Thursday, August 27, 2020

Coursework 1 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

1 - Coursework Example 3. Utilizing the information from the Venn Diagram underneath, 7 motion pictures on DVD had battles however not blasts or vehicle crashes. ( U = {movies on DVD collection}, C = {movies with vehicle crashes}, F = {movies with fights}, E = {movies with explosions}) 4. (a) Since we have 3 sets in conversation, the enrollment table that we will utilize requires 23=8 columns. Every one of these columns speaks to a remarkable blend of conceivable enrollment esteems. (1 = the component is an individual from the relating set, 0 = the component isn't a part) To see whether the two sets A U (B ∠© C) and A ∠© (B U C) are equivalent, we take a gander at their comparing sections and check whether relating columns have similar qualities. The enrollment table obviously shows that the fifth and seventh segments don't have similar passages in relating columns, in this way the two sets are not equivalent. This model appears to repudiate the past guess that A U (B ∠© C) and A ∠© (B U C) are not equivalent. Be that as it may, as should be obvious from the participation table, this model just represents one of the situations when the two sets are

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Ap European History Timeline Project

The Peace of Augsburg The Peace of Augsburg was marked in 1555, finishing the wars of religion in the Holy Roman Empire. It expressed that the pioneers of the numerous areas in the Empire can choose what religion they needed their kin to follow. This bargain perceived Lutheran Protestants and Catholics, however not Calvinism. This basically was the first run through in the Holy Roman Empire that another religion was permitted, other than Catholicism. Settlement of Westphalia Marked in 1648, the Treaty of Westphalia indeed finished a strict war, the Thirty Years’ War. It was the bargain that perceived Calvinism, at last, alongside Lutheranism and Catholicism. It utilized a similar approach as the settlement previously, The Peace of Augsburg. The Holy Roman Empire had adequately become an assortment of various states and regions with varying strict perspectives managed by primarily Hapsburgs. Tranquility of Paris The Peace of Paris was marked in 1763. It was consented to in a harmony arrangement to end the Seven Years’ War. England got quite a bit of French grounds in the Americas, starting their broad strength outside of mainland Europe. Nonetheless, the French acquired the West Indies, which was additionally a fortune for them. Prussia and Austria were excluded from the arrangement, rather marking an alternate settlement, the Treaty of Hubertusburg. Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna was a gathering of the pioneers of numerous nations from Europe to choose what to do after the Napoleonic Wars. The â€Å"Final Act† of the bargain was marked only days after his last thrashing at Waterloo. The Bourbons of France were reestablished as the rulers and Napoleon was banished by and by. The level of influence in Europe had been reestablished. It was marked in 1814. The Frankfurt Assembly This was the principal unreservedly chose parliament for the entirety of Germany. After meaningful conversation and discussions in 1849, another constitution was drawn up. It delineated the whole German Empire’s government, including the inherited head, the Kaiser. This constitution was afterward utilized as the reason for the constitution of the Weimar Republic and for the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949. By and large, the Frankfurt Assembly hugy affected the fate of Germany.

Friday, August 21, 2020

Mental Health Resources to Help During the Holidays

Mental Health Resources to Help During the Holidays Mental Health Resources to Help During the Holidays Mental Health Resources to Help During the HolidaysIts all too easy to get depressed around the holidays. This year, give yourself the gift of getting help.  While the holidays are often a happy time, they can be tough for many people. A survey conducted by the National Alliance on Mental Illness found that 64% of people said they’re affected by the “holiday blues,” and 24% said it affects them a lot.You shouldn’t feel bad about feeling bad, but if you do want to try and enjoy the holiday cheer, there are mental health resources you can use and steps you can take to try to improve your mood.Dial 211You’ve definitely heard of 911. And you’ve probably heard of 411. But did you know there were other X11 numbers out there for Americans to call? Like 211, which was created back in 2000 to provide callers access to different kinds of local community services. Those services include resources to access food and shelter, especially for those who might have trouble affording them. Relevant to the topic at hand, you can dial a french hen and a partridge in a pear tree twice (that’s 211 in Christmas numbers) to gain access to affordable local mental health resources, like counseling and support groups. It might be known as the season of giving, but there’s no reason it can’t also be the season of asking for help if you need it!Check this online resourceMentalhealth.gov  has a list of resources for affordable mental health access, including links specifically for veterans. We know nobody likes making phone calls anymore, so this is a way to hopefully get some help without having toâ€"ughâ€"talk to someone out loud.SMS SOSSpeaking of not making phone calls, there are resources you can text if you want to use your phone to get help but, as mentioned above, you’d rather hide under a rock than have a conversation on the phone.7 Cups is a resource that lets you text or online chat a therapeutic “listener.” You can choose your listener based on their spec ialties, expertise, and other characteristics. Whether you just need a quick person to talk to or longer-term help, 7 Cups could be a way to get over the holiday blues, as well as blues you face at other times of year too.If you’re having a serious emergency situation, you can reach out to the Crisis Text Line. They do warn you on the site that it’s only if you have an urgent need, so while it could be a lifesaver, you should stick to the other links we’ve provided if you’re not at a crisis point.Small steps each dayIn addition to people you’ve never met that you can reach out to, you shouldn’t hesitate opening up to friends and family, if you feel comfortable doing so. There are also steps you can take on your own to try and make the dark days of winter a little brighter.“Practice acceptance,” suggested therapist Kimberly Hershenson. “Make a list of what you can control in the situation (getting enough sleep, eating well) and what you cant control (your kid having a temper tantrum). Focus on what you can control to make change and accept what you cannot control.”And that’s not all!“Read affirmations every morning. Starting your day with positivity kickstarts your day on the right foot,” advised Hershenson. “Start a meditation practice. Search guided meditation on YouTube or download a free app such as 10% happier (which teaches you meditation techniques).”Hershenson also contributed to a previous post we did about managing your mental health on a budget. All of the tips from that article can be applied to holiday or season-specific depression. One such tip Hershenson offered was about technology before bed: “Turn off the TV, computer, and your phone an hour before bed. Technology stimulates the brain causing our minds to stay active and unable to wind down. Turning off technology allows us to slow down and prepares the body for rest.”Alisa Kamis-Brinda, psychotherapist and owner of  Serenity Solutions Therapy  was also a cont ributor to that previous mental health post. She directed us towards a list of tips she had written on her site for dealing with the holiday blues:Get 7-9 hours of sleep each night.Eat healthy meals and avoid overeating at parties. Fill up on fruits and vegetables and avoid standing near the dessert table.Avoid excessive alcohol use. Drink water and other non-alcoholic beverages.Exercise for stress management. If you struggle to find time in your schedule for this, park in the furthest spot at the mall and walk an extra 10 minutes while you are there.Schedule time for you. Not every minute needs to be filled with shopping, cooking, cleaning, and visiting.Say “no” when your schedule is too busy.Plan to spend time with positive people and limit time with those who are toxic. Consider volunteering to be around people who care.Make a budget and stick to it. It’s not worth it to overspend now and struggle with finances in the new year.Be realistic about your expectations regarding how others will behave. Don’t expect Aunt Sally and cousin Joe to get along if they fight every year at the holiday dinner.Take pressure off of yourself. It is more important for your mental health to follow the above steps than it is to try to be perfect and get everything done. Prioritize, delegate and give yourself a break.Giving yourself a break from the phones and the computers every so often is probably a good idea regardless of the time of day. We have constant access to infinite information these days, and much of it can be stressful. You shouldn’t feel bad about taking a break for your own well-being, especially when it comes to something you couldn’t fix anyway.As Hershenson said above, it’s important to try and focus on the things you can change. Since it is the season of giving, you could even consider volunteering if you’re able to and up for it. It can help you feel like you’re making a positive change in the world and might take your mind off your own prob lems for a little bit.Regardless, know that help is always out there. We hope you have a festive and cheerful holiday season, and that the blues don’t get to you too much.How do you deal with holiday stress? We want to hear from you!  You can  email us  or you can find us on  Facebook  and  Twitter.Visit OppLoans on  YouTube  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  LinkedINContributorsAlisa Kamis-Brinda, LCSW, LCADC,(@SerenityAlisa) owner and primary psychotherapist at  Serenity Solutions, LLC, in Philadelphia, PA, helps overwhelmed, stressed out professionals and new moms learn how to slow down anxious and angry thoughts so that they can be in the present moment, relax and enjoy life again.Kimberly Hershenson  (@kimhershlmsw) has worked successfully with clients who have experienced problems such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders, substance abuse, personality disorders, and difficult relationships. Her aim is to create a warm, supportive, and safe space for her clients to help achieve their personal goals. She believes that, together, they can work on understanding feelings and behaviors regarding clients’ areas of concern while helping them to practice healthier coping mechanisms in order to fully participate in life.

