Analysis of Challenges in International Management Essay Example for Free

Analysis of Challenges in International Management Essay Analysis of Challenges in International Management† Abstract The following essay analysis the challenges in International Management with particular regard to the challenge of â€Å"culture† in international business as it is the must difficult to deal with and being essential for successful results in a wide range of global management tasks nowadays and in the future. Introduction Today successful international management requires more than a lot of frequent flyer miles or seasoned expatriate managers. But what are those exclusive challenges of international management in today’s world? The importance of international management is constantly increasing, as we exist in a world where globalisation is affecting the traditional borders in a broad range of areas. †¢Trade and investment, †¢Economic alliances, †¢The international stage players, and †¢The work environment are changing rapidly, being supported by the increasing sophistication and lower cost of information technology. World trade and investments are growing fast (the volume of world trade among countries has grown at an average rate over 8% since 2005 (WTO 2008)), linking the economies and creating opportunities and threats. New, strong and forced competitors are coming from developing nations in Asia and the transitioning economies of Eastern Europe. Furthermore, the constantly rising level of foreign direct investment also has a globalising effect (Thomas 2002). Moreover, the emergence of the free-trade areas drastically decreased traditional economic boundaries. So do the three largest groups, the EU, the NAFTA, and the APEC, account for nearly half of the world’s trade (Cullen 2002) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) now has 140 member-nations, aiming to reduce tariffs and liberalize trade. But globalization also affects the work environments within organizations. Changes involve cutbacks, team-based management movements and privatization. For instance, there can be factory closings, as Nokia closing their German plant in Bochum moving to Romania, because of cheaper labour. All in all, as one key consequence of globalisation, international managers nowadays have to face a more dynamic, complex, competitive and uncertain environment and need skills (as a global mindset or the ability to work with people from diverse background) not considered necessary for domestic-only managers. The environment of international management can be divided into †¢economic, †¢legal, †¢political, and †¢cultural factors (Thomas 2002). So for making decisions it is essential to understand the economic strategies of the countries in or with one wants to conduct business with, because level of economic development and quality of life differs extremely worldwide. Furthermore, there are various national sovereign laws and regulations existing in the world which have to be observed and made allowance for. And in addition, there are several varieties of political systems (e. g. , theocratic totalitarianism in Saudi Arabia), containing different levels of political risks which have to be managed. For instance, decision makers have to able to estimate the degree of risk associated with a government’s involvements in business affairs depending on characteristics of their company. All these factors present impressive challenges multinational management has to face. However, the management challenge of culture and its effects on business practices and organizations is one of the most difficult to deal with. As conducting business with people from other cultures will never be easy you have to understand how culture affects management and organizations. â€Å"Culture† is a concept borrowed from cultural anthropology and there are numerous and subtle different definitions. As each definition has limitations focussing on international management the following description of Geert Hofstede seems very helpful. He defines the culture of any society as comprising shared values, understandings, assumptions and goals learned from earlier generations, imposed by present members of a society and passed on to succeeding generations (Hofstede 2008). Culture is something shared by members of a particular group, differentiates humans from other groups, is transmitted through the process of learning and adapts to external and internal environments and relationships. The international businessperson needs to be aware of three levels of cultures that may influence multinational operations. These include national culture, business culture, and organisational cultures (Cullen 2002). National culture can be described as the dominant culture within the political borders of a nation-state. But one has to be aware that multiple cultures can exist within political boundaries and they do not necessarily reflect cultural borders. For instance, Canada being home to Anglophones and Francophones. Furthermore, even relatively homogenous cultures can have diverse subcultures, including cultural differences which are affecting the international business. Nevertheless, as most business is conducted within the political borders of a state and nations can be defined as political unities, varying in governmental, legal, educational, institutional and labour systems, influencing the way people