Saudi Arabia Country Profile Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Saudi Arabia Country Profile - Research Paper Example The Saudi Arabian political spectrum is led by an absolute monarchy which is founded upon the principles of Islam. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the king is both the head of the government as well as the head of the state. It is relevant to public relations professionals to note that crucial decisions relating to the country, to a large extent, are formed only after consulting with religious leaders and senior princes of the royal family. Quran, the holy book of Islam, is considered to be the constitution of the country and the KSA is governed by the Islamic law Sharia. It is a key point to note that Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy even though the king is also required to abide by Sharia and the Quran according to the Basic Law of Saudi Arabia accepted by the royal decree in 1992. Quran and the Sunnah (the traditions of Muhammad) are central to KSA’s constitution and both remain subject to interpretation left to the powers of ulema, the country’s religious establishment. Neither political parties nor national elections are permitted in the country and the royal family dominates the government. According to the Democracy Index prepared by The Economist, Saudi Arabian government was rated as the seventh most authoritarian government among the 167 countries chosenii. Currently the Saudi government is led by the monarch King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz. Saudi Riyal is the currency of KSA. Saudi Arabia’s economy is greatly dependent on its oil sector, and hence the country’s economy is often referred to as an oil-based economy. The Saudi government exercises strict control over its key economic activities. To justify its status as an oil-based economy, Saudi Arabia possesses nearly 18 percent of the world’s discovered petroleum reserves and the country has a dominant role in OPECiii. Currently Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest

Lin Article Critique Essay Example for Free

Lin Article Critique Essay However, when splitting the forty patients into two treatment groups, the clients were split randomly. This places twenty participants in each subgroup. Pyrczak (2008) suggests that number of participants can be so small that generalizing would be inappropriate. At the conclusion of the study caution was given to the small sample size provided, but it was noted that â€Å"the sample size was more than sufficient to detect meaningful statistical differences, a major goal of all treatment studies† (Lin et al. , 2004). This indicates that a generalization was drawn from the target group of residential drug rehabilitation clients and was not drawn from a diverse source. Some participant dropped out of the study resulting in a 35% completion rate (Lin et al. , 2004). This low rate does effect generalizing the findings of the study. The participants were similar on relevant variables in that all of the patients were diagnosed with a mental disorder, had a history of a chronic addiction, a poor response to treatment and relapse, legal issue related to addiction and little motivation to change (Lin et al. 2004). Critique of Procedures The procedures followed in acquiring participants in this study initially were not chosen at random. The forty-three patients selected for the study were from a residential drug treatment center that had specific criteria preferred by the researchers. However, when the patients were separated into treatment groups, â€Å"they were randomly assigned to FT or ADC† (Linn et al. , 2004). The treatments described in this study are sufficiently explained in detail. The researchers describe ADC, alcohol and drug counseling as a common treatment plan for substance abuse. The article is written in more descriptive detail about forgiveness therapy for the reason that its effectiveness is being tested. The treatments were administered by a therapist trained in both FT and ADC therapy with more than twenty years of therapeutic counseling experience. The treatments that were administered were monitored by taping the therapy sessions with a member of the team arbitrarily selecting the tapings for review of â€Å"consistency between expected and delivered treatments† (Linn et al. 2004). The same therapist conducted all the therapy sessions so that the personal effect is eliminated as a factor from this study. The therapist used the same methodology in both types of treatment programs. The setting for the experiment was a natural setting in the sense that it was not conducted in a laboratory. The therapy sessions took place within the current living environment of the rehabilitation residential facility. The researcher considered attrition in this study stating that, â€Å"given the high levels of mobility and chaos that characterize the lives of this client population, this dropout rate is not unusual. However, the sample size was more than sufficient to detect meaningful statistical differences, a major goal of all treatment studies† (Linn et al. , 2004). Critique of Instrumentation The evaluating instruments for the research did not include actual items in the research, but did explain in great detail the description of each instrument. The researchers also included research that supported validity of each assessment. Specialized formatting and detail was used when the instruments were administered in random order and the response format was provided. Restrictions were placed upon the research when the patience were initially chosen with the three dispositions of a chronic addiction with relapse, psychiatric diagnoses, poor response to treatment with low motivation to change, and legal issues dealing with substance abuse (Linn et al. , 2004). Multiple methods are used to collect information on each variable within this research. The EFI, BDI-II, CSEI, STAI, SSTAEI and vulnerability to drug use scale were used to obtain data on each patient and use for statistical analysis (Linn et al. , 2004). The researchers provided sources and well researched information for each published instrument. The self-report assessments were not administered anonymously, therefore, there is some reason of doubt that information obtained from patients could have been influenced by â€Å"social desirability or response-style biases† (Linn et al. , 2004). This researcher believes steps were taken to keep the instrumentation from influencing any overt behaviors due to the fact that all patients were exposed to the same therapist as a constant, expected occurrence, causing little deviation from the expected schedule.

