Exchange Rate Risk Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Exchange Rate Risk - Assignment Example The term exchange rate risk is used to define the possibility that, because of fluctuation currency values, companies dealing in more than one currency may end up with more or less of a profit. In the Bruce Company's case, a fluctuation of 1.45733 Euros per Sterling denotes a negative exchange rate risk. Put more simply, the Bruce Company must pay the French company a total sum of 4.48 million Euros in four equal installments of 1.12 million Euros. Because the Sterling is currently stronger than the Euro, Bruce Company will loose money during four separate transactions in which their stronger currency is converted to the weaker currency. Thus, Bruce Company must determine a way to hedge against the exchange rate risk, or take out another investment specifically to reduce or eliminate this risk. One way to hedge against this risk is allowing the sterling to accrue interest in a money market account. Because interest in a British account is and will continue to be greater than that of a French account, a simple rate of return calculation will show that the British account will yield higher profit For instance, consider one payment of 1.12 million Euros kept in a British Money Market account for three months. 1.12 Million ________ = 768, 529 1.45733 ROR= 768, 529 ( .25 + 4.59375 ) ROR= 3,722,562.34375 If, on the other hand, the Euros were kept in a French Money Market account for three months, the following results would occur: ROR= 1.12 million (.25 + 2.75000) ROR= 3,360,000 It is obvious, therefore, that using British Money Market transactions is especially advantageous in this type of scenario. The extra money accumulated in the account may compensate for, or at least soften, the blow of exchange rate risk, depending on the floating rates at the time. There is a significant risk involved in long term Money Market account investment, however, in that they too are subject to fluctuating exchange rates. If exchange rates vary drastically in while interest is accruing, lower interest rates might, in the he end, have generated more capital once the money is exchanged for the original currency. 1Interest Rate Risk When the Bruce Company took out its loan, its choice of a fixed interest rate was an attempt to avoid great interest rate risk, as interest rates were rising. Now that the financial advisor and others believe that the interest rate is falling, howerver, and interest rate swap is beginning to look beneficial. A company uses an interest rate swap when it exchanges its interest rate for that of another party. By swapping interest rates, companies allow themselves some freedom from climbing interest rates. In order to determine whether or not an interest rate swap is beneficial, however, the zero-coupon bonds calculations must be performed. If interest is compounded annually, using the rate of returns formula, interest rates for zero-coupon bonds are as followes: One Year Two Years Three Years Four Years 4.675= (1+ i) 4.

Pipeline Systems Essay Example for Free

Pipeline Systems Essay Drawbacks of the Pipeline for Alberta Oil mining is the pillar industry in Alberta and building pipeline system is the most efficient way to transport oil into other areas. However, whether pipeline systems are appropriate technology has been debated for many years. Appropriate technology means the ‘technology that is designed with consideration to the environmental, ethical, cultural, social,political, and economical aspects of the community it is intended for. ’ [1] Many people believe that the Conduit System pipeline is not appropriate technology. The reason is that though it is profitable , it decreases the motivation of developing new environmental-friendly power systems. Also some of the First Nations think it is so ridiculous to sell the precious resources which is given by our ancestors and nature. Moreover it is not a environmentally beneficial system. This paper will support the point of view that the conduit system is actually an inappropriate technology by illustrating examples in such three perspectives. In the first place,the project is certainly â€Å"a tremendous display of the short sighted thinking†[2] because it only thinks about the short-time economic gain without considering the environmental problems. Also the construction of Pipeline system decreases the motivation of developing new environmental-friendly power systems. Once the conduit system pipeline is built up,more and more companies would follow and build more of the pipelines, since it is a profitable and a most easy way to transporting oil. However, once the pipelines are set up, the companies has to run it rapidly, otherwise the construction cost would never be recovered. Under this situation, it limits the sustainable economy development . Thus the construction of pipeline system are strongly discommended. Furthermore, the conduit system pipeline leads to disagreements and conflicts with the Canadian society, especially between the First Nation and the government. Every individual and social group has their own belief and way of life. We do not support this pipeline project. We believed that the project has the potential to harm our environment ,as well as our way of life. We hope that our voice is heard and taken into consideration. †[3] said by the First Nations leaders. It contradicts the economy growth valued by the Conduit company, as well as the government, therefore confits appears. Therefore, it is obvious that the Conduit company pipeline would trigger dispute between First Nations and other social grou ps. Lastly, it is not environmentally beneficial for the human race to build the pipeline system in the long term. Oil spilling is a serious challenge for oil transporting industry, especially for long distance pipeline system. The Enbridge oil spill [4] is a strong example, over 190000 liters oil seeped out. The impact of oil spill is catastrophic. Carbon dioxide will be released to atmosphere increasingly, the green-house-effect will be more serious. At the same time the eco-system will be ruined, the fields can not be grown in 10 years or more. It is a disaster for both human and nature. â€Å"An oil spill from this pipeline will have major media coverage, which would effectively destroy Canada’s reputation. †[5] said the politician. Furthermore the oil of Alberta is non-renewable energy resource, it can not be produced in thousands years. Though the pipeline system is the most efficient way to transport the resources, what we can leave to our next generations if the oil is exhausted. Overall, it is obvious that the conduit system is actually not an appropriate technology for Alberta. According to the examples and analyses above, the pipeline system is a immature technology which creates social conflict,damages the planet and leaves even more environmental issues to the younger generations. [6] Consequently, the applying of the conduit system still needs more consideration. (1)Engineers Without Borders -Case Study Conduit Systems https://eclass. srv. ualberta. ca/mod/resource/view. php? id=551299 (2)http://www. cbc. ca/news/canada/story/2012/07/28/enbridge-wisconsin-spill-pipeline-closed. html (3)Engineers Without Borders -Case Study Conduit Systems https://eclass. srv. ualberta. ca/mod/resource/view. php? id=551299

Impacts Of Social Networks On Social Behaviour

Impacts Of Social Networks On Social Behaviour Social network sites have become a global phenomenon that plays important roles in our society today. It is a social milieu that allows individuals to present themselves, communicate with one another and to maintain relationships. These SNSs (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and MySpace) are rapidly increasing visibly among the University students. Social network does not only influence students learning outcome but it also help the University students to attain social acceptance as well as adapting to University culture which may play central role towards improving their learning outcome. Several researchers revealed that SNS as technological tools can be used to effectively improve student-student and student-teacher interactions in higher institutions. In this regards SNS plays a prominent role in learning environment as a major conduit for getting resources, knowledge, and social support and also provides help for students preparing for or/ finding employment. On the other hand, many researchers observed that students spend several hours in a day attending to different social network sites even during lecturers and library sessions thus creating distractions and reducing the time to focus on their studies. This discourse therefore reviews the benefits and obstacles of social networks on social behaviour and academic performance of students. It also reviews the attitude of students towards the use of technology, SNS and how social network can improve learning style as it portends great promise towards enhancing their academic performance. 