Development of Education in Kenya

1. 0 INTRODUCTION2 1. 1 Definition of terms3 1. 2 Background information4 1. 2. 1 Pre-colonial education4 1. 2. 2 Post colonial education in Kenya (Neocolonialism)4 1. 3 National Aims/Goals of Education in Kenya6 1. 4 Structure of education6 1. 4. 1 Early Childhood Development and Education7 1. 4. 2 Primary education8 1. 4. 3 Secondary education9 1. 4. 4 Teacher Education9 1. 4. 5 Tertiary Education10 1. 4. 6 University education11 1. 5 Administration system11 1. 5. 1 Permanent secretary11 1. 5. 2 Finance and administration Division12 1. 5. 3 Directorate of Education12 . 5. 4 Field Service Education Officers13 2. 0 CHALLENGES FACING THE FORMAL EDUCATION IN KENYA14 2. 1 Recommendations to the Challenge of Education in Kenya17 3. 0 Conclusion18 3. 1 References. 19 1. 0 INTRODUCTION The provision of education and training to all Kenyans is fundamental to the success of the Government’s overall development strategy. First, the long term objective of the Government is to provide ev ery Kenyan with basic quality education and training, including 2 years of pre-primary, 8 years of primary and 4 years of secondary/technical education. Education also aims at enhancing the ability of Kenyans to preserve and utilize the environment for productive gain and sustainable livelihoods. Second, development of quality human resource is central to the attainment of national goals for industrial development. Third, the realization of universal access to basic education and training ensures equitable access to education and training for all children, including disadvantaged and vulnerable groups. Fourth, education is necessary for the development and protection of democratic institutions and human rights. Hence, this paper aims at describing the development of formal education in Kenya. It will first of all explore formal education in pre-colonial era. It will then show how different commissions have contributed to the development of formal education in post-colonial era. The paper will also shed light on the national goals of education, the structure of education and finance system in each level of education through government initiatives. Moreover, it will look into the administration of the education system and finally discuss the various challenges facing the education sector and their recommendations. 1. 1 Definition of terms Education According to Sifuna and Otiende (1992) education is the process of acquiring worthwhile accumulated knowledge, skills attitudes and values from one generation to the next. From this point of view therefore, education is meant to teach a student how to live his life by developing his mind and equipping him to deal with reality. Formal as defined by Webster Dictionary is â€Å"relating to or involving the outward form, structure, relationships, or arrangement of elements rather than content†. It may also mean following or according with established form, custom or rule. Formal education A formal education program is the process of training and developing people in knowledge, skills, mind and character in a structured and certified program. The features of formal education include Classrooms, teachers, students, content and others (Sifuna and Otiende, 1992). 1. 2 Background information 1. . 1 Pre-colonial education Sifuna, Chege and Oanda (2006) observe that historical records reveal that Kenyans had access to education as far back as Johann Ludwing Krapf and Johannes Rebman. Formal education was introduced basically to promote evangelism but later on it become an instrument for production of skilled labour for the Europeans farms and clerical staff for colonial administration. The missionaries determi ned the type of education African had to have – they built schools, managed them determined the curriculum and influenced education policies. It all started in 1846 with the church missionary society (CMS) establishing a school at Rabai the Coast province and others across Kenya such as Friend school Kaimosi (1903), Maseno school (1906), Jamhuri high school (1906), Europeans girls, Kenya high school (1908), Mangu high school (1925) and others. During that time education in Africa, Kenyan included was stratified on racial lines in matters of system structure, curricula and resources. For example, the Europeans system had an pper hand resource, its curriculum was based on British traditions, Arabs and Asians system came second. Africans prepared youths to work on Europeans farms. 1. 2. 2 Post colonial education in Kenya (Neocolonialism) Sifuna and Otiende (1992) noted that racial segregation was abolished in 1960 as the country moved closer to independence. With the attainment of independence on 12th December, 1963;- a ministry of education was created. The school system in Kenya was brought under a localized standard curric ulum and public examinations. Since independence, the Government has addressed challenges facing the education sector through Commissions, Committees and Taskforces. The first Commission, after independence, came up with the Report of the Kenya Education Commission (The Ominde Report, 1964) that sought to reform the education system inherited from the colonial government to make it more responsive to the needs of independent Kenya. The Commission proposed an education system that would foster national unity and the creation of sufficient human capital for national development. Sessional Paper No: 10 of 1965 on African Socialism and its Application to Planning in Kenya formally adopted the Ominde Report as a basis for post-independence educational development. The Report of the National Committee on Educational Objectives and Policies (The Gachathi Report, 1976), focused on redefining Kenya’s educational policies and objectives, giving consideration to national unity, and economic, social and cultural aspirations of the people of Kenya. It resulted in Government support for ‘Harambee’ schools and also led to establishment of the National Centre for Early Childhood Education (NACECE) at the Kenya Institute of Education (KIE). The Report of the Presidential Working Party on the Second University in Kenya (The Mackay Report, 1981) led to the removal of the advanced (A) level of secondary education, and the expansion of other post-secondary training institutions. In addition to the establishment of Moi University, it also recommended the establishment of the 8:4:4 system of education and the Commission for Higher Education (CHE). It diversified the school curriculum with emphases on pre-vocational and technical skills (Republic of Kenya, 1981). The Report of the Presidential Working Party on Education and Manpower training (1988) focused on improving education financing, quality and relevance. This Manpower Training for the Next Decade and Beyond (The Kamunge Report) was at a time when the Government scheme for the provision of instructional materials through the National Textbook Scheme was inefficient and therefore adversely affected the quality of teaching and learning. From the recommendations of the Working Party in 1988, the Government produced Sessional Paper No 6 on Education and Training for the Next Decade and Beyond. This led to the policy of cost sharing between government, parents and communities. The Commission of Inquiry into the Education System of Kenya (The Koech Report, 2000) was mandated to recommend ways and means of enabling the education system to facilitate national unity, mutual social responsibility, accelerated industrial and technological development, life-long learning, and adaptation in response to changing circumstances. The Koech Report recommended Totally Integrated Quality Education and Training (TIQET). While the Government did not adopt the Report due to the cost implications some recommendations, such as curriculum rationalization have been adopted and implemented. Recent policy initiatives have focused on the attainment of education for all (EFA) and, in particular, Universal Primary Education (UPE). The key concerns are access, retention, equity, quality and relevance, and internal and external efficiencies within the education system. The effectiveness of the current 8-4-4 structure and system of education has also come under increasing scrutiny in light of the decline in enrolment and retention particularly at the primary and secondary school levels in the last decade. The Government is committed to the provision of quality education and training as a human right for all Kenyans in accordance with the Kenyan law and the international conventions, such as the EFA goal, and is developing strategies for moving the country towards the attainment of this goal. The implementation of Free Primary Education (FPE) is critical to the attainment of UPE as a key milestone towards the realization of the EFA goal (htt://www. virtualcampuses. eu/index. php/Kenya). 1. National Aims/Goals of Education in Kenya Aseey and Ayot (2009:6) state that: â€Å"in Kenya the fundamental goal of education is to prepare and equip the youth to be happy and useful citizens of the society. From this fundamental needs arise more aims of education†. In Kenya, there are seven specific goals of education, namely national unity, national development, individual development and social fulfillment, social equality, respect and development of cultural heritage and international con sciousness. 1. Structure of education Kenya's education system is a three to four tier system. In 1985 Kenya introduced the current 8-4-4 system: ? Primary education: 8 years: age 6-13 (free and compulsory) ? Secondary education: 4 years: age 14-18(subsidized for students in Day Schools and the Government provides fees guidelines to all public schools) ? Higher education: 4 years: age 19-21 (subsidized for those selected through the Universities Joint Admission Board) 1. 4. 1 Early Childhood Development and Education The provision of ECDE as observed by republic of Kenya (1999) involves households, community and Government efforts in the integrated development of children from the time of conception. The structure of ECDE provision is divided into that for 0-3 year-old children and for 4-5 year-old children. For this sub-sector, the MOES policy is to focus on 4-5 year-old children with a view to providing a holistic and integrated programme that meets the child’s cognitive, social, moral, spiritual, emotional and physical needs. The Government is already implementing measures that seek to improve the performance of this sub-sector. These include: establishing guidelines and standards for the management, supervision and curriculum development for ECDE; establishment of NACECE and District Centres for Early Childhood Education (DICECE) for purposes of in-servicing teachers and training of trainers; mobilizing communities and parents through awareness creation, and providing community support grants to support marginalized/vulnerable communities in collaboration with other partners. Other measures, which are being implemented to enhance quality education at this level, include: implementing a 2-year in-service training programme for ECDE teachers; mounting a 9-month training of trainers’ course; developing guidelines and syllabuses for ECDE programmes; enhancing the capacity of supervisors and inspectors to ensure quality of ECDE programmes; and equipping NACECE and DICECEs to meet the needs of the programmes. Despite the above measures, access, equity and quality in this sub-sector remain constrained by various factors that include: limited teaching and learning materials, inadequate ECDE centres; inadequate community participation; lack of a clear policy on transition from pre-primary to primary school; inadequate nutrition and health services; lack of enough trained teachers; low and irregular salaries for ECDE teachers and lack of clear entry age guidelines (htt://www. virtualcampuses. eu/index. php/Kenya). 0 1. 4. 1. 1 Financing of pre- primary education The pre-primary education is basically controlled by private institution, religion and organization. It`s finance purely depend on the parents previously but currently the government has allocated some money to finance this level of education. 1. 4. 2 Primary education According to Ministry of Education (1987), this is the first phase of the national 8. 4. 4 system of education. The course last for eight years. Its aim is to ensure that functional and practical education that will meet the needs of the majority of children who terminate their formal education at standard eight. Financing of primary education in Kenya is universal, free and compulsory to all Kenyan citizens. The government through constituency development fund has constructed physical facilities, purchased teaching and learning materials and employing teachers. The primary school curriculum is uniform throughout the country. It is nationally developed at the Kenya institute of education by the subject experts. The government of Kenya recognizes that provision of universal primary education as an important milestone to economic and social development. In particular it has been established that by providing primary education to women, a society is able to hasten its development. The government, since January 2003 has managed to implement free primary school education programme that has seen a tremendous increase in the number of children attending school. The Government has also increased its budgetary allocation to education as well as introducing a Constituency Bursary Fund for efficient facilitation of education at the grassroots level. The implementation of the Universal Free Primary Education, as part of the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), has earned Kenya the prestigious Education Award 1. 4. 2. 1 Certification Two certificates are awarded to students in primary school level these are; The Kenya Certificate of Primary Education awarded by the Kenya National examination council and the Kenya Primary Living Certificate issued with the authority of the Director of Education. 1. 4. 3 Secondary education The secondary education in Kenya comprises of 4 years of education in which an exam referred to as Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCES) is done to finish this level of education. It has three compulsory subjects English, Kiswahili and Mathematics, a science section where a student chooses all or two sciences among Chemistry, Physics and Biology. The last section of the structure comprises humanities in which a student must pick one subject and two at maximum, these subjects are Geography, History, C. R. E and Social Ethics. Lastly there is a category of subjects known as applied sciences and they are offered by limited school and a student is allowed to pick one subject in this category, they include Technical Drawing and Design, Woodwork, Metalwork, Art and Design, Electricity, Aviation and Power Mechanics. Students who obtain a grade of C+ and above are eligible for admission at Kenyan public Universities but due to limited positions the grade is shifted annually and can go as high as B+. There are two categories of secondary schools in Kenya, namely public and private schools (Bogonko,1992). 1. . 3. 1 Financing of secondary school education The public secondary schools are funded by the Government or communities and are managed through a Board of Governors and Parent Teacher Associations. Subsidized for students in Day Schools and the Government provide fees guidelines to all public schools. The private schools, on the other hand, are established and managed by private individuals or organizations an d the parents pay full fees for their children. 1. 4. 4 Teacher Education There are  five teacher education programmes in Kenya as observed by Republic of Kenya (1999). These are: The Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) teacher education programme in which teachers are trained through in-service courses in District Centres for Early Childhood Education (DICECEs). The National Centre for Early Childhood Education (NACECE) develops the curriculum, trains trainers and supervisors, and conducts monitoring and evaluation. The Secondary teacher education which is provided at the diploma and degree levels in diploma teacher training colleges and universities respectively. The Technical teacher education is offered at the Kenya Technical Teachers College in Nairobi which trains diploma level teachers for secondary schools, technical training institutes, primary teachers’ colleges, institutes of technology and vocational polytechnics. The Special needs education teacher education is provided to professionally qualified practicing teachers through a  two-year diploma programme at the Kenya Institute of Special Education (KISE) and finally the Primary teacher education (PTE) which is provided in 18 certificate level colleges through a two-year, residential programme. The entry criteria for primary teacher education require a candidate to have acquired a minimum grade of C (plain) in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE). In addition, one must have obtained a minimum grade of D in Mathematics and C- in English. For the entry of a diploma programme for secondary teacher education requires a candidate to have acquired a minimum grade of C (plain) in KCSE and minimum grade of C in the two teaching subjects of his/her choice and a minimum grade of C+ for a degree course. To qualify for the award of the Primary Teacher Education Certificate, a student must pass all the practical teaching and obtain a pass in all eight subjects. The final grade – distinction, credit, pass, fail – is determined by passes in the six best performed subjects. 