Monday, May 25, 2020

Organizational Behavior At A Local Community College

As a current student studying business at a local community college, there have been several courses that I have taken that have greatly heightened my comprehension and retention of the business realm and all that it encapsulates. In one of my current classes, organizational behavior, instructed by Mrs. Swanson we have covered a multitude of exciting and interesting topics that pertain to the understanding of the different components and elements that comprise the different roles of management and the behaviors that they exuberate. Organizational Behavior for me as a student has been a very enjoyable class nonetheless while broadening my knowledge of what the business world is like on the management side of the spectrum. With all of the different topics that we have covered in class there is one in particular that caught my eye, one that I personally have seen and dealt with personally as an employee at a corporation for several years and while all at the same time experienced the in credible dynamic shift as the textbook entails, the McGregor theory. What is the McGregor theory? You may be asking yourself. The theory itself is comprised of two components labeled theory X and Theory Y pertaining to management genres. The typical Theory X management is a theory suggesting rather that the employees of a company inherently dislike work and must therefore be directed or even coerced into performing it, almost in a totalitarian regime basis in that the mangers are essentiallyShow MoreRelatedStatement Of Service To The School Of Management And To Nazareth University904 Words   |  4 Pagesc. Service to the School of Management and to Nazareth College: Organizational Citizenship Entrepreneurial Efforts I have served the College and the SoM in a variety of roles. Within the College I have served on both elected and appointed committees and other â€Å"entrepreneurial efforts† through ad hoc committees and in consultation roles. Examples of the latter include the College 2020 taskforce and co-convener of the nascent social innovation group (See C.V. for a complete listing). My most enduringRead MoreEssay On New Member Experience1421 Words   |  6 PagesWELL-BEING COMMUNITY RESPONSIBILITY HUMAN DIGNITY HERITAGE Skill Focus Communication Strategic Thinking Conflict Resolution Vision Change Management Relationship Building Trust Teamwork and Collaboration Coaching and Feedback Professionalism Learning Critical Thinking Problem-Solving Decision-Making Identity Development Healthy Living Personal Safety Self-Awareness Civic Responsibility Influence Service to Others Plan and Organize Ethics and Values High Standards Integrity Organizational KnowledgeRead MoreAnalyzing How Internal And External Forces Affect Organizational Effectiveness1593 Words   |  7 PagesAdministrating a college is different from running a business firm. Driven by a clear profit generation goal, business administrators utilize management instruments to make rational decisions linearly. Contrastingly, college administrator will often encounter issues of shared governance, unclear mission, dynamic organizational culture, and loosely coupled structure, which make the decision making process challenging and time-consuming (Birnbaum, 1988). Due to the unique nature of college administrationRead MorePedagogical Journal Essay1038 Words   |  5 Pagesnetwork of academics partnering closely with practitioners, managers, and refugees focused on all resettlement issues. For my higher education-focused research, a medium-term project involves securing global partners to pilot the service-learning/community-based teaching student evaluation of teaching and learning (SET) instrument we have developed through the Center for Civic Engagement and the Center for Service-Learning. My long-term goal is to strive to have all of my scholarly work contributeRead MoreNaval Ship Yard Detachment : Organizational Assessment Essay1631 Words   |  7 PagesC246 Organizational Assessment John S. Windley Thomas Edison State College / Enhancing Performance in Technology Organizations 09/11/16 Table of Contents P1 3-5 P2 6-7 Figure 1 3 Figure 2 3 Figure 3 4 Figure 4 5 Figure 5 5 Figure 6 6 Figure 7 7 1 Leadership 1.1 Senior Leadership: NNSY C246 uses Community of Practice (CoP) leadership and improvement principles. The Community of PracticeRead MoreBackground. Culture Refers To The Shared Values And Beliefs1379 Words   |  6 Pagesorganizations together. The role of institutional culture should not be understated. There are four broad principles of culture: (1) it creates and maintains a unique identity; (2) it promotes loyalty and personal investment to the organization, such as a college; (3) it promotes cohesiveness to the group; and (4) it manages and influences individual and group action (Gage, 1978; Goodlad, 1984; and Kuh Whitt, 1988). There is not singular or concise definition of culture in organization. â€Å"Culture is arguedRead MorePersonal Statement : Academic Emphasis And Scholarship Programs Essay1292 Words   |  6 Pages8. Policies on academic emphasis and scholarship programs (including those who fall below the minimum GPA) Each chapter is required to maintain academic standards equal to or higher than the university or college all-sorority average. Therefore, the Kappa chapter at UCCS will be expected to meet or exceed a 3.18, the all-sorority average in spring 2016. Position Statement: Academic Excellence Kappa Kappa Gamma recognizes the value in striving for intellectual excellence and pursuing opportunitiesRead MorePhd Statement of Purpose1320 Words   |  6 Pagesto the Ph.D. program in Organizational Behavior at Purdue University because I want to pursue a career in teaching and organizational consulting. To be more specific, I am interested in studying the factors that influence employee motivation, employee productivity in different environments and the effects of layoffs on employee motivation. In order to better understand these issues, it is extremely essential for me to have a strong command of various areas of organizational theory, psychology as wellRead MoreThe Ethics Of An Ethical Leader1251 Words   |  6 Pagesnecessary. (Russell) As an ethical leader, it is important to be relatable and establish trust by remaining consistent in all that they say and do. Demonstrate transparency by communicating in a timely manner. Have an understanding of the organizational culture while making sure everyone is treated with dignity and respect regardless of their backgrounds. Making sure the organization is in compliance and following the company’s code of ethics. Lastly, making clear to those they lead that ethicsRead MoreCorporate Social Responsibility779 Words   |  4 PagesPolytechnic University of the Philippines Sta. Mesa, Manila College of Business Submitted by: Ramizares, Riza Marie M. BSBA HRDM 4-6N Submitted to: Professor Celso D. Torreon Corporate Social Responsibility Corporate Social Responsibility * Organizational Culture is the behavior of humans who are part of an organization and the meanings that the people attach to their actions. Culture includes the organization values, visions, norms, working language, systems, symbols, beliefs

Thursday, May 14, 2020

`` Riding The Bull At Gilleys `` And The Socio Cultural...

When asked to define the word rape, a number of responses may be given depending upon what country or state one lives in and if one is a male or female. According to Pandora’s Project.org, rape is defined as any sexual contact or penetration attained without consent; with physical force, intimidation, threat, trickery, or when the victim is mentally capacitated, physically or mentally impaired, asleep or unconscious; this includes due to voluntary or involuntary alcohol or drug consumption. In â€Å"Riding the Bull at Gilleys,† Scully and Marolla depict the psychopathological and the socio-cultural models of rape. The psychopathological model is a representation of what psychotherapist have used for years to explain the reasoning behind rape. With this model, rape is the result of an eccentric mental dysfunction, which symptoms include involuntary and uncontrollable sexual impulses. These sexual impulses may be temporary, repetitive, long lasting or brief. This model also implies that male sexual aggression is abnormal, therefore; psychologists do not seek any other rational explanation. Mainly, the psychopathological model ignores any correlational factors linking male sexual aggression to learned social behavior. The socio-cultural model views the social or environmental context of rape as an explanation of aggressive behavior. The socio-cultural view of rape is a result of a patriarchal system that is characterized by an ideology of male authority and different

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

slavery in brasil Essay - 747 Words

Because certain forms of slavery had existed for centuries on the continent of Africa, Brazilian historians used to say that blacks imported from across the Atlantic were docile and ready to accept their new status as slaves. This assertion is based on the unwarranted assumption that was true of a limited area of Africa was typical of the continent as a whole. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;All slavery in brazil was essentially the same depending on the task or the labor the slave had to preform. In many cases the slaves was there to perform labor that was deplorable to the nobility. The Peninsulares born on the Iberian peninsular or even Creoles born in the Americas. During the 1500-1800s there were shortages of women from the†¦show more content†¦There was a strong market in brazil for beef especially dried beef because there was no refrigeration system in those days. The cattle ranchers were called or known as Gougho. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Between the 15 century to the 18 century slavery was very much and economic institution. The Cost factor in those times was very expensive to buy slaves from Africa. This played an important role on the upkeep and how those slaves were treated. There were free blacks who owned slaves of their own. The slaves that were bought were already slaves from the African kingdom. The slaves in the Americas had no rights over themselves and their children had no social status. Slaves who worked on the Hacienda large farms had to produced surplus for regional market places. They overseen by the Haciendado a person who ran the farm. Slavery was not partial to only Africans and Indians but at a later time Asian and Europeans too. The Indians laboring cleaning the silver oar lives were at stake from being poisoned from the mercury used to clean the silver oar. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The masters had the freedom to do what they pleased with slaves. There were very strong demands placed for slaves dependant of the city. They allowed loyal slaves to work in the Casa grand the house of the master. Brazil was considered a slave society, slaves out numbered free people. There were slave if pushed orShow MoreRelatedBrazil : The Red Wood Of South America1624 Words   |  7 Pagesthe Portuguese led by Pedro à lvares Cabral, a diplomat from Portugal were encountered by the Tupinamba Indians on their arrival to Brazil. Their objectives were to control the profitable trade of red wood, pau brasil and settle permanently. Besides being cherished for producing dye, pau brasil gave Brazil its name. The Portuguese planned to make plantations out of the accessible land and that required workers. At first the Indians became their slaves, but the foreign diseases brought by the EuropeansRead MoreDifferences Between Brazilian Private Life And Public Life23 37 Words   |  10 Pagesthe home, the family, and close friends (the private) and that which contains associations in the streets and work, and even those in the political world (the public). In the chapter â€Å"A casa, a rua e o trabalho,† of DaMatta’s book O que faz o brasil, Brasil, he presents a clear, though very generalized, version of what the private space (the home) and the public space (the street and work) is in the minds of Brazilians. He explains that Brazilians have the perception of the the home is an exclusiveRead MoreEconomy of Brazil Essay1156 Words   |  5 Pagesincreased rapidly until the 1750s when gold exports peaked. After the gold deposits became depleted and exports declined sharply in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, the Brazilian economy entered another long period of stagnation. (6) Slavery was also took a big part in the shaping of Brazils colonial economy. At first the Portuguese bartered with the natives to bring brazilwood and other forest items to the coast. But when the natives had accumulated all the tools and pots they neededRead MoreThe History of Soccer in Brazil Essay3103 Words   |  13 Pagestimber would soon change. Cash crops in the form of sugar cane production became the focus. Slavery was needed for the growing of sugar cane and replaced the unsuccessful usage of native people for labor. â€Å"Regular slave trade between Brazil and Africa was begun in the 1550s as a temporary measure to replace the Indians decimated by war and disease, but it lasted for over 300 years, and the institution of slavery persisted until 1889, Brazil being the last country of the American hemisphere to abolishRead MoreAffirmative Action Essay1884 Words   |  8 Pagesdarker also tend to be less educated and have lower paying jobs. According to Oliveira  "the less â€Å"black† a person looks, the better- for jobs and social mobility† (2017). As said by Santos (2006:31) â€Å"Prestigious publications such as the Jornal do Brasil agreed that it was indeed necessary to implement quotas as a tool for ensuring that blacks were afforded the opportunity to acquire higher education†, but what is considered black and how is that determined. The answer to that is fairly easy, at leastRead MoreBrazil Culture17445 Words   |  70 PagesCabral did not take place until six years later in 1500. First Settlements (1530-1549) Cabrals voyage was soon followed by other Portuguese expeditions. The most exploitable wealth they found was a wood that produced red and purples dyes, pau-brasil (from which the country derived its name). Organized occupation only began in 1530, when Portugal sent out the first colonists with domestic animals, plants, and seeds to establish permanent settlements. The existing small enclaves in the northeastRead MoreBrazil And Its Impact On America3052 Words   |  13 Pagesfirst have to look at its roots and its history. Brazil was colonized by Portuguese sailors around the beginning of the 16th century, but it has a native Indian population that dates back hundreds of years. The name Brazil actually comes from the pau-brasil, a red-wood used for making red dye. The Portuguese colonizers and Tupinamba Indians originally worked together harvesting the red-wood trees but eventually the Portuguese enslaved the Indians before they began to either die of European diseases orRead MoreCul tural Analysis Brazil2706 Words   |  11 Pagesweakened Portuguese control of the Brazilians. Throw-out this period however one of the major forces behind the shaping of Brazilian culture was the burgeoning slave trade in which the Afro-Brazilian became an element of the Brazilian population. Slavery, role and effects in Brazil Descendants of Western African nations, the Afro Brazilian were the mix of the indigenous Brazilian people and the slaves which were taken to Brazil over a span of 300 years. The Afro-Brazilian makes up over 40% ofRead More Brazil Essay2731 Words   |  11 Pages The name Brazil comes from Pau Brasil. There are around 145 million people living in Brazil, most of them near the coast. The population is growing rapidly and half of all Brazilians are under the age of 20. By the end of the century, it is estimated that Brazil’s population will have reached 180 million. Brazil borders on ten other Latin American countries. Most of the northern part of Brazil is low-lying and veined by the mighty Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon is the largest riverRead Morechapter 17 AP World History: the diversity of American Colonial societies2298 Words   |  10 Pagesmining,or farms To much mita and tax on villages so worked full time weakend village life and promoted assimilation Brazil already used slaves to make sugar on Sao tome,Madeira islands,Azores,and cape verde 1600 sugar dominated brazil’s economy c. Slavery and Slave trade Portuguese captured and enslaved Amerindians and progressed inland because of slave deaths Eventually used African slaves more more productive and resistant to disease but more$ 5 africans for every European 1650-1750 d. Colonial

