Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Malaysia-Singapore Raltions

ABSTRACT Malaysia and Singapore have a unique and special relation due to the geography, ideology history, culture, , economy, politics and ethnicity factors. Even though with the unique and special factors, its sometimes create tensions between both countries. However, it is said that the relations between both countries have evolved from an inherently unstable into a more mature and positive relationship. This paper will be discussing the current major conflict issue which distressing relationship between both countries and also the resolve issue.This paper also will analyse the relationship during various Prime Minister and their foreign policy towards each other’s. Finally it will discuss why the relationship becomes warmer and the factor that influence the positive relationship. INTRODUCTION Singapore merged with Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak to form the Federation of Malaysia in 1963. However, this political union proved to be short-lived as Singapore was ousted from the Fed eration in 1965 due to political and ethnic differences.This failed political union, and the resulting stigma of separation has continued to cast a shadow over Singapore-Malaysia’s bilateral ties. Furthermore, due to the geographical proximity between these two states, bilateral problems are prone to exaggeration by both sides, often a case of â€Å"virtuous self and the stereotypical other†. Malaysia and Singapore relations are unique and special due to factors such as geography, history, politics, ideology, economy, culture and ethnicity. These factors sometimes have created tensions between both countries.The uniqueness of the relationship is reflected by the various terms used to describe the state of rivalry between the two countries such as â€Å"Siamese twins†, â€Å"sibling rivalry† or â€Å"family quarrel†, suggesting a complex love-hate relationship that has grown out of a shared common history and cultural background, coloured by politic al differences and, ironically, by economic competition and interdependency. DISPUTES AND SOLUTIONS KERETAPI TANAH MELAYU (KTM) – In 1990, Malaysia and Singapore had signed an agreement concerning Tanjong Pagar railway station.Malaysia had agreed to relocate the station to Bukit Timah to allowed development of the land that located in the premium area. On 24 May 2010, a meeting between Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong in Singapore resolved the relocation issue. They announced that Malaysia's national railway company Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTM) will be move out from Tanjong Pagar railway station and establish a station at the Woodlands Train Checkpoint (WTCP) by 1 July 2011.Malaysia also will relocate its customs, immigration and quarantine facilities from Tanjong Pagar to the WTCP to ensure the systematic and integrated border crossing facility between Malaysia and Singapore . A joint holding company (60 % Malaysia ow nership, 40 % Singapore) will then develop the abandoned KTM properties. WATER SUPPLY – Malaysia provides Singapore with about half its water. On 1 September 1961, the Federation of Malaya signed an agreement giving Singapore the right to draw up to 86 million imperial gallons (390,000 m3) of water per day with effect through 2011.On 29 September 1962, a further agreement was signed providing Singapore the right to draw up to 250 million imperial gallons (1,100,000 m3) per day from the Johore River, with effect through 2061. Both agreements stipulated the price of RM 0. 03 per 1,000 gallons. In turn, the Johor Government pays Singapore RM 0. 50 for every 1000 gallons of treated water. On 31 August 2011, the 1961 water agreement expired and the waterworks and facilities were handed over to the Johor state government.The handover included the Skudai and Gunung Pulai water treatment plants, which were built and managed by Public Utilities Board (PUB) for 50 years, as well as two pump houses in Pontian and Tebrau . JOHOR-SINGAPORE CAUSEWAY- The state of Johor currently already has developed ports including Pasir Gudang and Tanjong Pelapas. Under the former Mahathir administration, the Malaysian government scheduled to build a new customs, immigration and quarantine complex on a hilltop near the Johor Bahru railway station.A bridge is planned to link the new customs complex with the city square. The proposals on replacing the old causeway with a new bridge have resulted in a political rift between the two countries since the early 2000s. Singapore has hinted that it might agree to a bridge if its air force is allowed to use part of Johor's airspace. Malaysia refused the offer and negotiation is said to be still on going. In September 2003, Malaysia first announced its intention to replace its half of the Causeway with a new bridge.On 5 January 2004, Singapore's Foreign Minister Prof Jayakumar commented that it did not make sense for Singapore to replace its half of the bridge with a new bridge, as it would cost, along with revisions to customs, immigration and quarantine facilities, more than $500 million. On 2 February 2004, Malaysia said it would present Singapore with a new design for the proposed bridge to replace the Causeway, as Malaysia is still interested in building the new bridge.However, in September 2004, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi announced that Malaysia would defer the half-bridge project as part of its effort to pare down its huge fiscal deficit by deferring big ticket projects. In April 2006, Abdullah Badawi announced that Malaysia would drop the half-bridge project altogether. PEDRA BRANCA (PULAU BATU PUTIH) – On 21 December 1979 Malaysia published a new map which showed the island to be within its territorial waters.This ignited a 29-year territorial dispute which, together with the issue of sovereignty over the nearby maritime features of Middle Rocks and South Ledge, this disputes was presented to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for resolution. On 23 May 2008 the ICJ ruled that Pedra Branca is under Singapore's sovereignty. THE CENTRAL PROVIDENT FUND (CPF) issue has still not been resolved after many years. It is hoped that the Malaysian Government will pursue the long standing issue pertaining to the dilemma of Malaysians who have left the republic for more than a decade and are still unable to withdraw their CPF savings.Under the present CPF withdrawal regulations, Malaysians from Peninsular Malaysia are only able to withdraw their CPF savings at the age of 50 if they have not been working in the republic for the last two years. The CPF law on withdrawal seems to discriminate against Malaysians from Peninsular Malaysia as other foreigners, including Malaysians from Sabah and Sarawak, are allowed full withdrawal of their CPF savings when they leave Singapore. Land Reclamations Issue – Singapore had extensively conducted the land reclamation activity within its territorial water.Plans for the Tekong reclamation project were made publicly available since 1991, and for the Tuas project, since 2001. Until January 2002 there is no objection from neighbouring country. However in 2002 Malaysia had objected the activity. After that, Malaysia embarked on two legal tracks to stop Singapore's land reclamation works. First, on 4 July 2003, Malaysia served notice to Singapore that it wanted arbitration to decide whether Singapore has the right to reclaim the land off Tuas and Pulau Tekong.This arbitration tribunal, comprising five members agreed on by both sides, was formed on 9 Oct 2003. Then, on 5 September 2003 Malaysia applied separately to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) for an order on provisional measures, seeking to put an immediate stop to Singapore's reclamation works pending the setting up of the arbitration panel. The hearing took place between 25 and 27 Sep 03 in Hamburg, Germany. On 8 Oct 2003, ITLOS unanim ously decided that Singapore could continue its land reclamation activities.In April 2005, Singapore and Malaysia formally ended the reclamation dispute by signing a settlement agreement. FACTORS AFFECTING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MALAYSIA AND SINGAPORE Looking at the leadership style of both Prime Minister after the independent of Singapore, there is a high and low relationship which creating the foreign policy towards both countries. We can observed during the Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Abdul Razak and also Tun Hussein Onn, the relationship is calm and interdependent towards each other.During this era also, Mr Lee Kuan Yew as the Prime Minister His leadership style have a strong influence in the manner of bilateral issue between both countries. He is serious in dealing with the issue and also influence by his past experience and the pre and post separation political baggage. To show the difficulties in the relationship, Singapore first Deputy Prime Minister Mr Lee Hsien Loong says: à ¢â‚¬Å" its relationship with Malaysia is one of its important and complex foreign relation† And Tun Mahathir also had a remark that saying: it’s impossible to be friendly with Singapore because of the neighbouring city states unfriendliness towards Malaysia. Singapore gets into that kind of mood that they reject anything that comes from Malaysia. We try to be friendly as possible but it’s impossible† Relations with Singapore under Mahathir's tenure have been stormy. Many disputed issues raised during his administration have not been resolved. Many of these international issues have been raised up under Mahathir's Premiership term, but no significant headway had been made then to resolve them bilaterally.Both sides had stubbornly refused to compromise, with the result of bilateral relations turning frosty. Tun Abdullah Haji Ahmad Badawi became the fifth Prime Minister in 2003 and he was Dr Mahathir’s choice. Since Abdullah Badawi took over, bilateral relations between Singapore and Malaysia have undergone a sea change. Part of it was due to Abdullah warm personality, non-confrontational, consensus-seeking characters and sincere attempts to improve ties together with his policy are to give in to almost every request, and relations have begun to thaw.And this was reciprocated by Singapore leaders, as reflected in the flow of many senior Singaporean leaders to the funeral of Datin Seri Endon, Mr Abdullah’s latewife – which certainly went beyond the call of protocol. During Pak Lah era, few discussion has been made such as the causeway issue, air space issue and also the KTM land in Tanjong Pagar. They are trying to resolve the issue through the win-win situation. When Dato’ Seri Najib taking over the Prime Minister of Malaysia, the relationship is grow warming.The effort of Najib in clearing major bilateral issue concerning both countries make that relation becoming more mature and good. Since the effort of cle aring the implementation of the point of agreement (POA) which had been negotiated and agreed upon in 1990 which involved the KTM land in Tanjung Pagar that cleared in 2010, more bilateral relationship and opportunities is open. WARMING TIES BETWEEN MALAYSIA AND SINGAPORE There is several issue and factors that make the relationship between Malaysia Nad Singapore becoming warmer. The economic factor is one of the most important relations and always had a high degree of inter dependence.Malaysia and Singapore have been each other's main trading partners for many years. Data from Malaysia's Department of Statistics, for instance, show that bilateral trade between Malaysia and Singapore was valued at RM175. 5bil last year, up from RM161. 7bil in 2011. Malaysia remains Singapore's largest trading partner, while Singapore is Malaysia's second largest trading partner after China. Malaysia and Singapore economic interdependence is just not reflected in the bilateral trade only, it also inv olving the investment in both countries.From the data tabled by the Malays Malaysian Industrial Development Authority show that Singapore remains one of the top investors in the country, with total value of approved projects standing at RM2. 2bil last year, down slightly from RMRM2. 5bil in 2011 because of the global economic weakness. Singapore's investments in Malaysia are mainly concentrated in the manufacturing sector. Recently, the development of Iskandar had attracted the Singapore investors and that had make their investor is the largest single group of investor there which accounting about 17% of the total money invested there.In the other sides, Malaysia investors also actively invested in Singapore. It had been showed with involvement Malaysian company like YTL Corp, SP Setia and Selangor Dredging in real estate business, Maybank in financial sector, Axiata Group in telecommunication and also Genting Berhad in the leisure and hospitality sector. The government investment a rm from both country namely Khazanah from Malaysia and Temasek from Singapore also had form a joint venture in developing the commercial land parcels in Singapore such as Marina South and Ophir-Ophir .In Iskandar they are also establishing the joint venture company to invest in two wellness related project with a gross development value of RM 3b. To increase connectivity between both countries, few projects has been agreed and initiated. The extension of MRT from Singapore to Johore Bharu is planned to be built to reduce the traffic congestion in both entrance in Singapore and Malaysia. The High Speed Train from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore also planned to reduce travel time to 90 minutes. This infrastructure development also will increase the economic development in the area.In security and defence matters, both states share a serious concern over the emergence of JI in the region. They have coordinated on police work and intelligence sharing, and even synchronized the initial arrests of JI members in December 2001. JI members were imprisoned in both countries under the Internal Security Act (ISA), which both Malaysia and Singapore patterned after the British law that allows for detention without trial for up to two years for supposedly dangerous suspects. Also, both countries have put pressure on Indonesia to take a more active role in confronting the terrorism problem.In the military, several bilateral exercise and operation is conducted to reduce the crime in Straits of Malacca, Eyes in The Sky Operation is jointly conducted to scout the strait for pirates. The flights are undertaken by crews with nationals from the different countries so they can better share information. Intelligence gathered on pirates is also disseminated among governments, including on a Web-based network for quick and easy access. These actions, taken together, made it far more costly and difficult for the pirates to operate.Both military forces also involve in the Five Power Defence Ar rangement that are a series of defence relationships established by a series of bilateral agreements between the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Singapore signed in 1971, whereby the five states will consult each other in the event of external aggression or threat of attack against Peninsular Malaysia (East Malaysia is not included as part of the area of responsibilities under the FPDA) or Singapore. FACTORS THAT MAKES THE RELATIONSHIP GROWING TIES The first factor is the leadership role and function. With the new eneration of leader ship which is the second generation of previous leader, Najib is son of Tun Abd Razak and Lee Hsien Loong is son of Lee Kuan Yew, they are trying actively to resolve the bilateral issue of both countries. With the new generation thinking they realised the interdependence both country each many matters. The second factor economic interdependence which shows that both country are main trading partner each other. Malaysia also inviting the investors from Singapore to invest in the economic development project initiate in many region in Malaysia such as IRDA, ECER and also NCER.The encouragement by both governments through their public and private sector to collaborate with their counterpart shows there relationship will going stronger. The third factor is massive people to people contact which encouraging tourist from both countries visiting each other will develop this contact. This will created necessary goodwill and tolerance among others. This also had been expanded through sport activity which we can see that the football team from both countries is participating in the league. CONCLUSIONWe can conclude that due to their historical, cultural linkages and their geographical proximity Malaysia and Singapore had enjoyed and share a special relationship. The issue and challenge between each other had brought a god point for both countries to sit down and discussing the way to move forward. Both of the leaders ar e aware the important of each other in many factors. Both new generation leaders is trying hard to improve the relationship with each other’s even though there is a few issue that not resolve yet.But their mutual agreement in developing economic sector each other shows the positive prospect towards very warm relationship. Both leaders also seem in the same view in settling issue through win-win situation and compromise. With the realisation by the leaders in win-win situation and compromising each other, it may lead towards prosperous relationship in the future. It’s the leader and their foreign policy which is determining the future of these relations. Thus, the leader should take every effort to ensure the warming of the relationship is preserve to ensure the mutual benefits.The security and military activities is to be enhanced to ensure the safety of both countries. With the firm security the development of economy can be planned and develop towards higher level. W ith the interest of Singapore investors in IRDA is high, it is not possible Singapore will extend the security watch in the area to ensure safety of their investment. Thus this will benefit both countries towards long and warm relationship. Despite all the bilateral issue, it is observed that, both country is dependant each other in economy, social, and also security aspect.With that the warming relations that initiated by both the new generation leader is a good step towards more close relation. 3117 words Reference: Ganesan, 2005, p. 58 Rusdi Omar, et. al. (2005). Hubungan Malaysia-Singapura Era Mahathir. Sintok: Penerbit Universiti Utara Malaysia. p. 2. Joint statement by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Prime Minister Dato' Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak at the Singapore-Malaysia Leaders' Retreat on 24 May 2010, 24 May 2010, , retrieved 2010-05-25 Water Conflicts Between Malaysia and Singapore. Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia Star. (1999). June 5. p. -2. 1961 water agreement w ith Johor expires on Wednesday. The Straits Times. 14 October 2011 â€Å"Johor-Singapore Causeway†. Wikipedia Rusdi Omar. 2007. Malaysia-Singapore Relations: Issues and Strategies. Working paper presented at the International Conference on Southeast Asia in 3-4 December 2007 at University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia M'sia Stops Construction Of Bridge To Replace Johor Causeway. Prime Minister's Office, Malaysia. 12 April 2006. Pedra Branca, Singapore. Wikipedia Solve CPF Withdrawal Issue With Singapore. The Star Online. 12 November 2008 Kyodo News. (2005).Singapore and Malaysia resolve land reclamation dispute. April 26. http://www. channelnewsasia. com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/144527/1/. html Rusdi Omar, Mohd Ainuddin; Mas Juliana Mukhtarudin. 2005. Malaysia-Singapore Relations During Mahathir’s Era. Sintok, Kedah: UUM News Straits Time. (2003). May 5. p. 22. Asian Economic News. (2002). Oct 14. p. 19 Malaysia’s Foreign Relations: Issues and Challen ges. Ruhanas Harun. Page 24 The Star (2013) Mac 16 Malaysia-Singapore Relations: Never Mind the Rhetoric . Anthony L. Smith. October 2004 ——————————————– 1 ]. Ganesan, 2005, p. 58 [ 2 ]. Rusdi Omar, et. al. (2005). Hubungan Malaysia-Singapura Era Mahathir. Sintok: Penerbit Universiti Utara Malaysia. p. 2. [ 3 ]. Joint statement by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Prime Minister Dato' Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak at the Singapore-Malaysia Leaders' Retreat on 24 May 2010, 24 May 2010, , retrieved 2010-05-25 [ 4 ]. Water Conflicts Between Malaysia and Singapore. Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia [ 5 ]. Star. (1999). June 5. p. 1-2. [ 6 ]. 1961 water agreement with Johor expires on Wednesday. The Straits Times. 14 October 2011 [ 7 ]. Johor-Singapore Causeway†. Wikipedia [ 8 ]. Rusdi Omar. 2007. Malaysia-Singapore Relations: Issues and Strategies. Working paper presented at th e International Conference on Southeast Asia in 3-4 December 2007 at University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia [ 9 ]. M'sia Stops Construction Of Bridge To Replace Johor Causeway. Prime Minister's Office, Malaysia. 12 April 2006. [ 10 ]. Pedra Branca, Singapore. Wikipedia [ 11 ]. Solve CPF Withdrawal Issue With Singapore. The Star Online. 12 November 2008 [ 12 ]. Kyodo News. (2005). Singapore and Malaysia resolve land reclamation dispute.April 26. http://www. channelnewsasia. com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/144527/1/. html [ 13 ]. Rusdi Omar, Mohd Ainuddin& Mas Juliana Mukhtarudin. 2005. Malaysia-Singapore Relations During Mahathir’s Era. Sintok, Kedah: UUM [ 14 ]. News Straits Time. (2003). May 5. p. 22. [ 15 ]. Asian Economic News. (2002). Oct 14. p. 19. [ 16 ]. Malaysia’s Foreign Relations: Issues and Challenges. Ruhanas Harun. Page 24 [ 17 ]. The Star (2013) Mac 16 [ 18 ]. Ibid [ 19 ]. The Star (2013) Mac 16 [ 20 ]. Ibid [ 21 ]. Malaysia-Singapore Relations: Never Mind the Rhetoric . Anthony L. Smith. October 2004

