Game Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Game - Essay Example According to Gee (2003) games and simulations serves as tools for learning outside and within academia. By using games and simulations, students can nurture their project assignments to issues and topics related to their courses. In addition, most learners and trainers are able to comprehend how games and simulations are viewed by different people; hence, they will have the ability to attain huge impact of game use in the real world. Role play and simulations are types of experimental teaching (Russell &Shepherd, 2010). Different roles are assumed by different learners to depict certain personality or character. Second life is considered to be the internet by many. Avatars are allowed to construct structures to represent the real life. The unique feature about second life simulations for realistic role plays is that viewers can listen to live concerts or watch a live stage performance. This enables learners to explore different characters represented by different roles, hence, creates an all-round and active student learning process. Second life ensures students participate entirely in self and ‘other’ assessment to achieve a manageable formative

Supply Chain Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Supply Chain Management - Essay Example The UN through the World Health Organization ensures that the malaria drugs reaches its intended destination by coordinating with the local governments to enable an efficient and effective supply chain that is less costly (Chopra & Meindl, 2007). A system is developed that assists in coordination between pharmaceutical manufacturers and procurement agents. The system ensures cost-effectiveness and transparency in the shipment, procurement and drugs delivery. The local government develops capacities including warehousing, distribution and delivery of the drugs to patients. So as to reduce the amount of inventory being held, the just in time (JIT) approach is used and it ensures problems do not come up because of managing large inventories. Inventory management is important in the reduction of the cost of running the supply chain. The malaria supply chain faces a number of challenges in its operation ranging from missing coordination, Inventory management, expiration of drugs due to delays and order management problems. The above mentioned operational challenges facing the supply chain are costly. So as to eliminate or reduce this cost, emphasis must on the implementation of a strategic cost management. It enables the carrying out of cost analysis techniques. The strategy should be focused at standardization of supplies, reduction of inventory, centralized purchasing, and labor automation (Turney,

Promoting Health Internationally Essay Example for Free

Promoting Health Internationally Essay Developing countries are beset with health crises to a greater extent than their more developed counterparts. The lack of resources and the presence of numerous demanding needs causes the insufficient allocation of such resources for the addressing of health issues. In other countries, there is simply no technology to produce the necessary cures for the bigger diseases besetting their populations. Whereas in more developed countries with greater storehouse of resources there is a greater capacity to address health problems, particularly with a more developed technological platform to work from. Not only this, but developing countries have a marked decline in addressing sanitation concerns thus making for environments more prone to diseases caused by bacteria, worms, and viruses.1 With more hygienic living conditions, this is not the observed case in developing countries. Thus, a combination of non-hygienic conditions and low access to healthcare creates atmospheres for developing nations making them more prone to experiencing severe health problems. The first concern regarding health problems in developing countries is the possibility of a disease to develop which is easily transmittable from person to person. The fear of infectious diseases, particularly the fear of such diseases causing a pandemic, has had significant impact on the manner in which the global community addresses global health problems. International agencies have come up with surveillance systems to enable member countries to report incidents of infectious diseases and to better equip non-affected nations against contamination.2 The mechanism of report requires member nations to define the nature and extent of infection of the disease. This is not particularly attractive to infected nations as the reporting of diseases would adversely affect the economy of the said country. With a fear of infection, foreign investors would lower their rates of importation. This would serve to lower the economic growth of the said country. Not only this, but tourists would be fearful of visiting said foreign country and income from such investments would also decline. The stigma against the affected country would translate to a decline in the status of their economy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is in this regard that health issues of individual nations affect the global view on health. The slightest change in the ability of individual countries to provide basic resources or to contribute to the global economy would affect all other countries as a result of global interconnectedness. 3 The dependence of nations, one to the other, cannot sustain the devolution of production of goods in any one nation. Apart from moral responsibilities, this is the weightiest argument to a global perspective on health promotion. The global market favors the ensuring of wealthier nations that less affluent nations will be able to participate fully in the global trade of goods.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   What is not considered in this model are non-infectious diseases plaguing the developing countries around the globe. There is little incentive for global agencies to address such problems since there is no showing that the same would affect citizens of foreign nations. Although the argument for providing aid for the same due to global trade considerations still stands, there is little to no initiative from private drug companies. The primary aim of such companies being profit, they are not drawn by the clamor for lower prices required in developing countries. Thus, the trend remains for drug companies to produce drugs and cures that will answer the needs of developed countries whom they can charge higher prices for the products and services they offer. Diseases plaguing impoverished nations such as malaria, AIDS, tuberculosis and the like are given little attention although they may present greater threats than hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. This is an unfortunate as developed nations should take it upon themselves to promote health in developing nations as well. The international community would benefit to a greater extent with the improvement of all component nations. The nations in the international community should not only consider giving aid to developing nations when the diseases may spread into their own localities but even so when the diseases may be contained domestically. The interest then should not be for global regulation of domestic plagues but it should be for international interest in holistic global health.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Although drug companies refuse to focus on answering the needs of the major diseases in impoverished nations this is not to say that no organized action is being undertaken for the same. Certainly there are individuals and groups who recognize the importance of promoting health on a global scale. The World Health Organization, for example has collaborated with large pharmaceutical companies in order to bring drugs for the cure of prevalent diseases into levels of access for developing nations.4 The proposed plan is to decrease drug prices for developing nations, if the free delivery of the same is not probable, by increasing prices in affluent countries. Such a scheme would permit the subsidization of drugs by developed countries. There would thus be an equitable division of required resources in order to gain access of available cures in the market. There has also been an observed trend in scientific laboratories. Scientists capable of performing research investigating cures for diseases of poverty have shown greater inclination for the same. Funding may be an issue in the matter however, more and more charities are focusing on the aim of global health and even domestic governments are supporting the bid for finding cures for large health issues. Not only this, but movements have been made to have pharmaceutical companies share the process of production if the matter of marketing drugs at a no-profit price is not possible. Local governments or corporations could then work on producing their own drugs using the process and information shared by foreign corporations. These matters are currently being pushed by advocates worldwide. However, the international community still has much ground to cover. The problem of international health is still a major issue receiving small priority in the global scale. The problem of politicking and bureaucracy hinders advances that could be made in this field. Thus, in order to more aptly answer the problem, local policies should first be reshaped and made to realize the importance of health in the governmental platform. Furthermore, local governments should not limit themselves to addressing only their own separate needs. Garrett aptly captures the issue: Tactically, all aspects of prevention and treatment should be part of an integrated effort, drawing from countries’ finite pools of health talent to tackle all monsters at once, rather than dueling separately with individual dragons. 5 Given limited resources, in the international sense as well as in the domestic, the pooling of these same resources is the best solution to the problem of both global and local health. The vision of individual nations should be enhanced to not only address their own problems but they should start to realize the relevance in investing in a global perspective in answering health issues. Certainly, with a view of the same, advances will be made not only for short term goals of fending off singular diseases in certain nations but more so the long term goal of eradicating debilitating diseases that could potentially reappear in similar conditions or in evolved forms. The answer then is to prepare internationally for the problem of global health as the strengthening of individual platforms in individual nations will address the root issue of recurring conditions. This will serve not only to strengthen the global health system but even other sectors of concern such as trade and global relations as more and more countries invest in programs reflecting amity and gratuity. BIBILIOGRAPHY Check, Erika,â€Å"Quest for the Cure,† Foreign Policy, (2006): 28-36. Garrett, Laurie, â€Å"The Challenge of Global Health,† Foreign Affairs 86(1), (2007): 14-38. Naim, Moises and Brundtland, Gro Harlem, â€Å"The FP Interview: The Global War for Public Health,† Foreign Policy 128, (2002): 24-36. Osterholm, Michael T., â€Å"Unprepared for a Pandemic,† Foreign Affairs 86(2), (2007): 47-57. Zacher, Mark W., â€Å"Global Epidemiological Surveillance,† in Inge Kaw, Isabelle Grunberg, and Marc A. Stern, â€Å"Global Public Goods: International Cooperation in the 21st Century (eds.),† (1999), NY: UNAP.