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Knowledge Experience Well Influencing Power -Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Knowledge Experience Well Influencing Power? Answer: Introducation In the case of Vrisakis v Australian Securities Commission [1993] 9 WAR 395 the question before the court was to determine whether the director involved in relation to the operations of the company has been able to live up to the expectations which is imposed on the directors while they discharge. When this case had been decided the Corporation Act 2001 (Cth) has not been in enacted therefore statutory duties in relation to which a director must function with respect to an organisation was not applicable. However in this case the duty which the directors needed to comply with and which the court has to analyse was the mirror image of the duty provided in section 180(1) of the act. This duty was in relation to the observance of a degree of due care and diligence while operating on behalf of the company. In this case it had been provided by the court that the direction and management of the organisation consists of making decisions and working upon actions which may bring much promise on one hand however on the same time they are fraught with risk on the other hand. This system is inherent in the life cycle of Commerce and industry. In this case a non executive director was assumed to have significant responsibilities in relation to the operations of the company. This is because he had significant experience in commercial matters along with the specialised knowledge ability and skill which is required to manipulate or influence the company's affairs which have been conducted previously in a way which can be considered as totally inappropriate. The director in this case was expected to take into account or more intense analysis and evaluation in relation to the affairs of the company. In this context Ipp J had held at the director has to be excused from any form of liability as if it is not done it would be discouragement towards the expected entrepreneurship from non executive directors like him. In addition it has been stated by him that the process of balancing foreseeable risk in relation to harm which may arise against the potential benefits which may have been expected reasonably to arise in relation to the organisation from the conduct of the directors in this case. In addition in this case both Malcolm CJ and Ipp J had agreed upon the fact that Where are non executive director holds considerable knowledge and experience as well as influencing power, while analysing his actions they need to be compared to a standard of an executive director. In addition it has been held by the judge in this case that the statutory duty in relation to diligence and care would be breached in case the director in context have failed to exercise reasonable extent of diligence and care while exercising his power and discharging his obligations towards organisation. In addition this duty exists or is violated even in situation where the organisation has not faced any actual damage and merely in situation where it could have been reasonably foreseen that such actions of the director would on a subject the organisation or its interest to detriment or harm. This can be simplified as the shareholders and the organisation itself along with the creditors of the company where the financial position of the company is not good have to taken into consideration while determining whether the hard was possible or not and whether the duty has been violated or not. It has also been stated by the court in this case that the best interest of the organisation include the best interest of the members in form of members. The judges also held at even when there is no actual damage caused to the organisation the duty of care and diligence maybe breached by the directors of the company. The judges in this case also provided that the question in relation to the breach of duty of care and diligence can only be addressed properly by referring to the creation of a balance in relation to the possible risk of harm with respect to the potential benefits which could have been expected reasonably to be gained by the company from the actions. In addition the directors of the company have the right to rely upon the judgement, advice and information provided by those officers of the company who have been entrusted to do so without any verification. However the principal has to be considered in the light of the duty to make enquiry when suspicion arises in relation to the mind of a reasonable director. The duties violated by the directors in this case In this case the Australian security Commission had made an allegation in relation to the non executive director that there was a failure on his part to apply a due degree of care and diligence in relation to his operations towards the organisation. If the situation is referred to the contemporary law it may be stated that the director of the company was allowed to violate the provisions which have been stated in the corporation act through section 180(1). This section provides that while discharging the duties there must be a due degree of care intelligence observed by the directors of the company. This due degree of care and diligence is analysed or determined by the court by employing another reasonable director in the same position of the director against whom the allegation has been made and then find out whether the reasonable director would have taken the same decision as the actual director. If it can be established through this test that the reasonable director in the same s ituation in that of the actual director would have taken the same decision then the duty of care and diligence have not been breached by the actual director. However in case the reasonable director would not have taken the decision which was taken by the actual director then it will be stated that the actual director has violated the provisions provided in this section. In the contemporary law which is the Corporation Act governing organisations registered in Australia the penalty for breaching this section by any director of a company is provided under section 1317E of the legislation. Under this section the director may be suspended by the court from managing Corporation in Australia in the future. In addition if this civil penalty provision is violated by any director the court in case of a serious breach has the right to impose a financial penalty on the director as well. Moreover if the director recklessly and knowingly violates the provision provided in section 180 then a criminal proceedings may also be brought against the director under the provisions of section 6.1 of the criminal code. Analysis of the decision which have been provided by the court in relation to this case. The case involves the application of common law principles of negligence in relation to a duty of care on corporate organization. In this case it had been ruled by the court that the non executive director is to be excused or declared not guilty by the court in the given situation. While providing this decision it was also held by the court that the director have violated the duty which he had towards a company however if he is prosecuted it would discourage other entrepreneurs to involve in decision making which may be in the interest of the organisation in future. The decision of the case consists of both a positive and negative aspect. It was clear to the judges in this case that the director have indulge in actions which are in violation of law. However taking into consideration the future implications of the case the Court held at the directors should not be liable. As done in the case of Australian Securities and Investments Commission v Sino Australia Oil Gas Ltd - [2014] FCA 565 in situation where the director has violated any duty he should be prosecuted. The decision of the court in this case is also supported by the provisions of section 1318 of the Corporation Act which have been included to forgive the directors in situations where they violet the duty what buy them to the organisation. Thus through this discussion it is clear that this case has a lot of legal significance in relation to the Australian Corporate Law. It not only provides what actually constitutes the breach of the duty of diligence and care in relation to the organisation but also state the situation in which the director may be excused from the liability. The implications of this case on the future of Australian legal system are discussed below. Future implications of the case in relation to the Australian legal system One of the most significant implications of this case is that the statutory duty in relation to diligence and care would be breached in case the director in context have failed to exercise reasonable extent of diligence and care while exercising his power and discharging his obligations towards organisation. In addition this duty exists or is violated even in situation where the organisation has not faced any actual damage and merely in situation where it could have been reasonably foreseen that such actions of the director would on a subject the organisation or its interest to detriment or harm. This can be simplified as the shareholders and the organisation itself along with the creditors of the company where the financial position of the company is not good have to be taken into consideration while determining whether the hard was possible or not and whether the duty has been violated or not. It has also been stated by the court in this case that the best interest of the organisat ion include the best interest of the members in form of members. These principles have been applied in the case of ASIC v Cassimatis (No 8) [2016] FCA 1023 where the director was held liable for the breach of statutory duty of diligence and care even where there was no financial loss faced by the organization. The loss of the organization reputation was held enough by the court to come to a conclusion that the duty of diligence and care have been violated. In this case it had been provided by the court that the direction and management of the organisation consists of making decisions and working upon actions which may bring much promise on one hand however on the same time they are fraught with risk on the other hand. The application of these principles had been done by the court in the case of Re Connective Services Pty Ltd (28 November 2017) [2017] VSC 609 as done by Robson J. This case set out for the future that the directors has to be excused from any form of liability as if it is not done it would be discouragement towards the expected entrepreneurship from non-executive directors like him. These principles of the case has been established through section 1318 of the Corporation Act 2001. However excusing a director entirely is situation where a breach of duty has been identified has rarely been done in the legal system. One more significant ruling which had been provided through this case is that the process of balancing foreseeable risk in relation to harm which may arise against the potential benefits which may have been expected reasonably to arise in relation to the organisation from the conduct of the directors in this case. These provisions have been successfully applied in the case of ASIC v Doyle (2001) 38 ACSR 606; ASIC v Macdonald (No 11) (2009) 256 ALR 199. Another significant implication of this case is that where are non-executive director holds considerable knowledge and experience as well as influencing power, while analysing his actions they need to be compared to a standard of an executive director. In this case a non-executive director was assumed to have significant responsibilities in relation to the operations of the company. The application of these principles have been done by the court in the case of ASIC v Healey (2011) FCA 717 References ASIC v Cassimatis (No 8) [2016] FCA 1023 ASIC v Doyle (2001) 38 ACSR 606 ASIC v Healey (2011) FCA 717 ASIC v Macdonald (No 11) (2009) 256 ALR 199. Corporation Act 2001 (Cth) Re Connective Services Pty Ltd (28 November 2017) [2017] VSC 609 Vrisakis v Australian Securities Commission [1993] 9 WAR 395