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Dramatic moments in The Crucible Essay

Arthur Millers, The Crucible, was first written in 1952 and produced in 1953. The play was based on the events surrounding the witch trials in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. Miller wrote about the event as an allegory for McCarthyism.  McCarthyism is a term named after Senator Joseph McCarthy, who was the leader of anti-communist suspicion which occurred in the United States in the 1950’s during which Arthur Miller was questioned himself in 1956.  The Crucible has many dramatic twists and turns in it, which shows the effects of what a person who abuses their power can do, and people who follow and listen to people with power without questioning their actions. In the first few pages of The Crucible, Miller grabs the attention of the audience straight away by using language as a device. This is to create a confused mood. He does this by creating this mysterious illness that the audience are intrigued by. Which makes them interested from the start of the play. As the characters start to question the illness and start thinking of ‘unnatural causes’, Miller is showing a society where rumour can spread and be believed as fact. This is because the people of Salem are highly influenced by whoever is in power, as they are persecuted for standing out and having their own opinions. Just like 1950’s America, as McCarthy had the power to influence his listeners to being scared of communism and communists, just like the people of Salem where frightened of witchcraft and witches. Though I am going to focus on Act Three, this is when John Proctor takes his housemaid Mary Warren to the courtroom to tell he court that the girls are all lying and it is all a farce. John Proctor needs to get this information out in the open to secure the freedom of his wife, Elizabeth Proctor, but Abigail uses manipulation to trash the rumours of lies and fakes that Mary Warren has a sent an ‘evil spirit’ in the shape of a yellow bird to get the girls, soon enough all the girls in the courtroom see this yellow bird too. This scene shows how powerful Abigail actually is, she has been frightened by the fact that Mary Warren has tried to come clean, but she fights back, coming out stronger and more powerful than before. She knows this too, and uses it to her advantage by making out Mary Warren to be a liar. She only has her power through fear of her, this links in with the McCarthy period in America, as because she is a powerful figure through fear, like Joseph McCarthy, people who are scared of them, so they follow them without questioning, and people who do oppose to what they are saying are seen as evil and are condemned. Miller is purposely putting this in here to warn people of the dangers of following the crowd and not standing up for your own beliefs; as if less people follow the more people who abuse their power will fall. This part of the play is also very gripping to watch, as it suggests fear which creates a sense on action on the stage, as there is lots of movement and energy happening here. As at the start of the scene Proctor was confident and had power, though with Abigail making more lies, she regains the power and in the stage directions, he is shown as ‘trembling’ which is kind of showing that Proctors life is collapsing about him, like an earthquake he is trembling and everything is crashing down. Though Proctor may have been shown to lose the little power he had here, it is still ironic that he has a powerful effect still on Abigail, while she has an effect over the other girls, this is like there are under one another’s spell, which is kind of resembling witchcraft. The characters in the crucible have little depth or background, as Miller doesn’t tell us about the past of the characters, and what there past might show us about that character, as we just have to go on what we already know. A director might want to show more background to the characters if they were doing an interpretation of the play, they could show Proctor as a wicked character who like the attention the girls seem to give him, or could portray him as a pure character that pushes the girls away. I have also chosen to look at the ending of the play, at the end of Act Four, this is when John Proctor has been forced to confess to save his life, but he couldn’t live with knowing his life ws a lie, so John Proctor rips up the confession, even though he would be hung on account of witchcraft. He is showing that he will give up his life for the greater good. When he rips up the confession it shows that he has proven to Elizabeth that he is a good man, and she has forgiven him. The play finishes with John Proctor being hung, Miller has used a very dramatic ending to end the crucible with, though it tells us at the end that after John Proctors death, the allegations of witchcraft started to be questioned by more and more people, which meant it died down, Miller is using this to show 1950’s America that if one person stands up, then others will to, and begin to question McCarthy and McCarthyism, and people will see that its not right. We are shown at the end that despite Proctors sins, that he couldn’t live a lie, so he would rather die sin free.

Monday, July 29, 2019

Combine Code Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Combine Code - Essay Example Every stakeholders or shareholders shall also have the right to examine the organization’s books of account to its satisfaction. Dialogues and consultation between the board of directors and the stakeholders should not be limited to the annual general membership (AGM) meeting. In the interest of the public’s and stakeholder’s rights, the accurate state and fiscal condition of the organization shall be fully disclosed to the stakeholders. The United Kingdom’s Corporate Governance Code’s aims to protect the interest of stakeholders or shareholders of the organization in particular and the public’s interest in general. The Governance Code mandates that controls and risk mitigation processes with the aim of protecting the interest of stakeholders are instituted and maintained by the executive board tasked to manage the affairs of the organization on day to day basis. The executive board are mandated to regularly report incidents and or explain in cidents that would appear to be serious breaches in security. B. Explain why over the last two decades, numerous attempts have been made to improve corporate governance in the UK Organizations that operated in multiple jurisdictions have in the past been threatened by scandals or have been embroiled in scandals that affected not only the financial health of the countries where they operate but also the shareholders who are residents of the UK. Foremost of these are financial institutions hold principal offices in the UK or most of its stakeholders are UK residents and the same organizations due to size, operation and influence have threatened the economic health of a country or the region in general if they are not properly managed. Exercising its inherent right to protect the public’s interest, the government has been mandated to ensure that corporate governance is properly implemented in every organization where it has jurisdiction. This is to ensure that any financial mism anagement is detected and mitigated before it can adversely affect the entire organization and the country in general. Corporate governance is a set of controls designed to ensure that all decisions of the executive leadership of an organization are compliant with good governance or if not, the leadership should be able to explain the rationale behind such decisions or directions. The UL Combined Code of Corporate Governance are therefore designed to prevent a national financial crisis that can be rooted from mismanagement or mishandling of funds in particular or the company in general from taking place. Recognizing the need from the experience of other countries, specially the United States, and was affirmed by its own experience in the 2008 financial crisis, the UK reviewed its corporate governance law. The need to improve stricter controls and update the intent and scope of the law prompted the review and revision of the UK combined code of corporate governance. C. Outline the re commendations of the UK Combined Code (2010) concerning the ‘board chairman’ and briefly discuss why the code does not support board duality. Corporate governance practices have been embedded in corporate structures to make corporate officers more aware of their responsibilities and demand from them accountability and transparency in the performance of their fiduciary functions as well as in

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Global Marketing in the Context of National Environmental Issues Essay

