Cash Flow Problems and Solutions Essay

Sharma and Ryan are planning to share ownership of the business SIGNature Ltd. The business will manufacture plastic road signs for builders, tourist attractions and local councils. It is imperative that the business are continually monitoring and controlling their cash flow if they aim to survive, specifically making sure there are sufficient funds to cover immediate spending. However, SIGNature Ltd. should avoid holding too much cash as this is an unproductive asset, as the business could lose out on the possible profit from investing in the cash. Many businesses produce regular cash flow forecasts, listing all likley receipts (cash inflows) and payments (cash outflows) over a future time period, in this case 12 months. SIGNature Ltd. decided to invest  £12,500 each of their own money into the business totalling at  £25000 altogether, an adequate amount of money to start off the year, however; looking at their closing balance of  £5,556 this investment could have been much hi gher, the business were aware of their costs for this month of  £135,443 – a considerable sum of money to be coming out of a start-up business in the first month. The main issue with these high outgoings is the slightly low opening balance for February, which could have been avoided if precautions had been taken such as investing more money into the business or perhaps spreading the costs. In addition to the capital introduced Sharma and Ryan were granted a bank loan of  £80,000, a fairly large sum which aided the funding of machinery at  £85,000, fittings and fixtures at  £20,000 and insurance at  £1,000 totalling at  £106,000. With the uncertainty of sales these large payments in the first month may have negative results for the months to come if their sales do not meet targets, possibly landing the business into debts that will have to be repaid through external sources of finance, which will in turn incur additional borrowing costs adding pressure to the situation. Their available bank overdraft of  £20,000 could be considered, however, this would mean additional debt and additional creditors to repay, the business would then n eed to find ways of raising money themselves using the money borrowed, in order to repay all debts successfully – this would be unlikely to work as it would take time,  resources and money putting extreme pressure on the business. Many business over borrow to finance growth, increasing interest costs which not only threatens the businesses cash position but the overall control of the business. It is important for Sharma and Ryan to fund growth in a balanced way; additional funds could have been invested through savings, Sharma and Ryan could have looked into accessible external sources of finance by for example seeking financial support from family and friends who would be interested in making an investment into the business. It appears that the business invested too much on fixed assets in the first month as the initial stages of a business’ funds are limited. Spending large amounts of money on equipment, machinery and other capital items can drain resources; Sharma and Ryan should consider lease some of these fixed assets such as the machinery, leaving sufficient cash funds. Receipts are lowest in February than any other at  £41,556, a possible result of the lower opening balance from the previous month’s outgoings. Sales remained the same at  £30,000, while regular costs remained the same, including salary payments of  £6,333 in total; this may have potential effects on the business and its profit, by paying the same outflows while receiving low inflows can cause the business to eat into turnover and therefore their profits. Other payments could also be investigated, such as their courier for example, their payments of  £1,500 seem extortionate, reducing the working capital the business have available to spend on daily activity and pay expenses. This may be an example of poor financial management, an inexperience in managi ng cash or a poor understanding of the way cash flows in and out of their business may lead Sharma and Ryan into problems. For example if a business were to spend heavily just before it receives cash from their customers who have bought on credit it is likely to face problems. It is not wise to spend cash when it is not definitely there. It will help SIGNature Ltd. to save cash if they were able to delay paying their courier for services they have already bought, the courier may also be able to extend their credit period (if any) from 30 to 60 days for example. However the business should be careful that the courier do not withdraw their credit facilities and refuse to transport the business’ goods if they are waiting too long for payment. Alternatively Sharma and Ryan could look into other courier services, comparing prices on the market in order to find a company that will transport their goods at a  lower cost; leaving additional cash funds to support other business activity. Additional action that could be taken includes reducing the personal drawings from the business, owners who regularly take cash from the business could attempt to take less. Living expenses may be an issue to consider, however, making a reduction in drawings taken could reduce the amount of money that leaves the business. March sales are again  £30,000, with the addition of  £10,700 incurred in quarterly costs including payments to HMRC and telephone bills while advertising payments have risen by  £500; the result of these costs mean the closing balance drops to  £7,970 from 12,113 in the previous month, possibly impacting on April’s cash flow if sales do not rise as expected. In addition to this Ryan and Sharma are continuing to pay themselves as well as their two staff, raising costs by  £3,166 which could be spent on other aspects of the business while continuing to pay the same rates for all other costs; consequently their outgoings for the month total at  £40,143, a higher than optimum total. Businesses are subject to unpredictable external forces, meaning they must make financial provision for any unforeseen expenditure. Equipment breakdowns, tax demands, strikes and bad debts are common examples of emergency expense. In the early stages of business development it is more likely that business owners are affected by unforeseen expenditure due to lack of experience or insufficient planning. For Sharma and Ryan, it is very important they take these factors into account when financing their business, their current poor financial management could lead them to additional expenses they are not able to afford and could possibly have long-term effects on the business which will be hard to recover from. In order to raise funds SIGNature Ltd. may consider stimulating sales for cash, many business can generate cash by offering large discounts for customers who will pay in cash, reducing the amount of time waited to receive cash from sales to cover any emergency costs incurred. Sharm a and Ryan could simply delay payments, keeping this cash within the business for a longer period of time and only paying when put under pressure by creditors. Although this may be acceptable in many cases, the business should be cautious to make HMRC payments upfront to avoid future issues such as the loss of assets or additional costs as a result. Sometimes it may be possible to sell stock of raw materials, components or unfinished goods for cash. To  generate cash quickly at lower cost if necessary, however, stocks such as road signs and their materials are specialised so may prove difficult to sell. They may consider selling to collectors of plastic, although this may not generate enough to benefit the business. April and May’s sales are to rise to  £37,000 as do purchases, going from  £13,500 to  £16,650 which could impact on profits after costs are deducted, spending although sometimes necessary can have negative effects on the business inflows. While costs cons ist of mostly mandatory payments, heat and lighting remain at  £500; the approaching summer months and likely hot weather suggest that this month’s bill should be considerably lower as days become longer at beginning of spring meaning more heat and light will be naturally generated, spending cash on these bills when they are not required is an example of financial mismanagement possibly leading to additional finance issues due to lack of cash. The business should focus on making only essential purchases, postponing or cancelling nay unnecessary spending and only buying resources when required. The business should consider ways to utilise natural light effectively in order to save energy, and costs as a result; an example could be the installation of solar panels, in addition to this the temperature in this month should be higher and therefore no need for the business to be paying the amount they are for heating. Other ways to gain or regain cash involve putting pressure on customers to pay back what they owe more quickly. Allowing customers to receive trade credit can benefit as they will appreciate the extra time to pay for purchased goods, however as SIGNature’s customers are often other business they may take advantage of this act of goodwill in resistance to repay the business when asked. Therefore the business should be wary when trusting a customer with this service, as they may not repay as result of pressure and it could lead to them simply resorting to finding another supplier. June’s sales remain at  £37,000 while the second quarterly costs are du e, HMRC payments have risen to  £12,210 as a result of higher company purchases. Total outgoings for this month are  £46,233, this is higher due to aspects of outgoings such as the addition of  £300 in telephone charges,  £500 additional advertising costs and the continual payment of heat and lighting bills of  £500. Other than this the business do not seem to be taking action against managing high costs (such as the courier for example), this demonstrates a reluctance to adapt to new  situations. When dealing with their business, Sharma and Ryan should be evolving, and adapting their business to meet current demands; what suited the business three months ago may not apply currently. Sharma and Ryan may think about introducing fresh capital this month in order to improve cash flow, they may be able to use savings or take out loans using personal possessions as security. As a small business, SIGNature Ltd. may be able to friends and family to invest in it; another possibility could be the acquiring of a new business partner to add to existing funds, in addition they may be able to offer their expertise or a fresh way of thinking which could improve the business further. July to September’s sales rise to  £41,000, a  £4000 increase from April to June’s sales and an  £11,000 increase from the beginning of the year’s sales; inflows are appearing positive by this quarter, with outgoings remaining almost the same with the exception of higher purchases, the businesses profit margin has risen significantly. Sales have noticeably continued to rise after the end of each quarter when an additional  £500 is invested into advertising, from this I can say it is clear the business has potential to improve further from the use of advertisement in order to raise brand awareness and attract new and existing customers to continue using the ir business. It could be that the ‘in-between’ months are not being put to best use, if Sharma and Ryan were to more regularly invest in additional advertisement it could be that the business sales would continue to rise. From this pattern it appears their inexperience holds them from reaching full potential at the rate they could if they were to consult others (such as potential investors, or any associates within the industry for example) who may be able to offer advice or assistance. Another possible alternative as previously mentioned could be the introduction of an additional business partner, preferably one already involved within the industry, to offer their expertise through knowledge and experience while contributing a new take on the running of their business. If reluctant to allow another person have a say in the running of their organisation, there is the possibility of acquiring the new partner as a ‘silent partner’, allowing Sharma and Ryan to gain funds and guidance on the running of their business without the possible disagreements on actions taken during daily activity, which in turn would reduce any stress this may have caused while benefiting from the extra help they would receive. From  October to December sales deteriorate to  £25,000 with bills remaining this reduces profit margins; however, opening and closing balances continue to total at over  £50,000, these large sums of money remaining each month appear positive when looking at the cash flow forecast, although this is known as an unproductive asset. The money left over at the end of the month should be banked or invested, in order to gain money from either interest earned or profit received from investment; the money lost from holding the cash could set the business back from what they could have earned if they were to have invested their money. Although many businesses try to sustain demand for their products, there may be times when it falls unexpectedly. Changes in spending habits could lead to a fall in demand, leading to fall in cash sales flowing into the company; oftentimes, trade fluctuates for seasonal reasons as it appears to have done in this case. To avoid this precautions can be taken , for SIGNature Ltd. it is thought their business would continue to strive in winter due to the nature of the organisation, additional warning road signs are likely to be needed as a result of harsh weather conditions, form this I can say that the business would be wise to invest in additional advertisement for the winter months in order to boost sales. In addition to this they may be able to provide discount in order to promote their product. This situation requires careful management of the summer months in order to regulate the winter months, although it is possible to predict these changes. In conclusion I can say that there are many issues SIGNature Ltd. could face as a small start-up business, due to varying factors; some of which include their lack of experience in both the industry and the running of a business, despite this there are many courses of action they can take in order to improve and grow their business. In my opinion the furthering of their business could be achieved through the better management of their spending, in addition to the alteration of their operation; there were a number of outgoings the business were continuing to pay when perhaps they could have found a cheaper alternative, while when possessing large sums of money, were not taking action to make use of this. As new business owners, the partnership should work on the evolution of their business by finding new ways to do things to ensure their organisation is reaching full potential by increasing profit margins through the cutting of costs and in some cases, the spreading of them in order t o achieve economies of scale,  which could benefit Sharma and Ryan greatly.