Traditional Concepts To Modern Knowledge Intensive Concepts Management Essay

Traditional Concepts To Modern Knowledge Intensive Concepts Management Essay Introduction: Innovation and Change are 2 of the most used buzz words in the modern corporate era. Some industries are entirely based on innovation. The survivability of companies operating in such industries are, to a large extent, based on their ability to innovate. The electronic consumer goods industry is a great example. The frequency in which firms like Apple and Google scrap their penultimate design and go for the new one is just alarming. On the other hand, Change is another equally important concept for companies in the modern era. Change becomes inevitable for firms operating in volatile industries as they have to respond quickly to the ripples in the market and adjust their own internal processes as a reaction. This necessitates effective change management every time an organization undergoes a change initiative. As Kotter(XXXX) observed rightly; The rate of change is not going to slow down anytime soon. If anything, competition in most industries will probably speed up even more in the next few decades. Through this piece of work, I would like to look at knowledge theory and how the concepts of innovation and change have evolved from traditional linear model to the modern knowledge intensive forms. The essay would be focusing mainly on information technology functions of firms and how they manage their innovation and change process. We would also explore the practical implications of widely used academic terms like knowledge management, knowledge workers, boundary objects, stickiness of knowledge etc with the help of some examples from the technology front. Knowledge theory: For the scope of this essay, we shall use the term Knowledge theory as the one which refers to the concepts of knowledge management and the appreciation of intellectual capital as an integral part of an organisations asset. As a broad term, this also includes the various terms frequently used in knowledge work like knowledge boundaries, boundary objects etc. During the industrial revolution, labour and capital were considered as the major resources to build an organisation. Management emphasis was on effectively handling these resources and the role of managers was limited largely to financial management and human resource management. However, with the advent of the information age, we have seen managers being increasingly aware of another major resource knowledge. This increasing importance of knowledge management is reflected in the works of several academics as well. Bell (1973) suggested that knowledge would be a central feature of post-industrial societies. The concept of knowledge management mainly revolves around 2 popular views on knowledge, the knowledge as possession view and the epistemology of practice. Knowledge as a possession considers knowledge as something that an individual/organisation can possess, and pass on to others seamlessly across different situations and contexts. However, the practice view of knowledge takes into account the importance of tacit knowledge and argues that knowledge is intrinsic to specific contexts and is created and negotiated through social interactions (Newell et al., 2009). Thus knowledge work could be defined as any work that deals with knowledge. However, for a specific spectrum of analysis, we shall limit our analysis only to the so called knowledge intensive firms. These are firms which have a high percentage of highly qualified staff who trade in knowledge itself (Starbuck, 1992). Consultancy firms like Ernst and Young or Deloitte are prime examples for knowledge intensive organisations. Co nsultants sell their knowledge to organisations or individual and organisations in need and quite evidently does knowledge work on a daily basis. Organisations like Google and Apple, where research and development is key to gaining competitive advantage over rivals are also knowledge intensive. Other examples of knowledge intensive professionals include pharmacists, educationists, doctors, accountants etc. The majority of knowledge intensive firms are under increasing pressure from the external environment in terms of staying competitive and profitable. Thus essentially, ability to innovate and change is integral to their success as organisations. We shall now briefly look at the traditional views on innovation and change through the work of some academics and the gradual shift in concept in the information era. This would set the stage for our analysis on how and where knowledge management fits in the processes of change and innovation. Definition of Innovation: Several academics have clearly differentiated the concepts of creativity and innovation. Organisational creativity refers to the generation of novel and useful ideas, whereas organisational innovation describes the realization of those ideas(Cook,1998; Jones, 1995). Thus innovation can be defined as the process by which a new element becomes available within the marketplace or is introduced into an organization with the intention of changing or challenging the status quo (King, 1995). The innovation process can be classified into 5 types (Andriopoulos and Dawson, 2009): Product innovation As the name suggests, this refers to the creation of a new product. Common examples include the ipod and the latest ipad devices from Apple, which took the market by storm. Innovative methods of computing are being released each year and this is changing the face of the IT arena. Service innovations This refers to the creation of new and improved services. Hotmail worlds first free web based email service is a prime example. Process innovations Here, the innovation is on the process rather than on the end product or service. In the United States, Netflix offers subscription based DVD rentals online. This is now the largest of its kind in the world due to several innovations in its process. The firm uses distributed warehouse system to deliver DVDs to its customers via post. The returned DVDs are scanned first if they are requested again before it goes back to the warehouse. This streamlined and fast delivery model has helped Netflix become the market leader.(Rappa, 2008) Management innovations The adoption of Japanese manufacturing techniques by American and European companies during the eighties and nineties is an example of Management innovation. Market or position innovation This refers to the creation of new markets as a result of innovation. With the advent of Second life, a whole new virtual reality market has sprung up and is fast growing. Before this, this market simply did not exist. Traditional view on innovation: The traditional view on innovation considers it as a linear process starting from creation of the innovation, going through several stages until the innovation is accepted or rejected by the adopting unit. Rogers (1995), in support of the linear approach, used the term diffusion for the process of communicating the innovation through the channels of a social system. The innovation-decision process according to this model can be depicted as below: Knowledge Persuasion Decision Implementation Confirmation Fig1.1 Innovation-Decision process (Rogers, 1995) Knowledge The manager or decision maker or more generally the adopting unit becomes aware of the innovation. Persuasion The unit develops either a favourable or unfavourable attitude towards the innovation. Decision The unit undergoes a series of activities leading to the choice of acceptance or rejection of the innovation. Implementation The unit puts the innovation to use. Confirmation The innovation is confirmed and the innovation becomes a routine if the overall