Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Military Is A Powerful Defense System Vital For A Governed...

A military is a powerful defense system vital to a governed nations democracy. The United States military is a trusted entity however it’s very powerful and possesses the capabilities to become tyrannical without sufficient supervision and control. Recognizing the demand for a military but the undoubted need for control so as not to allow for it to become too powerful, the Founders responded with the creation and notion of political civilian control of the military. Civilian control leaves strategic decision making in the hands of political leadership as opposed to military officers maintaining balance. As in todays era we find President Barack Obama, a political figurehead, and his orders for military engagements impacting various†¦show more content†¦In Alexander Hamilton’s Federalist 26 and Federalist 29 he wrote of warnings of a standing militia force outlining the hazards and to be wary when employing militia and or military force. In exercising civilian control of the military the public become more aware of proposals, preventing what would be a Vietnam-like repeat with extreme distaste with military engagements. Vietnam was a war in which general public thought the military was winning until suddenly it b ecame evident that it would be drawn out and increasingly expensive. Inherited wars, wars in which Presidents assume office within wartime, became increasingly straining on war efforts during the Vietnam War. During that era the United States went through five Presidents of which included Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford. Arguably, during that time period there was a breakdown in civilian military control as bad policy and strategy adversely affected civilian-military communications. Samuel P. Huntington wrote in his book, The Soldier and the State that â€Å"proper subordination of a component, professional military to the ends of policy as determined by civilian authority† summarizing what he deemed the be the necessity for civilian control to prevent a military defeat or a coup. In his writing he stresses what he calls â€Å"objective control† or maximizing efficiency and effectiveness with an

Monday, December 23, 2019

A Shift On A New Method Of Criminal Justice System

Decarceration: A Shift to A New Method of Criminal Justice Melanie Eubanks Lee College CRIJ 1301 Professor Buckner Mar 2, 2017 Societies throughout history have always tried to service punishment or retribution over those that are considered delinquents or criminals in their society. The societies in the industrialized world have seen several transformations in their mission to achieve this level of discipline. Vast portions of the population have become very disenfranchised with their criminal justice system has meant that in recent years, and mostly since the 60 s, a main theme in exertion of control over societies deviants has been a state-sponsored attempt to rehabilitate criminal populations. In the face of steadily†¦show more content†¦Evan at the latter part of the 18th century it was non-more often than not (Scull 1977, p17). The aims of imprisonment were retribution and deterrence up to the late 19th century, most crimes were dealt with by some combination of fines, corporal punishment, mutilation or death (Scull 1977, p.18). Weak, decentralized and arbitrary are how you could define the st ate control of the prison system. The focus of control was undifferentiated, methods of categorization and differentiation of deviance were hardly developed and visibility of control was public (Cohen 1985, p.16-17). Since external behavior was the focus of intervention at the time the state aimed at punishing the body. So, between the end of the 18th century and the start of the 19th century, incarceration gradually became the predominant mode of punishment and the emphasis shifted to reform and rehabilitation as the primary aims of imprisonment (Tomasic and Dobinson 1979, p.14). The transformations that took place during this time were to lay the foundations for subsequent deviancy control (Cohen, 1985, p.13). The advance of the capitalism that occurred at the end of the 18th century and the start of the 19th century was interwoven with the changes in deviance control that happened now (Scull 1977, p31). These changes saw an increasing involvement and intervention of the state with regards to deviancy control, the increasing classification of deviant groups intoShow MoreRelatedRecidivism in the United States Criminal Justice System Essay1203 Words   |  5 PagesRecidivism in the United States Criminal Justice System An ongoing and increasingly evident issue in the criminal justice system is how convicted individuals reenter society with little or no gradual process. These individuals often resort back to criminal activity in an act termed recidivism. According to the National institute of Justice(NIJ), recidivism â€Å"refers to a person’s relapse into criminal behavior, often after the person receives sanctions or undergoes intervention for a previousRead MoreInvestigation Of The Criminal Justice Essay1571 Words   |  7 Pagesthe overview of the criminal justice, especially in America. The result from the interview of one of the fractioned for instance, the attorney in the criminal justice will be the cornerstone of this report. In this case, the Attorney’s view about criminal justice will be thoroughly analyzed and compared with other sources to bring out the bright image of the criminal justice in America. The arguments of whether there is the efficient administration of t he criminal justice system, their methodologiesRead MoreCourt Issue Analysis1255 Words   |  6 Pages3, 2013 Court Issues Analysis As society changes, the criminal justice system must also change. 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We have become the country with the highest incarceration rate in the industrialized world. (National Criminal Justice Commission) This quote from Dave Kelly shows many of the issues with the United State’s criminal justice system today. The prison population is increasing because prisoners are being taken in at a higher rate than they are released. Also these prisons have become dangerous; inmates are exposed toRead MoreRoles and Responsibilities of Public Policing vs. Private Security1652 Words   |  7 PagesRoles and Responsibilities of Public Policing vs. Private Security ASJ-502 February 6, 2012 Abstract This paper explores the similarities and differences of public police and private security throughout history. How the criminal justice system and public police and private security are linked to each other. The essential policies that have been developed and how these police have assisted in the cooperation between police and private security. 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Sunday, December 15, 2019

Mental health and illness Free Essays

The nature of `mental health` and `mental illness` has been described as `contested`. Who are the contestants and what is the contest about? The Mental Illness has always been considered as a contested issue, because this is the only suffering of unfortunate human beings, which is being highly misunderstood. There are different types of mental illnesses that are suffered by human beings, and in each mental illness there are number of complexities involved like social problems, defect in any part of the brain etc. We will write a custom essay sample on Mental health and illness or any similar topic only for you Order Now Psychologists, psychiatrists, doctors and sociologists, who so ever are dealing with the issue of Mental illness are contestants to this issue and advocates their own perceptions like Psychiatrists consider mental illness as a physical state of debilitation and look at it from the social angle, whereas doctors dictates it as a faulty or malfunctioning parts of the brain, such as infections, genetic defects and chemical imbalances within the individual, and neglects the wider social picture which is an ingredient part of illness. How well does the idea of labeling explain what happens to someone who is diagnosed as mentally ill? When a person is diagnosed mentally ill, he or she is labeled., a doctor or practitioner can understand the intensity of his problem and can prescribe the best treatment for him. Thus labeling can be a boon in disguise. Naturally if doctor labeled a person as â€Å"mentally disable†, that means he is considering the symptoms that a person is showing which is typical of mental disorder and can delve upon the problem and chart out the solutions. Critically review the evidence that there is an association between mental health and socio-economic inequality. No doubt there is a deep association between Mental Health and socio economic inequality. Socio economic inequalities lead to high psychiatric morbidity, disability, depression, Schizophrenia.   Studies by the World Psychologist, 2005 October; 4(3): 181–185 on 10,108 adults aged 16-65 resident in private households in the UK reveal that people who had no access to a car had an odds ratio for neurotic disorder of 1.4 (95% CI 1.1-1.7), compared with those who had access to two or more cars. People who rented their homes were also at increased risk of depression (1.3 [1.1-1.5]). These Income inequalities in the western market economies last 20 years had adverse consequences on the mental health of the people. Basically, the inferiority complex is a basic root and cause of this severe problem. Discuss how a family might affect and be affected by one of its members having a psychiatric diagnosis mental illness. Families of the patients suffering from severe psychotic symptoms often suffer from heavy emotional and social strains.   Many households may accept the patients, but the social rejections that are followed can cause serious consequences on the whole family. They can lead to strains of mental illness on a marriage life may also be very devastating. The divource rate is high among people who have depression or bipolar disorder. How might consultation be used to improve the sensitivity of mental health services to different needs? Consultation is a very important means of service delivery for mentally ill child and adolescents.   Consultation can be provided in number of ways: group or individual; fixed session or on demand; clinical-based or area office-based. For psychiatrists, the consultancy service is a very valuable experience. Trainees develop an awareness of the difficulties facing social work staff in difficult cases. The social work team also gains considerable benefit from an informal consultation service, which can improve their skills in further understanding the patient problems.   Through consultation, social workers can go into the depth of the causes of the problems of mentally ill within the family setting. Many people who have mental health problems are socially isolate. What can be done to provide them with informal support and friendship if they want this? The stigma that is attached to the mentally ill patients leads them to be isolated from the Society. Lot can be done for mentally ill patients. They can be, as suggested by World Health Organization (WHO), http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs218/en/ ï‚ ·Ã‚  Ã‚   Openly discussing about the problem of mental illness in the community. ï‚ ·Ã‚  Ã‚   Providing accurate information on the causes, prevalence, course and effects of mental illness ï‚ ·Ã‚   Countering the negative stereotypes and misconceptions surrounding mental illness; ï‚ ·Ã‚   Providing support and treatment services that enable persons suffering from a mental illness to participate fully in all aspects of community life. ï‚ ·Ã‚   Ensuring the existence of legislation to reduce discrimination in the workplace. What are the particular challenges of resettling long-stay mental patients in the community, and what kinds of resource are needed to support them there? 1. Hard to place psychiatric patient due to behavioral/management problems. 2. Difficulty placing patient into the community due to lack of financial resources. 3. How do we take care of the geriatric patient with a psychiatric disorder who becomes combative/disruptive that he is not allowed to remain in secure environments due to the high risk of harm to other patients? RESOURCES NEEDED TO SUPPORT THEM 1. First fix the behavioral problems and poor compliance. 2. The Training centers, employment programs, volunteer options and local clubs should all be part of the life plan of these people. 3. Encourage realistic consideration of work and practical steps in preparation for reintegration, such as enrolment at a day programme. 4. Involve them in any Meaningful occupation such as volunteer work etc. What are the rewards and stresses of work in mental health services? What measures might employing organisations take to reduce the effects of stress on staff and improve their job satisfaction? The biggest reward for the people who are engaged in the mental health services is naturally the one when patient is recovered from mental illness. Besides getting mental satisfaction, they are also reward by the government for their meticulous services like â€Å"Award for Excellence in Community Mental Health Services†, 2006 Public Citizen of the Year award. Thus Government does appreciate these noble souls who are engaged in community welfare programs. HOW THE EMPLOYING ORGANIZATIONS REDUCE THE STRESS OF STAFF: They can reduce the stress of staff by: Effective management structure Clear purpose goals Functionally defined roles Team support Making appropriate plans for stress management Proper management of workload Balanced lifestyle Discuss the view that madness can be a valuable experience if only its value is recognized. Never consider the person who is mad as incompetent, as what he can provide to the Society, no able person can provide. For eg. If a person is disillusioned with the society apathetic attitude, so in his madness he will keep on reflecting and mentioning about what’s wrong in the Society but we ignore his talks, but if we clearly ponder on his talks,   we will realize what role he is playing in giving the best to the Society which no body will ever intend to give. How to cite Mental health and illness, Essay examples

