Sociological Dimension of Depression Free Essay Example, 3000 words

This research tells that the concept of happiness offers an interesting perspective on depression. In fact, since it is so individualistic, it provides possible clues as to why some people are depressed and others or not. Alternatively, it could also explain why some people are more likely to become depressed than others. Happiness is relative, but it is also extremely personal. One might be happy about something while another is displeased with it; it is something that cannot be controlled. Moreover, research has shown that people are different in their way of thinking. As a result, they cannot perceive the same things, in the same way. However, the biggest observation has to be that clinically depressed people cannot claim to be happy. In essence, clinical depression and happiness do not mix. Although depressed individuals can experience periods of happiness once in a while, they are not happy, in general. They can drift in and out of happy states, but the prevailing condition is that of depression. Human beings have needs that they must meet in order to be content with life; failure to meet needs causes unhappiness and depression. We will write a custom essay sample on Sociological Dimension of Depression or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page An inability to satisfy one s needs is a personal problem. These reflect the individualistic aspect of depression and can be attributed to external factors to a limited degree.

The Impact Of Social Media On Society - 1652 Words

In 1968, popular artist Andy Warhol had brought to attention his opinion on the over-populated celebrity society of the time with his quote â€Å"In the future, everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes†. Times change, and the future approached, but Andy may have underestimated just how true that is. Nowadays, the quote has been translated to fit the modern times, â€Å"everyone will be famous for 15mb†. The quote being changed to that says a lot about the times that we are going through right now, which is the age of technology. ‘Mb’ (megabyte) taking the place of ‘minutes’ inside the quote expresses the general idea that society has become dominated by technology. With the growth of technology rose many things that have helped shape the world positively, only one of them being the increasing use of social media. Social media, even though relatively young in its days, has made a major impact on the ways society interacts. The rising use of s ocial media has brought about a more involved and informed human population. This is a direct result of giving the human population a stage in which anyone can create and utilize a unique voice for themselves. There are many things that can be brought up when it comes towards arguing about the positive elements that social media has introduced to society and this paper will help bring some of them to attention. A few of the many positive conditions of social media are that it has effectively helped to shape the future of education, broughtShow MoreRelatedImpact Of Social Media On Society Essay917 Words   |  4 PagesHave you thought about the impact that social media has on society? Today I would like to address the impact of social media on society for those of you that are social media users and this includes the advantages or disadvantages that as associated with it. In this speech, I want to relate to you how social media is being used by social media users. Social media has forever changed the way society works, whether it’s the sharing of an idea, the communication of news, or the availability of productsRead MoreSocial Media And Its Impact On Society1420 Words   |  6 PagesSocial media as we know has changed. Now instead of messaging we are able to video chat, and instead of not knowing where someone is now we are able to see there locations and where they live. This is all because of social media. Social media has taken the world by storm including social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram all sites where we communicate through text, videos, pictures, and much more. Rhetoric is used in social media and sometimes it can be overloo ked. Sometimes we mightRead MoreSocial Media And Its Impact On Society Essay1742 Words   |  7 PagesSocial media has gained immense popularity, following increased access to the internet and technology devices including smart phones. Social media is used to denote platforms in which people build and share social connections; thus enhancing information sharing and interaction. Major examples include Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest and Instagram. Through social media, people can connect, interact and exchange information such as pictures, videos and other digital media byRead MoreSocial Media And Its Impact On Society1563 Words   |  7 PagesSocial media has consumed our society. 47% of American adults used social networking sites in 2011 like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter; up from 26% in 2008(quoted from procon.org) the aspects of social media both have a positive and negative impact on life. Social networking sites promote interaction with distant fami ly and friends. Social networking sites can demonstrate opportunities to strengthen existing relationships and to develop new friendships as well. The downfall of social media sitesRead MoreSocial Media And Its Impact On Society970 Words   |  4 Pagespiece titled Friends Indeed for the Washington Post. Garreau brings up possible dangers, minor inconveniences, and what truly defines a friend in the new media world we live in. I felt Garreau came across as jaded by most of the interviews he conducted. He did not seem to speak with a wide array of people that gave positive impacts social media can have, but rather focused on the negatives of the subject. Garreau did bring up valid points, however, from personal safety to the aspect of differentRead MoreThe Impact Of Social Media On Society987 Words   |  4 Pages The Negative Impact of Social Media on Society Marylin Vos Savant once said, â€Å"Email, instant messaging, and cell phones give us fabulous ability, but because we live and work in our own little worlds, that communication is totally disorganized†. The society we live in today requires modern technology. Texting, tweeting, and other forms of abbreviated communications are now changing how we speak. Of course technology and social media to be precise, is not necessarily evil; they have boosted the world’sRead MoreSocial Media And Its Impact On Society1224 Words   |  5 Pages Social media is a variety of platforms provided to the public as a medium for expression and communication. Seemingly, social media could be viewed as a positive contribution to society, but one must consider the underlying effects of society. Many of us don’t take into account the role that social media plays in the way we perceive things, think, and live our lives. Social media plays a critical part in societal norms. â€Å"Social norms are rules of conduct that governs interactions among individualsRead MoreSocial Media And Its Impact On Society Essay1560 Words   |  7 Pageswaiting for their next high, society has become more and more dependent on social media. One must realize, while the use of social media in today’s society is a necessity due to the fast-paced environment that has been created, it can never fully replace the value received from personal interaction with others. The short film titled, The Library Book, perfectly illustrates this as the charact ers within the film learn to assimilate in a society dominated by social media. The actions of each characterRead MoreSocial Media And Its Impact On Society Essay1622 Words   |  7 Pages What it Means to be Black In 2016, society is at a place where people are able to discover tons of information at the touch of a finger; this indeed can impact on how we view common things in society, such as identity. This statement holds true for â€Å"blacks† or African Americans as well. The stigma that comes with being black has been around for centuries; however, many blacks are using social media to combat negativity. In an era predicated on the use of the internet, black people have proven toRead MoreSocial Media And Its Impact On Society Essay1163 Words   |  5 PagesOne of the common trending debates among psychologists and technology lovers is who is controlling what. The reason for making the statement is the current evidence showing the different transformations of the internet. The use of social media has not only changed the communication trends, but it has also revolutionised particular aspects of behaviour experiences. The current developments in technology have rendered useless the traditional forms of communication, especially face-to-face interactions

Privatization of NHS for Medical Services- myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about thePrivatization of NHS for Health and Medical Services. Answer: Introduction The essay will mainly deal with the debate between whether the patients should seek treatment privately or from the NHS. This has been a highly debatable topic since times in memoriam. There are several advantages and disadvantages in both the sides. Patients will have to face several problems while seeking treatment from the NHS. The same will also be applicable if the patients seek treatment from some private hospitals as well (Telegraph 2014). The NHS or the national health care service is an institution that mainly aims at providing free health and medical services to the patients. Their aim is to ensure that no patient is left out who is in need of proper treatment. However over the last few years NHS is finding it difficult to deal with the huge amount of expenditure that is needed in order to support the huge ageing population. There is also one particular aspect of the NHS known as the lifestyle rationing under which those patients who are responsible for self-inflicted disea ses will be denied treatment or will be charged extra fees. The free treatment facility will be denied to them. Discussions One of the major drawbacks that are seen in case of the NHS is the delay in the treatment. This is one of the key issues because as a health care institute it is one of their prime duties to ensure that the patients are getting proper treatment at the right time. However, NHS has really worked hard in bringing the eradication of inequality among the patients. This is evident from the fact that NHS has always aimed at bringing about proper equality among the patients (BBC News 2017). NHS has tried to stay true to its mission that no one must ever be left out based on their class, social status, financial status and the several other social factor as well. However it is always good to get the medical treatment at the right time. If timely treatment is not available then the illness may get worse and it can also cause worse consequences. Though NHS has tried its level vest to improve in the quality of the medical services provided by them but they have failed to increase the time management, which is of utmost importance for the patients (Nhs.uk. 2015). One of the major problems that the patients have to face while going for treatment under the NHS is the long waiting lists. It also makes the patient and the family members of the patient to suffer through long periods of mental trauma, tensions and harassments as well. On the other hand even after the patients get their turns after waiting for a long time, they are often kept in the general wards where the patients have to suffer through a lot of other problems like chaos, and also chances of several their diseases that might be caused due to the contamination of the disease causing germs from their patients. The general wards are also often in poor and unhealthy conditions. However this will not be the scenario in case of the private hospitals. Though the patients m ight initially find it quite expensive to find a PMI or a private medical insurance but they will also be ensured that they are going to get excellent services (BBC Guides 2017). They will know that there will not be any delay in the treatment. They will also be given a private cabin and can also be entitled with several other facilities like that of television or a nurse who will be attending the patient on a 24*7 hour basis. On the other hand, if the patients go to the NHS for seeking treatment, they might often have to wait even for a year or so to get the proper treatment. This is indeed a worse and unimaginable situation. So, keeping this case in mind, it is beneficial for the patients to seek treatment in the privately rather than going to the NHS (Kaur 2013). Patients also have to face the problem of booking an appointment with the doctors as per the date and time of their own choice when they seek the treatment in NHS. This is because it can so happen that the patients are coming from far distant or remote locations. So, it might not be possible for them to come to the hospital very often. NHS does not give the facility or the freedom to the patients of choosing the date, time and the location of appointment. However, if the patients are going for private treatment then they can avail this facility. They all have the freedom to select the place of their appointment (Telegraph 2014). They can also book the appointment as per their feasible time and date. They can also have the freedom of selecting the proper location if the treatment that might be closer to their home or their place of work. This will also protect them from the harassment of undertaking long journeys from their houses to the hospitals (Nhs.uk. 2015). They can not only choose the selection as per their convenience but also select the doctor of their choice. They can easily go for some second opinion if they are not happy with the treatment of one doctor. Conclusion Thereby it can be concluded that it is better for the patient to seek the treatment privately rather than the NHS because the patients must get the proper facilities in return for the money that they are paying or the pains hat they are taking up. Though NHS has tried to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor by providing free medical services to all, but it has increased the price of the prescriptions over the years and also it has failed to speed up the treatment. Though patients might initially find the private hospitals very expensive but they can also avail different plans or schemes in order to decide which option to opt for under the PMI or the private medical insurance. References BBC Guides.2017. Should the NHS always foot the bill?. [online] Available at:https://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zqvhpv4 [Accessed 12 Jun. 2017]. BBC News. 2017. Upfront charges for NHS foreign patients in England - BBC News. [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38876527 [Accessed 12Jun. 2017]. Kaur, S. 2013 Mumbles of a medic: No to Hopkins, Yes to free NHS [online] Available at: https://pegasuspages.com/2013/03/13/mumbles-of-a-medic-no-to- hopkins-yes-to-free-nhs/ (Accessed 25 January 2017) Nhs.uk. 2015. When do I have to pay for NHS treatment? - Health questions - NHS Choices. [online] Available at: https://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/888.aspx?CategoryID=68 [Accessed 12 Jun. 2017]. Telegraph 2014 Time for a grown-up debate about the NHS The Telegraph, 7 Oct. [online] Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/nhs/11143886/Time-for-a- grown-up-debate-about-the-NHS.html (Accessed 25 January 2017) Healthcareandyou.co.uk. 2017.What are the advantages of PMI over the NHS? | Health Insurance +. [online] Available at: https://www.healthcareandyou.co.uk/content/what-are-advantages-pmi-over-nhs [Accessed 21 Nov. 2017]