Early civilizations: Mesopotamia – China

The later Mesopotamia people who built a large empire based on a powerful army with iron weapons and who made extensive use of terror were the Assyrian 12. A Babylonian resurgence of power was led in the sixth century BCC by Nebuchadnezzar 13. Mesopotamia metal workers discovered that If they alloyed copper and tin they could produce bronze 14. Iron metallurgy came to Mesopotamia from the Hitters 15. The first people to use wheeled vehicles were the Sumerians 16.In Mesopotamia, prisoners of war, convicted criminals, and heavily indebted individuals were the here main sources for slaves 17. Mesopotamia developed into a strict patriarchal society 18. Conditions for women In Mesopotamia grew increasingly worse over time 19. THe Mesopotamia style of writing was known as cuneiform 20. Ethical monotheism was in the tradition of the HEbrews 21 . Hebrew monotheism has its origins with Moses 22. The first simplified alphabet, containing only twenty-two letters, was created by the Phoenicians 23. Egyptian is not of Indo-European origin 24.Hatchets was a woman who ruled Egypt as pharaoh. 14. Women enjoyed the most freedom and opportunity was Egypt 15. In Cush, there is evidence of many female rulers 16. In Africa, iron metallurgy arose independently from the Hitters. 17. The Egyptians traded through the Red Sea with a land they called Punt, which was probably modern-day Somalia 18. The Greek words meaning â€Å"holy inscriptions† refers to hieroglyphs 19. Mercuric writing was a Nubian script that borrowed Egyptian hieroglyphs 20. The cult of Ammo-Re revered a combination of two gods associated with the sun 21 .Chi. 5 1 . The legendary founder of the Ixia dynasty, who constructed dikes and dams and organized flood controls projects, was King You 2. The legendary early Chinese sage- king who ordered the four seasons and established uniform weights, measures, and units of time was King Shun 3. Hang He takes its name from loess soil 4. The Hang He River was given the n ickname China's Sorrow 5. Mesopotamia: Tigris & Euphrates – Egypt: Nile – Harpoon: Indus – China: Hang He 6. The most important archaeological site from the Neolithic Hansson culture is Banjo 7. Hansson,Ixia, Shank, Chou 8.The first attempt to organize public life in China on al large scale occurred during he Ixia dynasty 9. The Shank rulers were strengthened by their control over the technological advantage of bronze 10. The Chinese copied their chariots from the Indo-Europeans 11. Ay was an important early capital city of the SHANK dynasty 12. The last capital city of the Shank Dynasty, which featured lavish tombs for the kings, was Yin 13. Chou dynasty laid the foundation for principles of agreement and political legitimacy. 14. THe Mandate of Heaven allowed the ruler to serve as a link between the heavens and the earth 15.Because of the immense size of the Chou Tate, its emperors were forced to rely on a decentralized system of government. 16. One of the rea sons for the eventual collapse of the Chou Dynasty was the inability of its emperors to control the production of iron 17. The â€Å"Period of the Warring States† refers to the chaotic last centuries of the Chou Dynasty 18. In ancient China, the group that presided at the rites and ceremonies honoring the spirits of departed ancestors was the patriarchal heads of the families 19. In regard to gaining or losing the Mandate of Heaven, the Chinese spoke of titan, an impersonal heavenly power 20.The Chinese began to make extensive use of writing during the Shank Dynasty 21 . In an effort to foretell the future, the Shank made use of oracle bones 22. The lines, â€Å"This young lady is going to her future home, And will order well her chamber and house† come from the Book of Songs 23. Many of the early CHinese literary works were destroyed by order of the first Sin emperor 24. The nomadic tribes to the north and west of CHina traded with the Chou but didn't imitate Chinese ways 25. The powerful southern rival to the Chou were the Chug

The Audit Expectations Gap Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Audit Expectations Gap - Essay Example Essentially, the basic issue was not fraud detection by the auditors but the alleged act of in concealment which done the damage. Nevertheless, there is still no conclusive empirical evidence in the literature about whether and how auditing mechanisms influence the performance and the value of the firms; and, about how these mechanisms interact (in a complementary or substitute way) (Bohern and Odegaard, 2003). There are no hard and fast rules for auditing, which can be prescribed for all the countries. These rules can be different for different countries according to their needs and cultural settings. According to ICAEW (2002) with all the contrasts present in the rules and regulations of different countries emphasis is given to generic auditing principles of responsibility, accountability, transparency and fairness. Accountability of the board to shareholders who have the right to receive information on the financial stewardship of their investment and exercise power to reward or remove the directors entrusted to run the company. Transparency of clear information with which meaningful analysis of a company and its actions can be made. The disclosure of financial and operational information and internal processes of management oversight and control enable outsiders to understand the organisation. Fairness that all shareholders are treated equally and have the opportunity for redress for violation of their rights. According to Meigs et al. (1999) this information meets the needs of users of the information-investors. Creditors, managers, and so on-and support many kinds of financial decision performance evaluation and capital allocation, among others. (P.07) In case of Enron as mentioned by Vinten all the above mentioned rules were broken by the governing bodies. The management of the corporation resolutely focused on maximising profits and a 'legal obligation to act in the best interests of its shareholders. By and large, this excluded the corporation to act ethically or socially responsibly'(Slapper and Tombs, 1999). (Shah, 2002) states that some Trans-national corporations make more in sales than the GDPs (Gross Domestic Product) of many countries. In fact, of the 100 hundred wealthiest bodies, 51 percent are owned by corporations. While this can be seen as a success story from some viewpoints, others suggest that these and other large corporations are largely unaccountable for the many social and environmental problems that they leave in their wake, and that their size means that their effects are considerable. The multinational corporations who naturally have vested interests in international development and trade policies (like any group) are able to deploy enormous financial resources in an attempt to get favourable outcomes. The political power that is therefore held by such a small number of people impacts the planet significantly. As a result a few of these corporations make up some of the most influential sources of political and economic

The Growing Middle Class in Emerging Markets in Asia Research Paper

The Growing Middle Class in Emerging Markets in Asia - Research Paper Example This research will begin with the statement that posts 2008 financial crisis across the US and around the world, there has been considerable interest in the emergence of the Asian middle class because they can play a significant role in reviving the world economy. As more and more people in the Asian region fall into the middle-income category, they are likely to be a future growth engine. So far economies of China, South Korea, or Taiwan have been driven more by their export bases; however, with the emergence of a middle class in these countries, their reliance on exports will diminish in the coming years as their domestic consumption will fuel the future growth. It is a fact that the wider the base of a middle-income group across the world, the more cushioning will it provide to the world economy. In other words, the world economy is likely to be more resilient to the future economic shocks unlike the one witnessed during the financial crisis of 2008-09. While there is no specific definition of the middle class, different people/agencies use different criteria. According to the definition of the Asian Development Bank, the people earning between USD2 and USD20, in purchasing power parity terms, fall in a category of the middle class. According to Homi Kharas – the deputy director and the economist at the Brookings Institution, a middle class is defined as those households whose income fall between USD10 and USD100 per day based on purchasing power parity (PPP) perspective. Pezzini, the director of OECD development, argues that emerging middle class in Asian countries is likely to be a main engine of growth, especially in China and India due to their large population base. According to him, this middle class has been a front-runner in accumulating the useful capital necessary for further growth in the region. Larger middle class in the region helps fuel growth through domestic consumption rather than depending upon export-based growth. South Koreas larg e proportion of the population now falls in the middle-income category or above and has already become a major engine of economic growth in the region. Asia Foundation has been a major organization in supporting economic growth across Asia through private and public institutions. Its economic development program consists of three core areas that include policy reform and develops business environments, supporting entrepreneurship, and creating economic cooperation across the region.