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Ethical Evaluation of Real Life

Question: Discuss about the Ethical Evaluation of Real Life. Answer: Introduction Ethical concern is very important in order to evaluate any case or incident as the ethical justification can bring the accurate solution to the case or the scenario. In addition to this, among all of the 10 issues about Confronting IT Managers the following issue is chosen: Do employees know the degree to which behavior is monitored?. This report is elaborating about a real life case study that is entirely based on the issue chosen in this report. This news article is The challenges of balancing employee privacy and corporate security in BYOD. In contrast with this fact, this report is mainly focusing on the effective justification for the ethical evaluation of the story. Description of the ethical issues from the view point of all stakeholders According to Campagna (2017), it is clear that corporate data protection and employee privacy both are considered to be a important and effective aspects within the organizational context. There are many organizations that are implementing BYOD within their organization in order to be more productive within the competitive era of technological advancements. In contrast with this case there are mainly two stakeholders involved within this case. These are organization itself and employees working under them. Therefore, the ethical concern from the point of view of both these parties should verify and evaluated in this context. These evaluations are done on this part of the report: Ethical issue from the view point of Employees working under corporate governance: BYOD is nothing but a technical phenomenon that permits the employees working under any organization to bring their mobile as well as smart devices within the organization premises in order to fulfill the professional responsibilities by doing their work (Campagna 2017). In contrast with this fact,, the employees are using the corporate network in order to do their official work that mandates their privacy concern within the organization, which is ethically not correct. Basically theorganization has control over their searches and other private measures that they are doing over the official network in order to fulfill their own needs (Campagna 2017). Therefore, from the ethical point of view the organization is doing unethical steps against the employees. Ethical issues from the point of view of Organization: Every organization has their own set of confidential data and entity sets that harms their organizational structure and future plan if get revealed within the competitive market. In addition to this, in most of the cases, the employees are responsible for making these kinds of leakages of confidential data possible within the organizational premises (Campagna 2017). Therefore, from the point of ethical concern, the security of organization data must be managed on the highest priority. Some set of people involved with the organization generally do these kinds of unethical incidents and for this purpose, the organization has to put check over the searches and other activities over the internet (Campagna 2017). Therefore, there must be some mutual set of regulatory measures that helps both the employees and organization. This article is elaborating about this set of process and methods. Justification for the issue to be resolved with the help of ethical concern rather than legal actions The ethical concern in justifying the effective measures and other responsibilities within an case are very important in order to provide exact responses. Evaluation should be based on the personal and sectoral interest that shows the human nature and other concerned perspectives about the audiences involved within any case (Chell et al. 2016). Evaluators of any story or case should have the professional integrity and also should have to be concerned about the individual or any institution. In addition to this, any justification or evaluation should be based on the sensitive beliefs of each of members involved in case. Cultural, local and social concerns should also be taken into consideration during evaluation of any story or case. In contrast with the definition of ethical evaluation provided above, the evaluation must be done from both the perspective of two stakeholders involved in this story: organization and employees (Parrott 2014). From the point of view of employees, if the legal actions are considered then the employees would get unmotivated over their work culture the net results of their production will be reduced with respect to the competitive market. In addition to this, this action of the organization will not only reduces the employee interests but also makes the system architecture of the organization worst and the ethical issue is not resolved at the end of the scenario (Schaupp and Carter 2016). Whereas, the ethical stages are helpful in solving these issues going on within the organization. In case of the organizational context, in order to make the business process successful and accomplished with certain goals and objectives, every organization obeys some set of rules and regulatory measures. The decision of BYOD involves so many security threats for the organizational data. If the employee takes the legal actions for stopping the use of BYOD within the organization then there may be several growth issues in technical domain. Therefore, legal actions will not be correct for this concern (Turker and Altuntas 2013). The organization as well as the employees should be concerned about their ethical evaluation in this case and find some third way to resolve both the corporate security and employee privacy issues. Ethical obligations of the stakeholders towards each other There are mainly two stakeholders involved in the concerned case related to use of BYOD within the organization. Therefore, the ethical obligation of both the stakeholders should be judged. These ethical obligations are elaborated in this part of the assignment: In contrast with the effective monitoring process of the organization over the employees introduces various ethical obligations within the organization. These are elaborated in this part of the assignment: Privacy concerns: This is the main concern of the employees involved within nay organization and working under BYOD rules and regulatory measures within the organization (Rupp et al. 2015). In addition to this, the employees do not want their personal information to be misused by the organization or they also do not want them to be monitored by the organization. Effective usage of the employee data: In most of cases of BYOD there are chances of misuse of the employee data for the sake of organization (Weiss 2014). In addition to this, the organization may have lack of security measures for which the employees get leaked and also misused by the hackers. There are various cases in which the employees face identity theft for data theft. Ethical obligation of the organization Organization is also playing an important role in this case study of corporate and employee privacy within the organization. The organization also has several ethical obligations over the employees in order to claim their concern over the security breaches and other security measures. These are elaborated in this part of the report: Privacy of organizational data: The employees are responsible for the data theft involved in the organization work structure. In addition to this, BYOD permits the user for accessing all technical as well as confidential data over the organizational network (Set-Pamies and Papaoikonomou 2015). The employee devices allow the devices to get connected to the external network of the organization this causes the leakage of confidential data over organizational network. Concern for private data: The organization must show concern for the effective and important organizational databases. In addition to this, the organization monitors the employee activities involved within the system architecture of the organization (Bond 2015). This aspect harms the privacy rights of the employees within the organization. Guidance of the Australian Computer Societys Code of Ethics The Australian Computer Societys Code of Ethics provides a set of specific rules or regulatory measures for guiding the organization as well as employees in maintaining their privacy concerns within the organizational premises. This guidance is elaborated in this part of the report: The Primacy of the Public Interest: The organization as well as the employee involved within the organization should consider the public interests while evaluating their work culture (Acs.org.au 2017). If this aspect is checked before every step then the unethical incidents will be reduced. The Enhancement of Quality of Life: The enhancement of quality of life is important in order to mandate the situation as well as the unethical concerns developing within the organization culture (Acs.org.au 2017). The organization as well as employees of the organization should obey the effective moral concerns before taking any actions against each other. Honesty: The employees as well as the organization should maintain honest bonding between each other in order to provide an effective structure within the organization and among the employees while dealing with organizational and personal data of employees. Professional Development: The professional development concerns are very important to consider the organizational growth (Acs.org.au 2017). There must be a mutual option that can be used for managing both employee and organizational privacy. BYOD is important to consider effective organizational growth within the organization. Professionalism: Professionalism can be introduced within the system architecture of the organization in order to incorporate effective solution to the issues of organization as well as employee (Acs.org.au 2017). This rule will be helpful to employee and organization in order to grab effective solution in reducing ethical issues within the organization. Conclusion This can be concluded that the ethical evaluation or justification for resolving any issues are the best possible way to mandate the negative aspects involved within the issues. The concept of ethical evaluation does not harm any character involved into the case as well as this evaluation gives the ultimate results to the responsible heads. In contrast with this real life case on the chosen topic about confronting IT managers it is clear that any organizational authority should not have control over the privacy issues involved within any story or case. In addition to this, this story is elaborating that some of the organization is finding a mutual way to maintain the organizational as well as individual privacy within the organization. therefore, this aspect is ethical justified and no stakeholders will be harmed with this decision making. References Acs.org.au 2017.Acs.org.au. Retrieved 18 January 2017, from https://www.acs.org.au/content/dam/acs/acs-documents/Code-of-Ethics.pdf Bond, T., 2015.Standards and ethics for counselling in action. Sage. Campagna, R. 2017.The challenges of balancing employee privacy and corporate security in BYOD. [online] Enterprise Apps Tech News. Available at: https://www.appstechnews.com/news/2016/apr/20/challenges-balancing-employee-privacy-and-corporate-security-byod/ [Accessed 18 Jan. 2017]. Chell, E., Spence, L.J., Perrini, F. and Harris, J.D., 2016. Social entrepreneurship and business ethics: does social equal ethical?.Journal of Business Ethics,133(4), pp.619-625. Hartman, L.P., DesJardins, J.R. and MacDonald, C., 2014.Business ethics: Decision making for personal integrity and social responsibility. McGraw-Hill. Koljatic, M. and Silva, M., 2015. Do Business Schools Influence Students Awareness of Social Issues? Evidence from Two of Chiles Leading MBA Programs.Journal of Business Ethics,131(3), pp.595-604. Marres, N. and Weltevrede, E., 2013. Scraping the social? Issues in live social research.Journal of Cultural Economy,6(3), pp.313-335. Parrott, L., 2014.Values and ethics in social work practice. Learning Matters. Peters, R.S., 2015.Ethics and Education (Routledge Revivals). Routledge. Rupp, D.E., Wright, P.M., Aryee, S. and Luo, Y., 2015. Organizational justice, behavioral ethics, and corporate social responsibility: Finally the three shall merge.Management and Organization Review,11(01), pp.15-24. Schaupp, L.C. and Carter, L., 2016. Ethics and Social Networking: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Evaluating Online Information Disclosure.International Journal of Systems and Service-Oriented Engineering (IJSSOE),6(2), pp.1-28. Set-Pamies, D. and Papaoikonomou, E., 2015. A multi-level perspective for the integration of ethics, corporate social responsibility and sustainability (ECSRS) in management education.Journal of Business Ethics, pp.1-16. Turker, D. and Altuntas, C., 2013. Ethics of social responsibility to indirect stakeholders: a strategic perspective.International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics,8(2), pp.137-154. Weiss, J.W., 2014.Business ethics: A stakeholder and issues management approach. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Friday, November 29, 2019