1. 4. 5 Tertiary Education These are middle colleges that offer certificates, diplomas and some undergraduate degrees. Their curriculum is supervised by the ministry of higher education. The source of finance is self sponsored and in some cases by the government through higher education loan board or subsidence free to the public institution (Ministry of Education, 1987). 1. 4. 6 University education In Kenya, they are both Public universities Private universities. The Public universities offer certificates, diplomas, degrees, masters and Ph. D. They are sponsored by the government by paying salaries to the staffs including lecturers, provision physical facilities. In addition, students who are selected by the government were given some financial support through Joint Admission board (J. A. B). The Private universities on the other hand, are self-sponsored and only support students to get some financial support from the government through Higher Education Loan Board (HELB). 1. 5 Administration system Getao (1996:57) explains that: â€Å"The Kenya education system is centralized in the sense that administration, curriculum development and the formulation of policies are centralized. In Kenya, parliament makes the laws pertaining to education. Occasionally, the President makes decrees related to education. He appoints the ministers who preside over the interpretation and implementation of the educational policies. † The system of education in Kenya is administered from two separate ministries namely the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education each headed by the Minister and an assistant Minister . The Ministry of education is responsible for formal education from pre-primary education, special education, primary education, secondary education and Teachers education. The Ministry of higher education is responsible for higher education which include Technical and vocational training colleges, Tertiary colleges and universities. The administration departed of ministry of education is broadly based on functional units. These are: 1. 5. 1 Permanent secretary – Heshe is the head of departments in the ministry. – Heshe is the overall head of the ministry. – Heshe is the accounting officers. – He she is the formulator and implementer of government policies on education. 1. 5. 2 Finance and administration Division This is the wing of the administrative department of the ministry responsible for day to day administrative and financial management affairs of the ministry. It is headed by the Deputy Secretary (Finance and Administration) who is responsible to the permanent Secretary and takes action on all policy matters and cabinet decisions that involve the Ministry and prepares all Cabinet Memoranda for the Ministry. 1. 5. 3 Directorate of Education According to Ministry of Education (1987) the Directorate of Education is the chief professional officer of the ministry. Heshe is responsible for both the ministry and the permanent secretary on all professional matters to do with Education. The Functions of the Directorate of Education are to Formulate policies give directions and management of professional functions relating to education. He/she is to deal with welfare of the students, develop curricula for the ministry, initiate training programme, Inspect schools and teachers, promote teachers, give scholarship and award to students, give grants and grant-in-aids to school as well as to produce and supply educational materials and equipments. The Directorate has three divisions namely The Administration and Management of Programmes (AMP), The Education Policies and Programmes (EPP) and The Quality Assurance Officers (QAO). The Administration and Management of Programmes are in charge of registering the schools and institutions, following up audited reports, giving grants and grant-in- aid to schools, inspecting reports, Discipline of students, giving annual report and admission and transfer of students. The Education Policies and Programmes is in charge of the formulation of policies for the Pre-primary Education, Secondary Education, Technical Education, Special Education, Teacher Education, The Kenya Institute of Education (KIE), University Education and other forms of Tertiary Education, 8-4-4 System of Education and Scholarship Awards to Overseas Universities. The Quality Assurance Officers department is a section in the Ministry of Education that deals largely with the maintenance and improvement of standards of education in Kenyans school and colleges. It inspects the methods of teaching and the teaching and learning materials or resources. 1. 5. 4 Field Service Education Officers This is another part of administration in education in provincial level, District level, Division and village or vocational levels. They represent the government in their level of operations. They are; i) Provincial Director Education Officers (P. D. E O. ) ii) District Education Officers (D. E. O. ) iii) Education Officers (E. O) Other administration departments in the ministry of education include: i) Board of Governors (B. O. G) who represent the government in the school level. ii) Parent Teachers Association (P. T. A) that links the school and the community. iii) Kenya National Examination council. This is body of administration is used to supervise examinations and offer certificate in different levels of education in Kenya such as primary level, secondary level and teacher education. iv) Kenya Institute of Education (KIE). This body of administration is used in publishing the syllabus and drawing of curriculum in education system of Kenya. v) Teacher Service Commission (T. S. C. ) This is the body that recruits and employs teachers. It also sucks teachers who are not behaving well. Other education bodies that are used in administration include Jomo Kenyatta foundation, Kenya Education Staff Institute (K. E. S. I), Commission for Higher Education (CHE), Kenya Literature Bureau (KLB), Public Universities Inspection Board which lists all sessional papers, parliament acts such as the Education Act, draft legislation, information on Kenya universities and tertiary institutions, reports, news †¦ Kenya National Examination Council(KNEC) which is the national body responsible for overseeing national examination in Kenya for primary and secondary education amongst others. 2. 0 CHALLENGES FACING THE FORMAL EDUCATION IN KENYA Although the Kenyan Government is putting effort in improving education in Kenya, there still many challenges that are facing the sector which need to be addressed. These Most of these challenges have been observed by Sifuna, Chege and Oanda (2006) in most of the African countries. They are as follows: There is inadequate funding to the education sector. The education sector requires sufficient funding for it to undertake its duties such as curriculum development education research and the implementation of educational policies, teacher payment of salaries and so on. The Kenya education sector receives its funding mainly from the Kenyan government through the Ministry of Finance and also from international donors. However, there is still minimal funding which may be attributed to the misappropriation of funds as well as poor funding of the education sector by its primary source; the Kenyan government. Consequently, the poor funding will result in the unsatisfactory enforcement of the education sectors mandate. There may be poor curriculum development and education research as well as the improper implementation of educational policies. The Shortage of trained teachers is another challenge in education sector. The education sector struggles to meet the demand of teacher to the sector due to the shortage of teachers. This may be attributed to trained teachers attrition in preference to other fields which offer better salaries and remuneration packages as opposed to what is offered by the teaching profession. There is also the ‘Brain drain ‘ where trained teachers go to teach in other countries where they believe there are better working conditions in terms of benefits salaries and remuneration packages as opposed to those offered here in Kenya. An acute shortage of trained teachers to the education sector results in the employment of untrained teachers to meet the supply deficit. The introduction of the free primary education and free secondary education initiatives in 2003 by the Narc Government in pursuit of education for all saw a sharp increase of student enrollments. At the time the government had not put in place adequate facilities and educational resources subsequently, there arose a strain on the already limited available resources for instance the overcrowding in schools where classroom were packed beyond capacity. Several recommendation were made afterwards which saw the subsidization of education in the place of free education which requires the government to pay for part of resources required while the guardians and parents in the programme meet the remaining expenses. Some parents were still unable to meet subsidized cost of educating their children which in turn saw the dropping out of school for children who lack school fees (http://www. /par. or. ke/documents/policy). In marginalized areas such as the nomadic communities in Northern Kenya student enrollment and classroom attendance is poor as a result of the influence by the nomadic culture which requires nomadic families to move with their livestock from place to place in search of food water. Seeing that the children cannot be left behind, they are left with no choice but discontinue the learning. Gender disparity as observed by Kibera and Kimokoti (1997) poses a challenge to formal education in Kenya in terms of the ratio of boys to girls enrolled to educational institution. In some communities, especially in rural areas where traditions are still followed, boys are mostly enrolled for an education while girls are left at home to take of the home and family. There is the belief in such communities, that educated girl would be of more benefit to her matrimonial home hence her paternal home would not be able to reap the benefits of having her educated. There are also limited alternative education programmes such as teenage mother programmes to cater for the education of those girls who drop out of school due to early pregnancies. Most of these girls have to drop out of school for some time until the time they have their babies and even then they would have to stay at home take care of their babies, limiting their chances to go back to school and finish their education. Enrollment into adult education programmes is discouraging and a challenge to the education system. Many illiterate and semi-illiterate adult fears the stigma they may receive from their family, friends and society and this may beep from enrolling into such programs. Moreover, there are a few adult education programmes and institutions which is a great challenge to those adults seeking to receive such an education. Special education to cater for those students with intellectual and or physical disabilities is minimal with most guardiansparents choosing let their children with such disabilities to stay at home rather than enroll them in special schools thereby denying them an education all together. Moreover, such institutions receive minimal funding especially from the government which makes them unable to successfully deliver. Nevertheless, there are Social emergent issues which are effecting the education directly or indirectly. HIVAIDS Pandemic which both affects and affects both the teachers and students is one of the current issues in education sector. Teachers who are infected with the pandemic may be unable to or find it difficult to attend lessons due to acute symptoms of the disease as well as the side effects of its treatment. Moreover, they may be unable to face the classroom due to the stigma associated with being HIV positive. Death of teacher from HIVAIDS is also a challenge to formal education since it contributes to teacher shortage due to the loss of trained manpower to the education sector. As for the students who are infected they may have to drop out of school due to the stigma of being HIV positive as well as being of poor health to attend school. Moreover, students who are affected have to drop out of school to take care of their infected relatives. Drugs and alcohol abuse by teachers and students is another challenge. Teachers who abuse alcohol and or drugs perform poorly as teachers since they are unable to teach appropriately or disrupt the whole learning process. Moreover, students who abuse drugs and alcohol tend to be undisciplined there by contributing to arise of conflicts in the school. Such students eventually drop out of school or are kicked out all together. Students’ indiscipline such as strikes and riots which disrupt the learning process while causing damage to school educational resources like classrooms and dormitories are frequent cases in Kenya. Violence trauma that was caused by post election violence in 2007 is a reality to the Kenyan students today. In most schools, no counseling was provided for students when the institutions opened, after the violence that followed the disputed 2007 presidential election. Some students were victims of the violence, which was witnessed in many parts of the country between January and March 2008. Without adequate counseling at the right time, such students might have rioted and burnt down school property and projecting the effects of what is commonly referred to as delayed trauma (http://www. par. or. ke/documents/policy). 2. 1 Recommendations to the Challenge of Education in Kenya The Kenya government should increase funding to the education sector to facilitate the undertaking of its mandate such as curriculum development, education research and implementation of educational policies. The 20112012 Kenya budget saw the education sector receive a boost in funding; KSH 53. 2 billion was se t aside for tertiary education,KSH 8. 2 Billion for free primary education and KSH18. 5 billion for free day secondary education, and KSH 1. 67 billion for free school feeding programme. However, with the funding made available to education sector the government still needs to place some emphasis on the management of funds to avoid the mismanagementmisappropriation of the funds. The challenges of the shortage of should also be addressed. The government of Kenya should revise the salaries and remuneration packages in teaching profession. Better benefits, salaries and remuneration packages would also trained teachers staying with the teaching profession rather than applying their knowledge and skills in other profession. Also, there could a reduction of â€Å"brain drain† as teachers would stay in Kenya to teach. Subsequently, there would be a declined in the employment of untrained teachers thereby maintaining the quality standard of education. On the part of student enrollment, the government should strive to make education accessible as possible to all. For instance the government of Kenya should provide sponsorship programmes and bursaries for those students unable to pay school fees. Moreover, for students’ marginalized areas, the government could provide mobile schools or set up intensive programme for those students from nomadic communities. The government should also establish programme to for the needs of adult education as well as special education, while conducting sensitization efforts on the importance of adult literacy and special literacy respectively. 3. 0 Conclusion This paper has described the formal education in Kenya in pre-colonial and post- colonial era. It has also looked into the current education policies that have revealed the government efforts in improving education in order to achieve its objectives. Nevertheless, it has shed light on the challenges facing the education sector in its continued development and implementations of the government policies geared towards vision 2030. It is therefore necessary for the government to address these issues and to be practical in looking for their possible solutions, so that education can fully contribute to the development in all aspects. 3. 1 References Bogonko, S. N. (1992). A history of modern education in Kenya (1895-1991). Nairobi: Evans Brothers (Kenya) Ltd. Kibera, L. W. and Kimoti, A. (2007). Fundamentals of sociology of Education. Nairobi: University of Nairobi Press. Ministry of Education [1987], Education in Kenya Information Handbook. Nairobi: Jomo Kenyatta Foundation. Mwanje. J. I. , Akoten, J. Riechi, A. , Barasa, T. , Oyugi, L. , Omolo, J. , Junge, L. , Kimbwarata, J. and Mukasa, G. (2008). Radical Reform for Kenya’s Education Sector: Implementing Policies Responsive to Vision 2030. Retrieved July 6, 2011, from http://www. /par. or. ke/documents/policy Republic of Kenya (1964). Kenya Education Commission Report, part I. Nairobi : Government Press. Republic of Kenya (1981). Second university: Report of presidential working party (Mackey Report). Nairobi: Government Printer. Republic of Kenya (1976). The National Committee on Educational Objectives and Policies(Gathachi Report). Nairobi: Government Printer. Republic of Kenya (1999). Totally Integrated Quality Education and Training (TIQET): Koech Report. Nairobi: Government Printer. Sifuna, D. N. , Chege, F. N. and Oanda, I. O. (2006). Themes in the Study of the Foundations of Education. Nairobi: Jomo Kenyatta Foundation. [pic][pic]