Aggregate Demand And The Level Of Economic Activity Economics Essay

Aggregate Demand And The Level Of Economic Activity Economics Essay Introduction Collection of revenue and the use of government expenditure which affect the economy is termed as fiscal policy. Fiscal policy can be distinguished with the major sort of macroeconomic policy, monetary policy, which stabilizes the economy by controlling rate of interest and supply of money. Two major objectives of fiscal policy are taxation and expenditure of government Transforming in the level , composition of taxation and government expenditure can force on the following variables in an economy : Aggregate demand and the level of economic activity; The pattern of resource allocation; The distribution of income. Aggregate demand and the level of economic activity: At a given time the price level and the total demand for goods and services in an economy(Y) is called aggregate demand (AD) . [1]. It is the quantity of goods and services in an economy that will be obtained at all probable price levels.[2] When inventory levels are static the demand for the gross domestic product of an economy is termed as aggregate demand. It is also called effective demand although at other times this term is differentiated. It is often quoted that the aggregate demand curve is downward sloping as at lower price levels a larger amount is demanded. Components of Aggregate demand and the level of economic activity: An aggregate demand curve is the summation of individual demand curves for different sectors of the economy. The aggregate demand is generally expressed as a linear sum of four divisible demand sources.[3] where is consumption (may also be known as consumer spending) = ac + bc(Y à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ T), is Investment, is Government spending, is Net export, is total exports, and is total imports = am + bm(Y à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ T). The pattern of resource allocation: Resource allocation is generally used to allot the resource available in an economy in an economic way. How limited resources are allocated among producers, and how limited goods and services are distributed among consumers , this study takes into observation the accounting cost, economic cost, opportunity cost, and other costs of resources and goods and services. Allotment of resources is a vital idea in economics and is related with economic effectiveness and maximization of utility. The distribution of income: Amongst the population of a nation how the nations total economy is allocated is termed as income distribution. It has always been a major concern of economic policy and economic theory. The allocation of income between the vital factors of production, land, labor and capital are considered to express income distribution. Fiscal policy is a vital factor for the economic development of a country. In Bangladesh fiscal policy consists of activities, which the country carries out to attain and utilize resources to afford services while ensuring optimal efficiency of the economic units. This policy controls the behavior of economic forces throughout the public finance. The main factors to attain these goals are variation in public expenditure, variation in public revenue, and management of public debt. These are revealed in the financial planning operations of the government, set up and executed on year-on-year basis. Literature Review For the overall economic development of a country fiscal policy and its management exert greater influence on economic activity. To boost up an economic infrastructure many research and study have been done by economists and policymakers. In this section literature abounds on the effectiveness and importance of fiscal policy in developed and developing countries of the world. Developing countries are facing dual challenges while undertaking fiscal adjustment policies. One arises from the increasing demand for public expenditures for Infrastructure and social sector investment, and the other arises from the lack of capacity to raise revenue from domestic sources to finance the increased expenditure, primarily due to narrow tax base. To boost competitive capacity of the country in a rapidly globalizing world, the governments of developing countries have to invest a large portion of their revenue in building physical infrastructures. In addition, the low income developing countries also need to spend a major portion of their development expenditures in providing social services to the poor such as health, education etc. On the other hand, as Khattry (2003: 402) pointed out, the structural characteristics of low income countries, combined with prevalence of unsophisticated tax administration limit their ability to raise taxes from domestic sources, namely income and domestic indirect taxes. Also, the existence of a large informal sector and the underground economy constrains the governments capacity for revenue growth. Another source of fiscal problem arises with the process of trade liberalization that requires reduction of taxes on international trade together with the elimination of quantitative restrictions and other forms of trade barriers. Therefore countries have to resort to domestic sources to compensate the revenue loss emanating from trade liberalization. As the scope of domestic sources of revenue is limited due to the narrow tax base and structural constraints in the low income countries, this may lead to a vulnerable fiscal position. In principle, a well functioning VAT system on import combined with broad based low tariffs) can recoup some of the revenue loss due to the greater inflow of imports that eventually follows trade liberalization. National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction (NSAPR) of Bangladesh (2005) recognizes that, as government revenue is heavily dependent on trade taxes, and tariff liberalization typically results in tariff revenue loss, alternative sources of revenue must be ensured in order to prevent a sudden rise in budget deficit (which is already high). In order to recoup revenue losses due to tariff liberalization government is trying to increase revenue from direct taxes. It is also envisaged that indirect taxes such as VAT and supplementary duty are applied uniformly on both domestic production and imports, it would both reduce anti-export bias and increase government revenue by widening the tax-net (NSAPR, 2005, p.86). Trade liberalization may thus lead to a fiscal squeeze as a result of re duced revenue and simultaneous increase in expenditure. According to Khattry (2003) fiscal squeeze led some countries to reduce expenditure on physical capital, while that on social services (e.g. health and education) has been financed by acquiring additional debt. However, it has been empirically substantiated that government capital expenditure plays an important role in enhancing economic growth. Bose et al (2003) investigated a panel of thirty developing countries over the decades of 1970s and 1980s, and found that, the share of government capital expenditure in GDP is positively and significantly correlated with economic growth though current expenditure is insignificant. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the relationship between revenue and expenditure and its implication for managing the budget deficit. In order to do this a three variable model is formulated comprising government expenditure, revenue and GDP. Firstly, existence of a long-run relationship among these three variables is tested by using Johansen (1991, 1995) co integration approach. Granger causality test is applied on the corresponding vector error correction model to examine short-run causal relationship between the variables The goal of fiscal policy is to enhance economic growth and employment and to bring stability in economic outcome variables such as the real GDP growth rate. Under the above circumstances, the nature and objectives of fiscal policy may differ with the level of development of the countries. Long run outcome of expansionary fiscal policy depends on the nature of distribution of public resources as the same amount of public money can generate different growth pay-offs in different sectors, and the overall growth of the economy depends on the combined growth of these sectors When the government takes expansionary fiscal policy (expenditure surpassing revenue) either through increasing expenditure or reducing taxes or both, it has to borrow from internal and external sources to finance the deficit. The concept of deficit budget was popularized by Keynes and his followers -the principal argument is that government can boost up economic growth by increasing government expenditures in the short run. Again the government has to shrink its expenditures during the time of growth as excessive aggregate demand can generate inflation. In contrary to the above theory some economists argue that budget deficit negatively affects economic growth According to the advocates of the latter view, lowering budget deficit reduces interest rate thereby increasing investment, which in turn enhances economic growth The risk of expansionary fiscal policy is that, it leads to public debt growth, where it is envisaged that the growth of the economy will be significant enough in the subsequent periods so that the government will have a larger revenue base to finance its enhanced debt obligations. However, failure to generate enough economic growth may force the government into a deficit trap. Therefore the government has to borrow again to finance its deficit -this time may be in greater volume due to increase in the expenditure for repaying principal and interest of previous periods deb t even if the magnitude of public sector activities remains unaltered. There is also a risk that, government borrowing from domestic sources may crowd out private investment by raising the rate of interest. Constraining private investment in this fashion and expending the same amount of money in less productive sectors of the economy can negatively affect overall growth of the economy. As mentioned by Carneiro et al (2004, p.9), if economic agents are non Recording due to credit constraints and overlapping generation, public deficit can have a negative impact on growth as public deficits can hamper growth by competing with private physical capital for individual savings. Conversely, in developing countries public investment can be influential to crowd in private investment as shown by Binswanger et al (1993); infrastructure accessibility and the rural banks are crucial factors for increasing private investment in agriculture, which requires substantial government intervention in fac ilitating private investment. Given excess liquidity in the system (as it is the case in Bangladesh), in spite of significant public borrowing from the banking system over the last 4-6 months, private credit actually proceeded at its usual pace. This however need not be true all the time. Bangladeshs fiscal policy is closely linked to its monetary policy because public budget deficits are mainly financed by increases in money supply. Theoretically, expansionary fiscal policy would generate an increased supply of high-powered money in the face of frequent adjustment in the budget deficit and can provoke price spiral if there is no excess capacity in the economy (Friedman 1956; Friedman and Kuttner 1992). However, increasing government borrowing from central bank is seen as highly inflationary in the case of Bangladesh. But it should be noted that under the situation of chronic slow down of general demand (i.e. a general glut in the economy) higher public expenditure can create higher economic activity by protecting the falling trend in demand which is financed by increased public borrowing (Kiguel 1989). However, there is a general consensus among economists and policy-makers that regulating the growth of money stock is necessary to achieve a fairy stable price level a nd full employment of an economy (Sims 1972) Blanchard and Perotti (2002) use information about the elasticity of fiscal variables to identify the automatic response of fiscal policy, and find that expansionary fiscal shocks increase output, have a positive effect on private consumption, and a negative impact on private investment. More recently, using sign restrictions on the impulse-response functions and identifying the unexpected variation in government spending by a positive response of expenditure for up to four quarters after the shock, Mountford and Uhlig(2005) find a negative effect in residential and non-residential investment Similar studies applied to other countries are relatively scarce, largely due to the limited availability of quarterly public finance data, and, in addition, do not provide a consensual view. Perotti (2004) investigates the effects of fiscal policy in Australia Canada, Germany and the U.K., and finds a relatively large positive effect on private consumption and no response of private investment. Biau and Girard (2005) find a cumulative multiplier of government spending larger than one, and positive reactions of private consumption and private investment in France. De Castro and Hernà ¡ndez de Cos2006) use data for Spain and show that, while there is a positive relationship between government expenditure and output in the short-term, in the medium and long-term expansionary spending shocks only lead to higher inflation and lower output. Heppke- Falk et al. (2006) use cash data for Germany, and find that a positive shock in government spending increases output and private consumption, although the effect is relatively small. Giordano et al. (2007) show that, in Italy, government expenditure has positive and persistent effects on output and on private consumption. Analysis The Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, state of southern Asia, in the northeastern portion of the Indian subcontinent, edged on the north, east and west by India, on the southeast by Burma (Myanmar), and on the south by the Bay of Bengal. The total area of the country is 147,570 sq km with a population of 126 million. It lies roughly between 20 °34 and 26 °36 North latitude and between 88 °01 and 92 °41 east longitude. The capital and leading city of Bangladesh is Dhaka. The economy of Bangladesh is comprised by that of a developing country. Its per capita income in 2008 was est. US$1,500 (adjusted by purchasing power parity) significantly lower than India, Pakistan, both which are also lesser than the world average of $10,497. According to the gradation by the International Monetary Fund, Bangladesh ranked as the 48th largest economy in the world in 2008, with a gross domestic product of US$224.889 billion. The economy has grown at the rate of 6-7% p.a. over the past few years. More than half of the GDP belongs to the service sector; nearly half of Bangladeshis are employed in the agriculture sector, with RMG, fish, vegetables, leather and leather goods, ceramics, rice as other essential produce. The aim of the governments fiscal management is striking a weighing balance between government revenue and expenditure. One more foremost goal is to uphold shortage in the existing budget as much as reasonable for advanced investment in the public division. As a result of cautious fiscal policy and strengthening of fiscal management, overall fiscal deficiency through the current decade remained unchanged. To