Was government and economy of Tsarist Russia transformed in the years between 1881 and 1914?

There were many changes made to the government and economy of Tsarist Russia between 1881 and 1914, however fundamentally I do not think either were completely transformed as the country was still under almost complete control of the Tsar and the majority of people had a very limited political voice, and also the economy remained a major issue with few problems solved. Considering that in 1881 Russia was incredibly underdeveloped and mainly based on agriculture, there were many changes made.The first finance minister of Alexander’s reign was Nikolai Bunge and he introduced laws which reduced the tax burden on peasants in 1882, and also established the Peasant Land Bank offering loans to peasants to help increase their holdings and increase productivity. The â€Å"Great Spurt† under Witte between 1892 and 1903 was a period of great economic transformation. Much emphasis was placed on the production of capital goods like iron and steel, coal and machinery. Also, much inve stment was made from abroad mainly France, Britain and Belgium: within Russia the peasantry was also further taxed to pay for this.The result of this was incredibly dramatic. Over half of the industrial workforce was employed in factories with more than a thousand workers by 1900 as industrial growth was concentrated in industrial areas like Moscow and Ukraine. The population also rose dramatically due to this rapid industrialization for example the population of St Petersburg doubled between 1890 and 1940 from 1 to 2 million. The completion of the Trans-Siberian also meant that influence in the East was increased and the economic potential of Siberia was opened up.In some respects Stolypin was an economic reformer, as he wanted to create a prosperous peasant class to be loyal to the Tsar. In November 1906 he passed a law that freed peasants from the commune and later redemption payments were abolished. This had been a huge weight on the peasants since 1861 and could be argued to be a transformation in the countryside. Agriculture production rose from 45. 9 million tonnes in 1906 to 7 million in 1913. The October Manifesto is arguably a huge political transformation because reforms were promised like an elected national Parliament, freedom of speech, religion and civil rights.The Dumas that came out of the October Manifesto had some successes for example: the replacement of Land Captains by justices of the peace, making the judicial system fairer. It could also be argued that there was political transformation because by 1914 political parties had been established legally and the Duma allowed political debate of elected representative. Now, due to a relaxation of censorship, radicals had the opportunity to influence public opinion: something that had previously been much harder.However, the leaders of the country themselves were incredibly against political transformation: Alexander III was repressive and incredibly against political reform, partly due to his father’s assassination by the radical group the People’s Will, and also due to his own conservative views. This meant that he made sure to do as little as possible to transform the government politically during his reign. When coming to power Alexander almost immediately published his manifesto declaring absolute political power to the Tsar and to create the Statute of State Security to try government opponents without the need for a jury.These courts stayed in existence up until 1917. Press freedom at this point was also severely restricted and fourteen major newspapers were banned between 1882 and 1889 for displaying â€Å"liberal† tendencies. Foreign books and newspapers were also censored by the secret police (the Okhrana) to prevent ideas like democracy and parliamentary government from reaching the Russian people. Land captains were also introduced in 1890 to undermine the Zemstvas created by the more liberal Tsar before Alexander, and in order to increase the political power of the landed classes doctors and schoolteachers for example could not be part of the Zemstva.These repressive policies had huge long term effects and the secret police remained for the entirety of Alexander III’s reign. It also clearly shows Alexander’s conservative mentality and his attempt to undermine any transformation politically Nicholas II who succeeded Alexander III was also incredibly conservative and saw the plea of the zemstva for greater political responsibility as â€Å"senseless dreams†. We can also say that obviously not enough was done to transform Russia politically as radicals overthrew Nicholas in 1917. The 1905 revolution could be argued as showing very little change because of theunrest caused by the lack of political reformation and political voice of the people. The country still had no democratically elected national assembly of any kind. It could also be argued that little had changed in 1905 because the amred force s did remain loyal to the Tsar and were incredibly important in the dispersion of the rebels. The October Manifesto, despite seeming like a huge political transformation, the Fundamental Law of 1906 which became the constitution of the Russian epire actually gabe the right o the Tsar to gvern by decree and ignore the new elected body.He also retained the right to select his own government and so he retained much of his political power Also, the Tsar could dissolve the new parliaments at any time, and the first was dissolved after only 73 days showing that despite their existence, the Dumas hadn’t changed much because the Tsar still had political control. The first Duma passed only two resolutions despite making 391 requests against what it saw as illegal government action: the Tsar had ensured no definitive action would be taken against him.The only Duma lasting its full term only did so because it was weighted so heavily in favor the Tsar that demand for reform was low and t he Duma was unrepresentative of the population, so that though it lasted a long time it didn’t transform the country politically. Stolypin is another example where politically there was no transformation, even after the 1905 revolution. He used traditional and ruthless methods, distributing 1144 death sentences between October 1906 and May 1907. Six hundred trade unions and a thousand newspapers were also forced to close.This directly goes against promises made in the October Manifesto showing the lack of transformation caused by it. Economically, despite attempts at reform throughout this time period, Russia remained backward and inefficient. Agriculture remained backward, despite attempts at reform by Vyshnegradsky, the demand for land stayed high and lead to the catastrophic famine of 1891, showing that not enough was done to prevent it; there had been no great transformation. Also, by 1914 90% of peasants were still strip farming and only 1/5 of of the peasants had even l eft the Mir, showing the failure to move peasants out and increase productivity.Russia was also still behind the other great powers of Europe (UK, USA, Germany). In conclusion, I think that there were many reforms made to both the economy and the government, and that both were definitely somewhat transformed because industry was modernized and Russia did have a kind of national elected body for the first time in its history. However, these were not huge transformations because these reforms did not fundamentally change Russia at all: the Tsar still had supreme authority over ruling, and Russia was still a backward economy based mainly on agriculture.