Case Study-COMPETITION IN ENERGY DRINKS Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

-COMPETITION IN ENERGY DRINKS - Case Study Example Despite the fact that the beverage market is wide, the needs and wants vary in accordance to various aspects. Description of the industry’s strategically relevant business and environmental components People have different beliefs and perceptions, tastes and preferences, needs, and wants simultaneously. A company should not take consumer wants for granted. The reason behind it is simply that the consumer turns out to be the heart and soul of the business, without the company cannot survive. The world comprises of cultures observed to by their specific habitats and they differ accordingly from one place to another. Different geographical and climatic conditions also affect consumption parts of the consumer. A company seeking to exploit the market fully must consider reviewing the above factors for they clearly state consumer-marketing environment. The vision and mission of any beverage company must highlight the importance of customers. Since the beverages directly affect the c ustomers, the mission and vision should be encouraging such that the customers feel close to the organization. Essentially, production and delivery of the beverages will be dependent on the economic political structures of the market. A company approaching a third world country shall not apply the mechanisms of that which is approaching developed countries. A company shall have to establish clearly, the production, promotion, distribution, and strategies. Strategic planning for the above factors enables a company to reach segment appropriately and deliver satisfaction. The choice of a delivery channel should relate to the perceived costs to incur and time taken to reach the consumer. Technological advances ultimately affect the industry and a company seeking competitive advantages must perceive chance as rather an opportunity to a threat. It must study the competitor’s impact in the desired market, the various tactics, and their target customers. Evaluation of competition Ass umptions that any markets are perfect are bound to injure efforts. A company must scrutinize and understand competitors’ strong points, measure the degree on which they influence the market, and weigh them against their weaknesses. Through the realization of the competitors’ weaknesses, the company stands the opportunity to counter competition and survive tremors in the new segment. Since all beverage companies may tend to crawl in the shadows in an attempt to fish information. The company should watch closely and try as much possible to contain its information. On the idea of pricing, the company should ensure that its prices vary from those of competitors, a factor that minimizes chances of switching from one brand to another. However, it is advisable that company first wins the hearts of the customers, mainly through proper distribution and advertisement (Kotler 2009). Drivers of change in the industry dynamics Bearing that the beverage industry comprises of many pl ayers and so are the customers, the Company must be specific on which end to cater for in the segment. The company does not perform these tasks solely as there are other key players in the market contributing to its success. It must analyze its suppliers, employees, buyers, and logistics channel. Suppliers are important to the point that they bring production materials to

Discussion Question 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Discussion Question 3 - Essay Example It is also a good idea to have the questions checked by another person who is thoroughly knowledgeable with the subject of the questions. The day of the test is one of high tension and anxiety. The examinees wait for the time when the test papers will be handed over to them. The atmosphere is charged in silent anticipations. It is a solemn occasion, border on a war-like situation. In my opinion, each step is important as the other. But I would rate the safe keeping of the test paper as the most important step, because with property security the paper might get stolen leaving the entire exercise futile and meaningless. (Basic Steps in Test Construction) Ans. The basic purpose of a question is to elicit answer which meets the expected knowledge level of the student in a particular grade. Having obtained the information in the course of classroom studies and instructions from the pedagogue and also personal efforts comprising homework and revision, the student is expected to grasp and retain the level of knowledge to respond to a certain question. The context plays an important role when interpreting assessment results because it helps the assessor link the question with the correct information necessary for the answer. The context covers all the important aspects of the question such as what, why, where, how, when, and the source, as relevant to the question in particular as applicable to the whole class. Without the context, the question becomes generalized leaving the scope for answer also general and without relevance for the particular class or group. (British Columbia) Q3. Why is it important to pilot test items Ans. Pilot test is done to design the entire curriculum consisting of the information lessons in the text book, together with questions, and the vocabulary level suitable for the students' age group and intelligence. A pilot test is a long drawn-out affair involving time and evaluation by a competent teacher/researcher. The evaluation is carried out by the teacher/researcher after a period of his/her training. The training is rigorous and necessary to brief the teacher about the subject content. Once the training is complete, the teacher begins to conduct a model class with the help of the subject curriculum. The feedbacks received from the students' reactions as a result of the daily instructions by the teacher are noted down by the teacher and preserved for further analysis by another independent evaluator. Even after the evaluation is through, the pilot test is not complete until the principal gives his approval in writing. (CUES - Pilot

The Failures of Jamestown Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Failures of Jamestown - Case Study Example Its discovery established a permanent foothold for England to North America and concurrent to this, for purposes of a quick profit for investors from gold mining exploits. There have been noted ignominies and failures at Jamestown. It was evident from several accounts that seemingly the Englishmen were unwilling or incapacitated to feed themselves. Mostly, Jamestown suffered from poor and corrupt leadership and a population of men that were almost unfit for life in the wasteland. Moreover, explanations were provided as to why they destroyed the corn that might have fed them and committed atrocities upon the people who grew it. What are the reasons behind these mishaps' One thing that can be accounted for was the colony's poor organization and direction. The government approved by the charter places full powers in a council appointed by the king, with a president voted upon by the other members. The president had virtually no authority of his own; and while the council lasted, the members spent most of their time dealing with internal strife and intriguing against each other and especially against the one man who had the experience and the assurance to take command. Another explanation, for Jamestown's early troubles, and especially for its failure to feed itself, is the collective organization of labor in the colony. All the early settlers were expected to work together in a single society effort, to produce both their food and the exports that would make the company flourish. Those who held shares would eventually get a share of the profits, but for the time being the inducements of private enterprise were deficient. The work one man did is not commensurate to his reward. The slacker would get a large share in the end compared to the man who worked harder. Still another explanation for the squandering of Virginia's pioneers is one that John Smith often laid emphasis on, and that is the character of the immigrants. They were certainly an odd group of people, for the most noticeable group among them was unusual number of gentlemen. Virginia, as a patriotic enterprise, had stimulated the imagination of England's nobility and gentry. Gentlemen, by definition, had no manual skill; neither could they be expected to work at normal labor. They were expected to be useful for the force of knowledge, the exercise of counsel; but to have ninety-peculiar wise men offering advice while a couple of hundred did the work was discouraging, especially when the wise men included many unruly individuals joined with the friends to merely escape their ill destinies in England. John Smith complained that he could never get any real work from more than thirty out of two hundred, and he later disputed that of all who were sent to Virginia, a hundred good labor ers would been beneficial than most of those who went. Furthermore, if the company had succeeded in filling the early ships with a great diversity of specialized craftsmen as what was hoped for, the result might possibly have been worse than they were. The first settlers in 1608 had six tailors, two goldsmiths, two apothecaries, a blacksmith, two refiners, a gunner, a cooper, a jeweler, a tobacco pipe maker, and a perfumer. Without a doubt, being skilled would mean they greatly expected to be paid and be fed for doing the work for which they are hired for. Some may have been useful but others found themselves without means to use their special talents. They did not also intend to use their hands for any other tasks. In addition to this, the men devoted more time to rest during pastimes and merry making. None among the

HRD Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

HRD - Research Paper Example In this relationship, rules are created and enforced to ensure smooth running of the organisation and its effectiveness. Different actors are involved in this process including employer, employee, trade unions, and the government or state. Such a relationship may be harmonious, conflictual or antagonistic depending on the context and ideologies. This forms the core of employment relations that this report will focus on. This is a report to the boss of a multinational mining company in Australia seeking to engage the services of skilled immigrant workers under Temporary Work (Skilled) (subclass 457) visas. Bill is a newly appointed ER manager at a multinational mining company in Australia. This is the first time he is working in the mining industry having prior experience in heavy engineering and utilities. The company is about to take over operations of an existing mine on a remote site in WA. However, many mining companies in Australia claim to be facing skill shortages and reduced competitiveness due to rising labour costs thus the problem is how to fill this skill gap. The most reasonable option is to source labour from local market but since this is not forthcoming, the option of immigrants is crucial. For a long time, Australia has been using the services of immigrants to fill skill gaps. These may be filled by permanent skilled immigrants, or temporary immigrants who include: holidaymakers, students and temporary (long stay) immigrants. Jakubowicz (2013) indicates that temporary business (long stay) visas were introduced by the Howard government in 1996. Prior to that Australia was not keen on employing immigrants but permanent skilled immigrants are considered Australian citizens hence appropriate to work in Australia under prevailing working conditions and labour laws. However, the option of temporary (long stay) visas has enabled Australia to

(Environment and Health) A Report on a topical issue pertaining to the Essay

(Environment and Health) A Report on a topical issue pertaining to the encironment that identifies the public health significance of the issue and the extent - Essay Example Ground Level Ozone that has a chemical structure known as O3, is a pollutant formed with particular compounds in the presence of sunlight. The general formula for this reaction is as follows: VOCs + NOx + Sunlight = Ozone. VOC stands for volatile organic compounds. These are ingredients that are commonly used in homes, in the form of fuels, cleaning, disinfecting, paints, varnishes, wax, cosmetic, degreasing, etc. Some of these are relatively safe, while some are quite toxic. Though there are many manmade sources of VOCs, there are many natural sources too, such as trees (CAQF Fact Sheet two, 2007). The next constituent in the equation is NOx, which stands for nitrogen oxide gases. This is a general term that is used to refer to a group of highly reactive gases. All these gases contain nitrogen and oxygen in differing quantities. Main sources of NOx include automobiles, electric utilities, as well as commercial, industrial and residential sources that use fuels (Cornwall County Council, 2007). With these two ingredients reacting in the presence of sunlight and hot weather conditions, ground level ozone forms. When this forms, cloud cover and wind direction are affected. Also low wind speeds result1. Lung damage experie Ground Level Ozone Impact on Public Health: Ground Level Ozone is known to: aggravate asthma irritate your respiratory system reduce lung function inflame and damage cells that line your lungs aggravate chronic lung diseases cause permanent lung damage (Jonson et al, 2000, 14562-14573) Lung damage experienced through Ground Level Ozone may occur without any detectable signs. Individuals living in regions that frequently have high levels of ozone tend to experience diminishing symptoms. However, while the symptoms may diminish, the damaging effects continue. Efforts to combat this have included awareness of Ground Level Ozone peak hours. People are advised to simply stay indoors at these hours, regardless of you not feeling any symptoms (Jonson et al, 2000, 14562-14573). Past Measures to Reduce the Impact of Ground Level Ozone: Efforts have been made to determine what levels of Ground Level Ozone are harmful for people in general. There are standards established that are generally accepted. However, they are not specific. One main reason why this is so is due to the fact that different people are known to react differently to Ground Level Ozone. It is said that a lot of this behavior is influenced by age and genetics2. Another effort to help people keep themselves safe during Ground Level Ozone peaks includes the development of an AQI [Air Quality Index]. This index is scales the levels, and indicates the levels through color codes. This makes it easy for the common man to understand when Ground Ozone Level is reaching damaging levels (Jonson et al, 2001, 526-536). With stations for real-time measuring Ground Level Ozone in different areas, it can be asserted that the data collected is quite accurate. This information is collected and compiled to produce animations and maps that allow the common man to understand the exact status of the Ground Level Ozone. However, it can be argued that with this data, it is difficult to determine areas that do not have a Ground Level Ozon