formulate and execute sound fiscal policy is one of the most significant functions of the government. It puts importance on sustaining macroeconomic constancy through balancing public expenditure management. There is no substitute to sound fiscal management in overall economic governance as a fair public income and expenditure management that assures private sector institutions and individuals a steady macroeconomic background. The vital source of government revenue is tax. Public revenue mainly consists of direct and indirect taxes which accounted for more than 80 percent of total government revenue. The government collects the rest of the public revenue from different non-tax collection such as fee, charge, toll etc. The level of revenue assortment is a vital indicator to establish the step of economic development of a country. The economy of a country becomes more stable if it collects large amount of revenue. In this section we are going to analyze the fiscal condition of Bangladesh during the time period from FY-1991 to FY-2008.During these years Prudent fiscal management emerged as a most important challenge facing the country. The Governments revenue mobilization efforts developed remarkably in the early 1990s following the launch of some major fiscal reforms, mainly introduction of the value-added tax (VAT) in 1991.The VAT provided greater coverage and raised rates than the taxes that it restored (mostly excise duty). The revenue tax to GDP ratio rose from 5.9 percent in FY1991 to 7.3 percent in FY1993, but since then, the proportion has remained steady at about 7 percent. A stagnant tax to GDP ratio reveals lack of improvement in broadening the tax net and in improving the tax management system; in brief, the effectiveness of tax assortment remains fragile and futile. Specifically, the Government has failed to widen the coverage of direct taxes, broaden VAT coverage to high-revenue-y ielding trades and services, develop the implementation of import taxes, and bolster tax government. Conversely, nontax revenues are relatively small (a bit less than 2 percent of GDP), and they also festered over much of the 1990s. As consequence, since FY1993, the entire revenue to GDP ratio has altered around 9 percent, making revenue collection of Bangladesh effort one of the weakest in the global economy. In spite of unsatisfactory revenue collection efforts for much of the 1990s, the Government was capable to uphold the fiscal shortage within 4-5 percent of GDP by keeping spending under control. Government expenditure, both current and capital increased rapidly. Therefore, the fiscal scarcity went up to indefensible levels. With declining alternatives to foreign funding of the deficit, the Government had been compelled to finance the shortfall from domestic sources -from banking sector and domestic borrowing. The ensuing monetary adjustment seriously damaged macroeconomic stability. Table 4 : Selected Fiscal Indicators (Percent of Gross Domestic Product) Because of drop of the revenue to GDP ratio to 9 percent in FY1998-99 from 9.3 percent in FY1997-98, caused by flood-induced disruptions, the Government attempted to reverse the declining trend and projected revenue to GDP ratio of 10 percent in the FY1999-00 budget. In spite of establishing a verified revenue mobilization object, no major efforts were made to apply vital fiscal reforms, reduce the tax structure, strengthen tax management, and extend the tax foundation. Moreover, the hindrance in introducing the reshipment assessment scheme, and slothful growth in imports also added to revenue shortfall. Customs duties collection declined by 10 percent in FY1999-00 compared with FY1998-99, and the share of customs duties in National Board of Revenue portion of taxes declined to 28 percent from 32 percent. Nontax revenue collection was also less than projected due mainly to reduced profit and dividend earnings of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). In FY1999-00, losses of nonfinancial SOE s were estimated at Tk31 billion, or 1.3 percent of GDP. Therefore, actual revenue mobilization in FY1999-00 rotated to be considerably below budget projections, at 8.9 percent of GDP. Government expenditure increased to 13.8 percent of GDP in FY1999-00 from 13.3 percent in FY1998-99, because of a rush in the outlay resulting from flood-induced expenditure, particularly the requirement for extra imports of food grains and post flood rehabilitation outlays. The tendency prolonged in FY1999-00 with overall expenses rising to 15 percent of GDP. Though the Government was capable to Keep up current spending at 7.6 percent of GDP (the same percentage as in the previous year), spending under the annual development program (ADP) went up to 6.7 percent of GDP from5.6 percent in FY1998-99. In the FY1999-00 budget, the Governments aim was to reduce expenses to 7.4 percent of GDP. It was a determined aim in view of the coming general election (scheduled for October 2001) when the pressures on t he Government to accommodate increased expenditure is bound to be considerable. Allocation for the ADP in the FY2000-01 budget was 6.5 percent of GDP, 50 percent of which was expected to be financed from domestic resources, and 40 percent of the domestic funding of the ADP would be from bank borrowing. The choice to fund a superior development budget with substantial borrowing from banks had risks to sustain macroeconomic constancy. While 34 percent of the ADP funds have been allocated to sectors that address poverty directly, about 33 percent had been assigned to infrastructure development comprising energy, transport, and communication. Not all ADP projects could be justified on grounds of accelerating the pace of development; several projects had questionable merit. What was more worrying was that some low -priority projects were being financed by high-cost foreign suppliers credits. In FY 1999-00, revenue/GDP ratio was 8.47 percent, which step by step went up to 10.79 percent in FY2005-06. In FY 2007-08 the revenue/GDP more went up to 11.17 percent and the g rowing trend of revenue-GDP ratio further increased to 11.24 percent in FY2008-09. Table 4.1 illustrates tax and non-tax revenue receipts and tax-GDP ratio within the period from FY1999-00 to FY2008-09. From the beginning of the FY2008-09 the revenue objectives of fiscal year came under challenge because of the impact of worldwide financial crisis. The international economy plunged into collapse mainly for noxious credit crisis in the US financial organizations and gigantic falls in prices of commodities like fuel, fertilizer etc. This price drop caused poorer collection of import duties which is the largest source of revenue although the price of commodities favored reduction of high inflation condition. The assortment of import duty in FY 2008-09 fell diminutive of the goals as the import duty is established on the basis of prices of the imported commodities. Study of revenue collection activities for FY2008-09 by categories illustrates that the volume of revenue collection attains from value added tax (VAT).Income tax takes up the second position in the row. Next places are held by import duties, complementary duty, additional taxes and excise duty. On the whole, the part of VAT in the entire revenue collection is progressively increasing. It can be states that, income tax occupies second place above import duties for the second consecutive time. In FY 2008-09, though the entire revenue collection by NBR source fell diminutive of the goals but overall revenue collection stood at TK. 52525.61 crore, which is TK. 5236.49 crore higher than the assortment of the previous fiscal year showing an 11.07 percent increase. In FY 2007-08, total revenue collection