Riba & Its Types

Riba' The word â€Å"Riba† means excess, increase or addition, which correctly interpreted according to Shariah terminology, implies any excess compensation without due consideration (consideration does not include time value of money). Types of Riba: 1. Riba' AnNisi'ah: This is the stipulated interest which the lender takes from the borrower in consideration of the time given to the borrower to pay back the capital. It is HARAM based on the Quran and the Sunnah and the consensus of Muslim scholars. . Riba' Al Fadl:   This applies to barter (exchanging one commodity for another), where   commodities of the same type are exchanged in unequal amounts, especially the exchange of precious metals and foodstuffs, it is HARAM, by the Sunnah and the concensus of scholars; as it paves the way for Riba' nNasi'ah. Numerous ahadith have demonstrated the prohibition with regard to gold, silver, wheat, barley, dates, and salt. The Prophet sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wa sellem said, â€Å"Gold for gold, and silver for silver, and wheat for wheat, and barley for barley, and dates for dates, and salt for salt, like for like, equal for equal, from hand to hand (the transaction must be completed before the two sides leave each other). But if the types are different then sell as you wish, as long as it is hand to hand. †Ã‚   (Muslim) The Prophet sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wa sellem also said, â€Å"Whoever gives more or asks for more (than what he gave) commits an act of Riba', the given and the taken are equivalent (in the sin). (Muslim) The Prophet sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wa sellem said, â€Å"Prohibited selling food (of the same variety) except equivalent in weight and hand to hand. † (Muslim) â€Å"Do not sell gold for gold unless equivalent in weight (and from hand to hand), and do not sell less amount for greater amount or vice versa, and do not sell silver for silver unless equivalent in we ight (and from hand to hand), and do not sell less amount for greater amount or vice versa and do not sell gold or silver that is not present at the moment of exchange for gold or silver that is present. †Ã‚   (agreed upon) To lend a bank money or borrow from it on the condition of a payment of a fixed annual or monthly percentage rate of interest, say 2%, or more or less, is a form of PROHIBITED RIBA'. â€Å"†¦ whereas Allah has permitted trading and forbidden Riba' (usury)†¦ †Ã‚   2:275 Poverty isn't an excuse for Riba'. Mudaraba: which is a form of partnership where one person invests money and the other invests his skill and effort, and they share the profit or loss of the enterprise, so Islam did not impose any hardship on the people (by prohibiting Riba') but rather it provided them with a viable alternative to it, among them are the following: . Qard Hasan (a beautiful loan): Istead of a Muslim loaning his money on interest which causes pollution and blight on all his property and oppresses the borrower, Islam encourages him to make the loan Qard Hasan, and promised him a gracious reward for it;   Allah said, â€Å"Who is he that will lend to Allah a goodly loan so that Her ma y multiply it to him many times? †Ã‚   2:245 2. Giving an extension to a person who cannot repay the loan on time because of financial difficulty, until he gets back on his feet. And Islam encourages the lender to forgive the loan altogether in this circumstance;   Allah said, â€Å"And if the debtor is in a hard time (has no money), then grant him time till it is easy for him to repay, but if you remit it by way of charity, that is better for you if you did but know. † 2:280 3. Mutual Aid by all means: This encompasses mutual aid on a social level, in industry and in agriculture, and social security by financing farmers and industrialists and craftsmen in order to enable them to produce effectively. This returns a benefit to the whole Ummah. Also, opening schools and buidling hospitals and homes for the elderly and the incapacitated and all other items alike fall under the mutual aid mentioned in the verse†¦ â€Å"†¦ help you one another in Al Birr and atTaqwa (virtue, righteousness and piety);†¦ †Ã‚   5:2                    The society which realizes these means will proceed, in the shade of this comprehensive mutual aid, happily and far removed from the distress of Riba'. . We should not forget the payment of Zakat to those who deserve it. This will have a major impact on getting rid of Riba'. BEWARE:   from putting your money in a *nonIslamic bank*. Even if you don't take interest on it, the bank takes your money and loans it out to gain interest. So you are helping the Riba' system, and are indirectly responsible and beware from taking loans from those banks.