1.0 Introduction Academic institutions all over the world especially in developed countries have made tremendous investment in computer and internet infrastructure with the hope that this would result in the utilisation of web-based knowledge resources which may leads to significant increase in academic performance and productivity of students or staff (Oskouei, 2010) . However, this investment may not have yielded the desired goals of increasing learning quality and productivity of the students because these resources are used for both academic and non-academic works (Oskouei, 2010). It has been estimated that young adults are the highest computer and internet users in the world population today, about 46% of them uses it for completing school assignment, 36% for e-mail or instant messaging and 38% for playing computer games (DeBell and Chapman, 2006). Social network sites which are online communication tool that have existed less than a decade allows its users to create public and private profile thus enabling them to interact with people in the same network (Boyd and Ellison, 2008). Social networks can be defined as web-based activities that allow individuals to build public and/or semi-public profiles within a confined system; articulate and connects to list of other users with which they are connected; view and check their list of connections with the ones created by others inside the system(Boyd and Ellison, 2008, Kirschner and Karpinski, 2010). Examples of the new phenomenon of social networks are MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Facebook is the leading social network in many countries followed by Twitter and LinkedIn in popularity. It has been reported that Facebook have 901 million monthly users and more than 125 billion friends connected at the end of March, 2012 (Karpinski et al., 2013). The positive and negative impacts of social network on students social behaviour and academic achievement can be examined by their engagement, collaborative work, creativity, distraction, and grade point average (GPA). Research has shown that students participation on social networks have a positive connection to their engagement, and negative connection to their academic performance. Many researchers indicate that students academic performance can be increased by enhancing their engagement, and it has been stated that students engagement has a significant predictor of their academic performance (Wise et al., 2011). The relationship between students academic engagement and their academic performance is in agreement with (Junco, 2012). They reported that students engagements are powerful forces for psychosocial development and academic success. Social networks have the potentials of improving learning styles, as they provides alternative to traditional teaching format such as creation of online classroom community, and also enhancement of student-teacher and student-student interaction (Merchant, 2012) Social network increases social interactions and allows easy communication between, families, friends, neighbourhoods and global communities. Most social networks incorporate lots of communication tools like mobile connectivity, blogs, photos and video sharing which allows cross-posting to each other as desired by the users (Merchant, 2012) It has been reported that social network interactions allows quality relationships, connectedness, positive behaviours and also sharing of relevant information have been observed on social network sites (Martin Dowson, 2009). Forkosh-Baruch Hershkovitz, (2012), also reported that lecturers, learners, system/software designers, decision makers and students are coming to social network sites for significant educational activities, and also establishes new innovations using interactive and collaborative online journals. Griffith and Liyange (2008) reported that students use social network in their academic studies such group and team based works. In this regards social network plays a central role in learning environment as a major conduit for getting resources, knowledge, social support and socialization for learning distribution (Cho et al., 2007). It provides help for students preparing for or finding employment (Connelly, 2011). On the other hand, researchers have shown that high level of internet usage among adults of certain age group (16-24 years) for social and emotional advancement could be regarded as internet addiction or pathological internet users for the group (Odaci and Kalkan, 2010). Internet addiction is the inability to limit internet usage despite its detrimental effects on social behaviour and academic performance; and also cause of anxiety when internet accessibility is restricted (Odaci, 2013). Young adults that experience difficulties in communication skills in the real life have reported significantly reduction while using social network but in real life their social skill is inadequate and therefore problematic in social behaviour and academic performance (Caldwell Cunningham, 2010; Caplan, 2010; Odaci, 2013). Social behaviour is an indispensable constituent of social psychology that can either be positive or negative. It consists of social determinant such as attitude, self-concept, collaboration, communication, violent behaviour and conflict reduction etc (Bertram, 2009). Social network helps to provide information on direct friendships and also generates a better global modelling for social organisation which determines how individual patterns of social behaviour correlate to group characteristics. The behaviour of an individual can affect the behaviours of others within the same social networks. Social behaviour can, for instance, influence flow of information or behaviours throughout a group (Makagon et al., 2012). Social networks do not only provide an assessment of popularity, but they can also be exploited as a vehicle to gain or access important information (Fetta et al., 2012). According to Lewis et al., (2007), the mass movement of people to the use of social network has instigated researchers into investigating impacts of social networks. It may not be an exaggeration if we say that many modern day young adults, especially students, make use of social network on a daily basis (Boyd Ellison 2007). According to Bryant Bryant (2005), the internet possesses the capability to influence our young adults and students behaviour very easily. This researcher has had experiences with youths/students in the library and classes that spend most of their time chatting and watching sexually explicit resources that might produce negative effects on their behaviour. Arising from the fore going, this researcher intends to study the postgraduate students attitudes as regards the use of social network during formal classes and library in Heriot-Watt University. At the end of the research, recommendations will be made based on the students response. Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter are chosen for this research study because of the large number of students that use these online social networks for chatting and sending messages (Cheung et al., 2010; Golder et al., 2007; Stutzman, 2006). It is essential for the academic institutions to know the positive and negative impacts of social network on students behaviour and academic performances. Benefits and obstacles of social network on educational system Social network sites (SNS) has become one of the useful tools that can revolutionized educational sector to suit requirement to improved knowledge for both student-student and student-teacher interaction. As an effective new culture of learning, social network site (SNS) offers students opportunity to use informal ways to communication, learn and collaborate independent of time and space (Zaidieh, 2012). It also helps teacher to keep constant communication and get feedback from students which improves learning efficiency. Social network sites play major role between students-teachers by allowing students to be in constant connections with other students, educators, alumni, administrators within and outside the academic environment (Jiang and Tang, 2010; Zaidieh, 2012). SNS has the ability to attract, motivate and engage students in meaningful academic practices, content exchange and other collaborations (Mills, 2011). SNS provides student-teacher flexibility in learning, teaching and also the ability to join groups in specific subjects or disciplines and enable them to connect, view photos, videos and instructional activities established by other users of the network (ELI, 2007). SNS gives students and teachers the possibility of repetition i.e to either retrieve information immediately or later which is hard when using traditional methods of teaching (Dobrzanski and Brytan, 2007). In contrast to SNS the non-SNS method such as blackboard and module are much focused and lack personal touch and network capacity of SNS. SNS has the potentials to actively encourage online community building and extend learning beyond the boundaries of the classroom (Smith, 2009; Brady et al., 2010). It provides unique opportunities for educators and instructors to facilitate a very strong sense of community within students and encourages creation of new knowledge and collective intelligence by personal interactions. SNS provides shared forum where students can post or share, and engage in collaborative discussion while sharing common sources like links, video and photos (McCann, 2009). It represents a defined shift towards social and community web-based application that can cultivate and sustain subject specific social networking. It does not only attract people but also hold their attention, propel them, to contribute and bring them back time without number all to get desirable qualities for educational purposes. SNS makes it easy and quick to access, review, update and edit learning materials any time and everywhere (Cheong, 2002) and allows students and teachers to select desirable materials from large quantity of course offered on online. It allows easy distribution of learning materials and reduces stress and increases satisfaction among students. It gives students opportunity to study at their own self-pace and allow them to join bulletin board discussion any time while visiting classmates and instructors remotely in chat room. It overcomes the limitations of space and time in education and allows accessibility of available materials in their sites and also helps to resolves time table conflicts (Zaidieh, 2012). The major challenges of SNS in education sector including lack of privacy, miscommunication and taking up times. Privacy is the major obstacles of SNS in education. Nissenbaum, (2004) described privacy as the contextual integrity which refers to the rules of appropriateness, in confines of the nature and types of information about different individuals within a given context, that is allowed, expected, or demanded to be revealed, and the rules of distribution, in confines of the movement, or transfer from one person to another. It simply means that in social network interaction; individuals have expectations concerning what information is deem appropriate to collect and circulate. Thus, specific types of information are appropriate for sharing among a certain groups of friends but may not be good to open to other social network users outside that group (Pai and Arnott, 2012). Its users express concern about privacy of their personal information and are most vigilant about safeguardin g it (Dwyer et al., 2007). In social network site (SNS), people have lots of friends and the quality and integrity of these friendship are always in question because they are not always 100% honest and reliable and cannot actually verify personal details (age and location) of their members. It also allows accurate and positive self-profile that can be potentially abused by the openness (Zaidieh, 2012). Miscommunication: In most cases, learner (students) face difficulties in expressing their ideas and views in writing as most of them prefer to express their ideas and views orally, the approach they are used to for many years of their studies. Face-to-face allows one individuals to perceive