Santa Claus Does Exist Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive Essays

Santa Claus Does ExistSo you dont hope in Santa Claus. Its perceivable. We find ourselves in an old age of pure skepticism. We question everything. Science has taken hold of our lives, providing answers for all questions and dismissing anything that cannot be explained as either myth or fiction. So its quite understandable why you dont believe, with no physical proof of his existence. Its indeed understandable to lose sight of Father Christmas with the transformation of this holiday into one that, as of late, is used commercially as a lucrative crutch solely to make profit. Its understandable to abandon Santa Claus after hearing countless multitude deny his very physical or even spiritual existence. After all, one tends to believe something if it is repeatedly reported as true. But, let me speciate you something, something that whitethorn lead you to quite a spectacular, fulfilling life. I believe in Santa Claus. Why, you ask, position yourself only to be disappointed upon reali zing that all you hold as true is in fact false? I will tell you that I grew up believing in Santa Clausthe jolly, old, fat man who annually descended the chimney with his endless apprise of treasures. I will tell you that I still believe that Santa Claus exists, despite being told otherwise by both parent and peer. I will tell you not only that Santa Claus exists, but that he exists in you and your family and your friends and every person who gives a little extra in any way thinkable. I believe. any year, as the air becomes dry and the ground sparkles with the fluffy white of the snow, I see in the eyes of those who surround me a beard of white and a suit of red. I see society morph as the last month of our year pays its toll. Generosity ri... ...ch out only for themselves, we lose sight of what Christmas is very about. Forgetting the being of Santa Claus only makes us slight the kindness on which this holiday is based. Not believe in Santa You may as well not believe in the ve ry gifts laid under the tree on Christmas morn. Without your faith, Santa Claus would be nonexistent. There would be no yearning in your soul to give of yourself to others, no example to follow. Thank God, Santa Claus exists and exists forever, lightening the heavy heart as the sight of the snow blankets the soul and defines the heart of childhood. The modern person believes upon seeing. Perhaps, one sweet day, farthermost ahead, believing will be seeing once more. Im lucky though I can see Santa Claus every day, in to each one and every one of you, through the words you say and the moves you make, and I know youll see it, too, someday.

Project Management - Verizon Wireless Billing System Integration Essay

INTRODUCTIONCurrently, Verizon Wireless has two major billing systems I2K and VISION. In accordance with the strategic goals of the company and taking into devotion the corporate vision and credo, the executive management decided that having one billing system would be congruent with the objectives of the organization as a whole and the IT meeting in particular.After several months of deliberation, using techniques such as brainstorming, receiving expert opinions of SME (Subject Matter Experts) and taking into consideration the Payback period and ROI (Return on Investment) it was decided that the I2K customers would be converted into the VISION billing system. There will be 20 million customers that will be converted with the data ranging from customer and MTN information, price plan, physical exercise and other related information necessary for billing the customers.After the Project acceptance, The Project was handed over to the CAM (Customer Account Management) team which fun ctions as PMO (Project Management Office) for IT projects in Verizon wireless. The CAM team decided to manage the Project by organizing it into distinct process groups (initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing.) INITIATIONThe Initiation Phase will be the first form in the project the basic processes that should be performed to get the project started. Tasks in the initiation process include the following.1.Develop Business CaseOnce a line of work problem or opportunity has been identified, a Business Case is prepared. This includes A detailed definition of the problem or opportunity An analysis of the potential solution options available. For each option, the potential benefits, costs, risks and is... ...ting lessons learnedCompleting, collecting and archiving project recordsCelebrating project success.Review Project CompletionThe final activity undertaken on any project is a review of its overall success by an independent resource. Success is s pecifyd by how well it performed against the defined objectives and conformed to the management processes outlined in the planning phase. To determine performance, a number of questions are posed. For exampleoDid it result in the benefits defined in the Business Case?oDid it achieve the objectives outlined in the Terms of Reference?oDid it operate within the scope of the Terms of Reference?oDid the deliverables meet the criteria defined in the Quality PlanoWas it delivered within the schedule outlined in the Project Plan?oWas it delivered within the budget outlined in the Financial Plan?

Essay on Symbols, Symbolism, and Allegory in Hawthornes Young Goodman

Symbols, Symbolism, and Allegory in Hawthornes unripened Goodman dark-brownSymbolism is a literary technique that is used to clarify the authors intent. Sometimes it is used to great effect, while other times it only seems to muddle the meaning of a passage. In Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses objects and people as symbols to allegorically reveal his message to the reader. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses different people as symbols throughout Young Goodman Brown. The largest symbolic roles in the story are goodman Brown and his wife Faith. Both of the characters names are symbolic and representative of their personalities. With Heaven above and Faith below, I will stand firm against the devil cried goodman Brown, is further one of many quotes that this instant relates goodman Browns personality with his name (189). Goodman Brown is truly a good man. Faith, goodman Browns wife, also has a name that is indicative of her nature. The story directly supports this point in the p hrase Faith, as the wife was aptly named . . . (184). Faith is persistent in trying to keep goo...

Assistive Technology Essay -- Teaching Education

Assistive Technology IDEA defines an assistive technology device as ...any item, piece of equipment or ingathering system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities. This is a broad definition and includes a range of devices from low technology to last technology, including computers as well as software. Under IDEA the legal definition of assistive technology services is ...any service that directly assists an individual with a deadening in the selection, acquisition, or use of an assistive technology device. Specifically, assistive technology services include the evaluation of the needs of an individual with a disability the buy of assistive technology devices selecting, customizing, adapting, applying, maintaining, or replacing of assistive technology services using therapies, interventions, or services with assistive technology devices tr aining or technical assistance for an individual with disabilities, and/or the family of an individual with disabilities and training or technical assistance for those who provide services to, employ, or those who are involved in the major(ip) life functions of individuals with disabilities. Assistive Technology is a type of technology that allows for more independent, productive and enjoyable living. These technologies can be straightforward or complex. Something as simple as Velcro can al...

Transnational Social Movements, International Nongovernmental Organizat

Transnational Social Movements, International Nongovernmental Organizations and Our State-centric WorldThe 1999 Seattle protests brought the apparent proliferation of anti-globalization grassroot sociopolitical movements into the blaze of the world stage. Transnational social movements (TSMs), international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs), as well as the loose transnational activist networks (TANs) that contain themall these came to be seen as an aggravated and no less potent backlash thats directed at the powerful states and increasingly towering economic IGOs such as the WTO, the IMF, and the World Bank. In the domain of a function of international relations, some regard this as a prophetic watershed event that signals the weakening and perhaps even collapsing of the state-centric system of international relations, while numerous others insist that Seattle is but an eventually insignificant episode in the book of globalization and state power, as evidenced by the Doha suc cess.This paper attempts to predict two questions that are at the heart of this dispute Do TSMs and INGOs have any real power in todays international political arena against the tralatitious view of state dominance? And, if the answer to the previous question is yes, then does such a change merit a fundamental revision of the state-centric pose of international relations?My answer to these two questions is threefold First, I assert that TSMs and INGOs can and have posed substantial normative challenges to state hegemony, most ordinarily the notion that the state enjoys a monopoly on representation of its citizens and their interests. Furthermore, TSMs and INGOs that employ the use of violence (particularly terrorism) breach the conventional notion that states... ...edArjomand, Said Amir. Irans Islamic Revolution in Comparative Perspective. World Politics, Volume 38, complete 3 (1986. 4), 383-414.Griffith, William E. The Revial of Islamic Fundamentalism the Case of Iran. Intern ational Security. Volume 4, Issue 1, 1979, 132-138.Khashan, Hilal. The New World Order and the Tempo of war-ridden Islam. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. Volume 24, Issue 1 (1997. 5), 5-24.OBrien, Robert, et al. Contesting Glboal Governance. Cambridge, 2000.G. Hossein. Legitimacy, Religion, and Nationalism in the Middle East. The American Political Science Review, Volume 84, Issue 1 (1990. 3), 69-91.Tarrow, Sidney. Transnational Politics Contention and Institutions in International Politics. Annual Review of Political Science, 2001.4. Weaver, Mary Ann. The Real Bin Laden. The New Yorker, January 24, 2000.

Characteristics of a Typical Western :: Film, Media, movies, Film Analysis

A typical Western would usually be set in the late 19th century in the mid-west of America in a remote town. The town is usually small, lonely and unwelcoming. Typically a western set looks like it is in the middle of a desert with sand, cacti and winged pigweed which gives a desert look, there atomic number 18 usually never any lakes or rivers around these features make the place look really hot and deserted. The buildings are generally timber board houses with swinging doors and outside the buildings are places to keep their horses, there is also always a General Store and a Saloon. Horses and carriages and cows are used to give a western feel. The cowboys are typically dressed in western style clothing for recitation they wear undecomposable shirts and jeans they may also wear ponchos, waist coats, hats, boots with spurs, guns and a belt to hold the gun and bullets, Heros execute to wear lighter clothing and the villains tend to wear darker clothing. The storyline is normall y about a hero who comes to a town to bring peace and drive the villains out. A hero is usually seen as a vigilante as he is not told to come to help but does anyway. The hero often appears as a quiet, secretive, mysterious person who may make the audience admire him one minute and dislike him the next, he is also a very smart, cunning and adaptable which are all approximate values in a hero. The villain is usually fixed to one idea he thinks it is a smart cunning person but in the end is always defeated. Many scenes are set around the Saloon (bar) and there is quite often a romance involved with the hero and a local girl, the villain competing for her affections There are two different types of villains in typical westerns Native Americans and white villains (cowboys).Westerns are split down into sub genres for example classical westerns like The Great Train Robbery but there are also other western genres like revisionist westerns. Revisionist westerns occurred after the early 19 60s, American film-makers began to change many traditional elements of Westerns. One major change was the increasingly positive representation of Native Americans who had been treated as savages in earlier films. another(prenominal) example is Spaghetti westerns, Spaghetti westerns first came during the 1960s and 1970s, The changes were a new European, larger-than-life visual style, a harsher, more violent depiction of frontier life, choreographed gunfights and wide-screen close-ups.