Research Methodology for Churches and Social Media -MyAssignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theResearch Methodology for Churches and Social Media. Answer: Introduction As embarrassing, as it may sound pregnancy among teenagers is growing rapidly currently and has become a topic of discussion at schools, churches, social media and research studies. Even though sex education and contraceptives are available to this teens it is not clear why there is still an increased number of teen pregnancies Statistics shows the number of teen pregnancies is high in the United States and high teen births in Western Cape (Bonnie Way, 2001). About 24% are unmarried but with children. This problem has implications that include: a) More funds spent to cater for the mother and children welfare b) increased physical damage to the mother, sociological and psychological effects on parents and children (S, Evans, Yuen, 2006). The contraceptive is termed as a preventive measure while some communities ignore this method. From the study, the Intercultural difference about: a) prevention b) what the community offers and c) reasons why pregnancy in teens is of benefit. This is the major challenge. Cultural beliefs about teens pregnancy are not clear. However, they influence the behavior of those teens. All teens were aware of a) the availability of contraceptives b) how they work and c) when to use. Teens ignore the use of contraceptives because the community values certain beliefs. From Western Cape and Kwazulu Natal, contraceptives should be used after birth so they have no reason to use it before the first birth. Contraceptives should not be used because they interfere menstrual cycle. Women from Gauteng believed that contraceptives are against their religious beliefs but giving birth at an early age is not allowed. Women from Mpumalanga valued motherhood and they do so when they cannot access schools and j obs. If the community allows such factors then it is hard to convince and stop child pregnancy, which will, in turn, lead to school dropouts (Joyce Bacon, 2015). Teen pregnancy reduction has been a problem and addressed in sex education. Many programs have been organized to address this issue but there is a challenge of measuring instrument of teen beliefs and attitudes about teenage pregnancy. TAPS was used for evaluation it bases its focus on child realism, future orientation and intentions .TAPS will ensure consistency and validity for the target population. Research has shown that it reduces risk rate. History The research design implemented in this research is the use of a survey. The subjects under study will be administered with questionnaires to fill and will be engaged in direct interviews. In this study, a probability sampling method will be used to interview 10 pregnant teenagers from each province i.e. Western Cape, Kwazulu Natal, Gauteng, and Mpumalanga to determine the influence of culture on teens behavior. The sampling technique will be helping us draw statistical inferences and validity of our findings. We would use the stratified random sample to illustrate different views about teen pregnancy. In case subjects do not respond, we will use quota sampling to obtain the views. We only used 40 teens randomly selected from the four provinces to help cut on time and cost. To access these subjects we visited one health care center in each province. Data will be collected using interviews and questionnaires to ensure consistency in data collection process. Maturation Where teens refuse to give information in stratified sampling, the exploratory method will be used to generate views and evidence. Testing The research will carry out a pilot study in order to pre-test and validate the questionnaire. The researchers will target40 teens randomly selected. The pilot study will help the researcher to identify items that require modification. The result will help to correct inconsistencies from the instruments, which will ensure that they measure what is required. To ensure that the data collection instrument is valid, the answers of the results will be compared with the results of other data collection instrument and internal analysis of the data collection instrument will be carried out. An internal analysis of the data collected will be carried out by use of central tendency (Bergin Garvey, 2000). Large numbers of Teens are subjected to risks more than adult people. From our study, it is it was clear that there is more teen pregnancy as compared to mature peoples. 56% respondents from Western Cape indicated pregnancy among teen as compared to adults. Comparing with Auvert study that outlines a large number of HIV infections among adolescents males (Driscoll k, 2014). Historically, cultural identity is part of teens stage, they are sexually active and that is the cause of any risks (S, Evans, Yuen, 2006). Compared on Auvert study male circumcision in adolescence brings about cultural identity which the most critical stage. In the 1980s, it was observed that HIV is more on uncircumcised men than circumcised ones (Silver, 2015). Instrumentation Data will be analyzed by use of central tendency for example. Regression analysis will be used to determine whether contraceptives will prevent teenage pregnancy. Ethical Challenge Disagreement may arise if there is no respect, honesty, confidentiality among researchers and some teens denied demographic information while others did not give their age. We should seek permission. We will seek permission (verbal) from the guardians and parents of respondents. We will ensure we do not harm or cause physical damage to our subjects. Proper choice of wording and use of simple terms will be used. We will give fair considerations to avoid biases by opening up to subjects what research is all about and if it is anonymous or not. After completion researcher will present what he has observed only. Conclusion Due to differences in culture, researchers must have knowledge of these beliefs to enable them to communicate well with the respondents. Researchers recommended educating other people on the importance of each culture from a different community. They should do this by respecting their responses. Teens should be involved in discussions on the effects of teen pregnancy and advice teens to reduce and avoid unplanned pregnancies (American Secondary education, 2006). Researchers recommended that academic institutions should have sexuality education in mother tongue to emphasize understanding of teen pregnancy. HealthCare providers and non-traditionalists should be allowed to advise their teens on the dangers of sexuality (Amber Averetta, 2014). References Amber, Averetta, L. E. (2014). Understanding Teen Mothers: A ZIP Code Analysis. American Economist. American Secondary Education. (2006). Teenage Pregnancy Prevention and Adolescents Sexual Outcomes. Experimental Approach, Springs. Bergin, Garvey. (2000). Why Parents Matter: Parental Investment and Child outcomes. California: Bergin Garvey Publishers. Bonnie, R. J., Way, N. (2001). Growing Up Fast: Transitions to early adulthood of Inner-City Adolescent. California: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Driscoll, k, A. (2014). Adult Outcomes of Teen Mothers Across Birth cohorts. UK: Demographic Research. Joyce, F. P., Bacon, K. M. (2015). Teen Fathers. Implications for School Counsellors. S, H. H., Evans, R., Yuen, F. K. (2006). Teenage Pregnancy and Parenthood: Global Perspectives,Issues, and Interventions. Uk: Routledge. Silver, L. J. (2015). System Kids:Adolescent Mothers and Politics Regulation. North California: Routledge.

