sylvia Plath’s was written and submitted by user Dan1ella to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Random Science Facts and Trivia

Random Science Facts and Trivia Everyone knows a few fun random facts they can pull out as a party trick or a conversation icebreaker. Here are a few more to add to your collection. Although some of these facts are strange and obscure, they are 100% verified, so rest assured that youll be sharing solid information at that party. Rotation of Earth Did you know that the Earth rotates a full 360 degrees in 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds, not 24 hours? Cataracts Sometimes the crystalline lenses of elderly people become milky and cloudy. This is called a cataract, and it causes partial or complete loss of vision. Berry Interesting Did you know that pineapples, oranges, and tomatoes are actually berries? Pure Gold Pure gold is so soft that it can be molded with your bare hands. Real Life Dragons The Komodo dragon is a renowned giant, with the average male measuring around 8 feet long; some exceptional individuals reach 10 feet long. It is the heaviest lizard of all, with an average weight of 130 pounds and some reaching nearly 180 pounds. Thats So Nuclear The word nuclear is related to the nucleus of an atom. It is often used to describe the energy produced when a nucleus is split (fission) or joined with another (fusion). Hes Lost It Did you know that a cockroach can live for nine days without its head  before it starves to death? He Said No Did you know that the physicist Albert Einstein refused the job of president of Israel? Einstein was asked to be the president when the Israeli president died in 1952. Old Guys The earliest cockroach fossil  is about 280 million years old, 80 million years older than the first dinosaurs. Newts Are Neat Newts are members of the salamander family. They are found in North America, Europe, and Asia. A Little Lithium in Your 7UP? The original formula for 7UP contained lithium citrate, a chemical used today as a treatment for bipolar disorders. The ingredient was removed by 1950. How Many Lightbulbs... The tungsten filament inside an incandescent light bulb reaches a temperature of 4,664 degrees when turned on. Blue as Turquoise Traces of copper  are what give turquoise its distinctive blue color. Brainless Starfish, like many radially symmetric animals, do not have brains.

Gonzalez Surname Meaning and Origin

Gonzalez Surname Meaning and Origin Gonzalez is a patronymic surname meaning son of Gonzalo. The given name Gonzalo comes from the medieval name Gundisalvus, which was the Latin form of a Germanic name composed of the elements gund, meaning war or battle and salv which is of unknown meaning. Gonzalez is the 21st most popular surname in America, according to the 2000 census. The Gonzalez surname is also common in Mexico- the 5th most common, according to 2006 electoral rolls. Origin:Â  Spanish Alternate Spellings:Â  Gonzales, Conzalaz, Gonzalas, Gonsalas, Goncalez, Gonsales, Goncales Origins WorldNames PublicProfiler places the majority of the individuals named Gonzalez in Spain, especially the regions of Asturias, Islas Canarias, Castilla Y Leon, Cantabria, and Galicia. Gonzalez is the most popular surname in a number of countries according to data from Forebears, including Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Panama. It also ranks second in the nations of Spain, Venezuela, and Uraguay, and third in Cuba. Famous People Tony Gonzalez: professional American football playerJaslene Gonzalez: winner of Americas Next Top ModelEmiliano Gonzalez Navero (1861-1934): former president of ParaguayFelipe Gonzalez: former prime minister of Spain

Business Ethics Learning Logs (1,2,3,4) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Business Ethics Learning Logs (1,2,3,4) - Essay Example I came to the realization that ethics was important because I was aware that the recent financial crisis that rocked the world that made lives difficult for everybody was rooted in greed and lack of ethical practice in business. This explains why I was appreciative when I took the subject because I will have the opportunity to learn in details what really constitutes an ethical behaviour and to be able to discern the ethical behaviour from the unethical or undesirable one. I believed that this was important to learn especially when we are still in the academe and still in the process of equipping ourselves the necessary skills and knowledge so that it will be ingrained within us to become better professionals in the future. The lessons that we will learn would guide us when we make our choices in any ethical dilemma that we would confront, be it in business or in our daily activities. II. Second Entry – Evaluate The Theories Given the recent scandals that rocked the business a nd financial world, it now becomes an imperative that each individual entering into the corporate and financial industry must have a sound ethical foundation to avoid similar occurrences in the future. It should begin right in the academe where future professionals, employees or entrepreneurs are being trained and prepared. It is now important because the neglect and disregard for ethical practice in business has contributed to the recent financial and mortgage breakdown that stemmed from greed and lack of ethical practice that made life difficult for everybody. The high incidence of unethical practices in modern business has prompted a stream of organizational research about morality in business (Crane 1999). In fact, industry experts such as Ernst & Young has pointed out that unethical business practice is the main culprit that precipitated the recent economic crisis which caused a lot of jobs and homes to be lost that made life difficult for everybody which is why it is now an im perative not only to integrate but also to stress ethics beginning in the academe when future business professionals are being trained and prepared (Business Roudtable-Institute for Corporate Ethics 2009). The obvious disregard about business propriety is not surprising as Crane and Matten hypothesized that business in itself has been argued to be amoral that to put ethics in business is an oxymoron because they contradict each other (2010). Business in pursuit of its profit motive will invariably set aside ethics as it endeavour to make profit. Actions which may be considered unethical such as lying and deception may even become permissible in the business’ pursuit for profit (Carr 1998 qtd in Crane and Matten 2010). This is consistent with the consequential normative ethic theory that â€Å"holds that the moral rightness of acts, which holds that whether an act is morally right, depends only on the consequences of that act or of something related to that act, such as the m otive behind the act or a general rule requiring acts of the same kind† (Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy a 2011). In plain language, a business person may be prompted to choose a certain course of action or inaction based on the benefit or the avoidance of harm that may be derived from such action or inaction. In the case of business, it can chose to shun any propriety in conducting business with the idea that it is more expedient to make profit by disregarding

Demonstrate Enhanced Self Awerness, Interpersonal and Self-Managment Essay

Demonstrate Enhanced Self Awerness, Interpersonal and Self-Managment Skills When Establishing and Maintaining Professional and T - Essay Example Prior to conclusion, the student will reflect on his/her personal skills and highlight one action point for each that will benefit you in maintaining professional and therapeutic relationship. Literature Review The process of establishing a strong nurse-patient relationship could result from a constant or regular interplay or covert negotiation between the nurse and the patients until both parties are able to reach a mutual and satisfying relationship (Morse, 1991). Depending on the time spent between the nurses and the patients, nurses are expected to build trust and meet the individual needs of each patient. According to Morse (1991), nurses who are not willing or failed to commit themselves to the patients would end up forming a unilateral relationship rather than a nurse-patient relationship. ... Caring is the central force when developing nurse-patient relationship that aims to protect the patient’s dignity (Kozier et al., 2004, p. 72; Astedt-Kurki et al., 2007). Therefore, developing trust between the nurse and the patient is important (Yamashita and Mound, 2005). For nurses to be able to successfully perform the seven nursing roles (i.e. the stranger role, resource role, teaching role, counselling role, surrogate role, leadership role, and technical expert role) in caring for the patients, Peplau emphasizes the need for nurses to communicate and be a good listener to the patient (Courey et al., 2008). For example, by listening to the specific needs and personal experiences of the patients, the nurses will be able to have a better understanding on how they should provide caring and treatment to the patients without causing any unnecessary internal conflict between the two parties involved (Di Joseph and Cavendish, 2005). Communication skills can affect the success or failure of a nurse-patient relationship. Therefore, nurses should be aware of their choices of words, sentence structure, and tone of voice (Kozier et al., 2004, p. 427). In most cases, patients who are emotionally happy and satisfied with the development of nurse-patient relationship are more open in revealing their emotions with the nurses (Astedt-Kurki et al., 2007). Once the patient is able to share his personal experiences with the nurses, the nurses will have more opportunity to communicate with the patients and be able to provide them with the comfort they need to be able to cope with their health status. As part of strengthening the relationship between the nurses and patients, Tveiten and Severinsson (2006) revealed that a

The Politics of Percy Shelley Essay -- Biography Biographies Essays

The Politics of Percy Shelley      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Following the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars, Europe was left torn by economic decline, political turmoil, and uncertainty. Out of these events sprang writers who saw it as their duty to ease the social and political dilemmas through their inspirational writings. One of these Nineteenth century writers was Percy Shelley, who is known for the revolutionary and defiant ideas he expressed in his works. Many of his writings such as "A Song: 'Men of England,'" "The Mask of Anarchy," and "Ozymandias," reflect his radical political approach to solving England's troubles. Although Shelley does not explicitly voice a cry for socialism, his poems do call for a proletarian response to the tyrannical leaders of England, yet he ultimately fails in sparking a revolution due to several contradictions as well as the fact that they remained unpublished; based on these issues, Shelley became merely a precursor to the socialist ideas of the late Nineteenth cent ury.    One of Percy Shelley's boldest poems concerning a proletarian uprising is "A Song: 'Men of England,'" in which the diction and style of the piece evoked a sense of urgency and magnitude. Just as Ifor Evans claimed that Shelley had a "personality in revolt," it should also be noted that his poetry urged others to "revolt"(140). When read aloud, the poem sounds more like a fiery speech than a Romantic piece of literature. Shelley used vivid images to catch the reader's attention, such as "Drain your sweat? nay, drink your blood?" ("A Song" line 8). The "sweat" and "blood" were images that the en-slaved workers of England were well accustomed to, so Shelley used these words not only to attract attention but ... ...orton Anthology of English Literature.Vol. 2.Ed. M.H. Abrams and Stephen Greenblatt. 7th ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 2000. 728. ---. "The Mask of Anarchy Written on the Occasion of the Massacre at Manchester."The Complete Poetical Works (1904).Literature Online. 5 Apr. 2002 <http://lion.chadwyck.com/po_basic/fulltext?WARN=N&TO CHITS=N&ALL=Y&ACTION=BYID&ID=Z200484027>. ---. "Ozymandias."The Norton Anthology of English Literature.Vol. 2.Ed. M.H. Abrams and Stephen Greenblatt. 7th ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 2000. 725 -26. ---. "To Sidmouth and Castlereagh."The Norton Anthology of English Literature.Vol. 2.Ed. M.H. Abrams and Stephen Greenblatt. 7th ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 2000. 728 -29. Wolfson, Susan. Formal Charges. Stanford: Stanford UP, 1997. Woodring, Carl. Politics in English romantic poetry. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1970.