interact with their environment (Thomas 2002), national culture has the greatest effect on international business being probably the most logic starting point trying to understand the cultural environment. Business culture, reflecting the national culture, influences all aspects of work and organizational life (e. g. , motivating staff, negotiating with business partners, etc. and knowing it’s basic requirements (e. g. , what to wear to business meetings, business etiquette is more formal in Germany than in the U. S. with conservative dark business suits, etc. ) is essential for the international manager. Moreover, especially in the last few years, people realized that the â€Å"culture†-concept also holds for individual organizations. So may differences in organizational culture may be one reason why the merger of two otherwise successful companies failed. It is important to evaluate the influence of organizational rules, norms and procedures to understand the causes of behaviour in organizations. With shared behaviours, conditional relationship, being socialized into and partly involved in it, etc. organizational culture differs in construction and elements of national culture. Even so understanding these cultural factors is fundamental for international managers conducting international business, they have to be aware that â€Å"cultures† can just offer wide guidelines for behaviour, as for instance organizational cultures differ within any national context and individuals vary in each culture level. One cannot predict exactly how each person acts, feels, thinks, etc. Nonetheless, broad generalization about a culture provides a level of analysis from which to begin to understand the cultural environment and the complexities of cultural differences, because management functions such as planning, organizing, leading, and controlling in a global economy have to account for them. As international managers have to face various cultural challenges testing their management abilities they must be able to unpack the culture concept. Therefore the basic concepts of cultural dimensions can help them understand how two or more cultures might be different. An essential implication of these frameworks referring to international management and culture is that cultural interpretation and adaptation are a prerequisite to the comparative understanding of international management practice (Morden 1995). The following sections describe two popular models. Hofstede’s Culture Model This Framework, created by dutch scientist Geert Hofstede and based on a research over 11600 people in 50 countries (starting with 39 IBM subsiadiaries worldwide), tries to evaluate how basic values underlay organizational behaviour. National differences are investigated by five dimensions of basic cultural values: 1. Power distance 2. Uncertainty avoidance 3. Individualism 4. Masculinity and 5. Long-term orientation (Hofstede 2008). 1. This first value dimension refers to how cultures deal with inequality and tries to postion the inequality acceptance level by unequal power distribution society members. In countries with a high power distance acceptance (e. g. , such as Mexico), people respect and hardly ever bypass formal hierarchy positions (Elizabeth M. Christopher 2008). 2. The second value dimension concerns about the degree humans in a society are threatened by uncertain situations. The social system of a higher uncertainty avoidance society is dominated by regulations and rules, predictabilties and orders and people tend to be suspicious of change, whereas people from lower levels of uncertainty avoidance societies (for instance, countries such as Denmark). tend to be less formal, take higher business risks and plan and structure less 3. Individualism refers to the affinity to primarily take care of oneself and one’s direct family, and then to the rest of society (with the U. S. being a good example) (Elizabeth M. Christopher 2008). 4. The fourth dimension of â€Å"masculinity† concerns about the ranking of tradionally â€Å"masculine† values in a society, such as less concerning for others, materialism and assertiveness, whereas â€Å"feminity† on the other side emphasises the quality of life and relationships. 5. Long-term orientation cultures are insistent and saving (e. g. the culture of China) and short-term orientation is more self-centered, money-oriented and more social. All these factors are inter-reliant and interactive in their effects. So shows the Anglo-Dutch example Unilever the practicability of multinational enterprises where the power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and individualism values are similar; and where the masculine achievement orientation of the British complements the people orientation of the Dutch (Morden 1995). All in all, so there is a lot of criticism (for instance, the time-dependence of the results, the non-exhaustive investigation of only one multinational US company, etc. to these findings and the model of Hofstede, it is still a very valuable and useful â€Å"gift† for understanding culture and culture-based behavior. Trompenaars’ Culture Model The model created by Fons Trompenaars its also based on the researched of value dimensions. He studied the behavoiur of 15000 managers, representing 47 national cultures (Hampden-Turner 2008). Five of the seven dimensions of his model deal with the challenges of h ow people relate to each other: 1. Universalism versus particularism 2. Neutral versus affective 3. Specific versus diffuse . Achievement versus ascription 5. Time as sequence versus synchronisation The two final dimensions deal with how a culture manages time and how it deals with nature. They include: 6. The society-orientation to the past, present, or future and 7. â€Å"Control of† versus â€Å"accommodation with† nature 1. The value of univerlism refers to the application to systems and rules objectively, without taking consideration to personal circumstances, whereas the particularism culture (e. g. in countries as Spain) is more subjective and focusses more on relationships. 