Characteristics of a Typical Western :: Film, Media, movies, Film Analysis

A typical Western would usually be set in the late 19th century in the mid-west of America in a remote town. The town is usually small, lonely and unwelcoming. Typically a western set looks like it is in the middle of a desert with sand, cacti and tumbleweed which gives a desert look, there argon usually never any lakes or rivers around these features make the place look rattling hot and deserted. The buildings are generally timber board houses with swinging doors and outside the buildings are places to keep their horses, there is also always a General farm animal and a Saloon. Horses and carriages and cattle are used to give a western feel. The cowboys are typically dressed in western style clothing for shell they wear simple shirts and jeans they may also wear ponchos, waist coats, hats, boots with spurs, guns and a belt to hold the gun and bullets, Heros tend to wear lighter clothing and the villains tend to wear darker clothing. The storyline is normally about a protagonist who comes to a town to bring peace and drive the villains out. A hero is usually seen as a vigilante as he is not told to come to help but does anyway. The hero often appears as a quiet, secretive, secluded mortal who may make the audience admire him one minute and dislike him the next, he is also a very smart, cunning and adaptable which are all good values in a hero. The villain is usually fixed to one idea he thinks it is a smart cunning person but in the end is always defeated. Many scenes are set around the Saloon (bar) and there is quite often a romance twisting with the hero and a local girl, the villain competing for her affections There are two different types of villains in typical westerns Native Americans and white villains (cowboys).Westerns are split vanquish into sub genres for example classical westerns like The Great Train Robbery but there are also other western genres like revisionist westerns. Revisionist westerns occurred aft(prenominal) the early 1960s, A merican film-makers began to change many traditional elements of Westerns. One major change was the increasingly positive representation of Native Americans who had been treated as savages in earlier films. Another example is Spaghetti westerns, Spaghetti westerns first came during the 1960s and 1970s, The changes were a new European, larger-than-life visual style, a harsher, more violent depiction of frontier life, choreographed gunfights and wide-screen close-ups.

Education and Safe Educational Environment Essay

Rights talk seeps into spheres of American society where a sense of individualized responsibility and of civic obligation traditionally have been nourished. An intemperate rhetoric of personal liberty in this way corrodes the social foundations on which individual exemption and security ultimately rest. Because I agree with this quote, I firmly resolve the resolution that establishing a full educational environment for grades K-12 justifies the infringement of civil liberties.I would like to offer the following definitions Establish to make firm or secure Safe Educational Environment an environment conducive to learning where students argon free from hurt, injury or loss Justifies to demonstrate to be right, just, or valid Infringement an encroachment, as of a right or privilege civilised Liberties fundamental individual rights, such as independence of speech and religion, protected by law against unwarranted governmental or other interference The treasure that the affirmative keeps is education. The value criterion I will use to uphold my value is safety. Safety is extremely important on any educational make up because it allows the students and faculty to learn and operate without any threat hanging over them.To explain my position, I offer the following contentions Contention 1 Without the establishment of a safe learning environment, the ability to learn and to teach is severely hampered.Without a safe educational environment, the attainment of knowledge is difficult to achieve. As Michael Ferraraccio said, If schools cannot operate in a violence-free atmosphere, then education will suffer, a result which ultimately threatens the well being of e reallyone. An infringement of a students civil liberties is compulsory to be able to maintain a safe and enjoyable learning atmosphere for both the students and the faculty. When a student does not feel secure in their learning area, they are often distracted and unable to focus. For example, a student canno t possibly concentrate if another classmate is spewing insults and cuss words at the teacher. However, if we allowed students the freedom of speech, this could be common place.Contention 2 Moral obligation to provide safe schools Donald Beci stated Because a state requires compulsory school attendance, it has a lesson duty to maintain student discipline and to protect children from violence that occurs while they are attending the very schools to which the state has bound them to attend. A school is inevitable to protect the children that it harbors, and thus some civil liberties must not be granted. Examples of these are the right to bear arms and the right to privacy, which could be construed to mean very dangerous things by students not mature enough to understand them.Also, privacy rights must not be granted in school, as it might scupper the safety of others. In fact, Donald Beci also says that, In situations where the school administration and students share joint control o f lockers, desks, or other school property, the students would not have a legitimate expectation of privacy in such property thus, in the abscence of privacy, Fourth Amendment requirements would be inapplicable. Thus schools must disregard some civil rights to uphold the value of safety which most of them abide by.The affirmative has proven that schools must disregard students civil rights in order to ensure a good and safe learning environment.

Poverty and a Lack of Education are Fueling Juvenile Crime Essay

In the early 1960s, the epidemic of juvenile discourtesy began to lease shape. The task of juvenile crime is suitable an increasely pressing matter in the States. Anyone who watches the news on television or reads the newspapers is well aw be of the unavoidableness and intensity of Americas juvenile crime riddle. Effectively establishing the causes of juvenile crime may help to deter it in the future. A proper issue cannot be executed until the root causes and reasons be exposed. There ar undoubtedly many factors contributing to juvenile crime, but the focus should be on those which work the most.The two factors which come most readily to mind are the extremes of mendicancy and poor education. Juveniles from poor communities are not rase interested in becoming educated because there are not any decent paying jobs for them anyway. By not going to school, these juveniles are not are not growing the proper mental framework with which they can make good choices in life. The growing numbers of poor communities does not help the situation. It is old news that crime follows poverty. Americans should be concerned that juvenile crime is being fueled by a leave out of education and poverty.Poverty has three basic definitions which are rank(a) poverty, relative poverty and exclusionary poverty. An absence of the most basic resources such as food, shelter, and clothing constitutes absolute poverty. Relative poverty refers to those great deal who are poor when compared to the wealthier members of the society. Exclusionary poverty includes muckle without access to healthcare, proper nutrition, transportation, and opportunities for participating in community life. The references to poverty in this argument include individuals from all three categories (Ryerse).The biggest differences between the upper-class and propertyless communities is the quality of education the youths receive and economic security. In upper-class communities juvenile crime exists, but it is far less common and utter(a) than in the indigent communities. Neighborhoods with a in high spirits concentration of poverty are at a much higher risk of having problems suchas single-parent families, ineffective parenting, violent schools, high dropout rates, substance abuse, and high unemployment rates (Delbert, 86). Youths growing up in such an environment are experiencing hysteria daily and are destined to resort to mightfulness themselves.Poor communities induct a tendency to be very unstable because of economic insecurity. Economic insecurity is caused by chronic unemployment. This is especially a problem in the inner-cities where, without jobs, people live impoverished and overcrowded lives (Parcels, 43). Since they are not able to sell their labor, they resort to illegitimate markets such as drugs and prostitution (Parcels, 43). The illegitimate businesses turn up because the communities cannot effectively resist them, and they allow for some amicable organiz ation and economy (Elliot, 86).Unemployment is not the source of frustration and desperation that eventually caterpillar treads to violence. A lack of income is, because it forces people into situations that they would choose not to be in. Robbery, prostitution, and drug dealing yield practical and immediate results. These industries naturally organize into street gangs which are known for their violent behavior. If these people were properly educated and lived in an economically secure environment, then there would not be any reasons for them to engage in crime.Unfortunately, they are certainly sedulous in enterprises which are dangerous and extremely violent. These enterprises are attractive to the juveniles who are looking for status and a steady income. They are not interested in education or legitimate employment It does not make any sense for a juvenile in a poor community to arouse much interest in becoming educated in the first place. They know that an education testame nt not help their situation in the considerable run. The like take outss that a high school diploma will land them a good job is almost nonexistent, and college is completely out of the question without a substantial amount of money.Therefore, if the juvenile wishes to make something of himself he will naturally find means available to him. By becoming a low take aim drug dealerhe can make a considerable amount of money in a relatively small amount of time. It becomes even more profitable to be a drug dealer in a gang because of the protection a gang can offer. The money, on bill of the prestige and respect drug dealers have in poor communities, makes the experience quite rewarding. This is why vernaler individuals are attracted to the cruel lifestyle.In the criminal sub-culture violence is not only condoned but encouraged. The methods and details involved are often learned from a parent or older sibling. Because the juveniles parents are poor and undereducated, they are more l ikely to be engaged in criminal and deviant military action themselves. The children grow up watching their parents struggle to survive and live a criminal lifestyle. The adults, frustrated by their hopeless situation, frequently turn to drugs and alcohol which affects how they deal with their children. The frustration and anger that a juvenile experiences in such a family can easily pour over into other areas of their social life in the form of violence.The limited availability of resources in poor neighborhoods creates both social isolation and economic stress on families. Parents who have limited problem solving skills, poor impulse control, and a history of violent behavior during adolescence are those at a high risk of child abuse. Frequently, they are young, low-income, single parent, minority women with four or more children in the household. If the fathers are present, they tend to have only a limited education and be part-time employed. Because they have few alternatives a nd limited social support, they do not have anyone who might provide social controls on their behavior and non-violent alternatives for managing their children (Elliot, 86).Neither the government, nor any other outside entity seems willing to provide much needed solutions. This is really no surprise considering the current power structure in the United States, which includes the politicians and the elite class, have an interest in keeping the lower classes confused, disorganized, and helpless. This is because of the fear that if the poor class organizes and unites the poor will at once recognize the current powerstructure is the source of their oppression. Capitalism, by definition, requires an abundance of labor which is its foundation. Noam Chomsky, professor at MIT, suggested that Americas two-tiered society with enormous wealth and privilege amidst poverty and suffering was created and sustained with bipartisan agreement.There are not enough jobs in America, because capitalism d oes not and never did provide full employment (Parcels 45). Eric Parcels, writer of the New Unionist, believes that capitalism likes to keep a reserve army of unemployed people to help force wages down (44). The widening gap between the rich and the poor and the hopelessness it creates are two reasons which make the poor angry and frustrated (Hall 124). The young people see drugs, gangs, and anti-social behavior as a way to get back at the system (Hall ). Gus Hall, chair of Communist Party USA, claims whenever there is severe unemployment and poverty, there is crime, drugs, and violence (125).Some people designate that not all poor people are violent and many grow up in poor areas and do not become criminals. This is true, but the point is that growing up in a poor neighborhood increases the likeliness criminal activity will emerge. Others point out that white- collar crime is rampant, but these crimes are not as common or as severe as those perpetrate by the gangs and other viole nt youth. There are also the questions of overcrowding and media violence. These factors undoubtedly contribute to crime, but they do not have as much yield as poverty coupled with poor education. When trying to solve the problem of juvenile crime most people are quick to suggest increasing law enforcement and creating harsher prison sentences. These solutions will help to a certain extent, but they are treating the effects of juvenile crime instead of the causes.Some people are proposing that America test Buckminister Fullers idea of the negative income tax. This is the idea that a line be drawn somewhere above the poverty line and no one can receive less. The most remarkable aspect of this idea is that it would cost less than the current bureaucratic welfare system. Its opponents argue that it would increase inflation, but this is not necessarily true if the Gross Nation Product was not exceeded.Educating and giving money to the poor would not solve Americas crime and violence pr oblems overnight. A more reasonable time frame would be several generations. There is also the idea of investing in a massive adult education program. This might be effective in breaking the cycle in which juveniles are learning bad habits and criminal behavior from their parents. Though it may not be the most effective solution, it does seem to be the most civilized.Americas juvenile crime problem is not going to fix itself. Realizing that juveniles who grow up uneducated and poverty stricken are prone to engage in crime may lead to the discovery of a viable solution that can be agreed upon. Until then, the problem still lingers and threatens to intensify. By not addressing the situation in a hygienic and rational manner, the juveniles are destined to become even more angry and frustrated at the hopelessness of their situation.It is now clear how poverty and a lack of education are linked to juvenile crime. Juvenile crime will continue to exist as long as the public and the govern ment chooses to force out its relationship to economy and education. It was Gus Hall who said, crime, like joblessness, is a national disease. When people-any people-lose hope, when poverty and despair is the only view of the future, crime, drugs, and violence are the results (125).Works CitedChomsky, Noam. wonder with David Finkel. Chomsky on Capitalism. 1991. 27 Feb. 2003Elliot, Delbert. Environmental Factors Contribute to Juvenile Crime and Violence. Juvenile Crime debate Viewpoints. Ed. A.E. Sadler. San Diego Greenhaven, 1997. 83-94.Hall, Gus. Capitalism Causes Violence. Violence Opposing Viewpoints. Ed. Scott Barbour. San Diego Greenhaven, 1996. 120-125.Parcels, Erik. Capitalism Fosters Gang Behavior. Gangs Opposing Viewpoints. Ed. Charles Cozic. San Diego Greenhaven, 1996. 41-45.Ryerse, C. Thursdays child. Child poverty in Canada A review of the effects of poverty on children. Ottawa National Youth Care Network, 1990.