Nora vs. Kate: Compare and Contrast Essay

Upon thorough examination of the play â€Å"A Doll’s House† by Henrik Ibsen and the novel My Sister’s Keeper written by Jodi Picoult, it is evident that there are certain characters within both pieces of literature that have the same perception of love and loyalty but at the conclusion of what the reader would believe to occur, a twist takes place, one ending in disappointment and the other ending in tragedy . I found that characters Nora from â€Å"A Doll’s House† and Anna from â€Å"My Sister’s Keeper† show true signs of being loyal to the ones they love by going out of their way to please their family members in ways that comprise their existence. Although one may seem to view the ending of both literatures as tragic or filled with sadness, both Nora and Anna are emancipated from their situations. (Ibsen, 1965) Nora is seen as naive at the beginning of the play where she demonstrates childish qualities causing her husband, Torvald to give her the nickname Doll. The term doll reveals the manner in which her own husband views her. The symbolism of that term is belittlement and allows her husband to deny her of her own self or identity. For example, Torvald states, â€Å"that is like a woman! †¦you know what I think about that. No debt, no borrowing. † (Ibsen, 21) The play reveals that Nora and Torvald’s conduct creates a sense of inferiority between the two by her permitting him to talk as though they are unequally yoked. It is also revealed within the play that she is capable of fabrication, which becomes a major issue throughout the play. It is for that particular reason why her marriage concludes. Apparently, Nora had been living a â€Å"double life† where their money was not being spent, although for a good reason, that is, to obtain a loan for which would save her husband’s life, legitimately. Her husband comes to find out that Nora had been secretly paying off a debt for the loan where she forged her father’s signature to obtain it. Before Torvald is promoted at the same financial institution where Krogstad, the man who gave the loan to Nora worked, he threatens to expose Nora’s illegimate behaviour, thereby attempting to ruin Torvald’s reputation and ensuring that he holds his position at the bank. Nora even tells a friend that she is proud of the decision because it was done for the love of her husband. Torvald comes to realize that Nora does not exemplify the wifely qualities he thought a wife should possess. Torvald questions their marriage when he inquires, â€Å"Nora—can I ever be anything more than a stranger to you? † and she responds by saying, â€Å"both you and I would have to be so changed that†¦. our life together would be a real wedlock. † (Ibsen, 375-280) Her actions reveal self-independence as well. Upon conclusion of the play, Nora finds her own identity and leaves her husband. Ibsen clearly suggests a notion of self when Nora is able to emancipate herself from her husband. This creates a theme of self-confidence and self-motivation. Nora’s conception to understand that she is not inferior to Torvald creates psychological strength in knowing that she does not have to be dependent on him to make her feel loved as a human being. Self-identity is also important in a good marriage because although when husband and wife marry and they become one, they can make choices to benefit each. I do not believe that Nora made the right decision by forging her father’s signature but I do believe that Torvald should have stood by her because it was her way of showing how much she loved him. (Ibsen, 1965) The character Anna from My Sister’s Keeper is very similar in the fact that throughout the novel and from the time she was born, Anna was a creation based on the fact that her older sister Kate overwhelmed by sickness. Anna does not have her own identity because from the time she was a child, parents Sarah and Brian Fitzgerald expected her to be an organ donor for Kate at all costs. According to Brian who is a firefighter, â€Å"the safety of the rescuer is of a higher priority than the safety of the victim. Always. † (Picoult, 142) Anna realizes that in order to make her own decision it is necessary to emancipate or free herself via lawsuit through which her lawyer Campbell Alexander works for her until the case is resolved. It is later revealed within the novel that the lawsuit is a result of Kate encouraging Anna not to donate her kidney to her. Kate also wanted to emancipate herself from going through all the medical issues that has plagued life from a young age. The relationship between the two sisters is what seemed to be an unbreakable bond until Anna is killed in a severe car accident when both Campbell and herself are driving to the hospital. Campbell lives. With this ironic twist, as power of attorney is Campbell’s, he decides to give Anna’s kidney to Kate who lives healthy throughout life. Anna, although she loses her identity when she is killed, emancipation arrives. She is liberated from having to worry about her sister’s health and the pressure of the parents in making her feel obliged to Kate. Like Nora’s situation, Anna’s family structure is compromised because of certain decisions made. They are also both freed from situations where they thought to be binding and felt as if they were being forced be a part of circumstances of compulsion and responsibility. If Nora or Anna were to initially deny their family members of what they needed to survive, they would be thought to be disloyal and selfish but in fact, they were both selfless individuals. The love they had for family for so great that they looked beyond their own selves to do what was logically and morally right in their eyes. (Picoult, 2005) Due to the fact that â€Å"A Doll’s House† was written during the 1800’s which was a time period in history when husband viewed their wives as the typical housewife which meant they did not work outside of the house. Their main duties were to stay at home, take care of the children, clean the house, and cook meals while the husband was expected to be the breadwinner of the family. It was unusual for many wives to leave their husbands even when spoken to in a condescending manner. They often were willing to endure that kind of language and remained with their husbands at all costs because it was what was expected of them at that time in society. Society in the 1800 often was a determinant for the way in which man and wife would live and anyone who diverted from the norm was viewed as insubordinate. My Sister’s Keeper, written in this 21st century is different because it speaks of unethical means of providing live for one human being by essentially taking the life of another. What I mean by this is that Anna’s parents were so caught up in trying to save Kate’s life that they were willing to design a baby for this reason. It is clearly unethical and immoral because it is an infringement upon the rights of Anna as a human being. It is very apparent that Anna could no longer live up to her parents’ and everyone else’s expectations of being the organ provider for Kate whom they adorned so much to the point that everyone else became insignificant in their lives. Even Campbell’s girlfriend gives her own opinion through this statement, â€Å"even if the law says that no one is responsible for anyone else, helping someone who needs it is the right thing to do. † (Picoult, 122) At the conclusion, the guilt consumed the parents whereas the brother Jesse, Kate, Campbell and his girlfriend later on, his wife, begin to lead normal lives. Modern day society would say that the parents are deserving of the overwhelming feeling of guilt because of what they made Anna endure as their own child. Another issue that Picoult covers is the legal aspect where Anna medically emancipates herself. In the 1800s this was not a choice that could be made because it didn’t exist during those times. This shows that people are able to make many more choices today than they could during the 1800s, many without being looked at as immoral unless it has been publicly exposed. Contributing factors of the resulting drama of both pieces of literature is the attempt to create unusual occurrences and climax. The writers want to give the readers an emotional and controversial feeling so that the themes may grab their attention allowing them to be captivated while reading. By doing this, it evokes a thought to keep reading and by finding the author’s work captivating, they will want to read other literature written by the authors. I believe that both Ibsen and Picoult definitely reach their readers by their stylistic methods in which they use controversy to make their readers more interested. Bibliography Ibsen, Henrik. â€Å"A Doll’s House. † London: Penguin Books, 1965. Picoult, Jodi. My Sister’s Keeper A Novel. New York: Washington Square P, 2005.

Babies ( Balmes, 2010 ) Is An Unusual Documentary Film

Babies (Balmes, 2010) is an unusual documentary film that does not have any narration. This documentary film follows four babies from four different countries: Ponijao from Namibia, Bayar from Mongolia, Mari from Japan, and Hattie from the United States. The film takes viewers to these four babies’ development from their birth to roughly around age one. These four babies are different starting from when they are born. While Namibian parents gets no help from hospital, American parents does not even think of giving birth to the children without going to the hospital. When the baby is born, Hattie meets the world with bunch of medical equipment whereas Namibian child gets no such test. Anyone who encounters Babies (Balmes, 2010) would realize how different culture affects children even from their infancy. Most distinctively, it can be inferred that children development differs by the culture of parenting, the child’s attachment, and the child’s motor development. Babies (Balmes, 2010) depicts parenting styles of four parents by putting segments of each babies’ moment consecutively. Out of the many differences, it is hard not to notice the duration that the parents are around their children. Bayar’s, the Mongolian child, parents are busy working in the nomadic environment. It is portrayed that the parents often leave the child alone. However, Mari’s, the Japanese child, parents appears in most of her section of the film. The difference is also prominent in children’s hygiene.