2. The second, the neutral-versus-affective, value dimension refers on the emotional orientation of relationships (such as expressing your feelings and emotions more like, for example, the Portugese). 3. In Addition the specific-versus-diffus dimension investigates if people from a special culture tend to be more or less specific or diffuse in their relationships (for example, Germans try to separate work and personal issues). 4. In the achievement-versus-ascription dimension, it is asked: †What is the source of power and status in society? † (Elizabeth M. Christopher 2008) So is for instance, in an achievement refering culture, the â€Å"status† of a person mainly based on it’s individual achievement (such as job performance, etc. ). 5. â€Å"Time as sequence† orientated cultures separate events in time (â€Å"step-by-step†), whereas â€Å"time as synchronisation†-orientated indiviuals manage events in parallel. (For example, if their business partners are not sharp on time, Germans, coming from a â€Å"time-as-sequence† orientated culture, may consider it an insultation). 6. This value dimension is about past versus future orientations. 7. Moreover, this dimension refers to the extent to which individuals feel that they themselves are the primary influence on their lives. Using this framework trying to understand some culture-basics some interesting patterns may emerge. Altough, being recognised for their validity (the results of these both major studies have some significant parallels, even so they were carried out in different times using different methods and examples), these concepts of cultural value orientation proposed by Hofstede and Tropmenaar can only give a basic framework for the analysis of cultural differences. They are utensils to help understand a culture and adjusting business practices to diverse cultural environments. They are for instance, a prerequisite to the successful new-market country entry, whether by setting up licensing or new subsidiaries, joint ventures, mergers or for the establishment of efficient programmes of international HR development (Kay 1993). But international managers have to realise that the understanding of another culture is a inexhaustible learning process. They will have to practice for their international work with or in other countries by studiying all that they can about the country, including more than just the business etiquette. Understanding the national culture builds just the foundation. As you seldom can get behind the front stage of culture without speaking the national language onother basic instrument is learning the language. But the challenge of â€Å"culture† in international management takes such much more than this. International managers have to broaden their understanding of cultural differences and to learn to seek advantage in differences. Understanding the culture is just a basis for the diverse international management tasks, as appropriate cross-cultural communication (using appropiate communication styles), effective and positive motivating and leadership in international organisations and across cultures, successful negotiation with international business partners and making ethically and socially responsible decisions. Conclusion The environment of international management can be divided into economic, legal, political, and cultural factors, with â€Å"culture† being the most challenging and most difficult to deal with, influencing a broad range of management tasks. Providing oneself with the necessary knowlegde and understanding of the national culture of the country or the people one is conducting business with is essential and builds just the foundation for the successful complementation of global management tasks, such as for instance leadership in multinational organisations (where you have to have understanding of all three levels of culture; national, business and organisational culture, being different and influencing each other).

lord of flies :: essays research papers