placed at TK. 47289.12 crore, which was Tk. 10,069.8 crore or27.06 percent higher than the assortment of the previous year. In FY 2006-07, the total revenue collection under NBR amounted to Tk. 37219.32 crore which was Tk. 3,216.89 crore or 9.46 percent higher than that of the previous year. Item-wise tax collection from FY2006-07 to FY2008-09 is shown in Table 4.2. Management of public expenditure is the most vital part for the fiscal management of the government. The major aims of fiscal management are to uphold social safety net activities, inspire expenditure in productive level, practice austerity in public expenditure and controls over unproductive expenses. Reducing poverty through improving the standards of living of the generals, building physical infrastructure and developing human resources are the key features of large public outlays in every year. Total public expenditure, development expenditure and expenditure/GDP ratio for FY 2008-09 and during the last decade are shown in Table 4.3. Investigation of entire non-development expenditure illustrates that in FY 2003-04, expenditure on pay and allowances was 27.4 percent of total non-development expenses. In FY 2004-05 and FY 2005-06 these percentage decreased to 25.3 and 27.6 respectively, but went up to 28.5 percent in FY 2006-07 and again decreased to 23.6 percent in FY 2008-09. In FY 2003-04, the spending on subsidy and current transfer accounted for 28.4 percent of entire non-development expenses. In FY 2004-05, FY 2005-06, FY 2006-07 and FY 2008-09 the spending on subsidy and current transfer accounted for 30.1, 29.1, 31.4 and 40.5 percent of entire non-development expenses correspondingly. In FY 2004-05, FY 2005-06, FY2006-07 and FY 2008-09 the shares of interest payments on foreign and domestic credits in total non-development cost were 18.8, 19.8, 20.2 and 20.8 percent respectively. The average genuine cost against the adjusted allotment of ADP was around 90 percent during the time from 1999-00 to 2005-06 (Table 4.4). In FY2006-07 and FY 2007-08, the utilization of ADP is about 83 and 82 percent correspondingly. In FY 2008-09 the short-term expenditure records 85.7 percent utilization of revised allotment. The growing tendency of distribution and expenditure in socio-economic and physical infrastructure segments all the way through ADP is constant with the twin objectives of the government- attaining higher growth and diminishing poverty. ADP expenditure and its composition by key sectors are shown in Table 4.5. Budget is organized in line with the national plans and policies taken up for economic development, poverty diminution and social growth. There arises a budget shortage occurring from a space between the government revenue and expenditure, where expenditure becomes more important than the revenue income. The succeeding governments are taking policies to control resources and shifts earnings at an increased rate to the poor people of the country since over 40 percent of population live beneath poverty line. Though, this enhances budget shortage little further, but it generates purchasing power of a vast population that finally propel growth by escalating aggregate demand. It also facilitates a huge portion of the population to keep minimum livelihood. The tendency of budget shortage in Bangladesh obviously shows that shortage remains under 5 percent of GDP except for those years when there were natural catastrophies. Table 4.6 below represents data on budget shortage and the form of i ts financing throughout the time period from FY1999-00 to FY2008-09. At present the debit obligation of the government is at a reasonable stage. Financing throughout grant and credit from outer sources is progressively tightening because of shifting in the policies of contributors. This, prompted the government to take a variety of restructuring initiatives and to adopt inspirational measures to mobilize resources from domestic sources together with from external sources. In principle, the government has a preferences on concessional foreign borrowing to domestic borrowing due to the poorer outlays of foreign borrowing and longer reimbursement time period. Findings Bangladesh is a third worlds developing country. At present it is going through a financial crisis. To analyze any countrys financial condition the key factor is to investigate its fiscal policy and management as fiscal policy has a great impact on the countrys development procedure. In our term paper we have discussed the fiscal condition of Bangladesh in brief. Financing of regular insufficiency, generally undertaken through borrowings from abroad, from Bangladesh Bank, and from scheduled banks, has become a central characteristic of the fiscal policy of the country. Opportunity of borrowing from the public by the government for financing budget deficiency is very limited in the country as investments capability of the people is very low. Therefore, the opportunity of non-inflationary financing of budget shortfall does not exist here. Availability of foreign borrowing depends on the international liquidity situation and the prevailing circumstances in the international capital market, which is always uncertain and unpredictable for a country like Bangladesh. Here, some major key findings which has a great influence on Bangladeshi economy that we noted out from the analysis section are added : # Introduction of Value Added Tax (VAT) in early 1990s is one of the key fiscal reforms to develop a effective fiscal administration. # The revenue tax to GDP ratio rose from 5.9 percent in FY1991 to 7.3 percent in FY1993 # Because of drop of the revenue to GDP ratio to 9 percent in FY1998-99 from 9.3 percent in FY1997-98, caused by flood-induced disruptions, the Government attempted to reverse the declining trend and projected revenue to GDP ratio of 10 percent in the FY1999-00 budget # Customs duties collection declined by 10 percent in FY1999-00 compared with FY1998-99, and the share of customs duties in National Board of Revenue portion of taxes declined to 28 percent from 32 percent # In FY1999-00, losses of nonfinancial SOEs were estimated at Tk31 billion, or 1.3 percent of GDP. Therefore, actual revenue mobilization in FY1999-00 rotated to be considerably below budget projections, at 8.9 percent of GDP # In FY1998-99 there had a rush in the outlay resulting from flood-induced expenditure, particularly the requirement for extra imports of food grains and post flood rehabilitation expenses # In the FY1999-00 budget, the Governments aim was to reduce expenses to 7.4 percent of GDP. It was a determined aim in view of the coming general election (scheduled for October 2001) when the pressures on the Government to accommodate increased expenditure is bound to be considerable. # In FY 1999-00revenue/GDP ratio was 8.47 percent, which step by step went up to 10.79 percent in FY2005-06. In FY 2007-08 the revenue/GDP more went up to 11.17 percent and the growing trend of revenue-GDP ratio further increased to 11.24 percent in FY2008-09. # From the beginning of the FY2008-09 the revenue objectives of fiscal year came under challenge because of the impact of worldwide financial crisis. # In FY 2008-09, though the entire revenue collection by NBR source fell diminutive of the goals but overall revenue collection stood at TK. 52525.61 crore, which is TK. 5236.49 crore higher than the assortment of the previous fiscal year showing an 11.07 percent increase. In FY 2007-08, total revenue collection placed at TK. 47289.12 crore, which was Tk. 10,069.8 crore or27.06 percent higher than the assortment of the previous year. In FY 2006-07, the total revenue collection under NBR amounted to Tk. 37219.32 crore which was Tk. 3,216.89 crore or 9.46 percent higher than that of the previous year. Item-wise tax collection from FY2006-07 to FY2008-09 # The average genuine cost against the adjusted allotment of ADP was around 90 percent during the time from 1999-00 to 2005-06. In FY2006-07 and FY 2007-08, the utilization of ADP is about 83 and 82 percent correspondingly. In FY 2008-09 the short-term expenditure records 85.7 percent utilization of revised allotment. # The tendency of budget shortage in Bangladesh obviously shows that shortage remains under 5 percent of GDP except for those years when there were natural catastrophes. The findings