Addendum to the Risk Assessment Matrix Essay

Description of Risks Impact Likelihood of Occurrence (L,M,H) Degree of Impact (L,M,H) Initial Action to Take if Event Occurs Team Member Responsible Strategies for Prevention and Mitigation Widespread security breach due to unauthorized access to sensitive customer information. Negative publicity of the company and loss of credibility in the eyes of existing and potential customers impacting overall business. Take immediate action to tighten security including all employee access to customer sensitive information. Identify and install the latest security software on all telecommuters’ PCs and enforce strict rules for information access including password policy management. Document Server integration challenges. The setup of the environment for the Telecommuters would be delayed. roubleshoot remotely to identify the root of the integration issue. The repetitive process of installation and setup of the document servers can be potentially scripted and semi-automated to minimize error and reduce time taken. Technical challenges such as power failure and internet connection outages. The setup of the environment for the Telecommuters would be delayed if either power or internet connection were impacted. Guidelines can cover instructions to move on to the next computer to setup and return to the remote PC with power or internet challenges later.PhoebeTo prevent and mitigate this risk, the telecommuter PCs can be staged and setup in the Xemba Translations office before shipping to the remote l ocation. In the long term budget can be allocated for individual battery backup for the remote PCs Delay in completion of the Telecommuting Expansion projectInadequate resources available to address the increased customer need causing negative publicity of the company. Increase the project team size to catch up and speed up progress reducing potential for any further schedule impact.Project TeamManage schedules even more tightly monitoring daily progress of tasks and mitigating schedule delays even before it occurs. Perception of impersonal and below par service due to telecommuters Though there is a subjective aspect to this risk it can lead to the loss of very real customers and negative publicity. Focus can be shifted to the lost customers to survey the reason for them to take business elsewhere and offer  incentives to return. Work with the marketing team to ensure the message is clear to large customers on the benefits of real-time web based communications and translation ser vices. Task B: Explanation of Metrics: The metrics that can be effectively used to clearly and effectively measure the progress and overall project health of this Telecommuter Expansion project is â€Å"Earned Value Management†. It is a commonly used technique that factors in the cost and schedule baselines and then uses simple indices to estimate and measure where the project is in reference to the respective projected baselines that were set at the beginning of the project. Earned Value Management relies on three key metrics: – Planned Value (PV): This is the official budget that has been allocated to the project. The budget is typically setup per phase of the project, but at any point in time the â€Å"Planned Value† is used to refer to the work that should have been completed. The total planned value for the project is also referred to as the â€Å"Budget at Completion† (BAC) – Earned Value (EV): The Earned Value refers to the amount of work that would need to be completed at any point in time in for the project to be considered to be on track. The Earned Value is often used to calculate the percent complete for any project. The formula for percent complete would be: % Complete = EV / BAC. – Actual Cost (AC): The Actual Cost would quite simply be the costs that have been incurred to accomplish all the work performed thus far in a project. Technically the AC will have no upper limit and translates always to what was budgeted in the PV and measured by the EV. Part of the Earned Value Management technique is the monitoring of variances from the approved baseline of costs and schedule. The variances are useful in determining the overall project health and status. – Schedule Variance (SV): The Schedule Variance indicates a value which is a measure of how much the project is either ahead or behind at a given point in time. For any given point in time, once the EV and PV are known the SV can easily be calculated. The formu la for SV is quite simply: SV = EV – PV. Here a positive value indicates that the project is ahead at the current point in time and a negative value would indicate the opposite that a project is behind at the current point in time. – Cost Variance (CV): The Cost Variance indicates a value which is a measure of how much the project is either overspent or  underspent at any given point in time. For any given point in time, once the EV and AC are known the CV can easily be calculated. The formula for CV is quite simply: CV = EV – AC. Here a positive value indicates that the project is under spent at the current point in time and a negative value would indicate the opposite that a project is over spent at the current point in time. The Cost Variance at the end of the project is calculated as follows: CV = BAC – AC. The same above rationale is applied to positive and negative numbers to indicate if the project is under spent or over spent respectively. To me asure schedule or cost efficiency there are two indices which are also computed as part of the Earned Value Management technique. They are Schedule Performance Index and Cost Performance Index. – Schedule Performance Index (SPI): This is a measure of how efficiently the project has been run till the current point in time. An SPI of less than 1.0 would indicate that less work was completed than originally planned and an SPI value greater than 1.0 would indicate that more work was completed than was originally planned. The SPI is calculated with the following formula: SPI = EV / PV – Cost Performance Index (CPI): This is a measure of how efficiently the project has been run in terms of budgeted resources till the current point in time. The CPI is considered the most critical metric of the Earned Value Management methodology. A CPI of less than 1.0 would indicate that the project is currently over budget than originally planned and a CPI value of greater than 1.0 would in dicate that the project is currently under budget and in good shape. The CPI is calculated with the following formula: CPI = EV / AC Task B1: Justification of Metrics: One of the primary reasons of choosing the Earned Value Management methodology for the tracking of the project metrics of the Telecommuting Expansion Project was due to the fact that this method comprehensively covers all the key aspects of Project Schedule Control and Cost Management. With the use of this approach a well-rounded analysis can be performed on the data provided. The data provided has the clear value for the budget at completion (BAC) for all the labor costs for the project as well. The Cash Flow Report provided in the case study provides a good reference of the Earned Value at the 76 day mark within week 11. The Status Reports that are provided at the end of the Case Study also provides the  detailed actual sunk costs for each work package covered in the project work breakdown structure. Using the details provided, the Cost and Schedule Variances can easily be calculated which would easily offer a detailed look at the overall projec t health in regards to schedule and cost. With a simple arithmetic calculation one can easily determine whether the project is on track to stay under budget or go over budget as well as determine whether the project is going to stay on track and complete on schedule, or early or late. Also, with the calculation of the Cost Performance Index and the Schedule Performance Index, the schedule efficiency and cost efficiency of the Project can be easily evaluated. Comparing the two indices in reference to them being greater than 1.0 or lesser than 1.0 one can predict if the project is on track to come in under or over budget and finish ahead or behind schedule. This approach also fits well with the critical path approach that has been used thus far in the case study where special emphasis can be paid to the work packages in the critical path in an effort to further mitigate risk and control schedule and costs of the project. Task B2: Current Project Status: The following table is a complete summary of the fifteen project team members and their associated labor costs that were planned at the beginning of the project as well as the revised plan per the project manager’s Status report: Resource NameRate per HourPlanned HoursBudgeted Labor CostWBS ItemHours WorkedHours LeftRevised Work PlanSpent CostsFuture Costs% Left Elizabeth $ 70.00 121.43 $ 8,500.10 11220122 $ 8,540.00 $ – 0% Hugh $ 70.00 120 $ 8,400.00 210317120 $ 7,210.00 $ 1,190.00 14% Kimberly $ 70.00 76 $ 5,320.00 3721688 $ 5,040.00 $ 1,120.00 21% Phoebe $ 68.00 98 $ 6,664.00 4762096 $ 5,168.00 $ 1,360.00 20% Ben $ 68.00 138 $ 9,384.00 59352145 $ 6,324.00 $ 3,536.00 38% Zeke $ 65.00 384.67 $ 25,003.55 6153245398 $ 9,945.00 $ 15,925.00 64% Malinda $ 75.00 224 $ 16,800.00 758160218 $ 4,350.00 $ 12,000.00 71% Willis $ 70.00 108 $ 7,560.00 816068228 $ 11,200.00 $ 4,760.00 63% Jackson $ 45.00 268 $ 12,060.00 2,4,5177112289 $ 7,965.00 $ 5,040.00 42% Kendrick $ 40.00 78 $ 3,120.00 586086 $ 3,440.00 $ – 0% Marcel $ 75.00 432.85 $ 32,463.75 1,4,5,7268200468 $ 20,100.00 $ 15,000.00 46% Lianne $ 37.50 204 $ 7,650.00 3,8170110280 $ 6,375.00 $ 4,125.00 54% Darius $ 55.00 72 $ 3,960.00 3,8304272 $ 1,650.00 $ 2,310.00 58% Valene $ 60.00 150 $ 9,000.00 4,5,611664180 $ 6,960.00 $ 3,840.00 43% Clemencia $ 80.00 218.05 $ 17,444.00 1,6104114218 $ 8,320.00 $ 9,120.00 52% 2693 $ 173,329.40 178812203008 $ 112,587.00 $ 79,326.00 41% Notes: Looking at the above summary, the following can be summarized: †¢Planned Labor Cost (PV/BAC): $ 173,329.40 †¢Labor Costs spent (AC):$ 112,587.00 †¢Remaining Labor Costs:$ 79,326.00 †¢Initial Labor Plan:2693 hours †¢Revised Labor Plan:3008 hours oHours Spent:1788 hours oHours Remaining:1220 hours †¢Based on the Initial Labor Plan the following are computed: o% Complete:Hours spent / Initial Labor Plan 1788 / 2693 = 66% †¢Based on the Revised Labor Plan the following are computed: o% Complete:Hours spent / Revised Labor Plan 1788 / 3008 = 59% o% Remaining:Hours remaining / Revised Labor Plan 1220/ 2008 = 41% Since the PV, AC and % Complete are known, the following metrics that are part of the Earned Value Management Plan are computed: †¢Earned Value (EV) = BAC x % Complete = $ 173, 329.40 x 59% = $ 102, 264.35 †¢Cost Variance (CV) = EV – AC = $102,264.35 – $112,587.00 = -$10,322.65 †¢Schedule Variance (SV) = EV – PV = $102,264.35 – $173,329.40 = -$71,065.05 Note: Since both the Cost and Schedule Variances are negative, this indicates that the project is currently trending â€Å"over budget† and currently  running behind schedule. †¢Cost Performance Index (CPI)= EV / AC = $102,264.35 / $112,587.00 = .91 †¢Schedule Performance Index (SPI)= EV / PV = $102,264.35 / $173,329.40 = .59 Note: Since both the Cost and Schedule Performance Indices are lesser than 1.0 then this would indicate that the Project will finish over budget and will finish late. Using the formulas in the Earned Value Management technique, the final project cost and the final project duration can be estimated. Per the Case Study, the initial planned duration for the project is 123 days. †¢Estimated Final Project Cost = BAC / CPI = $ 173,329.40 / .91 = $ 190,471.87 †¢Estimated Final Project Duration = Planned Duration / SPI = 123 days / .59 = 209 days Note: Unless mitigated further the labor costs for the project will be around $ 17K more than planned and will finish around 86 days late. The additional costs for the project are the procurement costs for the hardware and software to support the 173 telecommuters. These would include the costs for the new computers that the telecommuters would use as well as the Document Servers, Shared Drives, FTP Servers, Firewalls and the support for Web-Based meetings. Based on the details provided in the Status Report by the previous project manager for the Xemba Translations Telecommuter Expansion Project, the total budgeted amount for all of these costs was $73,670.57. Per that same report the following table contains the estimated actual costs for those items. ResponsibleTask NameWBS ItemHW Costs – Option 1HW Costs – Option 2Cost Details ElizabethComputer inventory and requirements1$11,400.00 $14,200.00 Cost for 12 additional computers for the telecommuters. Option 1 – D esktops Option 2 – Laptops HughTechnical support2$0.00 $0.00 KimberlyComputing support3$0.00 $0.00 PhoebeDocument servers4$34,600.00 $89,268.00 Cost for document servers for the 173 telecommuters. Option 1 – $200 for 50GB per person Option 2 – $516 for 100GB per person BenShared Drives5$17,300.00 $17,300.00 Cost for shared drives for the 173 telecommuters. The cost is estimated at $20 per 10GB. Each usr will use an average of 50GB. Total cost of $100 per user. ZekeFTP Sites6$6,000.00 $6,000.00 Estimated annual cost for 1000GB storage space with unlimited bandwidth for file transfers and unlimited simultaneous logins MalindaFirewalls7$20,000.00 $20,000.00 Cost of firewall software and hardware WillisWeb-Based Meetings8$2,000.00 $2,000.00 Cost between $1000 and $2000 per year based on used of web meetings  $91,300.00 $148,768.00 Per the details included in the above table, the total costs for all the hardware and software to support the needs for the 173 telecommuters are more than the budgeted amount by $17,629.43 at the lower end and potentially more depending on configuration chosen. Per Xemba Translations CEO, Phuong Wolfing, the costs of the firewall could easily be absorbed into the overall IT budget rather than being accounted for as a project cost. This would imply that the hardware and software costs for the Telecommuter Expansion Project would total to $71,300 and come in under budget. Xemba Translations Senior Management and Stakeholders will need to decide on how to proceed here. Task B3a: Problems Affecting Project Implementation: A summary of three problems that could impact the project are as follows: One: Cost Overrun – Based on the current project status and trend of activities including estimates from the project team of how much more time is needed on the different project tasks, if there are no major changes, the Project will definitely run well over budget and require additional funding in order to be completed. This would mean that there would really need to be an even bigger effort by the new Project Manager to control costs to minimize the cost overruns. Since the planned project duration is 123 days, with 76 days of this project completed, this project should be approximately 62% completed. Till date, the Actual Cost (AC) for labor on the project is only $112,587. Looking at the Cash Flow Report which is part of the Baseline Project Report, it shows that on day 76, the Earned Value (EV) of the project should be around $125,000 with a Percent of Work Complete at approximately 72%. Calculating the Cost Performance Index (CPI) using the EV of $125,000 and AC of $112,587 would give us a value greater than 1.0 (1.12) which would indicate that the project is currently under budget. However, factoring in the new estimates of the amount of work remaining, the Percent of Work Remaining comes in at ~41% which would mean that the project is only 59% completed in terms of tasks. Using the â€Å"% complete† at 59% and the Planned Value (PV or BAC) of $173,329.40 we arrive at an EV of $102,587 with a negative CPI lesser than 1.0 (0.91) indicating a definite cost overrun if something is not done and the project costs are not controlled more tightly moving forward. Two: Schedule Overrun – Based on the current project status and trend of activities, if there are no major changes, the Project will definitely finish well beyond the targeted end date at the end of June in time for the start of the third quarter of the year as expected when the project was approved. This will imply that if Senior Management and Stakeholders of this project are serious on this project being completed in time for the third quarter of the year, then many critical steps will need to be taken to try and mitigate and minimize further project delay. There were many contributing factors leading to the delay. One of the biggest contributing factors for the delay in the project schedu le is the time lost in the pilot tests of the several web-based meetings that were planned and that needed to be re-scheduled due to the weather related power outage experienced in the Midwest. Another factor contributing to delay in the schedule is the procurement delay of the 47 new computers which were delayed by two weeks due to being â€Å"back-ordered. This contributed to a late start of the setup and validation of the 47 new computers for the telecommuters. As discussed in the â€Å"Project Status† section the Schedule Performance Index (SPI) is calculated to be 0.59. Since this value is below 1.0 this indicates  that the project is currently behind schedule and will most likely be completed much behind schedule if the factors contributing to the delay are not mitigated. There will need to be close attention to the items that are in the critical path to see if they can be accelerated to try and minimize delay moving forward. Three: Quality Challenges – The status report for the Telecommuter Expansion project that is included as part of the case study reveals that typically in any IT Project there are many factors which can easily drive down the quality of the solution that is being worked on. In this case for Xemba Translations the Telecommuter Expansion is a project which involves substantial capital investment in information technology infrastructure and the associated complexities of getting the infrastructure setup a nd functional. As with any complex technology solution, the most critical part involves the initial setup and verification of the complex solution especially in all the many edge cases where the solution’s resilience to security attacks and malicious users is tested. Something which is not specific just to this Telecommuter Expansion project is the strain on resources that is usually experienced in an extremely pronounced way when there are schedule related challenges in a project. This project is tremendously behind schedule and there are many important schedule related decisions which will need to be made as part of the overall progress on this project. Another item that absolutely cannot be ignored is the Quality Management of all the moving pieces of the project. For example, this project involves the setup of computers for 173 telecommuters which include setting up document server access for each of them, shared drives, FTP access and the necessary software and hardware to support a web-based meeting environment for each of the 173 telecommuters. While this seems a tall order for a group of 15 project team members, it adds additional strain when all this needs to be accomplished flawlessly when the project is already behind schedule. Typically when there are schedule related pressures, the tendency is to just complete an item without focusing much on quality. Given the technical complexity of the deliverables of this project compounded with the lack of enough resources, there needs to be steps taken to ensure overall quality of all the technical deliverables in the project are maintained at a high level for the successful completion of this project followed with the successful operation of daily activities in Xemba  Translations. Task B3b: Recommendations for Problem Mitigation: The following is a summary of the mitigation steps to address the above mentioned problems that could negatively impact the project. Although the problems that have been encountered thus far cannot be eliminated, moving forward in the project, till completion the same problems can be minimized or mitigated. Based on the current project status, if we the project is on day 76 out of a planned 123 days of project activity and have spent $112K out of a budgeted 173K, then there is a lot of room for tighter fiscal control and cost management. There needs to be processes in place to confirm and authorize the need for additional hours spent on an activity especially if that activity is behind schedule. For example, there has been substantial amount of time spent on the Web-Based Meetings pilot test. This is an activity where bad weather played a role in causing unexpected delays as well as unnecessary hours spent on an activity which yielded no results. Since we cannot turn back the clock here, moving forward on any planned end-to-end testing activity, there needs to be a quick go/no-go call to first discuss readiness for such activity. Also, there needs to be more diligence paid to estimation of task duration. Given that we have an actual track record of how long different task take, the activity can we more tightly estimated and the duration exactly planned for. This not only helps with cost estimation but also helps with scheduling control. As part of due diligence and planning, there can also be a â€Å"best practices review† organized by the Project Manager where the project team reviews best practices for a task that needs to be worked on and accomplished in the effort to further accelerate the rate of progress while also indirectly bringing in completion dates and shortening the schedule where possible. Given the revised estimates of the remaining 1220 hours of work left on the project, there is a great o pportunity to bring in those dates and reduce the hours spent as the same time. Also, authorization can be obtained from Senior Management on the potential of incentivizing the team with spot bonuses if budget can be allotted accordingly, in order to keep certain tight deadlines. This helps the team focus and work together to achieve the common goal. On another note on the topic of hours spent on the project by the project team, a process can be reviewed with the team and  proposals can be made to Senior Management weekly on whether overtime hours for employees who will be working their full 40 hours for the week can be authorized or not. This will not only keep a handle on costs due to overtime-pay, this will also prevent a certain element of â€Å"burnout† within the team where the team would feel overworked. Historically, overworked teams tend to make mistakes and produce low quality deliverables. Hence at all costs, team burnout will need to be avoided which would indir ectly also improve overall quality and team responsiveness. Quality can be very relative and subjective. In order to take out the subjectivity from quality measurement, the team can be asked to work together and come up with tangible metrics to measure the quality of all the technical deliverables that are worked on. This will serve in obtaining an unbiased and tangible view of the progress made on any of the technical deliverables and measure readiness of the solution that is being worked on. In general this same process can be applied to the processes used for setting up the new computers, document servers, shared drives, FTP sites as well as the web-based meeting software environment. Task C: Executive Summary: The Telecommuting Expansion project is well underway. Another Risk Analysis was performed and new risks have been identified and summarized in a Risk Assessment Matrix. A quick summary of the newly identified risks, its impact and strategies for prevention and mitigation are as follows: Description of Risks Impact Strategies for Prevention and Mitigation Widespread security breach due to unauthorized access to sensitive customer informationNegative publicity of the company and loss of credibility in the eyes of existing and potential customers impacting overall businessIdentify and install the latest security software on all telecommuters’ PCs and enforce strict rules for information access including password policy management. Document Server integration challengesThe setup of the environment for the Telecommuters would be delayedThe repetitive process of installation and setup of the document servers can be potentially scripted and semi-automated t o minimize error and reduce time taken. Technical challenges such as power failure and internet connection outagesThe setup of the environment for the Telecommuters would be delayed if either power or internet connection were impacted. To prevent  and mitigate this risk, the telecommuter PCs can be staged and setup in the Xemba Translations office before shipping to the remote location. In the long term budget can be allocated for individual battery backup for the remote PCs Delay in completion of the Telecommuting Expansion projectInadequate resources available to address the increased customer need causing negative publicity of the company.Manage schedules even more tightly monitoring daily progress of tasks and mitigating schedule delays even before it occurs. Perception of impersonal and below par service due to telecommuters Though there is a subjective aspect to this risk it can lead to the loss of very real customers and negative publicityWork with the marketing team to ens ure the message is clear to large customers on the benefits of real-time web based communications and translation services. The project is at day 76 since its inception. There have been some changes to the initial estimates of schedule and costs to the project. The Earned Value Management technique was used to compute some key schedule and budget metrics for comparison and strategic planning of the project. The following table has a summary of key initially planned and revised estimates of the Schedule and Budget items of the project: Schedule/Budget ItemInitially Planned Revised Estimates Duration in Days123 days209 days Duration in Hours2,693 hrs3,008 hrs Personnel Cost$173,329.40$190,471.87 Hardware/Software Cost$73,670.57$71,300.00 Note: There is additional firewall hardware and software cost of $20,000 which will be accounted for in the IT budget per guidance from CEO – Phuong Wolfing instead of being added to the Telecommuting Expansion Project costs. This cost is excluded in the estimates in the above table. In addition to the above revised estimates, an analysis was done on three problems that the project is facing and recommendations were summarized to address and mitigate the problems. The problems that were discussed and summarized in great detail together with recommendations to address the root of the respective problems are as follows: One: Cost Overrun – Based on the current  project status and trend of activities including estimates from the project team of how much more time is needed on the different project tasks, if there are no major changes, the Project will definitely run well over budget and require additional funding in order to be completed. This would mean that there would really need to be an even bigger effort by the new Project Manager to control costs to minimize the cost overruns. Two: Schedule Overrun – Based on the current project status and trend of activities, if there are no major changes, the Project will definitely finish well beyond the targeted end date at the end of June in time for the start of the third quarter of the year as expected when the project was approved. This will imply that if Senior Management and Stakeholders of this project are serious on this project being completed in time for the third quarter of the year, then many critical steps will need to be taken to try and mitigate and minimize further project delay. Three: Quality Challenges – The status report for the Telecommuter Expansion project that is included as part of the case study reveals that typically in any IT Project there are many factors which can easily drive down the quality of the solution that is being worked on. In this case for Xemba Tran slations the Telecommuter Expansion is a project which involves substantial capital investment in information technology infrastructure and the associated complexities of getting the infrastructure setup and functional. As with any complex technology solution, the most critical part involves the initial setup and verification of the complex solution especially in all the many edge cases where the solution’s resilience to security attacks and malicious users is tested. Given the technical complexity of the deliverables of this project compounded with the lack of enough resources, there needs to be steps taken to ensure overall quality of all the technical deliverables in the project are maintained at a high level for the successful completion of this project followed with the successful operation of daily activities in Xemba Translations. Although the problems that have been encountered thus far cannot be eliminated, moving forward in the project, till completion the same prob lems can be minimized or mitigated. The recommendations to address the problems facing the project are as follows: Authorization for additional work: There needs to be processes in place to confirm and authorize the need for additional hours spent on an activity especially if that activity is  behind schedule. Since we cannot turn back the clock here and undo any issues already experienced, moving forward on any planned end-to-end testing activity, there needs to be a quick go/no-go call to first discuss readiness for such activity. Accuracy of Task Estimation with Best Practices: Also, there needs to be more diligence paid to estimation of task duration. Given that we have an actual track record of how long different task take, the activity can we more tightly estimated and the duration exactly planned for. This not only helps with cost estimation but also helps with scheduling control. As part of due diligence and planning, there can also be a â€Å"best practices review† organized by the Project Manager whe re the project team reviews best practices for a task that needs to be worked on and accomplished in the effort to further accelerate the rate of progress while also indirectly bringing in completion dates and shortening the schedule where possible Motivate Project Team through incentives: Also, authorization can be obtained from Senior Management on the potential of incentivizing the team with spot bonuses if budget can be allotted accordingly, in order to keep certain tight deadlines. This helps the team focus and work together to achieve the common goal. Manage Overtime Pay and â€Å"Burnout†: On another note, on the topic of hours spent on the project by the project team, a process can be reviewed with the team and proposals can be made to Senior Management weekly on whether overtime hours for employees who will be working their full 40 hours for the week can be authorized or not. This will not only keep a handle on costs due to overtime-pay, this will also prevent a cert ain element of â€Å"burnout† within the team where the team would feel overworked. Quality Assurance Metrics: Quality can be very relative and subjective. In order to take out the subjectivity from quality measurement, the team can be asked to work together and come up with tangible metrics to measure the quality of all the technical deliverables that are worked on. This will serve in obtaining an unbiased and tangible view of the progress made on any of the technical deliverables and measure readiness of the solution that is being worked on. With all of the above listed recommendations in place this would not only pave the way for the successful completion of the Telecommuting Expansion Project but set a very bold precedent within Xemba Translations as to what to do and what not to do in a project. The successful completion of the Telecommuting Expansion Project  would set a strong foundation for Xemba Translations to handle the additional business that is forecasted starting in Q3.