India vs China free essay sample

To compete in the global market, the Government of India (GoI) has liberalized export policies licensing of technology and implemented tax reforms providing various incentives. Special Economic Zone (SEZ) policy is also one of the steps India has taken to boost economic growth through outward looking approach. Special economic zone is a specifically duty fee enclave and shall be deemed to be foreign territory for the purpose of trade operations and duties and tariffs. When SEZ policy was introduced in the country, it made headlines and people started considering it as a policy to create a hassle free and investment friendly environment. The main objective of this research paper is to analyze SEZ policy in terms of export performance, FDI inflow, employment generation and overall physical and financial infrastructure building. This research paper tries to investigate whether having these policies are good for the country or not. SEZs are a larger variant of Export Processing Zone (EPZ), thus performance of EPZ has also been discussed briefly. We will write a custom essay sample on India vs China or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It has been five years now since all then existing EPZs have been converted into SEZs. Section –II has been devoted to performance analysis of these zones. After the failure of EPZs, a significant change has been made in the rules/regulations and a new package of fiscal and non- fiscal incentives is also being offered to developers and units. According to Finance Msinistry, the government has to forego about Rs. 90,000 crore in direct and indirect taxes over the next four years on account of SEZs. Despite so many incentives, performance of these privileged enclaves over the last five years indicates the failure of this scheme. For instance, the share of exports from SEZs in the total exports of the country has only increased from 4. 2% in 2000-01 to 5. 1% in 2004-05. Some economic experts are also seeing it as a corporate welfare scheme and the possibility of a sharp decline in investments in SEZs can’t be ruled out as tax benefits are only for 10 years. Other issues of concern like the heavy economic cost, real estate scam and labour policies are also discussed in the last section of the paper. Data are mostly secondary but the opinion of different economists and the Development Commissioners (SEZ) has also been taken into account. The zones cannot be insulated from the broader institutional and economic context of the country and be treated as an economy within the economy. Zones are a part of the economy and require overall improvement in the investment climate to ensure success in the long run. They should not, therefore, be viewed as an alternative to the overall development model. This is perhaps the reason why SEZs failed to fulfill the role of engines of economic growth in most countries on a sustainable basis. 3 Major Findings †¢ The union Govt has foregone a whopping Rs 39,704 crore of duty under export promotion schemes during 2003-2004 accounting for 82% of customs duty collected in that year. †¢ The foreign exchange earned by all the 811 units in the 8 zones put together came to only Rs. 8,309 crores, a mere 5% of India’s exports during the fiscal year 2004-05. †¢ During 1966-1980 average annual export growth rates of EPZs was over 77%, whereas during the post 2000 period (2001-03) it came down to 7%. †¢ Total share of FDI investment in Noida SEZ in 1997 was 12. 3% and it went up by a mere 0. 4% in the six years. To tal FDI share in 2003 was 12. 7%. †¢ A slew of tax exemption planned for SEZ to boost exports will erode Rs. 93,900 ($ 20. 62 billion) in government revenue over the next four years. †¢ Haryana Govt has offered over 1700 acres of land near Gurgaon to RIL (Reliance) for about Rs. 60 crore while it is estimated that the land was worth 5000 crore and HSIDC had acquired this land by paying Rs. 300 crore in compensation to the farmers. 4 Section – 1 SEZ Policy: An Overview 5 1. 1 Introduction A Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is defined as a deemed foreign territory within a country with special rules for facilitating FDI for export-oriented production, and for purposes of trade and customs duties. These Zones (SEZs) are geographical region that have economic laws different from a countrys typical economic laws. Different economic institution and government departments have defined it in different ways. As per Ministry of Commerce and Industry they are defined as: Special economic zone is a specifically duty fee enclave and shall be deemed to be foreign territory for the purpose of trade operations and duties and tariffs. SEZs have been established in several countries, including the Peoples Republic of China, India, Jordan, Poland, Kazakhstan, the Philippines and Russia. The concept of having free trade zones, export oriented zones and SEZs dates back to 1970. In 1979-80, China opened up its economy to foreign investment with the establishment of Shenzhen SEZ. Situated close to the Hong Kong port, this small fishing hamlet has today acquired the distinction of being the manufacturing hub of the world with a GDP of $20 billion and an annual foreign trade of nearly $50 billion. Inspired by the success of Chinese SEZs our policy makers also tried to experiment with SEZs in India. Despite the failure of Export Processing Zones (EPZs) Murasoli Maran after visiting China in the year 2000 introduced the SEZ policy very same year considering the need to enhance foreign investment and promote exports from the country. The SEZ bill was passed by parliament in 2005 and the Commerce Ministry notified the Special Economic Zones law on February 9, 2006 and the rule came into effect from February 10, 2006 but the rush of proposals for setting up SEZs had begun much earlier and by November 2005 some 61 SEZs were already approved. According to reports, so far, the Government has cleared around 150 SEZ proposals out of around 200 received. The policy provides for setting up of SEZs in the public, private, joint sector or by State Governments. It was also envisaged that some of the existing EPZs would be converted 6 into SEZ. Accordingly, the Government has converted all eight EPZs into SEZs. Table 1. 1. 1 below shows all the EPZs which has been coveted to SEZs with their size Table 1. 1. 1 List of all the EPZs converted into SEZs with their size Location Kandla (Gujarat) SEEPZ (Mumbai) Cochin (Kerala) Surat (Gujarat) NOIDA (UP) Chennai (TN) Vizag (AP) Falta (WB) Size (Sq. KM) 2. 99 0. 38 0. 40 NA 1. 22 1. 04 1. 43 1. 12 Source: Export Promotion Council. Ministry of Commerce, Government of India 1. Evolution of EPZs/SEZs in India The economic policy of 1960’s which were geared towards selective import liberalization and export promotion, marked the development of EPZ’s in the country. The first EPZ in India which was also the first in Asia was set up at Kandla in 1965. The proposal for setting up the Kandla free trade zone was mooted in 1961, with the objective of facilitating the development of the Kutch reg ion, to ensure greater utilization of Kandla port and to create employment opportunities in the Kandla. The second EPZ in the country, the Santa Cruz Electronics Export Processing Zone (SEEPZ), was set up at Mumbai in 1974. This EPZ was developed specifically for processing electronics goods and was expected to generate employment opportunities and facilitate the technology transfer. SEEPZ was initially planed as single product zone for processing electronics goods but by 1986 it was made a two product zone providing for gems and jewellery complex as well. 7 Four more zones were set up in the mid-eighties at Noida (NEPZ), Chennai (MEPZ), Cochin (CEPZ, Kerala), and Falta (FEPZ, West Bengal) and the seventh EPZ in the country was commissioned at Vishakhapatnam (VEPZ, Andhra Pradesh) in 1994. Initially the Central Government was solely responsible for establishing EPZ, but this policy was amended in 1994 to enable state governments, autonomous agencies and the private sectors to participate in the development agencies and operation of EPZs. Following the implementation of this policy, one EPZ was developed by private sector in Surat. A joint sector EPZ (now SEZ) has been approved for Greater Noida (UP). In terms of export performance, employment generation and FDI inflow EPZs failed in India but considering the need of better export performance and infrastructure building, central government came up with SEZ policy in 2000. Section II of this research paper has been devoted to analysis of the failure of EPZs in India. Without understanding the key difference between these two similar policies it would not be fair to comment upon the future of SEZ scheme. 1. 3 How SEZs are different from EPZs ? SEZs are a larger variant of EPZs. Both have a delineated area and permit duty free import of capital goods and raw materials; both aim to attract foreign investment for setting up export-oriented units by providing developed infrastructure, conducive operating environment and a package of fiscal incentives. However, the objective of SEZs is much larger than mere promotion of export processing activities. While EPZs are industrial estates, SEZs are virtually industrial townships that provide supportive infrastructure such as housing, roads, ports and telecommunications hospitals, hotels, educational institutions, leisure and entertainment units, residential/industrial/commercial complexes, water supply sanitation and sewerage system and any other facility required for development of the zone. The scope of activities that can be undertaken in the SEZs is much wider and their linkages with the domestic economy are stronger. Resultantly they have a diversified industrial base. Their role is not transient like the EPZs, as they are intended to be instruments of regional development as well as export promotion. Although the objectives 8 of SEZ policy are quite similar to the objectives envisaged by central government through EPZ policy in early eighties but there is significant difference between these two policies in terms of tax benefits and rules and regulations. The table 1. 3. 1 below summarizes the difference between these two: Table 1. 3. 1 Comparison between SEZ and EPZ India’s SEZ Restriction sectors on Open manufacturing, services trading activities India’s EPZ to Open manufacturing and trading considered SEZ vs. EPZ to While SEZs are and generally open to activities. all activities, EPZs more manufacturing and trading on Services may also be appear to focus Tax exemption Companies in Companies in EPZs SEZs offer more tax than SEZs enjoy a 5 were exempted from attractive year corporate tax corporate tax for a benefits holiday, by more years followed block of 5 years in EPZs 50% first 8 years of exemption for 2 operations. However, under section 10a of the income tax act, the concession was to be Retention foreign exchange earnings of Retain earnings Exchange phased out by in control foreign 2009 100% Retain 70% foreign Companies in Exchange Earner Foreign Earner better Currency over foreign exchange exchange earnings in SEZs would have 9 Foreign Currency Account (EEFC). urrency relation purchase in to of Account (EEFC). imported inputs. Export performance (EP) Foreign Exchange exports (NFEP) No minimum EP Minimum required. Positive NFEP Net NFEP (varies industries required (varies and EP and Companies in SEZ more across leeway in meeting export performance requirements. required. enjoy across industries and states) Earning as % of states) requirements Duty recovery in Duty recovery is Full duty recovery i s Lesser penalty for case of failure to in proportion to imposed achieve positive shortfall NFEP DTA* sales Unlimited sales on full duty Duty imported material free Allowed. raw duty qualify for DTA sales but SEZs achieve NFEP DTA Only 50% of exports SEZs enjoy greater access to domestic market These Allowed, duty More flexibility in and for in 1 inventory planning companies SEZs. Certifications of Imports on self- Imports imports certification basis attestation Development Commissioner require Simplified of customs procedures facilitate movement of 10 free free materials are to production utilized over failing to positive materials are to be years be utilized over 5 year. mports into SEZs Customs inspection No routine Routine of inspections import/export cargo FDI Foreign promotion customs Expedited of movement SEZs investment Easier SEZs and for board quicker FDI flows manufacturing companies. of goods in an out of examination import/export cargo by Cusoms FDI process approval 100% investment through automatic approval is required into route available for for FDI manufacturing companies Source: SEZ Authority, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India Available at sezindia. nic. in. Accessed on June 5, 2006 1. Objectives of SEZ envisaged by the Government of India The main objective of the SEZ scheme according to the finance and commerce ministries is to create delineated, duty –free zones with world class infrastructure, internationally competitive production environment and fast track clearance system for attracting private investments, especially foreign direct investment (FDI) for setting up export oriented unit. The broad objectives of the SEZ policy are: Attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Earn foreign exchange and contribute to exchange rate stability Boost the export sector, particularly on traditional exports Create jobs and raise standard of living Transfer new skills and expertise to local human resources Create backward forward linkages to increase the output and raise the standard of local enterprise that supply goods and services to the zone Introduce new technology 11 Develop backward regions by locating such zones in these areas and attracting industries Provide a stimulus to the economy Test key policy reforms in these ‘pilot areas’ According to the Commerce Ministry, investment of the order of Rs. 00,000 crore over the next 3 years with an employment potential of over 5 lakh is expected from the new SEZs apart from indirect employment during the construction period of the SEZs. Heavy investments are expected in sectors like IT, pharma, bio-technology, textiles, petrochemicals, auto-components etc. With the Act and Rules in place, it is expected that many large format, multi-product SEZs that have so far been unable to achieve financial closure will now quickly move towards such closure. It is anticipated that this will trigger a large flow of foreign and domestic investment in SEZs, in infrastructure and productive capacity, leading to generation of additional economic activity and creation of employment opportunities. Fiscal and other incentives are being offered to woo investors and SEZ developers. Incentives like tax benefits, single window clearance, flexibility in export and import rules and regulations has made SEZs an important and most sought after destination for setting up the business empire. Unlike most of the international instances where zones are primarily developed by Governments, the Indian SEZ policy provides for development of these zones by the government, private or joint sector. 