Alcohol Consumption Interventions

Alcohol Consumption Interventions To investigate how interventions may work we will look at the effects of alcohol consumption on individuals and populations, and draw attention to the search for policies that protect health, prevent health problems such as liver cirrhosis, cardiovascular disease and disability, and address the social problems associated with the misuse of alcohol consumption. What alcohol policy is why it is needed, which interventions are effective, how policy is made, and how scientific evidence can inform the policy-making process? Also looking at why the higher the average amount of alcohol consumed in a society, the greater the incidence of problems experienced by that society. We will access the policy responses that are considered to reduce alcohol consumption: alcohol taxation, legislative controls on alcohol availability, and age restrictions on alcohol purchasing, media information campaigns, school-based education, community action programs, and treatment interventions. Considering the i nfluence of environments that people live in, effects of cultures and social norms that define the appropriate uses of alcohol. The value of population thinking in alcohol policy, and its ability to identify health risks and suggest appropriate interventions comparing different intervention strategies in terms of their effectiveness, and the ever-changing process that needs to constantly adapt to the evidence of new research results and tested intervention if it is to serve the interests of public health. One of the biggest determinants to alcohol consumption is the advertising and marketing of alcohol products by the drinks industry. The extent and the nature of alcohol marketing will be examined to illustrate its effects on consumption, cultures and social norms. We will show that more evidence is needed to progress education as a viable intervention. Showing evidence that the majority of the population, alter their damaging drinking through the phenomenon of spontaneous remission , maturing out or self change. It is good practice to learn from the past to plan for the future, the control of alcohol production, distribution, and consumption, has been around for thousands of years, such as requiring that all wine be diluted with water before being sold, these were devised by monarchs, governments, and the clergy to prevent alcohol-related problems. But it was not until the rise of modern medicine and the emergence of the world Temperance Movement in the 19th century that alcohol policy was first seen as a potential instrument of public health. Between 1914 and 1921, laws prohibiting the manufacture and sale of all or most forms of beverage alcohol were adopted in the United States, Canada, Norway, Iceland, Finland, and Russia (Paulson 1973). Most of these laws were repealed during the 1920s and 1930s, and replaced by less extreme regulatory policies. To view alcohol policies through the narrowly focused perspective of prohibition, however, is to ignore the fac t that most policy-making during the past century has been incremental, deliberate, and respectful of people’s right to drink in moderation.: Alcohol control policies in public health perspective (Bruun et al. 1975), Sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO), the monograph drew attention to the preventable nature of alcohol problems and to the role of national governments and international agencies in the formulation of rational and effective alcohol policies.

Business law assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business law assignment - Essay Example Additionally, the tax rates and reliefs are more favourable. Nevertheless, there are numerous administrative requirements in order to commence trading and companies are subject to strict financial reporting requirements, which can be cumbersome. Another option would be to set up a partnership, which can open up other business opportunities. The Partnership Act 1890 (the Act) regulates partnerships at common law. Unlike sole traders, partners share the business and control, decision making and profit and losses. All partners are jointly and severally liable for debts and â€Å"owe duty of good faith to each other5†. Section 28 of the Act further imposes a statutory duty to account and Law v Law6 determined that the impact of section 29 of the Act was to prohibit secret profits. The Act governs liability of partners and their legal obligations and provides that each partner is equally liable for the business regardless of their share of the ownership. Additionally, depending on the number of partners, partners can terminate and dissolve the partnership at any point resulting in automatic dissolution7. Therefore the main disadvantage of this trading medium is exposure to potential liability for acts of other partners under section 10. The other alternative would be to set up a limited liability partnership (LLP) under The Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2000 (LLPA). The LLP has certain similarities to limited companies and section 1(2) of the LLPA states that an LLP is a separate corporate entity with legal personality separate to its members. Accordingly, the distinct advantage compared to a general partnership is that an LLP can hold land and other assets in its own name, enter intro contracts with its own name and goes further in protecting partners from wrongful acts of other partners8. Moreover, in contrast to a limited liability company, as an LLP does not have any share

Consumer Psychology and Buyer Behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Consumer Psychology and Buyer Behavior - Essay Example It is of utmost importance for the marketer to know the behavioural patterns of the target consumers much before the product is launched. Therefore, it can be said without any doubt that the study of consumer behaviour has been the arena of constant research for a marketer. A person can be referred to as consumer if he shows his willingness to obtain goods or services from a seller with the intention of making payments. Consumer behaviour can be defined as the study of variables that determine the purchasing behaviour of any willing person to purchase any product or service. Consumer behaviour is believed to be influenced by the factors like psychology, sociology and economics apart from the product knowledge, product specifications and brand recognition. Cultural factors - The behaviour of a grown up person often depends upon the set of values, perceptions and his preferences as a child, which he acquired from his family or other influential sources. Each culture also has certain sub-cultures within it which provides more specific identification of their behaviour. A subculture includes religion, nationality, region and racial groups. A proper understanding of the implications and bearings of the sub-cultures assists the marketer to analyse the behaviours of the consumer in an effective way. Another important factor that must be taken into consideration along with the cultural factor is that of social class. Social class is indicated by a cluster of variables like occupation, wealth, income and education among other factors. Social class is a crucial variable because a person is often perceived as inferior or superior based upon the social class. It has been observed that social classes essentially differ in dress, speech, hobbies, etc. Social Factors - The social factors like reference groups, family, roles and ranks also determine the behaviour of the consumer. Reference groups are the groups that have a direct influence on the attitude of the buyer, which might affect his purchasing behaviour. Groups that have direct influence on the consumers are known as membership groups. Membership groups can be subdivided into two categories, namely primary group (which consists of family, friends and neighbours with whom the person interacts informally) and the secondary group (which calls for more formal interaction and often based upon profession or religion). The studies on consumer psychology have also shown that people often get influenced by the groups to which they are not directly related. It might take the form of an aspirational group (it is that group to which the person longs to get associated and behaves the way the group does) or a dissociative group (the consumer do not like the group and so behaves in a way so that is not same as the way the group does). The other major player among the reference group is the opinion leader. Opinion leader is a person who is believed to have a sound knowledge on a product and its usage and takes informal channel of

The dust bowl of the 1930s Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The dust bowl of the 1930s - Research Paper Example The Dust Bowl caused losses amounting to millions of dollars in the process drying up the already depressed the economy of the United States in the 1930 through the damages created. The advancement in technology has made NASA believe that Jet Stream could have partly contributed to the drought. The decade of the 1930s was opened with unparalleled growth and prosperity. During the decade, the demand for wheat in the word was high making most farmers purchase tractors, one way plows and combines as a result of making a big chunk of the available land to be under the wheat plantation and with little regard being given to the damage that was being done to the environment (Siegfried, Max, Philip, Randal, and Julio 2004). The grasslands that should have never been plowed being plowed up, in the process breaking millions of acres of land meant for farming in the Great Plains. The year 1930 despite being dry, most farmers made wheat crop. As a matter of fact, in the year 1931, the wheat crop was mostly considered as a bumper crop largely due to the existence of over twelve million bushels of wheat. Wheat could be found everywhere be it in the elevators, in the roads and even on the ground. This increased supply in wheat resulted into prices of wheat going down hence most farmers incurring massive losses and going broke forcing a big number of the farmers to abandon their fields. Between the years 1934 to the year 1936, three record drought were experienced with the year 1936 experiencing a more severe storm that was even more severe and spread out of the plains and across all over the nation. These years of drought were accompanied by what we can consider as record breaking heavy rains, tornados, blizzards and flash floods. In the month of September in 1930, a rain of over five inches was experienced within a very short time in the Oklahoma Panhandle (Siegfried, Max, Philip, Randal, and Julio 2004). This flooding in Cimarron County was further accompanied with a dirt s torm which had profound damage on several small buildings and granaries. Additionally, during the same period, the region was whipped again by a strong dirt storm originating from the southwest until when the winds gave way to a blizzard from the north. The drought began after the blizzards in the winter between 1930 and 1931 which was first experienced by the northern plains feeling the dry spell and immediately followed by the southern plains in mid-July (Siegfried, Max, Philip, Randal, and Julio 2004). The ground as a result dis not have enough water that would necessitate planting until the late September during the same period. As a result of this, there was late planting characterized with early frost and with much of the wheat being small and weak, the wheat was beaten by dirt from the abandoned fields when in 1932 the spring winds began to blow. Various causes can be traced to the Dust Bowl experienced in the US Midwest during the 1930s. Amongst the causes could be the preva iling unstable ocean temperatures in the 1930s. this can be scientifically be explained by the fact that when the temperatures are cooler than normal in the tropical Pacific Ocean while on the other hand the Atlantic Ocean temperatures are experiencing ideal drought conditions as a result of the unstable sea surface temperatures, dry air coupled with high temperature could

Professionalsim, Values and Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Professionalsim, Values and Ethics - Essay Example Sitting on the former site for Anglia Ruskin University, the two phase project is one of a kind in Chelmsford with its unique development plan. The project basically consisted renovation of three key historic buildings which include; the Law building, Frederick Chancellor building and finally the Anne Knight building. The project which is found in the town of Essex is strategically placed thus tend to enjoy a prime location in the town (www.chelmsford.gov.uk). The project lies adjacent to Central Park and is located opposite the Chelmsford station. Still under construction the project stands to boast of over 600 homes with a range of property types, that includes apartments, townhouses, offices, retail outlets, community use spaces and offices Therefore, this paper will seek to explore and examine various features of this project. Some of the key areas that are bound to be covered in this paper include; roles and relationship of the participants, planning and construction process, legal and contractual framework, impact of the project to its surrounding, legacy, values it expresses and the urge to find out whether the design or architecture was inspired by a particular approach. To achieve this task various research methods were applied in order to come up with a detailed description of this project. The methods used in obtaining information included browsing materials on the internet and holding interview sessions with those involved. The only limitation about this project is that it is still in progress now that the second phase is not complete (www.genesisha.org.uk). To conform to the topic, this paper will explore the professionalism, values and ethics of those involved in seeing the project come to a completion and also deliver quality products that guarantee customer satisfaction. In order to see the development of a high end product in city