Thursday, April 9, 2020

A Dollhouse, Acts Ii Iii Essay Example

A Dollhouse, Acts Ii Iii Essay Example A Dollhouse, Acts Ii Iii Essay A Dollhouse, Acts Ii Iii Essay Story: A Dollhouse, Acts II III Author: Henrik Ibsen Topic: What is Nora most â€Å"wonderful thing of all†? In what does Nora think that she and Torvald did not have her â€Å"most wonderful thing†? There are wonderful things that we all had to face in our lives. Some were for our own good and some was not. But through it all, we have learned from it. In acts II and III of â€Å"A Dollhouse†, the author, Henrik Ibsen, shows how Nora speaks several times of her â€Å"most wonderful thing of all†. What is her â€Å"most wonderful thing† and what ways that Nora and Torvald did not have them â€Å"most wonderful thing†? In Act Two the word wonderful is again repeated three times: NORA: â€Å"A wonderful thing is about to happen. MRS. LINDE: Wonderful? NORA: Yes, a wonderful thing. But also terrible, Christine, and it just cant happen, not for all the world† (1903; II. 341-343). This means something terrible, which must not happen, not for the entire world. What does this word mean? In act II, the Christmas tree that Nora decorated now is stripped bare. The toys and presents have disappeared all the emblems of material happiness. It is also in this act that Torvald tells Nora how he has the inner strength to take on whatever Krogstad may threaten; that Rank, â€Å"reveals the depth of his love for Nora† (1899; II. 220). Krogstad and Nora, in a deep and searching intimate dialogue share their contemplation to commit suicide. Nora reveals the wonderful thing that is now about to happen. That wonderful is what she imagines will be the terrible but heroic inner drama where, to prevent Torvald from taking the blame for her crime, she will at last find the courage for suicide. What ways that Nora and Torvald did not have her â€Å"most wonderful thing†? At the climax of the play in act III, when Torvald reads the first letter Krogstad sent, his reaction to this is inappropriate. Those sweet endearing pet names Torvald calls Nora turn into the opposite †¦ â€Å"She who was my joy and pride, a hypocrite, a liar, worse, a criminal† (1913; III. 236). It is at this moment that Nora realizes that there is a problem between her and Torvald. She confesses she is not fit to bring up her children and Torvald is the last person to teach or guide her how to, for he and her father have most encouraged her to live in fantasy; an inauthentic doll existence, â€Å"bearing three children with a stranger†(1919; III. 348). The marriage could only be regained if the wonderful were to happen. This time, the idea of the wonderful means an existential transformation of the human way of living in the world. The relationship with Torvald and Nora was not a healthy relationship. Because Torvald thinks of his wife as a possession and as someone to keep up his appearance, Nora is unable to confide in him. Nora realizes this at the end of the play that Helmer does not love her as a person. I think in a way that this is a â€Å"wonderful thing of all† to Nora. This situation has open her eyes to see that she deserves better than Helmer and that she can do better by being independent. Ibsen, Henrik. â€Å"A Dollhouse, Acts II III†. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2007. 1874-1891.

Monday, March 9, 2020

The Meaning Behind West African Kente Cloth

The Meaning Behind West African Kente Cloth Kente is a brightly colored, banded material and is the most widely known cloth produced in Africa. Although kente cloth is now identified with the Akan people in West Africa, and particularly the Asante Kingdom, the term originates from the neighboring Fante. Kente cloth is closely related to Adinkra cloth, which has symbols stenciled into cloth and is associated with mourning.​ History Kente cloth is made from thin strips about four cm thick woven together on narrow looms - typically by men. The strips are interlaced to form a fabric which is usually worn wrapped around the shoulders and waist like a toga - the garment is also known as kente. Women wear two shorter lengths to form a skirt and bodice. Originally made from white cotton with some indigo patterning, kente cloth evolved when silk arrived with Portuguese traders in the seventeenth century. Fabric samples were pulled apart for the silken thread, which was then woven into the kente cloth. Later, when skeins of silk became available, more sophisticated patterns were created - although the extortionate cost of the silk meant they were only available to Akan royalty. Mythology and Meaning Kente has its own mythology - claiming the original cloth was taken from the web of a spider - and related superstitions - such as no work can be started or completed on a Friday and that mistakes require an offering to be made to the loom. In kente cloth colors are significant: Blue means loveGreen means growth and energyYellow (gold) means wealth and royaltyRed means violence and anger,White means goodness or victoryGrey means shameBlack means death (or old age) Royalty Even today, when a new design is created, it must first be offered to the royal house. If the king declines to take the pattern, it can be sold to the public. Designs worn by Asante royalty may not be worn by others. Pan-African Diaspora As one of the prominent symbols of African arts and culture, Kente cloth has been embraced by the broader African diaspora (which means people of African descent wherever they might live.) Kente cloth is particularly popular in the United States among African-Americans and can be found on all types of clothing, accessories, and objects. These designs replicate registered Kente designs, but are often mass-produced outside of Ghana with no recognition or payment going to the Akan craftsmen and designers, which Boatema Boateng has argued represents a significant loss of income to Ghana. Sources Boateng, Boatema, The Copyright Thing Doesnt Work Here: Adinkra and Kente Cloth and Intellectual Property in Ghana. University of Minnesota Press, 2011.Smith, Shea Clark. Kente Cloth Motifs, African Arts, vol. 9, no. 1 (Oct. 1975): 36-39.

Saturday, February 22, 2020

Why Asian American males are sexually overlooked (undersexed) in the Term Paper

Why Asian American males are sexually overlooked (undersexed) in the US - Term Paper Example Racially, black men on the average are considered to have the largest endowment, Asians the least and whites in between. Although this is probably true, the important thing from a sexual behavior point of view is the perception. Considering this, it should not be surprising that many women do not consider Asian males as likely prospects for sexual partnerships. Asian Birth Rates and its’ Consequences While sources indicate that Japan has a lower birth rate than China, both are very low with no signs of an imminent rebound.( East-West Center) Indeed, most of developed industrial Asia has decreasing birth rates. Even though war ravaged, Afghanistan has the highest birth rate in the region as it is the least developed. The more advanced countries such as Japan, South Korea, and China, after a period of rapid economic growth, are now slowing down. (Fogarty 2997) This means fewer employment opportunities for the young and well educated, including women. As in the West 2 incomes are required for a decent standard of living for young married couples, especially those with children. Also because Asian males are not inclined to share the burdens of domestic duties, women find it increasingly difficult to combine a fulfilling career with marriage and child rearing. Therefore, many have decided to chose one or the other, reducing the marriage rate and by extension the birth rate. If a woman decides to be a stay at home mom she would need to find a well heeled mate, difficult to do with income levels determined by age and experience. Although Japan has a very low marriage/birth rate it is slightly higher in rural than urban areas because extended families tend to live together and share the burden of child care. As well as decreasing birth rates, there is also a trend in Asia as there is in the West toward lower birth rates of males compared to females.( redOrbit 2008) Male births still outnumber female with the rates varying between 100 and 110 males for every 100 females. However, the gap is narrowing, possibly due to the effects of increased pollution. At first blush one would think that would give more opportunity for Asian males for permanent and casual relationships. The economic impediments of marriage and child rearing have been discussed above. In the case of casual sexual relationships it is difficult to find data but I think one can make reasonable assumptions based on demographic changes. With globalization and increased educational and career resulting from feminism, they are no longer dependent on marriage and support of local males. They are more able to pursue their own careers if they wish, chose not to marry and pursue sexual gratification with partners of other races who allegedly offer greater sexual prowess. Racial Humiliation as a Fetish The internet is flooded with sites catering to various fetishes including sexual, racial or both combined. A fetish is worship of an object/person because the worshipper attributes a pote ncy or magical power to the object/person worshipped which they don’t have, or alternatively feel guilty because they have an excess of it. An example of the latter would be a powerful senior executive voluntarily surrendering and humiliating himself to a voluptuous leather clad mistress. In recent times it could be an Asian feeling inferior because of his small penis, submitting himself to being degraded by say a white or black mistress, in the hope if he does so well enough, the mistress will eventually reward him with some kind of sexual relief. It is difficult to explain the psychological need for fetish worship, but it seems to relate to an attempt to correct some kind of imbalance in one’s life. One website I saw was blatantly racist with a woman portraying herself as an Aryan mistress

Wednesday, February 5, 2020

Management report on Intel Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Management report on Intel - Case Study Example It is essential that Intel move fast to close the gap in embedded segments in order to compete effectively and take advantage of the growing mobile and tablet segment. A company’s strategy should be directed at availing a product or service, which is distinctive from what the competitors are offering or establishing competitive capabilities that the rivals cannot match. Intel has also developed expertise and resource strengths, which have provided the company with competitive capabilities that are hard for the competitors to imitate. Intel has appreciated that winning lasting competitive edge over the rival necessitates that the company build competitive valuable expertise and capabilities, instead of merely having a distinctive product. Intel enjoys high reputation, economies of scale, and capability to innovate technological processes at low cost. Intel has encountered difficulties in its attempt to redefine itself in an era typified by stagnating desktop and net book PC unit. Although, AMD can be regarded as the only major competitor within the PC microprocessor market, Intel encounters intense competition from established firms using ARM technology such as Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, and Broadcom. Moreover, the number of processors within the devices are set t rise as the devices becomes more capable (Haberberg, 2014). Besides, Intel can no longer depend on the relationship it has built over the last two decades with firms such as HP, Dell, and IBM; hence, Intel will now be required to forge fresh relationship with cloud service providers (known to be aggressive and cost conscious). Intel has adopted a differentiation strategy as a mode of competition. This is manifest in the products and services possessing high to moderate prices since the majority of clients are ready to pay the premium so as to get the best, most efficient, the fastest, top of the line PC components. The campaign â€Å"Intel Inside† has helped to

Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Kolb Learning Styles Essay Example for Free

Kolb Learning Styles Essay David Kolb’s theory of learning styles is one of the best known and widely applied and it suggest that learning is a cyclic process which involves an individual proceeding through each of the following four stages and will eventually prefer and rely upon one style more than the others. The four styles are: Divergers, Convergers, Accommodators and Assimilators. Research has shown that these four styles have different names along with the ones mentioned above, they are: Divergers is also called Reflective observation Convergers is also called Active experimentation Accommodators is also called Concrete experience Assimilators is also called Abstract conceptualization   Let us take a look and see how the knowledge of each one can be applied to the role of being students working individually and as a group. Divergers/Reflective observation Divergers like to think before they talk and they research and analyze a situation before giving their own personal opinion. They like to investigate and are able to view situations from many angles which allows them to recognize problems. A lot of times a Diverger would rather sit back, listen and watch, be imaginative and open to xperience, being very thoughtful of everyones ideas. Convergers/Active experimentation Convergers think about things, use theories to solve problems and then try out their ideas to see if they work in practice. They like to ask how about a situation, understanding how things work in practice. They like facts and will seek to make things efficient by making small and careful changes and look at alternative ways of doing something. They prefer to work by themselves, thinking carefully and acting independently. They learn through interaction and computer-based learning is more effective with them than other methods. Accommodators/Concrete experience Accommodators prefer to be involved in new experiences, have a hands-on approach and learn through trial and error. They like a practical experimental approach, are able to adapt to circumstances and like to set objectives and schedules. Assimilators/Abstract conceptualization Assimilators want to be more logical, they really see no need to give their own personal views, they would rather think it through and do research. They will also learn through conversation that takes a logical and thoughtful approach. They prefer lectures for learning, with demonstrations where possible, will respect the knowledge of experts. In addition they often have a strong control need and prefer the clean and simple predictability of internal models to external messiness. This style is used in schools most of the time along with corporations. After researching these four different styles I was able to compare them to four different individual experiences. One of my friends likes the assimilator approach for her school work, she likes to know the facts before she does anything. She is also going to share the knowledge she has gained from this assignment with her cousin who falls into the category of a Converger and tends to fail with her experiments. Another one of my friends believes that she is a Diverger, she would rather listen, gather data and analyze a situation and give feedback. She is very thoughtful of everyones ideas and puts their feelings and thoughts into consideration. I also onsider myself a combination of the Accommodator and Converger, I learn best by the hands-on experience and looking at different ways of doing things. In conclusion, I feel that it is very beneficial for a person to know their style of learning for the following reasons: if you know this about yourself you are able to pinpoint your weaknesses so that you may work on them to help better your studying habits, you can apply your specific style to the task at hand whether it would be finding a book or article to read, a video to watch, a tape to listen to or solve it by trial and error. You may also notice how others work differently and understand that individual more so that it will be a better work and study environment. Not only does this help when studying individually, it is a great benefit when participating in a group or team because when working in a group or team you have a combination of styles so the participants will have a different opinion of the topic depending on how they view the topic. Along with different views of a topic, if you know your learning style you could share that with them and they may be able to make adjustments to accomodate you style of learning, especially if you are having problems grasping the topic, idea or concept. The importance of learning style stems from the notion that teaching, if it is to be effective, should be tailored to the preferred learning style of the learner(s). If teaching is not aligned to the learning preferences of learners, it is unlikely that the teaching will be effective, or at least not as effective as it could be.

Monday, January 20, 2020

Metoric Rise of Tommy Hilfiger :: essays papers

Metoric Rise of Tommy Hilfiger The Meteoric Rise of Tommy Hilfiger As a Recognized Brand Name "The Four Great American Designers for Men Are: R---- L-----, P---- E----, C----- K----, T---- H-------". When this Wheel of Fortune-style advertisement was unveiled in 1985, the public easily identified the first three designers as Ralph Lauren, Perry Ellis, and Calvin Klein, but who was this fourth designer? The fourth designer, to whom the ad belonged to, was Tommy Hilfiger. At that time, Tommy Hilfiger and his recently begun company specializing in men's fashions were unknown. However, in less that a decade since that first advertisement appeared, Tommy Hilfiger has become a hugely successful company at the forefront of the fashion industry. As Jack Hyde, a Fashion Institute of Technology professor, has stated, "It's Hilfiger, Hilfiger, Hilfiger." Tommy Hilfiger, 48, founder, designer, and honorary chairman of the Hong Kong-based company that bears his name, was born and raised in the small town of Elmira, New York. He was one of nine children. Even at a young age, his fashion and artistic talents were shown through his dress. "He's always wearing a shirt or a pair of pants that was a little different than what everyone else was wearing" a friend of his remarked. In 1969, Hilfiger and two friends opened People's Place, a store specializing in trendy fashions and other items. The store grew and expanded with People's Places opening in various upstate New York towns such as Ithaca and Corning. Hilfiger, wanting to design clothes rather than purchase them from the manufacturer, began to consider becoming a designer. When his People's Place chain went bankrupt in 1977, Hilfiger moved to New York and worked as a designer, even though he had never attended design school, for various companies until 1984, when Tommy Hil figer the company was born. Today Tommy Hilfiger labels grace everyone from President Bill Clinton to rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg and that wide range of clientele accounts for the company selling $756.9 million dollars' worth of merchandise each year. Last year, Tommy Hilfiger Corporation (TOM) was one of the top apparel firms traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