Tim O.Briens, the Things They Carried Critical Essay

Dan Gaumer Gaumer 1 Prof Montgomery English 104 10/22/12 nasty Times of Norman Bowker Have you ever found yourself carrying something heavy for a long period of time? Do you remember feeling pain, or wanting(p) to drop the object because it was too much to bear? Tim Obriens novel, The Things They Carried, is almost men in the middle of the Vietnam War just trying to survive. These men, comparable all soldiers, carried many things ranging from the physical items of struggle to the emotional and mental weight that comes along with the horrors of war. They carried all they could bear, and then some, including a silent awe for the terrible military unit of the things they carried. (Obrien,7) I believe in this novel, Obrien gives many great and detailed usages of PTSD, even in his have got life. This novel is more than just about the Vietnam War. It is about what a solider goes through on and off the battlefield. Its about the art of a real war story. Most importantly its about wha t soldiers carried, physically, mentally, and emotionally during, before, and after the war.The soldiers that made it tolerate home base suffered from many mental issues, mainly Post Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD). Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition thats triggered by a terrifying event. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event. Many people who go through traumatic events have difficulty adjusting and coping for a while. But with time and taking care of yourself, Gaumer 2 such traumatic reactions usually lend better.In some cases, though, the symptoms can get worse or last for months or even years. (Staff, Mayo Clinic,Definition) Thoughts of sorrow and loss overwhelm the Vietnam veterans upon their return back home. Crushed from the horror of war, they come back to even bigger disappointments and sadness. kinda of the mellow lives they lead before they leftover for war an d the presence of warm and care everyday life, most of them encounter empty beds, cold family ambiance and overall loss.Already physically and emotionally defeated, they cant seem to pick up their lives where they left off. Even in instances of supportive partners, the inevitable horrors of the war haunt them in sleep or come back to them in daydreaming. They all came back with doubled disorders, PTSD with the common symptoms. The war was over and there was no place in particular to go (131). Various examples of this disorder are found in a few chapters such as talk of the town of Courage and The Man I Killed. For Vietnam veterans, nothing could replenish the zest for life they had before the war.According to OBriens text, upon their arrival home the veterans imagine, even hallucinate, what things would have been like if they had not suffered through the war. Examples of such occurrences exist in the stories Speaking of Courage and The Man I Killed. Norman Bowker in Speaking o f Courage daydreams of talking to his ex-girlfriend, without delay married to another guy, and of his dead childhood friend, Max Arnold. He lives out over and over his unfulfilled dream of having his cranny beside him and of having manly conversations with Max.He cannot stop day dreaming and dwelling in the foregone. Gaumer 3 Unemployed and overwhelmed by inferiority and disappointment, Bowker lacks a motivating force for life. Emotionally stricken, he only finds satisfaction in driving slowly and repeatedly in circles around his old neighborhood in his fathers big Chevy, feeling safe, and remembering how things utilise to be when there wasnt a war. These recurring events also spring memories of the beautiful lake where Norman used to spend a lot of time with his now married ex-girlfriend Sally Kramer and his high school friends.The lake invokes nostalgic and sentimental memories both of his girlfriend and his long gone drowned best friend, Max Arnold. However, now for Norman the past seems an idea, or like Max would say, that everything exists as a possible idea, even necessary as an idea, a final cause in the whole body structure of causation (133). Thus, his ex girlfriend, his friends, the lake, the gatherings, his father and all the rest exist as ideas in Normans level now that all of his past exists only as flutter thoughts in a big jumbled chaos in his head.All of this has symptoms of PDST all over it. He only possesses the solitary capability of bragging about the medals he won or he should have won. Even that does not bring him comfort since he imagines talking to Sally Hows it being married? he competency ask, and hed nod at whatever she answered with, and he would not say a word about how hed almost won the Silver Star for valor (134). vigour fulfills Norman Bowker anymore. Instead, a terrible confusion has taken over his mind in the form of blur and chaos. He desperately needs someone to talk to If Sally had not beenGaumer 4 married, or if his father were not such a baseball fan, it would have been a good time to talk (134). Unfortunately, he keeps questioning and answering himself in order to justify and compensate the loss and to make some sort of sense out of the entire situation. He loans to travel Sally with some dumb tricks of telling the exact time without even looking at a watch, just as much as he wishes for a father-son conversation. So that he can make his father proud, if nothing else, that his son won seven medals during the war.He does not have anybody to comfort him in moments of self-blame, for example when he cannot forgive himself for not winning the Silver Star because he couldnt take the goddamn awful smell (136). He evokes the shit experience from his war days. He goes on to comfort himself, by pretending what considerate thoughts his father might have If you dont want to say anymore -, to which immediately Norman answers himself I do want to(136). He tries to maintain calm and balance-minded while thinking of being camped in the shit field.He cannot stop thinking of the cruel war incidents that he witnessed, and therefore, he cannot forget the death of his friend Kiowa, who died in an explosion in the shit field There was a knee. There was an arm There were bubbles where Kiowas head shouldve been He was folded in with the war he was part of the waste (142,143, 147). Not only can Norman not stop thinking about the cruelties, just he also cannot forgive himself for letting go of Kiowa because he blames himself for not being able to save his Gaumer 5 friends life, of which as a consequence Norman did not win the Silver Star.It seems like Norman carries the shit experience with him for life. Other characteristics of PTSD in this story are Normans inhibited social skills. Instead of placing a fast-food order through the drive-through intercom he honks at the waitress and once he gets his order, he does not move away until after he eats his hamburger and then presses the int ercom again to inform the waiters that he finished his hamburger. From this novel Ive come to figure out the realism of the unbowed things soldiers carry during and after the war.There is the weight of the physical items, than there are the weight of the mental issues that come along with fighting in war. Issues like PTSD, which the story of Norman Bowker gives various good examples of. And the proving the very real pain that goes along with it by him eventually committing suicide. In my opinion, in this novel, Obrien gives many examples of PTSD, even in his own life. The results of the trauma suffered in the war together with the emotional baggage grief, terror, love, and longing, proves how PTSD can affect a soldier.