physical clues like tones, reflection, body language in an online environment (Zaidieh, 2012). Taking up time: Social network users spent much time in Internet, and more time online for their studies and works. Most times this causes lack of motivation towards learning and can be bored sitting in front of a computer for a very long time especially when the learning materials presented is free of audio and visual effects that can attract learner towards learning (Zaidieh, 2012). Lenhart et al., (2010) reported that half of the users are idled online for hours from time to time. This finding suggested that the more online time, the more SNS users, took their toll on information consumption through the social network platforms. According to Zhong et al., (2011), more than half of the social network users stated that reading information and watching videos online gave them short time for using non-SNS materials, such as broadcast and printed documents, indicating a move in trend of information from non-SNS to SNS, especially among students. Many researchers observed that students spend several hours in a day attending to different social network sites even during lectures and library sessions thus creating distractions and reducing the time to focus on their studies. For example, in the lecture or library, most students leave their mobile phone on and silently chat on the social network sites and when the lecturer sets an examination, with high expectation of good grades; majority of the students will not do well. This scenario is ominous for both the students involved and the society at large. If this situation is not put under control, it will affect the students focus towards academics and possibly increase the number of students dropping out of school. Pempek, et al., (2009) studied College Students social networking experiences on Facebook using 92 scholars. The study revealed that the students spend minimum of 1 hr. on daily bases with social network. The researchers reported that students spend more time reading the contents from their friends responses, uploading pictures and to keep in touch with friends. Other researchers however, observed that there is no relationship between time spent on the use of social network and students academic performance. Hunley et al., (2005) opined that there is no significant between the time spent on the social networks and the Grade Point Average (GPA) of students. This finding is in agreement with Kolek and Saunders (2008) which observed that social network usage and the GPA of Users have no relationship. On the other hand, Verden Boogart, (2006), reported that social network users have lower GPAs more than non-users. This finding correlates with the report by Flad (2010) that 32% out of 35% of the students that use social network have poor academic performance, and concluded that social network is good for students socialisation but negatively impact on their academic performance. Barratt et al., (2009), observed that many students log onto Facebook many times in a day, thus spending valuable time, if spent on their studies would lead to excellent academic performance. It is necessary to examine whether or not social network involvement by students improves their academic works and social behaviour. How Social network Improves learning style? In the world today, higher institutions explore emerging technologies such as social network sites as a new or improved tool to enhance teaching and learning. Social network sites support student, and boost the integration in the higher education classes. Even though the infrastructures to support social network presently exist in most universities, instructors are slow in adapting to the tools as an educational one. Recently, Sadaf et al., (2012) studied pre-service teachers beliefs about their intent to use social network in their future classrooms. The results opined that half (51%) were committed to the new technology as an instructional tool because it increases student engagement. Brady et al., (2010) studied the use of social network at North Carolina State University. Seventy percent agreed with the notion that SNS made communication skill possible between peers than a comparable face-to-face class. Nearly (82%) indicated that SNS help them communicate outside the class as we ll. Most users (74%) also agreed that SNS allows them to reflect and comments on other peoples work more effectively than a face-to-face class. In addition, Ajjan and Hartshorne, (2008), reported that Social network sites are viewed as useful tools to improve students satisfaction (32%) and also increased student-student interaction (56%). For instance, SNS enables scholars and teachers to remain current in their research areas, and also to explore recent approaches to teaching through networking with colleagues, interacting with different individuals, discussing their research/or work, and also expose their work or research interest to greater audiences. For example scholars use SNS such as blogs to support their scholarly endeavours. Researchers have identified that blogs are used; i) as a debate platform for scholars who seeks a live public intellectuals, (ii) for recording or sharing logs of pure research, (iii) as a type of tongue-in-cheek i.e water cooler to which analytical discussions of only scholarly experience can occur (Kirkup, 2010). Blog usage extends beyond research to include teaching endeavours (Deng and Yue n, 2011). Cho et al., 2007 reported that early Twitter users used Twitter for making instructional information and provide students with opportunities to communicate with professional communities outside the classroom. Future usage of social network In the past few years, social network sites have attracted the interest of researchers which examine the role this technology plays in higher education. Few of the work have showed the affective outcomes of social network site integration. Some of the studies examined learning outcomes and students achievement as related to the educational usage of social sites in college courses. King et al., (2009) described the recent development of an inter-professional team work in the healthcare field that shows how to integrate social networking. The researchers stated that in future integration of an educationally structured social network sites will facilitated growth toward the concept of effective communication which will overcome barrier of distance in learning. Some researchers have also reported that in future social network sites could foster scholarship that is social (Chong, 2010; Greenhow, 2009), conversational and open (Oblinger, 2010; Pearce et al., 2010). Social scholarship is the practice in which the use of social tools is an integral part of the research and publishing process that is characterised by openness, fast conversation, and collaboration, accessible, sharing, cheaper and transparent revision (Pearce et al., 2010). Social network sites which provide digital scholarship is more than just using information technologies and communication skill to research for materials; teach students and collaborate with other, but also to embrace the open values, ideologies and potentials of technologies essential for peer-to-peer networking and also a way of working in order to profit both the academic work and society at large. Picking up the mantle, Greenhow et al., (2009) suggested that todays student experienced different online identities due to new digital technologies at hand (for example; role playing sites, and virtual worlds). They opined that this new development presents a fundamental shift from the non-SNS to SNS and concluded that in future learners participation will be evidenced by inter-connections, content creation and participation attitudes in and out of the classroom. QUESTIONNAIRES A modified questionnaire instrument designed will be used in other to arrive at a general perception as regards to students opinion to the use social networks, behaviour to academic pursuit and social behaviour (Goodson et al., 2005; Pascarella et al., 2009). Considering the advantages of the quantitative approach, the researcher uses questionnaires to get many responses on the students behaviour towards the use social networks during classes and library sessions. There are 18 questions designed to elicit the participants opinion on the use of social network during classes and library sessions, social behaviour and time spent using social networks. Figure 1. Basic model of social behaviour and academic performance of students using social network (Adapted from Paul et al., 2012) The questionnaires measuring each of the following constructs; time spent on social network, predictors of behaviour, time management skills, academic competency, attention Span, student characteristics and academic performance were developed from literature and discussions with supervisor. For example, questions that best describe the factors which explain studentsonline networking behaviour were adopted from Cameron, (2010). Questionnaires that are related to factors such as academic competency, Information on GPA, time management skills, study strategies, student characteristics, etc. are adopted from Mizerski and Pettigrew, (2003); Sansqiry et al., (2004); Paul et al., (2012). The questionnaire adopted five point Likert scale of Strongly Agree, Agree, Undecided, Disagree, Strongly Disagree (Ary et al., 2000). The adaptation of this method is to provide correct and simple grammar in other to achieve the research objectives and also provide answers to the research questions. CATEGORIES OF SOCIAL NETWORK SITES There are many social network sites that exist today. The most popular sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and LinkedIn are free registration. All that is required from the prospective users is to provide their profile picture. Social network sites have several categories which are available in the World Wide Web (WWW) (Brown, 2011). Social network categories are the class given to a large groups based on certain functions, features, forms and meaning. Each of the social network categories has their specific focus and functions but all have common characteristics. They have features such blogs, videos, records of members, journal and many more (Othman et al., 2011). Thelwall (2009), reported that social network tools have three main categories as regards to friendship connections, (Fig1.2). The first Category social network is for social communication among members. Facebook, MySpace, twitter, etc. have this feature. Category two, with LinkedIn as example aims at