South Africa - 1004 Words

South Africa is known to be successful after the Apartheid but it really wasn’t. The South African Revolution also known as the time of the Apartheid took place during 1908-1994. It was a long struggle for the Africans, which included riots, protests, segregation and physical pain. During the period of the Apartheid, blacks were not treated with equal respect to the whites. They weren’t allowed to vote, hold office and the children couldn’t go to school with whites. It was a horrific time for blacks, but they were able to get through it. Blacks were fired from their jobs and given to whites. The South Africans could not even hold a job and they wouldn’t be able to earn any money to support their family. Nelson Mandela did change their†¦show more content†¦Nelson Mandela was the president after the Apartheid ended, he was known has the amazing man who created a democracy for South Africa but he didn’t do much to help the citizens. Crimes and the amount of murders went up and nothing was done to stop it. South Africa was overpopulated, which made it easier for people to rob others due to the small amount of space between each other. Even though crime and education was unsuccessful, Nelson Mandela creating a democracy for South Africa, undoubtfully helped the people live in a equal and free country. Despite the fact that South Africa had to create a better learning environment and their crime rate must decrease, Nelson Mandela established a democracy, which furthered South Africa’s government. In the beginning of Nelson Mandela’s career, he was a political activist assisting the Youth League of the African National Congress in 1944. Mandela wasn’t a loud and violent activist, but after the Sharpeville massacre, he was arrested due to specific targeting. Nelson Mandela was released in 1990 and negotiated with the President at the time. President F.W de Klerk. All Nelson Mandela wanted to do was release South African’s from their misery. It is appropriate to say that South Africa needed to revamp their education system and law enforcement, however since Mandela was able to create a democracy for South Africa by fighting the Apartheid laws. â€Å"Mandela and de Klerk were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 forShow MoreRelatedSouth Africa812 Words   |  4 PagesThe history of South Africa encompasses over three million years. Ape-like hominids who migrated to South Africa around three million years ago became the first human-like inhabitants of the area now known as South Africa. Representatives of homo erectus gradually replaced them around a million years ago when they also spread across Africa and into Europe and Asia. Homo erectus gave way to homo sapiens around 100,000 years ago. The first homo sapiens formed the Bushman culture of skilled hunter-gatherersRead MoreSouth Africa3003 Words   |  13 PagesSouth Africa South African landscapes provide us with the lush greens of the jungle, the dry grass of the savanna, the majesty of the mountains, the eroded clay of the desert and the high-rise mortar of the city. A filmmaker can find there any background desired as the scenery for his motion picture, but variety is not the only true value of the African landscape. Here we find the lush, well tended greens that represent the wealth and control of the Europeans who have invaded the country; theRead MoreA better South Africa for the new South Africa Essay625 Words   |  3 PagesA better South Africa for the new South Africa The Apartheid struggle is not an anecdote about a few black people that lived under a suppressive government; it is a story about millions of black people who suffered tremendously under the oppressive classification system of the National Party. 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It is already his second term as a president.( News, B. (2016, August 5)) The country went over a lot of things, and the history of democratic political system is not very long for them. English and Dutch colonized South Africa in the seventeenth century. After South Africa got its independence from England, Afrikaner National Party became a majorityRead MoreThe Apartheid Of South Africa1750 Words   |  7 Pagesfirst black President of South Africa. Referred to as the living embodiment of black liberation, Mandela specifically fought against the government system of South Africa known as apartheid (Lacayo, Washington, Monroe, Simpson). Apartheid is an Afrikaan word meaning apartness and was a system of racial segregation for the South African people from 1948 until F.W. de Klerk became president in 1991. Although Nelson Mandela was both literally and metaphorically imprisoned by South Africa’s racist ideologiesRead MoreApartheid in South Africa711 Words   |  3 PagesRacial discrimination dominated South Africa in 1948, and this was further witnessed when the ruling party made the discriminatory apartheid policy into law, in the same year (Pfister, 2005). The Afrikaans word, which literally translates to racial discrimination ‘apartheid’, was legislated and it started with the Dutch and the British rulers. The initiators of apartheid applied it to all social nature of the South African people. For instance, the majority of the population who were Africans wasRead MoreApartheid in South Africa1154 Words   |  5 Pagesend to Apartheid in South Africa because he was a believer in basic human rights, leading both peaceful and violent protests against the white South African Government. His beliefs landed him in prison for twenty-seven years, almost three decades. 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Many of the issues that led to the eventual establishment of segregation stemmed from the 1913 Land Act, â€Å"marked the beginning of territorial segregationRead MoreThe Apartheid Of South Africa1608 Words   |  7 PagesFrom 1948 to 1994, South Africa functioned under the policy of apartheid, a system of racial segregation and white supremacy in which nonwhite racial groups were deprived of their South African citizenship and forced to live separately from whites. Stripped of their rights and marginalized in a country where they were in fact the majority, nonwhites launched strikes and campaigns of passive resistance against the all-white South African government. One freedom fighter stood out amongst the rest:

Essay about Persevering Literature - 942 Words

The novel Sense and Sensibility was truly a masterpiece. Written by Jane Austen this ironic love story has captured the heart of readers for years. The popularity of Austen as a novelist can now be experienced through film. This book has been adapted into various screenplays, including one by Emma Thompson. Another version of the film was done by the BBC. Perhaps it is the manner in which it was filmed, the character choices or other aspects of the films that make them so different. Though they are based upon the same novel it is to be sure that the Emma Thompson version will preserve Austen’s talent in the world of film. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The Emma Thompson version can be well spoken of in that its greatest strength is its†¦show more content†¦It is not to say that it is not an educational version. This lower budget allowed for the full development of the characters in a way a short made for Hollywood film can not. Yet it is not to the taste of many of those in today’s audience. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;One scene in the film in which Marianne and Elinor discuss the prospect of Edwad Ferras is handled quite differently in each of the films. In Thompson’s Marianne visits Elinor’s bedroom as she is settling in for the night to discuss Elinor’s true feelings about her time spent with Mr. Ferras. This scene is exciting in that it shows the girls talking quietly in the night about a rather taboo subject. The idea that Marianne comes to Elinor’s bedroom suggests the matter is of an intimate nature, as it surely is. In the BBC version the girls are propped on a see-saw type apparatus. This suggests a type of disagreement between the two while still maintaining an understanding. They shift their weight and ideas back and forth while still supporting wash other. This is a more literal depiction of their feeling about the matter. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Another notable scene is of the conversation between Fanny Dashwood and Mrs. Dashwood as to the high hopes the family has for Edward. In the BBC there more of Fanny’s cruelty is revealed through her comments concerning the china and furniture in the house. Mrs. Dashwood’s character is developed further when she defends herself against Fanny’s malice.Show MoreRelatedThe Feminist: Aphra Behn Essay786 Words   |  4 Pagesleader in English literature. With a shaky beginning, Behn persevered to become the first female professional writer. With her feminist opinions, she revolutionized writing and her impacts in the 17th century would change modern day writing. Behn was a clever writer who wrote lively, vibrant plays and poetry. Behn impacted the world, not only with her writing, but also with her determination and voice about her feminist opinions. 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Perseverance is not giving up on oneself when life gives them hardships. It is being determined to do what is right. It is believing in themselves even when no one else will. Nonfiction literature often explores perseverance. Since TempleRead MoreComparison of Whitman and Dickenson Poems856 Words   |  4 Pagesmetaphors in each poem create interesting imagery, providing more insight into the author s feelings about the subject. Placing an idea like ‘hope into the bird metaphor allows Dickinson to convey the persevering nature of hope in a more powerful manner than plainly saying hope is persevering. br brEach poem uses sound within the extended metaphors. In Hope is a Thing with Feathers the bird ‘sings the tune without the wordsÂâ€"And never stopsÂâ€"at all--. The song of the bird is ‘sweetestÂâ€"inRead More Whitmans O Captain! My Captain! 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Krueger argues that â€Å"nothingRead MoreThe View Of The Bible Is Not By The God Cares For Me1004 Words   |  5 PagesIsraelites request to follow earthly king. Thus, instructions are created for His representatives (prophets, kings, judges). As God calls and raises them, their experience became the testimony in OT . Recorded in form of narration, poetry, wisdom literatures. Written in a language that their contemporaries would understand . Some of its contents include their role: (1) remember God; (2) warn His people to repent and return to Him; (3) listen to prophet’s warning and choose life and blessing ; (4) God