Digital Reconsruction of America Tropical Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Digital Reconsruction of America Tropical - Essay Example The America Tropical was created during the height of Siqueiros’ haunt for justice and freedom for all oppressed. He expressed it through that mural about all race whether Indians, Creoles, African-American, Mexican-Americans who were tyrannized by their governments. The mural scandalized officials of Olvera Street because it signifies imperialism and a very powerful statement. Olvera Street is an epitome of a Mexican marketplace, which is old-fashioned, folkloric, precious, busy, crowded, and persistently evading anything about political, outrageous and political. In other words, it is a very conservative and historic place for tourists and people who want a peaceful life in their surroundings. Siqueiros broke the silence when he painted it on the street combined with the political theme, but due to wide resistance from the officials, the mural eventually covered by white paint. But then again, the white paint in fact protected the mural from the effects of heavy rain and ext reme exposure to sunlight. Due to widespread acceptance and requests from Chicano artists, they campaigned for the preservation of the America Tropical and a groundbreaking ceremony was held for the restoration of the mural through a platform at the Olvera Street. Christine Sterling was never appreciative of this kind of artwork, she advocated for the rebuilding of the street into a tourist attraction with a theme of a Mexican marketplace. She wanted to expose the city’s Mexican heritage and even hired laborers from the recruited from the local jail to pursue her plans. She really wanted to preserve the city’s rich Mexican influence, but in essence, she never consulted the community of Mexican-Americans to discuss on how they can elaborate the significance and content of the restoration. It is subjective and the approach is more of authoritarian rather than participatory. She deprived the real voice and symbol of Olvera Street, which is the Mexican heritage and struggl e of the people in pursuit for freedom and justice. The objectives of Sterling is kind of related to the Mission Myth because of the romanticism it gets from the restoration and reconstruction project that only depicts tourism, charm and beauty behind the culture and Mexican heritage (Cadge-Moore). It does not encompass the reality of the heritage that is struggle and freedom for social justice and oppression. In addition, elements behind Sequeiros’ mural does not complement with the views of Sterling. The mural portrayed a central figure of an indigenous peasant tied around the double- crossed wood and above the Indian peasant is an eagle representing imperialism as the artist wanted to convey the many sufferings of the people under the government tyranny. A controversial masterpiece of Siqueiros combined public street art with political and revolutionary leanings. While Sterling wanted to create a venue of romanticism and contentment. Frida Kahlo Frida Kahlo is known for he r strong and progressive character who embraced her Mexican heritage throughout her lifetime. Although less influential during her time, her works became popular in the 20th century due to Chicano Movement. She joined the revolution along with her husband, Diego Rivera. Her paintings became a symbol of her character defining her experience and sufferings. One painting is her self-portrait entitled, â€Å"

The Family in the UK today is in crisis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Family in the UK today is in crisis - Essay Example absence of fathers in the lives of their children.2 Aside from the after effect of the feminist movement on traditional family lifestyle, Burgess (1926) states that industrialization and modernization also creates a signifincant impact over the continuously changing functions on nuclear family in our society.3 With regards to the increasing rate of divorce in UK, the essence of a child personally knowing and growing up with his/ her biological parents is highly affected. As a result, a lot of social consequences are becoming significant in the lives of the local citizens. In order to determine whether the family in UK today is in crisis, the researcher will examine the trend related to divorce rate, crime rate, employment rate, early abortion rate and the decline in the UK population as well as its corresponding consequences in our society. One of the main causes of crime is due to poor parenting which is often associated with broken family.4 Many times, children who grew up with a broken family either causes an aggressive behavior or inferiority complex among the children.5 Eventually, these young individuals may end up searching for other alternative ways such as joining a gangster or end up using drugs and alcohol in order to divert their attention from their family issues.6 In line with this matter, Slapper (1997a, 1997b) suggest that parents who practice poor parenting should be controlled by imposing them a penalty.7 Social and economic resources of each family could affect the parents’ capacity to regulate their children’s behaviour.8 In a traditional nuclear family structure, in case the father could not provide sufficient monetary income for the needs of the family, the wife has no choice but to go out of the house to work. Based on the report that was released by the Office for National Statistics in 2006, divorce rate in England and Wales fell by 7% as compared to 2005.9 Eventhough divorce rate in UK dropped from 13.1 to 12.2 persons

Human factors in the Space industry Essay Example for Free

Human factors in the Space industry Essay Abstract The world is in transition from Information Age to Space Age. This can be assumed by observing trends particularly those initiated by developed countries such as the US, Russia, China, Japan and the members of the European Union. The robots are programmed to be more precise in its actions compared to humans but with the humans capability to judge and make decisions according to unexpected circumstances, the latter are still considered a better option for space explorations. This necessitates the study for Human Factors. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the Human Factors that are associated with the Space Industry. such knowledge would give the reader an idea on the Human limitations that must be considered and which could be very critical in space explorations. Without proper consideration, space explorations would be unsuccessful and the transition to Space Age would never ascend from the state of being imaginary, to reality. Consideration of Human Factors Towards the Space Age Humanity is now in the so-called Information age when time is fast-paced and access to information can be as fast, easy and unlimited as the trend for telecommunication and global integration continue to show prospects of expansion. The prospects of expansion, however, is not limited to the â€Å"global†. Current research shows that the trend is gradually opening its way to the rudiments of transition from the Information age to the Space age. Developed countries such as the US, Russia, Japan, China, India, the members of the EU and its industries are starting to involve themselves with the space and satellite industry, spending significant amounts of their budgets to further research, interest and opportunities for the said industry (Partners in Space, 2005). According to the Sacknoff in the 2005 Report on the State of the Space Industry by the International Space Business Council, there had been a total of $103 billion turnover from commercial and government services and programs in 2004. This turnover is expected to increase to at least $158 billion in 2010. Meanwhile, the US Defense has increased its spending for Space-related investments from $15 billion in 2000 to $22 billion in 2005. It is expected to further increase to at least $28 billion in 2010. There has also been a continuous increase in the market for satellite service particularly that of GPS positioning and tracking which could lead to the development of space tourism. According to NASDAQ, the space industry is currently one of the most innovative growth sectors in the world today (Sacknoff, 2005). At present, the US President, George W. Bush has made a proclamation about his â€Å"New Space† vision that could be a challenging turning point for the space industry. The aim of this vision is to be able to return to the moon by the end of the decade and to be able to fly to Mars immediately in the following decade (President Bush Announces New Vision for Space Exploration Program, 2004). Robots vs. Humans However, in order to become successful in such endeavors, the departments in charge of the development must recognize and consider certain factors that are critical to the future of the industry. There is a huge debate on whether there is a need to send humans in space, when there would always be robots to take their place. Those for robots argue that it would limit the risks of â€Å"needless human sacrifices† in case unexpected circumstances arise. However, the NASA argues that while in fact, robots are very useful in space explorations and gathering research data, the needed knowledge about space would never be near complete without human’s ingenuity and physical experience (The Human Advantage, 2003). Applied to the current objective of the â€Å"New Space† vision as well as the objectives of the previous explorations, there are still a lot of things that even robots, and only humans, with their minds, can do. Robots, for example cannot deal with unexpected things while humans can think of creative ways to solve unexpected problems such as equipment breakdown (The Human Advantage, 2003). Installations, upgrades and detailed work in space can only be done with the finesse of human operators. While it can be tested by robots, prospects such as possible life in other planets can only be guaranteed by human exploration.