Global Marketing in the Context of National Environmental Issues - Essay Example Formerly known as Warburtons’ the Bakers, Warburtons Ltd. is a producer and distributor of bakery products founded by Thomas Warburton in 1876 in Bolton, the United Kingdom. Warburtons is the strongest grocery brand after Coca Cola in the UK (Nielsen, 2010). It is a family owned business selling over 2 million bakery products daily. According to the chairman of the company, Jonathan Warburton, "From the wheat we grow to the flour we select to the bread we bake, we care because our name's on it". Company’s annual return is estimated at over ? 411 million, and employs over 4,200 staff across 13 bakeries and 11 depots positioned throughout UK (IBM, 2008). Warburtons is heavily investing in marketing and product development, and has recently launched a new ?8.2 million cross-media marketing campaign to achieve ?1 billion revenue target through product diversification and international ventures (Ingredients Network, 2012). This paper attempts to develop a competitive and sus tainable marketing strategy for expansion of Warburtons bakery product group to Mauritian food market, Africa. The Product Group Warburtons product group includes bread, rolls, snacks, healthy and gluten free products. The bread variety is suitable for vegetarians and is almost similar in nutrition and calorie content to other breads ranging between 60-90 calories per slice depending on the type of the product. However, it contains more selenium than other breads. The white bread is fortified with calcium, iron and Vitamin B and the wholemeal is rich in dietary fiber. The company is not using hydrogenated fats in any of the products. To help reduce the increasing sodium intake, the company has lowered the use of salts by 30%. A complete ingredient and nutritional information is provided on all packaging (a-Warburtons, 2012). Warburton products do not have a longer shelf life and are baked in in-store bakeries to ensure absolute freshness. To maintain freshness and quality, Warburton bread is priced quite higher than other breads. Around 95% of the best quality wheat is obtained ethically and sustainably from established sources in the UK and Canada. To maintain consistent protein levels and quality, the grown varieties are specified by the company giving the products a unique taste, softness and freshness. Warburton products not only provide customers with healthy balanced diet but also ethically sound and environmentally friendly choices (b-Warburtons, 2012). The Target Market The Republic of Mauritius is located in the southeast of African continent, around 500 miles east of Madagascar. As of July 2011, the population of Mauritius was estimated at 1,286,340 with a growth rate of 0.4% and a population density of 630 people per square Kilometer. The country is well known for its stability and racial harmony among different ethnic groups including Asians, Europeans and Africans (Republic of Mauritius, 2012). The local currency is Rupee divided into 100 cents. N egligible or zero percentage of population lives below international poverty line of US$1.25 per day. People speak Mauritian Creole, English and French. As of 2008, the total adult literacy rate was estimated at 88% (UNICEF, 2010). Despite of being remote from world markets, Mauritius enjoys sustained economic growth and stability. From 1970 to 2008, the GDP growth was

Saturday, July 27, 2019

When are people justified in rebelling from a government Essay

When are people justified in rebelling from a government - Essay Example Simply put, whenever a government fails to keep up the social contract it has with the citizens, rebellion against that government becomes justified according to Locke and that rebellion is not illegal or unjust. Therefore, it is important to understand the social contract, the idea of rebellion and how Locke sees the legitimacy of government for any student of History, sociology and even philosophy. Additionally, comparisons can be made in terms of how other philosophers such as Hobbes have seen the legitimacy of government as opposed to Locke to fully understand the position Locke takes on what a government should do to keep the social contract. The social contract theory is a common concept used in many different fields such as political science, economics and sociology. It basically suggests that there is a contract which exists between the state and the individuals who are part of the state regarding their individual rights and privileges. A social contract can also exist between a company/organization and its members or a social group and the participants of the group. The idea of a social contract has been developed and expanded greatly by philosophers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke amongst many others (Wikipedia, 2006). However, the Ideas of Locke are very important in this case because he was the first to establish the criteria for a social contract and then establish the course a people should take up if their own government does not uphold its end of the bargain. Hobbes was the earlier of the two philosophers and outlined his ideas concerning a social contract in his magnum opus titled Leviathan. Hobbes suggests that the natural inclination of mankind breaks men into strong and weak. The strength of a strong man may come from his physical abilities or his mental prowess but in either case, he has an advantage over the weak. However, this

Money Laundering Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Money Laundering - Term Paper Example disposition, movement, rights with respect to, or ownership of property, knowing that such property is derived from serious crime. In simpler words, Hopton (1) defines money laundering as that process in which the criminals conceal the origins of their possessions and the ownership of their proceedings of criminal activities. Their whole objective behind doing so is to maintain control over their illegal possessions (income, wealth or property) by covering them unlawfully. Hence, we can understand money laundering as a process by which dirty money is shown as clean money. The money needs not to be intangible form. Instead, modern day money laundering includes all such transactions of relationships that involve any kind of tangible or intangible wealth or possession that has been gained through criminal activities. Literature Review Alldridge (437-463) studied the imperatives that the money laundering panic of 1990s generated with the arrival of globalization. He states in his researc h that, â€Å"If there is to be an attempt legally to regulate laundering, it (laundering) must be a relatively serious offence, and consequently the anticipated harm must be something other than complicity†, which means that money laundering should be considered as a serious threat at an international level thus uniting all nations to make combined efforts to stop it. This will help homogenize the criminal justice system worldwide. Shneider and Windischbauer (387-404) have quantified and estimated the volume of money laundering activities in their research. According to them, â€Å"The overall turnover in organized crime for example had a value of 800 billion USD in 2001 and increased to 1.700 billion USD in 2007.† These statistics show how great the turnover of money laundering in the modern world is. Article no. 22 of Pursuant to the Law on prevention of money laundering (Ministry of Finance) states how the law for the prevention of money laundering is to be impleme nted. According to it, the Law on Prevention of Money Laundering is to be implemented to make sure that money laundering does not take place at all. Article 2 of the Federal Act on Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in the Financial Sector, also called as Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA), defines the financial intermediaries that are at vulnerable end in money laundering business (Federal Authorities of the Swiss Confederation). These include banks, fund managers, investment companies, insurance institutions, security dealers, casinos, and persons who carry out credit transactions and provide their services for payment transactions. Stages of Money Laundering There are three stages of money laundering. Placement The first stage of the washing cycle of money laundering is placement. Being a cash-intensive business, large cash is generated from illegal activities which is then placed in the economic structure or is smuggled out of the country, so that the location of a cquisition of that cash can be covered (Levy 2-5). In this way, the authorities cannot figure out the location. The cash acquired is also converted into other forms like postal orders. Layering The first step in the layering phase is the concealment of the source of ownership of funds by way of creating such complicated layers of transactions that aim at impersonating the audit trail by providing

Friday, July 26, 2019

American Industrialization after the Civil War Essay

American Industrialization after the Civil War - Essay Example This period marked the start of the big budgets of federal government and direct governmental liaisons with the corporate sector, especially those that expanded the railroad lines and other infrastructures. Railroads had immensely contributed in Union victory, hauling supplies and ferrying servicemen. Foner avers that the â€Å"second industrial revolution† was achieved with limited government interference in the corporate sector affairs; businesses developed through self-regulation (512). Civil War had taught the average citizens that real economic emancipation would be achieved if everyone played his or her role as required, especially in demanding moments, such as grappling with water privation and power rationing as well as taking up the arms to defend national goals. The short but often severe conflict taught Americans to not only exercise stoicism, but persevere in order to realize sound economic goals. As the country achieved better economic growth and industrialization transformed the nature of American ideology, the society achieved the growth of middle class, and a generation unique innovations within the industries. The country joined forces in the wake of strong government support, a steady supply of labor and a spirit of sacrifice and determination to achieve a mature industrialized society. Gilded Age political system The Gilded Age saw an ineffective political system that failed to effectively meet its goals, despite the fact that the period experienced remarkable economic and social transformations, which required the input of the political leadership. Although, some political figures made significant contribution during this period in an effort to tackle the challenges faced by the society, most national goals went unattended. The failure of the political leadership can be attributed to a larger proportion of the national leaders, who abandoned their call to formulate good policies for the country, maybe because they ascended to office d ue to their financial muscle, rather than ideology. The â€Å"Politics in a Gilded Age† according to Foner, saw influential businessmen control state institutions from the private sector platforms, to the chagrin of public good (523). The political parties in the Gilded Age were divided by parochial interest. The era was marked by rampant corrupt practices in the political system, a culture that presently would be classified as grand corruption, was the order of the day. Businessmen wantonly bought public officers at all levels of government. Political machinations turned democratic elections into a sham, hence denying voters rightful and deserving leaders. The slim majority between Republican and Democratic political parties made both sides unwilling to make good policies for the good of the country for fear of losing political support. In a nutshell, political accountability in the use of public funds; and few legislations passed by Congress drew the country back in terms o f socio-economic progress. The outcome was that the country made slight achievement of national goals. The Gilded Age and American Freedom According to Foner, â€Å"freedom in the Gilded Age,† was a significant aspect of the era (528). The economic growth of the Gilded Age impacted American freedom in the labor market and the running of business in the country. The period influenced the development of a liberal market, with decreased tariffs, affordable taxes, and low inflation

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Week 7 into to Mang System Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Week 7 into to Mang System - Assignment Example This was due to the use of  physical form of delivery spending an excessive quantity of time and financial resources (Bidgoli, 2014). The corporation spotted the opportunity to enhance information delivery, eliminate errors, and significantly minimize the quantity of resources exploited. In order to alleviate the disagreement of the needless tapping of assets to continue the physical manner of distributing information, IAL acquired IBM Workplace Web content Management and IBM WebSphere Portal. These applications offer enterprise web portals that assist corporations distribute a highly-unique, social understanding for their consumers through single-point contact gates (IBM, 2014). According to Clinebell, Thomas, & Sedbrook (2012), IAL had sought knowledge management through the use of wiki systems, guaranteeing simplistic and faster collaboration and knowledge-sharing. Wikis, a web-oriented 2.0 technology, offered a collaborative impression in which data can be uploaded and edited as necessary for knowledge-sharing between employees within the corporation, and outwardly between trades and their stakeholders. They are vast collaborative systems that making project implementation easier with simply mapped networks of specialists on business-associated subjects and via knowledge-sharing of most excellent business activities. IAL has executed the wiki for the solution of working together with business associates in decision making and distribution knowledge with stakeholders. In addition, the wikis assist in communication with other workers on schemes of supply and marketing of the IAL product (Clark and Stewart, 2010). The first challenge that IAL could face when implementing groupware is the operational feasibility. With innovative implementations, there is a necessity to train users of the innovative groupware systems on ways to

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Does Free Trade Exist in Reality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Does Free Trade Exist in Reality - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that as the world rotates, the flow of trade among nations also circles around those that are involved in it. Basically, these nations engage in trade for the benefit of the economy and the establishment of alliances. The common perception of many regarding the concept of free trade based on the word itself is that it is a free form of trade and that anybody or any nation may enter any marketplace without having to deal with any complexities because certainly, it is free. This conventional idea of free trade is to some degree justifiable; however, the non-vulnerability of free trade to any complexities is something that needs a more concise explanation. Because if one will consider free trade as trade without complexities, then the entrance of illegal objects from one nation to another is possible, but if a free trade will become subject to a particular number of restrictions, then its administration becomes less complicated. According to C olton, free trade is an influential phrase. It leads many people to believe that commerce means freedom, that ports are open to all traders, and trade can be done anywhere to anyone. He further argued that these notions may seem reasonable enough with reference to the meaning of the word free, but the enchanting character of these phrases is actually misleading. Because of the true definition behind the phrase â€Å"free trade,† lies in the opposite of the obvious meaning that it expresses. Therefore, Colton justifies the idea that free trade is not inherently free; that it is subject to laws and regulations, which impedes the assumption of its being free. Rather than formulate a concise definition of free trade, scholars opted to assume that free trade has an understandable (yet vague) definition. Driesen has stated that in academic writings and in the interpreted decisions of the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade (GAAT), vague terms such as trade barriers and trade res trictions are being used to exemplify the things that trade must become the free form of. However, the presence of these terms still does not help in the formulation of an exact definition of free trade. It goes to show that, in spite of free trade’s long existence, its concept has remained broad and ill-defined. Baggini and Fost have taken as an example "the justice of free trade." They have stated that when it comes to providing a definition of free trade, many do consider it as trade, which is not disrupted by any local or international trade restrictions. This meaning according to some philosophers refers to a fixed definition of free trade based on the thought of the words itself; however, with this definition, many people will argue that they have a precise or more appropriate definition of the term. These arguments will eventually result in varied justifications of free trade leading to contrasting conclusions in due regard to its justice. Creating clear definitions of difficult concepts as claimed by Baggini and Fost is crucial to refrain from having further discussions with its definition. The development of a single definition of free trade is still at the stage of discussions; therefore, its definition may vary and is still unfixed. Thus, a clear definition of free trade has to be developed not based on the term itself but based on its application in the world of trade, to put an end to this confusion. Hence, it can be said that "free trade refers to" the omission "of barriers to international trade", barriers that hinder its smooth sailing entrance to the international market.