American General Corporation Essays (1022 words) - Systemic Risk

American General Corporation American General Corporation Evaluating the Risk of the American General Corporation we started from looking at company's market standing from potential investors point of view. First we take a look at the companies profile. American General Corporation is a diversified financial services organization, provides retirement services, life insurance, and consumer loans. The company offers retail financial programs through fifteen thousand merchants. American General Corp. operates in 41 states. Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. Well, first we find out that American General Corporation is a blue chip, multibillion dollar company. This tells us right from the beginning that this financial giant is really worth looking at as a potential candidates to be added in our stock portfolio. Considering that this is a financial company dealing with investments, pension funds and life insurance we have to be very careful because these industries are most sensible to overall economy changes, and we know that at this point US economy is going through the period when recession is most expected. To get a better understanding of how this might affect companies risk we have to know how diversified companies investments are. For that we have to evaluate companies performance compare to market performance. ( for this purpose we use chart on returns for American General Corporation to S&P 500 ). As we can see from the chart behavior of the company is almost identical to the behavior of the market, this observation becomes more obvious when we take a look at company's beta which is .95. Well this is not such a great sign because as I already mentioned recession is expected., and as we know with recession overall market returns go down this is knowing the relationship between market and AGC we can predict that American General Corp. performance will decrease as well. The question is how deep will the market fall, and how long the recession would last, of course, if the recession will occur. There were no recent revelation, as far as, companies financial structure is concern, well, may be the only exception is a slight change in companies management structure which so far did not make any significant impact on companies market value, so the only major aspect in evaluating of how risky the company is how correlated it is with the market. Of course there are other things to be considered. There are couple of good signs that should lower the risk of AGC. For instance, the decrease in the charge off and delinquency ratios compared to prior periods reflect the positive impact of the company's credit quality improvement program, which included an increase in thee proportion of real estate secured loans and higher underwriting standards. The decrease in the allowance reflects the improvement in charge-off experience, partially offset by an increase in the allowance to support the growth in receivables. Also, company's operating expenses as a percentage of average finance receivables decreased to 5.8% for thee first six month of 1998 from 5.98% for the same period of 1997, and to 5.73% from 5.99% for the same comparable second quarter periods, due to the increase in average finance receivables, which more than offset the increase in operating expenses. Company rapidly grows in value. A decrease in interest rates and resulting increases in bond value in second quarter 1998 caused a $555 increase in the fair value adjustment to fixed maturity securities and related $335 million positive adjustment to shareholders' equity from December 31, 1997. So, the interest rate would be a very important fact to consider in evaluating this company. According to the latest news Federal Reserve has no intention to decrease interest rate any further, there is actually a great possibility of increasing it in defensive move against coming recession. Having such prediction for the future and keeping in mind how greatly American General Corp. influenced by the interest rate, AGC becomes more of a risky investment. The company is very careful with it's investments. AGS decreases its investments into the below investment grade securities ( have credit rating below BBB- ) from 5% at June 31 of 1998 to 4% at December 31 of 1997%. The company invests in below investment securities to enhance the overall

Monday, November 25, 2019

Gone With A Wind- review essays

Gone With A Wind- review essays For my movie review I picked, in my opinion, the most sentimental portrait of the Civil War- Gone With The Wind, directed by Victor Fleming and produced by David O. Selznick. Victor Fleming was born on February 23, 1883 in Pasadena, CA. Hed been a racecar driver and in later years was a well-known motorcyclist and airplane pilot. He got into the film industry by accident. First he was an assistant cameraman for director Allan Dwan and by 1915 became a director of photography. He worked under D. W. Griffiths supervision as for Dwen on several films with Douglas Fairbanks. He made his feature debut as a co-director on Fairbanks movie When the clouds roll by(1920). His first solo project was The Mollycoddle(1921). He worked at Paramount and went to MGM in 1932. Fleming was a really skilled at film for young audiences, for example Treasure Island(1934), Captains Courageous(1937) or The Wizard of Oz. He was also a favorite director of actor Clark Gable, and having guided him in Red Dust(1932) and Test Pilot(1938) was brought in to take over the directory of Gone With The Wind(1939), which earned Victor a Best Director Oscar. He was one of MGMs most reliable directors, and his most notable films of the 40s were Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Tortilla Flat, A guy named Joe, Adventure, and his final film Joan of Arc. Although he directed some of Hollywoods most potent weepers, he was known so much as Mr. Macho J. Victor died on January 6, 1949 in Cottonwood, AZ. GWTW considers the dramatic changes, which take place in the American South between the period of 1861 and 1873. It opens in April of 1861, at the palatial southern estate of Tara, where Scarlett OHara (Vivien Leigh) finds out that her belo...

Friday, November 22, 2019

Exam answer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Exam answer - Essay Example Successful construction procurement should result in timely project delivery, proper budgeting and quality in order to meet the required functions. The act of creating a new structure requires objective survey on site, interaction with design team and other consultants, suppliers as well as other stakeholders. An immediate choice in term of the cost and quality should be agreed upon. The procurement of a construction work is often the subject of joint funding with different stakeholders who have varying interests and goals in the outcome of the projects. The following elements are the best drivers in terms of construction management: Global Bank Corporation are the owners of this project whose purpose is to take account of the demise of many European banks during the credit crunch. The success of this project will meet owner’s interest and at the same time meet the needs of their customers (Schwalbe 2009, p. 45). It is very important to first point at the factors that will determine the most suitable procurement strategy before commencing the projects. These factors: In any construction procurement, the objectives and constraints of each building project are interdependent and therefore require concurrent considerations. A competent and industrious team will be necessary to meet these aspects. Risks are events known or unknown that adversely affect the outcome of the project. The nature of the risk is determined by the objective and constraints of the project. For instance, this project is budgeted at  £120m and any activity that may cost more than the amount projected will be a risk. Consequently, it will affect rest processes and the entire project. Similarly, this project has a tight timeframe for completion. Any delay to the construction program will be a risk on the completion of the project. The responsibility of managing a given risk will be allocated to the party that has the capacity to deal with that risk. Level of project complexity

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

The Godfather Movie Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Godfather Movie - Research Paper Example The plot of the story portrays an Italian American empire that is beginning to fall based on tragic situations in criminal exploits. The opening scene of a wedding pose an appeal to the viewers as family induces a feeling of belonging such that those who lack belief in it are draw in to the depths of such remarkable occasions. That in the making is one significant way to draw the attention of the viewers. This depicts the Corleone family business affairs bringing the viewers to the act, to its world and into the narrative. The epic is actually ruthless in implications as it unfolds and various styles have been used. Suspense is created effectively, and the actors seek to turn off the viewers and pull them in at the same time. Skill and craft is executed bravely with the length and the pacing of the movie aiming to show how themes of betrayal, greed and loyalty shine in life in ways that are both profound and surprising (Puzo 208). It offers a brutal depiction of events and lifestyle such as one of pirates. The story begins plotwise on an attempt to assassinate Don Vito by a rival from a different family due to his refusal to join an illegal business in narcotics trade. With his absence and temporary unavailability as he seeks medical attention, it becomes the role of his sons to run the entire empire. These include a hot tempered Sonny, mildly meek Fredo, an adopted son of Irish ancestry Tom Hagen and a fiercely independent Michael who happens to be the only fortunate son to obtain a college education (Zapala-Kraj 47). Michael is initially uninterested in the family business and lacks the desire to take part in the future take over. However, with continuous deceit and betrayal, it is Michael who comes through as a successor to his... This research paper focuses on the movie The Godfather, that is one of the many action series that provides a captivating entertainment especially for those who love to watch drama and crime. The movie was produced in 1972 and based on the novel by Mario Puzo, The Godfather. The movie provides a captivating scene and popular moving chronicles of American life that are brutal in their nature and the way they are depicted. Within the context of all popular entertainment, this movie provided a higher rating in the mode of the filming. The screen player Francis Ford Coppola brings forth a gangster melodrama that is truly sorrowful but also extremely exciting that lacks the unbelievable piety of the previous productions in the movie industry that strike fear but caution that the crime is not paying. The movie is an illustration of daily life events. Let us face it, to be rich, powerful, feared and influential is a way of life achieved by some people and we cannot deny is one that most wou ld desire and find somewhat compelling. Based on that, drama epics like The Godfather gives the viewer the chance to explore this dark possibility and emotion as well as live through the actors and traits as depicted in the film. There is much people who can borrow from a story that shows how a person can move from normal life of casting out roles to one of taking duty and responsibility towards a fulfilled life. Michael can be used as a turning point to people who lack a sense of direction, and the movies is highly recommended.