Sunday, January 12, 2020

Research Survey on Use of Opportunity Cost in Project Evaluation

RESEARCH SURVEY ON USE OF OPPORTUNITY COST IN PROJECT EVALUATION AT SELECTED COMMERCIAL BANKS IN THE KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN A RESEARCH PAPER PRESENTED TO THE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OFFICE AMA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN BY MUBEEN FATIMA August, 2012 ABSTRACT Accounting and Economics work for two different purposes. Today managerial decision making uses economics, as well as accounting concepts, methods & practices of scrutiny given by decision sciences.Literature shows that there are four basic tools and techniques of decision making used by economists, these are; augmentation, statistical valuation, projecting, numerical study, and game theory, most of which are equally procedural in nature they helps us to gather the idea of how decisions are made in economics. Since resources are limited relative to wants, the usage of resources in one way hinders their use in other means.This implies the cost of opportunity, which is lost, is actually the profit of whose output is given up, this indicates that, lost time, satisfaction or any other benefit that provides usefulness should also be taken as opportunity cost. Opportunity cost in literature is the cost referred as the next-best choice available to a rational consumer who has to select between a number of mutually distinct projects. It is, thus the key concept in economics. It has been illustrated as conveying â€Å"the basic relationship between deficiency and choice. Yet its relation to the economic profit is seldom discussed.CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Background of the Study Prior research work provides us the idea that opportunity costs is one of the key differences between the concepts of economic cost and accounting cost. Being treated as a cost, opportunity cost had always been considered vital in calculation of the true cost of a project & has always effected a management accountant decision However the modern economists, particularly the Austrian school of thought treats opportunity cost as something that has neither existence nor has any importance in decision making.Though the field of economics gave birth to the concept of opportunity cost, the awareness about assessing the second best alternate is now taken over by management accounting, today this concept is being taught in academic graduate courses of economics however; in practice, the economists today emphasize on mathematical techniques in decision making there by ignoring various conceptual factors like opportunity costs and worth of projects being missed. Evaluating opportunity costs is important to find out the true cost of any project under consideration.If the financial worth of second best alternative of an investment project is low, then, overlooking that opportunity costs, gives an impression that benefits of next best alternative, cost practically nothing. The invisible opportunity costs then become one of the hidden costs of that particular project. Mr. John Stuart Mill, a British philosopher and a civil servant was the first man to give the idea of Opportunity Cost in his economic theory of free markets as well as explaining his concept of liberty and an individual and freedom of choice.Opportunity costs are thought of as the retrospective costs that cannot be recovered in the field of Economics and Corporate decision making. Opportunity costs are occasionally compared with â€Å"potential costs† which obviously are the future costs that may or may not incurr depending upon the decision taken. Both past aswell as prospective costs can be either static or dynamic Austrian school of thought pay attention to the concept of opportunity costs on both sides of the market links very deeply to the importance of finance and economic profit estimation in their model of the market process.They argue that the money of an investor having opportunity cost means that his money has many uses but the uses are not unlimited. With the assumption of a market with seamlessly exclusi ve capital goods, those goods will have no opportunity cost as every exclusive good has only one yield. In a market of seamlessly standardized capital goods, they have no opportunity cost because all of the goods are same in terms of use and benefit thus can be used equally well for each yield. In practice the calculation of project cost by an accountant is different from that of an economist.This variance is not grounded in different fundamentals on what to assess or how, but lies in the basic difference in understanding-of costs and profits. However if opportunity costs are not ignored by the economist then while calculating the GDP of Country the economist must also consider the large scale pearl diving industry in certain areas of Bahrain. Statement of the Problem The study aims to discuss the relevance of the concept of Opportunity Cost in project evaluation procedure adopted by commercial banks in Kingdom of Bahrain.The opportunity cost has different importance in the opinion of economists and accounts professionals and therefore the use of this concept in project costing . This research will attempt to find out importance of Opportunity cost while considering an investment proposal. Specifically it sought to answer the succeeding questions. 1. What is the status of the opportunity cost in project evaluation at Selected Commercial banks in Kingdom of Bahrain? 2. What are the banking operations where opportunity cost is deemed important by Commercial Banks in Kingdom of Bahrain? 3.What are the factors effecting the importance of opportunity cost faced by Commercial Banks in Kigdom of Bahrain? 4. What are the problems encountered in application of Opportunity cost concept by the Bankers while evaluating a project? Assumption The study assumed that the respondents are honest in answering all the questionnaire Significance of the Study The study is beneficial to the following: Decision Makers: the study will help the decision makers in Commercial Banking ind ustry to find the true cost of a project and therefore finding the true profit or loss generated by itFuture Researches: the study will help in relating the two concepts i. e, opportunity cost and Project Costing by using the quantitative methodology of research. It will further help in decision making and project evaluation for the accounts Managers and Economists. Scope and Limitation The aim of this study is to deliberate the significance of the concept of Opportunity Cost in project evaluation procedure adopted by Commercial banks in Kingdom of Bahrain. The opportunity cost has different importance in the pinion of economists and accounts professionals and therefore the use of this concept in project costing . The study includes Bank Officers at selected Commercial Banks working in Kingdom of Bahrain. The target population is Executives and managers (top and middle level ) who are directly involved in decision making This research focused on finding out importance of Opportunity cost while considering an investment proposalstudy is conducted in Commercial Banks of Bahrain, the responses therefore reflect the most important sector of Bahrain economy. The study is conducted in the natural settings i. during the business hours and responses are taken while the samples are on their work places, therefore 100 percent reliability of responses is not possible due to various un controllable distractions. The period covered by this study is January till December 2012. All the data is collected in Bahrain and responses therefore will represent the local population. Definition of Terms Opportunity Cost (OC) The cost of an alternative that must be forgone in order to pursue a certain action. Put another way, the benefits you could have received by taking an alternative action (John Stuart Mil)Economic Value Added (EVA) A measure of a company's financial performance based on the residual wealth calculated by deducting cost of capital from its operating profit (Stern St ewart) EVA is also referred to as â€Å"economic profit†. CHAPTER 2 Review of Related Literature and Studies Foreign Literature Mankiw ( 2000) from Harvard University USA and the author of† Principles of Microeconomics† explained here that Economic profits are calculated by using both explicit as well as implicit costs however Accounting profits are calculated using only explicit costs.Therefore , accounting profits are higher than economic profits Neale( 2001) have found that due to forgoing opportunity costs, delayed decisions can be seen as option between certain loss and the risk of greater or zero loss. Chung, (2005)from Princeton University have conclude in their work â€Å"The Opportunity Cost of Admission Preferences at Elite Universities† that economic cost of a decision relies on the cost of the project that is selected and also the profits that the second best alternative project may had given if selected.This perspective of scarcity of resource leads to the dimension of opportunity cost. Hawkins et. al ( 2008 ) in their article â€Å" Cost and benefit Analysis† are of the view that the â€Å"next best alternative† is an important concept in cost and benefit analysis (CBA). The benefits gone by not implementing the second favorite choice are known as opportunity costs. Opportunity costs are relevant in calculating costs of a project. Opportunity costs help in economic scrutiny. In financial investigation market values are used as the market price for man power has the market value same as a person’s wageThe Indian scholars are also of the view that Opportunity Cost of Idle Capacity Zero, supporting the work of (Coase 1938). The researchers of M2 Presswire publications have found that opportunity cost of ignoring the markets, have disastrous results as eBay failed to beat yahoo in this regard. Buchanan (1969 ) says that it is just to bind the term opportunity cost to this idea that only decision changing cost represents an analysis of given up â€Å"opportunities. † and to invent other vivid terms to mention ecision altering cost in a logic of choice and to the objective cost of the predictive theory. Hebert (1985 ) gave a very comprehensive idea about the market value. Yet his belief of fundamental value has quite possibly been a red-herring in the antiquity of economic analysis, according to him market value is sensitive to elements other than â€Å"on record costs† few of them are independent. Horwitz (2010) identifies the partiality of opportunity costs on either sides of the market connections so well to the importance of capital and economic calculation in the Austrian theory of the market process.Aherns (2008) says that management accountants’ most prior duty is to relate the available reserves with the future dealings of the business. Whereas this process is rather simpler in economics to determine which of the available alternates is going to pay off h ighest future cash flows Kearing et. al (2005) are of the view that multiple allocation of capital funds , commercial analysis and manufacturer side opportunity costs are all the unified part of the Austrian ideology. Woodbery (2000) says that the true opportunity cost of using the additional capability is the change in the worth of the firm's choices.By emphasizing on the state-contingent nature of best decisions, his framework distinguishes that the cost is not always identical to the present value of explicit venture or manufacturing decisions. Taylor (2005) suggests that many proficient economists may not completely comprehend opportunity cost. Frank (2005) said that comparative prices helps in finding out the comparative worth of ordained opportunities. His hypothesis is based on an indepth study of consumer indifferense curves. According to the author the economic cost is virtually the opportunity cost.Samuelson( 2009) puts stress on a close link between opportunity costs and cost of available resources. Economic cost consist of not only the noticeable monetary purchases or on record financial transactions but also more indirect opportunity costs, such as the profits on the manpower supplied by the owner of a resource company and other returns of similar nature. The factors mentioned are firmly controlled by the quotations available and demand in competitive markets. Henderson (2011), said that by â€Å"opportunity cost† of a resource, the economist mean the financial worth of the second favourite utilization of the available resource.Opportunity costs as in (Lawrance Gitman 2000) are those profits or returns that could be obtained from best alternative use of an a retained asset. So opportunity cost is the cash that shall not be obtained because of engaging an asset in project under consideration. Due to this, opportunity cost should be included as an expense or loss while doing the project evaluation. Raftery et. al(1999) writes that considerati on of opportunity cost is essential for the economist's while determining the costs. As resources are less compared to the needs, so application of resources in one profitable project hinders their use in other profitable pojectsBauman (2011) says that opportunity cost is the second best choice, he said that it is difficult to clearly frame the opportunity cost as identifying second best choices is a knotty matter. According to him the concept of opportunity cost can only be clearly defined in academic problems as in practical field a project â€Å"price to worth† calculations are complex Kimberly (1998) said that computerized accounting systems today solely emphasize on cash in and out of the firm, this eventually attracts clever dealers to dump credits that produce a big accounting profits.By the introduction of opportunity cost in persuit of calculating the true costs enforces further control on reporting process. Such concept implication helps the auditors to identify the fake earnings shown in the financial statements made in the year end. Recklies (2001) argues that from economic perspective the cost include all those expenditures that are crucial for perpetual succession of a business as as going concern, it also consist of the reimbursement for owners in shape of profit so that they maintain their investment portfolio within the firm.Marshall (2009) identifies the income as a total of personal skills, capital funds invested, assets possessed and the reputation of the business. Leeson (2008) has explained in his research work the uses if the concept of uncertainty and derives from this concept of the value of information and how it can be calculated. And emphasized upon the role of management accounting in