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Factors Effecting Students Selecting Private Colleges In Saudi Arabia Essay

Factors Effecting Students Selecting Private Colleges In Saudi Arabia - Essay Example The research strategy proposed to be used in this study is survey questionnaires. There may be some problems associated with the qualitative interview method, involving a detailed structured or semi structured interview in the case of this particular study. For example, this method is likely to be time consuming when considered against the results sought to be achieved. The thrust of this study is to discover overall patterns within a large group of students/faculty within a limited time frame. A comprehensive literature review is to be taken up to provide the background material and the secondary data for this study. The primary data is collected from the questionnaire/survey, which is a favoured tool used in research because it can provide a cheap and effective method of collecting data in a structured and manageable way. The participants in this study would be about 250 students as well as faculty members, both from private as well as public colleges. This report makes a conclusion that the economies of the Middle East play a very important role in the world economy because they are large scale producers of oil and this is especially true in the case of Saudi Arabia. In view of the initiatives that have been actively implemented by the Government to promote education in the nation, the problem of why students are opting for private colleges becomes important. This study may help to shed a considerable amount of light on why students are making such choices and pave the way for future research into this issue.

Monday, July 22, 2019

Overview of the US subprime market Essay Example for Free

Overview of the US subprime market Essay With regards to the U. S. subprime market, the term itself refers to the status of the borrower, alternative terms for which are B-paper, near-prime, or second chance lending, all refer to the practice of giving loans to borrowers who have a faulty credit history and hence do not qualify for the prevalent market rates. Subprime lending and borrowing is risky as it is associated with conditions of high interest rates, dodgy credit history and much less-than-perfect financial situations. To gain access to this expanding market, lenders often assume risks associated with lending to people with poor credit ratings. They offset their risk by charging a higher interest rate, among other ways. Mortgages, car loans, credit cards, all are instruments of subprime lending. In credit cards, for example, a subprime customer may be charged higher amounts for late fees, over limit fees, annual fees, or up front fees for the card. But it offers these borrowers who have an imperfect credit record the opportunity to gain access to credit which might not have been possible otherwise. Subprime Credit Crunch and Mortgage Crisis: Since 2006, however, a severe financial crisis has developed in the subprime credit market. It is especially rampant in the subprime mortgage market which has experienced an increasing rate of foreclosures. When Interest rates rose, this led to adjustable-rate mortgages becoming more popular. But the housing bubble did not last and property values plummeted, borrowers could not fulfill their financial commitments and lenders could not recover their losses. The result is today’s harsh credit crunch which has led to big players in the subprime mortgage lending industry to shut down or file for bankruptcy. Others have been accused of encouraging deceptive income inflation on loan applications. Between December 2006 and March 2007, more than 30 subprime lenders closed operations. The rest have incurred serious losses and are in grave financial trouble. Lending standards have become more stringent and economists at Goldman Sachs have predicted this to cut annual demand for new homes to go down by one-fifth of last year’s sales. According to the September quarterly report (2007) of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Basil, Switzerland, BIS warned of the `dark shadow over global financial markets caused by the collapse of the US subprime market. ` Analysis: It all started as a small setback in December 2006 but has quickly made its way all over the world, and by the summer of 2007 had had a substantial negative impact on stock and bond markets of the world. Investors have suffered heavy losses in their portfolios and now face the additional threat of a possible global recession in the near future. World economic growth is significantly tied to U. S. growth, and as analysts predict a recession in the near future, U. S. Subprime mortgages can be perceived as one of the main catalysts of the current situation. A global financial turmoil has ensued, which has made its presence felt in all corners of the world, as numerous hedge funds, banks and stock markets in remote countries such as Australia, Thailand and Germany have even felt the brunt. This has resulted in a backlash against some financial strategies employed by investors as countries were taken aback by the impact of the problems of American mortgagors and homeowners on their home markets. Funds and banks all over the world were affected because they had earlier bought either bonds, or risks related to bonds, which had bad home loans as collateral, and this entire bundle was known as a C.  D. O. or a collateralized debt obligation. JPMorgan estimates showed that global C. D. O. s accounted for about $1. 5 trillion of debt and structured-finance C. D. O. ’s, which refers to bonds which have subprime mortgages, slightly safer mortgages and commercial mortgages as collateral, accounted for about debt of $500 billion to $600 billion. When these subprime mortgages were hit badly, it led to a chain effect in an imperfect system, with ratings which did not provide an accurate prediction of risk and flawed assumptions about the impact on diversified portfolios with multiple layers of leverage. A ripple effect ensued all over the world as investors started freeing themselves of any risky investments and converting their securities into cash. As Pierre Cailleteau, Moody’s Investors Service chief economist in London said, The combination of a subprime shock, â€Å"untested financial innovation and leverage has led to a confidence crisis. Impact on Financial Markets: Financial markets have been badly affected, as financial institutions on Wall Street and all around the world attempt to cope with the disastrous state of affairs in the U. S. subprime market. In June 2007, according to a report by CNNMoney, assets worth $800 million were seized by Merrill Lynch from two hedge funds being managed by Bear Stearns, one of the largest financial institutions of the world, that were dealing with securities, mainly bonds backed by subprime loans. These troubled funds have almost worthless now. Merrill Lynch itself reported in October 2007 losses of US$5. 2 billion, revised in the same month to $8. 4 million, as a result of the subprime disaster which led to write-downs on subprime mortgages, collateralized bonds and leveraged loans. Standard Poors called this loss startling while analysts agreed that this was probably the largest loss ever to be faced by a Wall Street firm. Bankruptcies and losses are a dime a dozen in the financial world. In August 2007, the 10th largest retail mortgage lender in the U. S. , American Home Mortgage Investment Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In the same month, Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation, the largest provider of private mortgage insurance in the country announced that due to the billion-dollar loss it suffered on its investment in Credit-Based Asset Servicing and Securitization, it would now abandon the $4. billion deal which would result from its purchase of the Radian Group, a credit enhancement company. The impact was definitely had a global reach. In the same month one of the main banks of Europe and France, BNP Paribas announced that it will no longer value three of its funds (Parvest Dynamic ABS, BNP Paribas ABS Euribor and BNP Paribas ABS Eonia) and that investors were no longer allowed to withdraw their funds. These funds comprise of U. S. asset-backed securities which include subprime mortgages, delinquencies on which have increased while prices have fallen. It took this decision in light of the extremely troublesome plight of the U. S. subprime market as according to the bank, the complete evaporation of liquidity in certain market segments of the U. S. securitization market has made it impossible to value certain assets fairly regardless of their quality or credit rating. The examples do not end here. Global Alpha hedge fund, with a worth of $8 billion and owned by one of the worlds largest global investment banks, Goldman Sachs, fell by 26%. Citigroup suffered colossal credit losses of $700 million in July and August 2007, and while the losses can not be compared to the banks profits of more than $20 billion in 2006, it will be very difficult for the bank to restore investor confidence. In the same month of August 2007, Sentinel Management Group sold off its assets and after three days of doing so, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Stock indices in U. S. , Europe and Asia continued to decline due to turmoil in credit and housing markets. Within the same week as Sentinel, shares of Countrywide Financial, the largest U.  S. mortgage lender, dipped by 13% on the NYSE amidst fears that the tight liquidity conditions might lead to its bankruptcy. This was the largest one-day decline in the countrys history since Black Monday, the stock market crash of 1987. Just a day earlier, the company had reported that foreclosures and mortgage defaults had never been this high since early 2002. Reverberations could be felt as far as Australia: shares of Rams Home Loans Group fell by 41% on the Australian Stock Exchange, as it could not refinance its loans as buyers did not want to buy AUD$ 6. 7 billion of commercial paper, its main source of funding. Australian Hedge funds, which were highly exposed to U. S. subprime credit, such as Basis Capitals Basis Yield Alpha Fund filed for bankruptcy protection. This fund filed for bankruptcy in August 2007 while in May its assets were valued at $1 billion. According to the IMF, The rapid transmission of disturbances in one part of the financial system to other parts, sometimes through opaque and intertwined channels, has surprised both market participants and the official sector. Impact on Housing Market The Housing Market could not help but be affected by the subprime market crash: sales of previously owned homes dipped to their lowest in four years. Prices plummeted and consumer confidence declined, as the U. S. economy in general experienced a slowdown. According to David Lereah, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors, purchases of existing homes, which had been 6. 68 million in February 2007, declined to an annual rate of 6. 12 million, which has been the largest drop since January 1989. as compared to 2006, sales declined by 11. %. Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, as well as other policy makers have isolated housing as the sector which would act as a deterrent for the economy to achieve moderate growth. This decline in sales has led to the general sentiment that the housing recession is here to stay. Subprime mortgage defaults show no signs of decreasing and owners do not wish to reduce prices, which will eventually lead to more unsold properties in the market. The housing bubble has definitely crashed as the supply of homes for sale dipped to 3. 45 million in March 2007, which if the current sales rate is accounted for, represents 7. 3 months supply, the highest since October 2006. Industry reports reflecting the SP/Case-Shiller home- price index reported the 1 percent decline in home values in 20 metropolitan areas, which is the largest price drop since the inception of this index in 2001. According to the Commerce Department, construction of new homes has gone down by 14. 3%. The nations major housing markets all reported decline in prices and existing home sales levels dropped in 40 states. The sharper hits were felt in the markets of Arizona, Florida, California, and Virginia. April 2007 had 47% more foreclosures than a year ago, as reported by RealtyTrac Inc. 50 or so subprime mortgage companies have either been sold off or closed down which has worsened matters and let to a credit crunch. D. R. Horton Inc. , the second-largest homebuilder in the country, suffered a drop in fiscal second-quarter profits by 85% as sales declined and the company was not in a situation to buy land. Its Chief Executive Officer, Donald Tomnitz, said, I dont think the market is stabilizing. Clearly our sales are not where we wanted them to be. The housing markets in California, Florida and Arizona are becoming tougher. While regulatory agencies are now becoming wiser to the risky mechanisms which deceptively forced millions of people into houses which were out of their range of affordability, their attempts to look into these practices will not be fruitful in the short term. There exist $1 trillion in Adjustable Rate Mortgages which will reset in 2007. This is a definite recipe for more disaster as over-leveraged homeowners will not be able to make their payments and will invariably default, leading to more trouble for banks and a chain effect which will adversely affect the already-weakened economy. Banks and mortgage lenders are trying to come up with ways to ensure that people stay in their homes but the subprime market in particular with increasing foreclosures and the housing market in general is in the midst of a spectacular crash.