feedback from the unit is favourable. Otherwise, the innovation is rejected. The traditional model also looks at innovation as a rational process in which managers use industry-wide accepted standards or best practises. This model revolves around the idea that best practises, once created, all that is left in the innovation process is the communication of this across the organisation. Thus the traditional model of innovation essentially proposed that innovation can be carried out in a linear fashion and can be overlooked with rational thinking. However, this models inability to explain the complex and dynamic innovations in the modern era has led to various criticisms, which would be discussed at a later stage in the essay. Definition of Organisational Change: Andriopoulos and Dawson (2009) define organisational change broadly as new ways of organizing and working. And more specifically(p14): Organizational change is the process of moving from some current state that, whether planned or unplanned, comprises the unexpected and unforeseen as well as the expected The definition clearly identifies 3 integral parts of organizational change (1) the as-is state, (2) the to-be state and (3) the transition path. However, the transition from as-is to to-be state, in the views of several academics, rarely takes the planned or expected path as evident from the above definition. Studies on organizational change process have been conducted extensively by academics. However, the dynamic nature of the topic itself has meant that we still dont have a prescriptive explanation in terms of theory and concept as far as the topic of Organization change is concerned, as evidently expressed by Pettigrew et al. (2003:p351): This constant process of change and renewal means that, whilst scholars and managers can take forward certain key messages, there will always be a need for more research on innovative forms of organizing Organizational change can be of varied degree and form from minor changes in the organizational processes to major organization wide re-structuring initiatives. Palmer et al. (2006) identifies 2 types of changes: Incremental adaptive change is when one firm plays catch-up in response to another firms activity in an incremental adaptive fashion. E.g Microsoft and Yahoo largely followed google applications like maps and videos. Reactive frame breaking change deals with a much larger scale of change. E.g Major restructuring and downsizing was required for investment banks like RBS as they came under increasing government and public control after the recession driven bailouts using taxpayer money. It is interesting to note that most banks havent cut down on their IT spending as they have identified IT as a tool to improve efficiency and cut costs. Outside these two more reactive changes, there is of course the strategy driven large scale operational changes that organizations undergo. Linear views on Organisational Change: The traditional theories on organisational change have been modelled mainly around the concept of unfreeze-change-refreeze put forward by Lewin (Collins, 1998). This 3-step model essentially looked at organisational change process as a linear one. In this model, Lewin(1958) also talks about the helping and restraining forces for and against the change. Unfreeze Change Freeze Fig1.2 Lewins 3-step change model (Lewin, 1958) An extended 7-step model was proposed by Lippitt, Watson and Westley (1958) which increasingly focussed on the role of the change agent than the actual change. The 7 stages were: Diagnosing the problem Assessing capacity and motivation for change Assess motivation and capacity of the change agent Choose progressive change objects Clear segregation of role of the change agent Maintain the change Termination of the change agent (Lippitt et, al. ,1958) Kotter(1995) later proposed his 8-step model for effective change management in his analysis on why most change projects fail. These change theories as we can see, largely revolves around a certain degree of predictability of the overall change process. They have invited criticism from the supporters of chaos or complexity theories as we would examine later in the piece. Criticisms on traditional views: The traditional linear view on innovation process has been fairly criticised by the advocates of process views on innovation. These academics argue that innovation is very rarely rational and linear and is in most times, a network based concept(Abrahamson, 1996; Swan and Scarbrough, 2005). The concept of best practices were deemed inappropriate by some academics as innovation is a highly context specific concept(Swan et al., 1999) Some other criticisms include: Scarbrough(2008) argues that innovation is not a linear process and that the importance of feedback into the process could not be neglected at any stage of the process. Rogers(1995) did speak about two-way communication between the original sender and receiver in a knowledge diffusion process, however, it is clear that the critics of the linear model propose a much wider network-based mesh-like communication process during innovation. Swan and Scarbrough(2005:p3) states that since knowledge is increasingly dispersed across organizational boundaries, it is at these interstices, through the operation of networks, that distributed networks can be brought together and integrated into new products, processes and services. Newell et al.(2009) observes that most innovation processes are not predictable and cannot be considered as a technical fix. Clark (2003) observed that innovation often required considerable re-engineering of the existing process and thus cannot be considered as an entity that can be used as an add-on to an organisational context. The linear freeze-change-unfreeze view of organisational change has been countered by supporters of complexity theory or chaos theory. According to the chaos theory, it has become impossible to predict the outcome of long term organisational changes as this would require knowledge of the present state at a very high accuracy (Tsoukas, 1998). Certainly, the high rate of failure of Enterprise Systems implementations (70%) reinforces the concept of unpredictable nature of change. It can also be seen from relevant literature that organisational change need not be segregated from innovation as such. Andriopoulos and Dawson (2009), maintains that there are no clear boundaries between the concepts of creativity, innovation and change as in practise, they interlock and overlap over time. Moreover, it can also be argued that their concept of process innovation is quite similar in some respects to the concept of organisational change. Thus we shall consider innovation and change as one broad area further in this work. Knowledge based innovation and change: As discussed earlier in the essay, the traditional liner view on the innovation process have been attacked and countered with the process view. The processual, network based view on innovation looks at the process as a set of iterative, overlapping and interdependent episodes rather than linear stages (Newell et al, 2009). This model as we can see, clearly addresses the unpredictability of the innovation process. The episodes overlap and iterate, leaving room for the occurrences of good or bad co-incidences and also takes into account the social and organisational factors that may affect the innovation process. The importance of knowledge work during innovation is also emphasized in this model. From agenda formation to routinization of the innovation, the success of the change lies in effective creation, diffusion, implementation and use of knowledge. Due to several reasons, we can see that such an open-ended framework is more appropriate when we