The novel Lord of the flies by William Golding presents and defends a theme that human nature is essential evil, and that a person removed from society will be allowed to let their evil instincts to manifest themselves as the person becomes increasingly savage. In this novel, Golding presents a character (Jack) who takes on and exemplifies this transition to savagery through out the course of the book as the evil inside him is set free. We see Jack, who at first cannot even kill a pig caught in the creepers, fall deeper in deeper into his savage ways as his killing of one pig, and his focus on the hunt turns to bloodlust. Then as it progresses his bloodlust begins to drive more than just the hunt for food as he leaves the dead as sacrifice for the beast, and he begins to turn his violence out towards the other boys, not just his pray. As a final decent into the evil that has consumed him the pray becomes one of the boys as Ralph is hunted with the intent to kill, sacrifice and possibly even eat in an act of cannibalism. Before the evil began to grow in strength within Jack, he was a boy much like the others and like the others he found the concept of killing another living thing was not something easy to digest, but Jack learned. How ever hard it was for Jack to first kill a pig, spilling its blood on his bare hands, once he had first killed another living thing his path towards evil and savagery was well one its way. Early on in the novel we find Ralph, Simon and Jack walking through the forest when they come across a small pig tangled and caught in the creepers. Although Jack does have a knife with him his hesitation combined with the overwhelming reality of the situation keeps Jack stunned in his place and the pig escapes untouched. Jack swears to himself and the others that he will kill the next pig and this pressure to perform to prove himself a true and worthy hunter, leads him to obsession over the hunt. To Jack the hunt becomes more than just a game, or a source of food, it becomes his mission, duty and purpose on the island. When Jack makes his first kill he is spellbound by the power of life and death he exerts on the pig and is fascinated by the warm blood that pours from the wound he cuts to slit the pigs throat.

Investigation of the Probiotic Properties of Bacterial Strains from Two Probiotic Drinks and Their Survivability in Artificial Gastric Juice

Investigation of the probiotic properties of bacterial strains from two probiotic drinks and their survivability in artificial gastric juice ABSTRACT: Two probiotic drinks were investigated in vitro to test their ability to survive acidic conditions and their probiotic factors. Both the products: Actimel and Yakult contain gram-positive bacteria, but Actimel also has a gram-negative bacteria. The ability to survive was investigated by adding artificial gastric juice to the products and incubating at different times.Actimel and Yakult were both able to survive the gastric juice. Actimel produced more colonies than Yakult but they both lost the same percentage of viability. The longer the time incubated the more the loss of viability. Introduction: In recent years health promoting functional foods has entered the global market as a result of increased prevalence of lifestyle related diseases (A. A. Aramide et al, 2009). People use functional foods and diet to maintain optimal health. C onsumption of probiotics is one of the ways someone could reach and maintain their optimal health.A probiotic is â€Å"living microorganisms, which upon ingestion in certain numbers, exert health benefits beyond inherent basic nutrition† (Todd R. Klaenhammer, 2000). According to the WHO/FAO report 2001 these probiotics can help prevent disorders associated with the gastrointestinal tract, diarrhoea caused by certain pathogenic bacteria and viruses, inflammatory diseases, allergies and a lot more. Actimel and Yakult is a couple of the said probiotic drinks. They claim to increase your body’s natural defences by fighting off the â€Å"bad† bacteria. Actimel is a yogurt-type drink produced by a company called Danoneâ„ ¢.It has three strains of bacteria, two traditional yoghurt cultures: Lactobacillus bulgaricus  and  Streptococcus thermophiles and a third one called L. casei Imunitass ® (http://www. actimel. co. uk/About/-WhatIsActimel. aspx, Accessed Feb, 28, 2010). Lactobacillus is a genus of bacteria that aid in the conversion of lactose to lactic acid hence increasing acidity in the stomach making it hard for harmful bacteria to survive (http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Lactobacillus, Accessed Feb 28, 2010). Actimel contains 10 billion L. casei Imunitass ® bacteria per 100ml bottle.This bacterial strain works under a wide range of pH and temperature hence able to survive the acidic conditions in the stomach. This ensures that the bacteria reach the gut alive and active. It helps by topping up the good bacteria in the stomach and making it hard for the germs to survive. The bacteria also aids in strengthening the gut wall so that only certain nutrients can pass. In 2004 a trial carried out to find the effect of Actimel on the immune response of subjects under academic examination stress showed that Actimel was able to control the number of lymphocytes and CD56 cells in subjects under academic examination stress.Other studies also show that the Actimel bacterial strains can be used in treating allergic rhinitis, prevention of diarrhoea and induce immune responses. On the other hand Yakult is milk based probiotic and contains only one strain of bacteria: Lactobacillus  casei  Shirota. It is produced and distributed by Yakult Honsha Co. Ltd. It contains 6. 5 billion L. casei Shirota per 65ml bottle. A variety of scientific studies have shown that Yakult has an effect on the human NK-cell activity, intestinal micro flora and immune parameters in humans.As a guideline a probiotic microorganisms should be resistant to gastric juices and be able to grow in the presence of bile under conditions in the intestines. The aim of this experiment is to measure the survivability of the strains in artificial gastric juice and to identify the bacterial strains said to be in the product. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Gram Stain: Firstly the bacteria were heat fixed according to the instruction in the lab manual. After heat fixing , crystal violet stain was added to the bacteria for 2 minutes, then washed in water and Lugol’s iodine for 30 seconds.The bacteria were decolorised by adding 95% alcohol for 15 seconds followed by a water wash and counter stain with safranin for 1 minute. This was then washed with water and examined under high power (x100) using oil immersion. A picture of these strains each from Actimel and Yakult directly and pure culture was taken. DNA Extraction: To extract the DNA, 1 ml of culture was centrifuged for 5 minutes. The pellet was re suspended in 480 ? l of 50mM EDTA with 60 ? l of 10mg/ml lysozyme then incubated at 370C for 45 minutes, centrifuged for 2 minutes and re suspended in 600 ? of nuclei lysis solution and incubated at 800C for 5 minutes. After cooling down 3 ? l of RNAase was added and left to incubate at 370C for 30 minutes. The mixture was left to cool and 200 ? l of protein precipitation solution was added, left on ice for 5minutes followed by high speed (13000 rpm) centrifuging for 5 minutes. The supernatant was then added to 600 ? l of isopropanol and mixed until DNA â€Å"threads† were formed and centrifuged for 15 minutes. The DNA pellet was washed with 200 ? l of 70% ethanol and centrifuged for 2 minutes. The ethanol was then removed and the DNA left to air dry and then re suspended in 50 ? of sterile water. PCR of chromosomal DNA: A 2 ? l of the DNA was added to 1 ? l of AmpF primer(GAGAGTTTGATYCTGGCTCAG), 1 ? l of AmpR (AAGGAGGTGATCCARCCGCA) primer, 2 ? l of dNTP’s, 10 ? l of x10 PCR buffer, 83 ? l of water and 1 ? l of Taq polymerase was added. This mixture was placed in the Promega Wizard Chromosomal DNA preparation kitâ„ ¢ and run according to the manufacturer’s guidelines. PCR Purification: The PCR reaction contents were added to a 1. 5 ml Eppendorf tube with 500 ? l of buffer PB1. This was centrifuged at high speed in the spin column for 30 seconds.A 750 ? l of buffer PE was added to the spin column and centrifuged for 1 minute. The spin column was then placed in an Eppendorf tube and 50 ? l of water was added and centrifuged for a further 1 minute. A 15 ? l of this PCR product was added to 5 ? l of Gel loading buffer and was run at 50 V for 2 hours. 20 ? l of the PCR product was then sent to the John Innes sequencing service for sequencing. Media Preparation: To media was prepared by adding 37g of Brain Heart Infusion (BHI) to 1 litre of distilled water and mixed using a magnetic stirrer.This was then added to a conical flask with 3g of agar and autoclaved at 1210C, 15 psi for 10 minutes. The media was then microwaved and poured onto petri dishes with Bunsen burner going, to sterilise the air around. Survival Studies: For carrying out the survival studies, 5 ml of the product was added to 25 ml of artificial gastric juice and left to incubate at 370C for 30, 60 and 90 minutes. The product was taken from different bottles to ensure replicates. After incubation the mixture was then diluted to 10-5 for Yakult and 10-7 for Actimel. This was spread onto a petri dish and was left to incubate.The plates were then counted and the number of CFU/ ml was calculated. RESULTS: Culturing bacteria: Firstly the number of colony forming unit (cfu) per ml was worked out by culturing the bacteria from the probiotic products and counting the number of colonies formed. This was then used to work out cfu/dose by using the volume they are produced in, which are 100 ml and 65 ml of Actimel and Yakult respectively. Table 1: Class data of cfu/ml and cfu/dose of bacteria in the product Yakult(cfu/ml)| Yakult(cfu/dose)| Actimel(cfu/ml)| Actimel(cfu/dose)| 4. 21. x 109| 2. x 1011| 4. 36 x 109| 4. 36 x 1011| 4. 14 x 109| 2. 86 x 1011| 2. 6 x 108| 2. 6 x 1010| 9. 7 x 10 9| 7. 8x 1010| 2. 1 x 109| 2. 1 x 1011| 1 x 109| 6. 3 x 109| 7. 5 x 108| 7. 5 x 1010| 1. 6 x 109| 6. 5 x 1010| 5. 5. 2x 108| 5. 5 x 1010| 9 x 107| 5. 8 x 109| 1 x 1010| 1 x 1012| 7 x 107| 4. 5 x 109| 2. 5 x 109| 2. 5 x 101 1| 4. 6 x 109| 2. 99 x 1011| 1. 21x 109| 1. 21x 1011| 1. 68 x 108| 1. 09 x 1010| 4. 3 x 1010| 4. 3 x 1012| 4. 02 x 108| 2. 61 x 1010| 1. 18 x 109| 1. 18 x 1011| 9. 1 x 107| 5. 9 x 109| 2. 89 x 108| 2. 89 x 1010| 1 x 108| 6. 5 x 109| 2. 7 x 109| 2. 7 x 1011| x 108| 3. 2 x 1010| 3. 6 x 109| 3. 6 x 1011| 3. 4 x 107| 2. 2. x109| 2. 7 x 109| 2. 7 x 1011| 2. 39 x108| 1. 5 x 1010| 3. 78 x 109| 3. 78 x 1011| 9. 7 x 107| 6. 3 x 109| 5. 0 x 1010| 5. 0 x 1012| 1 x 108| 6. 5 x 109| 1. 4 x 109| 1. 4 x 1011| 1 x 108| 6. 5 x 109| 2. 6 x 109| 2. 6 x 1011| To compare the mean differences between these two products an independent t test was carried out assuming equal variance. Table 2: Independent t-test of the class data for cfu/dose on Actimel and Yakult Independent t-test| | | Mean| Standard Deviation| SE Mean| P Value| cfu/dose| Actimel| 7. 9 x 1011| 1. 45 x 1012| 3. 41 x 1011| 0. 056| | Yakult| 6. 29 x 1010| 1. 04 x 1011| 2. 46 x 1010| | The mean shows that Actimel contains 10 times more bacteri a than Yakult on average. But only the mean is not significant to come to a conclusion as this could be because of sample variation. The P value from the t-test is 0. 056 which is greater than 0. 05 (P>0. 