Monday, November 18, 2019

Data Storage Technology Options for Business Need Essay

Data Storage Technology Options for Business Need - Essay Example For computer systems technology to cope with these intensifying storage and processing needs, the demand for performance and storage capacity has risen acutely. This has contributed to the manufacture, invention, and uses of a variety of physical storage devices for computer systems. These physical storage mediums in the contemporary computing world range from the familiar usual floppy disk, hard disk, flash drive, DVDs and CD-ROMs, and tapes that are commonly used in Information Communications Technology business and organization sectors. It’s also important to note that these storage devices have different file allocation methods and size allocation. This is therefore what is going to form the discussion basis of this paper. Additionally, this paper will also evaluate the concept of fragmentation of file systems on the storage devices and how best they could be managed (Parsons & Oja, 2009). The computer storage devices are divided into three major classes including Magnetic , Optical, and Semiconductor. Computer storage systems are also widely referred to as secondary storage media or devices. Magnetic storage devices basically record and store information in the form of magnetized spots. These magnetized spots are represented by binary codes with a magnetized head that slightly hangs freely above the surface of the storage device that reads and records information by use of electric charges. The data hence can be retained, erased or replaced by the use of new magnetic spots. Examples of magnetic storage include the Tape, referred to as magnetic tape that is used to read, write and store information up to a terabyte. They are generally used in magnetic tape recorders or machines to record and write data after which the tapes can be connected to gadgets that can read the  information.

Saturday, November 16, 2019

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Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Willa Cathers O Pioneers! and Charlotte Perkins Gilmans Mr. Peebles

Willa Cather's O Pioneers! and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Mr. Peebles' Heart In both Willa Cather’s novel O Pioneers! and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story "Mr. Peebles’ Heart" present the reader with strong, successful female characters. Alexandra Bergson, the heroine of O Pioneers!, becomes the manager and proprietor of a prosperous farm on the Nebraska frontier while Joan R. Bascom of "Mr. Peebles’ Heart" is a successful doctor. Cather and Gilman create competent, independent female characters that do not conform to the perceived societal standards for women in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century. Both women must struggle against society’s perception of what they should be and how they should behave, however, Alexandra’s struggle leaves her emotionally distant while Joan’s struggle does not hinder her emotional attachments. Throughout the nineteenth century, gender roles were increasingly characterized by a division of activity into separate spheres for men and women. Men moved freely between home and the outside world, however, women were largely restricted to the home and remained financially dependent upon a man. While this situation offered women more power within the home, that power was very limited in scope. As the twentieth century neared, more and more women began to challenge the societal expectations placed upon them. Many Americans began to fear that the family was disintegrating due to "a declining birth rate, a rising divorce rate, and efforts of a growing number of women to break out of their separate sphere of domesticity by obtaining a higher education, joining women’s organizations, and taking jobs outside the home" (Kellogg and Mintz 1937). As this progressive movement gained momentu... ...ifestyle as the manager of a profitable farm. But while Joan has thrived in her professional and her social life, Alexandra is emotionally stunted as a result of her struggle against societal norms. Works Cited Cather, Willa. O Pioneers! New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1993. Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "Mr. Peebles’ Heart." "The Yellow Wallpaper" and Other Stories. Ed. Paul Negri. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1997. 63-70. Kellogg, Susan and Steven Mintz. "Family Structures." Encyclopedia of American Social History. Ed. by Mary Kupiec Cayton, Elliott J. Gorn and Peter W. Williams). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1993. 1925-1945. Pleck, Elizabeth H. "Gender Roles and Relation." Encyclopedia of American Social History. Ed. by Mary Kupiec Cayton, Elliott J. Gorn and Peter W. Williams). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1993. 1945-1961.

Monday, November 11, 2019

APPLICATION OF RISK MANAGMENGT TECHNIQUES Essay

In my opinion Windows Vista is a one or the most lack OS when compared to Windows 7. All desktops connect to an industry standard switch via an Ethernet cable. While this can be a risk, it is not a major risk. The two large production facilities are connected to the headquarters via an external ISP. Even with the firewalls in place, there is no accountability if the connection they contract is in use by anyone else. I would advise contacting the ISP and verifying if the connection is shared with other users and take further action depending on their answer. The sales personnel connect via VPN software, but use their individual internet connection, usually out of their home office. This can be very dangerous as they do not fall under the blanket of protection offered by the bigger offices and their terminals are at greater risk to be infected by a malicious user. The core idea of preventing risk is to safeguard the information stored on the database server. The workers and customers of the company have private information stored there and the loss or leak of the data could be disaster to the company. I suggest the changes to be made to mitigate the risk of any unwanted personnel to gaining access to the network. There is not a lot of information given about the entirety of the network, so much of this may not be necessary or already in place. I will use the mitigation risk technique for the Desktops/local LAN. Since the network is maintained via Active Directory, the company should implement workgroups/user groups and control what workers have access to; if a program, file, or other application is not part of a workers job, they have no reason to be able to access that file/application/etc. At the same time the workers should go through annual (if not bi-annual) information security training; that understands how to protect their workstations, understand security policies and why they are in place. The company should also ensure that their switches, routers, and firewalls are always up to date on the latest  patches. Another risk that the company has is the External ISP Line, since the company is relying on an outside source to provide network connection between the production facilities and their headquarters; the best way to approach this risk is also with the mitigation technique. I understand the company is small and if they can’t front the cost of their own line, they should be absolutely sure that no other users are gaining access to the line that is being provided for them. On top of that they should alter the technical environment by adding intrusion detection systems and ensuring all security features are always up to date. If possible I would suggest investing into a private line that they control to ensure security between the three sites, however outside of the initial investment there would also need to be maintenance costs. As long as the company can ensu re the line they’re currently using is secure, I’d recommend continue use as it is the less cost intensive. Another risk to look at is the Remote Users / Home Offices. This risk is critical as they are the most likely to be targeted for an attack. Just like the previous two risks, I’d recommend a mitigation technique to lower this risk. The remote users only use software to connect to the company’s VPN, on their own ISP connection, in their home office. To start I would recommend a two-factor authentication to successfully log on to the VPN; so even if the computer is stolen or infected, it’s still relatively safe. At the same time since these are sales associates, I would recommend using a hard drive lock; just like the previous reason, if the computer is stolen, the ability to glean information would be hampered. If the company can handle the expense they should look into purchasing a secure VPN from each sales associates ISP, this would help ensure that there wouldn’t be any outside eyes gleaning information from the sales associate connecting to the company. Using Active Directory, the sales associates terminal should be scanned to make sure all security implements are current and if not, they should be updated before being allowed to connect to the company network. This can help prevent mal icious code being introduced to the company network. One thing that caught my attention is that there are three servers at Headquarters with very few uses. One thing that worries me is the possibility of no redundancy. If the Active Directory Server went down, no one would be able to access the network. Each server role should have redundancy to fill in if the primary server is to fail, this will help  ensure the company is running efficiently, even during a server problem. This should be kept in mind as the company has sales representatives in all fifty states while the headquarters are in Indiana. So even in a standard eight hour day (9AM – 5PM), there is still three hours of work to people on the west coast. If the servers were to go down, those sales reps would not be able to work effectively. On top of redundancy the company should look into some sort of backup. They have a lot of information and while it’s important to protect it, it’s also important to make sure it’s not lost. For a backup, I’d recommend a transfer technique. There are many backups’ services available at an affordable price. To go with the backup I would recommend backing up the information at least once a week to ensure if work is lost, the company does not fall to o far behind.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

The Common Life

The Common Life After reading "The Common Life," and "The Uses of Sidewalks," it is easy to see that the main idea in both essays is security. The question that arises from reading the two essays is: What method is best to provide security in a community? In both essays, though used in different ways; the community is used as a means for security. The types of security provided by both essays are very natural. Though the police are preferred by most people as means of protection, the community looking out for each other is done rather naturally. Thoroughly analyzing both essays can show which security procedure is more efficient compared to the actual police department.Scott Russell Sanders, the author of "The Common Life," has very interesting ideas when it comes to adding better security to the community. Sanders wanted to take the more natural approach in obtaining security. With most people, having a gun, security throughout the home and the police department seem like natural approaches towards security.Sanders Preserve - Glenville, New YorkSanders does not think this is the way to achieve better security. His approach is to get to know the people in the community better. By doing this, as the individual gets to know the people in their neighborhood better, they start to look out for them and make sure they are o.k., without knowing they are doing it. This reflects more of a side-effect rather than the actual intention. It seems as though Sanders analyzed this idea in motion and noticed it was a building block for security. Sanders thought up this idea in hopes that it would spread from community to community, in order to increase security awareness. This was a safe environment could be established.The ideas of Scott Russell Sanders are very interesting yet his ideas have...