The Nature of Evil in William ShakespeareÂs Othello Essay -- William

William Shakespeare’s Othello uses different and unique techniques in his language to express the nature of evil throughout the play. Verbal twists and the characters most importantly stress the act of evil. Iago, most of all is portrayed as the “villain” or “protagonist in the play. Shakespeare uses this character to set the basis of evil. Each plot point is spiraled further into tragedy due to the nature of Iago and his manipulative language towards the other main characters. Corruption overcomes the Venetian society as Iago uses his crafty skills of deceit. The plan to have Othello turn against the ones he loves is the perfect example of evil’s nature. The power struggle is evident between these two. This situation is the start to Iago’s plan to corrupt the society and take Othello’s place. The root of Iago’s “evil” is jealousy indeed, in turn changing into a power hungry manipulator. Iago is tired of acting like one "courteous and knee-crooking knave" like he always appears to be [I. i. 46]. Since Iago is reluctant to choose to be a master, he is the servant that bites off the fame and "keep yet their hearts attending on themselves," still showing his service to his master but instead is more self-preserving with no attachments at all towards the master [I. i. 52]. Irony is used diligently in Shakespeare’s unique language style. Referred by Othello as “honest Iago”, the irony is very evident in this title. Iago is everything but honest but this proves how easily led and manipulated Othello is. The traits Iago possess are unexpected to a normal villain. He comes across as charming and smart, he can also be referred to a wolf in sheep’s clothing. For example, he knows Roderigo is in love with Desdemona and figures that he ... ...or a most attractive, popular, good-natured, charming, selfish, cold-blooded and utterly unscrupulous scoundrel.” (pp. 333-34) [Grant: Studies in Shakespeare, Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1886, pp. 205] This excerpt further explains Iago’s nature being exactly how Shakespeare intended yet a little different than what the average reader would think of him. The nature of evil is strictly evident as the play comes to an end, yet it is viewed as an opinion or a theory whether Iago is truly “evil.” Ironically, Iago’s words speak louder than his actions, proving how legitimate Shakespeare’s use of language for the character was. This dynamic use of language is significant because it can alter the thought of the reader whether Iago was truly evil or just using military tactics to better him. Iago and his use of language set the main plot for every characters outcome.

Assess the work of Hjalmar Schacht in restoring Germanys economic :: Economics

Assess the work of Hjalmar Schacht in restoring Germany's economic situation. Germany at the beginning of 1933 had a high unemployment rate, which meant poverty was widespread. Those in work found that their wages declining which had consequences for those who produced consumer goods. International trade, industrial production and national income had all dropped. Schacht had been chosen by Hitler to solve Germany's economic problems due to a couple of reasons. The most important one was the fact he was the man who had solved hyperinflation in 1923 and had brought Germany's economy back on track then; the other reason was because Schacht was strongly right wing. Schacht became the Economic Minister in 1934 and used the financial facilities of the Reichsbank to help Germany rearm. He was then given dictatorial powers over the economy. The new plan of September 1934 provided control of all aspects of trade and currency exchange. Schacht had many ideas on how to get Germany's economy back up to full strength. One of his ideas was influenced by Keynes, a British economist. He adopted the policy of deficit financing; this idea was that money would be spent of public works to create jobs. The government would pay people to build motorways, which would then reduce unemployment. They then had money to spend, which would mean more products would be needed and companies would have to take on more workers, lowering unemployment further. The German government hoped that the secondary jobs, which were being created, would reemploy the majority of the population, instead of having to feed more money into the system. But this didn't just solve unemployment; it was useful to the public, it meant there were now modern roads, which eased travel over the country. This idea had one more advantage although this wasn't for the people; it was for the Nazi party. Building roads and updating the country was good propaganda; people liked what they were doing and had even more reason to want to keep them in power. Building wasn't the only scheme launched; afforestation was also used to create jobs. This idea paid off as unemployment was down to 2.5 million by mid 1934, and then by the middle of 1935 it had decreased further to 1.7 million. Hitler wanted 'autarky', which in principal was that Germany would become economically self-sufficient. This would then mean that Germany no longer would have to be dependent on other countries to import foodstuffs and raw materials. Another advantage was that Reichsmarks weren't wasted on import taxes. It also gave Germany the opportunity to strive towards a target and it would give them pride when it was

Parker

PARKER : Penning global strategy Ankita Jain Hrishikesh V Nilotpal Sinha Abhinav Sharma Great Lakes Institute of Management November 18, 2011 Caesar had perished from the world of men, had not his sword been rescued by a pen. Abstract In this study, we look at two strategies adopted by Parker Pen. The ? rst is a highly successful strategy of product di? erentiation through technological innovation. The second is an unsuccessful execution of globalization strategy. 1 A brief history of Parker Pen The Parker Pen Company was born in 1888 when George Sta? rd Parker tried to repair some fountain pens that were leaking and in the process began to manufacture his own pens. Six years later in 1894, Parker Pen won the patent of the †Lucky Curve† feed, which was claimed to draw excess ink back into the pen body when the pen was not in use. This technology remained the di? erentiating factor for Parker pens until the arrival of the Duofold in the 1930s. 1 2 The forty years period ra nging from 1920s to the 1960s, in the pre ballpoint pen era, was the golden period of Parker Pen’s reign when it consistently ranked either number one or number two in worldwide writing instrument sales.In 1931 Parker Pen created 1 2 Key words and phrases. Parker Pen, fountain pen, ball-point pen. This study was conducted for completion of the group project for Strategy Execution. 