05) hence the difference between the mean of the two products are not significantly different from zero at the 5% confidence level. Gram Stain: Figure 1 shows the gram stain images from Actimel (i) and Yakult (ii).Figure 1 shows the gram stain images from Actimel (i) and Yakult (ii). Gram stained slides of both Actimel and Yakult were captured onto a computer at x1000 magnification. From the images you can see that Yakult is stained all in one colour but the Actimel contains two different coloured stains. Survival studies: To test the survivability of the bacteria they were incubated with artificial gastric juice for 30 60 and 90 minutes. The colonies were then counted Table 3: Viable counts of survival studies at different time and different replicates | Actimel|Time/min| 1| 2| 3| Mean| CFU/ml| CFU/dose| 0| 329| 69| 1088| 371. 5| 3. 72 x 1010| 3. 72 x 1012| 30| 321| 39| 880| 322. 5| 3. 23 x 1010| 3. 23 x 1012| 60| 309| 28| 740| 286. 8| 2. 87 x 1010| 2. 87 x 1012| 90| 204| 24| 642| 238. 8| 2. 39 x 1010| 2. 39 x 1012| | Yakult| | 1| 2| 3| Mean| CFU/ml| CFU/dose| 0| 312| 135| 53| 125. 0| 1. 25 x 108| 8. 13 x 109| 30| 190| 134| 11| 96. 3| 9. 63 x 107| 6. 26 x 109| 60| 159| 130| 11| 92. 5| 9. 25 x 107| 6. 01 x 109| 90| 149| 84| 8| 81. 5| 8. 15 x 107| 5. 3 x 109| The table shows that colonies on both Actimel and Yakult decrease over time in all the replicates.Both the products decreased to about 65% of its original count. A graph (Figure 2) was plotted with the CFU/dose against time on a log scale and it showed a linear decline over time in both the products. DNA Extraction: Figure 3 shows the Chromosomal DNA gel image. Figure 3 shows the Chromosomal DNA gel image. The DNA from the bacteria was extracted and gel electrophoresis was carried out to ensure that a DNA was obtained from the extraction procedure. Lanes 3 and 4 have migrated towards the positive side showing that chromosomal DNA was obtained.PCR Purification: After the DNA underwent the PCR process, the PCR product was purified and run on a gel electrophoresis to check if PCR product has been obtained. Figure 4 shows the image of PCR product run under electrophoresis. Figure 4 shows the image of PCR product run under electrophoresis. As the image shows there is a PCR product obtained as there is a distinct band in lanes 2 and 3. DNA Sequencing: The PCR product was then sent to the John Innes centre for sequencing and the following sequence was obtained.Actimel: GGGTCGGGGCGGGTGCTATACATGCAGTCGAACGAGTTCTCGTTGATGATCGGTGCTTGCACCGAGATTCAACATGGAACGAGTGGCGGACGGGTGAGTAACACGTGGGTAACCTGCCCTTAAGTGGGGGATAACATTTGGAAACAGATGCTAATACCGCATAGATCCAAGAACCGCATGGTTCTTGGCTGAAAGATGGCGTAAGCTATCGCTTTTGGATGGACCCGCGGCGTATTAGCTAGTTGGTGAGGTAATGGCTCACCAAGGCGATGATACGTAGCCGAACTGAGAGGTTGATCGGCCACATTGGGACTGAGACACGGCCC AAACTCCTACGGGAGGCAGCAGTAGGGAATCTTCCACAATGGACGCAAGTCTGATGGAGCAACGCCGCGTGAGTGAAGAAGGCTTTCGGGTCGTAAAACTCTGTTGTTGGAGAAGAATGGTCGGCAGAGTAACTGTTGTCGGCGTGACGGTATCCAACCAGAAAGCCACGGCTAACTACGTGCCAGCAGCCGCGGTAATACGTAGGTGGCAAGCGTTATCCGGATTTATTGGGCGTAAAGCGAGCGCAGGCGGTTTTTTAAGTCTGATGTGAAAGCCCTCGGCTTAACCGAGGAAGCGCATCGGAAACTGGGAAACTTGAGTGCAGAAGAGGACAGTGGAACTCCATGTGTAGCGGTGAAATGCGTAGATATATGGAAGAACACCAGTGGCGAAGGCGGCTGTCTGGTCTGTAACTGACGCTGAGGCTCGAAAGCATGGGTAGCGAACAGGATTAGATACCCTGGTAGTCCATGCCGTAAACGATGAATGCTAGGTGTTGGAGGGTTTCCGCCCTTCAGTGCCGCAGCTAACGCATTAAGCATTCCGCCTGGGGAGTACGACCGCAAGGTTGAAACTCAAAGGAATTGACGGGGGCCCGCACAAGCGGTGGAGCATGTGGTTTAA Yakult: TAGGAGTGGGCGCGTGCCTATACATGCAAGTCGAACGAGTTCTCGTTGATGATCGGTGCTTGCACCGAGATTCAACATGGAACGAGTGGCGGACGGGTGAGTAACACGTGGGTAACCTGCCCTTAAGTGGGGGATAACATTTGGAAACAGATGCTAATACCGCATAGATCCAAGAACCGCATGGTTCTTGGCTGAAAGATGGCGTAAGCTATCGCTTTTGGATGGACCCGCGGCGTATTAGCTAGTTGGTGAGGTAATGGCTCACCAAGGCGATGATACGTAGCCGAACTGAGAGGTTGATCGGCCACATTGGGACTGAGACACGGCCCAAACTCCTACGGGAGGCAGCAGTAGGGAATCTTC CACAATGGACGCAAGTCTGATGGAGCAACGCCGCGTGAGTGAAGAAGGCTTTCGGGTCGTAAAACTCTGTTGTTGGAGAAGAATGGTCGGCAGAGTAACTGTTGTCGGCGTGACGGTATCCAACCAGAAAGCCACGGCTAACTACGTGCCAGCAGCCGCGGTAATACGTAGGTGGCAAGCGTTATCCGGATTTATTGGGCGTAAAGCGAGCGCAGGCGGTTTTTTAAGTCTGATGTGAAAGCCCTCGGCTTAACCGAGGAAGCGCATCGGAAACTGGGAAACTTGAGTGCAGAAGAGGACAGTGGAACTCCATGTGTAGCGGTGAAATGCGTAGATATATGGAAGAACACCAGTGGCGAAGGCGGCTGTCTGGTCTGTAACTGACGCTGAGGCTCGAAAGCATGGGTAGCGAACAGGATTAGATACCCTGGTAGTCCATGCCGTAAACGATGAATGCTAGGTGTTGGAGGGTTTCCGCCCTTCAGTGCCGCAGCTAACGCATTAAGCATTCCGCCTGGGGAGTACGACCGCAAGGTTGAAACTCAAAGGAATTGACGGGGCCCGCACAAGCGGTGGGA Figure 5 shows the graphical summary of â€Å"strong† hits in the database of Yakult (i) and Actimel (i). Figure 5 shows the graphical summary of â€Å"strong† hits in the database of Yakult (i) and Actimel (i).This sequence was then run through the BLAST analysis to identify the probiotic isolate. Discussion: A Probiotic must be able to survive the conditions of the stomach and pass through to the gu t without significant loss. The bacteria found in the probiotics are cultured on petri dishes to test the amount of colonies present in the product. As mentioned above Actimel contains 10 billion per 100 ml and Yakult contains 6. 5 billion per 65 ml. From the t-test there was no significant difference in the content of the two products (Table 1). This was due to the fact that they both contain 100 million bacteria per ml of product. From the gram stain images both Actimel and Yakult was stained with the same conditions.But Yakult had only one stain whereas Actimel had two different stains. This is due to the fact that there is more than one species of bacteria in Actimel. The colour of the staining represents two different types of bacteria: gram-negative and gram-positive. All species of the lactobacillus genus are gram-positive. Gram-positive organisms retain the stain when they are stained with crystal violet but gram negative organisms lose their purple/violet stain when washed with alcohol but when retain safranin stain. Therefore the Yakult contains only gram positive bacteria (L. casei Shirota ®) while Actimel contains both gram positive and gram negative bacterium (Figure 1). From the survival studies we can