An Introduction to the financial tools in measuring Liquidity and Profitability

An Introduction to the financial tools in measuring Liquidity and Profitability Tools that are important in monitoring business are liquidity and profitability. Liquidity refers to solvency meaning how quickly assets can be converted to cash while the income statement measures the financial performance of an entity through measuring profitability. The main financial documents of a company measures profitability and liquidity, the statement of comprehensive income measures profitability whilst liquidity is measured by the statement of financial position. Liquidity is measured by comparing the current assets and current liabilities of an entity. Current assets are resources of a business maturing within a year whilst current liabilities are the short term obligations of a business maturing within a year. Therefore, when measuring liquidity we measure the ability of an entity to cover its short term obligations with its current resources which includes inventory, Debtors, cash in the bank and petty cash amongst other resources. If a firm can cover its current obligations with its current resources twice it is considered liquid meaning it can cover its current obligations with few difficulties and any ratio less than that is considered illiquid meaning the entity will face difficulties in settling its current obligations which is not a good sign for any entity. Profitability is measured by matching revenue for a period with expenses for that period. Revenue is the proceeds an entity receives from selling its products from its core business activities. Whilst expenses are those costs incurred during a period in the process of generating sales revenue. Examples of expenses include electricity, rent, depreciation, salaries and wages e.t.c. The excess of revenues over expenses means the business is profitable whilst the vice versa means its making a loss. Profitability is measured in the income statement, and in addition to cash items it also considers non cash items such as depreciation. As a result profitability is not a true reflection of the cash generated by the business given the fact that it is drawn on an accrual basis. Yearling Ltd The company is faced with disagreements between two departments which are the accounting and finance staff. The accounting staff believes that if the company is profitable it should be able to pay for its obligations whilst the finance staff disagrees. The elaboration in the above paragraphs has explained profitability and liquidity and differences can be identified from the explanations. That is profitability means the ability of the firm to cover its operational expenses with its operational revenue and this includes cash and non cash items and hence can not measure the ability of a firm to pay its obligations. On the other hand liquidity measures the ability of a firm to cover its obligations with its resources and hence a perfect measure of the ability of the firm in covering its financial obligations. Hence, a profitable firm can be illiquid i.e. can face liquidity challenges in meeting its obligations. Conclusion The financial managers staff is right in advocating for party budget cut in order to reduce their financial obligations given the challenge they are faced with. On the other hand the accounting staff are wrong in thinking that a profitable firm implies liquidity as these are two different things as was discussed in the previous paragraphs. Question 2 Question 3 3.1.1. Debt Ratio A  debt ratio compares a companys total  debt to its total assets. Debt consists of the amounts borrowed or owing to creditors. The ratio is used to gain a general idea as to the amount of leverage or debt being used by a company. A low percentage means that the company is less dependent on debt or leverage i.e. money borrowed from and/or owed to others. The lower the proportion, the less leverage a company is using and the stronger its equity position. This is so because the lower the chances that the company will be liquidated to meet the debt obligations. In general, the higher the ratio, the more risk that company is considered to have taken on. Debt ratio is calculated by the following formula: For the companies under discussion their debt ratios are as follows: Pelican Paper Ltd Timberland Forest Ltd 1000000/10000000 5000000/10000000 10% 50% Timberland Forest Ltd has got a high ratio of 50% compared to the ratio of Pelican Paper Ltd of 10%. This means that Timberland has a high financial risk as it is financed by debt more than Pelican. The more debt compared to equity a company has, which is signalled by a high debt ratio, the more leveraged it is and the riskier it is considered to be. 3.1.2. Times Interest earned Ratio A metric used to measure a companys ability to meet its debt obligations. It is calculated by taking a companys earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) and dividing it by the total interest payable on bonds and other contractual debt. It is usually quoted as a ratio and indicates how many times a company can cover its interest charges on a pre-tax basis. Failing to meet these obligations could force a company into bankruptcy. The ratio is calculated as follows: Times Interest Earned=Earnings before interest and taxes/interest For the two companies their respective ratios are as follows: Pelican Paper Ltd Timberland Forest Ltd 6250000/100000 6250000/500000 62.5 times 12.5times Pelican Paper Ltd has a high times interest earned ratio of 62.5times compared to Timberlands of 12.5times. This means Pelican has a high ability to cover its debts compared to Timberland as reflected by the number of times they can cover their interest obligations with available earnings. Conclusion Timberland has a high financial risk reflected by a high debt ratio and a lower time interest earned ratio. 3.2 3.2.1. Operating Profit margin Operating profit margin is the proportion of operating profit to Sales revenue for that period. Operating profit margin indicates how effective a company is at controlling the costs and expenses associated with their normal business operations. A high ratio means a high profitability whilst a lower means less profitable. The ratio is calculated as follows: Operating profit margin = operating profit/sales The respective ratios for the two companies are as follows: Pelican Paper Ltd Timberland Forest Ltd 6250000/25000000 6250000/25000000 25% 25% The companies has the same ratios and this implies that they are equally good in managing their costs and expenses hence profitability based on this ratio. 3.2.2. Net Profit Margin The ratio measures the percentage of profit available to ordinary shareholders to Sales. This number is an indication of how effective a company is at cost control. The higher the net profit margin is, the more effective the company is at converting revenue into actual profit. The net profit margins are a good way to compare companies in order to gauge which ONES are relatively more profitable. The ratio is calculated by the following formula: Net profit margin = Earnings available for ordinary share holders/sales The respective ratios of the two companies are as follows: Pelican Paper Ltd Timberland Forest Ltd 3690000/25000000 3450000/25000000 14.76% 13.80% Pelican has a high ratio compared to Timberland which means a high profitability based on this ratio. Therefore Pelican is profitable than Timberland. 3.2.3. Return on Total Assets Measures profit in proportion to total assets, in other words the effectiveness of management utilising the available assets in generating profits. A high ratio means greatest effectiveness and profitability. The ratio is calculated as follows: Return on total assets = Earnings available for ordinary shareholders/Total assets For the two companies the respective ratios are as follows: Pelican Paper Ltd Timberland Forest Ltd 3690000/10000000 3450000/10000000 36.90% 34.50% Pelican has a high ratio compared to Timberlands hence high profitability. 3.2.4. Return on common equity Measures the return earned on the ordinary shareholders investment in the firm. The amount of net income  returned  as a percentage  of shareholders equity.  Return on equity  measures a corporations profitability  by revealing how much  profit a company generates  with the money shareholders have invested.  Ã‚   ROE is expressed as a percentage and calculated as: Return on Equity = Net Income/Shareholders Equity Net income is for the full fiscal year (before dividends paid to common stock holders but after dividends to preferred stock.) Shareholders equity does not include preferred shares. The two companies ratios are as follows: Pelican Paper Ltd Timberland Forest Ltd 3690000/9000000 3450000/5000000 41% 69% Pelican has a lower return on equity compared to Timberland and based on this ratio Timberland is more profitable compared to Pelican. 3.3. Timberland has become more profitable because of the larger debt. Debt has a fixed interest payment and its tax allowed meaning it is tax deductable and as a result a high debt means a high interest payment and lower tax hence increased profits. 3.4. The risks undertaken by Timberland investors are basically financial risks which include the liquidity risk, interest rate risk and credit risk. Question 4 Item Change(Rands) inflow(I)/outflow(o)/neither(N) Cash +100 I Trade and other payables -1000 O Short term borrowing +500 I Long-term borrowing -2000 O Inventory +200 O Non-current assets +400 O Trade receivables -700 I Net profit +600 Depreciation +100 N Repurchase of shares +600 O Cash dividends +800 I Sale of shares +1000 I Question 5 5.1. Year Cashflow PVIF(5%) PV 1 800 0.95 761.90 2 900 0.91 816.33 3 1000 0.86 863.84 4 1500 0.82 1234.05 5 2000 0.78 1567.05 Present Value of mixed cash flows 5243.17 5.2. The amount that can be paid at most is 5  243.17 5.3. Present Value of the mixed cash flows at 7% is as follows: Year Cashflow PVIF(5%) PV 1 800 0.93 747.66 2 900 0.87 786.09 3 1000 0.82 816.30 4 1500 0.76 1144.34 5 2000 0.71 1425.97 Present Value of mixed cash flows 4920.37 An opportunity cost of 7% implies that the investor will be prepared to pay less now and earn the same return as the one who pays more at 5% return. Question 6 6.1. Risk Averse Describes of an investor who, when faced with two investments with same or a similar expected return and different risks, will prefer the one with the lower risk. Given the trade off between risk and return its means risk averse investors will always lose on a potential of earning higher returns as investments with lower risks tend to have lower returns. 6.2. Risk indifferent This describes investors who overlook purposely risk when deciding between investments. They are also called risk neutral investors and they are mainly concerned with an investment expected return. 6.3. Risk seeking Describes investors who are willing to take additional risks for investments that have relatively low expected return. This contrasts with a typical investor mentality risk aversion. They tend to take higher risks in an effort to earn higher returns. They are also termed risk lovers. 6.4. Financial managers are best described as risk averse as they always seek to minimise risk when they make financial decisions. Question 7 7.1. Standard deviation measures the deviation of the returns from the expected return whilst range measures the differences between the highest possible return and the lowest return of a project. The higher the standard deviation the higher the risk whilst the same can be said about range, therefore project A is less risky as it has the lowest standard deviation and range compared to other projects. 7.2. Project A has a lower standard deviation 7.3 Standard deviation measures extend at which the returns are dispersed from the expected return of an asset. But it does not measure proportionately, so given different returns standard deviation will not be proper to use it as a measure of risk for purpose of comparison. 7.4 Coefficient of variation = Standard deviation/Expected Return Project Coefficient of variation A 2.9%/12% 0.24 B 3.2%/12.5% 0.26 C 3.5%/13% 0.27 D 3%/12.8% 0.23 7.5 Coefficient of variation is a best measure of risk for purposes of comparison as it measures proportional deviation from the mean. Given that Grassland owners are risk averse they will choose a project with the lowest coefficient of variation which is project D based on the table above. Question 8 8.1 Comparison of Ordinary shareholders and other providers of long term capital Ordinary Shareholders Other Suppliers of long term capital Dividends to be paid are at the discretion of the companies board of directors Receives a fixed interest whether the company made profit or not. Dividend payments are taxed Interest payments are tax deductible Permanent form of financing They mature Have secondary claims to assets and income of the company. Have primary claims to income and assets of a company. Owners of the firm Creditors of the firm Have voting rights Dont have voting rights. 8.2 Rights offering are when ordinary shareholders are offered new shares at a discounted price first before they become available to the public. Therefore, this offering protects a firms shareholders from dilution of their holding in such a way that they are given preference to maintain their holding first by being offered proportional new shares to their holding. In that manner protected from a possible dilution if they were to be taken by new shareholders. 8.3. Authorised Shares Authorised shares quantify the maximum total shares a company can be allowed to issue. In other words it is the number of shares a company is authorised to issue highlighted in its articles and memorandum of association. It is from this that the company can decide on the number of shares that it can issue and can only issue at most to this amount of authorised shares otherwise it can issue less. Issued shares Its the number of shares that has been issued and paid for and it represents part of the amount equity reflected in the statement of financial position. These also represents the amount of he authorised shares held by the public. Issued shares represents the sum of issued and treasury shares. Treasury shares A company can decide to purchase part of the issued shares back for some reasons. If it does the shares will be held by the company and they do not participate in any thing i.e. they do not participate in voting nor receive dividends. These types of shares are the ones termed treasury shares 8.4. Preference shareholders tend to have more favourable basic rights in terms of the distribution of earnings and assets compared to ordinary shareholders. They often have features of debt instruments which makes them superior in terms of claims compared to ordinary shareholders. The claims that preference shares will be discussed in the paragraphs that follow; Preference shares have a fixed claim on the firms income that takes precedence over the claim of ordinary shareholders. This makes them less risk compared to ordinary shareholders as they have guaranteed income. Given that they are participative preference shares they will also have preference over ordinary shareholders in the distribution of earnings. Furthermore, if they do not receives the dividend earnings it implies the ordinary shareholders they have not as well. This then makes and shows that the ordinary shareholders are the true risk takers. In the event of liquidation, preference shares do have a preference over ordinary shareholders in claims over assets of the firm. In other words they are paid their initial capital first before ordinary shareholders could be paid. 8.5. The cumulative future of preference shares refers to the guaranteed payment of dividends to the shares irregardless of the performance of the company. In the event of a company having less financial resources to pay for the dividend, it will be deferred and paid as and when the company realizes the resources to pay. In other words the dividends are accumulated and paid when the company can. For example, if a company is liable to pay a 10  000 dividend annually for preference shares and it happens that one financial period the lack financial resources to pay the dividend they defer it to the following financial period. As a result, in the following financial period they will have to pay a dividend of 20  000 which covers the 10  000 for the last period and the 10  000 for the current period. Question 9 Valuation of shares with no dividend growth, the formula is as follows. 9.1 Share price = Dividend per share/cost of capital 2.4/0.12 R 20.00 9.2 2.4/0.2 R 12.00 9.3 The higher the risk the higher the value, a lower interest rate results in a higher value. This is so because the lower the interest rate the higher the risk of default and that risk should be compensated by an increased capital value. The reverse is also true for a higher interest rate as it has resulted in a lower capital value.

death or dying Essay -- essays research papers fc

Photographs of Death or Dying; Are They Necessary It has been said that, it would be a good thing if newspapers published more photographs of death and dying. There are many reasons why people say that photographs of dead and or dying people should or should not be published by newspapers. For example, some people say that pictures of people dying should be published in newspapers because death is a huge part of life. While members of the opposition state that death should remain private, and it should not be published, especially in a newspaper. The argument for or against publishing pictures of death will be disputed forever, however, I believe that photographs of death are appropriate, and I will argue why I believe in the publishing of photos of death or dying. I believe that photographs of death or dying should very well be available for the to observe. Death is an inevitable part of life, it is going to happen, regardless of whether or not one wants it to occur. If death is a part of everyone’s life, why shouldn’t it be published? Perhaps if death were published in newspapers or magazines people would become less afraid of it because they know what death entails. Nora Ephron states â€Å"Death happens to be one of life’s main events. And it is irresponsible- and more than that, inaccurate- for newspapers to fail to show it† (Ephron 113). This quote is evidence that there are others that feel the same way as I do about this topic. Death is a part of life, and it should be av...