look at some of the recent innovations in IT. Thus, understanding of knowledge concepts are critical to any innovation and change project in the modern era. The communication channel between the change agent and the unit undergoing a change is no longer the straightforward 2-way communication as seen in Rogers (1995). Innovation and change processes are increasingly becoming network based, spanning across practises, institutions and geographies. The success of Research in Motions blackberry phone can be hugely attributed to the innovative feature of email on a hand held. However, the product was actually just meant to be a start-up product, designed to enable the company to enter the wireless market. The huge popularity of this new way of working among its users resulted in immense pressure on the development team to refine and come up with the blackberry we know now. Thus it can be argued that the users were part of the innovation project as well. Further on this example, during the 9/11 strike on the world trade centre, there were several media reports that people trapped inside the building used their blackberry phones to keep in touch with their loved ones since all other forms of wired and mobile connectivity had gone down. Along with huge popularity, this event added even more social value to the otherwise technological product. This clearly qualifies for the external factor depicted in the Clark model. Other innovations like Open Source Software Development, Extreme programming(XP) and Agile methodologies are also examples for experimental innovation models including dynamic, planning, testing and regular releases (Beck, 2000; Highsmith, 2002). The open source developers community consists of developers from across the globe and from different functions of life. In spite of the existence of semantic, syntactic and pragmatic knowledge boundaries among them, they still manage to interact remarkable well and come up with innovative solutions. Information technology interestingly plays the role of a boundary object in the form of the Knowledge Management (KM) portal or forum. The open source KM forum is exceptionally well maintained and strictly moderated, just as well as the knowledge intensive firms, if not better. In a more organisational context, knowledge intensive firms like consulting and software services companies consider knowledge management as an integral part of innovation and change projects. The amount of money they spend on maintaining a centralised repository for knowledge management is testament to this fact. The consultancy firm Ernst and Young spends 6% of their revenue on knowledge management (HBS, 2001). It may seem that the abundance of knowledge workers and technology would automatically foster a favourable environment for KM in such companies; some academics believe that this is not always the case. Andriopoulos (2003) suggests that knowledge can be a double headed sword. Since knowledge workers in such organisations are highly specialized in their area, this may enslave them inside a pattern of thought, thus inhibiting innovation and change (Bengtson, 1982). Such a view of experts becoming not receptive to new ideas was shared by Starbuck (1992) as well. On similar lines , Carla ODell, president of American Productivity Quality Center said: The number-one reason KM initiatives may not function is that the evangelists fail to connect with the real business issues. Relevant academic literature suggest that such organizations try to work around this problem by creating a strong culture and by involving the specialists more and more in organisational dialogues (Blackler, 1995). Such enabling contexts created by the organisation would be an important factor for fostering knowledge creation for innovation and change. Google, for example, gives one day a week for its employees to work on their pet projects and ideas. The ideas can be posted by anyone on the repository via email. Rocket ride, as it is called, has also led its competitors to create similar projects like Microsofts Technorati and Yahoos Exalead (Business Week, 2005). The concepts of knowledge theory has indeed influenced the way organizations go about undertaking innovation projects as evident from the above illustrations. Conclusion: Through this piece, we have looked at knowledge theory as a term relevant to the scope of the topic. We have also looked the traditional view on innovation and change process via the works of several academics and some industry examples. Some of the criticisms against these views were also discussed. In the specific area of knowledge intensive firms, we analyzed how these knowledge theories affect the innovation and change process. Having looked at the modern unpredictable and network based modes of innovation and change, it may seem that the traditional concepts are now outdated. However, majority of knowledge management work is still based on the assumption that most forms of knowledge can be codified, stored and distributed. Change consultants still follow the step by step approach for organisational innovation and change. Thus the apt conclusion here would be one of a compromise between the two. It is imperative that organisations, especially the knowledge intensive ones cannot ignore the importance of knowledge management for innovation and change. However, the approach shall be decided upon considering the institutional context in detail.

Dark Prejudice in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness :: HOD Joseph Conrad Racism

Prejudice in Heart of Darkness  Ã‚      Slavery has been with us since the Egyptian times and with it prejudice towards certain humans have also come about. In Conrad's Heart of Darkness these prejudice feelings are reflected throughout the story by the characters and their descriptions. The main character, Marlow shows much prejudice feelings towards the native black slaves by much of his descriptions and actions towards them.    One of the most noticeable prejudice descriptions that Marlow gives to us is in the way in which Marlow describes the Themes River in two different positions. He first describes the river as being a place where many people seek to follow their dreams. In a way, his descriptions are like a great fantasy with great feelings of serenity and full of liveliness. This description of the river also contained many words of color; this Marlow rarely uses to describe events. The description of the river going upstream was extremely different from the former description. Marlow described it as this "The air was warm, thick, heavy, and sluggish. There was no joy and brilliance of sunshine. The long stretches of the waterway ran on, deserted, into the gloom of overshadowed distances" (Conrad 2:16). Upriver was where all the natives lived and this is how it is described, quite the opposite of what he had thought before. Marlow feels extremely uncomfortable going to this area, he even says that it seems as if the large trees hanging over the river swallow the boat up as they move up. These words give the impression that this area is very uncivilized and even animal like. Marlow constantly feels that something is watching him and he called this watching monkey tricks (Conrad 2:2). Obviously referring to the natives watching him. Yet another description that Marlow gives to us that is somewhat different is in the reactions of Kurtz's girlfriends to his departure and death. We first meet Kurtz's native girlfriend. Her descriptions were much of her savage appearances. Marlow refers too much of her jewelry as barbarous ornaments and gifts of witch-men. This he does not know but only assumes so. When he describes her facial expressions, they aren't very human like but more like an animal.