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Definition of Embodiment in Patents

Definition of Embodiment in Patents Embodiment by definition is a manner in which an invention can be made, used, practiced or expressed. Embodiment in Patent Applications The phrase embodiment will be in your patent application, as part of the legalese used. In a patent application, the specification will include descriptions of the preferred embodiments. If you read a patent you will often see a section headlined DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT. You will often refer to some aspect of your invention as an embodiment in descriptions. Looking at examples of how the word is used should make what it means and how to use the word clearer. Examples The following examples are more fully described in the first link box below. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTFIG. 1 is a partial sectional view of a Halloween mask with a flash device in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.FIG. 1 is a front pictorial perspective view of a wireless telephone constructed in accordance with an embodiment the present invention;

Monday, November 4, 2019

Computer Will the cost and power of personal computers continue on the Essay

Computer Will the cost and power of personal computers continue on the current trend - Essay Example Some experts predict that there will be neural – computers in the future. This interface will transmit information between humans and computers directly. As such, humans will be able to interact with computers and communicate with them (Akass, 2008). The cost of personal computer is much less than what it was in the year 1977. Advancement in computer technology has brought about a corresponding reduction in the cost of computers. Moreover, computer hardware developers are attempting to produce a laptop that would be sold for a mere $100 in the near future. Students at the MIT are developing a basic computer that is to be sold for $12. These students are using the technology that was employed in the manufacture of Apple II (The History of the Computer: First PCs and the Future Computer Timeline, 2008). This simple computer is equipped with video – game controls for performing basic functions. The claim of these students is that they are building the computer with a view to making technology available to everyone. All this transpires, because the technology becomes less costly and consequently affordable. This enables manufacturers to produce computers at much lower prices (The History of the Computer: First PCs and the Future Computer Timeline, 2008). A personal computer runs on electrical power. It requires a stable supply of electrical power without any voltage fluctuations to maintain reliability. As such, power supply to personal computers is an important issue, which should not be overlooked. The stability of the PC is dependent on supply of uninterrupted power at the correct voltage. The power converting units in the PC convert AC power input to DC power output and supply it to the various components of the PC (Laing, 2008). The physicist Richard Feynman had proposed the concept of quantum computing twenty – six years ago. This proved to be a

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Strategic Human Resources Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Strategic Human Resources Management - Essay Example This paper declares that the work of human resource department is considered as a distinctive philosophy in organization because of the fact that human resource managers often face a relatively new and unique situational cases related to the proper way of handling employees. When dealing with different scenarios, human resource managers are responsible in conducting a logical reasoning as he/she develop a new strategic solution that will address the main problem within the business organization. Human resource managers should be able to adopt a more flexible scheme and rewards since most of generation Y employees strongly believe in their own worth and has adopted the ‘speak-your-mind’ philosophy. This report makes a concuson that based on the first case scenario presented in this study, we have clearly seen some ways on how the human resource manager could logically address organizational problems related to internal conflicts which may arise due to merger and acquisitions between a medium- and large-scale busineses. As part of the first case, the study shows how the human resource manager could develop and implement a new organizational culture that could promote open commnucation among employees as well as a long-term learning, development, and performance culture. In the second case, proper ways on how to develop a universal motivational scheme for a business organization that is composed of baby boomers and generation Y employees was discussed.

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Internet Changing Journalisim Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Internet Changing Journalisim - Essay Example Journalism besides covering political and social issues it also covers cultural aspects related to the concerned society like arts and entertainment. In the old times there were only three ways through which news and other information could be published or broadcasted but now in this modern era anyone can produce media if he has an internet connection and a computer or a smartphone. In the olden times journalism was an extremely professional career but now journalism has de-professionalized due to other forms of media and most importantly the internet (Whitman, Bergman, Noverr & Recchia, 1998). With the introduction of internet, journalism has quite changed in all aspects. The internet is a very wide network which comprises of many wide networks. It has become a very interactive form of media. Data through the internet is sent by means of packet switching. No form of media can attract such a large audience at a single time but through internet this is possible. The greatest advantage of internet being the ease of availability, use and cost effectiveness have made it even more common among the people. Anyone having access to the internet can have contact with all of the people of the world. Internet has removed all bounds and limits that were included with the traditional journalism. Internet has now become the center of all mass communication (Pavlik, 2001). There are various kinds of journalism that people are adopting as a profession or being practiced by amateurs. Internet has affected all types of journalism. Examples can include the following. Fashion journalism is one of the kinds of journalism in which the person has to write articles related to fashion and life style. People interested in fashion writing can opt for this profession; such articles can be read in newspapers and magazines and nowadays certain TV channels are there which only cover fashion related issues and trends. The internet has revolutionized the fashion journalism. We can now easily g et access to the latest fashion trends and tips on the net in a jiffy anytime. If we were to watch a show on television we will have to wait until the show is aired on the television but through the internet we can access anything, any information without a time restriction. Tips to life style, health tips and other fashion related issues can easily be accessed through the web. Now almost all fashion magazines and fashion channels have correspondence with their own website. The journalist now has to work more hard and find more interesting and innovative ideas so that people are more attracted towards reading magazines and newspapers (Dreiser, & Nostwich, 1988). News journalism is another type of journalism in which news related to political, social issues, current issues, weather, entertainment news are covered. In the earlier times news could only be accessed by the people through the television and when there were no televisions then it was done through radio, and later on by new spapers as well. But all this required time and spending of large amounts of money. News through the newspapers could not be reached to the people instantly and the people had to wait a whole day long to read the news related to that day because it took time to gather, write and edit news and articles and then print them. For the news on television we had to wait for the time on which the news would be

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Maketing analysis of cheese pizza Essay Example for Free

Maketing analysis of cheese pizza Essay Cheese pizza is a consumer product that is bought to satisfy individual’s personal wants. It is a shopping product that requires comparison shopping because it is usually more expensive and found in fewer stores. It is not as popular as pizza box and pizza hut, but it is an relatively new product in the market and offers an alternative for customers with different wants. Cheese pizza is now at the growth stage. It is experiencing increasing rate of sales, entrance of competitors, market consolidation, initial healthy profits. It has been expanding to 14 branches within half a year. Its main strategy is to attract customers by setting relatively low prices , so most of its branches are near public housing estates . The target customers of cheese pizza are just ordinary people , whose affordability is similar to students. Though it focuses mainly on take out services , it lowers the dine in costs to 40% of its take out one. The operation of cheese pizza stores is simple and easy, there are detailed guidance for food-making procedures and the ingredients required, the only thing the staff need to do is to follow the instructions. After calculation , they think that it is more economical and safe to put sources on cooking utensils rather than on labors , so a pizza oven is equipped in each branch. It is easy to use the oven- there’s the raw pizza with toppings on left hand side, after 6 minutes, a well-cooked pizza will be ready on the right hand side. As a result, much costs are saved. Besides the pricing strategy mentioned above, cheese pizza also adapts other marketing mix strategies. For example, product strategy. It expands different types of tastes and toppings – from onion, pepper, pepperoni, ham, mushroom only to pineapple, beef, pork, chicken, bacon, tomato ,egg, jalapano and peach inclusive. It also has frequent product modification on the pizza quality. Second, distribution strategy. It has expanded the number of dealers- opening more and more branches. At the beginning , there are only several stores of cheese pizza, but now there are branches in Fanling, Tuen Mun, Yuen Long, Tin Shui Wai, Tai po , Shatin, Kwai Fong, Hung Hom, Tsuen Wan and Tung Chung etc. Cheese pizza also tries its best to establish long-term relationships with wholesalers and retailers. Lastly, promotion strategy. Cheese pizza is trying its best to stimulate selective demand. For instance , it softens the hardness of fried chicken by adding more oil . Up till now, cheese pizza has set up 16 branches, and is expanding rapidly with a speed of 2 new branches in a month. Such an achievement implies the high standard of the cheese pizza made. In fact, every piece of cheese pizza and its quality are strictly monitored , so as to make sure the pizza is solely cooked with high quality of raw materials. For example, the weight and size of a fired chicken is under strict control, as it will be over-fired if it is too small, and it will not be tasty if it is too large. They make sure every raw material used is of the highest quality , and they will not fry any chicken until an order is made. In the process of making the pizza, cheese pizza is the only one pizza restaurant that uses olive oil. The cost of using olive oil is high, but the pizza made from it smells good and will not be too oily, most of all , people will not get food stagnation after eating . Conclusion: In this project, we have been working intensively into Cheese Pizza and trying to find out ways that the company can increase its market shares. We have identified the company’s strengths and weakness. We have also showed the current positioning of Cheese Pizza and its competitors. Cheese Pizza’s current segmentation strategy as well as its importance were also analyzed. Finally, based on all the analysis, we recommended a new product for Cheese Pizza. It is hoped that Cheese Pizza will continue to take its advantage and make improvements from time to time, so as to increase more and more branches and to increase its market shares. References: http://blog. yahoo. com/_VI2LRCBUJLT5L6PNJKMLDAAW6Y/articles/29299 http://www. openrice. com/restaurant/reviews. htm? shopid=38341tc=sr1listpage=2 http://www. cheesepizza. hk/index. html.