1 the Quink (quick drying ink) which eliminated the need for blotting and led to the development of the most widely used pen in history Parker 51 which generated over $400 million in sales. A Parker pen stood for quality, prestige, tradition, steadfastness and strength highlighted by the fact that Parker pens were the pen of choice to sign important documents in history such as the World War II armistices.Parker Pen expanded its business and by 1980s the company had extended up to 154 countries. The company adopted globalization strategy to establish market presence. However the execution of this st rategy was unsuccessful; the managers failed to create proper marketing strategies that would have made them compete in international markets with inexpensive products from other parts of the world. In 1993 Parker Pen was acquired by the Gillette Company, which already owned the PaperMate brand, one of the best-selling disposable ballpoints.In 2000, Gillette sold the writing instruments division to Newell Rubbermaid, whose own Stationery Division, Sanford, became the largest in the world owning such brand names as Rotring, Sharpie, Reynolds as well as Parker, PaperMate, Waterman and Liquid Paper. In recent years, Parker Pen has abandoned both the entry level market as well as the traditional retail outlets in North America and moved into up-scale luxury retailers. 2 Innovation as a di? erentiation strategy Throughout its history, Parker Pen has used technological innovation as a strategy to di? erentiate itself from the competition.The company has been a pioneer in research on writi ng instruments and introduced several revolutionary products . In this section, we look at some of the iconic products from Parker Pens which have driven both the company as well as the pen market. (The current portfolio of Parker Pen’s products can be found in Ref. [1]) 2. 1 Duofold – 1921 In 1921 the company introduced the Parker Duofold (Ref. [2]) fountain pen. It was a state of the art pen for its time and Parker Pen positioned the Duofold in the premier segment and priced it expensively $7. 00, equivalent to about $85 in 2011.In 1926 the Duofold became the ? rst pen in the world to have a guaranteed life of †forever†. It was an instant success. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle used one to write the exploits of Sherlock Holmes. General Douglas MacArthur signed the document ending World War II in the 2 Paci? c with his 20 year old Duofold (Ref. [3]). By the early 1930s the Duofolds design had grown dated in the USA but it remained popular in Europe until the 1960s . In 1988, Parker launched the Duofold Centennial series of pens. The modern Duofold is a key part of Parker Pens product portfolio. . 2 Quink – 1928 In 1928, after three years of research and an investment of $68,000, Parker Pen came up with Quink (a portmanteau word from ’quick’ and ’ink’; also known as Double Quink and Parker 51 Ink) that would eliminate the need for blotting. The success of Quink lay in the fact that it had a number of useful features: it resisted water, it did not clog, it had the desired quality of ink ? ow, it resisted moulding, it was non-corrosive, it did not leave deposits, it did not fade, and, most importantly, it was quick-drying.However, the new ink was strongly alkaline and contained isopropyl alcohol, a solvent not previously used in inks, which often damaged the pen barrels of that time which were manufactured using pyralin. This problem eventually led to the development of the world’s most successful pen, t he Parker 51 in 1941. In 1941, when the Parker 51 was launched, Double Quink was renamed and repackaged as †Parker 51 ink† as a marketing initiative. Parker Pen’s ink sales became the key to maintaining the company’s pro? tability.This revenue generation model is used by the modern day computer printer companies, whose main source of revenue comes from the sale of printer cartridges. Further enhancements were made to Parker Pen inks with its revolutionary †Super Chrome† ink. This ink was marketed in 1947 after a research period that lasted 17 years and cost over $200,000. This was the ? rst basic ink improvement in the last three centuries. Today, more than seventy years later, Quink is still the world’s biggest selling pen ink. 2. 3 Vacumatic – 1933 The Parker Vacumatic (Ref. 4]) fountain pen was introduced in 1933, as a replacing the Duofold as Parker’s top-of-the-line product. The Vacumatic featured a new ? lling mechanis m which boasted a much higher ink capacity than the Duofold. The pen remained Parkers top-of-the-line product until the launch of the Parker 51 in 1941. The US production continued through 1948, and until 1953 in Canada. 3 2. 4 Parker 51 – 1941 In 1941 Parker Pen introduced the Parker 51 (Ref. [5]) which arguably is the best pen of all time both in terms of popularity and sales. General Eisenhower signed the victory in Europe in 1944.The futuristic design of the Parker 51 heralded as †Ten Years Ahead† of its time, a revolutionary pen, with its hooded, tubular nib and multi-? nned collector, all designed to work in conjunction with the pen’s proprietary ink, allowing the nib to stay wet and lay down an even line with either the ultra-fast drying ink or more traditional inks. It was advertised as the ’The Worlds Most Wanted Pen’ which created huge demand which took Parker several years to ful? l. By 1970, the Parker 51 generated over $400 millio n in sales, higher than that generated by any single pen ever. 2. 5Jotter – 1954 In the 1940, the world had seen a ? erce battle for market share fought between the traditional fountain pens and the new ballpoint pens. Despite some initial success, ballpoint pens died a consumer death and by 1951, the fountain pen became the pen of choice of the world. In 1954, Parker Pens introduced its ? rst ballpoint pen, the Jotter which wrote ? ve times longer than the best ballpoint pens available in the market, the Eversharp and the Reynolds ballpoint pens. It was the introduction of Jotter that revived the ballpoint pen market. Parker sold 3. 5 million Jotters at $2. 5 to $8. 75 in less than one year. In 1957, Parker Pen introduced the T-ball Jotter with tungsten carbide textured ball bearing which to this date remains an industry standard. The famed styling of the Parker Duofold was revived in 1972 as a ball pen and within the next decade, ballpoint pens overtook fountain pen as the number choice of pen in the world. 3 Rise of competition – 1980s After about a century of dominating the ? ne writing instrument market, Parker Pen entered into a period of crisis in the 1980s and the reason for this was that the company was driven by the wrong strategy.Parker was facing competition from three fronts. First, the Japanese were mass marketing cheaper and disposable pens and had captured a large portion of the low end market in USA and Europe and were gradually eating into Parker Pen’s market share. Second, like the Japanese, American brands such as Paper Mate, Bic, Pilot, and Pentel had created signi? cance presence in the low end segment and gradually eroding and were pulling away parker Pen’s customer. Third, in the high 4 end segment which had been Parker Pens main target segment, competition had become ? ercer with reputed German brands such as Montblanc and A.T. Cross making progress in the European markets. 