Agency Costs and Corporate Governance Mechanisms Free Essays

string(69) " risk the loss of his job the greater the level of his compensation\." Agency costs and corporate governance mechanisms: Evidence for UK firms Chrisostomos Florackis and Aydin Ozkan* University of York, UK Abstract In this paper, we aim to extend the empirical literature on the determinants of agency costs by using a large sample of UK listed firms. To do so, we employ two alternative proxies for agency costs: the ratio of total sales to total assets (asset turnover) and the ratio of selling, general and administrative expenses (SGA) to total sales. In our analysis, we control for the influence of several internal governance mechanisms or devices that were ignored by previous studies. We will write a custom essay sample on Agency Costs and Corporate Governance Mechanisms or any similar topic only for you Order Now Also, we examine the potential interactions between these mechanisms and firm growth opportunities in determining agency costs. Our results reveal that the capital structure characteristics of firms, namely bank debt and debt maturity, constitute two of the most important corporate governance devices for UK companies. Also, managerial ownership, managerial compensation and ownership concentration seem to play an important role in mitigating agency costs. Finally, our results suggest that the impact exerted by internal governance mechanisms on agency costs varies with firms’ growth opportunities. JEL classification: G3; G32 Keywords: Agency costs; Growth opportunities; Internal Corporate Governance Mechanisms. * Corresponding author. Department of Economics and Related Studies, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, UK. Tel. : + 44 (1904) 434672. Fax: + 44 (1904) 433759. E-mail: ao5@york. ac. uk. We thank seminar participants at University of York, and the 2004 European Finance Association Meetings for helpful comments and suggestions. 1 1. Introduction Following Jensen and Meckling (1976), agency relations within the firm and costs associated with them have been extensively investigated in the corporate finance literature. There is a great deal of empirical work providing evidence that financial decisions, investment decisions and, hence, firm value are significantly affected by the presence of agency conflicts and the extent of agency costs. The focus of these studies has been the impact of the expected agency costs on the performance of firms. 1 Moreover, the implicit assumption is that, in imperfect capital markets, agency costs arising from conflicts between firms’ claimholders exist and the value of firms decreases if the market expects that these costs are likely to be realised. It is also assumed that there are internal and external corporate governance mechanisms that can help reduce the expected costs and their negative impact on firm value. For example, much of prior work on the ownership and performance relationship relies on the view that managerial ownership can align the interests of managers and shareholders and hence one would observe a positive impact exerted by managerial shareholdings on the performance of firms. The positive impact is argued to be due to the decrease in the expected costs of the agency conflict between managers and shareholders. Despite much valuable insights provided by this strand of literature, however, only very few studies directly tackle the measurement issue of the principal variable of interest, namely agency costs. Notable exceptions are Ang et al. (2000) and Sign and Davidson (2003), which investigate the empirical determinants of agency costs and focus on the role of debt and ownership structure in mitigating agency problems for the US firms. In doing so, they use two alternative proxies for agency costs: the ratio of total sales to total assets (asset turnover) and the ratio of selling, general and administrative expenses (SGA) to total sales. In line with the findings of prior research they provide evidence for the view that managerial ownership aligns the interests of managers and shareholders and, hence, reduces agency costs in general. However, there is no consensus on the role of debt in mitigating such problems and associated costs. Ang et al. (2000) point out that debt has an alleviating role whereas Sign and Davidson (2003) an aggravating one. The objective of this paper is to extend the investigation of these studies by analysing empirically the determinants of agency costs in the UK for a large sample of 1 See, for example, Morck et al. (1988); McConnell and Servaes (1990); and Agrawal and Knoeber (1996) among others. 2 listed firms. Following the works of Ang et al. (2000) and, Sign and Davidson (2003), we model both proxies of agency costs: asset turnover and the (SGA) ratio. More specifically, we empirically examine the impact of capital structure, ownership, board composition and managerial compensation on the costs likely to arise from agency conflicts between managers and shareholders. In doing so, we also pay particular attention to the role of growth opportunities in influencing the effectiveness of internal governance mechanisms in reducing agency costs. In carrying out the analysis in this paper, we aim to provide insights at least in three important areas of the empirical research on agency costs. First, in investigating the determinants of agency costs, the analysis of this paper incorporates important firmspecific characteristics (internal corporate governance devices) tha t possibly affect agency costs but were ignored by previous studies. For example, we explore the role the debt maturity structure of firms can play in controlling agency costs. It is widely acknowledged that short-term debt may be more effective than long-term debt in reducing the expected costs of the underinvestment problem of Myers (1977). 3 Accordingly, in our analysis, we consider the maturity structure of debt as a potential governance device that is effective in reducing the expected costs of the agency conflict between shareholders and debtholders. Similar to Ang et al. 2000) that investigate if bank debt creates a positive externality in the form of lower agency costs, we also check if the source of debt financing matters in mitigating agency problems. Another potentially effective corporate governance mechanism we consider relates to managerial compensation. Recent studies suggest that compensation contracts can motivate managers to take actions that maximize shareholders’ wealth (see, e. g. , Core et al. , 2001; Murphy, 1999 among ot hers). This is based on the view that financial â€Å"carrots† motivate managers to maximize firm value. That is, a manager will presumably be less likely, ceteris paribus, to exert insufficient effort and risk the loss of his job the greater the level of his compensation. You read "Agency Costs and Corporate Governance Mechanisms" in category "Essay examples" Several empirical studies provide evidence for the effectiveness of managerial compensation as a corporate governance mechanism. For instance, 2 As explained later in the paper, the two proxies for agency costs that are used in our analysis are more likely to capture the agency problems between managers and shareholders. However, we do not rule out the possibility that they may also capture the agency problems between shareholders and debtholders. It is argued that firm with greater growth opportunities should have more short-term debt because shortening debt maturity would make it more likely that debt will mature before any opportunity to exercise the growth options. Consistent with this prediction, there are several empirical d ebt maturity studies that find a negative relation between maturity and growth opportunities (see, e. g. , Barclay and Smith, 1995; Guedes and Opler, 1996; and Ozkan, 2000 among others). 3 Hutchinson and Gul (2004) find that managers’ compensation can moderate the negative association between growth opportunities and firm value. In this paper, we examine the effectiveness of managerial compensation as a corporate governance mechanism by including the salary of managers in our empirical model. We also acknowledge that there have been concerns about excessive compensation packages and their negative impact on corporate performance. Accordingly, we investigate the possibility of a non-monotonic impact the managerial compensation may exert on agency costs. Second, our empirical model captures potential interactions between corporate governance mechanisms and growth opportunities. Following McConnell and Servaes (1995) and Lasfer (2002), we expect the effectiveness of governance mechanisms in reducing agency problems to be dependent on firm’s growth opportunities. In particular, if agency problems are associated with greater information asymmetry (a common problem in high-growth firms), we expect the effectiveness of corporate governance mechanisms in mitigating asymmetric information problems to increase in high-growth firms (Smith and Watts, 1992 and Gaver and Gaver, 1993). However, if, as argued by Jensen (1986), agency problems are associated with conflicts over the use of free cash flow (a common problem in low-growth firms), we expect governance mechanisms that are likely to mitigate such problems to play a more important role in low-growth firms (Jensen, 1986). Last but not least, in contrast to previous studies that focus on the US market, we provide evidence for UK firms. Although the UK and the US are usually characterized as having a similar â€Å"common law† regulatory system (see, e. g. , La Porta et al. 1998), the UK market bears significant distinguishing characteristics. 4 It is argued that several of these characteristics may contribute to a more significant degree of managerial discretion and, hence, higher level of managerial agency costs. For example, despite the relatively high proportion of shares held by financial institutions, there is a great deal of evidence that financial investors do not take an active role in corporate governance. Similarly, UK boards are usually characterized as corporate devices that provide weak disciplinary function. More specifically, weak fiduciary obligations on directors have resulted in nonexecutives playing more an advisory than a monitoring role. 5 Consequently, the investigation of agency issues and the effectiveness of the alternative governance 4 For a more detailed discussion about the characteristics of the prevailing UK corporate governance system see Short and Keasey (1999); Faccio and Lasfer (2000); Franks et al. (2001); and Ozkan and Ozkan (2004). 5 Empirical studies by Faccio and Lasfer (2000), Goergen and Rennebog (2001), Franks et al. 2001) and Short and Keasey (1999) provide evidence on the weak role of institutions and board of directors in reducing agency problems in the UK. 4 mechanisms in the UK, in a period that witnesses an intensive discussion of corporate governance issues, would be of significant importance. Our results strongly suggest that managerial ownership constitutes a strong corporate governance mechanism for the UK firms. This result is consistent with the fi ndings provided by Ang et al. (2000) and Sign and Davidson (2003) for the US firms. Ownership concentration and salary also seem to play a significant role in mitigating agency related problems. The results concerning the role of capital structure variables on agency costs are striking. It seems that both the source and the maturity structure of corporate debt have a significant effect on agency costs. Finally, there is strong evidence that specific governance mechanisms are not homogeneous but vary with growth opportunities. For instance, we find that executive ownership is more effective as a governance mechanism for high-growth firms. This result is complementary to the results obtained by Smith and Watts (1992), Gaver and Gaver (1993) and Lasfer (2002), which support the view that high-growth firms are likely to prefer incentive mechanisms (e. g. managerial ownership) whereas low-growth firms focus more on monitoring mechanisms (e. g. short-term debt). The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. In section 2 we discuss the related theory and formulate our empirical hypotheses. Section 3 describes the way in which we have constructed our sample and presents several descriptive statistics of that. Section 4 presents the results of our univariate, multivariate and sensitivity analysis. Finally, section 5 concludes. 