Samsung Case Analysis Essay Example for Free

Samsung Case Analysis Essay 1. HISTORY Samsung Electronics is a South Korean multinational electronics and information technology company. It is the chief subsidiary of the Samsung Group that was established in 1969, and its headquarters is located in Samsung Town, Seoul. Samsung Electronics is one of the largest electronics producers in Asia, and its product line includes semiconductors, televisions, telecommunication equipment, computers and many other kinds of home appliances. The Samsung Electronics unit was created to get into the prosperous television and consumer electronics industry. Its first product was a small simple black-and-white television which was sold in the early 1970s. The division developed a diverse line of consumer electronics, and while in its beginning products was only sold domestically; exporting goods began a few years later. It took the company savvy management and huge investments in research and development, but Samsung Electronics expanded their products to creating color televisions and a variety of other consumer electronics and appliances. The company manufactured, shipped and sold a broad range of these appliances and electronic products worldwide by the 1980s. The fast progress and success of Samsung Electronics was not a surprise to people who knew the founder of the Samsung Group, Byung Chull Lee, a highly praised Korean entrepreneur. He overcame several obstacles with the small trading company he founded in 1938. Starting with a $2,000 nest egg and 40 employees, he was one of the ten largest trading companies when the Korean War started. The conquest of Soeul by the North Korean army forced him to give up his operations in 1950. However, one year after losing almost all his inventories and relocating to Pusan, Lee started the company over again with the help of the savings of one of his managers. After only one year, the company had experienced unimaginable growth and its assets twenty folded.Lee, being an entrepreneur that was always looking for more opportunities, founded Cheil Sugar, a sugar refinery in 1953, which became a very profitable business that allowed him to expand into a wide variety of markets. These included insurance, broadcasting, securities and even department stores. Lee was heavily criticized for some of his actions, such as building the â€Å"first manufacturing facility in South Korea after the Korean War† but many of his companies prospered under his vision of making Samsung the leader in every industry he entered. Despite facing major setbacks and fighting political battles in the 1960s, Samsung generated revenues over US $100 million annually. Lee not only broke into â€Å"the mass communication industry by launching a radio and television station†, but also founded Samsung Electronics. Entering the manufacturing televisions and electronics components industry, one that was under the control of US and European companies, seemed to be a risky venture, but Lee succeeded with the help of the national government. The head of the state, Park Chung-Hee encouraged the growth of dominating domestic industries in contradiction to his predecessor, who ruled with favoritism and corruption in order to keep his power. Park protected major industries and the larger companies in South Korea from foreign competition and gave out financial assistance as a part of his economic growth plan. The Samsung Group was one of the main beneficiaries, profiting from the ban on several countries to import consumer electronics, thereby eliminating the big competitors in the home market. As the company was trying to establish itself in the television industry, it added consumer products and appliances to its product lines. In addition to the ban on imports from certain countries, the government also prohibited foreign companies to invest into Samsung, while Samsung was still allowed to invest in overseas businesses. As a consequence, Samsung Electronics rapidly controlled parts of the home market while it also started exported successfully. As Lee had already predicted in the first decade of its existence, Samsungs Electronics division was the main industry for the company’s future. To ensure that Samsung became a major player, he entered the semiconductor business in 1978. Government regulations again played in the entrepreneur’s favor, as foreign telecommunication equipment manufacturers were required to provide semiconductor technology in return for access to the Korean market. In 1983, after receiving proprietary technology from Micron (USA) and Sharp (Japan), Samsung became the first Korean manufacturer of DRAM (dynamic random access memory) chips. Producing relatively low-tech DRAM chips at a lower cost, Samsung Electronics became a large supplier to computer and electronics manufacturers throughout the entire world within the next couple years. Samsung Electronics increased its efforts on other electronics operations in the meantime as well. Assembly plants were built in Portugal (1982), New York (1984) and England (1987). Together these plants produced 1,700,000 televisions, 700,000 microwave ovens and 300,000 VCRs. Thus, Samsung Groups annual revenues rose to $24 billion in 1987 (from $1.3 billion ten years earlier), which equated about a fifth of South Koreas entire GDP. Most of that growth resulted of Samsungs Electronics success. Despite the death of its founder Byung-Chull Lee, sales for the Samsung Group almost triple folded between 1987 and 1992. His successor, his son Kun-Hee Lee, did not only recognize the importance of the electronics division but moved it to the core of the Group. He combined several divisions and removed some operations while introducing different ideas that were put in place to enhance product quality and employee motivation. Lee focused on pushing Samsung to become a technological leader in the semiconductor, electronics and communication industry and doubled research and development investments. He was also credited for intensifying partnering efforts with foreign businesses to make Samsung the pioneer in the semiconductor technology. During the 1990s, Samsung underwent a groundbreaking change. After Samsung begins to reinvent through design (1993), sets up its in-house design school (â€Å"The Innovative Design Lab of Samsung†) and hires design consultancy IDEO to help develop computer monitors (1994), its biggest change had yet to follow. With the appointment of Yun Jong Yong as the President and CEO, Samsung changed its strategy drastically. Despite making profits as an established low cost supplier of many components to larger and well-known companies as well as providing customers with lower-priced appliances that were more affordable than the more expensive products by brands such as Sony, Yun was worried about the company’s future. He could not envision the company continued success on a low cost strategy with products whose technology had been developed by others. Yun believed that it was not secure to expect to be continuously able to scout for low-cost production locations successfully while retaining high volumes of production. This concern mainly a rose out of the emergence of many low-cost producing countries such as China. The CEOs scare became reality as within the first year of his tenure serious financial trouble threatened the company’s survival. Huge debt and the economic crisis in Asian resulted in the loss of millions of dollars and Yun stated that â€Å"if we continued, we would have gone belly-up within three or four years.† (Dess, 2010, p. C123). A turn-around was the much needed consequence. After trying to continuously compete in a price-cutting environment and increasing volume throughout the economic recession, Samsung Electronics had to lay off more than one-third of its workforce, which accumulated to about 30,000 employees. To get rid of its large inventory, many factories were closed down for more than 60 days. The company also sold off $2 billion worth of business that it perceived to be with minimal significance for its future. Yun decided to move Samsung’s future away from a company based on a lower-cost strategy to one emphasizing product development that woul d ultimately impress their consumers with their attractive design and advanced technology. Developing Samsung into a premium brand was the vision of the leader, and he recruited new managers. Yun removed the seniority-based system and put a merit-based system for advancement in place. These efforts resulted in the construction of newly designed products such as the largest flat-panel televisions, cell phones with new features (Cameras, PDAs, etc.) and thinner notebooks and computers than ever before. Hiring Eric Kim, a marketing whiz, who changed the advertisement agencies from 55 to one to create the same brand image anywhere in the world, worked hard to place a more upscale image of Samsung products into consumers’ minds. To undermine this perception, Samsung pulled out its products of big discounters such as Wal-Mart or Kmart and placed these into more expensive retailers (e.g. Best Buy, Circuit City). Yun was aware of the fact that the company would only be able to maintain its higher profit margins if the firm was able to bring its products faster to the market than its competitors. To ensure a sustaining model of this competitive advantage, the CEO removed several layers of bureaucracy to win approval for new products, budgets and marketing plans. Second steps to maintain an advantage are the huge investments in key technologies. The company has invested more than any of its rivals in research and development (RD), as it almost puts 9% of its revenues aside just for RD. To decrease the time of innovative product development, the large number of designers and engineers that are working in 17 locations throughout the entire world are not only facing the pressure from their own management but also competes with outsiders. Samsung attributes these strategies to its success in the effort of decreasing the time from a â€Å"new product concept to rollout† (Dess, 2010, p. C124). from over a year to â€Å"as little as five months† (Dess, 2010, p. C124). The determined work of the firms top manager, designers and engineers in the firms VIP center is at the core of the products rapid innovation and production. The reduced complexity for project teams in the design cycle’s early stages allows the company to move its products quicker to manufacturing while reducing problems and costs. Jung, a senior manager of the center states, explains that: â€Å"Seventy to eighty percent of quality, cost and delivery time is determined in the initial stages of a product.† (Dess, 2010, p. C124). A senior VP of Best Buy, George Danko, affirmed that â€Å"they will get a product to market a lot fast than their counterparts.† (Dess, 2010,p. C125). Among Samsungs first-to-market products are the first voice activated phones, handsets with MP3 Players and digital cameras that send photos over global systems for mobile communications networks. In addition to that, the firm was first to market projection TVs using new chips from Texas Instruments that employ digital-light processing. (Dess, 2010, p. C125).Yun envisioned that the company’s digital technology advances can result in a po ssibility of dominating the â€Å"digital home†, a home where he envisions that all appliances (from computers to refrigerators) are linked to each other and are capable of adapting to the personal needs of every individual consumer. One of the first products that have been brought to the market includes NEXiO, a combination of a cell phone and a handheld computer, or the Zipel, a refrigerator that has a 15-inch touch screen in its door that allows consumers to browse the web. To emphasize the importance of design, Yun implemented quarterly design meetings with top executives and opened or expanded design centers in San Francisco, London, Tokyo, Los Angeles and Shanghai. Additionally, the post of chief design officer was created who ensures that designers can get their ideas to top managers. (Dess, 2010, p. C125). Despite all the improvements that Samsung Electronics made since the mid-1990s, Lee Yoon Woo replaced Yun as the CEO in May 2008. After a tax evasion scandal that involved the parent firm Samsung Group, a major-shakeup along the top executives occurred that not only reassigned over half of its executives to new positions but also introduced many younger executives to various leadership teams. The purpose of the restructuring was to increase efforts and deal better with the prevailing bad economic conditions. Samsung went into the economic recession with a market value of over $100 billion, thus placing them in an elite market position shared only with three other Asian firms. Samsung moved past big players on the market such as Nokia, Sony and Motorola, thanks to their revolutionary products. The efforts to improve design by overhauling it design every two years has been paying off and Samsung won well over 200 awards from internationally prestigious design institutions since 2006. Even though Samsung prides itself of having lower cost structure compared to most of its rivals, the firm experienced its first quarterly losses in the last three months of 2008, when the company lost $14.4 million. This is Samsungs first net loss since it began reporting quarterly results in 2000. The overproduction of memory chips and liquid crystal displays (LCDs) worldwide was mentioned as the main reason resulting in a quarterly loss. Despite recording a quarterly loss, the company still made a yearly profit in 2008 and has increased its revenues steadily in the past decade. Samsung underwent two major restructures in the last three years, one in 2009 when the company began to slim down operations into two divisions from the five separate ones it had the year before. It also appointed Choi Gee Sung the new CEO shortly after the company made him the head of the newly formed digital media and communications unit. Chois appointment was a breakthrough for Samsung Electronic as it previously only picked top managers that had their backgrounds in engineering. In December 2010, Samsung underwent the second restructuring as it switched its management style from the single CEO system of the previous year to a two person management team. Choi Gee Sung remained the CEO of the company but was named Vice President and Lee Jae Yong is now the President and COO (Chief Operating Operator). The firm also added a digital imaging business division so that Samsung Electronic currently consists of eight divisions. (FundingUniverse, 1999) 2. VISION As Samsung stated in its new motto, the company’s vision for the decade is to Inspire the World, Create the Future. his new vision reflects Samsung commitment to inspiring its communities by supplying Samsungs three key strengths: â€Å"New Technology,† â€Å"Innovative Products,† and â€Å"Creative Solutions.† Samsung has also established three strategic approaches in its management: â€Å"Creativity,† â€Å"Partnership,† and â€Å"Talent.† As part of this vision, Samsung has mapped out a specific plan of reaching $400 billion in revenue and becoming one of the world’s top five brands by 2020. Samsung states that it looks forward to increase its diversity by exploring new territories, including health, medicine, and biotechnology. (Samsung, 2010) 3. BUSINESS DIVISIONS 1. Visual Display Business Samsung Electronics has achieved the world’s No. 1 market share in TVs for five years in a row since 2006. After establishing the new market for LED TVs in 2009, the firm has extended its competitive lead with sales of 45.11 million TVs. That included 39.26 million flat panel TVs in 2010, as the Full HD 3D LED TV became readily available. Samsung also leads in the next generation market with total sales of 3D TVs (2 million in 2010). Samsung Electronics announced a monthly record this past October 2011 as it sold more than 1 million units in the United States. A company official was stated: â€Å"Selling over 1 million units in the North American market in just one month is a first for the company, but it is also unprecedented in the industrys history.