Blood clots Essay Example for Free

Blood clots Essay Choose cite format: APA MLA Harvard Chicago ASA IEEE AMA Blood clots are also known as the thrombus which is the result of blood coagulation step in hemostasis. Blood clots are formed through platelets’ aggression which makes a platelet plug and the stimulation of the humoral coagulation system. Blood clots noted as a pathologic in terms of thrombosis but then it is physiologic in terms of injury. Thrombus signifies blood clotting in the intact blood vessels. It is a big blood vessel that reduces blood flow via that vessel. Moreover, in the case of small blood vessel, the blood movement might totally stop which may cause death of tissue which provided by the said vessel. If the thrombus extricates and turns out to be free-floating, it becomes an embolus. There are several conditions in which blood clots form which involve atrial fibrillation which is a cardiac arrhythmia’s formation, heart valve replacement, extension periods of inactivity, a previous heart attack and genetic inadequacies (see â€Å"Thrombus†. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. October 11, 2006). Blood clots’ preventions may decrease the possibility of pulmonary embolism, heart attack and stroke. Warfarin and heparin are frequently used to slow and restrain formation and progress of prevailing blood clots which permit our body to decrease and suspend the blood clots by means of usual methods. A thrombus is distinct from haematoma by means of: >being non-laminar >being elastic and brittle > has a high haematocrit >lacks of circulation (see â€Å"Thrombus†. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. October 11, 2006). The purposes of this study are to: (1) know what blood clots are; (2) be aware on how blood clots do form and; (3) learn how blood clots treated. II. Discussion A. About Blood Clots If the blood vessels are destroyed, the lack of blood from the system should be suspended before â€Å"shock† occurs and may possibly leads patient’s death. It is achieved through the blood’s solidification and the said process is termed as coagulation or clotting. Blood clots comprise of a plug of platelets entangled in a group of insoluble fibrin molecules (see â€Å"Blood Clotting†. June 4, 2005). Moreover, blood clots are the misery and pest of the existence of human beings. The can create strokes and heart attacks and they suspend blood supply to an individual’s legs. Many physicians denote this process as thrombosis. Several scientists have extensive researched for a period of time regarding the vascular biology which has an intention to stop thrombosis and cure its consequences yet it continuously serves as a culprit for death causes. Approximately in the past five years, the Mayo cardiovascular researchers continually widened their investigations regarding the vascular biology after they found out that thrombosis formed through interaction of cells exist in the vessel wall and in the circulation of the bloodstream. Dr. Simari stated that: â€Å"The major focus of our lab is to understand the biological process that narrows blood vessels, both in arthrosclerosis and in re- stenosis. Our aim is to take the biological clues that we learn from our research and use them to generate biological markers and treatments that can predict, prevent and treat thrombosis at the site of vascular injury (see â€Å"The Biology of Blood Clots†. Mayo Clinic’s Online Research Magazine. 2006). In addition, the blood clots develop even if an individual does not experience injury. Even though majority of the blood clots have a tendency to suspend, there are circumstances in which blood clots can create medical dilemmas. Blood clots turn out to be risky if they block blood movement via artery or vein. If the blood clot prevents or deters the blood movement to an artery in the brain or heart, it may lead to stroke or heart attack. Blood clots can deter, too, the veins and arteries in our entire body which cause illnesses like varicose veins to serious pulmonary embolism. The picture below illustrates the formation of blood clot (see â€Å"Blood Clots†. HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006). B. How blood clots do form? The cells which line inside the layer of blood vessel becomes injured which is instigated by a wound. The blood platelets automatically go directly to the injured area and connect themselves with the intention to close of the wound. Look at the picture below (see â€Å"How do blood clots form? March 11, 2004). Platelets clump together and the clothing process begins The platelets discharge a chemical substance which draw and bring together more platelets to the injured area. In the meantime, other substances are mix with platelets to create and develop a blood clot. This process is named as coagulation. Fibrin is released. Fibrin describes as a thread-like protein which aids the stabilization of the clot in the blood vessel. The picture below shows how blood clot forms and fibrin stabilizes clot (see â€Å"How do blood clots form? March 11, 2004). Additionally, blood clot can be developed too through gradual increase of plaque inside the artery-an example for this is the atherosclerosis- or other illnesses. Any vein or artery may possibly experience and form blood clots inside our body which include the coronary arteries that provide the heart with blood, the arteries which provide the brain with blood-an example for this is the carotid arteries, and the veins in the legs. As mentioned earlier, blood clots can also be dangerous if will it develop inside in any of these arteries: ? The pulmonary artery passes through from the heart to the lungs. Obstruction in this artery is named as a pulmonary embolism and may create a great damage in the lungs and in several circumstances, may lead to death. This is because of the abnormal heart pulse which is termed as atrial fibrillation or through a peripheral venous disorder inside the veins of the legs-an example is the deep vein thrombosis. ? One of the coronary arteries that can be found on the heart’s surface and provide the heart muscle with new, oxygen-rich blood. The obstruction of the coronary arteries may possibly cause a heart attack. In this condition, blood clots normally develop as a reaction to the plaque rupture that happens if a plaque piles up inside the coronary artery fractures’ wall, which initiate blood clotting. ? The carotid arteries that is located in the neck and provide the brain with oxygen-rich blood. Obstruction may possibly initiate a stroke-an example for this is the transient ischemic attack. ? The femoral artery which is located in the leg. Obstruction may instigate pain like claudication, absence of color’s area, weakness and when this is not cured, infection like gangrene and tissue death like necrosis. An artery can be located in the abdomen. Obstruction may create diarrhea, vomiting or pain (â€Å"Blood Clots†. HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006). C. how blood clots treated Several physicians cure blood clots with several procedures. Treatments like anticoagulants that aid to prevent blood clots and clot busters that aid to suspend blood clots. In some serious circumstances, physicians may possibly decide to use for a catheter-based procedure which utilize a long, thin tube named as catheter or even decide for a surgery to take off the clot-thrombectomy. Moreover, there are maybe devices that need to be implanted in particular blood vessels in order to catch blood clots before there will be more injury happened (see â€Å"Blood Clots†. HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006). C. 1 Treatment options for blood clots The option in treating blood clots is a case to case basis whether the clot has developed in an artery or a vein and creates stroke or heart attack. During emergencies, thrombolytic treatments-clot busters- may possibly used to suspend the blood clot. These treatments are applied to some selected patients in accordance to an extensive protocol. In order to be efficient, they are provided no less than one hour of the heart attack or in three hours of the stroke. Thrombolytics are normally applied when there are huge clots which cause severe and life-threatening signs. These can create abrupt and unexpected bleeding. There are many invasive methods that can also be used. One of these is the catheter-directed thrombolysis. It is a method which the catheter proc\vides thrombolytic enzymes straight to the blood clot. Throughout this process, greater enzymes’ concentrations could be utilized and may possibly have lesser side effects compared when the enzymes are supplied subcutaneously no less than two days. Thrombolytic method is followed by a treatment that has anticoagulants to stop more blood clots from formation. Anticoagulants could be advised to patients that have great risk of a blood clot. Researchers are really trying very hard to different catheter-based procedures to cure stroke rapidly. One of the experimental procedures which included is the use of a tiny â€Å"corkscrew† device which rapidly reverses the injury created by a stroke. The said device is directed to where the blood clot is; where it removes the obstruction. Another procedure depends on a special laser catheter which utilizes light energy to suspend rapidly the blood clot. These latest therapies can be accessible to a patient that cannot bear clot-busting drugs (see â€Å"Treatment options for blood. † Blood Clot, HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006). Furthermore, when a blood clot develops in a leg vein, there is a risk that a pulmonary embolism will form. A pulmonary embolism may possibly be a life-threatening in which blood clots break away from its location and passes through the bloodstream and stay in one of the blood vessels of the lungs. To avoid and stop a pulmonary embolism, the present blood clots in the legs may cured with a mixture of heat, thrombolytics, painkilling treatments, elevation of the injured area to lessen swelling and anticoagulants. This procedure relies on the clot’s size and the seriousness of any current symptoms. When a patient does not react to anticoagulants, the physicians will decide for a process which uses a catheter having a special device named as vena cava filter. The vena cava filter is inserted in the large vein which transports blood from the legs up to the heart and lungs (vena cava). Additionally, the vena cava filter is a kind of a device which catches blood clots within the vein before the blood clots are permitted to reach the lungs. However, there are several danger related with vena cava filters which comprise failure of the filter in terms of time and blood clots created by means of it. Many researchers really work on in improving the vena cava filters which can be withdrawn right after the medication of pulmonary embolism. There are researches that substantiated and confirmed that treatment in a longer period of time along with a low-does anticoagulant drugs aids in stopping the presence of blood clots amongst those patients who have background of vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism (see â€Å"Treatment options for blood. † Blood Clot, HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006). C. 2 Diagnosis methods There are several ways on how to diagnose blood clots. It starts with a medical background and physical test. When there is suspension of clot, several of examinations are utilized to substantiate the diagnosis and these include Doppler ultrasound, CAT scan and MRI: *Doppler ultrasound pertains to an imaging technology which utilizes sound or motion waves to give visual images of the structure and of several blood vessels and organs in our body (see â€Å"Diagnosis methods for blood clots†. Blood clots, HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006). * CAT scan refers to computer axial tomography. It is an examination which utilizes a number of x-rays which got from different sides in order to give a computerized three-dimensional image of a body shape (see â€Å"Diagnosis methods for blood clots†. Blood clots, HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006). *MRI means magnetic resonance imaging which is a noninvasive examination that utilizes magnetic fields to give high-resolution cross- sectional or three-dimensional visual images of the aimed surface (see â€Å"Diagnosis methods for blood clots†. Blood clots, HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006). References 1. â€Å"Thrombus†. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. October 11, 2006. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Blood_clot 2. â€Å"Blood Clotting†. June 4, 2005. http://users. rcn. com/jkimball. ma. ultranet/BiologyPages/C/Clotting. html 3. â€Å"Blood Clots†. HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006. http://heart. healthcentersonline. com/bloodclot/bloodclots. cfm 4. â€Å"The Biology of Blood Clots†. Mayo Clinic’s Online Research Magazine. 2006. http://discoverysedge. mayo. edu/vascular_biology/ 5. â€Å"How do blood clots form? March 11, 2004. http://www. innohepusa. com/corporateweb/innohepus/home. nsf/Content/Howdoclotsform. 6. â€Å"Treatment options for blood. † Blood Clot, HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006. http://heart. healthcentersonline. com/bloodclot/bloodclots7. cfm 7. â€Å"Diagnosis methods for blood clots†. Blood clots, HeartCenterOnline. May 9, 2006. http://heart. healthcentersonline. com/bloodclot/bloodclots6. cfm Blood clots. (2016, Aug 08).