Smith, the amount of Smith it takes to become a Smith :: essays research papers

SOCIALSECURITY.COM The web site for social security and retirement information. The purpose of this site is to provide up to date social security and retirement information and how to get answers to your questions. This website is a private web site and is not associated, authorized, affiliated with, or sponsored by any goverment, nor do we claim to be. Official worldwide government links for social security can be found on our questions and answers category located on the socialsecurity.com home page. If you have any ideas for enhancing this site or if you have any information you would like posted, please email us at webmaster@socialsecurity.com Please choose ONE of the following links: 1 -To receive the Social Security Benefits Handbook click here. This comprehensive guide answers many of the questions individuals seek regarding social security benefits. Easy to read. Highly informative. If you are looking to maximize your benefits, get everything you deserve and minimize the red tape, then this book is a must. Ordering is handled through Amazon.com at a substantially discounted price. After ordering please use you browsers back button to return to this page and then click the Socialsecurity.com home page link. 2 - FREE HEALTH or LIFE INSURANCE QUOTES. It's Absolutely FREE for all SocialSecurity.com users. You can even get FREE QUOTES for AUTO INSURANCE. You may get quotes for all your insurance needs. No obligation whatsoever to purchase. 3 -Go to Socialsecurity.com home page. You can use your browsers back button to return here from any linked sites. REMEMBER TO BOOKMARK THIS PAGE e-stablished 3/16/98. Disclaimer DISCLAIMER This web site is designed to provide information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is provided with the understanding that the publisher of this information is not engaged in rendering legal, or other professional services. The publisher is not responsible for any misrepresentations or errors regarding information listed here or on any linked sites. All information provided is for informational purposes only. We are not responsible for the reliance on this information. If legal advice or other professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.

Revolutionized Relationship Essay -- Canadian History

One of the major problems associated with a bilingual country, inevitably, is national unity. In Canada, national unity usually refers to the relations between both the French and English Canadians. English-French relations have always been unstable, ever since the English conquest on the French in the late 1800s. In the twentieth century, this link was further depreciated primarily because of conscriptions during the First and Second World War along with the Quiet Revolution and the October Crisis. Conscription during the First and Second World War was one of the initial major causes that began the deterioration of French-English relations largely because the French had no desire to go to war. The Quiet Revolution was an effort to redefine the role of the francophone civilization inside Canada, which was an attempt at strengthening the French-English relationship. Lastly, the October Crisis, which was a sequence of events that were set off by two kidnapping of government official s by members of the FLQ, Front de liberation du Quebec, caused an uprising between French and English Canadians. Theses moments in history greatly affected the French-English Relation greatly. During the twentieth century, the main reasons for the changes of French-English relationships are conscription during the World Wars, the Quiet Revolution and the October Crisis. When World War One was declared, the French immediately made it clear that they had no interest in fighting in the war, especially alongside the English Canadians. Conscription during the war one of the leading causes that worsened, the already weak English-French relations. Because Canada was part of the British Empire, they were involuntarily forced to partake in the war with the... ... with Quebec and bake until separated. The Martlet. Date of publication May 9, 2012. http://www.mar tlet.ca/martlet/article/recipe-separatism/. French English Relations. Dufferin-Peel Catholic School Board. http://www.dpcdsb.org/NR/rdonlyres/1038755C-4E4C-40DB-837B- DE4023D0B133/38622/FrenchEnglishRelations1950PresentNotes.pdf. French-English Relations. Prairie Land Regional Divisions. Last modified March 2006. http://www.plrd.ab.ca/public/v/ellen.vanderkolk/projectroom/ss10- 13/fr.eng.relations.htm. M. D. Behiels, Francophone-Anglophone Relations. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Last modified 2012. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/ francophoneanglophone-relations. Robert Bothwell. The October Crisis. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Date of publication November 15, 2010. http://www.cdnexperience.ca/read-the-series/29-the- october-crisis/.

Predicting the Products of Double Replacement Reactions Essay

Introduction – A double replacement reaction is a chemical reaction between two compounds where the positive ion of one compound is exchanged with the positive ion of another compound. If you have the reactants of two reaction solution that you can determine the products. All you need to do is pair the positive parts of the compounds with the other compounds negative part. Once you find the products you can determine their phase of matter by using Table H. You can also use Table F to determine the solubility guidelines for aqueous solutions. If the product falls under soluble or exceptions to insoluble it is in the aqueous stare. If the product falls under insoluble or exception to soluble it is a precipitate. Once you have completed those steps you can determine if a equation went to completion or not. In order for a reaction to go to completion it must have one of the following three things. First, a gas is produced. This gas is usually H2, O2, or CO2. Secondly, a covalent compound (such as water) is formed. Finally, a precipitate (solid) is formed. When none of those things happen it is considered to be â€Å"no reaction.† When one of those things does happen the reaction is considered to be â€Å"completed.† It is considered to be completed because all of the reagents in the sample have completely reacted out. Purpose – The purpose of this lab was to be able to predict the phase of matter after a double replacement reaction, what the products were, and if the reaction was completed or not. Materials and Methods – †¢.1 M NaCl †¢.1 M AgNO3 †¢.1 M Na3PO4 †¢.1 M NaOH †¢.1 CuSO4 †¢Five droppers †¢Spot Plate †¢Pen/Pencil †¢Paper †¢Goggles †¢Apron Safety Precautions – †¢Wear goggles and apron at all time while inside the lab. †¢You may use rubber gloves o protect your hands from the chemicals that will be used in the lab. †¢If any chemical gets on your skin tell the teacher right a way and thoroughly rinse it with water. †¢If any chemicals happen to get into your eye use the eye wash bottle or the emergency eye wash station. †¢Make sure you wear closed shoes in the lab. †¢No horse playing or inappropriate behavior in the lab. †¢When the lab is complete dispose of the chemicals correctly and place them correctly on the drying rack. Procedure – First, using a spot plate, place five drops of NaCl solution into wells I and IV, five drops of NaOH into wells II and V, and five drops of Na3PO4 into wells III and VI. Next, using the diagrams listed on the lab sheet, add five drops of CuSO4 to wells I, II, and III and five drops of AgNO3 to wells IV, V, and VI. Finally, note any color changes or precipitates formed and record your observations. Observations and Data – I. Appearance before: Clear liquid state. After: Still liquid state, light blue color. II. Appearance before: Clear liquid state. After: Changed to solid state, dark blue. III. Appearance before: Clear/transparent liquid state. After: Solid state, light blue. IV. Appearance before: Clear liquid state. After: White, cloudy, solid state. V. Appearance before: Clear liquid state. After: Cloudy, bits of pieces, brownish, solid state. VI. Appearance before: Clear and bubbly. After: Yellow, cloudy, precipitate present, solid state. Question – 1.Soluble means a substance is able to be dissolved, esp. in water. 2.Insoluble means a substance is incapable of being dissolved. 3.When the symbol (aq) is placed next to an ionic compound it means any solution in which water (H2O) is the solvent. 4.A precipitate is to form an insoluble compound either by reacting two salts or by changing the temperature to affect the solubility of the compound. Also it is the name given to the solid that is formed as a result of a precipitation reaction. 5.You can identify a precipitate when it is written in a reaction if there is a (s) next to one of the reactants or products. If that (s) symbolizing a solid is not present you will have to look at Table F. Table F shows ions that form soluble/insoluble compounds. If the product/reactant falls under insoluble or the soluble exception column it is a precipitate. You can identify a precipitate in a reaction if the reactant or product is in solid form. 6. Balanced equation and state: a.No Reaction b.NaOH + CuSO4 –> Na2SO4 + Cu(OH)2 (s) c.2Na3PO4 + 3CuSO4 –> 3Na2SO4 + Cu3(PO4)2 (s) d.NaCl + AgNO3 –> NaNO3 + AgCl (s) e.NaOH + AgNO3 –> NaNO3 + AgOH (s) f.Na3PO4 + AgNO3 –> NaNO3 + Ag3PO4 (s) Conclusion – The main idea of this experiment is that if you have the reactants of a double replacement reaction that you should be able to find out several things. First, you can figure out the products from switching the positive ion with the other positive ion. Once you have found the products you can determine the phase of matter they are in from Table F and H. Finally, you can also determine whether the reaction went to completion or not. The observations and data above leads me to believe that our experiment is valid. We were very careful and observant of the directions that needed to be taken. Once source of error could have been that certain substances were placed in the wrong wells, causing your data to stray from the correct information. One way this experiment could be applied to a real life situation is he residue in the bottom of a glass in your bathroom. There is stuff dissolved in water, and any trace of water left in a glass will eventually evaporate and leave the residue. Another example can be found if you have ever been to a salt marsh along the ocean, you will see lots of salt deposits, which are just precipitated salt from the ocean water. One improvement that can be done to the lab so that students obtain more valid information is having bigger wells. This way students can see which solutions they are mixing and observe the reaction better. From learning it in class on the smart board to actually seeing the reaction using chemicals, this lab has really helped me further understand how double replacement reactions work, and what can be learned when all you have are the products.