2. Agency costs and Governance Mechanisms In what follows, we will discuss the potential interactions between agency costs and internal corporate governance mechanisms available to firms. Also, we will analyze how firm growth opportunities affect agency costs and the relationship between governance mechanism and agency costs. 2. 1 Debt Financing Agency problems within a firm are usually related to free cash-flow and asymmetric information problems (see, for example, Jensen, 1986 and Myers and Majluf, 1984). It is widely acknowledged that debt servicing obligations help reduce of agency problems of this sort. This is particularly true for the case of privately held debt. For example, bank 5 debt incorporates significant signalling characteristics that can mitigate informational asymmetry conflicts between managers and outside investors (Jensen, 1986; Stulz, 1990; and Ross, 1977). In particular, the announcement of a bank credit agreement conveys positive news to the stock market about creditor’s worthiness. Bank debt also bears important renegotiation characteristics. As Berlin and Mester (1992) argue, because banks are well informed and typically small in number, renegotiation of a loan is easier. A bank’s willingness to renegotiate and renew a loan indicates the existence of a good relationship between the borrower and the creditor and that is a further good signal about the quality of the firm. Moreover, it is argued that bank debt has an advantage in comparison to publicly traded debt in monitoring firm’s activities and in collecting and processing information. For example, Fama (1985) argues that bank lenders have a comparative advantage in minimizing information costs and getting access to information not otherwise publicly available. Therefore, banks can be viewed as performing a screening role employing private information that allows them to evaluate and monitor borrowers more effectively than other lenders. In addition to debt source, the maturity structure of debt may matter. For example, short-term debt may be more useful than long-term debt in reducing free cash flow problems and in signalling high quality to outsiders. For example, as Myers (1977) suggests, agency conflicts between managers and shareholders such as the underinvestment problem can be curtailed with short-term debt. Flannery (1986) argues that firms with large potential information asymmetries are likely to issue short-term debt because of the larger information costs associated with long-term debt. Also, short-term debt can be advantageous especially for high-quality companies due to its low refinancing risk (Diamond, 1991). Finally, if yield curve is downward sloping, issuing short-term debt increases firm value (Brick and Ravid, 1985). Consequently, bank debt and short-term debt are expected to constitute two important corporate governance devices. We include the ratio of bank debt to total debt and the ratio of short-term debt to total debt to our empirical model so as to approximate the lender’s ability to mitigate agency problems. Also, we include the ratio of total debt to total assets (leverage) to approximate lender’s incentive to monitor. In general, as leverage increases, so does the risk of default by the firm, hence the incentive for the lender to monitor the firm6. 6 Ang et al. 2000) focus on sample of small firms, which have do not have easy access to public debt, and examine the impact of bank debt on agency costs. On the contrary, Sign and Davidson (2003) focus on a sample of large firms, which have easy access to public debt, and examine the impact of public debt on 6 2. 2 Managerial Ownership The conflicts of interest between managers and shareholders arise mainly from the separation b etween ownership and control. Corporate governance deals with finding ways to reduce the magnitude of these conflicts and their adverse effects on firm value. For instance, Jensen and Meckling (1976) suggest that managerial ownership can align the interest between these two different groups of claimholders and, therefore, reduce the total agency costs within the firm. According to their model, the relationship between managerial ownership and agency costs is linear and the optimal point for the firm is achieved when the managers acquires all of the shares of the firm. However, the relationship between managerial ownership and agency costs can be non-monotonic (see, for example, Morck et al. , 1988; McConnel and Servaes, 1990,1995 and, Short and Keasey, 1999). It has been shown that, at low levels of managerial ownership, managerial ownership aligns managers’ and outside shareholders’ interests by reducing managerial incentives for perk consumption, utilization of insufficient effort and engagement in nonmaximizing projects (alignment effect). After some level of managerial ownership, though, managers exert insufficient effort (e. g focus on external activities), collect private benefits (e. g. build empires or enjoy perks) and entrench themselves (e. g. undertake high risk projects or bend over backwards to resist a takeover) at the expense of other investors (entrenchment effect). Therefore the relationship between the two is non-linear. The ultimate effect of managerial ownership on agency costs depends upon the trade-off between the alignment and entrenchment effects. In the context of our analysis we propose a non-linear relationship between managerial ownership and managerial agency costs. However, theory does not shed much light on the exact nature of the relationship between the two and, hence, we do not know which of the effects will dominate the other and at what levels of managerial ownership. We, therefore, carry out a preliminary investigation about the pattern of the relationship between managerial ownership and agency costs. Figure 1 presents the way in which the two variables are associated. [Insert Figure 1 here] agency costs. Our study is more similar to that of Ang et al (2000) given that UK firms use significant amounts of bank debt financing (see Corbett and Jenkinson, 1997). 7 Clearly, at low levels of managerial ownership, asset turnover and managerial ownership are positively related. However, after managerial ownership exceeds the 10 per cent level, the relationship turns from positive to negative. A third turning point is that of 30 percent after which the relationship seems to turn to positive again. Consequently, there is evidence both for the alignment and the entrenchment effects in the case of our sample. In order to capture both of them in our empirical specification, we include the level, the square and the square of managerial ownership in our model as predictors of agency costs. 2. 3 Ownership Concentration A third alternative for alleviating agency problems is through concentrated ownership. Theoretically, shareholders could take themselves an active role in monitoring management. However, given that the monitoring benefits for shareholders are proportionate to their equity stakes (see, for example, Grossman and Hart, 1988), a small or average shareholder has little or no incentives to exert monitoring behaviour. In contrast, shareholders with substantial stakes have more incentives to supervise management and can do so more effectively (see Shleifer and Vishny, 1986; Shleifer and Vishny, 1997 and Friend and Lang, 1988). In general, the higher the amount of shares that investors hold, the stronger their incentives to monitor and, hence, protect their investment. Although large shareholders may help in the reduction of agency problems associated with managers, they may also harm the firm by causing conflicts between large and minority shareholders. The problem usually arises when large shareholders gain nearly full control of a corporation and engage themselves in self-dealing expropriation procedures at the expense of minority shareholders (Shleifer and Vishny, 1997). Also, as Gomez (2000) points out, these expropriation incentives are stronger when corporate governance of public companies insulates large shareholders from takeover threats or monitoring and the legal system does not protect minority shareholders because either of poor laws or poor enforcement of laws. Furthermore, the existence of concentrated holdings may decrease diversification, market liquidation and stock’s ability to grow and, therefore, increase the incentives of large shareholders to expropriate firm’s resources. Several empirical studies provide evidence consistent with that view (see, for example, Beiner et al, 2003). In order to test the impact of ownership concentration on agency costs, we include a variable that refers to the sum of stakes of shareholders with equity stake greater than 3 8 per cent in our regression equation. The results remain robust when the threshold value changes from 3 per cent to 5 per cent or 10 per cent. 2. 4 Board of Directors Corporate governance research recognizes the essential role performed by the board of directors in monitoring management (Fama and Jensen, 1983; Weisbach, 1988 and Jensen, 1993). The effectiveness of a board as a corporate governance mechanism depends on its size and composition. Large boards are usually more powerful than small boards and, hence, considered necessary for organizational effectiveness. For instance, as Pearce and Zahra (1991) point out, large powerful boards help in strengthening the link between corporations and their environments, provide counsel and advice regarding strategic options for the firm and play crucial role in creating corporate identity. Other studies, though, suggest that large boards are less effective than large boards. The underlying notion is that large boards make coordination, communication and decision-making more cumbersome than it is in smaller groups. Recent studies by Yermack, 1996; Eisenberg et al. , 1998 and Beiner et al, 2004 support such a view empirically. The composition of a board is also important. There are two components that characterize the independence of a board, the proportion of non-executive directors and the separated or not roles of chief executive officer (CEO) and chairman of the board (COB). Boards with a significant proportion of non-executive directors can limit the exercise of managerial discretion by exploiting their monitoring ability and protecting their reputations as effective and independent decision makers. Consistent with that view, Byrd and Hickman (1992) and Rosenstein and Wyatt (1990) propose a positive relationship between the percentage of non-executive directors on the board and corporate performance. Lin et al. (2003) also propose a positive share price reaction to the appointment of outside directors, especially when board ownership is low and the appointee possesses strong ex ante monitoring incentives. Along a slightly different dimension, Dahya et al. (2002) find that top-manager turnover increases as the fraction of outside directors increases. Other studies find exactly the opposite results. They argue that non-executive directors are usually characterized by lack of information about the firm, do not bring the requisite skills to the job and, hence, prefer to play a less confrontational role rather than a more critical monitoring one (see, for example, Agrawal and Knoeker, 1996; Hermalin 9 nd Weisbach, 1991, and Franks et al. , 2001)7. As far as the separation between the role of CEO and COB is concerned, it is believed that separated roles can lead to better board performance and, hence, less agency conflicts. The Cadbury (1992) report on corporate governance stretches that issue and recommends that CEO and COB should be two distinct jobs. Firms should comply with the recommendation of the report for their own benefit. A decision not to combine these roles should be publicly e xplained. Empirical studies by Vafeas and Theodorou (1998), and Weir et al. (2002), though, which study that issue for the case of the UK market, provide results that do not support Cadbury’s stance that the CEO – COB duality is undesirable. In the context of the UK market, UK boards are believed to be less effective than the US ones. For instance,. To test the effectiveness of the board of directors in mitigating agency problems we include three variables in our empirical model: a) the ratio of the number of non-executive directors to he number of total directors, b) the total number of directors (board size) and c) a dummy variable which takes the value of 1 when the roles of CEO and COB are not separated and 0 otherwise. 