Everything You Know About Leadership Is Wrong Assignment

Everything You Know About Leadership Is Wrong - Assignment Example The author also argues that the trainings are inefficient because they fail to include employees in the sessions yet she considers this to be essential for leadership to be successful. Ryan argues that the elimination of the fear of the leader in a group, the use of technology, and the improvement of human relations in organizations leads to successful teamwork and leadership (3). The topic that Ryan discusses is related to leadership styles that include authoritative, free rein, and participative (Lewin Slide 16). The author discourages the authoritative leadership style that is the one where the leader dictates what members of a team are supposed to do or not do. This is because this style of leadership is bureaucratic and it creates fear among workers. When workers fear the leader, this leads to the inefficiency of a team because it consequently leads to lack of trust between the leader and the followers. The author, however, does not point out anything about free rein, which is the style where the leader delegates all functions to the team members. In this style, the leader endorses decisions that are made by the followers without objections (Shriberg et al 70). The author encourages the participative leadership style that is the one where the leader involves members in making all decisions. When there is training, leaders and followers are involved so that they can discuss issues as a group. This helps to reduce fear and create trust among the members of a team (Ryan 3). This topic is also related to the human relations style of management that is the one where managers cater for the needs of employees before any other needs. The consideration of employee’s wants before others leads to efficiency in the performance of work, which consequently improves the performance of companies. This topic is also related to the subject about the stages of teams and their dysfunctions. Ryan argues

Education, African American males Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Education, African American males - Essay Example Approaches There are many approaches through which studies on this trend where only a small percentage of the community bothers with higher education can be carried. One is the based on Emile Durkheim’s functionalist approach to the study of society (Poggi, 2000). Durkheim pointed out that institutions in the society played specific roles and became redundant once these roles became outdated or overtaken by events (Poggi, 2000). Higher education to the African-American was historically a preserve of the Caucasians hence the reason why some African-Americans still regarded it as alien and serving no real purpose in their lives. This could have accounted for their apathy towards education in the early days though this situation is gradually changing (Poggi, 2000). There were limited opportunities in the early days for the African Americans whose only employment was in the form of domestic and farm work hence there was no real need for advanced level of education for them. Conseq uently they developed the attitude that only basic education was necessary for them. With this came the latent factor, the blacks began regarding education as alien and part of their education. This formed the basis of their indifference towards education (Baird, & Walter, 2008). This situation only changed when the liberation movements of the early 20th century resulted in more opportunities for the blacks.

Discuss these questions for The United Nation Environments Program ( Essay

Discuss these questions for The United Nation Environments Program ( UNEP ) - Essay Example The operations in crucial matters such as Economics, Industry, and Technology are made more favorable by situating their major offices in Paris and Geneva. Any organization, no matter the size, must have key stakeholders (Shafritz & Ott, 1996). In the same way, UNEP has major actors in its daily operations, which ensure that the ecosystem of the organization favors the objectives and that all the goals are fully achieved. UNEP’s comparative advantage lies in working with technical and scientific communities; in monitoring and assessing, as well as linking to environment ministries. The Committee of Permanent Representatives and the Governing Council, who are the chief formal governance mechanisms, meet on a regular basis to give adequate guidance and oversight. There are a few challenges that the environment presents to UNEP. The worst of all are the environmental disasters. Developmental and economic operations interact with components of the habitats and may probably cause the changing patterns of activities; creating severe environmental and natural phenomena (Tompkins, 2004).This is a major challenge to the UNEP as it may not be in a position to handle natural calamities, which are harmful to both the ecosystem and to human beings. Human behavior is another factor of the environment that challenges this organization. They are directly linked to various trends, such as population growth, increase in poverty, unwise land use, disturbance of initially stable ecosystems, and environmental degradation. Such factors exposed to the environment may be a big problem for UNEP to handle within a short period of time. The environment is still at the margin of socio-economic growth. Excessive consumption and poverty continue putting heavy pressure to UNEP, especially in places where awareness and action are not coordinated

How have low cost airlines affected the development of the aviation Research Paper

How have low cost airlines affected the development of the aviation industry - Research Paper Example The seemingly bright future of these carriers poses interesting questions in regards to what effect they have and will have on the whole aviation industry. America’s Southwest Airlines and Europe’s Ryanair both offer the best examples of low cost carriers that have transformed the airline industry in the regions they operate. This paper will analyse the effects that the low cost airlines have on the development of the aviation industry. The Southwest Effect Short Background In the American aviation industry Southwest is the fastest growing airline having been established back in 1971 with just 3 aircrafts. Today is has about 540 aircrafts (all of which are Boeing 737s) which form the most modern flee in the world. This airline has an unbeaten profit record in the American industry of 17 consecutive years when considering all the quarters of every financial year till 2008 first quarterly report (Southwest 2011). Southwest also boasts of a customer base of more than 85 mi llion per year which is more than that of Delta, American and United airlines. It is notably in the high-end competition due to its low fares, quality of customer service and on-time arrivals. Its major and direct competitors are JetBlue, Air Trans and others like Delta. Due to its low cost model of operations the airline spends 50 to 70 percent less than the major carriers in the same market (Stevenson 2008). This hugely explains the low fares, high quality of service, huge fleet of modern aircrafts and long profitability streak. In essence the Southwest Effect is described using three principles. These principles translate to the major impacts that low cost airlines have on the industry. The first is that with the presence of Southwest Airlines in a market, passenger numbers will increase. This is dictated by the fact that the airline brings in competition especially in ticket prices thereby attracting more customers. The second is that competing airports to those that Southwest o perates in witness a decrease in passenger traffic (Nigel, David & George 2003). The third is that Southwest brings in more competition in a market or route which forces competing airlines to lower their fares in order to remain competitive in their segment. On many occasions when an airline starts serving a new route it begins by offering low fares to attract customers. After some time these airlines adjust their fares upwards to level up with competitors’. However, this is not the case with Southwest Airlines which starts by offering low fares and maintains them as such (Doring 2009). This is a major pricing behaviour depicted by Southwest in comparison with its airlines. When Southwest enters a new route it not only results in lower fares from competitors but also increased Passenger per Day Each Way (PDEW). The following graph shows how fares generally decreased as passenger traffic increased between some of the most active years in the American airline industry; Fares an d passenger traffic (Robinson, 2009) The graph below shows the percentage of change in the market that Southwest operates which shows that almost all reduced their fares for both leisure and business travels. Percentage of change in the market that Southwest operates (Robinson, 2009) Deregulation The airline industry in the United States received a complete turnaround soon after the low cost airlines started emerging.

Exam Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Exam Questions - Essay Example Line managers maintain the arduous role of ensuring that employees are achieving performance targets, focusing on proper planning, scheduling and generic supervision to ensure compliance to corporate policies. However, when line managers take on the role of providing HR assistance, they become much more psychologically involved with employees to improve their dedication and motivation. Consider an organisation with a structured production system governed by traditional line management. In the role of HR provider, the line manager goes beyond the work schedule and efficiency measurement, becoming a strategic partner with the human resources division to create value rather than merely productivity. Research in human resources identifies that employee empowerment is one of the most fundamental methods of gaining their commitment and motivation. Empowerment strategies give employees more flexibility in taking active roles in corporate decision-making, thus giving employees a perception o f control and prestige within the organisation. According to Yusoff (2008) when employees are granted more authority, it becomes easier in the long-run to ensure discipline and control. Line managers have the most frequent contact with employees and thus act as the intermediary for team development. Line management has more intimate knowledge of employees’ attitudes, lifestyle preferences and skills capabilities than that of the HR manager due to their close proximity in the production (or non-production) environments. This gives line managers a unique ability to utilise many different HR theories to ensure that they become more like coaches or mentors than simply authoritative line managers to assist in developing employees’ core competencies. For instance, in a production environment, there is a constant demand for change. Change comes in the form of new technology implementation or systems process restructuring in order to meet cost or strategic-based performance or output goals. The line manager acting as an HR facilitator can become more active in training provision, giving employees hands-on tacit knowledge that can be transferred for better organisational learning and knowledge exchange. According to Bambacas and Bordia (2009, p.225) when training is provided that is perceived as being non-transferrable to another business, it becomes too costly for the employee to leave in pursuit of different employment. Traditionally, the HR manager handles the process of developing and implementing training packages. However, when involving the line manager, the management team can provide a distinctly different element to ensuring employees have the knowledge and skills to accept and embrace changes in the work environment. Line managers hold intimate knowledge of the systems that drive organisational productivity and can thus take this self-contained, tacit knowledge and disseminate it directly through concrete and applied training; something not ach ievable with the HR manager who is not personally familiar with operational systems. The line manager empowers employees, establishing a sense of group belonging in the team, constantly reinforcing that uniqueness of the training packages to gain a psychological advantage over employees. By using both line