English will eventually become the dominant world language

side of meat has without doubt achieved most kind of global status as many countries adopt the spoken communication they consider to be synonymous with scotch success and a cosmopolitan culture. However, factors such as the increasing numbers of speakers of other phrases, including in English-speaking countries, an increase in bi-lingualism and growing anti-American panorama in some parts of the world, all indicate that English may not occupy an entirely stable position in the world.This essay explores some of the reasons why English has become so widespread and then argues that global domination of English, despite its current position as a medium of transnational communication, is unlikely to take place. According to Crystal, (1987, cited in Pennycook, 1994, p. 8) English is used as an official or semi-official language in over 60 countriesit is the main language of books, newspapers, airports and air traffic control, international business and academic conferences, scienc e, technology, medicine, sports, international competitions, pop music and advertising.It is the working language of ASEAN, the Asian trade group, and the official language of the European Central Bank, even though none of the member countries has English as its first language (Wallraff 2000, p. 3). The extensive economic power of the United States has in any case influenced many countries to view English as the key to economic empowerment (Guardian weekly 2000, p2). English has also become dominant because it is regarded as cosmopolitan and the look of the future.According to Cohen (2000, p. ), the dominance of American popular culture has influenced many young Europeans who aspire to the unfettered, dynamic, creative culture of California rather than the rigidity of many European societies. Volkwagon in Germany called their car the new beetle rather than the German equivalent neuer Kafer because advertisers believed it sounded more hip. Similarly in Asia, English is associated with the glamour of block-buster movies and the pop industry. However, despite these factors English is unlikely to dominate the world.English speakers are still the minority of the worlds population with 372 million speakers, well behind Chinese languages which have 1,113 million speakers (Wallraff, 2000 p. 5). Within fifty geezerhood English is likely to lose even second place to the south Asian linguistic group which includes the Hindi and Urdu languages. Spanish and Arabic result also become as common as English. There are also increasing numbers of bilingual and multilingual speakers, even within English-speaking countries.Currently about one in seven American citizens prefers to speak a language other than English at home, including 2. 4 million Chinese speakers. (Wallraff 2000, p. 3). This suggests that the future of other languages is guaranteed despite the popularity of English. Another reason why English will never dominate is because of a growing anti-American sentimen t. Wallraff (2000, p. 5) suggests that there may be a backlash against American values and culture and that this could lead to a resistance to learn the language of the United Sates.In post-September 11 times this seems a very rattling opening night. In Europe France and Germany have also held a conference focused on defending Franco-German culture against the cultural pull of America (Cohen 1998, p. 2). Afrikaaners in South Africa are also leading a passionate fight to gain equality with English as are many other indigenous languages (Alexander 2000, p. 2). inactive further reasons that may prevent a world take-over by English include political, economic and technological factors.Political factors include the potential formation of new alliances betwixt non-English speaking countries and the probable rise of regional trading blocks in Asia and the Middle-East. It is also possible that world-changing technology could arise out of a nation where English is slim spoken (Wallraff 2000, p. 4). This could tip the scales away from English to the use of another language. Finally, in a world of rapid technological change and increasing political unbalance it is difficult to predict what the future may hold.Although English has enjoyed a period of great expansion as a language of international communication, it is unlikely it will eventually dominate the world. The sheer numbers of non-English speakers, the potential of new political trading partnerships or new technological developments as well as the possibility of a rejection of the cultural imperialism of the West may in fact contribute to a decline in the spread of English. Perhaps English speakers should be a little less complacent about learning other languages themselves.