International Trade Payment & Finance Practice of Bangladesh

International trade is the backbone of our modern, commercial world. Producers in various nations try to profit from an expanded market, rather than be limited to selling within their own borders. There are many reasons that trade across national borders occurs, including lower production costs in one region versus another, specialized industries, lack or surplus of natural resources and consumer tastes. This trend is attributable to the increased globalization of the world economies and the availability of trade payment and finance from the international banking community.Although banks also finance domestic trade, their role in financing international trade is more critical due to the additional complications involved. First, the exporter might question the importer’s ability to make payment. Second, even if the importer is creditworthy, the government might impose exchange controls that prevent payment to the exporter. Third, the importer might not trust the exporter to shi p the goods ordered. Fourth, even if the exporter does ship the goods, trade barriers or time lags in international transportation might delay arrival time. There are a number of methods of trade payment.Before importers and exporters decide to do business with each other they need to understand and adopt a method suitable to meet their specific needs. The contract between buyer and seller will specify the way in which payment is to be made. Certain methods of payment are less risky than others. It is up to the buyer and seller to agree on a method that suits them both. The choice of payment method is affected by several factors like requirements of the seller and buyer, relationships between the trading partners, the operating environment and associated risks, object of transaction and market conditions etc. Once acceptable risks have been determined then the most appropriate payment method can be selected.Exporters use different methods of financing international trade, depending upon the resources they have available and the transactional risk they are able to absorb. The ability to access international markets is an important strategic opportunity for manufacturers and sellers because it expands a company's customer base exponentially. International trading is much more complicated than making domestic sales, and comes with internal and external stress factors that often determine whether a company can effectively operate in the global arena.The assignment has two objectives1) To discuss conceptual issues of international trade payment and finance 2) To discuss international trade payment and finance practice of BangladeshConceptual Issues of International Trade Payment and Financing Methods To succeed in today’s global marketplace and win sales against foreign competitors, exporters must offer their customers attractive sales terms supported by the appropriate payment methods. Because getting paid in full and on time is the ultimate goal for each e xport sale, an appropriate payment method must be chosen carefully to minimize the payment risk while also accommodating the needs of the buyer.Financing methods use a variety of trade finance products that are available to exporters to increase cash flow and reduce the risk associated with shipping products overseas. Importers and exporters usually need to resort to trade payment and financing mechanisms, coursed through third parties such as banks or specialized financial institutions that help guarantee both the payment to exporters and the delivery of products to importers.There are four common methods of payment available to firms engaged in International trade: Cash in Advance, Open Account / Supplier credit, Documentary Collection, and Documentary Credit / Letters of Credit LC. Cash in advance means payment in advance, or advance payment, refers to a situation in which the seller requests payment from the buyer before he will ship the goods. The seller only ships out the good s to the buyer after receiving the payment. With cash in advance payment terms, an exporter can avoid credit risk because payment is received before the ownership of the goods is transferred.Payment is usually made in the form of an international wire transfer to the exporter’s bank account or foreign bank draft. As technology progresses, electronic commerce will allow firms engaged in international trade to make electronic credits and debits through an intermediary bank. In cash in advance process, at first, there will be a purchase sale agreement between exporter and importer. In payment procedure there will be three steps, first, importer makes payment to the exporter. Second, exporter will make the shipment of goods and third, exporter will send the documents to the importer.1. Purchase Sale Agreement 2. Payment 3. Shipment of Goods 4. DocumentsFigure 1: Process of Cash-in-Advance There are some features of this method: interest of exporter is fully protected and interest of importer is not protected. Banks are involved in the process of transferring payment. Documents and shipments are directly handled by the exporters. There is no universally accepted regulation to guide cash-in-advance. It is guided by the purchase or sale agreement. It is one of the cheapest forms of trade payment method but it is the least popular form of trade payment method in the world. It is used in the world less than 1%.Cash-in-Advance should be used only under the following conditions: The importer is a new customer and/or has a less-established operating history. The importer’s creditworthiness is doubtful, unsatisfactory, or unverifiable. The political and commercial risks of the importer’s home country are very high. The exporter’s product is unique, not available elsewhere, or in heavy demand. The exporter operates an Internet-based business where the acceptance of credit card payments is a must to remain competitive.Open account is the reverse o f cash-in-advance, in which the goods, along with all the necessary documents, are shipped directly to the importer who has agreed to pay the exporter’s invoice at a specified date, which is usually in 30, 60 or 90 days. The exporter should be absolutely confident that the importer will accept shipment and pay at the agreed time and that the importing country is commercially and politically secure.1. Purchase Sale Agreement 2. Shipment of goods 3. Documents 4. PaymentFigure 2: Process of Open AccountIn open account method, interest of importer is fully protected and interest of exporter is not protected. Banks are involved in the process of transferring payment. Documents and shipments are directly handled by the exporters. There is no universally accepted regulation to guide open account. It is guided by the purchase or sale agreement. It is also the cheapest forms of trade payment methods. It is the most popular form of trade