Immigration in the United States Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Immigration in the United States - Research Paper Example The United States is unable to regularly review its policies on immigration as it is often a thorny political issue especially during the elections (Immigration in the United States, 1). Initially, immigration in the US was majorly European (due to industrialization) followed by the Chinese who arrived after the discovery of gold in California. Much of the current legislation on immigration in the US is based on family unification and some of the rules that have been put in place to deal with illegal immigration include sanctions, fines and penalties for employers who knowingly employ illegal immigrants, stricter border surveillance and enforcement and legalization of unauthorized immigrants who have been residents for five years and over. However, these measures alone are unable to keep out illegal immigrants and so other laws are constantly introduced (such as those that allow arrests, detentions, deportations, stricter penalties for immigration related crimes, barring chances of legal re-entry for illegal immigrants, tracking foreign visitors and denying access to federal public benefits) and the current legislations often amended (Immigration in the United State s, 1). New regulations make it easier for persons with superior US degrees in fields such as science, math and engineering to acquire work visas. Following the 9/11 attacks, units such as the CBP monitor entry and punishes illegal entry at ports, the ICE oversees things such as detentions and removals and the USCIS determines applications, petitions, asylum and refugee requests, among other functions. New stricter rules in the aftermath of these attacks mean tighter border inspections, tracking of foreign born personnel in the US, more stringent visa screening, prohibited issuance of driver’s license to illegal persons and expanded grounds for one to be refused admission, removed or declared fit for asylum/ protection. In addition, collaboration with foreign governments and

Ebonics dialect Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Ebonics dialect - Research Paper Example The better understanding of a language does not come through following the strict rules that prescribes how the grammar and structure of the language should be applied. The understanding of language clearly sets in, when the learners â€Å"choose not to follow the prescriptive usage† (Curzan, 870). There is dispute on the fact that learning to apply the rules of Standard English language is essential, most especially considering that it is the formal and official language that is applied in business meetings, news reading and in different other global social and political platforms. In addition, the education, general publications and any other formal documents also apply Standard English (Curzan, 873). Thus, there is no doubt that there is a need for learners to understand the application of the Standard English, if they are to become effective communicators beyond their current classroom contexts. However, while teaching the Standard English language, it is only essential th at it is not applied as the standard of measure against which other non-standard or derivative English languages should compare their grammar and sentence structure. This position has been advanced by Anne Curzan, who argues that it would certainly be wrong pretending that â€Å"written Standard English is above question† (Curzan, 871). This essay, then, aims to emphasize that it is the social perception, as opposed to the inherent superiority of a language, that gives language its meaning. According to David Wallace, the essence of a language rests in its prevalence over everything and its applicability everywhere, such that the grammar purists, whom he also refers to as snoots, have a more glorious moment than the computer nerds (Wallace, 48). This argument serves to drive to the point that language derives its meaning from its applicability, more than from the actual fact that it is a superior or inferior language. Therefore, Wallace then holds that the application of

Facebook and Privacy Essay Example for Free

Facebook and Privacy Essay Objective Summary: Ex-Apple Engineer, Peter Warden, has collected public fan page data from 215 million Facebook pages, revealing current trends, such as ‘God’ being the number one most popular fan page among Facebook users in the Southern U.S., whereas ‘Barack Obama’ featured heavily for San Francisco users, and ‘Starbucks’ was number one in Idaho. Warden plans to release this data to the academic community because he sees great potential in the data that can be extracted from these sites. This process is called data harvesting. The article suggests future academic work in this area is likely to occu impacting on peoples privacy. (FACTS 100 words) Response: The ETHICAL issue central to this article is privacy and control. On one hand, Warden claims his intentions are altruistic (helpful to others) and that the data he is making visible here is a matter of public discourse. However, the FACTS are that individual users who are generating this data have neither been consulted about the data collection nor have they given permission for Warden to use it. Clearly Warden does not VALUE others peoples privacy as much as he WANTS (emotion) to create the website. The argument could be made that once a user ‘becomes a fan’ of a page on Facebook or, indeed, publishes any content to the internet, that information becomes public. User who have deployed privacy settings to carefully maintain a strong sense of control over their profiles, however, might well feel very ANGRY about this use of their data. Facebook can harvest that data (and does, for targeted advertising purposes) because they have a commitment to those advertisers (emotion )and engineers like Warden can develop data-trawling engines to collect accessible information across a massive dataset. The LAW needs to be much clearer about the rights of consumers, companies and advertisers in these situations. As Facebook is presumably bound by its own set of critically considered ETHICAL guidelines, these are neverthess underpinned by commercial VALUES and a vested interest (emotion) in keeping the data of its users from competitors. Warden claims to be operating under his own set of ethics that privilege (value) the furthering of knowledge. The issue then shifts to the academic community. Warden contends that one of his central motivations for collecting this data was so that he could share it with the academic community. Although this claim may be true, most (if not, all) Universities have clear ETHICAL guidelines for research that explicitly VALUE and therefore require consent from participants. If none of the users gave consent for their data to be collected in this way, this in effect denies them a sense of AGENCY. Thus, academically, this data is tainted. While its implications are important the trends it makes visible are crucial to understanding the localised structures of social network sites like Facebook. Personally, I would believe people should be able to tick a box that gives consent for the use of their personal material. I do not believe, either, that it should be one of those boxes you are obliged to tick before being able to use a site: that removes my personal AGENCY and I VALUE this very much. It should be up to me to decide whether other people get my data. If this sort of system was in place, everyone would know the FACTS, everyone would understand what is going on and no one would feel (emotion) betrayed or exposed unfairly.

An Analysis of Relationships in The Kite Runner Essay Example for Free

An Analysis of Relationships in The Kite Runner Essay â€Å"In the Kite Runner, relationships between fathers and sons are never joyful†. What do you think of this view? After having read the statement, my initial thoughts were that of course, at some point in the novel, relationships between fathers and sons were happy and full of joy, though after more consideration, I have decided that I agree with the statement, as, even in jubilant moments, the foundations of the relationships are built on lies and deceit, darkening the meaning of the temporarily- found happiness. An example of this would be the relationship between Ali and Hassan who seemingly had a very strong relationship, in which Ali was proud of the person his son was slowly becoming and cherished him dearly, as if his presence simply made the world a better place- â€Å"he had found his joy, his antidote, the moment Sanaubar had given birth to Hassan†. This suggests that, despite the fact we later learn that Ali isn’t Hassan’s paternal father, he has loved him as if he were his own from the very moment he was born, raising him as his own. The extent of Ali’s love is masked, however, by the fact that he lied to his ‘son’ his entire life, something some would claim to be selfish as he wanted to retain an ounce of self-respect, to have something he could call his own and, finally, to actually have a child, as he wouldn’t be able to have one any other way, due to his being sterile. On the other hand, some may say that of course, some of the happier relationships in the novel are purely and simply that: joyous relationships with no ulterior motive or reasoning. For example, the relationship between Hassan and Sohrab, in which it is completely obvious that Hassan would have done anything for his son, whilst being totally honest with him so as not to keep anything from him which may have tainted their lives together in anyway, other than his experience in the alley; omitted in order to allow hi son to maintain his innocence a while longer, in a world where it would surely be taken from him too early anyway. Hassan yearned for his son to be given the best opportunities in life, so as not to be a servant his whole life- â€Å"taught him to read and write- his son was not going to grow up illiterate like he had.†

Risks and Returns of Initial Public Offerings (IPOs)