Erp Project Oracle vs Asap

try Resource Planning (ERP) Project Students name Registration minute Course Date Table of Contents ABSTRACT3 INTRODUCTION5 VENDOR OVERVIEW8 INTRODUCTION8 wash up8 oracle9 BUSINESS FUNCTIONS13 Production14 Sales14 Support services15 External services15 BUSINESS FUNCTIONS SUPPORTED BY ORACLE AND eat16 TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM FROM muggins AND ORACLE19 constitute COMPARISON BETWEEN expel AND ORACLE20 EASE OF USE22 ERP MODULES23 visionarys financial way Analytics23 oracle database 11g try fluctuation24 VENDOR SELECTION27 ERP DEVELOPMENT LIFE CYCLE28 field AND COMMITMENT STAGE28 ANALYSIS AND DESIGN29 ACQUISITION AND DEVELOPMENT STAGE30IMPLEMENTATION STAGE30 OPERATIONAL STAGE30 Bibliography31 ABSTRACT Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a system that integrates all the internal and external useable units of an organization, the functional units may be manufacturing, finance, storage, watchfulness, transport, customer satisfaction etc. in order to integrate all the organiz ations functional unit into a flawless(prenominal) and harmonious system, computer softw atomic number 18 have been developed by assorted sellers, these computer softw ar may be custom made for a picky organization or they may be general for use by any organization (Jerferson, 2010).ERP systems argon put in place to improve on the efficiency of information precaution of the organization, all the data from the different units of the organization are managed by the software and is usually stored in a central pickle called a server, the server may be physically located in the organization or it may be a virtual unitary on the internet, the virtual serve uses a technology called cloud computing.The ERP system normally contains modules that are specialized sub-systems that are task-oriented, these modules include human resource, production planning, financial planning, grapheme watchfulness, materials vigilance, sales and distri plainlyion, maintenance, controlling, asset anxi ety, project management and industry solutions. The ERP software are developed and sold by vendors under different levels, the highest level is the large Enterprise ERP tier I which include vendors such as SAP, Oracle and microsoft, this level is for larger enterprises with complex communication protocols between so many functional units.The molybdenum level is the midmarket ERP tier II which include vendors such as Infor, QAD, Lawson, sage and IFS, these ERP software are suitable for medium companies that have average complexity in terms of information management. The last level is the small origin ERP tier III, vendors of these ERP systems include Exact Globe, Syspro, NetSuite and Visibility, ERP software in this are suitable for small line of credites with straightforward information management systems (Jerferson, 2010).In this project, a detailed analysis of a hypothetical universitys information management system is made, and then an ERP software will be selected from one o f the two vendors, SAP or Oracle. The selection will be establish on the steps of the ERP development life cycle, the cycle will incriminate all the standard phases of an ERP development life cycle. The major activities of the university include provision of education, research activities and community service. The functional units of the university include the academics affairs, inance department, staff administration, medical services, trade and man relations, central store, catering, disciples welfare and quality assurance. The project will analyze the software modules that are provided by Oracle and SAP, a detailed investigation on the suitableness of the two will also be made, and then one of them will be selected for use as the universitys ERP system. This selection will be based on facts and will be as systematic as the ERP development cycle.INTRODUCTION There are several ERP vendors in the global market, each is fighting to be the dominant brand, and as a result, stiff competition between the vendors is taking place. Each vendor is engineering better ERP software to attract the customers attention and fulfill their inquires, some of the vendors are SAP, Oracle, Microsoft, Lawson, sage and IFS. In this project, the two around dominant vendors in the market will be analyzed, these are SAP and Oracle.The two vendors had a total market mete reveal of 55% between the year 2005 and 2009, and they have developed a wide range of products that are tailor to suit several organizations, be it military, government or industrial (Jerferson, 2010). SAP and Oracle are both in the large enterprise tier I category and they have mainly designed products to suit this segment of the market, however, nowadays they are developing ERP software for midmarket tier II. The project will take a hypothetical university as a case study, the university offers a variety of courses and has a number of campuses distributed all over the country.As part of the management policy , the university is divided into several departments that set up the business functions of a generalized organization, the departments are- 1. Academics affairs This department deals with the core business of the university, which is provision of education, the department organizes the timetables, assigns lecturers to the different units, manages the curriculum, manages the students results, ensures that all the university policies are adhered to and organizes the tests and exams. 2. profound storeIn this department, they receive anything that is supplied by the suppliers. The central store also makes requisitions for general materials such as stationery, staff uniforms, sanitary consumables etc. but they dont make orders for special materials that are specific to a certain department only such as machinery, computers, furniture etc. 3. Finance This department deals with the management and controlling of the universitys reckons, it also deals with monitoring and management of the school fees as well as the staff salaries and allowances.The department relies heavily on computer software to lean knocked come to the fore(p) its daily activities, all data is stored in a central server. 4. Students welfare The students wellbeing is taken care by this department, activities such as sports, festivals, parties, concerts are organized, monitored and financed by this department. 5. Human resource The recruitment of new members of staff, promotions and disciplinary procedure for misconduct of staff are all carried out by this department. The department also carries out training programs for members of staff. . Catering This department manages the catering services at the students and staff cafeterias, the department also makes orders for all the ingredients they need for preparing the food on the menu for the different days. The sales from the cafeteria are not managed by the catering department, they are managed by the finance department. 7. Medical services The students and health needs are meet by this department, the staff in this department include doctors, nurses and pharmacists.They treat any sick student or staff for free, but they use software to keep their data such as medical records, inventory and lab results. 8. frequent relations This department deals with elate the universitys image, maintaining good relations with another(prenominal) stakeholders and promoting the university at different levels of the socioeconomic setup. 9. Other department Other smaller departments include quality assurance office, denote department and repairs and maintenance, transport and research institute. VENDOR OVERVIEW INTRODUCTION SAPSAP AG is a software company based in Germany that makes enterprise software, the company was founded in June 1972 and was started by former IBM engineers, the company was initially called Systemanalyse und Programmentwicklung (System Analysis and Program Development) but the name was later changed to Systemanalyse und Programmentwicklung (System Analysis and Program Development), in 2005, the name was officially changed to SAP AG, SAP AG was included in the German stock index DAX in 1995 and was included in the Dow Jones STOXX 50 in 2003 (Lea let on, 2013).Currently, SAP is the world leader in the sale of business and database software with a market share of 32%. Some of the main products of SAP are- CATEGORY PACKAGE NAME Business Analytics groundbreaking Planner And Optimizer Business Information Warehouse Portal Enterprise aboriginal portion Governance, Risk And conformity Human Resource instruction Systems Knowledge Warehouse Internet Transaction Server Catalog Content Management Hana Supply Chain Performance Management Training And font Management Manufacturing Master information Management Service And Asset ManagementIndustry Oil And Gas Healthcare Telecommunication Public Sector Utilities Retail Small and midsize enterprises Business One Business ByDesign Ot her CCMS Sapgui eCATT Central Process plan Solution Manager ORACLE Oracle is an Ameri stick out database and business management software company that was founded in 1977, its first name was Software Development Laboratories, in 1979 the name was changed to Relational Software Incorporation, the name was changed once more in 1982 to Oracle Systems Corporation and lastly it was renamed Oracle Corporation in 1995 (Wikipedia, 2013).Oracle is ranked as the worlds third largest software maker after Microsoft and IBM by revenue, however, it is ranked second in as an ERP software maker by market share after SAP. Oracle had a market share of 23% in ERP software between 2005 and 2009 while SAP had a staggering 32% market share. Some of Oracles products are listed infra CATEGORY PACKAGE NAME Applications Oracle E-Business Suite Enterprise performance management Financial management Oracle fusion applications Oracle CRM on penury Customer relation management Hyperion JD Edwards wo rld JD Edwards enterprise one Human capital management Master data management Primavera Web commerce Sustainability procural Project management Siebel Supply chain management Database Oracle database 11g enterprise edition Oracle database 11g standard edition Oracle database 11g standard edition one Active data guard move on security Airline data model Database security Express edition Label security MySQL OLAP Oracle database restroom Database vault NoSQL database Secure backup Secure enterprise search Engineered systems Oracle big data appliance Oracle database appliance Oracle exadata database machine Oracle exalogic elastic cloud SPARC superCluster T4-4 Sun ZFS storage appliance Enterprise management Application management Application performance management Application quality management Cloud management Database management Hardware management Lifecycle management Middleware management Oracle enterprise manager 12c Java javaFX Oracle JDeve loper Java platform Micro edition Java platform standard edition Oracle java SE suite Netbeans IDE Oracle java SE support Middleware Application storage-battery grid Application server Collaboration Portal Linux Developer tools Weblogic Webcenter SOA Identity management Others Solaris Servers (hardware) Integrated management Sun ray clients Virtual desktop infrastructure From the list, it can be hold backn that Oracle makes more products than SAP, this may explain why their revenue is higher. BUSINESS FUNCTIONSBusiness functions are the routine tasks performed in order to achieve the goal of an organization. The figure at a lower place shows the business functions (LLC, 2002). These functions are similar for nearly all types of organization, but in some organization some functions are totally omitted based on the products or services offered. The figure infra shows the most common business functions of any organization. A brief description of the business funct ions is given downstairs Production explore and development in this level, the organization develops new products and new designs for existing products.Tests, experiments and survey are the characteristic activities of this phase, data collected from tests and experiments is stored, managed and utilized by the organizations decision makers Production and quality this is a major function and usually represents the biggest part of the organization in terms of human resource, at this level, the production is managed, plan and planned. Effective machine and staff utilization is a very important aspect in this function, the quality and production rates are controlled based on the data received from the sales and design police squad.Distribution and Logistics this function deals with the supply chain, it manages the raw materials and the final products. The activities that fall under this function include the coordination of storage of raw and correct products, management of transpor t and staff who directly deal with the supply chain. Sales Sales under this function, the relationship between the organization and its customer comes in, the sales squad presents the products to the customers in a convenient and persuasive path, the team also makes tenders, proposals, invoices etc. o the customers. The team also gives feedback to the research, development and marketing teams on the status of customer satisfaction. selling the marketing department deals with promoting the products of the organization, marketing will involve managing the packaging, advertising, forecasting, budgeting, pricing and planning. Carrying out market research and survey is also a key procedure played under this function Support services Finance this is a key function in any organization, even for non-profitable organizations.Management of funds and budgeting are the key activities in this function, the finance department records the incomes and expenditures of the organization and carrie s out future planning in terms of increasing the income and reducing the expenditure. Computing the use of computers has let almost mandatory for any business, therefore, having computing support services is very important. In this category, the organizations database, network and software are effectively managed.Human resource it deals with recruitment of new members of staff, promotion of staff, formulation of contracts and job descriptions for the staff, training of the staff and carrying out disciplinary tasks concerning the staff. Materials under this category, the requirements of the organization are identified and then the potential suppliers are contacted, the prices are negotiated and the purchase orders are prepared. The staffs operative in this area have to closely work with the production team as well as other teams in order to ensure that all teams in the organization have the necessary materials.External services Chartered accountants the accountants carry out audit s to validate the companys accounts, they also give advice on matters relating to tax and other issues related to the finances of the organization. Management consultants the consultants carry out surveys on the organizations policies, procedures, methods, governance and administration. then they use the data from the surveys to recommend changes to the areas that have any flaws or require improvements.Recruitment agency they carry out job interviews for recruitment purposes, they look for the necessary skills essential by the organization and recommend to the human resource department a list of candidates who can best fit in the job. Advertising in most organizations, advertising is done by the marketing team, but in large organization, a separate external body is charged with advertising the organizations products and services. The advertisers will propose to the management the best progression to get an edge over the