payment method in the world. It is used in the w orld more than 85%. Open account terms may help win customers in competitive markets and may be used with one or more of the appropriate trade finance techniques that mitigate the risk of non-payment. It helps to establish and maintain a successful trade relationship.Involvement of bank is insignificant and thus it’s not costly for the traders. Documentary collection (D/C) is the process of collection of payment by a bank on behalf of exporter from importer against documents. The importer is not obligated to pay for goods before shipment. It offers some protection to the seller. It is more secure than shipping on an open account basis but less secure than using a letter of credit or an advance payment. In documentary collection process, the very initial step is contract between exporter and importer where it is decided that payment will be collected against documents.Next step is shipment of the goods and preparation or collection of the documents by the exporter. After colle ction and preparation of documents exporter is supposed to submit documents along with a set of collection instruction at the counter of Remitting Bank. Remitting Bank is the bank at the counter of which documents are submitted by exporter to collect payment from importer on its behalf. Remitting Bank generally collects payment and forward documents using the service of collecting and/or presenting bank.Presenting bank is the bank that presents documents to the importer. And collecting bank is the bank that is involved in the process of documentary collection. Then as per the collection instruction importer receives documents either DP (Documents against payment) or DA (Documents against acceptance). Then the importer will release the goods against documents and exporter will receive payment either immediately or as per the accepted terms through banking channels.Figure 3: Process of Documentary CollectionIn this method, interest of importer is protected and interest of exporter is better protected than Open account. It is guided by the purchase-sale agreement and URC 522 (Uniform Rules for Collections). URC is published by International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) under the document number 522 (URC 522). All the banks involved in the documentary collection are the agent of exporters. Documentary Collection process could be risky for the exporter, if documents are not received by the importer. The exporter’s bank (remitting bank) and the importer’s bank (collecting bank) play an essential role in Documentary Collection process. Although the banks control the flow of documents, they neither verify the documents nor take any risks.It is considered to be one of the cost effective methods of evidencing a transaction for buyers, where documents are manipulated via the banking system. With documentary collection transactions, the exporter has little recourse against the importer in case of non-payment. Thus, documentary collection should be used only und er the following conditions: The exporter and importer have a well-established relationship. The exporter is confident that the importing country is politically and economically stable. An open account sale is considered too risky, and an LC is unacceptable to the importer.Documentary Credit or Letters of Credit (L/C) is the commitment, guaranty or undertaking by a bank on behalf of importer to the exporter about the payment of certain amount subject to the fulfillment of certain documentary condition. This method is a compromise between buyer and seller because it affords certain advantages to both parties. The exporter is assured of receiving payment from the issuing bank as long as it presents documents in accordance with the L/C. An important feature of an L/C is that the issuing bank is obligated to honor drawings under the L/C regardless of the buyer’s ability or willingness to pay. On the other hand, the importer  does not have to pay for the goods until shipment has been made and the documents are presented in good order.Documentary credit are recommended for new or less established trade relationships because the buyer’s bank is there to guarantee for both exporters (that payment will be made) and importers (that the terms of the contract are met). First step of Documentary Credit process is contract between buyer and seller where it is decided that payment will be made through L/C. Then the importer approaches to a bank (Issuing Bank) to issue L/C. Issuing bank is a bank that issues letters of credit (L/C).If the bank agrees on financing terms then L/C is issued by the issuing bank and sends to the exporter (Beneficiary). While sending L/C, issuing bank generally uses the services of a bank known as Advising Bank. Advising Bank is the bank using the service of which issuing bank advices credit to the exporter on behalf of importer. Advising Bank is selected by the Issuing Bank.After receiving L/C exporter makes shipment and prepare do cuments to submit to the issuing bank or its agent (Nominated Bank). Nominated Bank is the bank nominated by the issuing bank at the counter of which documents may be submitted by the exporter in addition to the counter of issuing bank. Nominated bank is selected by the preference of exporter. After the submission of documents to the Nominated Bank or Issuing Bank, documents are examined to a certain ‘Complying Presentation’. Complying Presentation means the documents submitted are in order. Documents are complying if these are in accordance with L/C terms and conditions, UCP 600 and ISBP 681.The concept of Complying Presentation is particularly important for the examination of documents by the bank and also for the exporter for preparation of the documents. If the documents are in order, there could be negotiation or honor. Negotiation is performed by the Nominated Bank through purchasing or discounting of documents without the consent of Issuing Bank which is a financ ing technique. When Nominated Bank negotiate documents it is known as Negotiating Bank. Honor means payment. If payment is occurred by issuing bank then it will be honor. Honor could be at sight, deferred basis, or acceptance basis.Following negotiation or honor documents are forwarded to the Issuing Bank for reimbursement. Issuing Bank is supposed to examine documents and makes arrangement for making payment. Issuing Bank makes reimbursement to the Nominated Bank by using the service of Reimbursing Bank. Then finally, documents are handled to the importer and  then, goods are released by the importer. After that importer make payment to the issuing bank for settlement.From above discussion we can find some responsibilities of issuing bank: Issuance of L/C and making arrangement for advising. Amendment of L/C if required. Examination of documents and honoring document. Making reimbursement to the nominated bank.In