2. 5 Managerial Compensation Another important component of corporate governance is the compensation package that is provided to firm management. Recent studies by Core et al. (2001) and Murphy (1999) suggest, among others, that compensation contracts, whose u se has been increased dramatically during the 90’s, can motivate managers to take actions that maximize shareholders’ wealth. In particular, as Core et al. (2001) point out, if shareholders could directly observe the firm’s growth opportunities and executives’ actions no incentives would be necessary. However, due to asymmetric information between managers and shareholders, both equity and compensation related incentives are required. For example, an increase in managerial compensation may reduce managerial agency costs in the sense that satisfied managers will be less likely, ceteris paribus, to utilize insufficient effort, perform expropriation behaviour and, hence, risk the loss of their job. Despite the central importance of the issue, only a few empirical studies examine the impact of managerial compensation components on corporate performance. For example, Jensen and Murthy 7 Such a result may be consistent with the governance system prevailing in the UK market given the fact that UK legislation encourages non-executive directors to be inactive since it does not impose fiduciary obligations on them. Also, UK boards are dominated by executive directors, which have less monitoring power. Franks et al. (2001) confirm this view by providing evidence on a non-disciplinary role of nonexecutive directors in the UK. 10 (1990) find a statistically significant relationship between the level of pay and performance. Murphy (1995), finds that the form, rather than the level, of compensation is what motivates managers to increase firm value. In particulars, he argues that firm performance is positively related to the percentage of executive compensation that is equity based. More recently, Hutchinson and Gul (2004) analyze whether or not managers’ compensation can moderate the negative association between growth opportunities and firm value8. The results of this study indicate that corporate governance mechanisms such as managerial remuneration, managerial ownership and non-executive directors possibly affect the linkages between organizational environmental factors (e. g. growth opportunities) and firm performance. Finally, Chen (2003) analyzes the relationship between equity value and employees’ bonus. He finds that the annual stock bonus is strongly associated with the firm’s contemporaneous but not future performance. Managerial compensation, though, is considered to be a debated component of corporate governance. Despite its potentially positive impact on firm value, compensation may also work as an â€Å"infectious greed† which creates an environment ripe for abuse, especially at significantly high levels. For instance, remuneration packages usually include extreme benefits for managers such as the use of private jet, golf club membership, entertainment and other expenses, apartment purchase etc. Benefits of this sort usually cause severe agency conflicts between managers and shareholders. 9 Therefore, it is possible that the relationship between compensation and agency costs is non-monotonic. Similar to the case of managerial ownership, we carry out a preliminary investigation about the pattern of the relationship between salary and agency costs. As shown in figure 2, the relationship between salary and agency costs is likely to be non-linear10. In our empirical model, we include the ratio of the total salary paid to executive directors to total assets as a determinant of agency costs. Also, in order to capture potential 8 Rather, the majority of the studies in that strand of literature reverse the causation and examine the impact of performance changes on executive or CEO compensation (see, for example, Rayton, 2003 among others). Concerns about excessive compensation packages and their negative impact on corporate performance have lead to the establishment of basic recommendations in the form of â€Å"best practises† in which firms should comply so as the problem with excessive compensation to be diminished. In the case of the UK market, for example, one of the basic recommendations of the Cadbury (1992) report was the establishment of an independent compensation committee. Also, in a posterior report, the Greenbury (1995) report, specific propositions about remuneration issues were made. For example, an issue that was stretched was the rate of increase in managerial compensation. In the case of the US market, the set of â€Å"best practises† includes, among others, the establishment of a compensation committee so as transparency and disclosure to be guaranteed (same practise an in the UK) and the substitution of stock options as compensation components with other tools that promote the long-term value of the company 10 A similar preliminary analysis is carried out so as to check potential non-linearities concerning the relationship between the rest of internal governance mechanisms and agency costs. Our results (not reported) indicate that none of them is related to agency costs in a non-linear way. 11 non-linearities, we include higher ordered salary terms in the regression equation. Finally, we include a dummy variable, which takes the value of 1 when a firm pays options or bonuses to managers and 0 otherwise. Including that dummy variable in our analysis enables us to test whether or not options and bonuses themselves provide incentives to managers. As Zhou (2001) points out, ignoring options is likely to incur serious problems unless managerial options are either negligible compared to ownership or almost perfectly correlated with ownership. [Insert Figure 2 here] 2. 6 Growth Opportunities The magnitude of agency costs related to underinvestment, asset substitution and free cash flow differ significantly across high-growth and low-growth firms. In the underinvestment problem, managers may decide to pass up positive net present value projects since the benefits would mainly accrue to debt-holders. This is more severe for firms with more growth-options (Myers, 1977). Asset substitution problems, which occur when managers opportunistically substitute higher variance assets for low variance assets, are also more prevalent in high-growth firms due to information asymmetry between investors and borrowers (Jensen and Meckling, 1976). High-growth firms, though, face lower free cashlow problems, which occur when firms have substantial cash reserves and a tendency to undertake risky and usually negative NPV investment projects (Jensen, 1986). Given the different magnitude and types of agency costs between high-growth and low-growth firms, we expect the effectiveness of corporate governance mechanisms to vary with growth opportunities. In particular, if agency problems are associated with greater underinvestment or information asymmetry (a common problem in high-growth firms), we expect corporate governance mechanisms that mitigate these kinds of problems to be more effective in high-growth firms (Smith and Watts, 1992 and Gaver and Gaver, 1993). However, if, as argued by Jensen (1986), agency problems are associated with conflicts over the use of free cash flow (a common problem in low-growth firms), we expect governance mechanisms that mitigate such problems to play a more important role in low-growth firms (Jensen, 1986). Several empirical studies that model company performance confirm the existence of potential interactions between internal governance mechanism and growth opportunities. For example, McConnell and Servaes (1995) find that the relationship between firm value and leverage is negative for high-growth firms and positive for low12 growth firms. Their results also indicate that equity ownership matters, and the way in which it matters depends upon investment opportunities. Specifically, they provide weak evidence that on the view that the allocation of equity ownership between corporate insiders and other types of investors is more important in low-growth firms. Also, Lasfer (2002) points out that high-growth firm (low-growth firms) rely more on managerial ownership (board structure) to mitigate agency problems. Finally, Chen (2003) finds that the positive relationship between annual stock bonus and equity value is stronger for firms with greater growth opportunities. In order to capture potential interaction effects, we include interaction terms between proxies for growth opportunities and governance mechanisms in our empirical model and, also, employ sample-splitting methods (see, for example, McConnell and Servaes, 1995 and Lasfer, 2002). Based on previous empirical evidence the prediction we make is that mechanisms that are used to mitigate asymmetric information problems (free cash flow problems) are stronger in high-growth firms (low-growth firms). 3. Data and Methodology 3. 1 Data For our empirical analysis of agency costs we use a large sample of ublicly traded UK firms over the period 1999-2003. We use two data sources for the compilation of our sample. Accounting data and data on the market value of equity are collected from Datastream database. Specifically, we use Datastream to collect information for firm size, market value of equity, annual sales, selling general and administrative expenses, level of bank debt, short-term debt and to tal debt. Information on firm’s ownership, board and managerial compensation structure is derived from the Hemscott Guru Academic Database. This database provides financial data for the UK’s top 300,000 companies, detailed data on all directors of UK listed companies, live regulatory and AFX News feeds and share price charts and trades. Specifically, we get detailed information on the level of managerial ownership, ownership concentration, size and composition of the board, managerial salary, bonus, options and other benefits. Despite the fact that data on directors are provided in a spreadsheet format, information for each item is given in a separate file. This makes data collection for the required variables fairly complicated. For example, in order to get information about the amount of shares held by executive directors we have to combine two different files: a) the 13 file that contains data on the amount of shares held by each director and b) the file that provides information about the type of each directorship (e. g. executive director vs. nonexecutive director). Also, we have to take into account the fact that several directors in the UK hold positions in more than one company. Complications also arise when we attempt to collect information about the composition of the board and the remuneration package that is provided to executive directors. The way in which our final sample is compiled is the following: we start with a total of 1672 UK listed firms derived from Datastream. This number reduces to 1450 firms after excluding financial firms from the sample. After matching Datastream data with the data provided by Hemscott, the number of firms further decreases to 1150. Missing firmyear observations for any variable in the model during the sample period are also dropped. Finally, we exclude outliers so as to avoid the problem with extreme values. We end up with 897 firms for our empirical analysis. 