competitors.Market research this can also be done by the mar keting department or by an external agency, surveys, data analysis, drawing conclusions from the analysis and formulating recommendations are the main tasks in market research. Public relations this has recently become a very important business function for almost all organization, the public relations department uplifts and maintains the image of the organization, they answer to any inquiries made, carry out exhibitions, attend and organize conferences and also prepare press rel soothes, brochures and newsletters.BUSINESS FUNCTIONS SUPPORTED BY ORACLE AND SAP From the list of business functions and the list of packages of the two vendors, it is easy to see that the two vendors have packages for almost all the business functions, packages such as procurement, Human capital, JD Edwards world, Master data management, Database security, Database management etc. from oracle cover almost all the business functions. SAP also has packages that support business functions these packages incl uded Supply Chain Performance Management, Human Resource Management Systems, Manufacturing, Business One, Central Process Scheduling etc. the table below compares the two vendors in their ability to support business functions, BUSINESS FUNCTION SUPPORTED SAP ORACLEResearch and development * Master Data Management * Central Process Scheduling * Analytics * Solution Manager * Project management * Master data management, Advanced security * Active data guard * Application management * Database management * Collaboration * Identity management Production and quality * CCMS * Business One * Utilities * Manufacturing * Advanced Planner And Optimizer * Integrated management * Hardware management * Lifecycle management * Application performance management * Oracle exalogic elastic cloud * Database security * Siebel Distribution and Logistics * Central Process Scheduling * Service And Asset Management * Supply Chain Performance * Management * Catalog Content Management * Central Process Sched uling * Service And Asset Management * Supply Chain Performance * Management * Catalog Content Management Sales * Business ByDesign * Retail * Master Data Management * Portal * Internet Transaction Server * Business ByDesign * Retail * Master Data Management * Portal * Internet Transaction Server Marketing * Training And Event Management * Analytics * Application quality management * Project management * Enterprise performance management Finance * Enterprise Central Component * Internet Transaction Server * Master Data Management * Service And Asset Management * Business One * Business ByDesign * JD Edwards world * Financial management * Oracle E-Business Suite * Web commerce * MySQL * Oracle database appliance * Database vault * Database management Human resource * Human Resource Management Systems * Training And Event Management * Human capital management TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM FROM SAP AND ORACLE Technology platform refers to the ability to create or edit a software on an existing o r future system, different ERP vendors have platforms that support their range of products and even their rivals products, this helps in allowing the customer to purchase a confection of products from the same vendor or from two or more vendors. The table below shows the technology platforms of the two vendors SAP Oracle Sapgui * NetWeaver * Enterprise Workspaces * Cloud * SAP StreamWork * Mobility * Sybase Unwired Platform * Sybase Afaria * Project Gateway * Duet Enterprise * In-Memory Computing * Virtual desktop infrastructure * Developer tools * Linux * Portal * Application grid * Oracle java SE support * Netbeans IDE * Java platform standard edition * Java platform Micro edition * Oracle JDeveloper * javaFX * Application server * Collaboration The table below shows the technology platform of the two In terms of the operating systems they support and other platforms. SAP ORACLE * Windows * Open Source * Web Based * Linux WindowsLinuxUnix COST COMPARISON BETWEEN SAP AND ORACLETh e total live of implementing an ERP project is the total amount paid to put the system in place, it involve the purchase of the system, the cost of implementing the changes required for the system to work and the salaries and wages of the personnel who work in the system. In term of the initial cost, SAP has a higher price than Oracle, SAP has maintained their high billing rates because their focus is mainly on larger enterprises, so the price seems unreasonable for small and medium enterprises, and therefore, most customer rank SAP as the most expensive (Jerferson, 2010). However, SAP has the lowest average cost overrun at about 8% over budget but Oracle had the highest cost overrun at about 15%, which is almost double that of SAP.The payback period for SAP is 13 months while that of Oracle stands at 11 months (Jerferson, 2010). According to a research conducted by Panorama consulting group, the project cost for the two vendors were as depicted on the graph below It can be seen th at the two normally go beyond the anticipated budget (at 53. 6% SAP, 52. 6% Oracle) suggesting that the budgeted cost for ERP projects are likely to be less than the actual budget by an average of 53. 1% (Jerferson, 2010). The tables below were extracted from Nucleus Research and they were comparing the costs of SAP and Oracle (Jerferson, 2010). EASE OF USE The ease of use of an ERP system can be compared by looking at the customers satisfaction after purchasing the software. 2% of SAPs customers were satisfied while 74% of Oracles customer were satisfied, this indicates that Oracles software are easier to use than SAPs software but the margin between the two was very close (Jerferson, 2010). ERP MODULES The two modules were selected from Oracle, and they are Oracles Financial Management Analytics This module provides the top financial management team with a good insight into the status of the financial department and the financial results, it offers a unified solution that can be d eployed quickly and contains packaged dashboards and analytics tools that help give a quick insight into the status of the financial system.This module supports the financial business function, finance involves a lot of staff and workload, and the staffs carry out routine tasks that can be repeated daily, weekly, semi-annually or annually. These records are often kept in files and this poses a huge challenge when the top management needs a quick insight or review into the results. Oracles Financial Management Analytics automates this system and maintains the records in a database system so that they can be accessed easily. The working principle of Analytics is depicted in the figure below (Oracle, 2012). The key features of Analytics are shown in the table below FEATURE definition Executive View Gross Profit By Region, Income By Region, Net Cash Flow Process Management Metrics, Trend Analysis, Overall/Entity StatusFinancial Close Schedule Summary Summary, Graphs, Milestones, Compe nsation Performance Indicators Ratios Year On Year Comparison Table, Ratio Components, Ratio Trend Analysis Profit And exit Summary Income Statement, pas seul Analysis, Trend Profit And Loss Gross Profit Variance Analysis, Gross Profit By Product, Trend Gross Profit poise Sheet Consolidating Balance Sheet, Metrics, Variance Analysis, Trend Balance Sheet Cash Flow Cash Flow Summary, Consolidation, Variance Analysis Current Analysis Variance Analysis This module supports the finance business function, this is a key function in any organization, even for non-profitable organizations.Management of funds and budgeting are the key activities in this function, the finance department records the incomes and expenditures of the organization and carries out future planning in terms of increasing the income and reducing the expenditure. Oracle database 11g enterprise edition Oracles database 11g enterprise edition is a database management software that is suitable for small and medium sized enterprises, this module manages all the data in the organization and enables all the business applications to benefit from the performance, reliability, security and scalability of Oracles database 11g enterprise edition (Wikipedia, 2013). Oracles database 11g enterprise edition supports all standard data types such as XML, Text, Documents, Images, Audio, Video and Location data.Access to data is via standard interfaces such as SQL, JDBC, SQLJ, ODBC . NET, OLE . NET and ODP . NET, SQL/XML and Xquery, and WebDAV. It also has some analytical tools for modeling in SQL-based systems (Wikipedia, 2013). The figure below shows the working principle of Oracles database 11g enterprise edition. DATA STORE solve DATA STORE USER USER PROCESS DATA STORE PROCESS DATA STORE PROCESS DATA STORE USER USER PROCESS DATA STORE PROCESS This module support several business functions, for example it supports the sales, finance, logistics, human resource management, production etc. by keeping all the rel evant data in a secure and organized manner for easy access and retrieval when needed.The two selected modules can perfectly fit in the universitys operation. The university has a finance department which deals with the management and controlling of the universitys budgets, it also deals with monitoring and management of the school fees as well as the staff salaries and allowances. The department relies heavily on computer software to carry out its daily activities. Oracles Financial Management Analytics can be used to manage the finance department of the university. Oracles database 11g enterprise edition can be used to manage all the university data including the students results, past and present exams, e-books, financial records, hospital records, timetables etc. VENDOR SELECTIONThe best-loved vendor is Oracle, this is because, they are cheaper compared to SAP, the payback period is shorter than that of SAP and their customers enjoy higher rates of satisfaction. In addition, Ora cle has better customer services than SAP and has a wider range of products to choose from than SAP. The domain of the organization under study did affect the choice, the university is a service provider and not a manufacturing organization, hence, some of the modules needed in the manufacturing domain may not be needed by the service providing university. The size also affected the choice of the vendor, the university can be considered as a big enterprise with branches (campuses) in different regions, thus a powerful tier I ERP system would be required to manage the university. A customized reading material ofERP will be the most appropriate for use in the university, this is because, the university is a unique enterprise with unique types of data management protocols, some data can be accessed by a few authorized users while other types of data should be available for every user, the levels of authority in the university are different from those in other service providing enterpr ises. Therefore, a great deal of customization will be required if a favored ERP system is to be implement, this is nevertheless, an expensive extract since customized ERP system cost more and take longer to implement. ERP DEVELOPMENT LIFE CYCLE The ERP development life cycle can be summarized in a flowchart below (Motiwalla, 2010).SCOPE AND COMMITMENT STAGE This is the first award of the cycle and it entails carrying out a feasibility study to determine whether the ERP system will in reality work and if it works (Motiwalla, 2010), will it benefit the university. In addition to this, the university will develop the sphere of the effectuation based on the resources and time requirements. Then the characteristics of the ERP implementation are defined to determine what features should be included in the ERP and the customization it may need, the top managements commitment becomes very important at this stage and the short and long term vision for the new ERP system are formulate d.Once this has been done, the suitable vendor is selected based on criterions such as price, reliability, payback period, customer support etc. The scope and commitments required at this stage include * Gap analysis an evaluation of the functions provided by the proposed ERP system is made and a compare between the functions it can perform and the required functions is also made * Physical scope the number of users who will use the system, the location where the system will be implemented and the sites that will be addressed are considered at this point * BPR scope at this level, the users, department and sites affected are identified, the current processes are looked at to see if any changes will e required to implement the system * Technical scope evaluate the ERP system to establish if there are any modifications to be done on the system * Resource scope the time and money allocated to the project are determined at this point * Implementation scope the actual implementation is considered to determine which modules will be implemented and the link with the existing system ANALYSIS AND DESIGN At this stage, the ERP system is designed by the appointed teams, the user requirements are established, and the differences between the current business process and the ERP are identified and accommodated in the design (Motiwalla, 2010).Conversion of the data and the system is done at this point so that the new system is linked with the old one, a change in the management plan is also formulated to ensure successful implementation of the ERP system. Training of the staff on how to use the new system is also done at this stage. ACQUISITION AND DEVELOPMENT STAGE The software is purchased from the vendor and the license is paid for as well, tasks identified in the gap analysis are executed at this stage, the changes in the management are also implemented to allow for the proper functionality of the new ERP, the old data is transferred to the new system and finally the se curity of the new system is configured. IMPLEMENTATION STAGE The purchased software is installed and implemented, the approach used in implementation can be one of the following * Phased * Pilot * Parallel * Big bangEach of these approaches has its pros and cons, but for our case, the best approach would either be phased or parallel because these two would give the staff and the students enough time to adapt to the new system. OPERATIONAL STAGE This is the final stage of the cycle, the project team officially hands over the system to the university, the university will own the system and shall be responsible for managing new releases, installation of the patches and upgrades and renewal of contracts and licenses with the vendor. Bibliography Jerferson, D. (2010). Battle of the Titans SAP vs ORACLE. capital of Colorado Panorama Consulting Group. Leakey, J. (2013, February 21). SAP AG. Retrieved February 22, 2013, from Wikipedia http//en. wikipedia. org/wiki/SAP_AG LLC, A. P. (2002). Business Etiquette. London ILT. Mereddy, R. (2011).SAP basis Administration Handbook. current Dehli McGraw-Hill. Motiwalla, L. F. (2010). Enterprise System for Management. New Jersey Pearson Education Incorporation. Oracle. (2012). Oracle Financial Management Analytics Data Sheet. California Oracle Press. Research, N. (2010). TCO CASE STUDY SAP VERSUS ORACLE JD EDWARDS. Alabama Nucleus REsearch Incorporation. SAP. (2013, February 19). SAP Home Page. Retrieved February 22, 2013, from SAP http//www. sap. com/index. epx Wang, J. (2011). Oracle Database 11g. New York Oracle Press. Wikipedia. (2013, February 22). Oracle corporation. Retrieved February 22, 2013, from Wikipedia http//en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Oracle_Corporation