† According to the official, the company was experiencing increased demand in the â€Å"premium TVs , e.g. the 3D and especially smart TVs, which were just released in 2011 and featured Full HD picture quality and Smart Hub options. Samsung announced that the global share of its 3D TVs came to over fifty percent as of last months ending. Meanwhile plasma display panel (PDP) TVs also reached 40%. [pic] (Samsung,2010) 3.2. IT Solution Business After the implementing of Samsung’s global marketing strategy for mobile PCs, Samsung Electronics realized rapid growth and reached sales of 10 million units in 2010 worldwide. The firm launched a printer for consumers that supports mobile printing. Samsung Electronics provides business customers with a complete product line, including the first dual core CPU-equipped printer on the market, a multifunction printer and an A3 copier. The easy-to-use features and the products powerful performance secured second global market share in the A4 laser printer category in 2010. Samsung Electronics led the world market in the categories of mono laser multifunction printers and color laser multifunction printers for the second consecutive year. In the future, the firm expects to achieve strong growth by launching an ultra-light high-performance laptop for the premium market and by bolstering its business-to-business (B2B) product line. Samsung Electronics anticipates continuing growth in the printer business in the upcoming years. [pic] (Samsung, 2010) 3.3. Digital Appliance Business Samsung Electronics is strengthening its brand image by introducing premium home appliances that offer essential services for daily life. In 2010, innovative products such as the twin cooling side by-side refrigerator; the front loader washer with vibration-reduction technology, the energy-efficient air conditioner; and air purifiers with humidification that maintain clean air quality in rooms resulted in great response worldwide. Samsung brought innovate, smart appliances to the market that deliver gracious and convenient lifestyle options such as Samsung’s autobot vacuum cleaner that cleans rooms automatically. Other products include kitchen ranges and microwaves that offer cooking features suitable for anybody. Samsung Electronics will extend its market leadership by releasing additional premium appliances. These will be supported by strong marketing with the purpose of becoming the world’s most trusted digital appliance brand. [pic] (Samsung, 2010) 3.4. Mobile Communication Business In 2010, Samsung Electronics reinforced its market leadership by achieving sales of 280 million mobile phones worldwide. This number is up 23% compared to 2009. The flagship GALAXY S model posted sales of 10 million units, while the GALAXY Tab also led the Android tablet PC market, earning great customer reviews. The firms leadership in full touch and messaging mobile phones continued in both advanced and emerging markets. Samsung Electronics plans to aggressively challenge a vey competitively growing market. It launched the GALAXY S II, the company’s flagship smartphone, only one day after Apple announced the new iPhone 4S and the Samsung phone received great feedback. The firm plans to keep expanding and improving its unique mobile solutions as it strengthens its competitive lead in both services and content. [pic] (Samsung, 2010) 5. Telecommunication System Business Samsung Electronics develops forward-looking products for two major 4G platforms, the Long Term Evolution (LTE) and the Mobile WiMAX (WiBRO). In 2010, the firm established the first LTE commercial services network in the US and currently expands in North America, Asia and Europe. Mobile WiMAX—introduced by Samsung Electronics and adopted as a global standard in 2007—has been experiencing dramatic growth in major mobile communications markets, including the US, Japan and Saudi Arabia. Based on its established technology leadership, the firm is expecting to lead the worldwide mobile broadband market in the upcoming years. [pic] (Samsung, 2010) 6. Digital Imaging Business Samsung Electronics is working hard on its brand image and recognition to become a premium brand by introducing a rising number of premium digital cameras and digital camcorders. The product line of interchangeable lens digital cameras was extended in the last year and the newly released mirror less digital camera (NX11) secured the firms competitive lead over professional optical brands. Samsung plans to continue to debut world-first and world-best cameras such the ST700 Dual View camera (which offers excellent image quality plus fun and convenient self-portrait option), the EX1 (the world’s first ultra-wide F1.8 zoom lens), the SH100 (which features Wi-Fi (DLNA) functionality) and many others. [pic] (Samsung, 2010) 7. Semiconductor Business Samsung is the worlds second largest semiconductor manufacturer and is the industry sales and technology leader in the areas of DRAM, SRAM, NAND Flash and TFT-LCDs. A key partner and premier supplier to the global IT industry, Samsung Electronics offers the widest range of advanced semiconductor devices and solutions for PC, server and mobile applications. The firm intends to play a major role in the growth of the green IT industry as they implement their Green Memory strategy, which emphasizes high-performance memory products with lower power consumption. Samsung Electronics differentiated product competitiveness has awarded the company the No.1 position in the worldwide memory market for 18 years in a row. The company consistently leads the industry, and began the world’s first mass production of 30nm-class 2Gb DDR3 DRAM, 30nm-class 4Gb LPDDR2 DRAM, 20nm-class NAND flash memory, 512GB SSD and more. In the storage systems division, the firm introduced high-capacity hard disk drives (HDDs) to the market, including a 2.5 inch 334GB HDD and a 3.5 inch 667GB HDD. [pic](Samsung, 2010) 8. LCD Business Being the industry leader, Samsung Electronics has achieved the No. 1 market share for LCD panels for nine consecutive years. The industry-first active 3D technology supports True 240Hz for 3D TV, which has reinforced Samsung’s leadership.Samsung released trendsetting displays as such as an LCD panel for the tablet PC (which offers vivid colors at a wide viewing angle), a low-power IT panel built with advanced LED backlight technology and more innovations were key to the firms leadership. In 2011, Samsung has been improving its product leadership as they developed differentiated offerings, including ultra-large panel technology, a full range of LED LCD panels, high-value IT products and DID panels. For the future, Samsung stays committed to research and development to produce tomorrows best products. That includes focusing on an oxide semiconductor panel, plastic LCD, transparent LCD and developing high efficiency solar modules. The firm’s goal is to develop the industr y’s most efficient and highest quality products. [pic] (Samsung, 2010) 4. FINANCIAL INFORMATION Samsung Electronics has been increasing its sales from 2008 till 2010 by more than 10% annually. These are extraordinary numbers, given the economic circumstances in todays (western) world. Despite big investments in research and development, the firm managed to almost double its net income from 2008 to 2009 and almost triple it from 2008 to 2010. [pic] (Samsung, 2010) Samsung Electronics experienced an increase in revenue in the first 6 month of the fiscal year of 2011 compared to the first two quarters in the previous year. However, this increase in revenue did not result in an increased operational profit in that period. As shown in appendix 1, the main reason for the decline in operational profits are two factors: increased cost of sales and increased research and development expenses. Stock Information Samsung Electronics stock trades on the stock markets in Seoul, London, and Luxemburg. Samsung Electronics stock is listed on the Korean Stock Exchange as 005930. As the chart below indicates, Samsung Electronics stock price has been considerably grown in the last two decades. However, it experienced many setbacks, the latest ones in the latter of half of 2008 and beginning of 2009 as well as during the third quarter of 2011’s fiscal year. The worldwide economic recession and first quarter losses in last decades in the fourth quarter of the year 2008 were responsible for the declining demand of stocks, while this year’s first half decline is probably most attributed to the slowing world economy. However, the stock price rose to the level of the years beginning in the late summer this year. 1 KRW (South Korean Won) = 0.00089 US Dollar (as of 11/9/11) [pic] (Market Watch, 2011) Financial RatiosRatio data as of 06/30/2011 [pic] (Bloomberg Businessweek, 2011) In the following, I will discuss three major financial ratios. 1. Return on Assets: Return on Assets is an indicator of how profitable a company is relative to its total assets. The ratio gives an understanding of how efficient management is at using its assets to generate earning. Samsung Electronics Return on Assets is 6.87%, a number that is a little below industry average and shows that the company can definitely improve its efficiency. 2. Cash Ratio: The cash ratio is the most conservative ratio for measuring liquidity and is often used during periods of economic turmoil because cash is the most important asset many companies possess in difficult times. If a company has a ready supply of cash, it can survive sudden drops in sales that might put another less liquid company out of business. Samsung Electronics Cash Ratio (1.6x) is generally speaking a decent number and as indicated above an above average number compared to the industry. 3. Total Debt/Equity The total debt/equity ratio is calculated by dividing the firm’s total liabilities by stockholders equity and indicated what proportion of equity and debt the company is using to finance its assets. High debt/equity ratios generally mean therefore that a company has been aggressive in financing its growth with debt, which can result in unstable earnings as a result of the additional interest expenses. Samsung Electronics 11.6x Total debt/equity ratio is a high number that gives some room for concern, as high interest rates could have a negative impact on the companies financials. 5. SWOT Analysis The SWOT analysis will examine the internal and external factors influencing Samsung Electronics. It will identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for the company. Samsung electronics has many strengths that can be pointed out. First, they are a very innovative company. As part of their new strategy they have begun developing its own products rather than copying those of other firms. In fact, they invest 9% of their revenues into research and development. This has helped them to gain a competitive edge. Also they switched to a merit-based system for advancement rather than a seniority based system. We believe this is effective because it will motivate employees to work harder knowing that if they perform, they can advance with the company. Interior competition is also healthy to a certain extent. Samsung encourages its two divisions to compete with each other to boost sales and innovation. Also Samsung is very efficient and effective in their product development process as well as getting the product to market. They lead the industry in this and can get a new product developed and released in as little as five months. Another key strength is their brand name. Samsung is recognizable all over the world as a top quality company. Next it is important to exploit Samsung’s weaknesses as a company in order to identify their key issues. The first is interior competition. Note that this was also listed in strengths, but if pushed to far can be a detriment to the company. Too much competition between divisions could cause a loss of focus on the company’s overall vision and more focus on beating each other. This could also cause the divisions to think more short-term rather than focus on sustainability. Also, the company is reluctant to branch out into music, movies and the game industry. Branching out could increase their revenues tremendously and sky rocket the company’s business. Their former low cost structure should be pointed out as well because they focused less on quality and more on cost, which essentially kept them from becoming a premium brand that appeals to a more luxury consumer demand. Overall Samsung has many opportunities to take advantage of. The first is their innovation; with this they hope to expand into creating the full â€Å"digital home† experience. This means that they wish to change the way our homes our designed and essentially used with the use of their technology. This could be a huge cash cow for the company and could create a constant stream of revenues. In addition, they could begin to aggressively pursue and acquire other technology companies in markets that they are not currently in. They have already started this with the failed attempt to acquire SanDisk, a company that makes storage cards and other such products. Furthermore, they should continue to build new factories around the area in low cost areas. Keeping production costs low is a key factor in increasing and maintaining the highest possible profit margin. Due to the innovation and research of Samsung they could penetrate many new markets as well as expand market share. Samsung Electronics also faces many external threats. The current economic state of key areas such as the United States has caused a large decline in demand. This means that they have a large amount of inventory sitting in warehouses. This could put a damper on a company’s financial situation due to holding costs and a decrease in revenues. Also if there is an overcapacity in global production this could drive down prices. When prices are driven down; profit margin decreases and your company could feel the financial impact. Lastly, there is a large amount of competition in the industry. It is important to stay innovative and one step ahead of your competitors to m aintain market share. 6. Porter’s Five Forces The threat of new entrants is relatively low in this industry. The majority of the companies in this industry are established and operating at a very high output. It is hard to enter the market due to the extremely high amounts of costs put forward to research and development, as well as bringing your product to the consumer. Next, there are very many substitutes to the products that Samsung offers. There are many companies competing in the electronics field and they are constantly looking to gain market share. Also companies in the technology industry are constantly copying each other’s innovations in hopes of improving them. The bargaining power of the buyers is high in this industry. The consumer has a large array of options and substitute products. This enables them to have a large impact on the price of the product. This is why it is important to keep your prices competitive. The bargaining power of suppliers for Samsung Electronics is low. This is due to the large market share that the company has. The company develops and manufactures their products in house, which enables them to have more control over their complete supply chain. Ultimately this helps them to be more efficient and keep costs down. Within the electronic industry, there is a very large threat of competition. They face strict competitors such as Sony, Panasonic, Hitachi, Philips, and Sharp to name a couple. This is why it is important to stay innovative and keep emphasis on quality, as well as satisfying your consumers’ needs. 7. Problems There are many problems that Samsung faces as a company. We do not believe they are being aggressive enough in entering new markets. The cost of losing opportunity while it is there could be detrimental to the company. Also, because the technology business is always rapidly changing, they could lose sight on the overall long-term growth of the company. Samsung also has very high operating costs because of the constant amount of research and development they use. The company should actively seek ways to become more efficient to keep costs low. High costs and lack of demand have caused their profit margins to decrease. A lack of an internal distribution system could also drive costs up. A problem in the general environment that diminished Samsung’s return is the global economic slowing growth (or in parts also recessions) that Samsung has to keep considering carefully in its product investments and overall company strategy. Our own research conducted in the local Best Buy store also pointed out that even though Samsung’s smart phone series Galaxy is growing in market share, it consistently has lacks and downtimes, which frustrates many of the customers. 8. Solutions/Suggestions There are many possible solutions to some of the internal and external issues that Samsung is experiencing. First, we believe that Samsung should branch out into music, movies and the game industry. This could help the company to expand in a positive manor and could open up many new markets to them as well. Next it is important to keep planning for long-term sustainable growth. Samsung should continuously invest in new technology to keep its market share. Also, they should take full advantage of opportunities to acquire other business entities in new markets. They should take a proactive approach to expansion to help them gain and maintain a competitive edge. The company should also keep looking for new ways to keep their operating and manufacturing costs low. They could even look into bringing their distributors in house by buying them out, or even implement their own distribution division. This could be very effective in keeping distribution costs low. Samsung also has to solve the ongoing problems with its leading smart phone on the market, the Galaxy. Bibliography Dess, G., Lumpkin, G, Eisner, A. Strategic Management Text and Cases.(2010). New York, New York, McGraw-Hill Irwin FundingUniverse. (1999). FundingUniverse. Retrieved 11 10, 2011, from Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Samsung-Electronics-Co-Ltd-company-History.html Samsung. (2010). Samsung. Retrieved 11 10, 2011, from Samsung Electronics: http://www.samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung/ir/financialinformation/annualreport/downloads/2010/SECAR2010_Eng_Final.pdf Market Watch. (2011, 11 9). MarketWatch. Retrieved 11 10, 2011, from Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. GDR Pfd. 144A: http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/ssngy Bloomberg Businessweek. (2011, 11 10). Businessweek. Retrieved 11 10, 2011, from SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO LTD : http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/financials/ratios.asp?ticker=005930:KS