1. 5 Establishing SEZs : Procedures and Requirements According to Commerce Ministry and SEZ authority SEZs may be developed and managed in the private sector or jointly by state government and a private agency or exclusively by the State Government or their agencies. In the case of privately developed zones, the investors could be either Indian individuals, NRIs, Indian or foreign companies. New infrastructural development works such as construction of Standard Design Factory Building, operation and maintenance of infrastructure in the Zones may also be undertaken through private/joint/state sector in the Export Processing Zones, now converted into Special Economic Zones. Any person, who intends to set up a SEZ, may, 12 fter identifying the area can make a proposal to the Board of Approval (BOA) but will also have to obtain the concurrence of the State Government. SEZ developer will have to get a no-dispute certificate for that area where he wants to establish SEZ from the Chief Secretary of that state. After getting clearance from the state government BOA considers that proposal and if the proposal is within the purview of SEZ act BOA can approve the proposal. However if a state government wants to set up a special economic zone, after identifyi ng the area can make a proposal directly to the board. The central government has prescribed the minimum area requirement for setting up SEZs. Table 1. 5. 1 shows the minimum requirement of area for various sectors. Table 1. 5. 1 Minimum area requirement for various sectors Sector Multi Product Green field Service sector Bio-Technology InformationTechnology Gems Jewellery All other sectors 10 100 Minimum area required (in hectare) 1000 1000 100 10 10 Source: SEZ authority, Ministry of Commerce Industry. Government of India. Available at sezindia. nic. in. Accessed on June 15, 2006 The area requirement for multi-product SEZs has been relaxed to 200 hectares and for sector specific SEZs to 50 hectares, for certain States (Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Sikkim, Jammu Kashmir, Goa) and Union Territories, keeping in view the difficulty in finding large tracts of contiguous land in such states/union territories. According to the SEZ Act at 13 east 25 % area of the SEZ shall be used for developing industrial area for setting up of such units and the remaining 75% can be used for building infrastructures like roads, hotels, power generation station, educational institution and other facilities. 1. 6 Setting up Units Any person who wants to set up a unit for operating in a SEZ will have to submit a proposal to the development commissioner of that SEZ. Development commissioner submits the application to the Approval Committee and the Approv al Committee may, either approve the proposal without modification, or approve the proposal with modification. A modification suggested by Approval Committee will be well within the purview of SEZ Act. 1. 7 Important Features of SEZ Policy and Incentives given to SEZ In India SEZs are deemed foreign territory within the country with special rules for facilitating FDI for export-oriented production, and for purposes of trade and customs duties. The key implication of being a deemed foreign territory is that individual units within the SEZ are allowed operational freedom in routine activities and not supervised by the customs authorities. Units may be set up in SEZ for manufacture of goods and rendering of services. To woo the investors to the zones, the Central Government has been offering a number of fiscal incentives and concessions. For instance, the zones are deemed as foreign territories as far as trade operation, duties and tariffs are concerned. The units (100% export oriented) also have full flexibility in operations. They are exempt from all direct and indirect taxes. No export and import duties, no excise duties, no central or state sales tax and no service tax. The units don’t require license for importing capital goods and raw material. According to SEZ Act 2005, the firms are eligible for getting an extended Income Tax holiday for 15 years. Income tax exemption for 15 years is available for SEZ units as detailed below:- 14 a) 100% of profits and gains from exports for the first 5 years b) 50% of profits and gains from exports for the next 5 years c) Amount not exceeding 50% which is credited to a reserve account Special Economic Zone Re-investment Reserve Account and utilized for business for the next 5 years. The only condition imposed on the firms is that they must have positive net foreign earning (NFE). The important fiscal and non-fiscal incentives given to SEZ developers and firms are as follows: †¢ 100% FDI in the manufacturing sector permitted through automatic route1 except arms and ammunition, explosives, atomic substance, narcotics and hazardous chemicals, distillation and brewing of alcoholic drinks and cigarettes, cigars and manufactured tobacco substitutes. †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ External commercial borrowings by SEZ units upto US$500 million in a year without any maturity restrictions through recognized banking channels. Facility to retain 100% foreign exchange receipts in Exchange Earners’ Foreign Currency Account. Exemption from Central Sales Tax and Service Tax Facilities to set up off-shore banking units in SEZs. Exemption from duties on import /procurement of goods for the development, operation and maintenance of SEZ. FDI to develop townships within SEZs with residential, educational, health care and recreational facilities permitted on a case-to-case basis. The full list of all the fiscal and non-fiscal incentives being offered to SEZ developers and units has been given in the (appendix-i). Apart from getting tax benefits from central government these zones are also getting tax benefits from state governments. TABLE 1. 7. 1 shows the list of tax benefits given by state governments to all the EPZs which has been converted into SEZs. Table: 1. 7. 1 Exemption From The State Level Taxes By Zone Falta Cochin Chennai Noida Vizag Kandla 15 Sales tax Contract tax Purchase tax VAT State entry tax Octroi tax CESS Luxury tax Entertainment tax Stamp duty and registration chages on land transfers Stamp duty and registration charges on loan agreements/credit deeds Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No No No No Yes n. a. n. a. n. a. Yes n. a. No n. a. n. a. Yes Yes n. a. n. a. n. a. n. . n. a. n. a. No No No Yes No Yes n. a. Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes n. a. Yes n. a. No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No Yes Yes Source: Agrawal,2004 Units within the SEZ and EPZ also get subsidies sometimes on land rents and built up areas are also provided on lower rental rate. In some countries utility services such as electricity, water, and telecommunication are also subsidized. Table 1. 7. 2 shows the list of subsidies being given to zone units in six EPZs (now SEZs): Table: 1. 7. 2 Provision of subsidies by Zone Falta On land rent Factory rent On purchase on capital goods On capital investments Interest rate subsidies Concessional finance Any other Cochin Chennai Noida Vizag Kandla Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No No No No Yes Yes No No No No No Yes Yes No No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes No No No No No Source: Agrawal,2004 In terms of fiscal and other benefits we are ahead of China but the record of the Indian EPZs stands in contrast even to the performance of the general economy. Unlike other countries, in India, SEZs are being developed by the private sectors as well and to attract 16 he private and foreign investment a package of incentives is being offered by both state as well as central government. Later in the research paper an investigation has also been made to analyse the worth of these benefits. Section – II Performance Analysis of EPZs SEZs 17 Introduction What is a successful SEZ? Is it the one that contributes to the host economy, one that generates profi t for its own owners/managers? SEZs are extensions of EPZs and taking this into consideration, an attempt has been made to analyze the success of both EPZs and SEZs in India. It has been just five years since the introduction of the SEZ policy in India. Some economists believe that it’s too early to comment upon its potential or chances of its failure. A significant change has been made in the rules and regulations but by and large the objectives of SEZs and EPZs are similar. Taking this into account this section has been devoted to explain the experience India had with EPZ policy in terms of export performance, employment generation, FDI inflow and infrastructure development. SEZs have been viewed as a tool to attract FDI and boost the export sector, which will 8 further create employment. It might be argued that policies like SEZ which has been introduced very recently can not be categorized as a good or a bad policy by looking at the performance analysis of five years but it definitely gives an insight into its potential success or failure. 2. 1 Share in Total Exports: Aggregate Analysis Exports from SEZs grew by 16. 4% from 2000-01 to 2004-05. In the same period, total exports in India grew by 12. 1%. This clearly indicates that despite getting special treatment, performance of SEZs in India is not satisfactory. Even, the share of exports from SEZs in the total exports of the country has only increased from 4. 2% in 2000-01 to 5. 1% in 2004-05. It’s quite apparent from the diagram that Domestic Tariff Area is also more or less witnessing the same rate of growth. Exports from SEZ touched the figure of 18,309 crore in 2004-2005 which is just a mere 5% of the total exports from India. Figure: 2. 1. 1 Trend in export performance of SEZs Exports from SEZs (Rs. in Crores) 20000 Rs (in Crores) 15000 10000 (4) 5000 0 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 Year 11) (8) (4) (8) Source: Export Promotion Council, Ministry of Commerce Industry, Government of India Note: figures in parenthesis shows the No. of functional SEZs 19 Figure: 2. 1. 2 Contribution of SEZs in country’s total Export SEZs contribution in countrys total export Contribution in percentage 6. 00% 5. 00% 4. 00% 3. 00% 2. 00% 1. 00% 0. 00% 4. 20% 4. 40% 4. 70% 5. 10% 3. 90% 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 Year Sou rce: CII report, 2005 Study shows that initially EPZs also witnessed high growth but gradually it started declining. In the early seventies, the growth rate of EPZs touched 77% but gradually it started coming down (Agrawal, 2004) and declined to 7% in 1999-00. Figure 2. 1. 3 indicates that the SEZs are failing to induce dynamism in the overall export performance of the economy. As the figure shows, despite a high growth of overall exports, SEZ contribution has remained constant over the years despite various other benefits. However, this may be counter argued by saying that apart from exports government has other objectives like employment generation and attracting FDI but our analysis shows that SEZ scheme is also failing like EPZs in attracting FDI. Figure: 2. 1. 3 Growth Trend of SEZ and Country Export 20 2000000 1800000 1600000 1400000 1200000 1000000 800000 600000 400000 200000 0 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 Rs. in Crores SEZs export Country export Source: sezindia. nic. in, Ministry of Commerce Industry. Government of India 2. 2 FDI inflow and Employment India had a very slow expansion in the initial phases of EPZ policy. Expansion in the zones started picking up in the 1980s in terms of employment but total investment remained abysmally low till the late 1980s8. In the 1990s, investment also started increasing. Growth rates in employment slowed down considerably in the late 1990s but in terms of investment EPZs in India continue to be dominated by domestic investment. This was despite its edge in terms of labour costs, availability of trained manpower and a stable macroeconomic environment. The share of FDI in total investment increased slowly from 12% in 1989 to slightly over 18% in 2000 ( Agrawal, 2004). During 2000-03, however, FDI inflows increased faster. Table 2. 2. 1 below shows the share of FDI in EPZ/SEZ investment. In 2000, all the EPZs were converted into SEZs, and with new rules and incentives it was expected that FDI will pour in but a more detailed study of Noida SEZ shows a mere 0. 4% growth in FDI investment in six years while in Chennai it just went up by 2. 3%. Despite this, new SEZs are becoming the most sought after destinations for foreign investors, however the chances of decline in FDI in SEZs can’t be ruled out as once the tax benefit period gets over and there would not be much incentives for investors to invest in SEZs. 21 TABLE: 2. 2. Share of FDI in total EPZ/SEZ investment (%) Zone Kandla Santacruz Noida Chennai Cochin Falta Vizag 1997 1. 3 8. 4 12. 3 28. 4 9. 6 3. 1 2003 4. 9 9. 2 12. 7 30. 7 13. 7 4 38. 8 Source: Ministry of Commerce Industry. Government of India Unlike other countries, in India SEZs are being developed largely by private sectors and to avail the tax and other benefits private players are rushing in but it would be interesting to see if Govt doesnâ €™t extend the benefits again once the period gets over , will they be still interested in investing and building infrastructure. Employment creation is one of the important goals which Indian government wants to achieve through SEZs but previous experiences with EPZ and other free trade zones doesn’t give us any rosy picture. EPZ had a share of near about 1% in organized employment (Agrawal, 2004) and till now all eight functional SEZs has created 1 lac employment and it is being expected that in next five years it will cross the figure of 5 lac. Table 2. 2. 2 shows the employment generated by different zones and the amount of Government and private investment in these zones. Table: 2. 2. 2 Zone wise employment and Investment upto 31. 3. 2005 Private No of Zone units Employment as on 31. 03. 2005 Govt investment upto 31. 03. 2005 investment upto 31. 03. 2005 KSEZ SEEPZ NSEZ MSEZ CSEZ 123 176 151 105 74 9821 42150 19857 16107 4712 26. 