the decision-making Berntell (2005) have focused on the optimum utilization of scarce resources like water to give maximum utility by reducing various costs and losses. For which economist must make a clear cut cost and benefit analysisDmytrenk o (1997 )has elaborated in his price to value investigation the opportunity cost of increased automation in a firm via changing the human resource by computers and equipment Caplan (2003) says that the term opportunity cost is sometimes confusing. Sometimes it is used to submit to the profit foregone from the next best option, and Often it is used to mention the difference in benefit of decision made and the benift of second favourite decision that is given up Fraker( 2006) suggests that EVA is a unique financial performance determining tool .Unlike other financial efficiency ratios, it gives a different outlook of a Bank’s financial health by including the cost of Capital employeed in the business and is more of concern to its shareholders. Shcherbakov( 2012) explains that implication of the concept of EVA is an enhanced measuring technique to find out the effect of internationalization on the commercial performance of any business King (2009) explained that Accountancy and Economics work for different purposes. He explained the multi-national corporation scenarios and compared the use of economic profits with that of accounting profitsLocal Literature (Hasan Al-Basteki 1998) worked on the use of modern Accounting techniques in the decision making in Bahrain and he concluded that not just the western world is implementing the new costing techniques but the middle east is also adopting the modern techniques Synthesis of the Literature Review The synthesis of the literature reviewed enlightens few similarities and differences with this research studies . The main similarities found in the literature are as follows i) Opportunity cost has been used in different parts of the world particularly in Banks and Construction industry ii) The No. f alternatives available influence the Opportunity Cost iii) Economic factors like inflation has effect on the project evaluation by the Banks . A closer review of these research papers show that Economists belonging to the Austrian school of thoughts are of the view that i) Opprtunity cost is not as important as Economic Profits are for economic decision making ii) Scarcity of resource is a factor which effects the decision makers approach The literature explains the significance of opportunity cost in framing the actual picture of the financial position of a company, same is the case evaluation of an investment project.Opportunity cost helps identifying the true cost of a project Opportunity cost is important in the determining the accurate financial position, hence in this research the relationship between the factors effecting opportunity cost and decision making is under study Theoretical Frame Work The study tends to explore the Opportunity cost and EVA for a given project in order to understand their relationship with each other. Very little literature is available in Economics and Accounting to determine the true profits of an organization(Denise Woodbery).The idea behind this research is t o establish the nature of relationship between Economic value added that reflects the monetory importance of a given project or in other words the economic profit and that of Opportunity Cost that reflects the accounting profit of the same project. Conceptual Frame Work The idea behind this research is to find out how effective is Opportunity cost in project evaluation perceived by the Bankers in the Kingdom of Bahrain.The data is collected and analysed to understand what status opportunity cost concept holds in project financial evaluation and its relative efficiency perceived by the bankers at selected commercial banks of Kingdom of Bahrain The study tends to explore the two concepts for a given project in order to understand their relationship with each other. The Opportunity cost as discussed in literature like any other relevant cost adds to the overall project expenditure (Ferraro & Laura O Taylor)Opportunity cost effects the total Cost of a Project , any increase in Opportuni ty cost means increase I nthe total cost of the project The higher the Opportunity Cost of a Project is the Smaller will be the net profit of it However the higher the net profit of the project is Opportunity Cost of the Project will be lower. Financial decision making tends to go for a project with smaller cost and hence inclusion of opportunity cost will alter the project cost and alter the decision ultimately.Various factors like availability of alternatives (James Raftery 1999), Scarcity of resources (Robert Frank 2005), Economic factors like trade cycle recession, inflation (Peter T leeson 2008) effects the use of opportunity cost in Project costing CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This chapter presents the research design and methodology, sampling design, respondents of the study, research instrument, validity and reliability of the instrument, data gathering procedures, and statistical treatment of the gathered data.Research Design This study used the descriptive type of resear ch which involves assembling data which provide knowledge about the variables and then systematically tabularizing, portraying, and defining the data gathered (Glass & Hopkins, 1984). To get evidence concerning the current standing of the incidences to describe what happens in terms of change in value of the variables or settings in a state of research.. Opportunity Cost reflects the monetary importance of the next best alternative project.The study helps to find out how effectively this concept is incorporated in project evaluation procedure Research Design This is a descriptive research in which the population from which data is collected are the Management Personals from different business concerns established and working in Kingdom of Bahrain, directly or indirectly associated with the decision making and investment evaluation . Respondents of the Study The target population includes the working class particularly the managers , assistant managers and executives who work in Bahr ain and their field esponsibility include Investment Analysis ,Project evaluation and decision making of similar nature. Sample Size The sample size is 50 and the response rate is well above the international standard of quantitative research required to validate the result of the study Sampling Design There are many methods of sampling; however for this study Random Sampling is used that is from the target population a sample of 100 is collected on random basis.The study uses random sampling for convenience and to avoid bias of respondents that work in one organization have one opinion(as in cluster sampling) Research Instrument The instrument used in this study is Questionnaire, the content of the questionnaire that consist of 20 queries the first five of which are about the general information of the respondent, remaining queries for which the respondents will answer on a Likert Scale. All the queries will help to find the relation between the two variables Opportunity Cost (IV) and Decision Making (DV)Part I: Provide demographics of the respondents in terms of age , gender, educational attainment, work experience in years Part II: Provide the data about the respondents opinion on various factors that influence their decision while making financial evaluation of a project. The answers to these questions will be given on a five point rating scale. 5. Strongly Agree 4. Agree 3. Moderately Agree 2. Disagree 1. Strongly Disagree Validity of the InstrumentThe validity of instrument is carefully checked by the research committee that includes research professors, statisticians and advisors. The recommendations were incorporated. The justification of this validation was to avoid vague items and bias statements which have been correctly achieved. Reliability of the Instrument The questionnaire is pre-tested to test the reliability of it, with a small group of individualsworking in different companies in the Kingdom of Bahrain, in order to check their understanding of the questions.Data collection Method Questionnaire copies were distributed among bank officers in different branches of distinct commercial banks in various regions of Kingdom of Bahrain. The target respondents are expected to be acquainted with the subject and questions, included in the questionnaire. There are other methods of data collection like documentary analysis and interview however for this study survey methodology is opted. A copy of questionnaire is provided in the appendix Statistical Treatment of the DataThere are many choices of appropriate statistical methods however Correlation Coefficient as statistical method is used, so to find out the relation between the two variables. The survey form was used the Likert five point scale for the respondents to choose from as follows: [pic] Very few enterprises are using opportunity cost for just one reason. It is clearly evident that Opportunity cost related information is being used to accurately manage wide range of activi ties across a banking organization. Activities influenced by Opportunity cost calculation Activities |% of respondents | |Product Costs & Profitability |65 | |Performance Measurement |47 | |Shared Service Costing |41 | |Planning & Budgeting |40 | |Customer costing |38 | |Customer/Channel Costs & Profitability |38 | |Transfer pricing |25 | |Outcome / Output based management |25 | Expectedly, opportunity cost is used for product costing by approximately two by three of those respondants working in banking sector. It’s precision over traditional costing methods is borne out later in the survey with 87% finding that their Opportunity Cost product costs differed substantially from traditional costing methods, leading around 50% to reprice their products as a result!Validating the views expressed by Kaplan & Norton in their latest book ‘Strategy Maps: Converting Intangible Assets into Tangible Outcomes’, which lays emphesisis on the importance of using Opportunity Cos to support a Balance Scorecard, nearly half of all respondents are using their Opportunity Cost data to support their Performance Management The use of Opportunity Cost to support Shared Services costing has increased in popularity over the last few years. Now that internal services are represent up to 30% of an organisation’s costs, it has become imperative to accurately reflect how those services are consumed by business units. Over 40% of respondents are using opportunity cost to support Shared Service costing, enabling them to understand who and what is driving consumption of their internal services, and thereby increasing the effectiveness of their focus an core business. These trends are repeated by those who do not yet use opportunity cost, but are planning to. They want to use opportunity cost to support Initiative |% of respondents planning to use OPPORTUNITY COST | |Product Costing |55 | |Planning & Budgeting |36 | |Customer costing |27 | |Process/Continuous Improve ment |27 | The most noticeable difference is that only 18% are planning to use the information to support Performance Measurement. This could well be because the ease of which opportunity cost lends itself to Performance Measurement is not evident until an opportunity cost is up and running.Alternatively, the respondents may be looking to introduce opportunity cost to solve a pressing business requirement, and the links between Opportunity Cost and performance metrics are not immediately apparent. Opportunity Cost for Planning The emphasis of Bankers has moved from historical costs to future costs. An enormous 94% of those questioned are now using opportunity cost, or plan to use, opportunity costs for developmental drives. Opportunity cost Planners are looking at all aspects of their organisations in order to identify improvement opportunities. Some 60% are looking to identify process improvements, with 55% looking at activity level improvements via resource planning, and 49% looki ng to affect strategy formulation. However, only 13% are questioning their organisation’s process design in a fundamental way.Consistent with historic uses of opportunity Cost planning data is being used to support a variety of initiatives, although there is a surprising focus on opportunity cost for goal setting. |Initiative |% of OPPORTUNITY COST Planners | |Shared Service Costing |51 | |Product Costing |49 | |Defining team/dept goals |27 | |Defining organisational goals |13 | Product/Service Costing and Customer ProfitabilityBy using cause and effect tracing rather than allocations, opportunity cost better reflects the value chain of how organisations consume costs and provides more accurate product, service and customer costings than achieved using traditional costing techniques. The difference in opportunity cost product costs to absorption or other allocation based costings can be dramatic. The survey shows that 87% of practitioners found that their product and service costs differed from traditional costings markedly. The majority had an average variation of between 5 and 10%, which can be dramatic at a gross or net margin level. However, a surprising number of respondents (11%) experienced variations of over 100%! |Average variation |% |Maximum variation % | |0 |13 |; 10% |25 | |1-5% |15 |10-25% |17 | |5-10% |26 |25-50% |25 | |10-15% |13 |50-75% |14 | |15-20% |10 |75-100% |8 | |; 20% |23 |; 100% |11 | Cost Reduction and Process ImprovementThat ABC can improve your bottom line is beyond doubt, with potential cost savings amounting to 25% of cost bases being identified. Some organisations are yet to find where they can reduce their costs, but it is worth noting that over 70% of those who have not identified cost savings have less than 100 activities in their model. Whilst it is important to prevent ABC models become too large and unmanageable (primarily because they can induce analysis paralysis), it is essential that a reasonable level of detail is available, so that there is sufficient information on which to make cost reducing or revenue enhancing decisions. After all, profit outcomes are the result of process design and activity workflow†¦ Maximum potential cost saving as a % of cost base |% | |0% |18 | |1-5% |21 | |5-10% |33 | |10-15% |8 | |15-20% |13 | |20-25% |2 | |;25% |5 | A variety of methods are being used to help organisations translate their ABC data into real cost reductions. Cost driver analysis is the most frequently used method for aiding cost reduction and/or process redesign, with 67% of organisations using this technique. Process mapping and benchmarking are also popular, as is repricing of products and/or services, and analysis of the value that an activity adds to an organisation. Top techniques used to aid cost reduction |% | |Cost driver analysis |67 | |Process mapping & redesign |52 | |Benchmarking |52 | |Repricing |50 | |Value adding analysis |42 | |Product rationalisation |38 | |Value chain an alysis |32 | Conclusions ABC can, and does, add value to organisations. 