Consumer Behaviour- Soft Drink Industry Essay

Introduction The soft drink industry in India is one of the most competitive with many international and domestic players operating in the market. Initially domestic players like Parle group dominated the Indian soft drink market with brands like Thums up, Limca, Goldspot etc. However with the re-entry of MNC players like Pepsi in 1991 and Coca-Cola in 1993, the market took a decisive shift in favour of these MNCs and over the years Coca-Cola and Pepsi have become the prominent players in the market. Soft drinks can be principally classified into carbonated and non-carbonated. Carbonated drinks include cola, lemon and orange flavors while non carbonated drinks principally comprise of mango flavor. The carbonated cola products constitute 60% of the soft drink market and three prominent brands in this category are Pepsi, Coca-Cola and Thums up. Thums up was a brand from Parle until Coca-Cola bought it in 1993 and tried to kill it to push its own brand. But the loyal customers of Thums up never let it die and the brand still is the leading brand in the Indian soft drink market. Company profile: The Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is the world’s largest beverage company. The company’s best known product Coca-Cola was invented by John Stith Pemberton in 1886. The Coca-Cola formula and brand was bought in 1889 by Asa Candler who incorporated the Coca-Cola Company in 1892. Coca-Cola currently offers nearly 400 brands in over 200 countries or territories and serves 1. 5 billion servings each day. The Coca-Cola Company is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Its current chairman and CEO is Muhtar Kent. Coca-Cola was the leading soft drink brand in India until 1977 when it left rather than reveal its formula to the government and reduce its equity stake as required under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) which governed the operations of foreign companies in India. After a 16-year absence, Coca-Cola returned to India in 1993, cementing its presence with a deal that gave Coca-Cola ownership of the nation’s top soft-drink brands and bottling network. Coke’s acquisition of local popular Indian brands including Thums. Up (the most trusted brand in India), Limca, Maaza, Citra and Gold Spot provided not only physical manufacturing, bottling, and distribution assets but also strong consumer preference. This combination of local and global brands enabled Coca-Cola to exploit the benefits of global branding and global trends in tastes while also tapping into traditional domestic markets. From 1993 to 2003, Coca-Cola invested more than US$1 billion in India, making it one of the country’s top international investors. By 2003, Coca-Cola India had won the prestigious Woodruf Cup from among 22 divisions of the Company based on three broad parameters of volume, profitability, and quality. Coca-Cola India achieved 39% volume growth in 2002 while the industry grew 23% nationally and the Company reached breakeven profitability in the region for the first time. Encouraged by its 2002 performance, Coca-Cola India announced plans to double its capacity at an investment of $125 million (Rs.750 crore) between September 2002 and March 2003. Coca-Cola India produced its beverages with 7,000 local employees at its twenty-seven wholly-owned bottling operations supplemented by seventeen franchisee-owned bottling operations and a network of twenty-nine contract-packers to manufacture a range of products for the company. The complete manufacturing process had a documented quality control and assurance program including over 400 tests performed throughout the process. The complexity of the consumer soft drink market demanded a distribution process to support 700,000 retail outlets serviced by a fleet that includes 10-ton trucks, open-bay three wheelers, and trademarked tricycles and pushcarts that were used to navigate the narrow alleyways of the cities. In addition to its own employees, Coke indirectly created employment for another 125,000 Indians through its procurement, supply, and distribution networks. Sanjiv Gupta, President and CEO of Coca-Cola India, joined Coke in 1997 as Vice President, Marketing and was instrumental to the company’s success in developing a brand relevant to the Indian consumer and in tapping India’s vast rural market potential. Following his marketing responsibilities, Gupta served as Head of Operations for Company-owned bottling operations and then as Deputy President. Product Range The product range of Coca-Cola includes beverages like: * Coca-Cola The parent brand of Coca-Cola Company, Coca-Cola has a truly remarkable heritage. The world’s favourite drink. * Thums Up Strong Cola taste. Thums Up is a leading sparkling soft drink and most trusted brand in Indian soft drink market. * Sprite A global leader in the lemon lime category, it is second largest sparkling beverage Brand in India. Sprite with it’s cut-thru perspective has managed to be a true teen icon. Sprite’s all about being true to yourself and living by the simple and honest code of your own instincts. No more†¦. no less. * Fanta Over the years Fanta has occupied a strong market place and is identified as â€Å"The Fun Catalyst†. Perceived as a fun youth brand, Fanta stands for its vibrant color, tempting taste and tingling bubbles. * Limca Lime ‘n’ lemoni Limca can cast a tangy refreshing spell on anyone, anywhere. Born in 1971, Limca has remained unchallenged as the No. 1 Sparkling drink in the Cloudy lemon segment. * Minute Maid Pulpy Orange One of world’s largest juice drink brands. Eliminated 80% of the water in orange juice, forming a frozen concentrate that when reconstituted created orange juice. * Maaza Imagine the delicious fruit, Mango bottled. This is what Maaza is all about. Universally loved for its taste, color, thickness, Maaza is the mango lover’s first choice. * Kinley Mineral water, a thirst quencher that refreshes, a life giving force that washes all the toxins away. * Georgia Introduced in 2004, the GEORGIA Gold range of Tea and Coffee beverages is the perfect solution for your office and restaurant needs. Product Information: Thums Up Background Thums Up is a carbonated soft drink (cola) popular and largest selling brand in India where its bold, red thumbs up logo is common. During the late 1970s, the American cola giant Coca-Cola abandoned operations in India rather than make a forced sale of 60% of their equity to an Indian company. Following this, the Parle brothers, Ramesh Chauhan and Prakash Chauhan, along with then CEO Bhanu Vakil, launched Thums Up as their flagship drink, adding to their portfolio of older brands Limca (lime flavor) and Gold Spot (orange flavor). Thums Up was basically a cola drink, but the company never claimed it as such. The formula was just as closely guarded as the famous Coke formula. Thums Up enjoyed a near monopoly with a much stronger market share often overshadowing its other rivals like Coca-Cola’s Campa cola, Double seven and Dukes, but there were many small regional players who had their own market. It even withstood liquor giant United Breweries Group (makers of Kingfisher Beer) Mcdowell’s Crush, which was another Cola drink, and Double Cola. In 1990, when the Indian government opened the market to multinationals, Pepsi was the first to come in. Thums Up went up against the international giant for an intense onslaught with neither side giving any quarter. With Pepsi roping in major Indian movie stars like Juhi Chawla, to thwart the Indian brand, Thums Up increased its spending on Cricket sponsorship. Then the capacity went from 250ml to 300ml, aptly named MahaCola. This nickname gained popularity in smaller towns where people would ask for â€Å"Maha Cola† instead of Thums Up. The consumers were divided where some felt Pepsi’s mild taste was rather bland. In 1993 Coca-Cola re-entered India after a prolonged absence from 1977 to 1993. But Coca-Cola’s entry made things even more complicated and the fight became a three-way battle. That same year, in a move that baffled many, Parle sold out to Coke for a meager US$ 60 million (considering the market share it had). Now Coca-Cola’s, and Coke has a habit of killing brands in its portfolio that might overshadow it. Coca-Cola soon introduced its cola in cans which was all the rage in India, with Thums Up introduced alongside, albeit in minuscule numbers. Later Coca-Cola started pulling out the Thums Up brand which at that time still had more than 30% market share. Despite its strong overall equity, the brand Thums Up was losing its popularity among the core cola drinking age group of 12 to 25 year olds, partly due to nil advertising. Coca-Cola apparently did try to kill Thums Up, but soon realized that Pepsi would benefit more than Coke if Thums Up was withdrawn from the market. Instead, Coke decided to use Thums Up to attack Pepsi. The Coca-Cola Company by this time had about 60. 5% share of the Indian soft-drink market but much to its dismay found out that if it took out Thums Up, it would remain with only 28. 72% of the market (according to a report by NGO Finance&Trade in India), hence it once again dusted out the Thums Up brand and re-launched it targeting the 30 to 45 year olds. The brand was re-positioned as a â€Å"manly† drink, drawing on its strong taste qualities. Known to be a strong drink with more power packed into it than other colas, Thums Up kick-started an aggressive campaign directly attacking Pepsi’s TV ads, focusing on the strength of the drink hoping that the depiction of an â€Å"adult† drink would appeal to young consumers. â€Å"Grow up to Thums Up† was a successful campaign. The brand’s market share and equity soared. The brand was unshakeable and Coca-Cola’s declaration that Thums Up was India’s premier cola brand in terms of market share did not surprise many. Other campaigns from Thums Up build on its â€Å"strength† and its perception as a macho drink. Ads showing the Thums Up man, riding through the desert in search of a cantina that sells Thums Up rather than drink another cola, stuck in the minds of many Indians and caught the imagination of youngsters who want to be seen as men. 4 P’s of Marketing Mix for Thums Up. Product: Thums Up is known for its strong, fizzy taste and its confident, mature and uniquely masculine attitude. This brand clearly seeks to separate the men from the boys. Beverage offered by the company in the size of: * SSRB (Standard size returnable bottle) * PET (600 ml, 1. 5 liter plastic bottle) * CANS (tin pack 330 ml) Price: Thums Up has adopted competition based pricing and so the prices are similar to that of other cola drinks. 1. Glass Bottles – 200ml, 300ml – Rs 12. 00 onwards 2. PET Bottles – 600ml, 1500ml, 2 ltrs, 2. 25 ltrs. – Rs 25. 00 onwards 3. Can – 330ml – Rs 35. 00 – 45. 00 4. Fountain – Customized – Rs 15. 00-35. 00 can go upto Rs 60. 00 in movie halls Company offers discount on prices or extra quantity of cold drink during festive seasons and winter seasons. Place: Thums Up has a strong distribution channel to make the product available in the market any time, and maintain optimum level of stock in the market. It covers the rural part also to increase the customer reach. The soft drink is made available at all the possible convenient locations to the customers – local area grocery shops, hotels, restaurants, movie halls, multiplexes, shopping malls, supermarkets vending machines, fountain outlets. Promotion: Thums Up has consistently built its sales promotion through various techniques like, blind taste tests, sponsoring exciting events and sports, conducting various contests (win a motor bike contest), etc. Also its ads are designed to create excitement and to communicate the macho personality of the brand. An ad campaign of Thums Up where Akshay Kumar (its brand ambassador since 2003) performs the extreme sport of ‘parkour’ to grab his bottle of Thums Up from a suggestively attractive lady. â€Å"Taste the Thunder† has been the most breakthrough communication campaign for the brand. It stands for masculinity that has constantly been redefined over the years. Competition Thums Up went from being the only cola in the cantina to facing competition from both Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Twenty-six years later it’s still a top cola in India and is one of the strongest brands in the country across categories. The brand name’s positive associations of victory, achievement and celebration are apparently merited as it continues to do well despite a challenging landscape. | | | | | Thums Up’s first competition came in the form of Campa Cola. There were allegations of aggressive exchanges between the two brands at street level but Thums Up (owned by Parle at the time) apparently won the battle both on the ground and in the consumer’s mind. Campa Cola discontinued in 2000 (only to re-emerge as less of a challenger in 2002 from Pure Drinks New Delhi). For a short while Thums Up’s strong taste enjoyed success across the country with scarcely any competition; the brand reigned supreme in the cola market. Currently Thums Up is facing competition from lots of brands coming in the soft drink industry and still it has maintained its top position in the minds of Indian consumers. Today, an Indian consumer sees Thums Up as a unique brand personality which no other brand has acquired in the soft drink industry. | | Conclusion| Thums Up is amongst the oldest domestic brands in soft drinks industry in India and it is the most popular and trusted brands in India. Thums Up enjoyed a near monopoly in India with a much stronger market share till 1990s. But with the advent of Pepsi (1992) and Coca Cola (1993), Thums Up started facing stiff competition. In 1993, Parle sold out to Coke and Thums Up became the brand of Coca-Cola Company. Though Coca-Cola tried to kill Thums-Up to build its own brand, it sooner realized the importance of Thums Up to survive in the Indian market to beat its core competitor Pepsi. Today Thums Up has grown its image from just a soft drink to a lot more for Indian consumers. It has established itself as a distinguished brand with strong taste and which communicates maturity, daring and excitement to its consumers. Thums Up has consistently maintained honesty and trust with its consumers and that’s why it is still the number one cola brand in the country.