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Knowledge And Practice Toward Breast Self Examination Nursing Essay

Knowledge And Practice Toward Breast Self Examination Nursing Essay Abstract A cross-sectional study was conducted to examine the knowledge and practice toward breast self-examination (BSE), among a sample of female nursing student in University Sultan Zainal Abidin Terengganu. Using a purposed questionnaire, a total of 40 nursing student years 2 from Nursing Department completed the questionnaire. The mean age of the respondents was 20 years (SD = 3.7). All of respondent (100%) were single. The percentages of nursing student toward breast cancer and breast self examination were high (95%) seventy seven percent (77.5%) of respondent were practice the breast self examination and only twenty two were not perform breast self examination. most of respondent are not regularly perform breast self examination, only 7.5% do it regularly. the obstacle to perform BSE is not sure how to perform BSE . The study findings suggest that the knowledge is but the practise is must be done regularly because the nurse should teach their client the right way to perform BSE. If the nurse cannot do it in right step how can they will teach their client Chapter 1 Background of study 1. Prevalence and incidence Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in most parts of the world. There is a marked geographical variation in incidence rate.   In 2000, there were 1,050,346 cases reported with 372,969 deaths from breast cancer world-wide. The incidence ranged from an average of 95 per 100,000 in more developed countries to 20 per 100,000 in less developed countries. The incidence (number of new cancers) is steadily increasing.   The statistics are more frightening in countries like the USA where about 184,000 new cases of breast cancer are detected annually. The National Cancer Institute estimates that by age 50, one out of every 50 women will develop breast cancer. By age 80, it will rise to one in 10. If this risk is calculated over their lifetime, one in 8 women will suffer from breast cancer. One in 28 will die of the disease.   One in 3000 women develop breast cancer during pregnancy and pregnant women tend to develop them usually in their 30s. (Only 2% of breast cancers are diagnosed in pregnant women.)   Presented in another way:   Every 3 minutes, one woman is diagnosed with breast cancer (USA) Every 11 minutes, one woman dies from breast cancer (USA) Every year, 30,000 women and 200 men are diagnosed with breast cancer (UK) In countries where rates have been low, especially in Asia, the rate of increase has been the greatest with steep increases in the incidence as well as death rate (mortality).   Adapted from American Cancer Society (2003). Breast Cancer in Malaysia Breast cancer was the commonest overall cancer as well as the commonest cancer in women amongst all races from the age of 20 years in Malaysia for 2003 to 2005. Breast cancer is most common in the Chinese, followed by the Indians and then, Malays and breast cancer formed 31.1% of newly diagnosed cancer cases in women in 2003-2005. Source from the National Cancer Registry The Age Standardized Rate (ASR) of female breast cancer is 47.4 per 100,000 population (National Cancer Registry Report 2003-2005). Amongst the Chinese, it is higher at 59.9 per 100,000 population, for the Indians, the ASR is 54.2 per 100,000 and it is lowest in the Malays at 34.9 per 100,000 population. A woman in Malaysia has a 1 in 20 chance of getting breast cancer in her lifetime The cumulative life time risk of developing breast cancer for Chinese women, Indian women and Malay women were 1 in 16, 1 in 17 and 1 in 28 respectively. The peak incidence appeared to be 50-59 years old. In comparison, the next (2nd) commonest cancer in Malaysian women in 2002 2003 was cancer of the cervix, which only formed 12% and 12.9% respectively of total female cancers. The statistics for Malaysia was sourced from the National Cancer Registry Reports 2002 and 2003. Over time, the pattern of cancers, including breast cancer will be better established. It is only with continued reliable data that important decisions on planning and policy management can be made for Malaysia. Estimates by the International Agency for Research in Cancers reported that in 2000, there were 3825 cases reported and 1707 deaths from breast cancer in Malaysia. Breast cancer is the commonest female malignancy in Malaysia and all over the world. Its incidence in Malaysia in 2000 was 41.9 cases per 100,000. In 2002, 4337 cases of breast cancer were reported to the National Cancer Registry with an incidence rate of 52.8 per 100,000 and accounting for 30.4% of all diagnosed malignancies in Malaysian women. One in 9 Malaysian women has a chance of developing breast cancer. Breast cancer incidence in Malaysia is intermediate between rates of industrialized countries like the US 91/100,000 and developing countries like India 19/100,000. This situation is not permanent since the rate in developing countries is rising as women adopt lifestyles of the developed countries. Disease risk varies by ethnicity. Lifetime risk is 1 in 24 for Malays, 1 in 14 for the Chinese, and 1 in 15 for Indians. The age at diagnosis shows an opposite pattern being highest in the Indians and lowest in the Malays. The differences among ethnic groups reflect different age st ructures and lifestyle choices (parity, breast feeding practice, diet). Genetic risk factors have not been studies thoroughly in Malaysia. The risk of the disease increases with age being maximal at age 50-59. Women in Malaysia present with larger tumors and at later stages than women in the US. Certain health beliefs, lack of correct information, and inadequate health care facilities are a barrier to routine early detection and treatment of the disease Breast Cancer is easier to treat the earlier it is found. For that reason, some experts recommend that women over age 20 perform a monthly breast self examination to look for new lumps and other changes. Breast self-examination is a simple, very low cost, non-invasive adjuvant screening method for the detection of early breast cancer in women. Its purpose is important in case of a prompt reporting of breast symptoms which are important early detection messages for women of all ages, and to make women familiar with both the appearance and the feel of their breasts as early as possible. There is evidence that women who correctly practice Breast self- examination monthly are more likely to detect a lump in the early stage of its development, and early diagnosis has been reported to influence early treatment and to yield a better survival rate It was found that mortality had fallen by 31%after 6-years for women aged 40-70 at the beginning of the trial. Unfortunately despite the benefits of regular Breast self-examination, few women actually examine themselves; in fact, majority does not even know how to do Breast self examination. Although opinions conflict about the value of Breast Self Examination (BSE) 1.2 Problem statement Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women today and is the most common cancer among women. .Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Malaysian women. There is a marked geographical difference in the worldwide incidence of breast cancer, with a higher incidence in developed countries compared to developing countries. According to Malaysia cancer statistic (data and figure 2006) found that the incidence of breast cancer case according to age between 0-9 years is 1 case, for to age 10-19 years 6 cases and 20-29 years is 78 cases. It is show increase in cases and it happening to all groups. Because of that, it is very important for someone to detect early sign and symptom of breast cancer. All groups should know how to perform Breast self examination Breast self-examination (BSE) is a screening method used in an attempt to detect early breast cancer. The method involves the woman herself looking at and feeling each breast for possible lumps, distortions or swelling. Breast self-examination (BSE) is a low-cost, low risk procedure that can be repeated at frequent intervals, and has been advocated as a self-performed screening procedure. 1.3 Researcher experience Trough author experience as a staff nurse in hospital and community health author found that many younger women at age 15-24 came to clinic to check the lumps because they dont know how to perform the right technique of breast self examination . Usually at this age they feel shy to expose their breast to be palpable. End of the result the condition becoming worse. And for author experience as a clinical instructor at Nursing department, a few of the student always came with complain of they have a lump at their breast but not sure it is a lump or anything else It is for this reason that the author chose to study students knowledge and practice of breast cancer examination. Having the knowledge of breast cancer could result in seeking medical attention early before complications develop. 1.4 Risk factors and symptoms of Breast cancer 1.4.1 Risk factors and sign symptoms: A risk factor is anything that increases your chance of getting a disease, For example Smoking is a risk factor for cancers of the lung, mouth, larynx, bladder, kidney, and ischemic heart diseases. But having risk factor does not mean than the disease is certain. Risk factors also can be divided into risk determinants and risk modulators. Determinants cannot be changed or influenced on the other hand risk modulators can be changed or influenced. A. Determinant risk factors: Gender: Being a woman is risk factors for breast cancer. Incidence of breast cancer in male is very low. Men account for approximately 1% of all breast cancer cases. Growing age: Incidence of breast cancer is low before 40. In absolute term advancing age is the greatest risk for developing breast cancer. About 17% of the invasive breast cancer diagnoses are women in their 40s.while, 78% of the women diagnoses the same invasive breast cancer when they are in 50s or older Genetic predisposition: Recent studies have shown that about 5% to 10% of breast cancer cases are hereditary as a result of gene changes (called mutations). The most common mutations are those of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes Family history of breast cancer: Research has shown that women with a family history of breast cancer have a higher risk for developing the disease. Having 1 first-degree relative (mother, sister, or daughter) with breast cancer approximately doubles a womans risk. Having 2, a first-degree relative increases her risk 5-fold. Personal history of breast cancer: A woman with cancer in one breast has a 3- to 4-fold increased risk of developing a new cancer in the other breast or in another part of the same breast. Early age at menarche and late menopause: Early menarche and late menopause both increase the risk of developing breast cancer. B. Risk modulators (Lifestyle-Related Breast Cancer Risk factors) First birth at late age and low parity: Delaying childbirth or remaining childless increase the risk of developing breast cancer. The higher parities and earlier age at first pregnancy of women in many developing countries might account for lower incidence of breast cancer in relation to developed countries. Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT): It has become clear that long-term use (several years or more) of postmenopausal hormone therapy (PHT), particularly estrogen and progesterone combined, increases risk of breast cancer. Alcohol consumption: Recent studies have shown alcohol consumption increase the risk of breast cancer. In a summary analysis of epidemiologic studies, breast cancer risk increased between 40 and 70 percent with about two drinks daily. Obesity and high-fat diets: The relation between the obesity, high fat intake and breast cancer is complex. Most of the studies found obesity and high fat intake is the risk factors for developing breast cancer. But the relation seems to be not strong or consistent. 1.4.2 Warning symptoms of Breast cancer: Early breast cancer is usually symptom less. But there are some symptoms develop as the cancer advances. Breast lump or breast mass is the main symptoms of the breast cancer.Lump are usually painless, firm to hard and usually with irregular borders. Every lump is not cancerous, sometimes some lumps or swelling in the breast tissue may be due to hormonal changes or benign (not harmful) in nature. Beside these some others symptoms are important, like: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Lump or mass in the armpit à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ A change in the size or shape of the breast à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Abnormal nipple discharge Usually bloody or clear-to-yellow or green fluid May look like pus (purulent) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Change in the color or feel of the skin of the breast, nipple, or areola Dimpled, puckered, or scaly Retraction, orange peel appearance Redness Accentuated veins on breast surface Change in appearance or sensation of the nipple Pulled in (retraction), enlargement, or itching à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Breast pain, enlargement, or discomfort on one side only à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Any breast lump, pain, tenderness, or other change in a man à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Symptoms of advanced disease are bone pain, weight loss, swelling of one arm, and skin ulceration (Source: Medline plus Medical Encyclopedia: Breast Cancer.) 1.5 Research Objective 1.5.1 General Objective: To determine the level of the knowledge and practice toward breast self examination among year 2 female nursing student of University Sultan Zainal Abidin Terengganu 1.5.2 Specific objectives: 1. To determine the level of knowledge regarding breast cancer examination 2. To determine the practice of student on breast self examination. 1.5.3 Expected Benefit The result of this study will identify level of knowledge and practice towards Breast Self Examination among nursing student and how frequent they practice the right steps. This study also will deliver the knowledge about right BSE to the student for them to apply on themselves and to expose the knowledge to the community. 