Concealed Carry Arguement Essay Example for Free

Concealed Carry Arguement Essay Carry Citizens of Illinois, is it so wrong to carry a concealed weapon for personal protection? There are multiple citizens of the United States believe that it is their constitutional right to carry. Statistics show that the crime rates have dropped in states with concealed carry and the death rates have not really grown. There are multiple figures of authority that are for and then there are those that still believe that concealed carry is unhealthy for a community. I for one am for the concealed carry laws in the state of Illinois. There are many Citizens of the state and other states that agree with me and the numerous law makers that concealed carry in Illinois is a constitutional right passed down from our fore fathers. One Illinois citizen in particular, Mrs. Sue Darnall, teaches a gun safety class in Bloomington, IL. Her students upon passing the course are eligible to apply for a Florida concealed carry permit that is valid in 32 other states, excluding Illinois. Mrs. Darnall says You have to answer the question: do I have it in me to take someone elses life? We dont know. We can train for that possibility but we never know until we have the experience. Firearms should always be considered a tool of last resort, she is an advocate for the concealed carry law in Illinois [Brady]. There are multiple lawmakers in the state of Illinois that are for concealed carry and yet there are equally as many that disagree and believe that it is a bad idea. We look kind of silly being the only state not to have it. It works very well, the 49 other states prove it every day, said state Rep. Donald Moffitt, R-Galesburg. Under the legislation, anyone 21 years of age or older who has a Firearm Owners Identification Card would be eligible to apply for a concealed carry permit. Rep. Brandon Phelps, D-Harrisburg, the sponsor, estimated the permit would cost around $100. Phelps pointed to Wisconsin, which passed a concealed carry law last summer. They sold 67,000 permits the first week, Phelps said [Ehley]. Phelps also says, â€Å"Right now were at the mercy of criminals [Brady]. Yet there are still law makers such as, Governor Pat Quinn, who says, â€Å"The concept of concealed, loaded handguns in possession of private citizens does not enhance public safety, on the contrary, it increases danger for everyday people [Ehley]. † Each side in the intense debate has its own interpretation of what the framers of the Constitution meant when they penned the Second Amendment. The right of citizens to keep and bear arms is the bedrock upon which concealed carry support has been built across the country. Its a constitutional guarantee. I think people should have the right to protect themselves because law enforcement is not equipped to totally protect them. The only people carrying guns now are cops and crooks, said Madison County Sheriff Robert Hertz, president of Illinois Sheriffs Association that in 2009 dropped its neutral position and approved a resolution endorsing concealed carry [Brady]. The arguments are endless on the topic, whether it is a constitutional right or not. Some people say it is because we should be able to carry when and where we feel that we are in danger and need the extra personal protection. Looking at states such as Missouri where the city of St. Louis was voted the most dangerous city in America, the crimes against individuals has slowed and dropped in numbers since the passing of concealed carry there. Now if a criminal is uncertain that you have a gun or not, it makes him less likely to attack. Not forgetting to mention if criminals are already breaking these laws and carrying, what makes it so difficult to make it legal for others to â€Å"pack heat? † I personally believe that if a law was passed for concealed carry the crime rates would drop in the state of Illinois. The current votes against concealed carry on based on the majority of ruling over Chicago. What about the southern part of the state, we have crime too. 90% of Illinois state laws are passed because of the happenings in Chicago. If a law were to be passed I believe that a registration and screening process would and should be put in place to weed out â€Å"unfit† candidates. The Illinois laws already state that felons cannot posses firearms, cannot purchase ammunition, and aren’t eligible to receive a F. O. I. D card. We could even be like the state of Wisconsin who just passed a carrying law; theirs is not concealed but open carry. Illinois is the only state in the entire union that doesn’t have a legal concealed carry law. There are multiple precautions that could be taken to prevent increased crime. In example, there are states that have local ordinances that make it illegal to carry a concealed weapon around such as Washington D. C. made it illegal to carry a handgun around, the rest of the state has a concealed carry law. I say in conclusion I believe that concealed carry is a smart and safe bet, besides it is a constitutional right to carry. â€Å"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Explanation Of The Internal Point Of View