93 57. 39 78. 04 74. 83 87. 53 134 279. 49 650 223. 96 92. 79 22 FSEZ VSEZ Surat Manikan chan 83 28 62 5 2 2 2753 2500 2250 300 50 150 82. 83 39. 3 32. 46 263. 85 311. 58 5 . 07 4 1 3 Jaipur Indore Source: Export Promotion Council, Ministry of Commerce Industry. Government of India SEZ or any other free trade zone should not be viewed as a tool to generate employment. Studies show that even small countries like Philippines has created 1. 1 million jobs through these economic zones (KPMG Report, 2004) but despite being the first country to have EPZ in Asia, India failed to achieve a high employment rate. Dysfunctional policies, regulations, lack of single window clearance facilities, poor attitude of the officials, centralized governance, stringent labour laws, poor physical and financial infrastructure, all accounted for an undesirable investment climate and thus EPZ failed to create employment. SEZ should have witnessed much higher growth in exports and employment but it is not happening either. If SEZ policy is really an example of decentralized governance, is it capable to strengthen our physical and financial infrastructure and if single window clearance facilities are no longer a dream, all these issues and concerns have been emphasized in the last section. Generally, it is argued that the SEZ concept is attractive because it is much easier to resolve the problems of infrastructure and governance on a limited geographical area than it is to resolve them countrywide. On the contrary, the performance over the last five years of these privileged enclaves indicates the failure of this scheme. The zones cannot be insulated from the broader institutional and economic context of the country and be treated as an economy within the economy. Zones are a part of the economy and require overall improvement in the investment climate to ensure success in the long run. They should not, therefore, be viewed as an alternative to the overall development model. This is perhaps the reason why SEZs failed to fulfill the role of engines of economic growth in most countries on a sustainable basis. 23 Section – III A comparative study of Chinese SEZ policy 24 3. SEZs in China The development of Special Economic Zones is one of the highlights of remarkable Chinese economic achievements. The Development of Chinese Special Economic Zones dates back to 1980’s. It is different from Indian practice: SEZ in China is classified in two levels by their scales. SEZ is the whole city even whole province opened to special financial, investment and trade policy, while Economic and Technologi cal Development Zones (ETDZ) is a relatively small piece of land earmarked in coastal and other open cities for industry and trade development. As early as 1980, under the opening-up and reform policy, the Chinese Government set up the first group of Special Economic Zones in Shen Zhen, Zhu Hai, Shan Tou and Xia Men, 25 all of which are located in costal areas of Southeast China, followed by other 10 costal cities, Hai Nan Province and Pu Dong area in Shanghai as the second group. To further open to the outside world and to spread successful experiences of SEZs, at the beginning of 1984, the government decided to establish ETDZs along coastal line on the basis of successful experiences of and favorable policies granted to the SEZs in the previous period. Consequently, Chinas first group of 14 National Economic and Technological Development Zones (NETDZ) were established from 1984 to 1988 successively. The distinguishing features of Chinese SEZs are their large size, investment friendly customs regime, flexible labour laws, liberal policy for DTA access, attractive package of incentives and delegation of powers in favour of provinces and local authorities for managing the zones. 3. Comparing Chinese SEZ policy with India In spite of the fact that India was a pioneer in creating one of the worlds’s first export processing zones at Kandla in 1965, EPZs have never had much impact on India’s export performance. Tariff exemption schemes have tended to be excessively complex and encourage a ‘licence raj’ mentality at the operational level. Both economies are large emerging markets that had rather similar profiles in 1978. Today, China ranks number one as the world’s preferred foreign investment destination. Closer examination of the FDI statistics suggests that India’s performance has been abysmal in comparison to China. India lags behind for a number of reasons. These include a high tariff regime, poor infrastructure (power, ports, roads and railways), and a regulatory system that is too often not business-friendly and inflexible labour laws. In this section a comparison has been done between Chinese and Indian SEZ policy on different parameters like tax incentives, labor laws, FDI inflow, employment and export performance. First, consider the size of the proposed SEZs. Chinese SEZs are like townships. India has not gone that far, but according to the SEZ guidelines, the area of an SEZ should be 1000 hectares. It is being argued that large sized SEZs can perform better as they will have a larger scale of economy but on contrary to that the best performing SEZ in Mumbai has an 26 area of 93 acres only. It is being considered that one of the china’s success factors was large size of SEZs. For instance, entire Hai Nan Island has been declared as SEZ with an area of 34,000 Sq. km. Table 3. 2. 1 below shows the size of all five existing SEZs in china. Table: 3. 2. 1 Size of Chinese SEZs SEZ 1) Shenzhen 2) Zhuhai 3) Xiamen 4) Hainan 5) Shantou Area (Sq. KM) 327 121 131 34000 234 Source: Kumar, 2003 There is no doubt that SEZs have an edge over rest of the economy in terms of investment friendly environment and it’s quite obvious that if we have an investment friendly environment in a larger area, economy would do well. Rather than applying the theory of having larger scale of economy we should focus on an overall hassle free environment for export and this can be done only by extending the SEZ policy to whole country where every small and big export oriented manufacturers will have the access to business friendly environment. One counter argument to this proposal might be that SEZ policy in India is being implemented on a pilot basis, and government can extend this policy to whole country if SEZ works as a tool to bring economic reform. But unfortunately SEZ policy nowhere talks about extending the same hassle free system to rest of the country. It means that carrying out businesses in hassle free environment would still be a dream for rest of the country, so infrastructure else where in the country would not improve. The performance of SEZ also depends on the inner infrastructure and how can we think of a great performance from SEZs when rest of the economy still suffers from the same unfriendly environment. 27 SEZs were established by the China to encourage foreign investment, bringing jobs, technical knowledge, and future tax revenues in return for significant tax concessions at start-up of the operations and over a number of years. The biggest benefit to the investor is significant tax concessions early in the project. Tax concessions offered to a manufacturing startup in Chinese SEZ are: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ No tax during start-up years before making a profit The first year that any company makes a profit starts the Tax Clock and is year one The first and second year after the tax clock starts, there is no tax. For years three and four, there is 1/2 of the normal tax rate. In the fifth year, the company pays the full normal tax rate In terms of tax benefits we are ahead of china. In SEZ policy tax benefits has been increased in comparison to EPZ but the failure of EPZs indicates that tax benefits can’t alone boost the FDI and export performance. Table 3. . 2 below compares the performance of these two countries. Table 3. 2. 2: Comparison of SEZ performance China Share of SEZs in total export Employmnet(Direct) generated through SEZs FDI inflow through SEZs India 5% 0. 1 million US $ 2 billion 23% 2 million US $ 60 billion Source: KPMG report, ministry of commerce and industry (GoI) The contribution of Chinese SEZs to the country exports is in the range of 15-23%. According to avai lable statistics, the share of SEZ exports to country exports in 1997 was 23% (i. e. approximately US $ 42 billion). Overall, all the zones put together have played an important role in the overall growth of the Chinese economy. These zones taken together employ more than two million people directly and approximately 16 million overall (both direct and indirect). Cumulatively, 20% of the total foreign direct investments 28 into China have made its way into SEZs (i. e. approximately US $ 60 billion till date). Performance of SEZs in these two countries should not be compared just on the basis of export and other figures because size wise Chinese SEZs are much larger than Indian SEZs. But even in performance (export, employment) per Sq. KM China witnessed higher rate of growth and it was possible because of their liberal framework of SEZ policy. As regards labour laws, it is difficult to imagine that a communist country like China has relaxed these laws by allowing a hire and fire policy for the SEZs. This single measure went a long way in attracting foreign investment to these zones. After investors gained confidence in the productivity of Chinese workforce, the hire and fire policy was substituted by the contract system. There is ample justification for adopting in India a flexible labour policy in India, not just for these exporting enclaves but also for rest of the country. Rigid and outdated labour laws hinder the economic development and it sets the rationale for having a labour reform. According to section 5B of the labour code any registered firm, that is employing more than 100 people, is required to seek permission from the state government to retrench its workforce. The country budget of March 2002 promised a change in the legislation to raise the level to 300 but due to coalition government it never happened. The result is that formal-sector firms (those that are registered and that pay their taxes) loath to take on new employment, and the vast majority of India’s employment is informal, in small, tax-evading, inefficient enterprises. The policy in India on these critical issues is lukewarm. It just mentions that the laws of the land will apply and that the zones can be declared as public utilities under the Industrial Disputes Act. Merely declaring SEZs as public utilities will, however, not serve much purpose as seen in the EPZ experience. The radical difference in the attitude of the Indian and Chinese governments on this matter is reflected n the recently published investors guide for Special Economic Zones in India. It states ‘the labour laws of the land will apply to all units inside the Zone. However, the respective State Governments may declare units within the SEZ as public utilities and may delegate powers of the Labour Commissioner to the Development Commissioner o f 29 the SEZ’ (Ministry of Commerce and Industry, 2002, p. 15). In China, the right to hire and fire has been enshrined in SEZ regulations since 1982. Moreover, in India there are strict regulations stipulating that contract labour is only allowed work of a temporary nature. By contrast, the World Bank survey (2002b), estimates that in Guangzhou firms employ more than 20 per cent of the labour force as non-permanent workers. Of course many Indian employers find ways round the regulations through outsourcing and less formal means but the current system undoubtedly reduces flexibility. China made the provincial and local authorities act as partners and stakeholders by delegating them powers for approving foreign investment. The SEZ authorities in China can approve investment proposals up to $30 million. This has been a significant feature of the Chinese policy and a key contributor to the success of SEZs. The Indian policy only enables the State governments to set up SEZs, but does not empower them to approve investment proposals. These powers have been vested with the development commissioners concerned who represent the Central Government. This will result in centralization of work in their offices. Government boasts of decentralizing the whole process and talks about single window clearance but anybody who goes through the SEZ act can figure out how complex and centralized this policy is. Last section of this research paper critically analyzes the ‘so -called’ decentralized nature of the SEZ policy. Another ticklish issue is involvement of local government. Unless the State and local governments are directly made responsible for the management of SEZs and approving investment proposals, their political leadership and bureaucratic set up may not have any incentive to push the initiative forward. But in India all the important decisions are being taken by central government China has gone a step further by delegating powers to the local authorities. The local authority manages Shenzhen SEZ, which has the highest export turnover. 3. 3 Current scenario in China 30 Over the last five years the GDP growth of china has been near about 10% and SEZs is being viewed as an engine for this rapid growth. Higher GDP rate can be considered as one of the major success of SEZ policy but regional disparities as an outcome of this policy has forced China to rethink and restructure this policy. Per capita income in the richest city is over 50 times per capita income in poorest city. Awarding a privileged status to some zones at the cost of others is responsible for this higher disparity. For instance, china had received the cumulative amount of US $ 128. billion of FDI between the year 1979 to 1995 and the coastal areas accounted for over 90% of all the FDI received in this period. It might be argued that there is no harm in developing country in pockets but how we can forget that these areas were developed by tax money paid by everyone. Government had to forego tax revenues as tax concessions were the main attracting features. All the tax revenue lost due to SEZ was/is being recovered through taxes from rest part of the country and resultantly all tax payers end up paying higher tax but the benefits are available for very few of them. I see this as the one of the main causes for high income disparity in China. To combat this problem even China has given emphasis on balanced development and tax benefits accorded to foreign investments in the SEZs has been partially lifted. India’s tax and tariff structures are still anti export. India’s high overall tariff rates, especially tariffs on intermediate products that are used by exporters, impose a heavy indirect tax on export competitiveness. Deregulation of the private sector is perhaps one of the most critical areas in the context of India’s reforms. Since almost 90-plus percent of the workforce is in the informal sector, it is of utmost importance to deregulate the private sector so as to get the unorganized sector workforce in the mainstream. Workers in large firms in the formal sector have a virtual guarantee of continued employment according to the Industrial Disputes Act. For firms of 100 employees or more, reductions in the workforce must be upon the permission of state government, which is almost never granted. Remarkably, loss-making firms are also not allowed to close their operations without government consent. The results of India’s ighly regulated labor markets have been devastating. Formal-sector employment in India is shockingly low, in large part 31 because so much urban employment is carried on outside of formal registration. Out of a total labor force of around 406 million, formal sector employment accounts for only 28. 