96% of respondents have found the experience to be beneficial to their organisations, and 98% are expecting their implementations to deliver even more positive returns on their investment in the future Level of benefit delivered by ABC |% achieved |% future | |Adverse impact |4 |2 | |Negligible benefit |22 |13 | |Moderate benefit |54 |60 | |Substantial benefit |20 |25 | Regardless of the benefit analysis above, respondents recommend the use of ABC unanimously! In particular, practitioners recommend using ABC for product costing and cost reduction, to derive the most benefits, although there is a general belief held by ABC practitioners that the methodology should be broadly used as shown below. ABC supporting |% of organisations | |Product/service costing & profitability |80 | |Cost reduction |65 | |Continuous Improvement Program |56 | |Business Process Re-engineering |55 | |Shared Services Costing |51 | |Custom er, channel or value chain analysis |44 | ABC is generating real benefits for all sorts of organisations across Australia. These benefits can only increase as more organisations are looking to start an ABC project for the first time, but the full potential of ABC will not be realised as so many existing ABC users are still not employing ABC to its full capabilities. It is important that experienced ABC companies capitalise on their implementations to achieve the maximum possible benefits.Increasing the scale of an ABC project need not be an expensive, time-consuming process. There are cost-effective solutions that combine ABC, Process Mapping and Balanced Scorecard, to produce automated, regular reports with a minimum of manual intervention. With organisation-wide implementations providing much greater cost savings, expanding your ABC project can only be advantageous to your organisation’s bottom line. CHAPTER 4 Analysis and interpretation The data collection method for this study is survey questionnaire conducted face-to-face with 51 randomly chosen Bankers from various commercial banks in Bahrain from various cities. The questionnaire includes multiple choice, open-ended, and Likert scale questions.Some questions of the survey were adopted form various previous studies (Brierly et al. , 2001; Van Triest and Elshahat, 2007; Wijewardena and Zoysa, 1999). The data collection period ranges from October 2012 to November 2012. (1) general information on the business organizations and respondents; and (2) cost and management accounting practices. Table 4. 1 Information gathered from the first part of the questionnaire. |Bank Classification |Percent | |Commercial Banks |  40 | |Islamic Banks |  10 | |Other Banks |  1 | |No. f Employees |Percent | |10 to 49 |   | |50 to 99 |  90% | |100 and more |  10% | |Age of the Banks |Percent | |10 years or less |  10% | |20 year or less |  80% | |20 years or more |  10% | In the Table 1, Bank classifica tion, position of respondent, number of employees, and age of Banks are presented. In Bank classification, the highest percentage belongs to commercial banks (5banks), and â€Å"others† includes Banks dealing particularly in investment (1 bank) 4. 1. Product costing methodsThe respondents were asked to specify the cost factors they implement in an investment project costing. According to the answers, the most widely used costing factor is Financing cost (31 respondent), followed by opportunity cost (11 respondent) and loan process cost (9 respondents). In Table 2, which shows the detailed answers to this question, the most significant points are the financing cost widely by lower managerial levels, and that of opportunity cost largely by top managerial level. Primary cause for the financing cost by banks is that they offer more of the saving accounts than fixed deposit accounts. Table 4. 2 Most important Cost elements in an Investment Project Bank Classification |Financial Co st |Loan Processing Cost |Opportunity Cost |Other | |Commercial Banks |  20 |  3 |  3 |  0 | |Islamic Banks |  6 |  3 |  5 |  0 | |Other Banks |  5 |  3 |  3 |  0 | |Total |31 |9 |11 |0 | 4. 2. Complications faced in product costing The respondents were also asked to point out the difficulties they encounter in Investment project costing. Out of 51 respondents, 22 see the limited Complexity in cost evaluation as top difficulty (43 percent), availability of alternative resources(33. 3 percent), followed by economic instability (24. 7 percent). 4. 3. Role of Opportunity Cost in Management Accounting PracticesIn another part of the survey, which was adopted from Van Triest and Elshahat (2007)’s study, respondents were asked to score the role of opportunity cost in various financial analysis on a Likert scale of 1 (no role) to 5 (major role). To evaluate the results, one sample t-test was conducted (Table 4). The results showed that pricing decisions are t he most important area where opportunity cost is deemed important at an average of 4. 16, followed by customer profitability and activity analysis at 4. 07. Performance measurement and make or buy decisions with an average of 4. 04 and 3. 96 respectively are also important areas where opportunity cost is used. However, opportunity cost is not seen important in product mix decisions, and adding or deleting products as much as other areas. Management Accounting Practicies |Mean |S. D |t-test | |Pricing decisions |  4. 15 |  1. 146 |4. 29 | |Customer profitability |  4. 08 |  1. 034 |  4. 01 | |Performance measurement |  4. 03 |  1. 071 |  3. 714 | |Activity analysis |  4. 08 |  1. 120 |  3. 793 | |Make or buy decisions |  3. 96 |  0. 62 |  3. 576 | |Product mix decisions |  3. 54 |  1. 168 |  0. 289 | |Adding or deleting products |  3. 47 |  1. 370 |  0. 199 | Table 4. Results of one sample t-test for use of Opportunity cost in management accoun ting practicies (Test value=3. 5) |Management Accounting Practicies |Mean |S. D |t-test | |Pricing decisions |  4. 15 |  1. 146 |4. 9 | |Customer profitability |  4. 08 |  1. 034 |  4. 01 | |Performance measurement |  4. 03 |  1. 071 |3. 714 | |Activity analysis |  4. 08 |  1. 120 |  3. 793 | |Make or buy decisions |  3. 96 |  0. 962 |  3. 576 | |Product mix decisions |  3. 54 |  1. 168 |  0. 289 | |Adding or deleting products |  3. 47 |  1. 370 |  0. 199 |Furthermore, the findings are compared with the results of Van Triest and Elshahat (2007). The comparison indicated that two studies yielded parallel results. As seen in Table 5, first three items with the highest mean are the same. In both countries, pricing decisions, customer profitability, and performance measurement are the most prominent areas in which costing information is applied. Among the remaining four application areas, the rank of activity analysis is different. In this study, ac tivity analysis is the fourth in ranking, but it is the last in ranking in Van Triest and Elshahat (2007)’s study. Table 5. Comparison of results with the results of Van Triest and Elshahat (2007) Management Accounting Practices |Mean |Rank |Mean* |Rank* | |Pricing decisions |  4. 15 |  1 |  4. 44 |  1 | |Customer profitability |  4. 06 |  2 |  4. 19 |  2 | |Performance measurement |  4. 06 |  3 |  4. 11 |  3 | |Activity analysis |4. 08 |  4 |  2. 33 |7 | |Make or buy decisions |3. 99 |  5 |  3. 5 |  4 | |Product mix decisions |  3. 54   |  6 |  3. 33 |  5 | |Adding or deleting products |  3. 50 |  7 |  2. 89 |  6 | * The results of Van Triest and Elshahat (2007) 4. 5. The ratio of opportunity cost to total cost In the questionnaire survey, the ratio of opportunity cost to total cost (O. C/T. C) was also questioned. Overall mean for all the banks is 34. 48 percent. (Table 6) was conducted to see the significant differences a mong banks. The results showed that there is a significant difference among industries (significant at 0. 10).Duncan test from Post Hoc tests showed that Commercial Banks has the highest OC/TC ratio and is significantly different than Islamic Banks and Investment Banks and miscellaneous Banks. Table 6. The ratio of opportunity cost to total cost (percent) 4. 6. The reasons for the increased interest in opportunity cost manifestation in banks dealing The respondents were asked to score the reasons for the increased manifestation of Opportunity cost in their daily dealing on a Likert scale of 1 (completely disagree) to 5 (completely agree). A list of reasons was provided for the respondents so that they evaluated each. The results of one-sample t-test in Table 7 showed that decreasing profitability (4. 9) is the primary reason which increases the importance of opportunity cost. Other reasons which increase the importance of opportunity cost are increasing costs (4. 57), increasing dom estic and global competition (4. 30), and economic crises (4. 23). Actually, means of four items above 4. 00 indicate that they are all factors considered important for the increased interest in opportunity cost . This means profitability of companies is decreasing, possibly due to increasing costs, and increasing domestic and global competition. Economic crises which hit companies from time to time are also important reason for the increased interest in opportunity cost identification and implication. Table 7.The reasons for the increased interest in opportunity cost Calculation (Testvalue=3. 5) |Mean |S. D |t-test | |Decreasing profitability |  0. 566 |14. 170   | |Increasing costs |  0. 666 |  11. 929 | |Increasing domestic and global competition |  0. 940 |  6. 450* | |Economic crises |  1. 020 |  5. 399* | Significant at 0. 001 level 4. 7. Perceived importance of opportunity cost in overall Banking Operation Lastly, the respondents were asked to evaluate the per ceived importance of Opportunity cost that are utilized in banking organizations on a Likert scale of 1 (unimportant) to 5 (very important). The results of one-sample ttest in Table 8 indicated that the most important management accounting practices in decreasing order are budgeting (4. 48), planning and control (4. 33), cost-volumeprofit analysis (4. 3), target costing (4. 16), quality cost reporting (4. 09), performance measurement and evaluation (4. 02), responsibility accounting (4. 0), standard costing and variance analysis (3. 89), and strategic planning (3. 78). Transfer pricing (3. 65) is unique practice that is significantly not important based on test value of 3. 5. These findings indicate that companies perceive traditional management accounting tools still important. For example, budgeting, planning and control, and cost-volume-profit analysis are perceived the most important of all management accounting practices. Quality costing and target costing as new management acc ounting practices are utilized by the companies. However, strategic planning, and transfer pricing are perceived the least important ones. This may be due to size of the sample firms.Since the sample consists mostly of small and medium-sized enterprises (according to number of employees), some tools may be too sophisticated to be utilized. Szendi and Shum (1999) states that the larger the firm the more sophisticated the management accounting system and the more likely isthe firm to utilize sophisticated management accounting techniques and practices. Abdel-Kader and Luther (2008) also proved that large firms adopt more sophisticated management accounting techniques and practices than small firms. Table 8. Perceived importance of Opportunity Cost in routine banking operations (Test value=3. 5) |Mean |S.D |t-test | |Budgeting |0. 754 |  9. 911** | |Planning and control |0. 819 |  7. 500** | |Cost-volume-profit analysis |  0. 871 |  6. 900** | |Target Costing |  0. 849 |  5 . 820** | |Total Quality Management |  1. 115 |  3. 890** | |Performance measurement and evaluation |  1. 027 |  3. 39** | |Responsibility accounting |  1. 056 |  3. 450** | |Standard costing and variance analysis |  1. 140 |  2. 480* | |Strategic planning |  1. 011 |  2. 050* | |Transfer pricing |  1. 300 |  0. 860 | ** Significant at 0. 001 level * Significant at 0. 05 level CHAPTER 5 Summary and Conclusion The survey revealed the perceived importance of Opportunity Cost at selected commercial banks in the Kingdom of Bahrain.The findings are expected to contribute to the existing literature about the subject, especially in developing markets. The major findings of the study are as follows: The most vital cost element for Commercial Banks is financial cost The complexity in loan costing poses as the highest ranking difficulty due to the availability of alternative projects, Customer Activity Analysis and pricing decisions are the most important area where op portunity cost is calculated (parallel to the finding of Van Triest and Elshahat, 2007), Overall mean of the ratio of overhead to total cost is 34. 48 percent for all Commercial Banks in the Kingdom of Bahrain,The highest opportunity cost/total cost ratio belongs to non-islamic Commercial Banks, Decreasing profitability, increasing costs and competition, and economic crises are reasons which increase the importance of opportunity cost The most important use of Opportunity Cost is in Budgeting out of all routine functioning of Commercial Banks (parallel to the finding of Chenhall and Langfield-Smith, 1998) The findings indicate that Banks perceive traditional management accounting tools less important. The new management accounting practices such as strategic planning, and transfer pricing are perceived more important than traditional ones. Therefore, the banks have been calculating the Opportunity Costs for these management accounting tools. Scope for further researchSince the sampl e consists mostly of medium sized local branches of International banks , they may not reflect the applications of large scale banking corps. Secondly, the results are confined to the Commercial Banks and should not be generalized to the other sectors. Thirdly, since the survey conducted on companies operating in Bahrain , the findings may not be generalized for the worldwide policies of the Banks. For future research, whole region wide and more comprehensive survey could be conducted with the participation of more banking companies from different countries. Moreover, case studies can be conducted to make more in-depth analysis about cost and management accounting practices.