Risks and Returns of Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) ASSESSMENT OF RISKS AND RETURNS OF INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERINGS (IPOs) ISSUED IN HONG KONG VERSUS CHINA CHAPTER 1 ABSTRACT This dissertation was designed to focus on an assessment of the risks and returns of the initial public offerings (IPOs) issued in Hong Kong versus China. In recent years, Chinas stock market has experienced phenomenal growth with a record of US$62 billion raised in 140 IPOs in 2006, more than that raised in the United States of US$48 billion.1 The growth of Chinas economy continues to fuel the expectations that this trend of strong IPO growth would continue and that Chinese firms would increasingly pursue listings in the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges to tap international investors for their fund raising requirements. A recent example of a Chinese firm doing an IPO was China Railways Construction which issued US$3.1 billion in an IPO in February 2008.2 The key rationale in pursuing this research was that it would give an understanding of the key differences between listings in the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges, particularly in relation to risks and performance (i.e. returns). Based on the statistical analysis of the existing information, there was no marked difference seen in the performance of the IPOs of the mainland Chinese firms in the Hong Kong Exchange versus the performance of the overall exchange (represented by the Hang Seng index). The data availability limited the statistical analysis primarily to the IPO information from the Hong Kong Exchange. The assessment of the risks and performance of the IPOs in the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges led to the following conclusions: (1) Hong Kong is favoured overseas exchange for dual listing of mainland Chinese firms, (2) there is strong uncertainty in listing in the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and (3) interest in China is strong and investors can be tapped through an overseas listing. For the mainland Chinese firms that will be issuing their IPOs, the following are the recommendations resulting from the dissertation: pursue a dual listing, list in the Hong Kong Exchange for the overseas exchange listing, and manage the timing of the IPO. Finally, for further research work, the following are the recommended steps that can be taken to develop the issues in greater detail and address other related concerns: pursue comparison of long-term performance of IPOs, compare the options available for mainland Chinese firms in terms of their IPOs, and assess IPO performance across other factors (such as size of firms, sector of firms, and extent of local versus global breakdown of the business). CHAPTER 2 RESEARCH AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The dissertation had two key research questions which were addressed during the research. These research questions guided the research design and methodology of the dissertation. The two research questions were: 1. How have the firms listing in Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges performed since their IPOs, and what risks did these firms face in their listings? 2. How have the IPOs in Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges performed compared to each other and also in relation to regional and global competitors? The rest of this section discusses these research questions in greater detail. 2.1 PERFORMANCE SINCE IPO OF CHINESE AND HONG KONG LISTINGS AND RISKS FACED BY FIRMS The dissertation sought to determine the performance since IPO of Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchange listings, and the risks faced by the firms listing in these exchanges. The research aims and objectives for this part of the dissertation focused on the following:  · Assess the performance of the listings in the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges. This assessment focused on how listings have performed in the stock exchanges of Hong Kong and China. This gave an indication of the performance of the stocks which were listed through an IPO, and provided an opportunity to analyse the differences, in terms of performance, in listing between the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges.  · Determine the risks faced by firms pursuing an IPO through the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges. Another objective pursued in this dissertation was determining and understanding the risks that IPOs of firms listing in China and Hong Kong faced. As options have expanded in terms of the location where firms can list in, firms consider various factors in deciding on the best stock exchange for the listing of their IPO to be done. The different options also need to be assessed in terms of the risks that the firms are exposed to by listing in these exchanges. Understand other factors that have affected performance and risks of firms. The recent developments in the financial markets brought on as an impact by the US subprime markets have also affected the performance of recent listings not only in the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges but also in other stock exchanges as well. These factors and the impact these factors have had on the performance of recent IPOs in the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges were also identified and presented in this dissertation.  · Analyse issues using quantitative and qualitative analysis. In pursuing the assessment of the points above, this dissertation pursued both a quantitative and a qualitative approach to ensure that the research methods provided a complementary approach. This was also designed to ensure that the inputs to the analysis had a robust basis with the assessment of performance and risks based off actual quantitative results supported by input from industry practitioners and their observations. 2.2 ASSESSMENT OF IPO PERFORMANCE BETWEEN CHINA AND HONG KONG STOCK EXCHANGES AND VERSUS OTHER STOCK EXCHANGES The assessment of the performance of the IPOs was reviewed by comparing the performance of the IPOs of the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges. In addition, these were also compared versus the performance of IPOs in selected regional and also global stock exchanges to give an indication of the relative performance of the IPOs in these different exchanges. The research aims and objectives of this part of the dissertation were the following:  · Assess objectively the performance of the IPOs in the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges versus selected regional and global stock exchanges. This assessment was conducted using the performance data of selected firms in these exchanges to provide an indication of their relative performances. Thus, the dissertation sought to expand on the initial issue raised on the performance and risks of IPOs between Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges. This provided an added viewpoint into how different the performances of the IPOs have been in these exchanges.  · Understand factors and issues affecting the relative performances of the IPOs. With the differences in the performances of IPOs identified in the previous point, the dissertation sought to analyse the factors affecting these differences. This assessment was important as it provided the opportunity to pursue further research of the issues, resulting in increased understanding of factors affecting the performance of the IPOs in these stock exchanges. These two points above were the key research objectives in assessing the performance of the IPOs of the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges versus the IPOs of other selected regional and global stock exchanges. CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH RATIONALE There were several key reasons identified as to the rationale behind pursuing this dissertation. This section discusses the research rationale first from an academic research point of view and then, second, from a personal point of view of the researcher in terms of the benefits achieved in completing the dissertation. From an academic research point of view, the following were the key reasons identified:  · Drive decision for location of IPO for firms listing in stock exchanges: The results of the research could be utilised in forming a decision as to the location of a firms IPO. With greater transparency of the performance and risks in listing in China versus listing in Hong Kong, firms now have further factors to include in building a decision for the location of a firms IPO. This point is particularly relevant for mainland China firms which are looking to tap international overseas investors for their IPO and are considering various options for their action.  · Provide alternative options and thought processes for firms considering their IPOs: The results of the dissertation also provide firms pursuing an IPO in China or Hong Kong further basis for possibly considering other options outside of China or Hong Kong, given the points raised in the findings and analysis section. For example, firms now are not limited only to the thinking pursuing the funding of Chinese firms is best achieved by tapping both the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges for a dual listing as this gives Chinese firms best access to the funding capability of international investors.  · Push stock exchanges to manage more effectively the marketing of their products and services: The dissertation also benefits the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges as this dissertation provides the stock exchanges the basis and the opportunity to revisit their product and service offerings, and ensure that their marketing properly addresses the requirements of Chinese firms in capital markets financing. The review of the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges versus its regional and global peers also provide the stock exchanges an objective assessment of performance levels relative to each other. On a personal level, the dissertation also benefited the research considerably, and also lends further basis to providing a strong rationale for completing the dissertation. The key personal reasons for the researcher in pursuing this dissertation, aside from completing school requirements, include the following:  · Improve knowledge and expertise of researcher. The dissertation was very specific in the research questions addressed and the research issues to be assessed. Thus, the researchers knowledge in these specific academic and business areas were considerably enhanced with the conduct and completion of the dissertation, including the pur suit of in-depth research and the structuring of questions and issues for the dissertation. The understanding of the issues in this dissertation will be very helpful to the researcher as other challenges are faced in an academic and business setting.  · Build project management skills. The dissertation provided the researcher the opportunity to build on project management skills as well given the extent of the period and the different aspects required in completing the dissertation, or project. This skill will be very beneficial to the researcher particularly once this is utilised in the business world where the ability to manage projects, as well as multi-task, is appreciated. The two points above provided further rationale to the pursuit of the completion of this dissertation, and gave the researcher strong reasons for undertaking the dissertation in addition to the given benefit of completing a requirement for school. CHAPTER 4 LITERATURE REVIEW The issue of performance and risks in issuing IPOs in exchanges has been analysed in various research works and there is a relatively comprehensive research work that can form the basis of further research work. For example, assessments of the performance of IPOs of stock exchanges have been done in a number of exchanges already. One research in particular focused on an assessment of the long-term performance of the IPOs of Europes new stock markets.3 The research works focusing on the issue of IPO performance are expected to continue to be of importance to the academic finance community given the debate which goes on relating to the near-term abnormal returns of IPOs and their long-term underperformance. The focus of this dissertation is a comparison and assessment of the performance and risks of IPOs issued in Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges. This research differs in other bodies of academic work in that this specific research issue has not been addressed directly. Certainly, the existing literature and academic research provides a preliminary path and approach in resolving the key research questions defined at the beginning of this dissertation paper. In reviewing the related literature on the assessment of risks and performance of IPOs in Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges, a number of consistent themes were noted as predominant in the research works. In order to assess the themes which may have contrasting supporting research, these themes are presented below and form the structure for the rest of this section reviewing the related literature:  · Methods for assessment of IPO performance  · Performance of IPOs  · Risk assessment of IPOs  · Period of assessment  · Chinese and Hong Kong IPOs The points above are the key factors discussed in this section. 4.1 METHODS FOR ASSESSMENT OF IPO PERFORMANCE One of the areas that need to be reviewed is the research methodology that previous research works have utilised in pursuing their research. The related literature has shown that the typical method used in analysing the performance largely relies on the use of descriptive statistics. In some occasions, qualitative assessment are included as part of the research methodology in order to gain greater understanding of the performance and the factors affecting the performance of the IPOs. The research mentioned earlier in this section which focused on an assessment of the long-term performance of the IPOs of Europes new stock markets used both qualitative and quantitative assessments as part of the methodology.5 The research approach was a combination of qualitative assessment (to discuss the rationale for the resulting performance) and quantitative analysis (on the IPO performance and which, as expected, was analysed and presented using descriptive statistics). The research work noted in the introduction highlighting the continued debate on the near-term abnormal returns of IPOs and their long-term underperformance was a research piece focused on the returns of IPOs from the Istanbul Stock Exchange. In this research, the performance of the IPOs was assessed utilising descriptive statistics with a comparison of means (z-test: sample for two means) as part of the statistics tool kit utilised. Clearly, the use of descriptive statistics and statistical tests for significance seems to be the preferred method of analysis for these types of research assessments. The dominant use of descriptive statistics also provides confidence that this is the method that would be most logical for the dissertation in the assessment of performance of the IPOs in the stock exchanges. 4.2 PERFORMANCE OF IPOs Another area focused on in this dissertation is the performance of the IPOs in the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges as well as other regional and global stock exchanges. In terms of IPO performance assessment, one research work focused specifically on bank IPOs and their growth. Interestingly, this and the research work mentioned earlier on IPO performance (Europes new stock markets) both found that long-run post-offering returns were poor when compared to various market benchmarks. This finding was supported by another research whose results were from an analysis of 6,000 NASDAQ IPO stocks. Thus, there seems to be a number of research works that have shown the underperformance of IPOs versus other more established stocks or the market benchmarks. A research paper that focused on this underperformance showed that a reason for the underperformance of IPOs was the high expectations which were linked to the IPOs and which affected the prices paid for these offerings. This result is rather ironic as the high expectations given by investors indicate that these investors expected much higher returns from IPOs versus other stocks that these investors could have invested in. A research work with similar findings on the long-term underperformance of IPOs was done on the UK IPOs from the period 1996 to 1999.9 For this research, the long-term underperformance of the IPOs in the study was considerable versus the market performance. A period of three years was used as the long-term period. The research notes that this underperformance has been seen in a large number of countries where the IPO performance was measured over a number of years to assess its performance. The key factors identified in the research as impacting on the long-term performance of the IPOs were: (1) percentage of equity issued as part of the IPO, and (2) degree of multinationality of a firm issuing the IPO. On the first point, the research finding noted that the greater the percentage of the equity issued for the IPO, the greater the probability of underperformance over the long-term. On the latter point, the research finding was that the greater the multinational component of a firm was, the better the expectation for a long-term performance. Further to the research on UK IPOs, another research work on the UK IPOs but focused on the AIM-listed firms versus those on the main board of the London Stock Exchange showed a similar result in terms of long-term underperformance of IPOs. This research work has an additional finding on the cost of equity that is relevant to the risks faced by firms pursuing an IPO. This finding is discussed in greater detail in a later part on the assessment of risks. The research works with an assessment showing poor long-run returns for IPOs is not unanimous though as opposing performance arguments also exist with IPOs being shown to be undervalued and thus provide good, long-run returns even versus the market. However, the reasons that the results are different for this research work is the adjustment done on the valuation of the IPOs which result in the IPO valuation being markedly different from those considered in the other researches which found poor longrun returns for IPOs. This research work utilised an alternative method with adjustments made on the performance of the IPO stocks. The research work on the Istanbul Stock Exchange highlighted a number of reasons for the performance of the IPOs, particularly the abnormal returns shown in the near-term: overvaluation of IPOs by investors and deliberate under-pricing for the IPO which then rewards the informed investors. The long-term underperformance of IPOs is not shared and accepted universally as other research works exist which shows that this is not the case, at least for the particular market and time period considered in these research works. A research on Malaysian IPOs from 1992 to 1996 showed that these IPOs showed particularly strong growth in stock prices over a three-year period from the issuance. This thus negates the concept of long-term underperformance shown by a number of research works. The difference in results could be attributed to a number of factors which could include differences in the parameters of the research factors related to the IPOs such as, for example, the definition of long-term in the assessment (this Malaysian research study utilised a period of three years to define the long-term). Further evidence of long-term performance contrary to other international evidence is that result from a review of IPO performance in Greece from the period 1993 to 1997, which showed that the IPOs performed much better than the market over the long-term and not just in the near-term for the effects of the abnormal near-term returns. In this research work, the definition for long-term performance was again different as the period of one year was taken for this assessment to reflect the long-term performance of the IPOs. The research piece attributes the difference with international evidence to possibly the legal framework, the institutional arrangements, and the degree of development of the capital markets. To further complicate the current thinking on the performance of IPOs, a research work focused on Germany IPOs from 1977 to 1995 showed varying performances over the long-term with some IPOs resulting in considerable underperformance while other IPOs showed excellent long-term performance.15 The focus of the research was not necessarily the determination of the long-term performance of the IPOs and thus could not be considered as inconclusive. The actual focus of the research work was the determination of the action post-IPO and the ability to determine which of the IPOs would perform better over the longer-term. The research finding was that the key predictor of the long-term performance of an IPO was the subsequent financing activity in the equity market with the firms being able to raise additional funds soon after the IPO slated for out-performance versus other firms which failed to generate further funding. Several reasons have been put forth as supporting the underperformance of IPOs in most markets. A research work which looked at French IPOs but focused on the impact of ownership resulted in findings that ownership had an influential and large impact on long-term performance of the IPOs.16 The reason for this was that at some point, usually a typical long-term period such as three to five years, ownership restriction in terms of selling off stakes would have been lifted. Thus, the sell-off of family or block holdings in IPOs after a long-term period impact negatively on the share price and becomes a large reason for the underperformance of IPOs over the long-term. This finding would seem to be applicable to most firms pursuing IPOs as it would be usually the case that a firm issuing an IPO would have large blocks of holdings controlled by very few entities or personalities. 