searching for new contacts. Category three is the social navigation network through which specific types of information or resources can be obtained. Figure 1.2 shows about 22 categories available in social network like discussion, education, and library. Most of the website falls into more than one category such as MySpace which can be categories into music and friendship category. Facebook Facebook was originally introduced in 2004 as an online Harvard social network site which allows students living on University residential halls or students from other faculties of the University to register as users and communicate with their fellow students (Zywicas and Danowski, 2008). In 2006, Facebook was made public for everybody (Urista et al., 2009); and in December 2006 it had over 12 million users and at the end of December 2009, the active users increased to 350 million (Hew, 2011). Today Facebook is the most populated social network site in the majority of the countries with more than 400 Million users. In March 2011, Europe had the highest number of Facebook users 234.6 million followed by 163.9 million in North America (Karpinski et al., 2012). Facebook is a social network site in which individuals or groups can share photographs, personal information, and communicate with friends (Hew, 2011). Facebook is also considered as the leading social network site used among college students. For example, Ellison et al., (2007) reported that in USA, 90% of the Undergraduate students Participate on Facebook. In British undergraduate students, Facebook has also become the most popular SNS used (Madge et al., 2009). Munoz and Towner, (2009) suggested that Facebook can have positive impact on college students life, and further stated that students can use Facebook to communicate with other students concerning their assignments, group work or project, or teachers communicating their students regarding useful information on a specific course links. On the other hand, researchers have shown concern in regards to possible negative impacts of Facebook usage among college students. For example, Kirschner and Karpinski, (2010) reported that students spending hours on Facebook may adversely affect their academic performance. Facebook profile can be classified into four main groups: i) control elements, ii) referents elements, iii) preference elements, iv) contact elements. Control elements are fields like the gender of the user, length/period of Facebook membership, and their institutional status. Referents elements include hometown, residence and high school which are based on profile fields or common points of contact among the users. Preference elements are simply based on expression of personal interest and self-descriptive information of the user. For example, About Me, my interests, my favourite Music, favourite movies, favourite TV-shows, favourite books, favourite quotes, and my political views. Contact elements are profile fields such as e-mail address, instant messenger screen name, and the relationship status (Cain, 2008; Lampe et al., 2007). Facebook users can also create groups and become a fan of a particular page of their interest organization such as football clubs, and celebrities thus allowing users with common goal to get together and support the organization or the celebrity. Facebook also serve as sources of entertainment because of the availability of games and other applications. Examples of such games and applications are Crazy Taxi, My Fairyland, and Facebook for iPhone (Hew, 2011). MYSPACE MySpace is one of the popular social networks sites in the world today. It was launched in California in 2003 to compete with other networks like Friendster and Xanga etc (Anderson, 2007). It grew rapidly by taking advantage of Friendsters mistake and failure. According to Anderson, (2007) Indie-rock bands that were expelled from Friendster because of profile problems; moved to MySpace network and began to attract users. There were several advertisements by most popular clubs in MySpace. It is believed that music was not only the key issue that attracted users of MySpace but rather there were symbiotic association between music bands and fans that helped to expand MySpace beyond expectation. MySpace is unique because it allows addition of features based on the users interest (Boyd, 2006). Boyd said that teenagers started using MySpace in 2004 to connect to their friends and not just for the reason that they belong to the bands. MySpace site achieved its highest growth rates with three different groups, namely, the musicians, teenagers and undergraduate students. Among SNS, MySpace gives greater self-expression than the popular Facebook and Twitter. It allows the users to customize their virtual space through an open format in which the designed elements, like text, video, music, graphics and photographs can be used to display their users online personality. With this feature users can create self-image that can be communicated to the mass audience. MySpace also gives the users more anonymity by providing the option of using a nickname. (Kane, 2008; Boyle and Johnson, 2010). Twitter Twitter is a free social network site and micro blogging service which enables the users to read and post short text-based message that is not more than 140 words, called tweets. Some people tweet with micro-blog platform, while others regard it as a social networking site (Bake, 2009). A Web service which allows people to post brief messages to other users of the same service is micro-blogging. It derived its feature from Instant Relay Chat (IRC) including instant messaging and handsets. According to Bake (2009), Twitter is one of the social network web-based applications that allow its users to build their own profile either publicly or semi-publicly. Twitter uses the exact basic features like find people profile and uploading pictures on profile etc. The traditional contacts in twitter are followers and following categories. Twitter does not belong to only SNSs socializing category but also to networking with navigation, (Thelwall, 2007). This network allows you to follow users (following) and also followed by other users (followers) without any authorization. Messages sent are automatically published on the front page of the users (timeline) (Torreente et al., 2012). Any user may reply or retweet any tweet, which can generate public debate and conversation. Links can also be added to the tweets in order to create additional information beyond the 140 words. Some key potentials of Twitter are that it is a window to the unlimited source of information and can be regarded multi-focal. It gives the opportunity to create lists of manage tweets by themes, authors and tags which helps users to manage the information and also easier to follow a particular topic. It is an ideal tool to disseminate information and to broadcast live events such as conferences, and any event worldwide. Twitter is fast and viral i.e. anyone can tweet and the spread of information can be unstoppable. One of the features of Twitter is the ability to include links which makes it easier to move from particular content to another (Torreente et al., 2012). Influence of social network on social behaviour of students Social behaviour is a kind of influence from specific group of people which may positively or negatively affec

The Challange of Space Travel Essay -- Space Exploration Essays

The reasons for space travel are countless. Population growth is a major problem that could be helped if space travel led to discovering potentially viable living environments other than Earth. Currently, the population is doubling every 35 years and may speed up with increased technology (1). There is a vicious cycle of poverty, lack of education, and corruption that is already occurring in third world countries due to the population. A second problem that could be helped is a direct result of the first. Industrial production must be maintained, but space and resources on Earth are limited. Space exploration may allow people to relocate these processes, preventing humans from being ruined by their own wastes (1). Discovering the origins of the universe is a major reason, as moving through space means moving back in time. Eventually, scientists hope to be able to travel back to when the Big Bang occurred, answering questions that are not yet explained by current theories. Also, spin-offs from discoveries made during previous space travel led to our satellite communications systems, GPS, and CAT scanning which has improved many lives (2). The inspiration for further research spurred by space exploration can be phenomenal. The proponents of interstellar exploration have made many advances in space travel. Amazingly, space travel did not begin until halfway through last century! In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first manmade satellite into space, Sputnik 1. Later that year, Sputnik 2 carrying the first animal, Laika, entered into orbit (4). The U.S., through NASA, launched Pioneer 1 in 1958. During the 1960s, the Soviet Union and the U.S. were in a race to be the first to land on the moon. In 1969, the United States successf... ...erse. Works Cited: (1)Meinzer, Dr. Carl. â€Å"Space Travel: A Waste of Our Money or a Necessary Investment in Our Future?† AMSAT-DL Journal, Nr. 1/19 March/May 1992. http://www.amsat-dl.org/space.htm (2)Bush, George W. â€Å"President Bush Announces New Vision for Space Exploration Program.† Jan 2004. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/01/20040114-3.htm (3)â€Å"Space Travel Increases Some Health Risks† Science @ NASA: Interim Mir Science Results Symposium. http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/msad04nov98_1.htm (4)Armstrong, Dennis. â€Å"Mission Timelines† NASA. October 2004. http://www.nasa.gov/missions/timeline/index.htm (5)â€Å"Future Spaceflight† BBC: Science & Nature. http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/exploration/futurespaceflight/index.shtml (6)â€Å"Interstellar Travel† Wikipedia. 19 October 2004. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_travel

International and Intercultural Communication Essay