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Pakistan Microfinance Sector Analysis

Pakistan Microfinance Sector Analysis The aim of this study refers to highlighting the key challenges and prospects for the microfinance sector of Pakistan. Being practiced since last few years, microfinance is considered to be an imperative financing practiced by financial institutions for the development of countrys economy. This study has been carried out using the following four steps: present scenario of microfinance in Pakistan, identification of internal and external challenges, prospects in microfinance, and policy recommendations to boost microfinance sector in Pakistan. In this research, microfinance framework has been used to better understand the process of building a sustainable microfinance institution. The findings have been obtained through Primary data which has been collected by sending 80 questionnaire surveys to microfinance sector. The companies that have participated are banks and other financial institutions. This research contributes in three ways. First, microfinance institutions will be facilita ted in highlighting the challenges and prospects that are being neglected in the process of analyzing the problems and opportunities faced by this sector. Second, other financial institutions and banks, realizing the significance of this business, will get encouragement to enter this sector with more innovative products and better standard practices. Thirdly, it will help the country in coming up with new strategies for micro financing. Moreover, microfinance sector may start conducting more training sessions to enhance the skills of the clients which will impact positively on this sector. INTRODUCTION Statement of the Problem Poverty cannot be illustrated, it can be experienced. One knows more about it when he is starving and can not manage to pay for food. He and his children want new cloths on festivals but can not buy these, due to low income. He is sick, but he is not able to buy medicine. He wants to send his children to school, but can not bear the expenses. He wants to be appreciated in society, but is treated poorly by the institutions of the state and society. He is voice less and incapable (Gobind M et al,2008). Poor people save all the time, although mostly in informal ways. They invest in assets such as gold, jewelry, domestic animals, building materials, and things that can be easily exchanged for cash. They may set aside corn from their harvest to sell at a later date. They bury cash in the garden or stash it under the mattress. They participate in informal savings groups where everyone contributes a small amount of cash each day, week, or month, and is successively awarded the pot on a rota ting basis. Some of these groups allow members to borrow from the pot as well. The poor also give their money to neighbors to hold or pay local cash collectors to keep it safe. However widely used, informal savings mechanisms have serious limitations. It is not possible, for example, to cut a leg off a goat when the family suddenly needs a small amount of cash. In-kind savings are subject to fluctuations in commodity prices, destruction by insects, fire, thieves, or illness (in the case of livestock). Informal rotating savings groups tend to be small and rotate limited amounts of money. Moreover, these groups often require rigid amounts of money at set intervals and do not react to changes in their members ability to save. Perhaps most importantly, the poor are more likely to lose their money through fraud or mismanagement in informal savings arrangements than are depositors in formal financial institutions. The concept of microfinance was launched to help the poor population of the world. The significance of microfinance cannot be neglected for the development of any economy. Microfinance encourages poor households to consume their funds in productive activities by providing them small amount of loans. Poor household refers to low-income people who traditionally lack access to banking and other related financial services. The concept tend to empower would-be entrepreneurs to take up a trade for living, allow them to start earning, and thus to provide their families with income stability. The income that generates from such businesses not only helps in expanding those activities but also contributes to the income of the household bringing benefits for the whole family. In Pakistan, about one-third of the population is Å“un-banked?, or lacking access to finance, which if appropriately tapped can offer tremendous opportunities to both banking institutions and businesses. As a step towards mainstreaming the un-banked, SBP has envisaged increasing the size of micro and small enterprise (MSE) financing from one million borrowers to four million borrowers, and from Rs.1 billion to four billion by the year 2010. In this context, increasing institutional outreach and sinking micro financing in to the sector are considered pivotal strategies. Other areas of interest include regulatory regimes, product and process innovations, relationship management and monitoring, and market intelligence data (Sohailuddin Alavi, 2007). According to ILO (2005) cited by Dahri (2007) it is concluded that the reality for most of the worlds poor is that they have to work often for long hours, in poor working conditions and without basic rights and presentation- at work that is not productive enough to enable them to themselves and their families out of poverty, it is Å“decent and productive? employment that matters, not employment alone. In developing countries, so many strategies have been put into practice and research has been done but it is felt that it is not enough and research should remain continue in light of latest reports and research to highlight the challenges and opportunities of microfinance. These studies are helping in bringing new strategies into practice. As Pakistan is also a developing country, further suggestions would help to overcome the challenges faced by microfinance and avail the opportunities that exist for this kind of financing. To keep these things in mind attempt has been made to iden tify the internal, external challenges and opportunities as special objective in this study. LITERATURE REVIEW The great challenge before us is to address the constraints that exclude people from full participation in the financial sector. Together, we can and must build inclusive financial sectors that help people improve their lives.(Kofi Annan, 2007). However, poverty is a widespread problem found in the rural areas of Pakistan, as almost 28 per cent of the total rural households is categorized as poor. In this regard, the provision of credit, especially micro-credit, has now become an effective tool and a successful strategy for poverty eradication. In Pakistan over the past few years, the number of active borrowers has increased by 85 per cent while total outstanding loans grew by 115 per cent (Economic Survey of Pakistan, 2005-2006). The broader definition of microfinance includes not only microcredit but also other financial services, which can be offered to the poor. Interested economists found soon that not only small credits but also other services connected with lending could improve economic lives of the poorest (Bauer, Chytilova Morduch, 2008). Most MFIs connect their credit services also with educational or saving programs or business trainings, retraining scheme or technical trainings. Logically, the investments can turn out to be more profitable when the people have access to training, which can enhance their skills. Historically, the goal of microfinance was the alleviation of poverty. For many years, microfinance had this primary social objective and so traditional MFIs consisted only of non-governmental organizations (NGO), specialized microfinance banks and public sector banks. Although the Microfinance sector has reached a maturity stage over the last three decades, but the capacity of operational level staffs has not enhanced to that extent (Hassan Islam, 2008) A variety of studies have found a few key strengths and positive impacts produced by the implementation of microfinance programs in poor and impoverished areas of the world. First, microfinance programs can be an effective way to provide low?cost financial services to poor individuals and families (Stephens Tazi 2006). Second, such programs have been shown to help in the development and growth of the local economy as individuals and families are able to move past subsistence living and increase disposable income levels (Khandker, 2005). MFIs should take initiatives to upscale their Microenterprise clients to SME level and provide necessary support to link these clients with mainstream financial institutions. The MFIs should take responsibilities of their clients managerial skill development training (Hassan Islam, 2008). In addition, many studies (primarily microfinance institution impact studies and academic researcher qualitative or case studies) have shown that microfinance programs were able to reduce poverty through increasing individual and household income levels, as well as improving healthcare, nutrition, education, and helping to empower women. For example, standard of living increases, which help to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, have occurred at both the individual and household levels as a result of microfinance programs (Khandker, 2005). Furthermore, it has been demonstrated by some research that microfinance programs increase access to healthcare, making preventative healthcare measures more affordable to the poor (Morduch, 1998). Finally, it has been shown that such programs can help borrowers to develop dignity and self-confidence in conjunction with loan repayment, and self?sufficiency as a means for sustainable income becomes available.The Microfinance Summit Campaign Report (2006) estimates that there are now more than 3,000 microfinance institutions, serving more than 100 million poor people in developing countries. The total cash turnover of these institutions world-wide is estimated at $2.5 billion and the potential for new growth is outstanding.One individual who gained worldwide recognition for his work in microfinance is professor Muhammad Yunus who, with Grameen Bank, won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. Yunas and Grameen Bank demonstrated that the poor have the ability to pull themselves out of poverty. Yunus also demonstrated that loans made to the working poor, if properly structured, had very high repayment rates. His work caught the attention of both social engineers and profit-seeking investors (Grameen Bank, 2008). Some key strengths and positive impacts of microfinance programs in poor and impoverished areas of the world that; Microfinance programs can be an effective way to provide low-cost financial services to poor individuals and familie s (Stephens Tazi 2006). Such programs help in the development and growth of the local economy allowing individuals and families to move past subsistence living, and therefore increases their disposable income levels (Khandker 2005). Negative impacts of microfinance and microcredit programs are that; microfinance programs benefit the moderately poor more than the destitute, and thus impact can vary by income group (better-off benefit more from microcredit) (Jonathan Barbara 2002; Morduch, 1998; Dugger, 2004). Both formal and semi-formal financial institutions cover a very small share of MFIs markets as compared to informal market (Aleem, 1990). Hassan and Islam (2008) in a study conclude that, uplifting of client, managerial skill development programs for both client and staff of MFI and governmental policies can uplift the MFI growth which in turn has positive impact on overall macroeconomic growth of country. Moreover, the studies conducted on micro-credit were mainly based on the impact assessment of the programme. Realizing the situation, there is a need for an empirical study to analyze the factors that determine challenges faced by MFIs and future prospects in microfinance programme. Objectives of the Study The objectives of the study are: To explore the present scenario of MF in Pakistan To identify the challenges faced by MFIs in Pakistan To identify the internal and external constraints of MFIs in Pakistan. To provide policy recommendations to boost MFIs sector in Pakistan RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Conceptual Frame Work Utilizing the above mentioned details, a framework is suggested for MFI. Generic Framework for Building Sustainable Micro Finance Bank (MFB) Source: SOHAILUDDIN ALAVI (2007) Å“Microfinance in Pakistan: Challenges and Prospects?, journal of the Institute of Bankers Pakistan Volume 74, Issue No. 3 page 52-61 Data Collection In this research study, primary data has