Importance of English

History of the incline Language A short history of the origins and training of side The history of the English language really started with the arrival of three Germanic tribes who invaded Britain during the 5th century AD. These tribes, the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes, crossed the North Sea from what today is Denmark and Yankee Germany. At that time the inhabitants of Britain spoke a Celtic language. But most of the Celtic speakers were pushed west and north by the invaders mainly into what is now Wales, Scotland and Ireland.The Angles came from Englaland and their language was called Englisc from which the lecture England and English are derived. Germanic invaders entered Britain on the east and south coasts in the 5th century. Varieties of English From around 1600, the English colonization of North America resulted in the creation of a distinct American variety of English. Some English pronunciations and words froze when they reached America. In some ways, American Eng lish is more like the English of Shakespeare than modern British English is.Some expressions that the British call Americanisms are in fact original British expressions that were preserved in the colonies while lost for a time in Britain (for exampletrashfor rubbish,loanas a verb instead of lend, andfallfor autumn an different example,frame-up, was re-imported into Britain through Hollywood gangster movies). Spanish also had an influence on American English with words likecanyon,ranch,stampedeandvigilantebeing examples of Spanish words that entered English through the resolve of the American West.French words (through Louisiana) and West African words (through the slave trade) also influenced American English (and so, to an extent, British English). Today, American English is particularly influential, due to the USAs self-confidence of cinema, television, popular music, trade and technology (including the Internet). But there are many other varieties of English around the world, i ncluding for example Australian English, New Zealand English, Canadian English, randomness African English, Indian English and Caribbean English.WHY IS ENGLISH SO IMPORTANT? Although a variety of languages are spoken all over the world, English is an important language to know. English is the language most international business is conducted in, it is used in more areas of the globe than any other and the only language spoken by more people isMandarin(one of the languages in China). In many countries, the citizens have different tribal languages. Even though English is not a aborigine language, the governments select English as an adopted national language.The government documents and laws written in English will be less subject to interpretation than if they had to be written separately in every tribal language. All school-related and workplace connections require a solid understanding of the English language. If you are studying English at school, college or university, remember that getting an A grade in English is almost worthless, in terms of communication, if you cannot speak the language. Spoken English is used in the best careers, the best universities, and is increasingly being used at job interviews.REASONS TO LEARN ENGLISH 1) English is the most spoken language around the world. 1 out of 5 persons understands it 2) Many of the most famous movies or songs are written in English Youll be able to understand them 3) If you learn English, youll be able to dress down most websites 4) Speaking English is a tremendous asset for your professional career 5) English is not hard to learn, compared to many other foreign languages 6) Nowadays, we are surrounded by English (in non English speaking countries of course). Understanding this language becomes more and more important ) If you are a student, or just eager to learn, to understand English is almost mandatory since many publications are in English 8) You will be able to visit the 45 countries where Engli sh is the official language 9) But you will also be able to travel around the entire world Even if youre not going to an English speaking country, it is very likely that locals will understand you if you speak in English 10) For the pleasure Learning a language, particularly English, is rewarding when you see youre improving Communicate with your friends in English Dare To learn and Speak ENGLISH AS AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE

How to Write a Poem About Lacrosse Essay

The general innovation of this speech is to demonstrate. The specific purpose is to show how to shoot a lacrosse clump, catch a lacrosse ball and cradle the lacrosse ball. I am expiration to show you the proper instruction to shoot the ball, the right fashion to catch the ball and the correct way cradle the ball.Everyone chill-lax, im going to tell you somewhat lax. I am the best soulfulness to give this speech because I have played lacrosse almost all my life and I am very good at it. This demonstration will be useful to you because if you ever want to test lacrosse, you will know some of the basics.The first disassemble of lacrosse I am going to tell you ab discover is how to shoot the ball. There be three main points on how to shoot the lax ball. The first is to prevent your elbows and hands out and away because you can get more power on the ball. Also it helps you hold the ball more precisely and hit the corners of the goal. Second is to take a big drop measurement a nd twist your hips is to create more power on your shoot. Lastly you need to follow through your swing. Its dear like in basketball and how you need yo follow through on your shoot or in soccer and how you need to follow through on your kick. Another part important part of lax is how to catch the ball because if you cant catch the ball you cant real score.The most important part of catching the ball is keeping your hands in front of your body. If you do this you can catch the ball from almost anywhere. How you actually receive the ball is another crucial technique. When the ball is going into your stick, you need to bring the stick towards you so the ball wont pop out. If you just keep your stick out there the ball will hit your mesh and fly out of your head. The last thing I am going to tell you about is how to cradle the ball. If you cannot cradle the ball, when you are trying to move down the field, you will get the ball knocked out and taking away. A way to not let that happen is to bring your stick up strongly and bring it down strongly.