International and Intercultural Communications have been of great interest to the Hofstede Centre for many years. In fact Geert Hofstede’s dimensions of culture have been the most widely disseminated of all theories. Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions are, â€Å"1) Power Distance, 2) Individualism or Collectivism, 3) Masculinity-Femininity, 4) Uncertainty Avoidance, and 5) Short or Long Term Orientation.† (Donald Baack, 2012, Chapter 2.4). â€Å"Professor Geert Hofstede conducted one of the most comprehensive studies of how values in the workplace are influenced by culture. He analyzed a large database of employee value scores collected within IBM between 1967 and 1973. The data covered more than 70 countries, from which Hofstede first used the 40 countries with the largest groups of respondents and afterwards extended the analysis to 50 countries and 3 regions.† (The Hofstede Center, n.d.). In the next few pages I will compare the similarities and differences in scores between the countries of Croatia and Slovenia in relation to Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions as well as provide a scenario involving two organizations, one located in each country and their business practices relating to the different cultural perspectives. In the dimension of Power-Distance Croatia scores high with a score of 73 which means the people accept a hierarchical order in which everybody has a place and which needs no further justification. In this type of society people expect to be told what to do and this is accepted as the norm. (Hofstede Centre, n.d.). Slovenia also scored high in the dimension of Power-Distance with a score of 71. What this displays is two of the former eastern European countries, are very similar in their societal beliefs in hierarchal order and the populace was still routed in a culture where subordinates do as they are told by the boss and the boss is an aut ocrat in the bigger sense. In the second of the  five cultural dimensions Individualism or Collectivism, Croatia scored 33 which are considered a collectivistic society. â€Å"This is manifest in a close long-term commitment to the member ‘group’, be that a family, extended family, or extended relationships. Loyalty in a collectivist culture is paramount, and over-rides most other societal rules and regulations. The society fosters strong relationships where everyone takes responsibility for fellow members of their group. In collectivist societies offence leads to shame and loss of face, employer/employee relationships are perceived in moral terms (like a family link); hiring and promotion decisions take account of the employee’s in-group, management is the management of groups.† (The Hofstede Centre, n.d.). Slovenia, had a score of 27 is also considered a collectivistic society just like we saw in Croatia. Once again the two bordering countries are nearly identical in their collec tivist societies. Our third dimension of Masculinity-Femininity resulted in a score of 40. With this score they are considered a relatively feminine society. Feminine societies focus on the theory of work to live. In a feminine society it is also common for managers to seek consensus. Even with such a disparity in scores and Slovenia’s’ score of 19 on this dimension, they too are considered more of a feminine society. Like the culture of Croatia they work to live and the people value things like equality, solidarity and pleasure in their working lives. â€Å"Conflicts are resolved by compromise and negotiation. Incentives such as free time and flexibility are favored. Focus is on well-being, status is not shown.† (The Hofstede Centre, n.d.). The fourth dimension of Uncertainty Avoidance resulted in a score of 80 signifying a very high preference for avoiding uncertainty. As stated in the Hofstede report, â€Å"Countries exhibiting high uncertainty avoidance maintain rigid codes o f belief and behavior and are intolerant of unorthodox behavior and ideas. In these cultures there is an emotional need for rules (even if the rules never seem to work) time is money, people have an inner urge to be busy and work hard, precision and punctuality are the norm, innovation may be resisted, security is an important element in individual motivation.† (The Hofstede Centre, n.d.). Slovenia also scored quite high with an 88 signifying they too choose to avoid uncertainty and need rules regardless of the effectiveness of them. Our final dimension is the dimension of Short or Long Term Orientation. In the comparison statistics this is referred to as  pragmatism and indulgence. Croatia achieved scores of 58 and 33 respectively. These figures indicate that the Croatian society believe truth is dependent on situations, context of what is said and the time. â€Å"They show an ability to adapt traditions easily to changed conditions, a strong propensity to save and invest thriftiness, and perseverance in achieving results.† (The Hofstede Cen tre, n.d.). The 33 score received for indulgence is an indication of a restrained country. â€Å"Societies with a low score in this dimension have a tendency to cynicism and pessimism. Also, in contrast to indulgent societies, restrained societies do not put much emphasis on leisure time and control the gratification of their desires. People with this orientation have the perception that their actions are restrained by social norms and feel that indulging themselves is somewhat wrong.† (The Hofstede Centre, n.d.). Slovenia had scores of 49 in pragmatism and 48 in indulgence. These scores both result in no clear preference for one or the other. As I have demonstrated by comparing the results for these two countries, bordering countries can be quite similar in some aspects of International and Intercultural Communications but quite different in others. As an example if I opened a car repair business or franchise in these two countries and expected them to work together some of the things I could expect is, they both would struggle with working together since they both prefer autocratic leaders and operate under the concept of being told what to do. What this means to me is that regardless if I am physically there with them or providing communication from afar they will execute all actions to benefit the business in a positive manner. These societies rely on face and losing face through failure is not an option they accept easily. In contrast to this is they both enjoy the benefits of family time, strong ties to immediate and extended family (the organization), managers often seek consensus and conflict is resolved through compromise and negotiation. This later part about conflict resolution is because both societies are feministic in nature and as we all know, women are often times more level headed and less apt to fly off the hand le over little issues that can be resolved in an agreeable manner when thought out and discussed properly. This could be beneficial or difficult since us Americans believe in more time at work than time with family in today’s working environment. I believe this is an instance where I would need to adjust my work ethic in order to  gain more from these two countries in keeping with their societal beliefs and standards. From my perception of Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions is that two companies in these two countries of Croatia and Slovenia would work very well together and in fact complement one another nicely, leading to great success for the organization. What I have done in the past few pages is to demonstrate the similarities and differences in scores between the countries of Croatia and Slovenia in relation to Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions as well as provided you with the scenario involving two organizations, one located in each country and their business practices relating to the different cultural perspectives. I believe Hofstede’s five dimens ions were quite relevant when originally complied and are still quite relevant today. References Baack, D., Management Communication, 2012. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/books/AUBUS600.12.1 Mind Tools Ltd, 1996-2014. Retrieved from http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_66.htm The Hofstede Centre, National Cultural Dimensions, n.d. Retrieved from http://geert-hofstede.com/national-culture.html The Hofstede Centre, National Cultural Dimensions, n.d. Retrieved from http://geert-hofstede.com/croatia.html

Mutual Fund in India

Master of Science in Management Specialization in Banking & Finance Research Methodology & Decision Analysis for Business (RMDAB) Assignment 2 Literature Review TOPIC: MUTUAL INVESTMENT FUNDS IN INDIA Student Name: Sangawar Pratik Shankar Batch: MFBD51217A FIN: G1190040U Table of Contents: 1. Background†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Pg. 3 2. Literature Review on Mutual Investment Funds†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Pg. 7 3. Conclusion†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Pg. 21 4. References†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Pg. 23 Background a)Introduction The Four Basic Components on which Indian financi al system is based on are Financial Market, Financial Institutions, Financial Service and Financial Instrument. One of the most important components of Financial Instrument is Mutual Investment Fund (mutual fund). (Jaspal Singh, 2004) (Mason Dave, 1999) â€Å"A mutual fund is a pool of money contributed by numerous investors, the capital gathered is invested to buy a hefty portfolio of securities† There are essentially three categories of mutual funds i. e.Money Market, Fixed Income and Stocks within each category there are variety of funds. (Mason Dave, 1999) An investment company is a body with trained portfolio managers as investment experts, they pool up the investors’ small capitals or funds for the reason of bankroll in securities. The most well-known form of Investment organisation is the open-end management association. The Other type of investment funds are closed-end funds, exchange-traded funds, business development organizations and unit investment trusts. (Jaspal Singh, 2004)The all above mentioned are civil funds the reason for that is, their share are publicly issued to investors and thus the funds and their shares are requisite to be registered with the Security Exchange Board of India (SEBI). Investment organisation/association that are secretly tender and issue their shares to investors/buyers are called private or hedge funds. The mutual or investment funds industry was started in early 1960’s with the configuration of Unit Trust of India, as an inventiveness of the Government of India and Reserve Bank of India. Jaspal Singh, 2004) Mutual fund is said to be investment as subject to market risk. As the capital is invested in the stock market to earn profits in terms of dividends, bonus shares of company, trading-buying and selling on higher prices. A common investor may not have adequate knowledge of the share market and the technical terms of the investment as how to create a good capital