3. Dependent Variable In our analysis we use two alternative proxies to measure agency costs. Firstly, we use the ratio of annual sales to total assets (Asset Turnover) as an inverse proxy for agency costs. This ratio can be interpreted as an asset utilization ratio that shows how effectively management deploys the firm’s assets. For instance, a low asset turnover ratio may indicate poor investment decisions, insufficient effort, consumption of perquisites and purchase of unproductive products (e. g. office space). Firms with low asset turnover ratios are expected to experience high agency costs between managers and shareholders11. A similar proxy for agency costs is also used in the studies of Ang et al. (2000) and Sign and Davidson (2003). However, Ang et al. (2000), instead of using the ratio directly, they use the difference in the ratios of the firm with a certain ownership and management structure and the no-agency-cost base case firm. Secondly, following Sign and Davidson (2003), we use the ratio of selling, general and administrative (SGA) expenses to sales (expense ratio). In contrast to asset turnover, expense ratio is a direct proxy of agency costs. SGA expenses include salaries, commissions charged by agents to facilitate transactions, travel expenses for executives, advertising and marketing costs, rents and other utilities. Therefore, expense ratio should 11 The asset turnover ratio may also capture (to some extent) agency costs of debt. For instance, the sales ratio provides a good signal for the lender about how effectively the borrower (firm) employs its assets and, therefore, affects the cost of capital 14 reflect to a significant extent managerial discretion in spending company resources. For example, as Sign and Davidson (2003) point out, â€Å"management may use advertising and selling expenses to camouflage expenditures on perquisites† p. 7. Firms with high expense ratios are expected to experience high agency costs between managers and shareholders12. 3. 3 Independent Variables Our empirical model includes a set of corporate governance variables related to firm’s ownership, board, compensation and capital structure. Several control variables are also incorporated. For example, we use the logarithm of total assets in 1999 prices as a proxy for firm size (SIZE). Also, we include the market-to-book value (MKTBOOK) as a proxy for growth opportunities. Finally, we divide firms into 15 sectors and include 14 dummy variables accordingly so as to control for sector specific effects. Analytical definitions for all these variables are given in Table 1. [Insert Table 1 here] 3. 4 Methodology We examine the determinants of agency costs by employing a cross sectional regression approach. Following Rajan and Zingales (1995) and Ozkan and Ozkan (2004), the dependent variable is measured at some time t, while for the independent variables we use average-past values. Using averages in the way we construct our explanatory variables helps in mitigating potential problems that may arise due to short-term fluctuations and extreme values in our data. Also, using past values reduces the likelihood of observed relations reflecting the effects of asset turnover on firm specific factors. Specifically, the dependent variable is measured in year 2003. For accounting variables and the market-tobook ratio we use average values for the period 1999-2002. Ownership, board and compensation structure variables are measured in year 2002. Given that equity ownership characteristics in a country are relatively stable over a certain period of time, we do not expect that measuring them in a single year would yield a significant bias in our results (see also La Porta et al. , 2002, among others). 12 An alternative proxy for agency costs between managers and shareholders, which is not used in our paper though, is the interaction of company’s growth opportunities with its free cash flow (see Doukas et al. , 2002). 15 Our approach captures potential interaction effects that may be present. For example, as explained analytically in section 2. 6, the nature of the relationship between the alternative governance mechanisms or devices and agency costs may vary with firm’s growth opportunities. To explore that possibility, we firstly interact our proxy for growth opportunities (MKTBOOK) with the alternative corporate governance mechanisms. In this way, we test for the existence of both main effects (the impact governance variables on agency costs) and conditional effects (the impact of growth opportunities on the relationship between governance variables and agency costs). Additionally, we split the sample into high-growth and low-growth firms and estimate our empirical models for each sample separately. Then we check whether the coefficients of governance variables retain their sign and their significance across the two sub-samples. 3. 5 Sample Characteristics Table 2 presents descriptive statistics for the main variables used in our analysis. It reveals that the average values of asset turnover ratio and SGA ratio are 1. 24 and 0. 45 respectively. The mean value for managerial ownership is 14. 4 per cent of which the average proportion of stakes held by executive (non-executive) directors is 10. 68 per cent (4. 06 per cent). The ownership concentration reaches the level of 37. 19 per cent, on average, in the UK firms. Also, the average proportion of non-executive directors is 49. 5 per cent and the average board size consists of 6. 97 directors. Finally, we were able to identify only 73 firms out of the final 897 (8. 1 per cent) in which the same per son held the positions of CEO and COB. As far as the capital structure variables are concerned, the average proportion of bank debt on firm’s capital structure is 55. 5 per cent and that of short-term debt is 49. 53 per cent. Finally, the average market-to-book value is 2. 09. In general, these values are in line with those reported in other studies for UK firms (see, for example, Ozkan and Ozkan, 2004 and Short and Keasey, 1999). [Insert Table 2 here] The results of the Pearson’s Correlation of our variables are reported in Table 3. Our inverse proxy for agency costs, asset turnover, is clearly positively correlated to managerial ownership, executive ownership, salary, bank debt and short-term debt. Ownership concentration is also positively related to asset turnover but the correlation coefficient is not statistically significant. On the contrary, board size and non-executive 16 directors are found to be negatively correlated with asset turnover. Finally, as expected, asset turnover is found to be negatively correlated with both growth opportunities and firm size. The results for our second proxy for agency costs, SGA, are qualitatively similar with a few exceptions (e. g. short-term debt) but with opposite signs given that SGA is a direct and not an inverse proxy for agency costs. Insert Table 3 here] 4. Empirical Results 4. 1 Univariate analysis In Table 4 we report univariate mean-comparison test results of the sample firm subgroups categorized on the basis of above and below median values for managerial ownership, ownership concentration, board size, proportion of non-executives, bank debt, short-term debt, total debt, salary, firm size and growth opportunities. Firms with above median managerial ownership (ownership concentration) have asset turnover of 1. 34 (1. 31) whereas those with below median managerial ownership (ownership concentration) have asset turnover of 1. 5 (1. 17). These differences are statistically significant at the 1 per cent (5 per cent) level. The results for executive ownership, salary, bank debt and short-term debt are also found to be statistically significant and are in the hypothesized direction. Specifically, we find that firms with above median values for all the above mentioned variables have relatively higher asset utilization ratios. On the contrary, there is evidence that firms with larger board sizes indicate significantly lower asset utilization ratios. Insert Table 4 here] In panel B of the same table we report the results using SGA expense ratio as a proxy for agency costs. Results are in general not in line with the hypothesized signs with notable exceptions those of ownership concentration and growth opportuniti es. For example, firms with above median ownership concentration (MKTBOOK) have an SGA expense ratio of 0. 41 (0. 55) whereas firms with below median ownership concentration (MKTBOOK) have an SGA expense ratio of 0. 49 (0. 36). However, the results for managerial ownership, salary and short-term debt suggest that these governance mechanisms or devices are not effective in protecting firms from excessive SGA 17 expenses. Sign and Davidson (2003) obtains a set of similar results, for the case when agency costs are approximated with the SGA ratio. Overall, the univariate analysis indicates several corporate governance mechanisms or devices, such as managerial ownership, ownership concentration, salary, bank debt and short-term debt, which can help mitigate agency problems between managers and shareholders. Also, consistent with previous studies, we find that the relation between governance variables and agency costs is stronger for the asset turnover ratio than the SGA expense ratio. The analysis that follows allows us to test the validity of these results in a multivariate framework. 4. 2 Multivariate analysis In this section we present our results that are based on a cross sectional regression approach. We start with a linear specification model, where we include only total debt from our set of capital structure variables (model 1). In general, the estimated coefficients are in line with the hypothesized signs. Specifically, consistent with the results of Ang et al. (2000) and Sign and Davidson (2003), we find both managerial ownership and ownership concentration to be positively related to asset-turnover. The coefficients are statistically significant at the 5 per cent and 1 per cent significance level respectively. On the contrary, the coefficient for board size is negative, which probably indicates that firms with larger board size are less efficient in their asset utilization. Also, the results for our proxy for growth opportunities (MKTBOOK) support the view that high-growth firms suffer from higher agency costs than low-growth firms. Finally, there is strong evidence that managerial salary can work as an effective incentive mechanism that helps aligning the interests of managers with those of shareholders. Specifically, the coefficient for salary is positive and statistically significant to the 1 per cent level. Therefore, compared to previous studies, our empirical model provides evidence on the existence of an additional potential corporate governance mechanism available to firms. Insert Table 5 here] In model 2 we incorporate two additional capital structure variables, the ratio of bank debt to total debt and the ratio of short-term debt to total debt, in order to test whether debtsource and debt-maturity impacts agency costs. Also, we split managerial ownership into executive ownership (the amount of shares held by executive directors) and non-execut ive 18 ownership (the amount of shares held by non-executive directors). We do this because we expect that equity ownership works as a better incentive mechanism in the hands of executive directors rather in the hands of non-executive directors. According to our results, bank debt is positively related to asset turnover. Also, in addition to debt source, the maturity structure of debt seems to have a significant effect on agency costs. The coefficient of short-term debt is positive and statistically significant at the 1 per cent significance level. Furthermore, there is evidence that from total managerial ownership, only the amount of shares held by executive directors can enhance asset utilization and, hence, align the interest of managers with those of shareholders. In model 3 we estimate a non-linear model by adding the square of salary. As explained earlier in the paper, a priori expectations, which are supported by preliminary graphical investigation, suggest that the relationship between asset turnover and salary can be non-monotonic. Our results provide strong evidence that the relationship between salary and asset turnover is non-linear. In particular, at low levels of salary, the relationship between salary and asset turnover is positive. However, at higher levels of salary, the relationship becomes negative. This result is consistent with studies that suggest that extremely high levels of salary usually work as an â€Å"infectious greed† and create agency conflicts between managers and shareholders. The coefficients of the remaining variables are similar to those reported in models 1 and 2. Finally, in model 4 we allow for a non-linear relationship between executive ownership and agency costs. However, our results do not support such a relationship and, therefore, the square term in our following models13. To sum up, the results of Table 5 indicate that managerial ownership (executive ownership), ownership concentration, salary (when it is at low levels), bank debt and short-term debt can help in mitigating agency problems by enhancing asset utilization. Also, the coefficients for the control variables market to book and firm size, negative and positive respectively, suggest that smaller and non- growth firms are associated with reduced asset utilization ratio and, hence, more severe agency problems between managers and shareholders. As discussed earlier in the paper, there is a possibility that the nature of the relationship between the alternative governance mechanisms or devices and agency costs varies with firm’s growth opportunities. In Panel A of Table 6, we explore such a In trial regressions, which are not reported, the cubic term of executive ownership is also included in our model. Once more, the results do not support the existence of a non-monotonic relationship. 