Explanation Of The Internal Point Of View Jurisprudential debate concerning the nature of law is often thought of as a long-running battle between two schools of thought the rival camps of natural law and legal positivism. The natural law tradition has always emphasised laws grounded ness in justice and the common good, while legal positivism had tended to emphasise laws basis in authority. Legal positivism emerged from the work of Jeremy Bentham and his disciple John Austin. The latter famously claimed that the idea of sanctions is the key to the science of jurisprudence.  [1]  Therefore he held that legal rules are to be threats backed by sanctions and statements of legal obligations, so as the threatened sanctions to be carried out. Another great legal positivist, Hans Kelsen, tried to explain legal rules and obligations in terms of norm, to be directives to courts requiring them to apply sanctions. In addition Alf Ross separating the difference between Austin and Kelsen, understood of legal rules as norms addressed to courts guiding the use of sanctions and statements of legal validity as predictions that these norms will be followed. However, one of the two greatest twentieth-century (the other one is Hans Kelsen) exponents of the legal positivism was, without question, Hart. In his principal book The Concept of Law  [2]  , Hart describes the central thesis of legal positivism as the simple contention that it is in no sense a necessary truth that laws reproduce or satisfy certain demands of morality, though in fact they have often done so.  [3]  Therefore the central claim of legal positivism is that law is separate and distinct from morality. Also, Hart showed that sanction-centred accounts ignored an essential feature of law. This feature was termed the internal point of view. Harts internal point of view claims that the law is seen not just sanction-threatening, directing, or predicting, but imposing obligations. Therefore, what, precisely, is the internal point of view? And hence, what role does it play in Harts theory? In short, the internal point of view is the practical attitude of rule acceptance. It does not suggest that people accept their moral legitimacy, but only that they are willing to guide, and evaluate their conduct according to the rules. As for its importance to Hart theory, it plays four roles: (1) it specifies a particular type of motivation that someone may take towards to the law; (2) it constitutes one of the main existence conditions for social and legal rules; (3) it accounts for the intelligibility of legal practice and discourse; (4) it provides a naturalistically acceptable semantics for legal statements.  [4]  This concept perhaps is Harts greatest contribution to jurisprudential theory but it is often easily misunderstood. To begin with, Hart dictates that the element of authority involved in law has always been one of the obstacles in the path of an easy explanation of what law is.  [5]  He argues that the command theorists  [6]  explain force as the main component of law and have looked only on one side of the coin the external element of law. It compels people to act only out of fear. This may be the bad mans view of the law and Hart argues that it does not present a balanced picture. A positivist theory of law must offer an account of the nature of law-making authority. At the same time, positivists claim that the validity of a law does not entail an obligation to obey it. This means that the theory is quite independent of any theory about the basis of a moral obligation to obey the law. Bentham and Austin approached these problems by treating statements about sovereignty, rights and obligations as straight forward statements of observable social facts. Therefore in focusing only on the com mands and actions of a sovereign in imposing sanctions, the command theorists have ignored the internal aspect which characterises all law. This is element is the internal point of view which make people feel a sense of obligation to obey the law. In fact, as Hart explains there is a distinction between the two aspects of law, to be obliged thus to act in a certain way because of some threat or by force, such as when an armed man orders a person to hand over money, and to be under an obligation thus to feel in yourself a sense of duty to act in a certain way without some external factors such as threat or sanctions. Therefore, for Hart the command theories try to explain the law only in terms of the first notion, therefor they are inadequate, because the law has both an external and an internal fashion to induce compliance. According to Stephen Perry, for example, the general idea of the internal point of view is that an adequate jurisprudential account must at some point take into consideration how the practice looks to at least some of the practices participants, from the inside.  [7]  Similarly, Gerry Postema writes: The law, like other similar social practices, is constituted not only by intricate patterns of behavioural interactions, but also by the beliefs, activities, judgments and understandings of participants. The practice has an inside, the internal point of view of participants.  [8]   In regard to the above, Harts doctrine demands that legal theories to become across with the shared experiences of legal natives. Jurisprudence must take the insiders point of view, and have a conflict with those theories that ignore the attitudes and beliefs of the people that are under the law. Therefore the internal point of view came to question sanction-centred theories of law, such as those suggested by Hans Kelsen and Oliver Holmes. Hart claimed that these theories are lacking insight because they ignore or conceal the range of attitudes that people have in the direction of the law. The problem in Kelsens theory, is that the law directs officials to punish those who dont comply with the rules instead of providing guidance for those who want to live according and under their obligations. Also the difficulties with bad man theories such as Holmes is that they assume that people are driven to follow the law merely in order to avoid sanctions, rather than because that rules requir e so. In addition, Holmes who is an insider himself, his curiosity about the law is explained only by his aversion to sanctions. He benefits one type of insiders point of view over another. So as Hart says, theorists by focusing only on the perspective of the bad man, sanction-centred theories define, only the other point of view, particularly, the internal point of view out of existence. Thus for Hart the the internal point of view is actually the practical attitude of rule-acceptance. It happens when people accept or endorse a convergent pattern of behaviour as a standard of conduct towards a social rule. Therefore when the phrase the internal point of view has one meaning, it refers to a specific practical attitude. Moreover practical point of view has two attitudes that an insider can follow towards the rules: acceptance and non-acceptance. According to Hart, if someone accepts the rules have taken the internal point of view. In reverse, if someone does not accept the rules, either because they accept the bad man point of view, or because they are just observing, they dont take a practical attitude at all, it is just the external point of view. However, what does he mean to accept a social rule? Hart claims that to accept a social rule is to regard a pattern of behaviour as a general standard to be followed by the group as a whole.  [9]  It is to treat existence of the rule as a reason and justification for action, as the basis for claims, admissions, demands, punishment or criticisms, as establishing the legitimacy of these demands and criticisms.  [10]  Hart clears out that the moral legitimacy of the law does not needed in order to accept its authority. Hence the standard of conduct meant by Hart is certainly not the moral legitimacy of law. Therefore as he said is that when one takes the internal point of view towards a rule, acts according to the commands of the rule.  [11]  But since this can be comfort by the bad mans theories Hart added, The second way in which the internal point of view is expressed is through critical evaluation.  [12]  So as people who accept the rules criticize others even themse lves for not conforming to the rules. In the end, the internal point of view is often expressed by words such as must, ought, wrong, and right. As Scott J. Shapiro in his Journal said if someone accepts the rule that men must bear their heads upon entering a church, this practical attitude might be expressed by statements of the form: You ought to take off your hat in Church or It was wrong of me not to take off my hat last Sunday.  [13]  These statements are internal statements as described by Hart.  [14]  Therefore, Hart compares these practical statements with theoretical statements that others accept a particular rule. For example, someone might say, Episcopalians accept a rule requiring men to take off their hats in Church.  [15]  For Hart, these are the external statements since they express the external point of view.  [16]   To sum up, as Scott J. Shapiro said in his Journal Harts internal point of view must be understood as a commitment to act in all of the above ways. That is, one takes the internal point of view towards a rule when one intends to conform to the rule, criticizes others for failing to conform, does not to criticize others for criticizing and expresses ones criticism using evaluative language.  [17]  Basically, Hart concept of the internal aspect distinguishes between social rules and social habits. A crucial difference from a social habit and a social rule is that habit lack criticism from others in a group when the convergent behaviour is deviated from. However, as it is seen, the internal aspect and therefore rules is an important ingredient for Hart conception of law. At first impression Hart conception of law, is a symbiotic relationship between primary and secondary rules, and more importantly the internal point of view seems valid. A primary rule imposes duties and prescribes how one must act by way of recognizing a general standard mode of behaviour. The secondary rules consist of the three important characteristics, which can be characterized as sub rules, which give the concept of rules as law and obligations, but more importantly, law as a system of rules. First is the rule of recognition, which helps to determine whether a rule is indeed a rule, this is determined by the influx of criticism for deviation of the rule and the existence of social pressures to conform. The second, denoted as the rule of change, which allows for the creation of new primary rules or the change and modifications of old rules for the group to live by, these rules are also subject to procedural standards. The final characteristic is the rule of adjudication that de termines whether or not a primary rule has been violated and prescribes the procedure the courts must follow to apply sanctions. There is also a strong connection with the rule of adjudication and the rule of recognition because, if the courts are empowered to make authoritative determinations of the fact that a rule has been broken, these cannot avoid being taken as authoritative determination of what the rules are.  [18]   Indeed the mosaic of the internal aspect, the primary and secondary rule as law is very attractive for Hart because he is able to explain where Austin has failed. Primary rules are laws, because they are general and span over the territory in which the sovereign has authority, and secondary rules are a means to enforce and amend the laws. The power conferred to the individual is not a duty, but merely powered conferred to identify rules and the breach of obligation, this is justified by inextricably linking the rules of recognition and the rule of adjudication. The existence of secondary rules, giving amendment ability and the creation of new rules, has an exacted resemblance of a legal system. However Hart analysis is open to scrutiny. One element that can be objected to is his assumption on why individuals obey law. For Hart, people obey rules hence law, because of the internal aspect. Individuals obey, not habitually or because of some sense of reason, but because other are doing so. The internal aspect also makes an assumption that a society where the internal aspect is at large is one that is duly homogenous. The individuals in this society all think in a similar fashion, they share the same morals, ethics and perspective and because of this they know rather instinctually know. Hart idea of the internal aspect is an explanation of why people obey and follow laws, but the implications of this theory is that the individuals under sovereign rule are completely oblivious and unthinking to law and the creation of laws is largely reactionary, where there are no presupposed principles of the social group in question. Hart points out that that there is no necessary conceptual connection between law and morality. He supports that there can be legal rights or duties that have no moral justification or force. On the other hand Dworkin which occupies a theoretical position somewhere between natural law and legal positivism maintains that there must be moral grounds fo r the assertions of the existence of legal rights and duties. That is, legal rights are a species of moral rights. Hart points out that his theory enables the identification of the law based on a relatively straight forward application of a rule of recognition. Dworkins theory on the other hand, requires a complex moral calculation and interpretation to identify even the simplest rule as a rule of law. The notion that the internal aspect is the main and only reason for peoples compliance and obedient nature to law is insulting to the populations intelligence and the diversity of peoples, morals, ethics and thought. To conclude by the combination of primary and secondary rules Hart believes that he has found a significant weapon for the analysis of much that puzzled both the jurist and the political theorists, namely, the heart of a legal system. He believes that this approach is greater than his predecessors to explain the nature of law. He rejects the sanction-centred theories because they are based only on the motivation that people will obey only through fear. Also Hart allows us to see legal phenomena, not in terms of isolated precepts with not meaningful link to social reality but as a unified system upon the concept of rule of recognition.

Chomsky and Skinner and Theories Of Language Development Essay

Chomsky and Skinner and Theories Of Language Development Many psychologists have studied and researched into how we acquire language. Some have concluded that the ability to learn language is a genetically inherited skill. Others believe that language is learned following birth and is due to environmental factors. This is part of the nature vs. nurture debate. One of the main psychologists who supported the nurture side was B.F Skinner. Skinner is an empiricist. He put forward the idea that children learn language because of the influence of the environment. Skinner believed that parents would provide more attention and pleasurable reactions when the infant made correct sounds or utterances. This way the child would gradually learn to speak and use language. The child would respond to the smiles and approval of the parents. Skinner explained this as operant conditioning; the reinforcement of a random response by a reward. By trial and error the child would learn to communicate. The child would repeat verbal behaviour that was rewarded and drop sounds or speech that did not work in terms of getting a pleasurable response. This is selective reinforcement. Pavlov and his dogs were and excellent example of operant conditioning. Pavlov rang a bell when it was time for the dogs to eat; eventually the dogs associated the bell with food. Each time the bell rang the dogs salivated. On the other hand, N.Chomsky who was a nativist argued that children are born with a language acquisition device (LAD). This meant that humans have a built in mechanism to help them recognise and speak language. Chomsky believed that children simply neede... ...rmal language acquisition early in life. q Sachs reported the case of Jim, whose parents deaf but who was surrounded by spoken language from the television and radio in the hope that he would learn normal language. Jim showed no signs of learning language until a speech therapist took up his case at the age of three. Without the human interaction with the speech therapist there was no sign that Jim would have learned to speak. He needed the interaction before his language ability could develop. q If language development was innate, surely it would develop soon after we are able to control our voices, which is soon after one year of age. It does not explain why language takes a few years to develop. q Chomsky's theory also doesn't explain why there are such large variations in the rate children learn language. Chomsky and Skinner and Theories Of Language Development Essay Chomsky and Skinner and Theories Of Language Development Many psychologists have studied and researched into how we acquire language. Some have concluded that the ability to learn language is a genetically inherited skill. Others believe that language is learned following birth and is due to environmental factors. This is part of the nature vs. nurture debate. One of the main psychologists who supported the nurture side was B.F Skinner. Skinner is an empiricist. He put forward the idea that children learn language because of the influence of the environment. Skinner believed that parents would provide more attention and pleasurable reactions when the infant made correct sounds or utterances. This way the child would gradually learn to speak and use language. The child would respond to the smiles and approval of the parents. Skinner explained this as operant conditioning; the reinforcement of a random response by a reward. By trial and error the child would learn to communicate. The child would repeat verbal behaviour that was rewarded and drop sounds or speech that did not work in terms of getting a pleasurable response. This is selective reinforcement. Pavlov and his dogs were and excellent example of operant conditioning. Pavlov rang a bell when it was time for the dogs to eat; eventually the dogs associated the bell with food. Each time the bell rang the dogs salivated. On the other hand, N.Chomsky who was a nativist argued that children are born with a language acquisition device (LAD). This meant that humans have a built in mechanism to help them recognise and speak language. Chomsky believed that children simply neede... ...rmal language acquisition early in life. q Sachs reported the case of Jim, whose parents deaf but who was surrounded by spoken language from the television and radio in the hope that he would learn normal language. Jim showed no signs of learning language until a speech therapist took up his case at the age of three. Without the human interaction with the speech therapist there was no sign that Jim would have learned to speak. He needed the interaction before his language ability could develop. q If language development was innate, surely it would develop soon after we are able to control our voices, which is soon after one year of age. It does not explain why language takes a few years to develop. q Chomsky's theory also doesn't explain why there are such large variations in the rate children learn language.