portfolio, which helps an invest or to play safe in the market.Now this situation of lack of investment knowledge creates an demand for mutual investment fund in mutual investment funds many small investor come together with their minor investment capital or funds and deposit it to a mutual fund investment company, organization or bank which acts as there agents or can be said as representatives in the stock market and for that service they take commission whenever the trading or buying or selling of shares is done, the commission may vary as per the investment companies. Amporn Soongswang, 2011) Mutual fund is the pool of invested money it based on the investment company which invests the savings of an amount of investors here the investors share a common financial objective, it in the ways of capital appreciation and earning incomes in the form of dividends. The funds are collected from the investors by the investment company and invested into capital markets instruments such as shares, debentures and overseas ma rket. Investors invest money and get the units as per the Net Asset Value (NAV).NAV is the current value of the money in the financial market or it can be explained as the present value of the fund in the financial market. (Bello, 2009) As mentioned that Mutual fund is the appropriate investment mode for the common man or the ordinary investor as it offers an investment prospect to invest in diversified portfolio management, high-quality research panel, proficiently manage Indian stock as well as the foreign market, the most important objective of the fund manager is to give the investor the safest investment and a balanced capital portfolio to play safe with maximum returns with good capital appreciation.The fund manager should also look after the trading of the stock i. e. buying and selling of stock or shares and through this the fund manager should generate revenue for the investor and should be able to give fair returns to the investors. (Dave, 1992) This helps the investment c ompany to keep up their promise of profit generation and maximization through mutual funds and it can be done through good diversification of capital portfolio. (Patzelt, 2009) (b)Brief History of Mutual Investment FundMutual Investment as per the dates support was started in 19th century it was introduced in Europe, in exacting, Great Britain. Robert Fleming was the person to set up the first investment trust called Foreign and colonial investment trust as per the records it was in 1868. The Foreign and colonial investment trust and other investment which had their located in Britain and the U. S. , are known as close-ended mutual funds today. Massachusetts investor’s trust was the first trust in the U. S. , it was established in March 1924 it was an open-ended mutual fund. Ramola, 1992) Innovation in the products and services of financial market improved the popularity of mutual investment funds in 1950s and 1960s. The first global stock mutual investment fund was introduce d in the U. S in year 1940. This financial market or can called as finance industry witnessed substantial growth in the 1980s and 1990s. In present the mutual funds are major source of ‘safe’ investment and it is a very successful product of financial market. (Ramola, 1992) Literature ReviewTHE EMERGENCE OF mutual funds was the outcome of the requirement to assemble small savings of domestic sector and to channelize it for productive measures through stock market or can be said as financial market. In the early stage of industrial revolution which was in early 1970’s in India, the deposits with the banks and other financial institution lost their importance with the growth of capital market and the declining interest rates. The new investors or small investor demonstrating their risk adverse nature shifted from less rollback bank deposits and low fluidic investment like LIC, Provident Fund and Pension Funds etc. owards fluidic, momentary investments like units, s hares, and debentures. (Bhapkar, 2007) However, an boilerplate or common investor is scared of fundamental market and hence cannot take decision or can be said as no path to walk on or no way can be seen, the condition was not at all decision making for investment, for small or average investor as, in which security to make the investment and when to make investment. This as a conclusion led to the advancement of mutual funds/bond funds in Indian financial industries.As mentioned above that in early 1970’s it was an start of industrial revolution in India and in that period of time there was high industries setting up in India and it created a high requirement of funds, so as the reaction of this action was public issue of for gathering of capital, but the amount which was collected was in bulk or we can say that investment which was asked by the companies or industries was a huge amount in this situation the small investors was not able to invest and enjoy the ownership and were also not having the knowledge of investment, so as to overcome this problem the mutual funds came into introduction, and the financial institution such as bank, mutual fund investment companies came to represent the investors in the market and help them invest into correct or good company. (Furfine, 2001) Here in Mutual Fund Company the funds were gathered from small investors and pool up capital and make a huge or bulk of capital and in exchange they were given NAV â€Å"Definition of ‘Net Asset Value – NAV' A mutual fund's price per share or exchange-traded fund's (ETF) per-share value. In one and the other cases, the per-share dollar amount of the capital is determined by segmented the total value of all the securities in its portfolio, less any liabilities/amenabilities, by the number of fund shares outstanding† . (Iqbal Mansur, 2010) Mutual funds units are investment vehicles that help new investors to take a ong ride through capital market, which is no t possible individually with small amount of investment. It provides a means of involvement in the financial market for investors who don’t have the time or perhaps the expertise to take direct investment decisions in equities successfully. (Dr. Rajesh Bahunguna, 2010) The basic need and objectives of the fund assembled by mutual funds in India has been on the exaggerated since their initiation in 1964 i. e. with introduction of US 64, the flagship scheme of UTI. A further it was in 1987 and 1989, when the investors. Distant, accumulating in measure with the objectives of distinct commercial policy of 1991, mutual fund market was open to the clandestine sectors in the country i. e. India. (Dr.Rajesh Bahunguna, 2010) Since 1993 the opening year of clandestine sector mutual funds, the investment inclination deviated more in favour the private sector funds. The swelling collection of mutual funds crossed Rs. 120000 billion (SGD $ 2666. 66 billion) marks in India by November, 200 2 with almost 59. 78% of the total investment going into private sector mutual investment funds. (Dr. Rajesh Bahunguna, 2010) The fact that the money so invested comes out of the hard earned savings of the investors apparently bring home the desired need of studying what the investors think about the mutual funds. It may also be mentioned here that less or small effort has been devoted or done by researchers in India to study the perceptions of investor towards mutual funds. Haugen, 1986) In the antecedent phase in India it was found that in general less knowledgeable mutual fund investors were found to be lacked in knowledge and were not autonomous in making fund investment decision making. Rather, they are the easily lured and motivated lot to get their investment made in any recommended mutual fund. Hence, to make this research meaningful, the focus is more on the educated and informed investors. Hence to invest in mutual funds the factor describes that investor’s preferen ce for mutual fund investment because of the professional expertise of fund managers which can be said as the representatives on behalf of investors and in return they commission as there fees. (F. A.Abeer, 2012) The risk exposure that has to be faced for directly investing in stock market obviates the need for professionally expert managers for managing investment in stock market. We can take one more explanation to get some more knowledge of mutual funds; the first category of Contribution Company was the entity trust, which was a fixed pool of securities that, conflicting a mutual fund was not intensely managed. The first unit trust was bringing about in England in 1868. In contrast to the entity investment trusts, these funds were awful leveraged and formularised in market performance and their amount collapse during the great stock market clash of 1929. Open end and closed funds that bought their capital managers the potential to convert the concealed structure of securities. I qbal Mansur, 2010) Mean while past years, closed-end investment organisation were another prevailing category of fund. A considerable aspect of this closed-end organisation was that they use leverage to play safe in the field. Closed-end organisation applied Leverage by allotting bonds and issuing shares in the financial market offering shares to the public. This helped to the company to raise funds that were used to purchase portfolio securities which were a very important part. The extensive aberration among a closed-end fund and an open-end fund is that the mainstay of an open-end fund stance equipped to regain shares while and are redeemable. Kirsch, 2011) As it becomes very flexible for choices of mutual funds as they are redeemable and irredeemable it depends upon the investor that in which form they feel safe and are willing to invest. Mutual Funds have such structure to endow with utmost benefits to the investors, and the authorised person in Investment Company which is the fund manager has research team to attain the objectives of the scheme. Mutual Fund Investment Company has different units of sector funds; the requirement of these units to achieve the maximum market return is proper planning for strategic investment. (William Fung, 2008) There should be a planned and unique diversification for the capital portfolio as per the market condition and investors or Investment Company’s resistance capacity.A planned portfolio helps to resist in the market as if the one part of the investment occurs loss the other stock or unit may bear it through generating profits and balance the situation, it is seen when the capital investment portfolio of the investor is very strong and well planned. For strong portfolio there should