4.3 RISK ASSESSMENT OF IPOs While a number of research works such as those cited earlier have focused only on the performance of the IPOs, other research works have combined the analysis of the risk and rewards related to IPOs, which would be parallel to the focus that this dissertation is geared to do. One, in particular, focused on the risk and return trade-off for IPOs though, admittedly, there was greater focus on how these issuances were riskassessed.A rather focused look on long-run performance showed that industry parameters, timing of IPO, and industry situation all play in the aftermarket returns of IPOs which, in general, are not favourable. One of the risks identified in a research work on AIM-listed IPOs was the resulting cost of equity. A decision factor for the firms considering pursuing an IPO should be the cost of equity and the research finding on the assessment of AIM-listed stocks showed that, potentially, cost of equity is much greater than that expected with the listing on these stock exchanges.Using this as an analogy to the current issue of issuing an IPO between Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges, it is possible that this is a risk faced by the mainland Chinese firms in their decision. 4.4 PERIOD OF ASSESSMENT A factor that needs to be made consistent in the assessment of the performance of the IPOs is the period of assessment. The proper time frame could impact on the performance considerably and in viewing this assessment, it would be important to have the proper time frame from which to consider returns. For example, flipping of IPOs impact the pricing of some IPOs post the offering and affect the returns if taken within a short time frame. There is thus a question of the period defined by near-term as well as long-term performance given different periods taken by researchers in conducting their work. Understandably, this could have been driven by the availability of data of the stock prices. In order to have a proper assessment for this dissertation, it would probably be best to utilise the following time periods: one month for near-term performance, and 3 years for consideration of long-term performance. These seem to be the periods that most of the researchers had utilised though it does differ from some of the period conventions used in other researches. 4.5 CHINESE AND HONG KONG IPOs Despite the existence of numerous research work on the assessment of risks and rewards of IPOs across exchanges globally, there have been limited research works which focus on the Chinese and Hong Kong IPOs of recent years. One recent unpublished work touched on under-pricing and the aftermarket liquidity of Hong Kong IPOS, and found that under-pricing was evident in driving liquidity post-IPOs. A more comprehensive published work on Hong Kong IPOs utilised slightly dated figures (IPOs up to 2002) and thus presents a challenge in the findings concluded.22 Another is dated (published in 1998) but does look at the issue of pricing and aftermarket performance of IPOs with results showing large returns accruing in the long-term for IPOs. Other China-related research work focus on performance post-IPO but refer to operating performance of the firms and not the performance of the share price.One research which looked at short-term and long-term IPO performance in China highlighted a number of differences affecting Chinese stocks: stake that the government has in the firm, the size of the firm, and the options available to Chinese investors. Over the next few years, there will continue to be increased interest in the IPOs of firms in mainland China as these firms seek to tap international investors. In turn, international investors are increasingly interested in investing in the mainland Chinese firms given their typical profitable nature (largely owing to monopoly or large market share status) and the presence these firms have in mainland China that international investors find attractive. The pursuit of the IPO by the mainland Chinese firms is partly driven by the need to diversify ownership risk, particularly for the mainland Chinese firms which are predominantly state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Thus, despite extensive related research, there is still scope to pursue this dissertation as it provides further evidence of the risk and reward assessment of IPOs. CHAPTER 5 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The approach to the dissertation followed an explanatory research approach. This approach was deemed to be the best approach to address the research questions, particularly with the requirement of discovery of insights and ideas. The research approach relied on both extensive primary and secondary research providing a complementary basis for conducting the assessment and analysis of the issues in the research. This section is structured as follows:  · Research analysis and approach. This part describes the overall research approach utilised in this dissertation and the methods of analysing the information retrieved from primary and secondary research methods.  · Primary research. This discusses the primary research undertaken in this dissertation, including the objectives in the methods used.  · Secondary research. This presents the use of secondary research and the complementary approach to the primary research tools.  · Research limitations. In the conduct of the dissertation research, a number of limitations presented itself which impacted on the results of the dissertation. These are explained in this part.  · Ethical considerations. This part goes through the key ethical considerations in the process of completing the dissertation. 5.1 RESEARCH ANALYSIS AND APPROACH The dissertation was conducted using a problem-solving approach. This methodology was used in assessing the quantitative results from the statistical analysis and also in analysing the results of the in-depth interviews, and secondary research. The dissertation utilised a combination of desktop analysis (the statistical analysis and quantitative assessment of the performance of IPOs in various stock exchanges), input from industry practitioners (the qualitative assessment of risks of the IPOs), and desk research (primarily for the secondary research and in providing further support to the results of the statistical analysis and qualitative assessment). The assessment of the performance of the IPOs was conducted using descriptive statistics as these allowed for an objective comparison of the performance (or returns) of the IPOs. Descriptive statistics was also used to show other relevant trends related to the performance of the IPOs from the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges, and also the comparison versus other regional and global stock exchanges. After the assessment and analysis, and with the preliminary results on-hand, the research findings were tested and reviewed in the ‘market through discussions with other stakeholders to ensure that these research findings were sound and logical. The market review also provided feedback and confirmation of the possible research contribution that the dissertation provides. This has been noted as part of the findings and analysis section. 5.2 PRIMARY RESEARCH The key primary research utilised in this dissertation involved interviews with industry practitioners involved in Chinese and Hong Kong IPOs. The objectives in this primary research method were to: (1) understand the key risks for firms pursuing their firms listing in the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges, and (2) determine the perception of the industry practitioners as to the relative performance of IPOs being done in the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges. The interviews were conducted to get an understanding of the key risks that firms are exposed to by pursuing their IPOs in Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges. The use of in-depth interviews was selected as the primary research method as this provided an opportunity for the researcher to gain deeper insights into the issues focused on. It was initially planned that in-depth interviews of various stakeholders in the industry would be pursued in order to have a good breadth and depth in understanding the key risks and to get input from a diverse set of stakeholders. However, the research limitations in terms of timing, access to various stakeholders, and leverage of contacts in the Chinese and Hong Kong financial services sectors provided a hindrance to having an extensive list of industry practitioners included in the primary research. Nevertheless, the researcher was still able to have several in-depth interviews and these provided a good indication of the overall viewpoints currently existing in the industry, particularly related to the risks that exist for firms. 5.3 SECONDARY RESEARCH The secondary research for this dissertation involved two key approaches: (1) statistical analysis of stock price performance of selected IPOs in the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges as well as several regional and global stock exchanges, and (2) desk research to understand the viewpoints currently existing on the performance and risks of IPOs in Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges. 5.3.1 Statistical Analysis The first secondary research method involved the quantitative data analysis of the performance of the IPOs in the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges. This analysis effectively supported the assessment the performance of the listing in these stock exchanges to determine if there were differences in the performances of IPOs for these exchanges. The objectives in usin Risks and Returns of Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) Risks and Returns of Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) ASSESSMENT OF RISKS AND RETURNS OF INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERINGS (IPOs) ISSUED IN HONG KONG VERSUS CHINA CHAPTER 1 ABSTRACT This dissertation was designed to focus on an assessment of the risks and returns of the initial public offerings (IPOs) issued in Hong Kong versus China. In recent years, Chinas stock market has experienced phenomenal growth with a record of US$62 billion raised in 140 IPOs in 2006, more than that raised in the United States of US$48 billion.1 The growth of Chinas economy continues to fuel the expectations that this trend of strong IPO growth would continue and that Chinese firms would increasingly pursue listings in the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges to tap international investors for their fund raising requirements. A recent example of a Chinese firm doing an IPO was China Railways Construction which issued US$3.1 billion in an IPO in February 2008.2 The key rationale in pursuing this research was that it would give an understanding of the key differences between listings in the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges, particularly in relation to risks and performance (i.e. returns). Based on the statistical analysis of the existing information, there was no marked difference seen in the performance of the IPOs of the mainland Chinese firms in the Hong Kong Exchange versus the performance of the overall exchange (represented by the Hang Seng index). The data availability limited the statistical analysis primarily to the IPO information from the Hong Kong Exchange. The assessment of the risks and performance of the IPOs in the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges led to the following conclusions: (1) Hong Kong is favoured overseas exchange for dual listing of mainland Chinese firms, (2) there is strong uncertainty in listing in the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and (3) interest in China is strong and investors can be tapped through an overseas listing. For the mainland Chinese firms that will be issuing their IPOs, the following are the recommendations resulting from the dissertation: pursue a dual listing, list in the Hong Kong Exchange for the overseas exchange listing, and manage the timing of the IPO. Finally, for further research work, the following are the recommended steps that can be taken to develop the issues in greater detail and address other related concerns: pursue comparison of long-term performance of IPOs, compare the options available for mainland Chinese firms in terms of their IPOs, and assess IPO performance across other factors (such as size of firms, sector of firms, and extent of local versus global breakdown of the business). CHAPTER 2 RESEARCH AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The dissertation had two key research questions which were addressed during the research. These research questions guided the research design and methodology of the dissertation. The two research questions were: 1. How have the firms listing in Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges performed since their IPOs, and what risks did these firms face in their listings? 2. How have the IPOs in Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges performed compared to each other and also in relation to regional and global competitors? The rest of this section discusses these research questions in greater detail. 2.1 PERFORMANCE SINCE IPO OF CHINESE AND HONG KONG LISTINGS AND RISKS FACED BY FIRMS The dissertation sought to determine the performance since IPO of Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchange listings, and the risks faced by the firms listing in these exchanges. The research aims and objectives for this part of the dissertation focused on the following:  · Assess the performance of the listings in the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges. This assessment focused on how listings have performed in the stock exchanges of Hong Kong and China. This gave an indication of the performance of the stocks which were listed through an IPO, and provided an opportunity to analyse the differences, in terms of performance, in listing between the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges.  · Determine the risks faced by firms pursuing an IPO through the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges. Another objective pursued in this dissertation was determining and understanding the risks that IPOs of firms listing in China and Hong Kong faced. As options have expanded in terms of the location where firms can list in, firms consider various factors in deciding on the best stock exchange for the listing of their IPO to be done. The different options also need to be assessed in terms of the risks that the firms are exposed to by listing in these exchanges. Understand other factors that have affected performance and risks of firms. The recent developments in the financial markets brought on as an impact by the US subprime markets have also affected the performance of recent listings not only in the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges but also in other stock exchanges as well. These factors and the impact these factors have had on the performance of recent IPOs in the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges were also identified and presented in this dissertation.  · Analyse issues using quantitative and qualitative analysis. In pursuing the assessment of the points above, this dissertation pursued both a quantitative and a qualitative approach to ensure that the research methods provided a complementary approach. This was also designed to ensure that the inputs to the analysis had a robust basis with the assessment of performance and risks based off actual quantitative results supported by input from industry practitioners and their observations. 2.2 ASSESSMENT OF IPO PERFORMANCE BETWEEN CHINA AND HONG KONG STOCK EXCHANGES AND VERSUS OTHER STOCK EXCHANGES The assessment of the performance of the IPOs was reviewed by comparing the performance of the IPOs of the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges. In addition, these were also compared versus the performance of IPOs in selected regional and also global stock exchanges to give an indication of the relative performance of the IPOs in these different exchanges. The research aims and objectives of this part of the dissertation were the following:  · Assess objectively the performance of the IPOs in the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges versus selected regional and global stock exchanges. This assessment was conducted using the performance data of selected firms in these exchanges to provide an indication of their relative performances. Thus, the dissertation sought to expand on the initial issue raised on the performance and risks of IPOs between Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges. This provided an added viewpoint into how different the performances of the IPOs have been in these exchanges.  · Understand factors and issues affecting the relative performances of the IPOs. With the differences in the performances of IPOs identified in the previous point, the dissertation sought to analyse the factors affecting these differences. This assessment was important as it provided the opportunity to pursue further research of the issues, resulting in increased understanding of factors affecting the performance of the IPOs in these stock exchanges. These two points above were the key research objectives in assessing the performance of the IPOs of the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges versus the IPOs of other selected regional and global stock exchanges. CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH RATIONALE There were several key reasons identified as to the rationale behind pursuing this dissertation. This section discusses the research rationale first from an academic research point of view and then, second, from a personal point of view of the researcher in terms of the benefits achieved in completing the dissertation. From an academic research point of view, the following were the key reasons identified:  · Drive decision for location of IPO for firms listing in stock exchanges: The results of the research could be utilised in forming a decision as to the location of a firms IPO. With greater transparency of the performance and risks in listing in China versus listing in Hong Kong, firms now have further factors to include in building a decision for the location of a firms IPO. This point is particularly relevant for mainland China firms which are looking to tap international overseas investors for their IPO and are considering various options for their action.  · Provide alternative options and thought processes for firms considering their IPOs: The results of the dissertation also provide firms pursuing an IPO in China or Hong Kong further basis for possibly considering other options outside of China or Hong Kong, given the points raised in the findings and analysis section. For example, firms now are not limited only to the thinking pursuing the funding of Chinese firms is best achieved by tapping both the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges for a dual listing as this gives Chinese firms best access to the funding capability of international investors.  · Push stock exchanges to manage more effectively the marketing of their products and services: The dissertation also benefits the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges as this dissertation provides the stock exchanges the basis and the opportunity to revisit their product and service offerings, and ensure that their marketing properly addresses the requirements of Chinese firms in capital markets financing. The review of the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges versus its regional and global peers also provide the stock exchanges an objective assessment of performance levels relative to each other. On a personal level, the dissertation also benefited the research considerably, and also lends further basis to providing a strong rationale for completing the dissertation. The key personal reasons for the researcher in pursuing this dissertation, aside from completing school requirements, include the following:  · Improve knowledge and expertise of researcher. The dissertation was very specific in the research questions addressed and the research issues to be assessed. Thus, the researchers knowledge in these specific academic and business areas were considerably enhanced with the conduct and completion of the dissertation, including the pur suit of in-depth research and the structuring of questions and issues for the dissertation. The understanding of the issues in this dissertation will be very helpful to the researcher as other challenges are faced in an academic and business setting.  · Build project management skills. The dissertation provided the researcher the opportunity to build on project management skills as well given the extent of the period and the different aspects required in completing the dissertation, or project. This skill will be very beneficial to the researcher particularly once this is utilised in the business world where the ability to manage projects, as well as multi-task, is appreciated. The two points above provided further rationale to the pursuit of the completion of this dissertation, and gave the researcher strong reasons for undertaking the dissertation in addition to the given benefit of completing a requirement for school. CHAPTER 4 LITERATURE REVIEW The issue of performance and risks in issuing IPOs in exchanges has been analysed in various research works and there is a relatively comprehensive research work that can form the basis of further research work. For example, assessments of the performance of IPOs of stock exchanges have been done in a number of exchanges already. One research in particular focused on an assessment of the long-term performance of the IPOs of Europes new stock markets.3 The research works focusing on the issue of IPO performance are expected to continue to be of importance to the academic finance community given the debate which goes on relating to the near-term abnormal returns of IPOs and their long-term underperformance. The focus of this dissertation is a comparison and assessment of the performance and risks of IPOs issued in Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges. This research differs in other bodies of academic work in that this specific research issue has not been addressed directly. Certainly, the existing literature and academic research provides a preliminary path and approach in resolving the key research questions defined at the beginning of this dissertation paper. In reviewing the related literature on the assessment of risks and performance of IPOs in Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges, a number of consistent themes were noted as predominant in the research works. In order to assess the themes which may have contrasting supporting research, these themes are presented below and form the structure for the rest of this section reviewing the related literature:  · Methods for assessment of IPO performance  · Performance of IPOs  · Risk assessment of IPOs  · Period of assessment  · Chinese and Hong Kong IPOs The points above are the key factors discussed in this section. 4.1 METHODS FOR ASSESSMENT OF IPO PERFORMANCE One of the areas that need to be reviewed is the research methodology that previous research works have utilised in pursuing their research. The related literature has shown that the typical method used in analysing the performance largely relies on the use of descriptive statistics. In some occasions, qualitative assessment are included as part of the research methodology in order to gain greater understanding of the performance and the factors affecting the performance of the IPOs. The research mentioned earlier in this section which focused on an assessment of the long-term performance of the IPOs of Europes new stock markets used both qualitative and quantitative assessments as part of the methodology.5 The research approach was a combination of qualitative assessment (to discuss the rationale for the resulting performance) and quantitative analysis (on the IPO performance and which, as expected, was analysed and presented using descriptive statistics). The research work noted in the introduction highlighting the continued debate on the near-term abnormal returns of IPOs and their long-term underperformance was a research piece focused on the returns of IPOs from the Istanbul Stock Exchange. In this research, the performance of the IPOs was assessed utilising descriptive statistics with a comparison of means (z-test: sample for two means) as part of the statistics tool kit utilised. Clearly, the use of descriptive statistics and statistical tests for significance seems to be the preferred method of analysis for these types of research assessments. The dominant use of descriptive statistics also provides confidence that this is the method that would be most logical for the dissertation in the assessment of performance of the IPOs in the stock exchanges. 4.2 PERFORMANCE OF IPOs Another area focused on in this dissertation is the performance of the IPOs in the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges as well as other regional and global stock exchanges. In terms of IPO performance assessment, one research work focused specifically on bank IPOs and their growth. Interestingly, this and the research work mentioned earlier on IPO performance (Europes new stock markets) both found that long-run post-offering returns were poor when compared to various market benchmarks. This finding was supported by another research whose results were from an analysis of 6,000 NASDAQ IPO stocks. Thus, there seems to be a number of research works that have shown the underperformance of IPOs versus other more established stocks or the market benchmarks. A research paper that focused on this underperformance showed that a reason for the underperformance of IPOs was the high expectations which were linked to the IPOs and which affected the prices paid for these offerings. This result is rather ironic as the high expectations given by investors indicate that these investors expected much higher returns from IPOs versus other stocks that these investors could have invested in. A research work with similar findings on the long-term underperformance of IPOs was done on the UK IPOs from the period 1996 to 1999.9 For this research, the long-term underperformance of the IPOs in the study was considerable versus the market performance. A period of three years was used as the long-term period. The research notes that this underperformance has been seen in a large number of countries where the IPO performance was measured over a number of years to assess its performance. The key factors identified in the research as impacting on the long-term performance of the IPOs were: (1) percentage of equity issued as part of the IPO, and (2) degree of multinationality of a firm issuing the IPO. On the first point, the research finding noted that the greater the percentage of the equity issued for the IPO, the greater the probability of underperformance over the long-term. On the latter point, the research finding was that the greater the multinational component of a firm was, the better the expectation for a long-term performance. Further to the research on UK IPOs, another research work on the UK IPOs but focused on the AIM-listed firms versus those on the main board of the London Stock Exchange showed a similar result in terms of long-term underperformance of IPOs. This research work has an additional finding on the cost of equity that is relevant to the risks faced by firms pursuing an IPO. This finding is discussed in greater detail in a later part on the assessment of risks. The research works with an assessment showing poor long-run returns for IPOs is not unanimous though as opposing performance arguments also exist with IPOs being shown to be undervalued and thus provide good, long-run returns even versus the market. However, the reasons that the results are different for this research work is the adjustment done on the valuation of the IPOs which result in the IPO valuation being markedly different from those considered in the other researches which found poor longrun returns for IPOs. This research work utilised an alternative method with adjustments made on the performance of the IPO stocks. The research work on the Istanbul Stock Exchange highlighted a number of reasons for the performance of the IPOs, particularly the abnormal returns shown in the near-term: overvaluation of IPOs by investors and deliberate under-pricing for the IPO which then rewards the informed investors. The long-term underperformance of IPOs is not shared and accepted universally as other research works exist which shows that this is not the case, at least for the particular market and time period considered in these research works. A research on Malaysian IPOs from 1992 to 1996 showed that these IPOs showed particularly strong growth in stock prices over a three-year period from the issuance. This thus negates the concept of long-term underperformance shown by a number of research works. The difference in results could be attributed to a number of factors which could include differences in the parameters of the research factors related to the IPOs such as, for example, the definition of long-term in the assessment (this Malaysian research study utilised a period of three years to define the long-term). Further evidence of long-term performance contrary to other international evidence is that result from a review of IPO performance in Greece from the period 1993 to 1997, which showed that the IPOs performed much better than the market over the long-term and not just in the near-term for the effects of the abnormal near-term returns. In this research work, the definition for long-term performance was again different as the period of one year was taken for this assessment to reflect the long-term performance of the IPOs. The research piece attributes the difference with international evidence to possibly the legal framework, the institutional arrangements, and the degree of development of the capital markets. To further complicate the current thinking on the performance of IPOs, a research work focused on Germany IPOs from 1977 to 1995 showed varying performances over the long-term with some IPOs resulting in considerable underperformance while other IPOs showed excellent long-term performance.15 The focus of the research was not necessarily the determination of the long-term performance of the IPOs and thus could not be considered as inconclusive. The actual focus of the research work was the determination of the action post-IPO and the ability to determine which of the IPOs would perform better over the longer-term. The research finding was that the key predictor of the long-term performance of an IPO was the subsequent financing activity in the equity market with the firms being able to raise additional funds soon after the IPO slated for out-performance versus other firms which failed to generate further funding. Several reasons have been put forth as supporting the underperformance of IPOs in most markets. A research work which looked at French IPOs but focused on the impact of ownership resulted in findings that ownership had an influential and large impact on long-term performance of the IPOs.16 The reason for this was that at some point, usually a typical long-term period such as three to five years, ownership restriction in terms of selling off stakes would have been lifted. Thus, the sell-off of family or block holdings in IPOs after a long-term period impact negatively on the share price and becomes a large reason for the underperformance of IPOs over the long-term. This finding would seem to be applicable to most firms pursuing IPOs as it would be usually the case that a firm issuing an IPO would have large blocks of holdings controlled by very few entities or personalities. 4.3 RISK ASSESSMENT OF IPOs While a number of research works such as those cited earlier have focused only on the performance of the IPOs, other research works have combined the analysis of the risk and rewards related to IPOs, which would be parallel to the focus that this dissertation is geared to do. One, in particular, focused on the risk and return trade-off for IPOs though, admittedly, there was greater focus on how these issuances were riskassessed.A rather focused look on long-run performance showed that industry parameters, timing of IPO, and industry situation all play in the aftermarket returns of IPOs which, in general, are not favourable. One of the risks identified in a research work on AIM-listed IPOs was the resulting cost of equity. A decision factor for the firms considering pursuing an IPO should be the cost of equity and the research finding on the assessment of AIM-listed stocks showed that, potentially, cost of equity is much greater than that expected with the listing on these stock exchanges.Using this as an analogy to the current issue of issuing an IPO between Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges, it is possible that this is a risk faced by the mainland Chinese firms in their decision. 4.4 PERIOD OF ASSESSMENT A factor that needs to be made consistent in the assessment of the performance of the IPOs is the period of assessment. The proper time frame could impact on the performance considerably and in viewing this assessment, it would be important to have the proper time frame from which to consider returns. For example, flipping of IPOs impact the pricing of some IPOs post the offering and affect the returns if taken within a short time frame. There is thus a question of the period defined by near-term as well as long-term performance given different periods taken by researchers in conducting their work. Understandably, this could have been driven by the availability of data of the stock prices. In order to have a proper assessment for this dissertation, it would probably be best to utilise the following time periods: one month for near-term performance, and 3 years for consideration of long-term performance. These seem to be the periods that most of the researchers had utilised though it does differ from some of the period conventions used in other researches. 4.5 CHINESE AND HONG KONG IPOs Despite the existence of numerous research work on the assessment of risks and rewards of IPOs across exchanges globally, there have been limited research works which focus on the Chinese and Hong Kong IPOs of recent years. One recent unpublished work touched on under-pricing and the aftermarket liquidity of Hong Kong IPOS, and found that under-pricing was evident in driving liquidity post-IPOs. A more comprehensive published work on Hong Kong IPOs utilised slightly dated figures (IPOs up to 2002) and thus presents a challenge in the findings concluded.22 Another is dated (published in 1998) but does look at the issue of pricing and aftermarket performance of IPOs with results showing large returns accruing in the long-term for IPOs. Other China-related research work focus on performance post-IPO but refer to operating performance of the firms and not the performance of the share price.One research which looked at short-term and long-term IPO performance in China highlighted a number of differences affecting Chinese stocks: stake that the government has in the firm, the size of the firm, and the options available to Chinese investors. Over the next few years, there will continue to be increased interest in the IPOs of firms in mainland China as these firms seek to tap international investors. In turn, international investors are increasingly interested in investing in the mainland Chinese firms given their typical profitable nature (largely owing to monopoly or large market share status) and the presence these firms have in mainland China that international investors find attractive. The pursuit of the IPO by the mainland Chinese firms is partly driven by the need to diversify ownership risk, particularly for the mainland Chinese firms which are predominantly state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Thus, despite extensive related research, there is still scope to pursue this dissertation as it provides further evidence of the risk and reward assessment of IPOs. CHAPTER 5 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The approach to the dissertation followed an explanatory research approach. This approach was deemed to be the best approach to address the research questions, particularly with the requirement of discovery of insights and ideas. The research approach relied on both extensive primary and secondary research providing a complementary basis for conducting the assessment and analysis of the issues in the research. This section is structured as follows:  · Research analysis and approach. This part describes the overall research approach utilised in this dissertation and the methods of analysing the information retrieved from primary and secondary research methods.  · Primary research. This discusses the primary research undertaken in this dissertation, including the objectives in the methods used.  · Secondary research. This presents the use of secondary research and the complementary approach to the primary research tools.  · Research limitations. In the conduct of the dissertation research, a number of limitations presented itself which impacted on the results of the dissertation. These are explained in this part.  · Ethical considerations. This part goes through the key ethical considerations in the process of completing the dissertation. 5.1 RESEARCH ANALYSIS AND APPROACH The dissertation was conducted using a problem-solving approach. This methodology was used in assessing the quantitative results from the statistical analysis and also in analysing the results of the in-depth interviews, and secondary research. The dissertation utilised a combination of desktop analysis (the statistical analysis and quantitative assessment of the performance of IPOs in various stock exchanges), input from industry practitioners (the qualitative assessment of risks of the IPOs), and desk research (primarily for the secondary research and in providing further support to the results of the statistical analysis and qualitative assessment). The assessment of the performance of the IPOs was conducted using descriptive statistics as these allowed for an objective comparison of the performance (or returns) of the IPOs. Descriptive statistics was also used to show other relevant trends related to the performance of the IPOs from the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges, and also the comparison versus other regional and global stock exchanges. After the assessment and analysis, and with the preliminary results on-hand, the research findings were tested and reviewed in the ‘market through discussions with other stakeholders to ensure that these research findings were sound and logical. The market review also provided feedback and confirmation of the possible research contribution that the dissertation provides. This has been noted as part of the findings and analysis section. 5.2 PRIMARY RESEARCH The key primary research utilised in this dissertation involved interviews with industry practitioners involved in Chinese and Hong Kong IPOs. The objectives in this primary research method were to: (1) understand the key risks for firms pursuing their firms listing in the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges, and (2) determine the perception of the industry practitioners as to the relative performance of IPOs being done in the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges. The interviews were conducted to get an understanding of the key risks that firms are exposed to by pursuing their IPOs in Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges. The use of in-depth interviews was selected as the primary research method as this provided an opportunity for the researcher to gain deeper insights into the issues focused on. It was initially planned that in-depth interviews of various stakeholders in the industry would be pursued in order to have a good breadth and depth in understanding the key risks and to get input from a diverse set of stakeholders. However, the research limitations in terms of timing, access to various stakeholders, and leverage of contacts in the Chinese and Hong Kong financial services sectors provided a hindrance to having an extensive list of industry practitioners included in the primary research. Nevertheless, the researcher was still able to have several in-depth interviews and these provided a good indication of the overall viewpoints currently existing in the industry, particularly related to the risks that exist for firms. 5.3 SECONDARY RESEARCH The secondary research for this dissertation involved two key approaches: (1) statistical analysis of stock price performance of selected IPOs in the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges as well as several regional and global stock exchanges, and (2) desk research to understand the viewpoints currently existing on the performance and risks of IPOs in Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges. 5.3.1 Statistical Analysis The first secondary research method involved the quantitative data analysis of the performance of the IPOs in the Chinese and Hong Kong stock exchanges. This analysis effectively supported the assessment the performance of the listing in these stock exchanges to determine if there were differences in the performances of IPOs for these exchanges. The objectives in usin