international trade transaction there are various types of Letters of credit (L/C) is used. Broadly there are two types of Letters of credit.i. Revocable Letters of credit ii. Irrevocable Letters of credit.If any Letter of Credit can be amendment or changed of any clause or canceled by consent of the exporter and importer, it is known as Revocable Letter of Credit. In case of seller (beneficiary), revocable credit involves risk, as the credit may be amended or cancelled while the goods are in transit and before the documents are presented, or although presented before payments has been made. The seller would then face the problem of obtaining payment on the other hand revocable credit gives the buyer maximum flexibility, as it can be amended or cancelled without prior notice to the seller up to the moment of payment buy the issuing bank at which the issuing bank has made the credit available. In the modern banking the use of revocable credit is not widespread.If any Letter of Credit cannot be amendment or changed of  any clause without the consen t of all concern parties – importer (applicant), exporter (beneficiary), Issuing Bank, and Confirming Bank (in case of confirmed L/C), is known as Irrevocable Letter of Credit. An Irrevocable Letter of Credit constitutes a firm undertaking by the issuing bank to make payment. It, therefore, gives the beneficiary a high degree of assurance that he/she will pay to his/her goods or services provided he/she complies with terms of the credit. There are also some special types of L/C such as: Transferable L/C, Back to back L/C, Revolving L/C, Confirm L/C, Red clause L/C, and Standby L/C.The main modes of international trade are export and import. Both of them required financing in order to complete the export and import process properly. Trade financing is financing either to the exporters or to the importers. Exporters use different methods of financing international trade, depending upon the resources they have available and the transactional risk they are able to absorb. Broadly financing is two types: Export financing and Import financing. Export financing means financing facilities to the exporter and financing facilities to the importer is called import financing. Exporters need financing facilities at two stages: i. Pre shipment stageii. Post shipment stage Pre-shipment finance for exporters is the finance required to bring an export transaction to the point of shipment – either to manufacture, process, or purchase merchandise and commodities for shipment overseas. Pre Shipment Finance is issued by a financial institution when the sellers want the payment of the goods before shipment. The main objectives behind Pre-shipment finance or Pre-export finance is to enable exporter to: Procure raw materials.Carry out manufacturing process. Provide a secure warehouse for goods and raw materials. Process and pack the goods. Ship the goods to the buyers. Meet other financial cost of the business. Pre-shipment financing is especially important to smaller e nterprises because the international sales cycle is usually longer than the domestic sales  cycle. Pre-shipment financing can take in the form of short term loans, overdrafts and cash credits. Packing credit, back to back L/C, red clause L/C etc. are the example of pre shipment export financing. Packing Credit is a pre shipment credit offer to the exporters to meet expenses related to the preparation of goods and transportation. It is especially needed when inputs for production must be imported. It also provides additional working capital for the exporter.Post Shipment Finance is a kind of loan provided by a financial institution to an exporter or seller against a shipment that has already been made. This type of export finance is granted from the date of extending the credit after shipment of the goods to the realization date of the exporter proceeds. Exporters don’t wait for the importer to deposit the funds. Negotiation or purchasing is the example of post shipment expo rt financing. As like as export financing, import financing also two types: i. Pre import financingii. Post import financing. Pre import financing means financing before buying goods from exporter. L/C is the example of pre import financing which is not covered by the margin. Post Import Financing means financing after shipment of goods arrived. Once shipment of goods arrived, importer may lack the necessary liquidity to pay their issuing bank immediately. The bank can provide them the post import financing facilities. PAD (Payment Against Document), LIM (Loan against Imported Merchandise), LTR (Loan against Trust Receipt), all are the example of post import financing. PAD is created by the issuing bank at the time of making payment to the exporter on behalf of importer. If PAD is not cleared in due time then bank canceled it and convert PAD to LIM.International Trade Payment and Finance Practice of Bangladesh In the context of Bangladesh, Documentary Credit is the most popular and widely used for making import payments from Bangladesh. In 2012, 85% of import payments from the country are made through letter of credit. The other two methods- open account and documentary collection are used 3% and 10% for international trade payment respectively.Because of domestic regulation (Import policy order 2009-2012) on import of Bangladesh cash in advance is less used in Bangladesh. It is used 2% in our country for make payment against  international trade. In case of export, 30% of payments were received through Documentary Collection, and 65% of payments were received through Documentary Credit. Cash in advanced is used to make domestic trade payment in Bangladesh. As like other countries cash in advance is the least popular method of trade payment in Bangladesh in international trade payment. It is used 2% in our country for make payment against international trade. Open account is the most popular method of trade payment around the world. It is used more than 85% in international transaction. But in case of Bangladesh it is used only 3% of total received payment of export. Bangladesh Trade 2012Import Export Cash In Advance 2% Cash In Advance 2% Open Account 3% Open Account 3% Documentary Collection 10%Documentary Collection 30% Documentary Credit 85% Documentary Credit 65%Source: BIBM Report 2012 So it can be said that most of the export and import transactions of Bangladesh are dominantly settled by documentary credit. The result is that the businesses are paying high for their transaction settlement. As documentary credit has involvements of different parties namely the nominating bank, the reimbursing bank, the confirming bank etc. Some of them are involved only to ensure the creditworthiness of the issuing bank against a certain percentage of commission. Another reason could be that the sovereign rating is lower than that in some countries in LDC group.Although there is