4 Globalization strategy – 1982 Parker Pen faced two contrasting challenges. On one side the weakened dollar generated high foreign revenue since about 80% of the company’s sales were abroad, the pro? ts derived from those sales represented even big pro? ts when translated to local currency. But on the other side, this over dependency on foreign sales exposed the company to foreign competitors, especially the inexpensive brands from Japan which used low pricing as a strategy to compete in the international market.Parker Pen realized that a competitive strategy based on product di? erentiation through technological innovation was not su? cient to thwart the challenge from competitors. In 1982, James R. Peterson became the CEO of Parker Pen,having joined it from Reynolds. He was given the responsibility of reinventing the brand. Peterson decided to launch a global marketing campaign to target all market segments. A consequence of the decision to adopt globalization was standardization. Everything includi ng products as well as marketing campaign was to be standardized for all the markets across the world. Issues in executing globalization strategy When Peterson took over Parker, he was met by a highly proud, mismanaged company that prided itself on its extensive decentralization. The atmosphere re? ected the founders pride in the fact that they had a unique pen for every place in the world. They were a federation of autonomous geographical units. It became immediately clear to Peterson that huge changes were on the anvil. The immediate problems were twofold. The ? rst was the products positioning. Having positioned itself at the higher end of the market for a signi? ant part of the previous century, it had now began to face problems with regard to its image. It was clear that a complete clarity of its brand positioning and image was essential. The second issue that confronted Peterson was its complete ine? ciency in managing its product portfolio. When Peterson entered Parker, it di dnt even have a proper idea of the range of products that it was manufacturing. It was a situation of complete chaos 5 with more than 500 products in simultaneous existence. Its decentralized structure had completely turned against its pro? ability, resulting in every distant subsidiary and distributor involved developing a customized product for that particular market. While the company was proud of its decentralized multinational structure, it was ailing on account of an obvious lack of economies of scale and a uni? ed command and strategy. The company clearly lacked a common driving force across markets. However, this decentralization had its positive aspects as well, most notably in the area of advertising. Pens meant and mean di? erent things to di? erent people.While the Europeans tended to choose a pen based on its style and feel, people in less-developed countries tended to see a pen as nothing more than a badge of literacy. Within Europe itself for instance, tastes tended t o vary from one country to another. While the French showed a de? nite attachment to the fountain pen, the Scandinavians favoured the ballpoint pen. The company justi? ed the existence of numerous advertising agencies in its employ feeling that while it bred a certain amount of ine? ciency, it paid o? from a sales standpoint. Many individual advertising ? ms were able to develop excellent customized messages for their audience that successfully struck a responsive chord within them. For instance, the Lowe Howard-Spink agency in London was able to make the UK division of Parker the most pro? table division during its tenure. Its creative genius is clearly visible in the advertisement that it created showing a dead plumber with a giant Parker pen protruding from his heart. The situation seemed bleak to Peterson. He immediately implemented a strategy by which Parker would position itself in the entry-level segment.He felt that in the face of the trends at that time, this would be the i deal positioning that would succeed in turning around the company. He also dissociated Parker from the numerous advertising ? rms that it was associated with, retaining only one, Ogilvy and Mather, to oversee a worldwide common strategy in terms of communication and advertising. However, this strategy failed miserably on two counts. It failed to provide a customized communication strategy to each market and thus failed to account for the cultLural di? erences across geographies.It also failed to leverage the premium positioning of the brand and reduced it to an entry-level brand. 5. 1 Two speci? c cases of execution failures The following examples show two speci? c cases of execution failure by Parker Pen. 6 (a) At a corporate level, Parker Pen targeted almost all market segments. However at the business level, management failed to introduce products which would cover the market segments with middle and lower income levels. This allowed competitors with inexpensive products to take up the market. (b) Some of the marketing campaign failed to adjust to the local environment.For example, when Parker Pen ? rst expanded their market to Latin America, they wanted their advertisement to say, †It won’t leak in your pocket and embarrass you. † The company did not realize that the Spanish word †embarazar † has two meanings; it means †to embarrass,† and it also means to †impregnate. † So, to some unsuspecting people, the ad read: †It won’t leak in your pocket and make you pregnant. † (Ref. [6]) 6 Acquisition of Parker by Gillette and beyond In May 1993, Gillette announced its acquisition of Parker Pen Holdings Ltd (Ref. [7]). (See Exhibit X).This made Gillette the world leader in the pen market. Gillette took an after-tax charge of $164 million for a reorganization of its overseas operations, including the integration of the Parker Pen facilities into the Gillette structure. Nearly 2000 jobs were l ost as a result of this restructuring process. Gillette sold the writing instruments division to Newell Rubbermaid, whose own stationery division, Sanford became the largest in the world with brand names such as Rotring, Sharpie, Reynolds as well as Parker, PaperMate, Waterman and Liquid Paper under its umbrella.The next few years were one of a complete downsizing of Parker, marked by job losses across the board. In July 2009, the 180 workers at the Parker headquarters of Newhaven, UK were given notice that the factory was going to be shut down on account of the production moving to France. On August 18, 2009, Newell Rubbermaid announced that Janesville Wisconsin would close the remaining operations of Parker. This resulted in the loss of 153 jobs. According to the company, †This decision is a response to structural issues accelerated by market trends and is in no way a re? ction on the highly valued work performed by our Janesville employees over the years. † Newell Rub bermaid stated an o? er of transitional employment services and severance bene? ts. What remained of the Parker brand was moved to the upscale segment of the writing instrument market and was sold via luxury retailers. Traditional retail outlets were abandoned. This completely removed the brand from the entry level segment of the market. 7 In 2011, Parker Pen announced the ? nest innovation in the history of writing, Parker 5TH Technology which o? ers a genuine ? th way of writing. Until then the world knew only four forms of ? ne writing – fountain pen, ball point, roller ball and the mechanical pencil. ground-breaking innovation has rea? rmed placed Parker as leaders in terms of both innovation and market share. 7 7. 1 Exhibits Financial statement 8 7. 2 Product display Duofold – Lucky 8 Limited Edition Ingenuity Parker 51 9 7. 3 Current product portfolio TABLE I T ype Ink Quink Fountain Pen Duofold, Premier, Sonnet, Vector, IM Ballpoint pen 7. 4 M odel Facet, Execut ive, Esprit, Frontier, Urban, I. M. , Vector JotterAcquisition of Parker by Gillette References [1] http://parkerpens. net/catalogue/parker catalogue 2009. pdf [2] http://www. parkerpen. com/en/discovery/range/iconic/duofold [3] http://www. patricktaylor. com/parker-duofold [4] http://www. vintagepens. com/Parker Vacumatics. shtml [5] http://www. pentrace. net/penbase/Data Returns/full article. asp? id=468 [6] http://parkerpens. blogspot. com/2007/09/advertizing-campaings-that-wentwrong. html [7] http://www. nytimes. com/1993/05/08/business/company-news-gillette-completesacquisition-of-parker-pen. html 10