Granger Causality Test To Study Causal Relationships Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1276 Downloads: 8 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Cause and effect essay Did you like this example? SME, self-employed and business ownership are used interchangeably in our context. There are many definitions for SME and according to SPRING Singapore; an SME refers to enterprises with fixed asset investment of lesser than S$15 million for manufacturing sector and less than 200 employees for non-manufacturing sectors. There is little published information on business ownership and SMEs in Singapore. The only statistics on the rate of start-ups of business and companies are available in the Yearbook of Statistics (Tan, 2002). As such, we use the number of business formed and the number of companies formed to proxy business ownership and self employment. We also generate a series, named STARTUPS using the sum of companies and businesses. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Granger Causality Test To Study Causal Relationships Finance Essay" essay for you Create order STARTUPS = FORM_BUS + FORM_COMP Annual time series of formation of businesses and formation of companies from 1990 to 2009 are obtained from the Singapore Yearbook of Statistics. Business refers to a business firm, operating either as a sole-proprietorship or a partnership. It may be set up by individuals or companies. A company refers to a business entity registered under the Companies Act, Chapter 50. It has a legal personality (i.e. it has the right to own properties, it has perpetual succession and it can sue or be sued in its own name). It usually has the words Pte Ltd or Ltd as part of its name. Annual average unemployment rates, annual GDP and per capita GDP of these 20 years are also obtained from Department of Statistics, Singapore. 4.2 Methodology In regression model, existence of relationship between variables does not prove causality. In this paper we will use the Granger Causality test (Geweke, 1982, 1984; Geweke, Meese, Dent, 1983; C.W.J. Granger, 1969) to study causal relationships. The Granger Causality test is a statistical hypothesis test used to determine if one series can be used to forecast another. Unlike the classical linear regression model which shows only correlation, this test can reveal causality. The Granger Causality test is more preferred to Sims Causality Test as the Sims test uses more regressors, leading to a bigger loss of degree of freedom (Sims, 1980). The Vector Autoregression (VAR) model is usually used in Granger Causality due to its simplicity. 4.2.1 Unit Root Test Granger causality tests are only strictly valid for stationary series[1]and should therefore be preceded by a check of the order of integration of the variables, i.e. whether the data generating processes show a unit root or not. Many economic time series are not stationary at the levels (Nelson Plosser, 1982). As a first step, we used the Dickey Fuller (DF) unit root test (Dickey Fuller, 1979). If a series is non stationary in their level forms but is stationary in its first differenced form, we say the series is integrated of order 1. As the Granger Causality test follows the result of this unit root test, it is important to correctly determine this step. Hence we also performed an alternative unit root test, the Philips Perron test which is a generalized ADF test allowing autocorrelated residuals (Phillips Perron, 1988). 4.2.2 Cointegration Test Before performing Granger Causality Test on the series, cointegration tests are first carried out to test if there exist long run relationships between the variables. If two series are cointegrated, it means that at any point in time the two variables may drift apart, but there will always be a tendency for them to retain a reasonable proximity to each other. Following Granger and Lin (1995), two integrated series cannot cause each other in the long run unless they are cointegrated, in which case the Granger Causality will have to be tested using Vector Error Correction model (VECM). Cointegration test are only carried out on pairs of series that are non-stationary and are both integrated of the same order. In this paper, we will perform the Engel-Granger cointegration test (Engle Granger, 1987). A linear combination of two variables, Yt and Xt can be estimated from the following regression: Yt= ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²1 + ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²2Xt + et Taking the residuals: t = Yt 1 2Xt If t is stationary, then the variables Yt and Xt are said to be cointegrated. Unit root test on this residual is carried out to check the order of integration. It is also noted that because t is residual we do not include a constant nor a time trend when performing the unit root test. Engle and Granger (1987) also point out that the critical values are different from that of Fuller (1976). 