1.5.4 Significance of project Breast cancer is easier to threat the earlier it is found. There is evidence that women who correctly practice Breast Self Examination (BSE) monthly can detect a lump in the early stage of its development, and early stage of its development, and early diagnosis has been reported to influence early treatment and to yield a better survival rate. Unfortunately , despite the benefit of regular BSE ,a few women actually examine themselves , in fact , majority does not even know how to do BSE and opinion conflict about the value of BSEmen who correctly practice Breast Self Examination (BSE) montly can detect a The aim of this study was to investigate the level of knowledge and practice towards Breast Self Examination among nursing student and how frequent they practice the right steps. This study also will deliver the knowledge about right BSE to the student for them to apply on themselves and to expose the knowledge to the community. 1.5.5 Scope of the project Reference population : Student Nursing attending Medical and Health Science Faculty in UnisZA, Kuala Terengganu Study subject : Year 2 Nursing student in nursing Department at Medicine and Health Science in UnisZA during study period (1st January to 31 March ) 1.5.6 Definition of term Student anyone who is learning or someone who attends an educational institution (Wikipedia and free encyclopedia ) Nurse is a healthcare professional, who along with other health care professionals, is responsible for the treatment, safety, and recovery of acutely or chronically ill or injured people, health maintenance of the healthy, and treatment of life-threatening emergencies in a wide range of health care settings (Wikipedia and free encyclopedia ) Knowledge expertise, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject Practice a method of learning by repetition Breast Self Examination is a method of finding abnormalities of the breast, for early detection of breast cancer. The method involves the woman herself looking at and feeling each breast for possible lumps, distortions or swelling. Chapter 2 Literature Review According to Israa M. Alkhasawneh et al (2008) It is therefore important for nurses as educators to have appropriate information and positive attitude toward early detection of breast cancer. The provision of cancer screening behaviour can be complicated by the fear and uncertainty associated with cancer. Nurses knowledge and awareness of breast cancer screening behaviour would impact patients behaviour by increasing their awareness. Forgetfulness is the most important reason for not performing BSE. Furthermore, the fear of finding a mass, not having self-confidence, not being knowledgeable about how to perform BSE, laziness, and the absence of breast cancer in the family were the other reasons students refrain from the procedure. The main reasons for not performing BSE in the current study also were not know how to perform the examination, not having any previous problems in the breast, forgetfulness, and laziness. Sakine Memis (2009) Nursing profession is one of them, and it is very important for self carefulness to be able to recognize the signs of their own illness. Breast self-examination is an examination that should be perfect for nurses. They have the knowledge of the clinical signs of Breast Cancer and of the examination technique, and they can do it themselves without consulting a physician. Furthermore, they are especially aware of the importance of the early detection of breast cancer for a successful treatment. It has been shown that confidence in ones BSE ability is strongly correlated to BSE practice in the general population. For more emphasis of BSE occurs in the work place and in undergraduate and postgraduate courses, nurses, teaching of BSE to clients may be increased. Also, the provision of BSE educational programs is necessary to increase nurses knowledge, confidence, performance, and teaching of BSE.( Ali Abu-Salem 2007) It is supported by Agghababai sodabeh et al (2006) the nurses have a role for health and nature of the nurse client relationship facilitates opportunities for health education. Breast awareness will not necessarily translate into women becoming more familiar with their own breast tissue, unless they are encouraged to look at and touch the breast as a normal part of self -care health behavior. Regarding to G Ertem, A Kocer a positive correlation was found between nursing work experience and their practice alongside BSE medical professionals. Almost all the nurses knew how to conduct BSE, but did not prioritize practicing it. Nurses have knowledge about breast cancer screening behavior, such as BSE, the rates of performance are not adequate. It is therefore recommended that to increase rates of regular breast cancer screening behavior, mass health protective programs be conducted, especially for female health workers who undertake the responsibility of raising breast cancer prevention and awareness in society.. (2009) Dr.Osama et al Positive correlations were found between nursing work experience and their practice in BSE as working nurses. Studies like these can enhance the knowledge regarding BSE among nurses and other medical professionals. (2007) According to Roupa Z1., et al (2002) the majority of the subjects in student nurse acknowledged the usefulness and the convenience of BSE in the early detection of the breast cancer. The majority of the subjects fail to perform BSE regularly. Considerable percentages of the subjects in student groups have insufficient knowledge of BSE. From Mehregen Hj Mahmoodi et al (2002) Seventy-five percent of the women knew about breast cancer prevalence, but only 27% knew that breast pain is not a symptom of breast cancer. Although 73% of women did know that contact with a relative with breast cancer could not lead to development of breast cancer, the respondents knowledge of risk factors of breast cancer was not satisfactory. With regard to womens attitudes toward BSE, the majority believed that it is not difficult and time consuming or troublesome (63% and 72%, respectively). Sixty-three percent of the respondents claimed that they know how to examine their breasts, but only 6% performed BSE monthly. From study Ozgul Karayurt (2008), 6.7% of the students were performing BSE monthly and 20.3% of the students were performing BSE irregularly. Students knowledge about BSE might have affected their monthly BSE performance. However, only a small number of students who had knowledge about the BSE procedure were performing BSE monthly. The most common reasons for not doing BSE were not knowing how to perform BSE (98.5%), not expecting to get breast cancer (45.6%) and not having a close relative with breast cancer (42.9%).Consistent with the results of this study, in many studies, students noted that they did not perform BSE because they did not know how to perform it [4,29], and that they did not have a family history of breast cancer Chapter 3 Research methodology This chapter contains the research design adopted for the study, a description of the study site, study population, sampling and sample size, data collection tool and method, data analysis, inclusion and exclusion criteria; and ethical considerations. 3.2 Research design A cross- sectional quantitative study was conducted to determine the knowledge and practice of breast self examination. 3,3 Sample size 40 student of year 2 nursing student in department of nursing are selected as a sample for this study 3.4 Sample criteria inclusion criteria female age 18 years above year 2 student exclusion criteria male below 18 years year 1 and 3 student 3.5 Data collection tool and method Data collection was accomplished using administered questionnaire (See appendix A). The questionnaire was divided into 3 major parts. Part 1 Socio demographic data: age, education level, marital status, and number of children.. Coding for part 1: Question 1: Age Question 2: primary = 1, secondary = 2, tertiary = 3, none = 4 Question 3: Single = 1, married = 2, divorced = 3, widowed = 4, separated = 5 Question 4: none = 1, 1-5 = 2, 6-10 = 3, >10 = 4 Part II : Knowledge of breast self examination: Coding for part II Question 5 : S 1- S 5 True = 2 (correct answer ) False = 0 Question 6: S 1 S 10 True -2(correct answer) False = 0 Question 7: S1 true = 2 (correct answer) false = 0 S2 S4 False 2 (correct answer ) , True 0 Question 8 : S1- S3 True =2 (correct answer), false = 0 Question 9 : Yes = 0 No= 2 (correct answer) Question 10 : Yes = 2 (correct answer) No= 0 Question 11 : Yes = 2 (correct answer) No= 0 Question 12 : Yes = 2 (correct answer) No= 0 Question 13 : Yes = 2 (correct answer) No= 0 Question 14 : Yes = 2 (correct answer) No= 0 Question 15 : Yes = 2 (correct answer) No= 0 Question 16: S 1 S 3 True -2(correct answer) False = 0 Question17: S 1 S 2 True -2(correct answer) False = 0 Part 111 : Practice Question 18: Yes = (Practice), no (not practice) Question 27.1: monthly- 1 , every six month 2, yearly- 3 , never practice- 4 Question 27.2: forgetting = 1, not sure how to do it = 2, difficult to perform = 3, never taught how to do it = 4 Data collection was done by the researcher, from Feb. 2011 to Mac 2011 , which is a period of one months. 3.6 Data analysis Questionnaires were coded to suit computer statistical package and data was imported into Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS). Analysis was done using SPSS to calculate mean, standard deviation and frequency distribution according to knowledge and practice of breast cancer examination. Questions to assess the knowledge of breast self examinations and the knowledge questions were and the scores were categorizes as follows: 34 = high. The total marks for the knowledge are 70 3.7 Ethical considerations The research was commenced only after receiving the approval of the Research Ethics Committee (MREC) of the Faculty of Health Sciences- University Technology Mara, and the local authority from Dean, Medicine and Health Science Faculty UniSZA, written informed consent was sought from the study participants at the commencement of the study. The aims and objectives of the research were introduced to the participants.. They were informed that their participation was voluntary and they were free to decline from the study at any stage. Participants were assured of their confidentiality while they participated in the study and privacy was maintained by not writing their names on the question CHAPTER 4 PRESENTATION OF RESULTS 4.1.1 Socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents Forty female student nursing student are participate in this study .the table of the social demographic characterized are shown on table 1. Majority of the female nursing student are same age, single and same educational level because they are join nursing course after Malaysian Certificated Education (SPM) Table 1 Variables Frequency % Age 0 0% 20 and above 40 100% Education level Secondary 0 0 Tertiary level 40 100% Marital status Single 40 100% Married 0 0 Widowed 0 0 Number of children none 0 0 1-3 0 0 4-5 0 0 >6 0 0 4.1.2 Level of knowledge 4.1.3 Symptoms of breast cancer Very few of the respondents that only 5 (12.5% ) knew that pain is not a symptom of breast cancer. Majority of the respondents 37 (92.5%) knew that lump in the breast is a symptom of breast cancer. The commonest presentation of breast cancer which is a painless breast lump only a third 16(40%) of the respondents knew about it. A very of the respondents 4 (10%) knew about nipple discharge as a symptom of breast cancer, while more of the respondents 35(87.5%) had knowledge on skin changes as shown on table 2 below. Symptom True % False % Pain in the breast 35 87.5 5 12.5 Lump in the breast 37 92.5 3 7.5 Painless lump 16 40 24 60 Nipple discharge 4 10 36 90 Skin changes 35 87.5 5 12.5 (Correct answer are highlighted in bold) 4.1.4 Risk factor of breast cancer Only one of the respondents 1(2.5%) did not knew about family history of breast cancer as a risk factor. That is same with risk factor where only one of the respondents 1(2.5%) knew about never given birth as a risk factor for breast cancer. This also applied to having many children, only one third of the respondents 11(27.5%) knew that it was not a risk factor. More than half of the respondents 30 (75%) knew that advancing age is also a risk factor for breast cancer. More than a half of the respondents 37(92.5%) knew that breast feeding is not a risk factor for breast cancer. Very few of the respondents 5(12.5%) had knowledge that oral contraceptive is a risk factor for breast cancer. Only one of the respondents 1(2.5%) knew that tobacco intake as well as excessive alcohol intake are risk factors for breast cancer respectively. One third of the respondents 12(30%) knew that high dietary intake is a risk factor. Being obese as one of the risk factor and more than half of the respondents 28(70%) knew about it. Thin women is not a risk factor for breast cancer only 19(47.5%) knew about it, as shown on the table 3. Statement true % false % Family history 39 97.5 1 2.5 Never giving birth 1 2.5 39 97.5 Having many children 29 72.5 11 27.5 Advancing age 10 25 30 75 Breast feeding 37 92.5 3 7.5 OCP 5 12.5 35 87.5 Tobacco intake 1 2.5 39 97.5 Excessive alcohol intake 1 2.5 39 97.5 High dietary fat intake 12 30 28 70 Obesity 28 70 12 30 Thin women 21 52.5 19 47.5 (Correct answer are highlighted in bold) 4.1.5 Protective factor of breast cancer Table 4 below shows the protective factors for breast cancer, All of the respondents 40(100%) and most of them knew that breast feeding is a protective factor for breast cancer and they also knew that not to be a breast feeding is not protective factor for breast cancer . The fact that you are young you are protected from the breast cancer, however half of the respondents 22(55%) knew about it. Having first child at older age almost half of the respondents 17(42.5%) knew that it is not a protective factor. Table 4 statement true % false % Breast feeding 40 100 0 O Not to breast feeding 6 15 34 85 Young age 22 55 18 45 Erderly primid 23 57.5 17 42.5 (Correct answer are highlighted in bold) 4.1.6 Method can detect breast cancer Majority of the respondents 39(97.5%), and 38(95%) knew that breast self-examination, clinical breast examination and mammogr