been obtained from questionnaire survey. The primary data here has been collected through a comprehensive questionnaire in this research. Primary data There are several choices for primary data collection i.e. survey (questionnaire), interview, observations and experiments. These choices are shown in below figure. The primary data here has been collected through a comprehensive questionnaire in this research. Primary Data Sources Source: Ghauri, P. Gronhaug, K. (2005). Å“Research Methods in business Studies?, 3ed. Prentice Hall. Size of the Sample The questionnaire was distributed to 80 executives in four different MFIs. These executives have the responsibility of key customers identification, analysis and operational activities involved in the management process. Out of the 80 respondents 54 (67.50%) have responded. The author has done the convenience sampling due to the limitations. Questionnaire We have divided this Questionnaire into three segments; External Challenges Internal Challenges Prospects First and second section measure challenges, both internal and external faced by MFI and third section addresses the future prospects for MFI. Each section is based on separate research objectives. Only closed-ended questions are included in the questionnaire. In closed-ended questions Likert-scale method (Proctor, T. 2005) is used for response. Seven different scaling options are included in Likert-scale method to minimize the response biasness. The scales: strongly agree, agree, slightly agree, neither agree nor disagree, slightly disagree, disagree and strongly disagree are assigned ranks from 1- 7 respectively. DATA AND METHODOLOGY Data and Sampling As we have limited MFIs in the country so author has distibuted 80 questionnaires and 54 responses are received (67.50%) from Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore cities. In the above section, the six factors highlighted addressees the external challenges of MFIs in the market of Pakistan. Govt.s due importance to the sector Staff trainings by the MFIs Utilizations of the loans Importance of clients skills development by the MFIs Islamic point of view Local norms Its clear from the table 1(b) that Å“Government is giving due importance to MFI?, out of 54 respondents 78% response positively and 22% in negative. It means Government considers MFI as a very important sector in the country development process. Second question is about Microfinance Institutions staffs training level; there is 50% response in positive and 50% in negative. This indicates that MFI staff working in market needs adequate training. Ultimately, their training may draw some positive impact on MFI sector in specific, and at large it may benefit the countrys economy. Third and the most important factor about the utilization of loan money by client, surprisingly 70% of respondents say that loans are used for investment purpose by client and not for personal consumption. However, 30% of respondents believe that loan taken by client is used for their private consumption. The fourth question is about MFI attitude towards clients skills development shows; only 26% of responses are positive and 74% responded negatively. This result indicates a gap for policy makers of MFIs concluding that they are not putting due efforts in their business because their client is usually not only poor but also lacking management and other skills. Further research can be done on the level of skill of client and the growth of their business and relationship with MFI. The second last question in the first section addresses the perception of the client about financial institute in religious perspective; 80% of respondents are positive that financial intuitions are largely perceived as non-Islamic. This issue can be resolved by focusing on the establishment of Islamic MFIs or marketing the concept of microfinance more aggressively. Final question is about the norms restrictions on the financial sector, again 53% of responses are positive about the existence of such norms and 43% are negative. We may say that in future these norms may go to decline. Internal Challenges The section 2 of the challenges is about the key internal challenges faced by MFI. We have discussed six different internal challenges; the first and probably the most important challenge is about the availability of other cheaper financial resources. 74% of the respondents agree that the availability of other cheaper source of finance is a great challenge for them and 36% responded in opposite. This indicates the fact that the cost of borrowing is high for small borrowers. Effort should be done to make small loans available at some competitive cost in comparison to other financial products. About the limited physical presence of MFI, 87% response is positive and only 13% is negative, which again reveals the gap for policy makers that the limited presence may be the major cause of low performance and growth of MFI sector. The third question is about the general inability of MFIs about risks and standard practices; 52% responded positively about the situation but 48% do not agree. We may say that there is a great need for MFIs to mitigate the risk factors and adopt the standard practices. The fourth question is about the incompatibility of conventional banking with the need of microfinance product; 52% of respondents are positive about the inaptness of conventional banking with microfinance product need while 48% do not agree that there is incompatibility of microfinance need and traditional banking. So we may say that a second majority of MFI believes that conventional banking system can also cater to the need of microfinance product. The second last question of this section is about the availability of quality human resource in comparison to other financial institutions; 48% of the respondents are positive about the availability of quality human resource due to scare funds while 52% do not agree. This shows that availability of quality human resource is not much of an issue in MFIs. Final question is about the lacking in value chain and delivery process of mic rofinance product; a majority of 59% is positive that there are lacking in value chain and delivery process, but 37% are of opposite view and 4% are uncertain about the answer to this question. Prospects/Opportunities The third and the last section is about the opportunities for MFIs, first question is about the promotion of different kinds of business through MFIs; 56% of respondents are positive that MFIs are promoting all kinds of business and 44% do not agree. The second majority of respondents believe that MFIs are not addressing all kinds of business. Hence, there is a need to look at the different kinds of businesses served by MFIs. In the question about the role of MFI,s in reduction of poverty, 83% are positive about the role of MFI in poverty reduction, while a minority of 17% do not agree. The fourth question about the role of MFI in economic growth of country; 100% respondents advocate that MFIs are working for the economic development. 100% respondents are positive that MFIs are not only working against poverty but also playing some other roles too in economy. Finally a 70% of respondents are positive about the alliance of commercial banks and MFIs , 13% do not agree about the allianc e and 17% are uncertain. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION In this study, conclusions will be drawn on the basis of literature review and analysis made through market research. The reasearch is divided into two parts: conclusions and recommendations. Conclusions From this study we conclude that; Government is providing due importance to MF sector. MFIs staff needs training which can impact positively on MF Sector. A majority of 70% believe that loan is utilized in investments activities rather than personal consumption. MFIs have very low attention toward its clients skill development. A majority of population perceive MFIs and other financial services against their religious beliefs. Lastly norms and culture poses threats to MFIs and Banks. Cost of microfinance is relatively high in compassion to other financial products. Standards of practices and processes need improvement in MFIs. Alliance of commercial banking and microfinance is viewed as positive. Recommendations MFIs staff working in market needs adequate training. Ultimately, their training will draw some positive impacts on MFI sector in specific and may also benefit the economy of the country at large. MFIs are not putting due efforts in their business because their client is usually not only poor but also lacking management and other skills. Further research can be done on the level of skills of the client and growth of his/her business to elaborate the different skill levels. There may be a need of Islamic MFIs or marketing the concept of microfinance more aggressively to avoid the potential biasness in financial organizations. Effort should be done to make small loans available at some competitive cost in comparison to other financial products. There is a great need for MFIs to mitigate the risk factor and adopt the standard practices. Limitation of Research This study had the following limitations The author was not able to distribute the questionnaire to company executives all over the country. Time period to conduct the study was very limited. Some of the respondents did not answer the questions seriously Sample size was limited to 3 cities only which cannot be easily applicable to all population of Pakistan. The questionnaire was sent to respondents through e-mail. It was not feasible for the author to conduct the interviews personally. All respondents cant maintain same level of accuracy in answering the questions due to lack of time and interest. It may create little discrepancy to some extent in formulating the conclusions. Refrences www.sbp.org.pk/publications/prudential/micro_prs.pdf www.sbp.org.pk/l_frame/MF_Bank_Ord_2000.pdf Kofi, Annan. UN secretary,.2007. Avalibale atÂÂ  : http://www.diplomatie.be/en/travel/visa/default.asp Herani, Gobind M, Rajar , Allah Wasayo, Wasim, Mohammad Pervez and Shaikh, Riaz Ahmed., 2008. The Nature of Poverty and Its Prospects: Pakistan Evidence. Journal of Global Economy ,4(3), pp. 183-194. Global Monetary and Financial System: Principal Issues. Journal of the Institute of Bankers Pakistan , 74 (2) pp 1-6 Available at:www.ibp.org.pk/journal/Journal-Apr-Jun-2007.pdf Pakistan Statistical Profile Available at: agingandwork.bc.edu/documents/CP03_Workforce_Pakistan.pdf M. Bauer, J. ChytilovÃÆ'Â ¡, J. Morduch., 2008.Behavioral Foundations of Microcredit: Experimental and Survey Evidence from Rural India. American Economic Review,59 (1) pp71-86 Rashed Al Hasan., K.M. Zahidul Islam., 2008. Bridging the Gap between Microfinance and SME Financing in Bangladesh: Unlocking the Potentials. Daffodil International University Journal of Business and Economics, 3.(1), pp 41-57 Shahidur R. Khandker., 2005.Microfinance and Poverty: Evidence Using Panel Data from Bangladesh .The World Bank Economic Review, 19(2), pp263-286 Jonathan Morduch., 1998. Does Microfinance Really Help the Poor? New Evidence from Flagship Programs in Bangladesh, Department of Economics and HIID Harvard University. Available at: www.princeton.edu/rpds/papers/pdfs/morduch_microfinance_poor.pdf Grameen Bank. Available at: http://www.grameen-info.org/ Dugger, Celia W. 2004. Å“Debate Stirs over Tiny Loans for Worlds Poorest.? New York Times. Morduch, J., and Haley, B. (2002), ËÅ"Analysis of the Effects of Microfinance on Poverty Reduction, NYU Wagner Working Paper No. 1014 Available at: http://www.nyu.edu/wagner/workingpapers.html Briefing Note Summary of the Poverty and Social Impact Assessment: Pakistan Microfinance Policy May 2006 Available at: www. pipl.com/directory/name/Tazi/Hind Pakistan Microfinance Sector Analysis Pakistan Microfinance Sector Analysis The aim of this study refers to highlighting the key challenges and prospects for the microfinance sector of Pakistan. Being practiced since last few years, microfinance is considered to be an imperative financing practiced by financial institutions for the development of countrys economy. This study has been carried out using the following four steps: present scenario of microfinance in Pakistan, identification of internal and external challenges, prospects in microfinance, and policy recommendations to boost microfinance sector in Pakistan. In this research, microfinance framework has been used to better understand the process of building a sustainable microfinance institution. The findings have been obtained through Primary data which has been collected by sending 80 questionnaire surveys to microfinance sector. The companies that have participated are banks and other financial institutions. This research contributes in three ways. First, microfinance