1 million. Of this, 19. 4 million works in the state sector (state enterprises and publ ic administration), and just 8. 7 million works in private firms with formal employment. Indeed with a more open and deregulated economy (economy is not just SEZs), India may well be in a position to perform as China has done over the last two decades. 32 SECTION- IV CASE STUDY: NOIDA SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONE 33 4. 1 Introduction Noida EPZ was established in 1984 and attained the status of SEZ in the year 2000. Based on their share in exports, past performance and potential for growth, software and gem jewellery have been identified as the thrust areas. Spread in 310 acre, NSEZ is just after SEEPZ in terms of export performance. NSEZ’s proximity to Delhi sets it apart from other SEZs. Being close to national capital it has an easy access to skilled manpower, abundant managerial and technical expertise. With 151 units in operation, NSEZ contributed 30% of total exports from SEZ in the year 2004. It employs 19,857 people and per unit employment is 131. In terms of per unit employment SEEPZ and MSEZ are ahead of NSEZ with 239 and 150 employee per unit respectively. Units in NSEZ get the tax benefits according to SEZ act but at the same time they have been exempted from the payment of stamp duty, trade tax and entry tax. Noida has witnessed higher growth in export in comparison to other SEZs. The figure 4. 1. 1 shows the export growth of NSEZ: Figure 4. 1. 1 Export growth trend of NSEZ Export Growth of NSEZ 18000 16000 14000 12000 10000 8000 6000 4000 2000 0 1998-99 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 Exprort (in million) 15341 10143 10342 7483 8456 9924 Source: NSEZ Authority The total government investment in NSEZ is Rs 78 crore while the private investment is of 650 crores. NSEZ has the highest private investments and the reason for this is better business opportunities due to its proximity to Delhi. Another important factor is incentives given by the state government. Over the years exports in textile and hardware has been 34 declining but gems jewellery has witnessed a very high growth and in the year 2003-04 the total contribution was 49. 87% in total exports from NSEZ. The table below summarizes the contribution of different sectors in total exports. Table: 4. 1. 1 Contribution of different sectors in exports from NSEZ Sector 19992000 1341 1660 1393 1201 1295 462 127 295 682 8456 Exports (Rs. Million) 2000-01 1388 2697 1786 1014 1928 329 88 269 843 10342 2001-02 1199 885 1906 1184 3015 207 100 287 1141 9924 2002-03 990 739 1787 1374 3437 238 53 229 1296 10143 2003-04 990 930 1980 1640 7650 310 50 230 1560 15341 Textile/Garments Hardware Software ENGG. Goods GEM Jewellery Chemical Pharma Leather Products Plastic/Rubber/Synthetic Miscellaneous Total Source: NSEZ Authority 4. 2 The reasons for NSEZ’s success: A) Proximity to Delhi: One of the prime reasons of NSEZ’s success is its proximity to Delhi. Noida has better transport and other infrastructural facilities in comparison to others SEZ. Noida was developed as an industrial area and therefore, the whole environment is business friendly. Noida is just 24 KM away from Delhi and it comes under national capital territory (NCT), so in terms of administration, infrastructure and business opportunities NSEZ has an edge over other SEZs. B) Special benefits given by the U. P. overnment: It has been discussed in previous sections that the tax benefits are the key determinants in attracting investments. To woo the investors U. P. government has exempted SEZ developers and units from some state taxes as well and it has resulted in higher private investments in NSEZ Exemptions from the payment of entry tax, trade tax and stamp duty makes NSEZ the 35 most sought after destina tion for setting up the units. Due to these exemption units in NSEZ export more to reap the benefits given by the state government at the fullest. 36 Section – V Policy Analysis: A Critical Approach 37 Without doing the cost benefit analysis when a government establishes any economic policy which affects all the people in a direct or indirect way, it becomes important to raise some basic questions like whether the benefits of that policy would outweigh their costs, is it good for the country in the long run? SEZ policy has been enacted by parliament but ironically no cost benefit analysis was done before announcing it. As discussed earlier the prime objective of this scheme is to boost the export sector and a package of fiscal and non fiscal incentives are being offered to developers and units to achieve the objectives. One way to assess the rationale for having SEZ policy is to investigate what would have been the performance of the economy in the absence of this policy. Anticipating this would not be an easy task. Export performance of our country has been abysmal and there was a need to take some measures but according to me, preferential treatment should be the last measure and firstly any government should root out all those evils which are hindering the growth of export or for that matter whole economy. Rigid tariff regime highly regulated labour market, centralized governance are some major problems which obstruct the growth of the export sector and this also makes the investment climate unfriendly. Deregulating the labour market and decentralizing the whole process should have been the first priority of the government and making the whole country hassle free for investments and business opportunities would automatically boost the export sector. Establishing SEZs is a very complex task encompassing a wide range of policy, legal and regulatory issues. SEZ policy was praised initially as a well drafted policy but inter ministerial conflicts, heavy economic costs and recent cases of migration from DTA to SEZs actually highlights the blind spots of its designers. 5. 1 Heavy Economic Costs According to SEZ Act 2005, the firms are eligible for getting an extended Income Tax holiday for 15 years. Firms and developers have also been exempted from excise duty and custom duty. A loss of Rs. 39,704 crore of duty under export promotion schemes during 2003-04 (CAG Report, 2004) which accounts for 82% of customs duty collected that year gives an idea of how costly this whole affair is. According to an internal assessment by the 38 Finance Ministry, the Government may have to forego about Rs 90,000 crore in direct and indirect taxes over the next four years on account of SEZs. 5. 2 Corporate Welfare Very recently an article written by M. Bhardwaj appeared in ‘Business Standard’ which alleges that Haryana government acquired over 1700 acres of land from farmers at Rs. 300 crore and offered this land to Reliance for 360 crore in the name of SEZ while it was estimated that land was worth 5,000 crore. This is a perfect example of corporate welfare. It’s true that the value of land goes up drastically when market anticipates the introduction of any such scheme into that particular area but taking away the land from farmers at a much lower rate can’t be justified. According to the SEZ Act any state government can set up SEZ jointly with private sector. This can be called public private participation. Theoretically everything sounds good, so where is the problem. Now if any company has link with top politicians of a state, the possibility of favoured treatment can’t be ruled out. Even in terms of incentives state can also offer a package of tax benefits. Imagine a situation where two firms which produces the same good, are operating from two different states and one of them gets an edge over another just because of preferential treatment by the state. Would you call it a fair competition? SEZ act enables the state government to offer land at a much lower rate and to provide extra incentives and what do we expect that the state governments would not misuse these powers? 5. 3 Migration from DTA to SEZ To avail all the facilities and incentives offered by SEZs, small firms and even big companies are shifting to these privileged enclaves. SEZs have encouraged inward migration. One of the prime objectives of this policy was to attract FDI but the share of FDI in investments in SEZs is very low and due to inward migration very few new manufacturing units have been set up in the SEZs. 5. 4 Real Estate Play 39 State governments are offering land to SEZ developers at concessional rates. For real estate developers SEZ policy has come as an opportunity to grab the scarce land near cities. Ideally SEZs should be established in remote areas but due to lack of infrastructure the concentration of SEZs are near by cities. According to SEZ Act at least 25% of the total acquired area would be processing area and in the remaining area developers can build commercial complexes, malls, hospitals, hotels, educational institutions etc. Minimum area requirement for setting up SEZ is 1000 hectares and according to SEZ guidelines developers get a tax break even on all the buildings on the 750 hectares. On going real estate boom has shifted the focus from export to building residential complexes and commercial malls. Developers can always make huge profit from selling or leasing the buildings and this is where real estate play comes in. Land deals and compensation payments are known to be hot-beds of corruption so no wonder if farmers are being displaced from their place in the name of SEZ without giving adequate compensation. Conclusion Considering the need to boost export sector and attract FDI, government announced this policy but ironically the performance of SEZs in exports highlights the failure. When government should liberalize overall policy, government has decided to focus on one or two areas. The real attraction of SEZs is the tax holiday promised and to grow the business in hassle free environment firms are just shifting to these privileged enclaves. To compete with China a package of fiscal and non fiscal incentives are being given but this has been overlooked that tax benefits in china’s SEZ were available only to foreign investments, not exports. All exemptions and fiscal incentives should go in the process of overall tax and labour reform. Giving preferential treatment to any particular area in the name of exports can’t be justified in the democratic set up. Even if government wants to continue with this policy, only developers should be given the tax benefits if they are developing any SEZ in the remote area. The whole process is still centralized and government should minimize their role. 40 References: 1. Official Website of SEZ. http:// sezindia. nic. in. 2006, accessed on 23 May 2006 2. Ministry of Commerce. 2005. Annual Report2004-05. 3. CII report. 2005. Special Economic Zone: Engines for Growth. Available at http://www. ciionline. org/Northern/regionalfocus/836/images/sez. pdf. Accessed on 23 June 2006. 4. Bhardwaj, M. 2006. No review, RIL mega SEZ signing next week, says Haryana CM. June 13. Business Standard 5. Aggarwal, A. 2004. Export Processing Zones in india : Analysis of the Export Performance. ICRIER Working paper No. 148. 6. Jain, S. 2006. Killing SEZs, making a killing. 22 May. Business Standard 7. Tondon Committee (1982) ‘The Committee on Free trade Zones and 100% Export oriented Units, Apponited by the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India, September 1981. 8. IIPM Editorial. 2006. The Great Indian obsession. 9. The Hindu. 2005. Lok Sabha passes SEZ Bill. 11 May 10. Suchitra, M. 2006. The high cost of easy foreign exchange. 9 March. India Together 41 Annexure-1 (List of all the fiscal and non-fiscal benefits given to SEZ developers and units) i. 00% income tax exemption for a block of five years and an additional 50% tax exemption for two years thereafter ii. 100% FDI in the manufacturing sector permitted through automatic route, barring a few sectors. iii. External commercial borrowings by SEZ units upto US$500 million in a year without any maturity restrictions through recognized banking channels. iv. Facility to retain 100% foreign exchange rec eipts in Exchange Earners’ Foreign Currency Account. v. 100% FDI permitted to SEZ franchisee in providing basic telephone services in SEZs. vi. vii. No cap on foreign investment for small scale sector reserved items. Exemption from industrial licensing requirements for items reserved for the SSI sector. viii. No import licence requirements 42 ix. Exemption from customs duties on import of capital goods, raw materials, consumables, spares etc x. Exemption from Central Excise duties on procurement of capital goods, raw materials, consumable spares etc. , from the domestic market. xi. xii. xiii. No routine examinations by Customs for export and import cargo. Facility to realize and repatriate export proceeds within 12 months. Profits allowed to be repatriated without any dividend-balancing requirement. xiv. xv. Job work on behalf of domestic exporters for direct export allowed. Subcontracting both domestic and international is permitted; this facility is available to jewellery units as well. xvi. †¢ Exemption from Central Sales Tax and Service Tax †¢ Facilities to set up off-shore banking units in SEZs. †¢ Exemption from duties on import /procurement of goods for the development, operation and maintenance of SEZ. †¢ Income tax exemption for a block of 10 years in 15 years. †¢ Exemption from Service Tax 43 †¢ FDI to develop townships within SEZs with residential, educational, health care and recreational facilities permitted on a case-to-case basis.