specific guidelines published by the International Chamber of Commer ce (Such as UCP-600, ISP98), documentary credit is an inefficient process in terms of time. As a result the businesses of our country are losing their advantage over those of some countries under the class of  developing countries. As any L/C opened in our country has to comply with domestic regulations, guidelines on foreign exchange transactions along with Foreign Exchange (FE) circulars issued by Bangladesh Bank and the Import Policy Order and the Export Policy Order of the country are followed, these issues effect scrutinizing of import documents.However, it is to be remembered that whenever an L/C is established only the ‘L/C terms’ are ‘terms’ and only they are to be considered for examining a set of import documents. As per article 14 of the UCP 600 any bank shall have a maximum of five banking days following the day of receiving of the document to determine if a presentation is complying. In some banks there is a practice of sending the discrepanc y notices within 2-3 days after receiving the documents. Banks consider the act as a protective measure on their part. Charging of discrepancy fee appears to be another reason of such practice.Banks have been observed to approach to the importers to get their opinion before rejecting the documents. In regard to discrepancies, late shipment, late presentation, expiry of the L/C are very common. Other than some exception, whatever we import, we have to follow L/C for making payment. But the margin of L/C is very high for importer in Bangladesh. Margin means the amount of money paid by importer against opening a L/C. More over the repayment of L/C financing is also satisfactory. L/C is a payment technique but it also has financing component. Banks in Bangladesh also provide finance to importer through L/C to facilitate international business.In the financial year July 2010 – June 2011 the total amount of L/C opened in Bangladesh was Taka 38,582.35. Total import payments of Bangl adesh in the financial year July 2010 – June 2011 were Tk. 240,027.90. Total export receipts of Bangladesh (including exports of EPZ) during the financial years, 2010-2011 and 2009-2010 amounted to Tk. 145,007.60 and Tk. 102,148.2 respectively. Total import payments of Bangladesh (including EPZ) during the quarter July 2010-June 2011 stood at Tk. 240,027.9 (or US$ 8,788.5 million).Concluding Remarks One of the most important challenges for traders involved in a transaction is to secure financing so that the transaction may actually take place. So Bangladesh Bank imposed regulation to import through LC but most of the export payment is done by documentary collection.The faster and easier the  process of financing an international transaction, the more trade will be facilitated. Traders require working capital (i.e., short-term financing) to support their trading activities. Exporters will usually require financing to process or manufacture products for the export market befo re receiving payment. In Bangladesh the trade finance is depend upon bankers and importers relationship. Therefore, Bangladesh governments should provide assistance and support in terms of export financing and development of an efficient financial infrastructure.

Is Management an Art or Science? Essay

Management is a set of activities (including planning and decision making, organizing, leading, and controlling) directed at an organization’s resources (human, financial, physical, and information) with the aim of achieving organizational goals in an efficient and effective manner. A manager is someone whose primary responsibility is to carry out the management process within an organization. The effective practice of management requires a synthesis of science and art; that is, a blend of rational objectivity and intuitive insight. Good management is a mixture of art and science. Managing is working with and through other people to accomplish the objectives of both the organizations and its members. Management is both art and science. It is the art of making people more effective than they would have been without you. The science is in how you do that. There are four basic pillars, plan, organize, direct, and monitor. Most managers attain their skills and positions through a combination of education and experience. Management is science but whenever and wherever one is dealing with human beings one can not expect same behavior, reaction or same outcome in a given situation, therefore the science of management is to be applied and utilized in most artful manner to achieve best results. It can be said with fair amount of certainty that a good manager is the one, who is also a good public relation man and does apply the science of management in a fashion whereby giving human factor prime importance. It is proven that a manager’s job is naturally multifarious, a reasonable question relates to whether management is a science or an art. In fact, effective management is a blend of both science and art. And successful executives recognize the importance of combining both the science and the art of management as they practice their craft. Many management problems and issues can be approached in ways that are rational, logical, objective, and systematic. Managers can gather data, facts, and objective information. They can use quantitative models and decision-making techniques to arrive at correct decisions. And they need to take such a scientific approach to solving problems whenever possible,  especially when they are dealing with relative routine and straightforward issues. Technical and diagnostic skills are especially important when practicing the science of management. All said and done still science of management is not the kind of science where you mix two parts of Hydrogen and one part Oxygen and you get water, but it is the kind of science where you adapt and adjust management techniques according to circumstances and different scenarios. Even though managers may try to be scientific as much as possible, they must often make decisions and solve problems on the basis of intuition, experience, instinct, personal insights and on compassionate grounds. Relying heavily on conceptual and interpersonal skills for example, a manager may have to decide between multiple courses of action that look equally attractive. Solving unusual and non-routine problems almost certainly requires an element of intuition, emotions and personal insight. Although science of management provides valuable information on how to manage human resources effectively to get optimal results but still it is not possible to, or can be counter productive, if the management techniques are applied without giving due consideration to different situations and varied human behaviors. In short a successful manger is the one who uses science of management in an artful manner and get best possible results.