World Literature Essay Number Two: -- English Literature

World Literature Essay Number Two: The symbolism of Blood and Water in the play â€Å"Blood Wedding† The two word title of the play â€Å"Blood Wedding† by Frederico Garcia Lorca presents both a contradiction and a concurrence. These themes continue throughout the play, and the two words of the title are used to capture the essence of the contrasting movements of its action. The wedding symbolises the harmony of man and woman, and the continuation of life. Blood too symbolises these things, however it also evokes contrasting feelings of violence, death and destruction. Blood represents the strength of the blood ties in families, and promotes the sense of repeating history which is evident throughout the play, as well as fertility and the cyclical nature of life. Used in another way, the literary references to blood create a sense of destiny, the blood choosing the path of the characters. Blood also represents and is used to express extreme passion in the characters. It also reinforces the violence to which the characters in the play are exposed and take part in. The strongest symbolic use of blood, which is carried throughout the play, is the link it creates between the characters and their ancestors, and the sense of history being repeated. This is evident from the very beginning of the play, when the mother speaks about the death of her husband and her son. She asks herself why a man would be killed just because he â€Å"goes out to his vines or his olives †¦ because they are his passed down to him from his fathers†[1]. The mother is talking to her son, the bridegroom, and so from the beginning we know that his father and brother were both murdered, and thus he is immediately linked by his blood to violence and k... ... It is also introduced in order to provide the light by which the bridegroom and the townspeople may hunt for the bride and Leonardo. The light of the moon is cold, and this light is the mechanism by which the blood is able to be spilled. The moon brings in a surreal aspect to the play in that it is represented by a woodcutter, and has its own purpose and desires. Blood represents three recurring themes in the play â€Å"Blood Wedding†. It creates a strong sense of inevitability of events by symbolising links to the past by family and blood line. It also enforces the idea of the inescapability of fate and the cyclical nature of life and recurring events across generations. It is also used to represent the extreme emotions felt by the characters, and to show the depth of their passion. The final theme is that of violence, which is present throughout the play.

Capital Punishment Must Be Abolished Essay -- Anti-Death Penalty Essay

Capital punishment is used to bring justice to the crimes of murderers in our society, but is it really just? Studies show that the death penalty is cruel, morally wrong, and sometimes painful. It robs the criminal and the public of their humanity and undermines the value of life. The public should come to realize the cruelty of this law, and this form of punishment should be abolished from the government's criminal justice system. Philosopher's first began to question the justice of capital punishment in the eighteenth century. Italian criminologist Cesare Beccaria condemned capital punishment as a grossly inhumane deterrent to crime, and modern critics argue that all killing is wrong and can never be justified, whether it is done by a criminal or the government. When the state executes a criminal while saying murder is wrong, it denies the value of human life (Capital Punishment, 17). They cannot teach that killing is wrong by killing (Deacons of Paterson, 51). All human lives are equally valuable despite chosen moral behavior, but some people think that only the lives of the morally innocent are truly â€Å"human.† Is there a person out there who is truly morally pure and innocent? Under this type of thinking, any person could easily be put into a subhuman category that is condemned. Is there a clear distinction between the two? America was founded on the principle that each individual is an end in h imself. Killing these criminals contradicts the highest moral end of civil society: the human life (Bidinotto, 23). The taking of life is the ultimate possible waste (24). Today, Americans are in search of a tame, reliable, or â€Å"perfect† way of carrying out the death penalty. Methods that have been used were public hangings a... ...A: Greenhaven Press, Inc., 2000. 31. Holy Bible. Holman Christian Standard Bible. Nashville: Serendipity House Publishers, 2007. Johnson, Robert. â€Å"Execution is Inhumane.† Capital Punishment. Ed. Mary E. Williams. San Diego, C A: Greenhaven Press, Inc., 2000. 42-49. â€Å"Quotations by Author: Mahatma Gandhi.† The Quotations Page. â€Å"Revenge Has No Place in the Justice System.† Humanism by Joe. The Permanent Deacons of Paterson, New Jersey. â€Å"Capital Punishment Undermines the Sacredness of Life.† Capital Punishment. Ed. Mary E. Williams. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, Inc., 2000. 50-52. Zobel, Hiller B. â€Å"The Undying Problem of the Death Penalty.† The Death Penalty. Ed. Hayley R. Mitchell. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, Inc., 2001. 33.