Stay on the Map with New Geopolitical Names

Stay on the Map with New Geopolitical Names Stay on the Map with New Geopolitical Names Stay on the Map with New Geopolitical Names By Mark Nichol I recently took a trip that encompassed layovers in Great Britain, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. And if you believe that, I’ve got a great deal for you on a bridge in Londinium. The truth is, none of the places I just mentioned exist not by that name, anyway, or not as political entities. Great Britain is the name of the island that constitutes most of what is properly known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, usually abbreviated to â€Å"the United Kingdom.† That nation consists of four other nations: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland (as well as many but not all of the small islands in the vicinity). If you refer to England, you should mean England no more, and no less. And though the citizens of England are the English, those of the United Kingdom are not; they’re British. (I’ll leave further details to the denizens of that fair country.) Czechoslovakia, with gratitude from our twisted tongues and fumbling fingers, divided itself peacefully into the Czech Republic and Slovakia nearly twenty years ago, soon after the collapse of its Communist government. (The residents generally speak related but different languages, the geography of the two countries is distinct, and their religious habits and other cultural characteristics differ significantly.) Yugoslavia, an unfortunate agglomeration of Balkan nations that held together against all odds for much of the twentieth century, collapsed in acrimony at around the same time. The two remaining constituent states out of eight states and provinces briefly held on to the name but were soon known as the nation of Serbia and Montenegro; however, they separated in 2006. The former Soviet Union gave way in the 1990s to fifteen separate nations, including Russia (also known as the Russian Federation), requiring journalists to sometimes make a distinction between the nation of Georgia and the American state by that name, and releasing a bewildering array of multisyllabic monikers, many of them ending in -stan (Persian for â€Å"home of† or â€Å"place of†). Have you ever been to Bombay? It’s now formally known as Mumbai, a more accurate pronunciation of the native appellation. Rangoon, in Burma (oops I mean, Myanmar), is for the same reason now identified as Yangon. Farther north, Greenland is now Kalaallit Nunaat (the indigenous name), and Canada broke off a portion of the Northwest Territories to form Nunavut. What future changes can we expect? Belgium, for many years an uneasy union of the French-identified culture of the region of Wallonia (French: Wallonie) and the Dutch-identified culture of the area long known as Flanders (Dutch: Vlaanderen), is likely to cleave into those two entities. Many other new names may appear on maps in the near future based on nomenclature arising from shifting geopolitics. The ephemeral nature of geographical names makes the idea of printed atlases and such seem faintly ridiculous, because such publications are to some extent obsolete as soon as they’re produced. But don’t let that keep you from consulting with an authoritative resource before you refer in writing to a foreign locale. Your best bet, however, is an online source. Equally important, when you mention a place in a historical context, do use the appropriate name for example, â€Å"Great Britain† in a Revolutionary War novel, â€Å"Czechoslovakia† in an essay about the Prague Spring, or â€Å"Yugoslavia† in an article about that country’s charismatic dictator, Tito. In addition, phrases such as â€Å"in the former Soviet Union† or â€Å"part of what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire† help keep countries in their place. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:7 Classes and Types of Phrases15 Words for Household Rooms, and Their Synonyms40 Idioms with First

Women's Right in Islam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Women's Right in Islam - Essay Example People have a notion that women are suffering under the Islamic laws as it is with strict boundaries. However, it is not the case always; women do have equal rights under the Sharia like men. For centuries women were treated inferior and this also reflected in the Islamic ruling of women in their society. Islamic law treats men and women alike but it keeps a thin line of conditions on women’s rights and freedom for the protection of women. According to Islamic law, women need to be kept under authority for the smooth running of the family. Every religious scripture hold on to this attitude to create peace and harmony in the society. Same is the case with Islam where women have certain rules to obey to .In the original form, the Quran or the Sharia law does not subjugate women. But the Quran treats women same like man and both are equal in the eyes of God, Almighty. It is the dominating attitude of men which declare strict norms and laws upon women which she cannot undertake. According to Engineer(2004)â€Å"The Quran which is comparatively liberal in its treatment of women, also suffered the same fate† Status of women in Islam The status of women in Islam is not different from any women in any other community. Within her community she has all the freedom to enjoy life and join with others to experience the joy of life. It is a fact that Muslim women do wear hijab, but this does not steal any human right and freedom from them. In fact, the wearing of hijab for women is to protect them from evil of the society. So here it can be seen that women apart from human right and freedom, she is also getting a privilege from her religion to protect herself. This gives a right kind of morality aspect to the personality of women.

Analysing enterprise operations(individual case study report) Essay - 1

Analysing enterprise operations(individual case study report) - Essay Example This report analyses the flow of operations or processes using flow chart of an individual that is planning to go for vacations to Athens from Birmingham. In addition to this, the report identifies the key issues that could influence the trip of the individual as well as identifying bottlenecks that could influence the process. At the end of the report, recommendations have been given. This report is used to show how flow chart can be helpful in every day to day operations and decisions that an individual makes. As the report has been prepared using a case of an individual going for vacations from Birmingham to Athens therefore the main aims and objectives of the report are: Issues in any processes can halt the speed and successful accomplishment of that process. Therefore identification of key issues is important to make sure that the objective is achieved. The key issues that have been identified are: There are certain processes in different things whatever an individual or any organisation do which can pause the overall process and until this process or step is not solved, the operations cannot continue. These steps or blockages are called the ‘Bottlenecks’ (Schonberger, & Knod, 1991). The bottlenecks can stop or halt the process or operations and therefore it is important for anyone using flow chart to identify bottlenecks and try to reduce the impact of these bottlenecks so that the flow of the operations is fine. Bottlenecks are basically the blockages that can hurt the flow and therefore can increase the overall time of the operations than estimated (Schemenner, 1984). Bottlenecks in the process of vacation to Athens are finding the right time to go for vacations as this could halt the overall process. For instance, if the individual is an employee then he would need to get the approval of the employer for holidays and then finalise the dates of the trip. Similarly, other bottleneck of the process is of

Afro Carribean Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Afro Carribean Culture - Essay Example Caribbean culture consists of the social, political, and literary elements that are representative of the region’s population as well as its influence around the world. The culture has been historically influenced by culture from Europe, with particular influences from Spain, England, and France. The federal governments of the Caribbean have also heavily influenced the culture with institutions, laws, and programs. The Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation was created to promote, via the media, the culture of the Caribbean. The region’s history is a product of their geography, history, and political systems. As a settler nation’s collection, the region’s culture has been subject to shaping by migration waves that have combined to form a unique culture. This paper aims to discuss the forces that are shaping its culture today, as well as the older influences that are still at play to date. It also seeks to discuss the process of syncretism and how it has been m anifested in the culture of the Caribbean. Finally, it will give a detailed review of â€Å"When I was Puerto Rican† by Santiago. The Forces Shaping Caribbean Culture Today Having provided a key resource in wealth generation during the sugar islands era, and acting as a bridge between the new world and Europe during the new world’s colonisation, the region has for the last century or so been under the influence of the United States. This is because the US has been the omnipresent military and economic power of the twentieth century (Scher 11). While the influence may be decisive and ever-present, the Caribbean is not reduced to the status of a US dominion. Except Cuba, events occurring over the last decade or so have pointed to the constant initiative occurrence that is pursued in the common interest across the region. Self-assertiveness of every Caribbean entity, the central role-played by the US, and attempts to reach cooperative outcomes shaped by the various geomet ries involved are at play in this pursuit. The Caribbean position is constantly reformulated by various factors. These are: histories inherent in each entity, relations with their former colonial masters, present links to the EU, residual presence of a number of European states, shared resonance with Central and South American countries, recent influence wielded by countries from Asia, and changes in the global economy especially production of energy (Scher 11). These factors may relate with the individual society’s economic health as well as their current position in the creation of wealth, political alignments in the current world, degree of regional cooperation, cultural identity, and international exchange. The relationship between the Caribbean and the United States has been a longstanding one and has stretched in to the present times. The influence is extended to include social, economic and military contexts. Economically, the United States is a vital market for Caribb ean exports. The Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act has cemented relations between the two regions in the twenty first century (Scher 13). This basin is of strategic interest for the United States, especially as it is a vital route of trade. Over 50% of US, imports are transported through this seaway. The foreign policy of the Caribbean also aims to cement its participatory role in the global economy. Because of this, the wish not to be excluded from its US primary market or be shunted past in the formation of global trading blocks has seen the United States play a vital and influential role in the shaping of the region’s hemispheric market. Building and strengthening of relations between the US and the Caribbean has also seen the US figuring prominently in the shaping of