4.2.3 Constructing VAR Equations In Audretsch, Carrie and Thurik (2001), the following VAR equations are estimated using panel data of OECD countries from 1974 to 1998. Ut Ut-L = ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ± + j (Et-jL Et-(j+1)L) + j (Ut-jL-Ut-(j+1)L) + ÃÆ'†°Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ º1t (1) Et Et-L = ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ º + j (Ut-jL Ut-(j+1)L) + j (Et-jL-Et-(j+1)L) + ÃÆ'†°Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ º2t (2) where U = unemployment rate, E = entrepreneurship represented by self-employment rate ÃÆ'†°Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ º = random error such that ÃÆ'†°Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ º ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ °Ãƒâ€¹Ã¢â‚¬   N (0, ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒâ€¹Ã¢â‚¬  Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å") L = time span in the number of years J = number of time lags included. In (1), the lagged endogenous unemployment variables are added into the equation to correct for autocorrelation of unemployment growth over time. A negative coefficient ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ² is found, showing a clear Schumpeter effect of entrepreneurship reducing unemployment. Coefficient c is also negative, suggesting cyclical effect related to influence of policy measure. Similarly, we would like to examine these equations in the context of Singapore. For these OECD countries, Audretsch et al (2001) use a L=4 time span. On the other hand, Golpe van Stel (2007) use a L=2 time span in estimating this relationship in Spain. These time span is used as the impact of self employment on unemployment rate is not instantaneous; it requires a few year for firms to grow and if likely to contribute to the economy. In view of unemployment, it is also likely that people take time to make mental preparation before deciding to be self-employed. Before constructing the model, we will first determine the suitable length of time span, L for Singapore. We start by constructing simple VAR models with J=1 lag for each proxy of business ownership (start-ups, formation of business and formation of companies) to determine the optimal L. We estimate the following equations and select the best model using model selection criterion. Table 1: Estimating VAR models of J=1 L Equation 1 Ut Ut-1 = ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ± + ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ² (Et-1 Et-2) + c (Ut-1 Ut-2) + ÃÆ'†°Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ º1t Et Et-1 = ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ º + ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ³ (Ut-1 Ut-2) + ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¼ (Et-1-Et-2) + ÃÆ'†°Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ º2t 2 Ut Ut-2 = ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ± + ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ² (Et-2 Et-4) + c (Ut-2 Ut-4) + ÃÆ'†°Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ º1t Et Et-2 = ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ º + ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ³ (Ut-2 Ut-4) + ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¼ (Et-2-Et-4) + ÃÆ'†°Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ º2t 3 Ut Ut-3 = ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ± + ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ² (Et-3 Et-6) + c (Ut-3 Ut-6) + ÃÆ'†°Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ º1t Et Et-3 = ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ º + ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ³ (Ut-3 Ut-6) + ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¼ (Et-3-Et-6) + ÃÆ'†°Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ º2t 4 Ut Ut-4 = ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ± + ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ² (Et-4 Et-8) + c (Ut-4 Ut-8) + ÃÆ'†°Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ º1t Et Et-4 = ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ º + ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ³ (Ut-4 Ut-8) + ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¼ (Et-4-Et-8) + ÃÆ'†°Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ º2t As the VAR model is only valid for stationary series, we confirmed the stationarity of all Ut Ut-L and Et Et-L series of these model by performing unit root test. Detailed results of both the ADF test and PP test can be found in Table 3A and 3B (Appendix A). After determining the optimal L*, we construct equation (1) and (2) with variation in J=1,2 and 3 to choose the best number of lagged terms to be included in the model to describe this causal relationship. Granger causality test is then run on these models. Similarly, we construct VAR model as in equation (1) and (2) to investigate the causal relationship between Singapores business start-ups and economic growth. U is replaced with Y to represent annual GDP. U in equation (1) and (2) is then replaced with X, representing GDP Per Capita. Statistical package, EViews 6.0 which has built in unit root test will be used to carry out the analysis. Representation of all series in EVIEWS is shown in Table 2 of Appendix A.