be professional Management here the fund manager should undergo throughout different research works and has adequate investment skills which promise high returns to the investor than what the investor can cope on his own. (Rainish Robert, 2002) Investment through mutual funds by a mutual fund investment company reduces risk factor, as the financial market is very dynamic in nature and requires high and accurate quality of analysis to generate good amount of return which very worth for an investor after taking such risk.Investing in mutual fund through an investment company diversifies the portfolio of securities yet with little investment in a mutual fund. The risk is diverted in a diversified portfolio than investing in just in 2 or 3 securities. (Palmiter, 2009) There are low transaction expenses due to the economies of scale (repayment of larger volumes), because of that reason mutual funds pay lesser transaction costs and the paybacks are passed to the investors. Mutual funds units have a great advantage of liquidity as in case an investor may not be capable to sell the shares hold by him effortlessly and swiftly, while units of mutual funds are more liquid to sell off and regain the invested capital as p er the current value.Mutual funds are said to be investor oriented as it gives investors a wide range of investment schemes with different investment objectives. Investor has the choice of investing in a scheme which provides him the association between its investment aims and desired financial goals. As every investor wants to get higher return but with that they have right to know that where the capital is invested, so for such course of action mutual funds provides investors with the latest updated information pertaining to the markets and the investment schemes in the financial markets. All required material is disclosed to the investor as per the requirement of the regulator. Shah, 2000) As mutual funds have liquidity, security, transparency, low transaction cost and fair returns, it makes it very flexible. Investor can also control their holdings from a debt scheme to equity scheme and vice-versa. There is alternative of organized investment and withdrawal at regular time inte rvals is also offered to investors in open-end schemes. As mutual fund industry is a regulatory, it has its rules and regulation it is an element of well synchronized investment environment in this environment the interests of the investors are confined by the supervisory body. All the transactions and funds are registered in up to date manner with SEBI and complete transparency is kept. (Dr.Rajesh Bahunguna, 2010) In spite of ample amount of positive terms there are some disadvantages of mutual funds such as the fund manager may always not be able to manage to generate profits he might create loss as the whole control is in hand of the fund manager as the capital is of the investor but there is no control of the investor on his own capital. The fund has its own strategy for investment to sell, to hold, to buy time period. The cost control is not in hand of the investor, investors are applicable to pay the investment management fees and also the fund allocation costs as a proportion of the capital value of his investment as long as the investor holds the funds or units it is irrespective of the performance of the fund in the financial market.The capital portfolio is decided by the fund manager and also the decision of the investment of securities is in hands of the fund manager here investor has no right to get in the way on the decision making procedure of the investment by the fund manager, which some of the investors find as disadvantage in achieving their financial objectives. (Furfine, 2001) As mutual fund offers a range of investment schemes, so the investors finds it difficult to select the one in which he invests his capital it because the investor is lacking in that knowledge that is the reason he is investing his money through mutual funds but still the investor has to take decision to choose the scheme for this, they may have to take advice of the financial planners in order to make safe investment and invest in the right fund to gain profits throug h the invested funds which the major objective of the investors and let their money bloom. (Cornaggia, 2009)It is mentioned by many authors that investment funds are one of the important institutions for investing capital in to the financial market which is along with many risks for various investors especially the new and inexperienced ones which are lacking in the market conditions knowledge or we can say investment knowledge. Mutual investment companies act as financial intermediaries for non-professional investors they also respond to the requirement of the investors by making different types of capital portfolios with different configurations of securities. Since the market conditions are very dynamic in nature as mentioned earlier, investors are lacking in experience or almost new to the financial industry and they do not have knowledge of the markets professional literature and culture of the stock. (F. A. Abeer, 2012)The financial market in very wide in nature of investment and has an insufficient financial tools for investment and further support of small investor rights in neither regular nor efficient, and investing directly in capital market without any professional’s advice is rather very risky to invest until and unless the investor is an professional himself or has an adequate knowledge of financial industry and other important financial tool thus forecasting and establishing financial intermediary associations such as mutual fund investment companies is important and should be done by the financial market custodians. (F. A. Abeer, 2012) There are some main characteristics of mutual funds which have to be kept in mind while investing and which are very useful for an investor even if the investor is investing through an investment company such as, the mutual investment funds are purchased or the capital is invested through fund or broker of the fund so in this case the investor cannot sell it in the secondary market to other buyers or inve stors.The price of mutual fund each unit is decided according to the net value of the asset of investment unit and additional of wages that are occurred at the time of purchase. The investment unit can return to the fund or the broker as the units are redeemable. The return price of the each unit is as per the current net value asset with deduction of the transaction fees. The buying and selling of units is and continues process and continue constantly. There are different types of mutual funds it is based on the different investment objectives along with the various amount of risk involved, investment expenses and the fluctuations of the unit fund. Garmhausen, 2012) There are some types of funds such as close end fund; some features of these funds are the investment companies having fixed capital and in spite of being redeeming stocks makes its trading in secondary market for investors and hence can traded in secondary market, here the investors are able to purchase the funds direc tly and solely. Units or stocks of closed end funds are not available in stock or financial market for selling continuously these funds is just issued at their stocks in Initial Public Offering (IPO) for selling and investors willing to invest in funds can buy or invest their capital at the time of IPO or issue made the company and then those shares can easily trade in the secondary stock markets, here the stock can be traded. (Glassman, 2004) After the issue or the IPO and the stock price designated in the market according to the market’s conditions and influence, because of this sign of action it can be lower or higher that the NAV of each unit or share.Basically closed end funds are divided based on their approaches, risks, return patterns, investment objectives and portfolios are separated to different types and as according to that they have various levels of risk, volatility and fees variances. There is another category of funds which is said to be Index funds it is par t of investment fund the most important feature of the index fund is the low cost, low tax and fees as compared to the other funds which are active in the financial market. The portfolio for the index funds is fixed, so they have lesser flexibility as compare to other funds. (Glassman, 2004) The major objective of the fund is to reach the return of the selected index such as National Stock Exchange (NSE) Index.There are some very important stock exchanges in India such as follows: Bombay stock exchange, Ahmedabad share and stock brokers association, Calcutta stock exchange association Ltd, Delhi stock exchange association Ltd, Madras stock exchange association Ltd, Indore stock brokers association Ltd, Bangalore stock exchange, Hyderabad stock exchange, Cochin stock exchange, Pune stock exchange, Uttar Pradesh stock exchange, Ludhiana stock exchange, Jaipur stock exchange Ltd, Gauhati stock exchange Ltd, Mangalore stock exchange, Maghad stock exchange Ltd, Patna, Bhuvaneshwar stock exchange association Ltd, Over the counter exchange of India, Bombay, Saurastra kuth stock exchange Ltd, Vsdodard stock exchange Ltd, Coimbatore stock exchange Ltd, The Meerut stock exchange, National stock exchange, Integrated stock exchange. (Dr. Rajesh Bahunguna, 2010) The mentioned are the stock exchanges of India but are driven by the major stock exchanges which are Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National StockExchange (NSE) these are the major index setters in the market are the regulatory which governed them id the Security Exchange board of India (SEBI). Exchange Traded Fund is a type of fund which is also called as ETF; ETF shares are not sold directly to the individual investors the ETF shares are mostly issued in the stock exchange in big blocks which been called creating and issuing units, and then the offers are given to the institutional investors. The sales of ETF are in non cash way for issuing and creating units to institutional investors and investors bring in the ir portfolio instead of cash and their portfolio is mostly same as the fund portfolio.After the purchase of the large blocks of ETF units the institutional investors divide the large stock into smaller parts or units and then it is ready to trade in the secondary market and is offered to the individual investors. (Dr. Rajesh Bahunguna, 2010) Then after the trading in secondary market, individual investors have two ways to trade the ETF’s shares or funds which are selling the