13 19 possibility by interacting those governance mechanisms found significant in models 1-4 with growth opportunities, proxied by market-to-book ratio. Our empirical results support the existence of two interaction effects. We find that executive ownership is an effective governance mechanism especially for high-growth firms (the coefficient EXECOWNER* MKTBOOK is positive and statistically significant). This result is consistent with the study of Lasfer (2002), which suggests that the positive relationship between managerial ownership and firm value is stronger in high-growth firms. On the contrary, the coefficient SHORT_DEBT*MKTBOOK is found to be negative and statistically significant. This means that the efficiency of short-term debt in mitigating agency problems is lower for high-growth firms. A possible explanation may be that short-term debt basically mitigates agency problems related to free cash flow. Given that high-growth firms do not suffer from severe free cash-flow problems (but mainly from asymmetric information problems), the efficiency of short-term debt as governance device decreases for these firms. One could argue, though, that short-term debt should be more important for the case of highgrowth firms since it helps reduce underinvestment problems. However, it seems that this effect is not very strong for the case in our sample. A similar result is obtained in McConnell and Servaes (1995) who find that the relationship between corporate value and leverage is positive (negative) for low-growth (high-growth) firms14. [Insert Table 6 here] Secondly, we use the variable MKTBOOK so as two split the sample into two subsamples. We label the upper 45 per cent in terms of MKTBOOK as â€Å"high-growth firms† and the lower 45 per cent as â€Å"low-growth firms†. Then, we re-estimate our basic model for the two sub-samples separately (Table 6, panel B). The results of this exercise confirm the existence of an interaction effect between executive ownership and asset turnover. In particular, the coefficient of EXECOWNER is positive and statistically significant only in the case of the sample that includes only high-growth firms. As far as short-term debt is concerned, it is found to be positive and statistically significant in both samples. 14 The idea in McConnell and Servaes (1995) is that debt has both a positive and a negative impact on the value of the firm because of its influence on corporate investment decisions. What possibly happens is that the negative effect of debt dominates the positive effect in firms with more positive net present value projects (i. e. , high-growth firms) and that the positive effect will dominate the negative effect for firms with fewer positive net present value projects (i. e. , low-growth firms). 20 To summarize, the results of our multivariate analysis suggest, among others, that executive ownership and ownership concentration can work as effective governance mechanisms for the case of the UK market. These results are in line with the ones reported by the studies Ang et al. (2000) and sign and Davidson (2003). Also, we find that, in addition to the source of debt, the maturity structure of debt can help to reduce agency conflicts between managers and shareholders. The fact that previous studies have ignored the maturity structure of debt may partly explain their contradicting results concerning the relationship between capital structure and agency costs. Furthermore, we find that salary can work as an additional mechanism that provides incentives to managers to take valuemaximizing actions. However, its impact on asset turnover is not always positive i. e. the relationship between asset turnover and salary is non-monotonic. Finally, there is strong evidence that the relationship between several governance mechanisms and agency costs varies with growth opportunities. Specifically, our results support the view that the positive relationship between executive ownership (short-term debt) is stronger for the case of high growth (low growth) firms. 4. Robustness checks Given the significant impact of growth opportunities on agency costs (main impact) and on the impact of other corporate governance mechanisms (conditional impact), we further investigate the relationship between growth opportunities, governance mechanisms and agency costs. At first, we substitute the variable MKTBOOK with an alternative proxy for growth opportunities. The new proxy is derived after employing common factor analysis, a statistical technique that uses the correlations between observed variables to estimate common factors and the structural relationships linking factors to observed variables. The variables which are used in order to isolate latent factors that account for the patterns of colinearity are following variables: MKTBOOK = Book value of total assets minus the book value of equity plus the market value of equity to book value of assets; MTBE = Market value of equity to book value of equity; METBA = Market value of equity to the book value of assets; METD = Market value of equity plus the book value of debt to the book value of assets. 21 These variables have been extensively used in the literature as alternative proxies for growth opportunities and Tobin’s Q. As shown in Table 7 (panel A) all these variables are highly correlated to each other. In order to make sure that principal component analysis can provide valid results for the case of our sample, we perform two tests in our sample, the Barlett’s test and the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test. The first test examines whether or not the intercorrelation matrix comes from a population in which the variables are noncollinear (i. e. an identity matrix). The second test is a test for sampling adequacy. The results from these tests, which are reported in panel B, are encouraging and suggest that common factor analysis can be employed in our sample since all the four proxies are likely to measure the same â€Å"thing† i. e. growth opportunities. Panel C presents the eigenvalues of the reduced correlation matrix of our four proxies for growth opportunities. Each factor whose eigenvalue is greater than 1 explains more variance than a single variable. Given that only one eigenvalue is greater than 1, our common factor analysis provides us with one factor that can explain firm growth opportunities. Clearly, as shown in panel D, the factor is highly correlated with all MKTBOOK, MTBE, METBA and METD. We name the new variable GROWTH and use it as an alternative proxy for growth opportunities. Descriptive statistics for the variable GROWTH are presented in panel D. [Insert Table 7 here] Table 8 presents the results of cross-section analysis after using the variable GROWTH as proxy for agency costs. In general, the results of such a task are similar to the ones reported previously. For instance, there is strong evidence that executive ownership, ownership concentration, salary, short-term debt and, to some extent, bank debt are positively related to asset turnover. Also, there is some evidence supporting a non-linear relationship between salary and asset turnover. Finally, our results clearly indicate that agency costs differ significantly across high-growth and low-growth firms and, most importantly, there is a significant interaction effect between growth opportunities and executive ownership. However, we can not provide any evidence on the existence of an interaction between asset turnover and short-term debt. [Insert Table 8 here] 22 In panel B of table 8, we split our sample into high-growth and low-growth firms on the basis of high and low values for the variable GROWTH. Specifically, we label the upper 45 per cent in terms of GROWTH as â€Å"high-growth firms† and the lower 45 per cent as â€Å"low-growth firms†. Then we estimate our basic model for each sub-sample separately. The results are very similar to the ones reported in Table 6 (panel B), where we apply a similar methodology. As an additional robustness check, we use a third proxy for growth opportunities, a dummy variable that takes the value of 1 if the firm is a high-growth firm and 0 otherwise, and re-estimate the models 6 and 7 of Table 8. The definition used in order to distinguish between high-growth and low-growth firms is the following: Firms above the 55th percentile in terms of the variable GROWTH are called high-growth firms. Firms below the 45th percentile in terms of the variable GROWTH are called low-growth firms. Finally, firms between the 45th and 55th percentile are excluded from the sample. The results (not reported) are qualitatively similar to the ones reported in Table 8. For example, there is evidence for the existence of an interaction effect between executive ownership and growth opportunities but not for the one between short-term debt and growth opportunities. Also, we re-estimate the models reported in Table 8 after substituting the total salary paid to executive directors for the total remuneration package paid to executive directors. We are doing so given that the total remuneration package that is paid to managers includes several other components. For instance, the components of compensation structure have been increased in number during the last decade and may include annual performance bonus, fringe benefits, stock (e. g. preference shares), stock options, stock appreciation rights, phantom shares and other deferred compensation mechanisms like qualified retirement plans (see Lynch and Perry, 2003 for an analytical discussion). Once more, the results do not change substantially. Finally, in Table 9 we substitute the annual sales to total assets with the ratio of SGA expenses to total sales. As already mentioned earlier in the paper, this ratio can be used as a direct proxy for agency costs. Our results, as presented in Table 9, indicate that executive ownership, ownership concentration and total debt help reduce discretionary spending and, therefore, the agency conflicts between managers and shareholders. Sign and Davidson (2003) do not find any evidence to support these results. Also, we find that agency costs and growth opportunities are positively related i. . the coefficient of the variable GROWTH is positive and statistically significant to the 5 per cent statistical level. 23 Finally, our results support the existence of an interaction effect between growth opportunities and executive ownership. However, once more, our analysis does not indicate the existence of an interaction effect between short-term debt and growth opportunities. [Insert Table 9 her e] 5. Conclusion In this paper we have examined the effectiveness of the alternative corporate governance mechanisms and devices in mitigating managerial agency problems in the UK market. In particular, we have investigated the impact of capital structure, corporate ownership structure, board structure and managerial compensation structure on the costs arising from agency conflicts mainly between managers and shareholders. The interactions among them and growth opportunities in determining the magnitude of these conflicts have also been tested. Our results strongly suggest managerial ownership, ownership concentration, executive compensation, short-term debt and, to some extent, bank debt are important governance mechanisms for the UK companies. Moreover, â€Å"growth opportunities† is a significant determinant of the magnitude of agency costs. Our results suggest that highgrowth firms face more serious agency problems than low-growth firms, possibly because of information asymmetries between managers, shareholders and debtholders. Finally, there is strong evidence that some governance mechanisms are not homogeneous but vary with growth oppo How to cite Agency Costs and Corporate Governance Mechanisms, Essay examples