Socio Economic Profile of Househohold Consumers in Mizoram: India

The Socio economic Characteristics of Household Customers in Mizoram 2. 1 Introduction Consumer Behaviour, being the psychological dimension of marketing management, is based on various factors. Since all of us are consumers, what we buy, how we buy, where and when we buy, in how much quantity we buy depends on our perception, self concept, social and cultural background and our age and family cycle, our attitudes, beliefs, values, motivation, personality, social class and many other factors that are both internal and external to us (Mark ES and Armen T, 1985). This is very evident in India, the second most populous nation in the world and the number one contributor to the world’s population growth of potential customers (Population Reference Bureau, 2000). Traditionally, marketers have often relied on intuition and demographic information such as age, sex, income level and occupation for identifying potential areas (Dash PK and Sarangi M, 2008). According to Sproles and Kendall (1986, p. 67), identification of these characteristics among the consumers helps to profile (individual) consumer style, educate consumers about their specific decision-making characteristics, and counsel families on financial management. Again, many research studies show that consumer profiles are crucial as it deals with the mental orientation of consumers in making decisions (Wells, 1975; Lastovicka, 1982; Westbrook and Black, 1985; Sproles and Sproles, 1990; Stone, 1954; Darden and Moschis, 1976). The important effects of demographic, socioeconomic and regional factor have been demonstrated by various studies in consumers’ choice of foreign and domestic products, or rather ethnocentrism too (Sharma, 1995; Klien, 1998 and Elliot 2003). In the present chapter, it is intended to highlight who the Mizoram household consumers are on the basis of their demographic and socioeconomic profile. 2. 2 Profile of the household customers Taking household customers as sample units, the households are sampled from urban and rural areas. All the eight (8) functioning districts are taken into consideration for the study. For the research, all the district headquarters, namely, Aizawl, Champhai, Kolasib, Lawngtlai, Lunglei, Mamit, Saiha and Serchhip are taken as urban samples. The rural samples are taken from the following villages/towns – Saitual and Aibawk from Aizawl district, Khawbung and Khawzawl from Champhai district, Bilkhawthlir and Vairengte from Kolasib district, Chawngte and Diltlang from Lawngtlai district, Hnahthial and Zobawk from Lunglei district, Rawpuichhip and Kawrthah from Mamit district, Tuipang and Sangau from Saiha district and N. Vanlaiphai and Thenzawl from Serchhip District. 0 households are sampled from the district headquarters for the urban sample and 20 households from each of the villages/towns mentioned for the rural population sample, making it 40 rural households for every district. In all, 640 households i. e. 80 households from each districts, 40 from urban areas and 40 from rural areas are sampled to cover the whole State. The profiling of households is done , with suitable modifications and necessary adjustments in accordance to Splores and Kendall’s Consumer Styles Inventory model (Splores and Kendall, 1986). Following Leon GS and Leslie LK’s demographic segmentation, the sample is studied on the basis of the education level, main occupation, family size, composition of the households in terms of number of adults, children, male and female members, range of income, number of earning members in a household and lastly, the type of durable products owned by household customers. Analysis is done using F-Test and Pearson Correlation to find out the relationship between rural and urban population for each of the demographic variables. F-Test analysis tests to see whether two population variances equal each other. Essentially, the analysis compares the ratio of two variances. The assumption is that if the variance is equal, the ratio of the variances should be equal to 1. Variance may be defined as the square of standard deviation, standard deviation being the dispersion about the data set’s mean (Stephen L. Nelson, 2007). Standard deviation is calculated using the formula: ? = v? fd2x/N – [? fdx/N]2 and variance will be ? 2 (Mohan Singhal, 1999) Pearson Correlation is used to determine the relationship between the two set of data ‘x’ and ‘y’ viz. rban and rural population. The formula for finding out the correlation ‘r’ can be noted using the formula: rxy = N? fxy-? fx.? fy/v[N? fx2-(? fx)2][N? fy2-(? fy)2] The output will be between -1 to +1. Positive value signifies positive correlation i. e. both the data sets move in same direction while negative value signifies negative correlation i. e. the two data sets move in different direction (L okesh Koul, 2009). The purpose of using F Test is to determine the homogeneity of the two sets i. e. rural and urban household customers. Correlation Analysis is sed to find out the nature and degree of relationship between the rural and urban household customers for each of the socio economic variables. 2. 2. 1Education According to Harold H. Kassarjian (1971), education, like other personal qualities including sex, income, family cycle and so on, play an important role in influencing the buying behaviour. The respondents who represented their households were broadly classified into illiterates, literates, Below Class 10, Class 10, college drop-outs, graduates and post graduates on the basis of their education level and are represented in Exhibit 1. Exhibit 1: Educational profile of household respondents Table 1: Education level of rural and urban respondents Number of household customers Education LevelRuralUrban Illiterates5 (1. 56)4 (1. 25) Literates70 (21. 88)21 (6. 56) Below class 1071 (22. 19)41 (12. 81) Class 1080 (25. 00)61 (19. 06) College drop outs30 (9. 38)32 (10. 00) Graduates51 (15. 94)105 (32. 81) Post graduates13 (4. 06)56 (17. 50) Total320320 Note: Figures in parenthesis are percentages. Taking into account the responses of rural and urban respondents as shown in Table 1, the outcome F-test value tallied to 0. 840913. This shows a high degree of similarity in the variances of the two sets, indicating homogeneity in composition between the two sets of respondents. The Pearsonian Correlation gave an output of 0. 287853, a positive relationship between rural and urban. Even though there is a high degree of homogeneity between the two sets of samples, the relationship between the same set is not very strong when introducing Correlation Analysis. According to Census India 2001, Mizoram stood as one of the leaders in the field of literacy. With 88. 48% rate of literacy, Mizoram came in second next to Kerala. This rationale is reflected in the study as Table 1 indicated that only 1. 41% of the household respondents are illiterates. Even though there is not much difference between rural and urban respondents in respect of illiterates, the rural sample shows that majority of the rural households have passed class 10 i. e. 25% of the 320 rural households, while the majority of the urban households are graduates with 32. 81% of the 320 urban households. Although there is a rather significant gap in the level of education between rural and urban samples, it is interesting to note that rural households do have access to higher education. . 38% are college drop outs, 15. 94% are graduates and 4. 06% of the rural households hold post graduate degrees. That makes 29. 38% of the rural households have exposure to collegiate environment and thus, to urban lifestyle as all of the 22 colleges including Law Colleges are established in urban areas i. e. district headquarters (Statistical Handbook, 2008). 2. 2. 2 Occupation According to the Statistical Handbook (2008) published by the Government of Mizoram, agriculture and its allied sectors have a declining figures in terms of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) for the past years from 2005-06 till 2007-08. Further decline is expected from the quick estimate made by the Department. One factor so stated in the Handbook being the mautam famine. This may also result in change of occupation from agriculture to other sectors to ensure livelihood. On the other hand, the State saw the incubation of private corporates in the form of insurance companies, banking companies and other private societies. Various private banking companies like Axis Bank, Syndicate, Central Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, IDBI, have started their branch offices in Mizoram bringing about employment opportunities for educated youths (see Table 7. , Statistical Handbook 2008). At the same time, private insurance companies mushroomed in Mizoram from the past five years. According to the Taxation Department , companies like Birla Sunlife, Tata-AIG, Bajaj-Alliance, Reliance etc. have started their ventures in Mizoram, again opening employment for the sons-of-the-soil. With the fast advent of mobile-tele com industry in Mizoram since mid-2003, companies like Airtel, Reliance, Aircel, Tata-Indicom, Vodafone began employing mizo youths as their operational staffs. Even then, the largest employing organization is the State Government. According to the 5th Economic Census 2005 , the State Government accounted for 85% of employment in the State with 40,603 posts under its umbrella. In fact, the up-gradation data as on 2006 showed 51,070 employees including muster-rolls and work-charges. Purchase involvement and consumer behaviour is greatly influenced by the occupation of the household consumers (Harold H. Kassarjian, 1971). Therefore, the study categorise the sample households as Agriculture, Carpentry and Skilled Workers, Daily Wage Earner, Government Employed, Private Company Employed and Business or Own Enterprise. Exhibit 2 shows the profile of occupations of the respondents. Exhibit 2: Occupation profile of household respondents Table 2: Occupation of rural and urban respondents Number of household customers OccupationRuralUrban Agriculture81 (25. 31)3 (0. 94) Carpentry and Skilled Workers31 (9. 69)9 (2. 81) Daily wage earner40 (12. 50)32 (10) Government Employed99 (30. 94)223 (69. 69) Private Company employed3 (0. 94)19 (5. 94) Business66 (20. 63)34 (10. 63) Total320320 Note: Figures in parenthesis are percentages Applying F-test, the relationship of rural and urban sample variances is calculated as 0. 79742, a low degree of homogeneity in terms of their variance ratio. Table 2 shows that rural households are more evenly distributed in terms of different occupations than their urban counterparts. But then, the correlation degree gave a rather high positive correlation of 0. 69526. This may be due to the fact that the highest frequencies of both rural and urban households are government emplo yed. Agriculture is still an important occupation for the rural households, claiming more than 1/4th of the whole rural households while agriculture is quite negligible for the urban population as an occupation. One indication that private companies are yet to penetrate the rural areas is the negligible employment by private companies in rural areas. Rural savings and insurance can yet still be tapped by private company players. Since 2005, National Rural Employment Guarantee Act/ Scheme began enhancing the purchasing power of the rural households. Moreover, this particular wage employment scheme encourages savings and personal insurance for the rural households . Rs. 39,500 crores will be pumped into the rural areas nation-wide in the year 2009-10 under this scheme. This can be an opportunity as the rural consumers constitute more than 75% of the Indian population and out of the 1. 61 lakhs household in Mizoram, rural areas account for almost half of the whole population of the State (The Marketing Whitebook, 2005). Own enterprise or business constitute a significant proportion of households in the rural sample, again an indication of good business opportunity for rural banking. The overall tabulation shows that 50% of the whole sample population are government employed, signifying a large business pool with secured incomes for marketers. . 2. 3 Family size As the primary consumer decision making unit, the family has been the subject of intense examination for a number of years (Lakshmi PV and Murugan MS, 2008). Family may be regarded as one of the strongest source of influence on consumer behaviour, its size being the significant determinant (Matin Khan, 2006). As the core unit of defining culture, family has a very prominent effect on attitude formation in various facets of marketing (Burke, 2002; Wood, 2002). It may be held true that the family size matters in household consumer behaviour. The larger the family, the larger its consumption needs and wants. Product preferences also depend a lot on the household size (Srivastava KK and Sujata K, 2008). Exhibit 3 gives the overview family size of the household respondents. Exhibit 3: Family size profile of the household respondents Table 3: Family size of the rural and urban respondents Number of household customers Number of family membersRuralUrban Upto 211 (3. 44)22 (6. 88) 3 – 5152 (47. 50)154 (48. 13) 6 – 8133 (41. 56)138 (43. 13) 9 and above24 (7. 50)6 (1. 88) Total320320 Note: Figures in parenthesis are percentages Exhibit 3 shows that about 47% of households are bigger families with 6 or more members and Table 3 indicated that the number of families with membership of 9 and above is four times more in rural areas than in urban areas. According to the 2001 Census, the average size of scheduled tribe households in the rural areas was 5. 2 members while in urban areas it was 4. 9 members. It should be noted that the two family sizes viz. 3 to 5 members and 6 to 8 members together accounted for 89. 06% of the rural respondents and 91. 26% of their urban counterparts. Taking the family sizes 3 to 5 and 6 to 8, the median size lies between 5 and 6 member-households. This indicates the similarity of the households studied with that of the Census 2001 figures . The F-Test shows a very high degree of 0. 932141, indicating high homogeneity between the rural and urban respondents. Further application of Correlation Analysis gave the value of 0. 987285, demonstrating a very high level of relationship between the rural and urban customer households. Hence, both the tests show that there is not much difference between the rural and urban households in respect to family size. India, for several decades, have been involved in defining family size, in fact, one of the earliest nation to be concerned with the issue . Decadal studies show that there has been a marginal decrease in family size from 5. 