stock to the other willing investors or returning them to the institution. Returning shares is only possible at the creation stage, issuing units scale and in non-cash ways. In layman’s words, instead of cash money, investors are allotted with existing securities at the portfolio of the funds. (Dr.Rajesh Bahunguna, 2010) The two main features of Mutual Investment Fund are said to be management and high liquidity: -Outside management: As the nature of mutual investment fund is different from joint s tock company’s shares in one major issue, i. e. they are not managed by the inside management of the company. The important part of the Administrative and Operations of the mutual investment funds are done by the service providers from outside of the fund. There are some important fund operations and duties such as portfolio management, distribution of investment units, marketing and other activities which are directly affecting the service provider company; it uses existent specialty association’s facilities and abilities in the field of finance industry. The administrative and public expenses can be saved by outsourcing of main activities and small organizational core work. Klinger, 1992) -Variable capital and high liquidity: There is no fixed/closed capital for mutual investment fund and the difference in their capital is seen at the time of issue and redeeming investment units, while there are no limitations for buying and redeeming as they are continuous in nature and investors can always buy and sell the mutual fund investment units and can be freely traded. Here the investors holding the fund unit can redeem the entire or part of their investment holdings and can change it to liquid cash on the basis of the Net Asset Value (NAV) of the funds. (Klinger, 1992) – Daily pricing of investment units: There is daily pricing of the fund units as mentioned early that it depends upon the NAV of the fund.The daily NAV is the sum of the market value of the portfolio minus funds debt and divided by the total amount of units have purchased by the investor. – Professional Management: Involvement of professional investment consultant gives a feature of Professional Management; the consultant has done with comprehensive research and having abundant information of the market situation and conditions. This feature is very important for any service provider as the investors may not have adequate knowledge of the investment planning and making a strong capital portfolio and this feature also helps investors to get familiar with the mechanism of Stock Exchange system. Klinger, 1992) – Diversification of securities and risk management: As investing in different securities and assets reduces the influence of reduction of value of the investment, the mutual funds manage the risk factor by diversifying configuration of different companies in different industries securities and use an expert or professional for maintenance of capital portfolio. (Klinger, 1992) Mutual Funds Classification: Mutual funds have been divided into three main groups which are as follows- I. Mutual funds that invest in companies stock II. Mutual funds that invest in securities with fixed income III. Mutual funds that invest in the money market All types of Mutual funds have been placed in one of the three above-mentioned groups. Mutual Investment Funds have wide range of investment objectives and it can be classified from conservative to aggressive and offer wide range of options and flexibility of investment of the funds to investor. (Dr. Rajesh Bahunguna, 2010) Conclusion:The study focuses on mutual funds risks and advantages, the findings may not be appropriate for an investor to understand the condition but with the above research we can get a picture of mutual fund and the risks allotted with it. The outputs of the research will let the investors understand mutual funds and market better. With the help of the information a new investor can get a basic idea or can understand the concept of mutual fund, the above research also helps in exploring the risk factors of mutual funds. It also mentions the advantages of mutual funds which help investors to make good decision for investing their hard earned money and with they can play safe in the market and gain good profits.As the research of mutual fund is an continues process because the market condition are very dynamic in nature and continuously changing are they directly af fect the funds as it gives an direct impact on the funds the market conditions are need to be watched or observed very closely by the experts and investors as well. Market situation needs to be observing very closely to play safe in the market and help the investors to grow their funds and earn a fair income. India is a developing economy with many emerging industries and companies; the current situation in India today is that a common investor in general is found to be confused regarding his or her selection of investment in mutual investment funds it may be due to dynamic economy or various scheme that are available in the market, so the selection process becomes very important for investors that in which fund to invest in?The above study was trying to resolve the problem of investment decision with giving a brief introduction to the nature and characteristics of mutual investment funds and the finance industry. (Words-4,698) Bibliography/References Amporn Soongswang, Y. S. , 2011 . Equity Mutual Fund: Performances, Persistence and Fund Rankings. Journal of Knowledge Management, 1(6), pp. 11-76. Bello, Z. Y. , 2009. On The Predictability Of Mutual Fund Returns. Journal Of Business & Economic Stidies, 15(1), pp. 70-89. Bhapkar, R. , 2007. Corporate Portfolio Management: Capital Allocation From A Risk-Return Perspective. Corporate Finance Review, 12(2), pp. 27-38. Cornaggia, J. N. , 2009. Economic Effects of Access to Finance. Jornal of Finance, 1(4), pp. 43-57. Dave, S. A. , 1992. Mutual Funds: Growth and Development.The Journal of the Indian Institute of Bankers, pp. 42-117. Dr. Rajesh Bahunguna, M. K. A. , 2010. Dehradun Law Review. A Journal Of Law College Dehradun Uttarakhand India, 2(1), pp. 7-82. F. A. Abeer, A. A. A. N. T. Z. , 2012. Obstacles Of Mutual Investment Funds. Interdiciplinary Journal Of Contemporary Research In Business, 3(12), pp. 350-355. Fama Eugenef, K. R. F. , 2010. Luck versus Skill in the Cross-Section of Mutual Fund Returns. The Jour nal of Capital portfolio Management, LXV(5), pp. 16-37. Furfine, C. , 2001. Bank portfolio allocation: The impact of capital requirements. Journal of Financial Services Research, 20(1), pp. 33-56. Garmhausen, S. , 2012. Primed For A Come Back.Financial Planning, 2(4), pp. 23-45. Glassman, J. , 2004. A Better Mutual Fund Reform. The American Enterprise, 15(3), pp. 49-57. H Paul, K. J. F. , 2007. Capital Allocation For Portfolio Credit Risk. Journal of Banking and Finance, 10(4), pp. 103-122. Hamidreza Mirmohammad, M. N. , 2012. International Research Journal of Finance and Economics. A New Service Development in Iranian Financial Service Industry: Mutual Fund, Issue 87 (2012), pp. 7-16. Harald Hau, H. R. , 2004. Can Portfolio Rebalancing Explain The Dynamics of Equity Returns, Equity Flows and Exchange. The American Economic Review, 94(2), pp. 126-145. Haugen, R. A. K. c. O. , 1986.A PORTFOLIO APPROACH TO OPTIMIZING THE STRUCTURE OF CAPITAL CLAIMS. Jaurnal of Risk and Insurance , 37( 1), pp. 41-72. Hickey, L. , 2010. The Palgrave Macmillan Dictionary of finance, investment and banking. Dictionary of finance, 48(1), pp. 60-87. Iqbal Mansur, O. B. A. N. , 2010. The Relationship Between Money Market Mutual Fund Maturity and Interest Rates. Journal of capital management, 1(2), pp. 109-178. Jaspal Singh, S. C. , 2004. An Emperical Analysis of Perception Of Investors towards Mutual Investment Fund. Finance India, 18(4), pp. 1673-1693. Jian Cai, C. K. a. T. M. , 2010. Economic Commentary Compensation and Risk Incentives in Banking and Finance. Journal of Banking and Finance, 1(1), pp. 010-2013. j, n. d. Kirsch, C. E. , 2011. An Introduction to mutual funds. Joournal of capital portfolio and Fund management, 1(6), pp. 12-76. Klinger, E. D. , 1992. A Banker's Guide to Mutual Funds. Bankers Monthly, 109(12), pp. 18-21. Korpela, M. , 2005. Mutual fund expenses: Evidence on the effect of distribution channels. Journal of Finance Management, 1(2), pp. 89-103. Lashgari Malek, W. M. , 2003. The Information cantent of Morningstar's mutual fund ratings: The case for growth funds. American Business Review, 21(2), pp. 1-19. Lashgari, M. , 2011. An Invetment Portfolio Design For an Educational Endowment Fund the Role of Human Capital.Journal of Applied Business and Economics, 1(1), pp. 1-14. Leake, J. , 2008. Successful Portfolio management and RAPM. Balance sheet, 8(3), pp. 18-46. Mahreen Mahmud, N. M. , 2011. An Evaluation of Mutual Fund Performance in an Emerging Economy: The case of Pakistan. The Lahore Journal Of Economics, 16(2), pp. 301-316. Mansur, I. , 2011. JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL SERVICE PROFESSIONALS. The Relationship between Money Market Mutual Fund Maturity and Interest Rates, Issue JULY 2011, pp. 55-66. Martin, W. A. , 2009. Essays on financial markets, legal institutions and economic development. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, 2(1), pp. 80-91. Mason Dave, M. A. M. , 1999.An Introduction to mutual funds: A good choice for retirement investing. New Accountant, 14(4), pp. 10-34. Nanigian, D. , 2012. Advice on Mutual Fund Selection. Journal Of Financial Service Professional, 1(1), pp. 72-76. Nilsson, J. , 2007. Investment with a Conscience: Examining the Impact of Pro-Social Attitudes and Percieved Financial Performance on Social Responsible Investment Behvior. Journal of Bussiness Ethics, 10(1), pp. 308-322. O'Neal, S. E. , 2000. Real estate mutual funds: Abnormal performance and fund characteristics. Journal of Real Estate Porfolio Management, 6(3), pp. 239-354. Palmiter, A. R. T. E. A. , 2009. Star Creation: The Incubation of Mutual Funds.Vanderbilt Law Review, 62(5), pp. 1483-1491. Palmiter, A. R. T. E. A. , 2009. Star Creation: The Incubation of Mutual Funds. Vanderbilt law Review, 62(5), pp. 1487-1498. Patari, E. J. , 2007. Do Hot Hands Warm the Mutual Fund Investor? The Myth of Performance Persistence phenomenon. International Research Journal Of Finance and Economics, 1(4), pp. 118-135. Patzelt, K. a. H. , 2009. Por tfolio Strategies of Life Science Venture. Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, 22(2), pp. 87-100. Rainish Robert, P. G. , 2002. 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