Kiwi Ultra Fruit Juice Strategy Analysis

Kiwi Ultra Fruit Juice Strategy Analysis Prabhjot Singh Cheema Ques1 (a): Strategic planning: It deals with the big image of the organisation. It is considered as an organisational activity which is used to set predominance along with focus on energy and resources and strengthening operations. It also ensures that whether the employees and stakeholders are working together for a common goal with the establishment of agreements which intend to show outcomes/results. The most important thing for this plan is it is not a monument, but at end it is way for a firm to achieve its purpose. The main purpose of this plan is setting overall or long term goals for business and achieves those goals. Such a long term plan looks into four or five years in to the future. It also involves stepping back from every day operations and review where business is headed and what its next priorities should. It includes business, its vision, firms identity and the direction in which firm is heading. (b): Operational planning: the operational planning refers to the steps which are to be considered and followed to carry out the organisations goals. Moreover, it is the planning in which strategic goals are broken into small activities and aims which are planned to reach out to vision and goals. This plan is to represents high detail information to direct people in performing everyday tasks. This plan provides who, when, what and how much is required to complete the task. That mean, the strategies which are to be considered with the persons who will be responsible for specific tasks and timelines when the tasks are to be completed with the financial resources available for those strategies. The main purpose of this plan is to provide firm with a clear image of their tasks and responsibilities with referring to common goals and objectives contained in strategic plan. Ques2: (a): considering myself as the CEO of kiwi ultra fruit juice I would make a complete strategic plan by setting goals visions. Three strategic goals in my strategic plan will be: Making a vision to expand the business into other areas of NZ so that company can earn more in slow economy as well. Another mission will be to favourably price the products by reviewing with that of other competitors. The last goal of the company will be to move the brand into some other foreign lands with a complete strategic plan. (b): In order to expand the business the company need to take actions such as the very first action will be to clearly define the market. This seems to be a very simple step. Kiwi ultra juice need to consider the demographics and locations and interest or needs of  customers of that specific location. In this way the company can bring out products which are more preferred by specific located people. Moreover, company can perform market analysis. It will involve more market research targeting customers. Secondly, in order to develop the business internationally, the company should increase their sales in the existing markets as well as they should develop more products than only orange juice. This will bring their company to next level. They should launch products which completely differentiate them from their competitors and develop a new image. Ques3: (A): control process: It is a continuous process. The four steps involved in control process are: 1. Setting up of control standards: every company plan their activities in advance. On the basis of these plans, goals and objectives are fixed for every department and branch. 2. Measurement of performance (Actual): this is the second step in controlling process. Its actual performance is measured against the standard sets. This step will let the management know whether they are working according to the plans or not. 3. Compare measured performance against established standards: this step in the control process is for making comparisons of actual performance with the standards sets. The main purpose of this step is to (a) find out the deviations if in case (b) and know the reasons for such deviations. 4. Take corrective actions: last and most important step in this process is taking corrective actions. Efforts are needed to be made if performance is out or less than the standards (B) Types of control: Feed Forward: in this type of control, deviations are predicted and measured and actions are taken before the occurrence of such errors. If such errors are not measured then the systems will not get output as the firm has desired. Concurrent: this type of control takes place whilst activity is in progress. This process involves regulation of activities which are being carried out ensuring that they conform to the standards of the organisation. It is designed to make sure that employee working activities are bringing the correct outputs and results. Feedback control: this types of control focuses mainly on the output of the organisation after the completion of whole transformation. It is also called as output control or post action. It is also important to note that this step is mostly preferred when other two seems to be more costly or not feasible. (c) Two examples of feed forward control that kiwi ultra juice might use to ensure that its products are of highest quality: 1. In case of kiwi ultra juice organisation should have checked the prices before charging premium charges and also produce more varieties of juice in the market. 2. The company should also have checked the image of its competitors and then they have taken such actions through which they can present their company and products in a better way ensuring the quality of the brand. (d) Using concurrent control to achieve its objective: concurrent control is an ongoing process step in which measures can be taken when the process is working. In case of kiwi ultra juice, company should have changed its premium prices when they realise the charges are high as comparative to other brands. And this will help them to increase their sale and achieve companies objectives. While, in case of feedback control, the company can use the advices of marketing experts researchers and can plan to expand the brand in other foreign lands and can earn good revenue. But in this case company need to make good plans and launch product in a more productive way. Ques4: SIMPLE ORGANIZATIONAL CHART FOR TUCKERS COMPANY:-       Mr. Harnett, president of Tucker Company explained board of directors regarding his reorganisation of company. The company is divided into three divisions as: commercial, military jet engines utility turbines (lab operating) with a VP for every division and individual manager. Each division has their own departments. Ques 5: Mr. Hodge, Head of the laboratory operation and Mr. Franklin, departmental manager of Engineering department, Utility Turbine division had conflicts over the work of tests that were to be carried out for engineering dept. of utility divisions. The main issue was the involvement of Mr. Hodge in the experiments and its design and selection of materials and evaluation process of the experiments. He felt that laboratory should be involved in all department experiments and divisions as well. On the other side, Mr. Franklin did not liked the idea of Mr. Hodge and did not want laboratory to get involved in all such cases. Hence there is a clear conflict between both department managers and over their roles. Moreover, there is also interpersonal kind of conflict. Some of the conflict between both the managers is also due to the organisational structure in past and also due to the personalities of both the heads of the department. Looking on to the organisation, the reason for the rising of the conflicts is extension of facilities of departments to all other departments and divisions. Illustrating this, the laboratory was under Military jet engine division and they have to provide facilities to all departments. The laboratory has more work towards military so it should not inclined more towards other experiments and tests from other divisions. Hence, the work load gets high and then conflicts start between interdepartmental and interdivisions. Because lab manager has to report to military jet engines vice president, it was not separate on its own. Ques6 : New organisational structure for TUCKERS COMPANY: Such a design ensures that department which provides help to other departments of all divisions would not only limit to single division. So, the common department will be able to provide and extend their services to all other divisions and departments. The laboratory will be directly under the control of president and can be named as shared services division department. This can be termed as matrix structure of organisation. The advantage of such a chart would be that this new shared department would be accessible to all departments for all their tasks and can be performed without any bias. The disadvantage of such a division will be that new division formed will be autonomous and even if it had manager like Mr. Hodge who always think of its own rather than company will act in irresponsible manner. Ques7: Centralization versus Decentralization: Centralisation refers to the process in which activities of an organisation are mostly controlled by the top managers. Here, top managers make key decisions with little or no input. They make planning on the basis of decision making and becoming more concentrated within a specific group or location. The environment is more stable as well decisions are significant. Whereas, Decentralisation refers to the process where decisions are mostly made by or delegated to the lower levels of the firm. Managers are mostly close to the action so more of the responsibility is sent towards to them. Companies mostly decentralise for managers to get more of the work done. It helps to motivate them more as well as helps to develop lower level personnel. Mechanistic vs. Organic : Mechanistic refers to clear chain of control an is more formal. This structure runs like a machine and individuals and functions behave more in a predictable way. This structure mostly works well when the environment is certain and even there is little change. People are more willing to obey and corporate and the work is repeating. Production is more. On the other hand Organic structure refers to flat structure. In this the firm uses cross-hierarchical and cross-functional teams. The company has low formalisation and has a comprehensive information network. The company works like a creature. Communication is more horizontal. Ques8: (a): Ans: The tuckers company should be more centralised and mechanistic. The authority of decision making should be handed to the president of the company because most of the managers working in the firm are inclined towards their personal status rather than the companys status. In such a way organisation top level make the decisions and work is carried by lower employees in a more orderly manner. Another reason for the company to be more centralised is the environment is more certain and stable. Mangers like Mr. Hodge and Mr. Franklin had created more conflicts because the decision was in their hands. Such an environment affected the output of the laboratory results. In a centralised and mechanistic structure, organisation runs like a machine. Decisions are more significant. All managers have their clear tasks and roles and divisions which will not make confusion or raise a conflict. (b): Ans: The type of span that would be suitable for the tucker company is wide span of control. The reason behind the wide span of control is there will be fewer managers in the organisation. More the managers, more is the conflict as it can be clearly seen in the tuckers company. Another reason for this is with one or two managers, the employees will be on same level and they can work with each other. All the employees will be delegated clear duties and tasks . Such kind of supervision and control can create more positive friendly environment among all members. So in such a case conflicts would be less among managers and output will be more. REFERENCES:- Management, F., Managment, S., Management, I., Management, P., Marketing, P., Management, M. et al. (2017). BusinessStudyNotes. BusinessStudyNotes. Retrieved 18 January 2017, from http://www.businessstudynotes.com/ Operational planning: the Purpose of an Operational Plan. (2017). Leoisaac.com. Retrieved 18 January 2017, from http://www.leoisaac.com/operations/top025.htm 5-Step Primer to Entering New Markets. (2017). Inc.com. Retrieved 18 January 2017, from http://www.inc.com/karl-and-bill/5-step-primer-to-entering-new-markets.html Steps Involved in Control Process. (2017). YourArticleLibrary.com: The Next Generation Library. Retrieved 18 January 2017, from http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/management/controlling/steps-involved-in-control-process/53348/ Strategic Management :: Concurrent Control. (2017). Strategic-control.24xls.com. Retrieved 18 January 2017, from http://www.strategic-control.24xls.com/en106