5 in 1980s to 5. 3 in 2001 even though there is a very significant increase in population during 1980 and 2001 from 493,757 to 888,573 . This is an indication of growing nuclearization of families in the Indian society as stated in Census India Report and an indication of mass education and media awareness of the general population demonstrated in the decrease of family size, an after-effect of family planning. . 2. 4 Age Product needs and interests vary with the age of the customers (Srivastava KK and Sujata K, 2008). Obviously then, different age groups present different marketing challenges and opportunities. Marketers thus have found age to be a particularly useful demographic variable for distinguishing segments (Elliot et al, 2003). Table 4 shows the number of adults in both rural and urban households. Table 4: Number of adults Number of household customers Number of adultsRuralUrbanTotal Upto 2102 (31. 88)104 (32. 50)206 (32. 19) 3 – 5146 (45. 63)171 (53. 44)317 (49. 53) 6 – 871 (22. 19)41 (12. 81)112 (17. 50) 9 and above1 0. 31)4 (1. 25)5 0. 78) Total320320640 Note: Figures in parenthesis are percentages The output value of F Test gave a significantly high 0. 768617 showing the similarity between the rural and urban household customers in respect of the adult population. A correlation degree of positive . 959861 also indicates that there is a very high positive relationship between the two samples. Almost 50% of the households have 3 to 5 adult members. About 22% of the households in rural Mizoram have the adult population of 6 to 8 members, whereas only 13% of the households in urban Mizoram have the same number of adult population. It is already demonstrated in Table 3 that the median household size of the samples is between 5 to 6 members. Therefore, it can be stated that the majority of households are adult-dominated. As for the children population, the rural and urban households are studied of its child members, categorizing them in 2 subsets, below 14 years of age and between 14 to 18 years of age. Table 5: Number of children below 14 years Number of household customers Number of children below 14 yearsRuralUrbanTotal Upto 2112 (35)94 (29. 38)206 (32. 19) 3 – 566 (20. 63)78 (24. 38)144 (22. ) 6 – 820 (6. 25)16 (5)36 (5. 63) 9 and above01 (0. 31)1 (0. 16) Total198189387 Note: Figures in parenthesis are percentages Of the 320 rural households, 198 households have family members below 14 years and out of 320 urban households, 189 households have family members between 14 to 18 years of age. Table 6: Number of children between 14 to 18 years Number of household consumers Number of children between 14 to 18 yearsRuralUrbanTotal Less than 255 (10. 94)76 (23. 75)131 (20. 47) 3 – 559 (18. 44)42 (13. 13)101 (15. 78) 6 – 88 (2. 5)12 (3. 75)20 (3. 13) More than 90 (0. 31)1 (0. 16) Total122131253 Note: Figures in parenthesis are percentages Out of the 320 rural households, 122 households have family members between 14 to 18 years of age. Out of the 320 urban households, 131 households have family members between 14 to 18 years of age. The distinction of the children population into the 2 subsets is to segment the consumption needs and wants (Srivastava KK and Sujata K, 2008) Analysis of the rural and urban respondents with children below 14 years gave F-test value of 0. 884167 and a correlation coefficient of . 970224. These results showed the close relationship between the two samples. Again, rural households and urban households with children between 14 to 18 years gave an F-test output of 0. 888851 and a correlation coefficient of . 886998, showing a positive relationship between the samples. This again shows that there is not much difference between the rural and urban household customers. A significant finding from the two subset tables is that most of the households in both rural and urban areas have the highest frequency in the least number of children in its family members i. . not more than 2 in the household, followed by 3 to 5 children in a household. While most of the households have 3 to 5 adults, most of the households have less than 2 members classified as children. This clearly demonstrated that most of the households are in the family stages known as Full Nest II and III . 2. 2. 5 Income Income is, perhaps the single factor which significantly define the consumer behaviour of house holds. In fact, much of the other demographic characteristics like education, family size, and culture depend largely on the income of the households. Even the economic environment depends on the household’s income and as Philip Kotler (2006) stated, â€Å"In the economic arena, marketers need to focus on income distribution†. Income is one of the important determinants which have a strong positive influence on the ownership of durables (Bijaya KP and Siba PP, 2008) and even preference pattern of consumable products largely depend upon the income distribution of the households (Prashanta KD and Minaketan S, 2008). Several studies show that income, as a demographic factor, has a significant effect on purchasing styles even on the internet (Marakas GM, Yi MY and Johnson RD, 2002; Ratchford et al, 2001; Wood, 2002). The income range of the household respondents is illustrated in Exhibit 4. Exhibit 4: Income profile of household respondents Table 7: Income range of the rural and urban respondents Number of household customers Income RangeRuralUrban 2000019 (5. 94)87 (27. 19) Total320320 Note: Figures in parenthesis are percentages Taking the values given in Table 7, F-Test Analysis for the rural and urban households gave an output 0. 5093 while the Correlation Analysis gave a low positive relation degree of 0. 06. This shows that the income range distribution between rural and urban are rather loosely related, compared to other socio-economic factors already studied. In the rural sample, households with monthly income of Rs. 10,001 to 15,000 has the largest percentage, while the urban sample showe d that households with more than 20,000 has the highest percentage. This may be due to the fact that the main occupation of the urban households is government jobs. Even though the largest percentage of the rural households is government employed, a very significant portion of the rural households are engaging in agriculture (see Table 2). Another factor may be the fact that higher paying government jobs are mostly within the urban areas. According to Lalit Kumar Jha (1997), the overall average household income of Mizoram State is Rs. 10,026 per month. This income range is reflected in the total household samples with 21. 09% as the highest percentage, showing the whole household sample is the sub-set of the State population. 2. 2. 6 Earning Members The phenomenon of ‘double income’ has been identified as a sociologically relevant variable which may affect lifestyles of households (Srivastava KK and Sujata K, 2008). Michman R (1980) identified the multiplicity of income sources of households as an important market sub-segmentation as the purchasing capacity and involvement is much more dynamic. Recently, new segment has been identified and targeted as DINK or Double Income No Kids. An interesting survey by the Associated Chamber of Commerce & Industry of India (2008) on â€Å"Changing Consumption Patterns of Delhi† shows that DINKs are high spenders . The survey states that households DINKS spend more of their resources on luxurious lifestyles while their counterparts, double income-with kids’ households spend most of their incomes on child education, healthcare, insurance and home making, making the study of income source pattern a crucial issue for marketers. The number of earning members per households is presented in Exhibit 5 Exhibit 5: Earning members profile of household respondents Table 8: Number of earning members in rural and urban households Number of household consumers No. of Earning Member(s)RuralUrban 1248 (77. 5)141 (44. 06) 263 (19. 69)137 (42. 81) 39 2. 81)42 (13. 13) Total320320 Note: Figures in parenthesis are percentages Table 9 depicts a rather unrelated distribution of number of households for rural and urban areas. Even though F-test Analysis gave a rather low homogeneity between rural and urban households with a degree of 0. 33318, Correlation Analysis gave a significant positive relationship of 0. 700723. This shows that even though there is a rather large disparity between the means of rural and urban households, their relationship cannot be ignored. The study shows that most of the rural households have only one earning member in its households, claiming 77. 0% of the whole sample while the urban households have a very prominent proportion of two earning member households claiming 42. 81% of the urban sample, a close second to households with only one earning member. The number of earning members of rural and urban households can be co-related with the income ranges of rural and urban households. Table 7 showed that the average income range of urban households is relatively higher than rural households and Table 8 indicated that households with two earning members are quite higher in urban samples. . 2. 7 Durable products owned ORG-Gfk Year-End Reviews (2004) states that the Indian consumer durable industry is estimated at around Rs. 200 billion and growing. The healthy gr owth of durables market can be an offset of various factors like fragmentation of households into double-income nuclear families to the presence of easier finance options; expansion of dealer networks and after-sales services (Marketer Whitebook, 2005). In fact, durable products account for 6. 6% of yearly purchases of Indian households (Arvind Singhal, 2001). According to the information given in The Marketer Whitebook (2005) 42% of all households owned radios, 20. 4% owned television, 14. 1% owned telephone, 3. 1% owned bicycle, 6. 2% owned motorized 2-wheelers, 3. 4% owned cars and 50. 9% owned unspecified durables in Mizoram. The profile of durable products owned by the households determine various dimensions of consumer behaviour, namely, purchase preference, product penetration, support purchase for already owned durables, marketing opportunities and so on. Exhibit 6 gives an overview to the ownership of durable products by the household respondents. Exhibit 6: Durable products profile of the household respondents Number of households Table 10: Durable products owned by rural and respondents Number of household customers RuralUrban Radio205 (64. 06)182 (56. 87) LPG209 (65. 31)315 (98. 43) Music system107 (33. 43)179 (55. 93) Television218 (68. 13)308 (96. 25) Fridge189 (59. 06)306 (95. 63) Oven15 (4. 68)65 (20. 31) Washing machine125 (39. 06)210 (65. 62) Telephone135 (42. 18)289 (90. 31) Mobile233 (72. 81)300 (93. 75) Computer48 (15)187 (58. 43) Scooter42 (13. 12)18 (5. 62) Bike31 (9. 68)112 (35) Car19 (5. 93)119 (37. 18) Note: Figures in parenthesis are percentages From Table 9, the most owned durables by rural and urban household respondents can be ranked and represented in Table 10. Table 10: Ranking of most owned durable products Ranks 12345 RuralMobileTelevisionLPGRadioFridge UrbanLPGTelevisionFridgeMobileTelephone OverallLPGMobileTelevisionFridgeTelephone Durable products are independent to factors like access to electricity, availability of LPG suppliers and petrol pumps. According to the Statistical Handbook (2008), there are 24 LPG authorised dealers, each district having at least one dealer. There are 18 petrol pumps all over the State and every district except Mamit district has at least one recognised petrol pump. As for electrification, 570 villages have already been electrified, accounting for around 70% of the State accessing to electricity, 44. 1% of the rural households and 94. 4% of the urban households reported as electrified. According to the Taxation Department Report, mobile phone came in use only from 2003 that too started only with BSNL giving out 500 subscriptions. Till October 2008, there is a total of 2,85,287 subscribers with BSNL, Airtel, Reliance and Aircel. This information does not take into consideration the entry of Tata-Indicom and Vodaphone service providers. Out of the 320 respondents from rural households, 233 households (i. e. 72. 81%) own mobile phones. Various factors can come into play here, the competitive and aggressive participation of mobile service providers in the rapid and widespread penetration of both rural and urban areas being one of the major factors, competing and overtaking at some places in the once monopoly of the state-owned BSNL. About 29 recognised cable TV operators operating in urban and semi-urban areas gave monthly subscription to consumers since 1991 . Apart from these operators, private dish antennas are made available by Zee Group (Dish Tv) at affordable prices below Rs. 2,000 . This may be one of the main reasons that television is very popular in both the rural and urban areas, claiming 68. 13% of rural households and 96. 25% of urban households owned television set. It is interesting to see that even some unelectrified villages have solar powered television with dish antennas besides the thatched huts . LPG is considered household necessity for the urban households with 98. 43% of urban samples having access to LPG. Yet, it came as the third most owned durable product in the rural areas. A prominent factor may be the easy accessibility to the LPG dealers. Aizawl has 11 LPG agents within its district, Lunglei with 4 agencies, Kolasib with 3 agencies, Champhai with 2 agencies and Lawngtlai, Mamit, Serchhip and Saiha with 1 agency each. Other factors may be the price of LPG cylinders and uncertainty of supply even at the agencies. Even though radio continues to be the most extensive network covering the entire State , its popularity is confined mostly to the rural areas, accounting for 64. 06% of rural households and 56. 7% of urban households of the sample. Advance of other electronic media, like cable television network and Doordarshan, maybe one of the main reasons. Fridge ownership accounted for 59. 06% of rural households and 95. 63% of urban households. As large number of rural households are agrarian based, they can be assumed to have easy access to fresh vegetables as compared to the urban households. The main utility of fridge being storing of food, thus is more popular in the urban areas. As for telephone, 90. 31% of the urban households have telephone connection while 42. 18% of rural households accounted for telephone connection.