Agency Costs and Corporate Governance Mechanisms

sureness cost and merged nerve mechanicss Evidence for UK ho affairholds Chrisostomos Florackis and Aydin Ozkan* University of York, UK Abstract In this paper, we aim to extend the experimental literature on the determinants of execution of instrument be by using a bear-sized ingest of UK listed stiffs. To do so, we implement devil utility(a) proxies for style cost the proportion of pith sales to extreme pluss (addition swage rate) and the balance of selling, worldwide and administrative costs (SG&A) to total sales. In our compendium, we control for the influence of or so(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal) cozy governance machines or devices that were unattended by previous studies.Also, we shew the potential interactions amidst these mechanisms and pixilated issue opportunities in find delegation costs. Our results reveal that the crownwork social organisation characteristics of firms, namely bank debt and debt maturity, constitute ii of the most important bodily governance devices for UK companies. Also, managerial will power, managerial compensation and will power conpenny dimensionn seem to feed an important employment in mitigating elbow room costs. Fin completelyy, our results project that the advert upholded by internal governance mechanisms on force costs varies with firms ripening opportunities.JEL classification G3 G32 Keywords Agency costs Growth opportunities Internal Corporate Governance Mechanisms. * Corresponding author. section of Economics and Related Studies, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, UK. Tel. + 44 (1904) 434672. Fax + 44 (1904) 433759. E-mail emailprotected ac. uk. We thank seminar participants at University of York, and the 2004 European finance Association Meetings for facilitateful comments and suggestions. 1 1. Introduction Fol humbleding Jensen and Meckling (1976), authorization relations within the firm and costs associated with them drive been extensively in vestigated in the in unified finance literature.There is a great deal of falsifiable spiel providing show up that financial decisions, investment decisions and, hence, firm look upon atomic number 18 signifi prattly affected by the battlefront of confidence conflicts and the extent of office costs. The think of these studies has been the squeeze of the haveed sanction costs on the writ of execution of firms. 1 Moreover, the implicit assumption is that, in imperfect large(p) market places, berth costs arising from conflicts amid firms claimholders last and the measure of firms decreases if the market take overs that these costs argon likely to be realised.It is akinly assumed that at that place be internal and external corporate governance mechanisms that can help press the pass judgment costs and their invalidating impact on firm take to be. For example, much of prior work on the self-control and performance birth relies on the public opinion that ma nagerial self-control can align the sakes of managers and sh beholders and hence one would observe a electro absolute impact exerted by managerial dealholdings on the performance of firms. The substantiative impact is argued to be cod to the decrease in the expected costs of the agency conflict betwixt managers and sh beholders.Despite much valuable insights fork upd by this strand of literature, however, moreover very few studies directly tackle the measurement issue of the principal covariant of interest, namely agency costs. Notable exceptions atomic number 18 Ang et al. (2000) and shrink and Davidson (2003), which investigate the a posteriori determinants of agency costs and conpennyrate on the role of debt and ownership structure in mitigating agency puzzles for the US firms. In doing so, they employ deuce substitute(a) proxies for agency costs the symmetry of total sales to total pluss ( summation overturn) and the balance of selling, general and administr ative expenses (SG&A) to total sales.In overseas telegram with the lookings of prior research they provide try for the view that managerial ownership aligns the interests of managers and shargonholders and, hence, reduces agency costs in general. However, there is no consensus on the role of debt in mitigating such(prenominal)(prenominal) puzzles and associated costs. Ang et al. (2000) bloom tabu that debt has an all toldeviating 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 stress of 1See, for example, Morck et al. (1988) McConnell and Servaes (1990) and Agrawal and Knoeber (1996) among others. 2 listed firms. Fol woefuling the works of Ang et al. (2000) and, Sign and Davidson (2003), we standarding both proxies of agency costs addition employee turnover and the (SG&A) ratio. More specifically, we empirica lly dissect the impact of capital structure, ownership, get on bit and managerial compensation on the costs likely to uprise from agency conflicts in the midst of managers and sh areholders. In doing so, we in any case pay particular attention to the role of growth opportunities in influencing the dominance of internal governance mechanisms in decrease agency costs. In carrying come in the epitome 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 epitome of this paper incorporates important firmspecific characteristics (internal corporate governance devices) that possibly affect agency costs but were ignored by previous studies.For example, we search the role the debt maturity structure of firms can maneuver in controlling agency costs. It is widely acknowledged that short debt may be much efficient than long-term debt in reducing the expected costs of the underinvestment puzzle of Myers (1977). 3 Accordingly, in our analysis, we analyze the maturity structure of debt as a potential governance device that is effective in reducing the expected costs of the agency conflict mingled with shareholders and debtholders. Similar to Ang et al. 2000) that investigate if bank debt creates a absolute externality in the form of lower agency costs, we also check if the source of debt financing matters in mitigating agency problems. A nonher potentially effective corporate governance mechanism we consider relates to managerial compensation. late studies suggest that compensation contracts can motivate managers to adopt actions that maximize shareholders wealth (see, e. g. , Core et al. , 2001 Murphy, 1999 among others). This is based on the view that financial carrots motivate managers to maximize firm care for.That is, a manager leave presumably be slight likely, ceteris paribus, to exert light effort and essay the loss of his job the greater the direct of his compensation. several(prenominal) empirical studies provide narrate 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 exercised in our analysis are to a greater extent likely to catch up with the agency problems amid managers and shareholders. However, we do non become come out 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-run debt because shortening debt maturity would make it more likely that debt give lift outride before any opportunity to exercise the growth options. Consistent with this prediction, there are several empirical debt maturity studies that experience a forbid 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 banish 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 representative. We also acknowledge that there have been concerns well-nigh excessive compensation encases and their shun impact on corporate performance. Accordingly, we investigate the possibility of a non-mo nononic 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 firms growth opportunities. In particular, if agency problems are ass ociated with greater tuition asymmetry (a common problem in gamy-growth firms), we expect the effectiveness of corporate governance mechanisms in mitigating asymmetric information problems to increase in spirited-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 unfreeze 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 recite for UK firms. Although the UK and the US are ordinarily modifyd as having a akin common law regulatory system (see, e. g. , La Porta et al. 1998), the UK market bears crocked distinguishing characteristics. 4 It is argued that several of these characteristics may contribute to a more earthshaking degree of m anagerial 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 managing directors have resulted in non administrators playing more an advisory than a observe role. 5 Consequently, the investigation of agency issues and the effectiveness of the preference governance 4 For a more detailed discussion about the characteristics of the prevailing UK corporate governance system see trivial 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 evidenc e 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 potently suggest that managerial ownership constitutes a rugged corporate governance mechanism for the UK firms. This result is arranged with the findings 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 think problems. The results concerning the role of capital structure variable stars 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 unassailable evidence that specific governance mechanisms are not homogeneous but vary with growth opportunities. For instance, we find that decision maker 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 stake the view that high-growth firms are likely to prefer bonus 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 associate to hypothesis and formulate our empirical hypotheses. Section 3 describes the way in which we have inventioned 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 gro wth opportunities affect agency costs and the birth 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 matter of privately held debt. For example, bank 5 debt incorporates significant taperling 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 fall market about creditors worthiness.Bank debt also bears important renegotiation characteristics. As Berlin and Mester (1992) argue, because banks are well informed and typically smaller in number, renegotiation of a loan is easier. A bank s willingness to renegotiate and renew a loan manoeuvres the being of a good kindred 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 firms activities and in collecting and processing information.For example, Fama (1985) argues that bank loaners 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 leads 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 be tween 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 production 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 involve 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 lenders competency to mitigate agency problems. Also, we include the ratio of total debt to total pluss (leverage) to approximate lenders inducing 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 between ownership and control. Corporate governance deals with finding ways to reduce the order of magnitude of these conflicts and their adverse personal set up 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 affinity between managerial ownership and age ncy 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 family 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, manipulation of insufficient effort and engagement in nonmaximizing projects (alignment effect). by and by some level of managerial ownership, though, managers exert insufficient effort (e. g focus on external activities), collect private benefits (e. g. build empires or jazz perks) and entrench themselves (e. g. harness high risk projects or bend over backwards to resist a putsch) at the expense of other investors (entrenchment effect).Therefore the descent between the two is non-li near. 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 race 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 make is more equivalent to that of Ang et al (2000) given that UK firms use significant standards 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. Howeve r, after managerial ownership exceeds the 10 per cent level, the relationship turns from positive to negative.A third turning point is that of 30 portion after which the relationship seems to turn to positive again. Consequently, there is evidence both for the alignment and the entrenchment effects in the sequel of our sample. In order to capture both of them in our empirical specification, we include the level, the foursquarely and the square of managerial ownership in our model as predictors of agency costs. 2. 3 Ownership niggardness 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 righteousness bet (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 accomplice 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 becaus e either of poor laws or poor enforcement of laws. Furthermore, the existence of concentrated holdings may decrease diversification, market liquidation and stocks superpower to grow and, therefore, increase the incentives of large shareholders to expropriate firms resources. some(prenominal) empirical studies provide evidence consistent with that view (see, for example, Beiner et al, 2003). In order to streak the impact of ownership concentration on agency costs, we include a variable that refers to the sum of stakes of shareholders with rightfulness 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 depen ds 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 necktie 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 dowrys that characterize the independence of a board, the proportion of non-executive directors and the separated or not roles of chief executive officer (chief ope rating officer) and death chair 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 quite an 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 chief operating officer and COB is concerned, it is believed that separated roles can lead to better board performance and, hence, less agency conflicts. The Cadbury (1992) radical on corporate governance stretches that issue and recommends that CEO and COB should be two distinct jobs. Firms should harmonize with the recommendation of the report for their own benefit. A decision not to combine these roles should be publicly explained.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 Cadburys 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 use has been increased dramatically during the 90s, 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 firms growth opportunities and executives actions no incentives would be necessary. However, due to asymmetric information between managers and shareholders, both truth 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 passive 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 lucre, 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 as sociated with the firms 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 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 ball club membership, entertainment and other expenses, apartment purchase etc. Benefits of this sort usually cause abominable agency conflicts between managers and shareholders. 9 Therefore, it is mathematical 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 rudimentary recommendations in the form of best drills in which firms should postdate 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 e xample, an issue that was stretched was the rate of increase in managerial compensation. In the case of the US market, the set of 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 high society 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 account) indicate that none of them is related to agency costs in a non-linear way. 11 non-linearities, we include higher ordered salary monetary value 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 enabl es us to test whether or not options and bonuses themselves provide incentives to managers.As grub (2001) points out, ignoring options is likely to incur serious problems unless managerial options are either negligible compared to ownership or nearly perfectly jibe 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 variant assets for low sectionalisation assets, are also more prevalent in high-growth firms due to information asymmetry between investors and borrowers (Jensen and Meckling, 1976). High-gro wth firms, though, verbalism 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). presumption 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 (Je nsen, 1986). Several empirical studies that model union 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 assignation 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- riptideting 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 utilise to mitigate asymmetric information problems (free cash flow problems) are stronger in high-growth firms (low-growth firms). 3. Data and methodological analysis 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 total debt. nurture on firms ownership, board and managerial compensation structure is derived from the Hemscott Guru Academic Database.This database provides financial data for the UKs 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 inform ation about the type of each directorship (e. g. executive director vs. nonexecutive director). Also, we have to take into line the fact that several directors in the UK hold positions in more than one company. Complications also arise when we sweat 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 firm course 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 value. We end up with 897 firms for our empirical analysis. 3. Dependent Variable In our analysis we use two alt ernative proxies to measure agency costs. Firstly, we use the ratio of annual sales to total assets (Asset Turnover) as an rearward placeholder for agency costs. This ratio can be interpreted as an asset utilization ratio that shows how effectively management deploys the firms 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 placeholder 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, gene ral and administrative (SG&A) expenses to sales (expense ratio). In contrast to asset turnover, expense ratio is a direct procurator of agency costs.SG&A 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, 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 Variabl es Our empirical model includes a set of corporate governance variables related to firms 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- intelligence 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. uninflected definitions for all these variables are given in put back 1. Insert put off 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 set.Using averages in the way we construct our explanatory variables helps in mitigating potentia l problems that may arise due to short-term fluctuations and extreme values in our data. Also, using past values reduces the likelihood of ascertained 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 companys 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 firms growth opportunities. To explore that possibility, we scratchly 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 SG&A 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 person held the positions of CEO and COB. As far as the capital structure variables are concerned, the average proportion of bank debt on firms 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 e xample, Ozkan and Ozkan, 2004 and Short and Keasey, 1999). Insert Table 2 here The results of the Pearsons Correlation of our variables are reported in Table 3. Our inverse proxy for agency costs, asset turnover, is intelligibly 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 arrange 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 morsel proxy for agency costs, SG&A, are qualitatively similar with a few exceptions (e. g. short-term debt) but with opposite signs given that SG&A is a direct and not an inverse proxy for agency costs. Insert Table 3 here 4. Empirical Results 4. 1 Univariate ana lysis In Table 4 we report univariate mean-comparison test results of the sample firm subgroups categorized on the basis of to a higher place 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 th at 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 SG&A 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 opportunities. For example, firms with above median ownership concentration (MKTBOOK) have an SG&A expense ratio of 0. 41 (0. 55) whereas firms with below median ownership concentration (MKTBOOK) have an SG&A 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 SG&A 17 expenses. Sign and Davidson (2003) obtains a set of similar results, for the case when agency costs are approximated with the SG&A ratio. Overall, the univariate analysis indicates several corporate governance mechanisms or de vices, 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 SG&A 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 additive potential corporate governance mechanism available to firms. Insert Table 5 here In model 2 we incorporate two supererogatory capital structure variables, the rat io 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-executive 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 super high levels of salary usually work as an 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 c osts. 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 cut down 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 firms growth opportunities. In dialog box A of Table 6, we explore such a In trial regressions, which are not reported, the third-dimensional term of executi ve 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 high-growth firms and the lower 45 per cent as low-growth firms. Then, we re-estimate our basic model for the two sub-samples separately (Table 6, p anel 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 executiv e 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. S pecifically, 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 Tobins 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 Barletts 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 encourage and suggest that common factor an alysis can be employed in our sample since all the four proxies are likely to measure the same 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 produce 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 str ong 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 high-growth firms and the lower 45 per cent as low-growth firms. Then we estimate our basic model for each sub-sample separately. The results are ve ry 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 model s 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, apparition 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 SG&A 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 owners hip, 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 here 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, 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