institutions will be facilita ted in highlighting the challenges and prospects that are being neglected in the process of analyzing the problems and opportunities faced by this sector. Second, other financial institutions and banks, realizing the significance of this business, will get encouragement to enter this sector with more innovative products and better standard practices. Thirdly, it will help the country in coming up with new strategies for micro financing. Moreover, microfinance sector may start conducting more training sessions to enhance the skills of the clients which will impact positively on this sector. INTRODUCTION Statement of the Problem Poverty cannot be illustrated, it can be experienced. One knows more about it when he is starving and can not manage to pay for food. He and his children want new cloths on festivals but can not buy these, due to low income. He is sick, but he is not able to buy medicine. He wants to send his children to school, but can not bear the expenses. He wants to be appreciated in society, but is treated poorly by the institutions of the state and society. He is voice less and incapable (Gobind M et al,2008). Poor people save all the time, although mostly in informal ways. They invest in assets such as gold, jewelry, domestic animals, building materials, and things that can be easily exchanged for cash. They may set aside corn from their harvest to sell at a later date. They bury cash in the garden or stash it under the mattress. They participate in informal savings groups where everyone contributes a small amount of cash each day, week, or month, and is successively awarded the pot on a rota ting basis. Some of these groups allow members to borrow from the pot as well. The poor also give their money to neighbors to hold or pay local cash collectors to keep it safe. However widely used, informal savings mechanisms have serious limitations. It is not possible, for example, to cut a leg off a goat when the family suddenly needs a small amount of cash. In-kind savings are subject to fluctuations in commodity prices, destruction by insects, fire, thieves, or illness (in the case of livestock). Informal rotating savings groups tend to be small and rotate limited amounts of money. Moreover, these groups often require rigid amounts of money at set intervals and do not react to changes in their members ability to save. Perhaps most importantly, the poor are more likely to lose their money through fraud or mismanagement in informal savings arrangements than are depositors in formal financial institutions. The concept of microfinance was launched to help the poor population of the world. The significance of microfinance cannot be neglected for the development of any economy. Microfinance encourages poor households to consume their funds in productive activities by providing them small amount of loans. Poor household refers to low-income people who traditionally lack access to banking and other related financial services. The concept tend to empower would-be entrepreneurs to take up a trade for living, allow them to start earning, and thus to provide their families with income stability. The income that generates from such businesses not only helps in expanding those activities but also contributes to the income of the household bringing benefits for the whole family. In Pakistan, about one-third of the population is Å“un-banked?, or lacking access to finance, which if appropriately tapped can offer tremendous opportunities to both banking institutions and businesses. As a step towards mainstreaming the un-banked, SBP has envisaged increasing the size of micro and small enterprise (MSE) financing from one million borrowers to four million borrowers, and from Rs.1 billion to four billion by the year 2010. In this context, increasing institutional outreach and sinking micro financing in to the sector are considered pivotal strategies. Other areas of interest include regulatory regimes, product and process innovations, relationship management and monitoring, and market intelligence data (Sohailuddin Alavi, 2007). According to ILO (2005) cited by Dahri (2007) it is concluded that the reality for most of the worlds poor is that they have to work often for long hours, in poor working conditions and without basic rights and presentation- at work that is not productive enough to enable them to themselves and their families out of poverty, it is Å“decent and productive? employment that matters, not employment alone. In developing countries, so many strategies have been put into practice and research has been done but it is felt that it is not enough and research should remain continue in light of latest reports and research to highlight the challenges and opportunities of microfinance. These studies are helping in bringing new strategies into practice. As Pakistan is also a developing country, further suggestions would help to overcome the challenges faced by microfinance and avail the opportunities that exist for this kind of financing. To keep these things in mind attempt has been made to iden tify the internal, external challenges and opportunities as special objective in this study. LITERATURE REVIEW The great challenge before us is to address the constraints that exclude people from full participation in the financial sector. Together, we can and must build inclusive financial sectors that help people improve their lives.(Kofi Annan, 2007). However, poverty is a widespread problem found in the rural areas of Pakistan, as almost 28 per cent of the total rural households is categorized as poor. In this regard, the provision of credit, especially micro-credit, has now become an effective tool and a successful strategy for poverty eradication. In Pakistan over the past few years, the number of active borrowers has increased by 85 per cent while total outstanding loans grew by 115 per cent (Economic Survey of Pakistan, 2005-2006). The broader definition of microfinance includes not only microcredit but also other financial services, which can be offered to the poor. Interested economists found soon that not only small credits but also other services connected with lending could improve economic lives of the poorest (Bauer, Chytilova Morduch, 2008). Most MFIs connect their credit services also with educational or saving programs or business trainings, retraining scheme or technical trainings. Logically, the investments can turn out to be more profitable when the people have access to training, which can enhance their skills. Historically, the goal of microfinance was the alleviation of poverty. For many years, microfinance had this primary social objective and so traditional MFIs consisted only of non-governmental organizations (NGO), specialized microfinance banks and public sector banks. Although the Microfinance sector has reached a maturity stage over the last three decades, but the capacity of operational level staffs has not enhanced to that extent (Hassan Islam, 2008) A variety of studies have found a few key strengths and positive impacts produced by the implementation of microfinance programs in poor and impoverished areas of the world. First, microfinance programs can be an effective way to provide low?cost financial services to poor individuals and families (Stephens Tazi 2006). Second, such programs have been shown to help in the development and growth of the local economy as individuals and families are able to move past subsistence living and increase disposable income levels (Khandker, 2005). MFIs should take initiatives to upscale their Microenterprise clients to SME level and provide necessary support to link these clients with mainstream financial institutions. The MFIs should take responsibilities of their clients managerial skill development training (Hassan Islam, 2008). In addition, many studies (primarily microfinance institution impact studies and academic researcher qualitative or case studies) have shown that microfinance programs were able to reduce poverty through increasing individual and household income levels, as well as improving healthcare, nutrition, education, and helping to empower women. For example, standard of living increases, which help to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, have occurred at both the individual and household levels as a result of microfinance programs (Khandker, 2005). Furthermore, it has been demonstrated by some research that microfinance programs increase access to healthcare, making preventative healthcare measures more affordable to the poor (Morduch, 1998). Finally, it has been shown that such programs can help borrowers to develop dignity and self-confidence in conjunction with loan repayment, and self?sufficiency as a means for sustainable income becomes available.The Microfinance Summit Campaign Report (2006) estimates that there are now more than 3,000 microfinance institutions, serving more than 100 million poor people in developing countries. The total cash turnover of these institutions world-wide is estimated at $2.5 billion and the potential for new growth is outstanding.One individual who gained worldwide recognition for his work in microfinance is professor Muhammad Yunus who, with Grameen Bank, won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. Yunas and Grameen Bank demonstrated that the poor have the ability to pull themselves out of poverty. Yunus also demonstrated that loans made to the working poor, if properly structured, had very high repayment rates. His work caught the attention of both social engineers and profit-seeking investors (Grameen Bank, 2008). Some key strengths and positive impacts of microfinance programs in poor and impoverished areas of the world that; Microfinance programs can be an effective way to provide low-cost financial services to poor individuals and familie s (Stephens Tazi 2006). Such programs help in the development and growth of the local economy allowing individuals and families to move past subsistence living, and therefore increases their disposable income levels (Khandker 2005). Negative impacts of microfinance and microcredit programs are that; microfinance programs benefit the moderately poor more than the destitute, and thus impact can vary by income group (better-off benefit more from microcredit) (Jonathan Barbara 2002; Morduch, 1998; Dugger, 2004). Both formal and semi-formal financial institutions cover a very small share of MFIs markets as compared to informal market (Aleem, 1990). Hassan and Islam (2008) in a study conclude that, uplifting of client, managerial skill development programs for both client and staff of MFI and governmental policies can uplift the MFI growth which in turn has positive impact on overall macroeconomic growth of country. Moreover, the studies conducted on micro-credit were mainly based on the impact assessment of the programme. Realizing the situation, there is a need for an empirical study to analyze the factors that determine challenges faced by MFIs and future prospects in microfinance programme. Objectives of the Study The objectives of the study are: To explore the present scenario of MF in Pakistan To identify the challenges faced by MFIs in Pakistan To identify the internal and external constraints of MFIs in Pakistan. To provide policy recommendations to boost MFIs sector in Pakistan RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Conceptual Frame Work Utilizing the above mentioned details, a framework is suggested for MFI. Generic Framework for Building Sustainable Micro Finance Bank (MFB) Source: SOHAILUDDIN ALAVI (2007) Å“Microfinance in Pakistan: Challenges and Prospects?, journal of the Institute of Bankers Pakistan Volume 74, Issue No. 3 page 52-61 Data Collection In this research study, primary data has been obtained from questionnaire survey. The primary data here has been collected through a comprehensive questionnaire in this research. Primary data There are several choices for primary data collection i.e. survey (questionnaire), interview, observations and experiments. These choices are shown in below figure. The primary data here has been collected through a comprehensive questionnaire in this research. Primary Data Sources Source: Ghauri, P. Gronhaug, K. (2005). Å“Research Methods in business Studies?, 3ed. Prentice Hall. Size of the Sample The questionnaire was distributed to 80 executives in four different MFIs. These executives have the responsibility of key customers identification, analysis and operational activities involved in the management process. Out of the 80 respondents 54 (67.50%) have responded. The author has done the convenience sampling due to the limitations. Questionnaire We have divided this Questionnaire into three segments; External Challenges Internal Challenges Prospects First and second section measure challenges, both internal and external faced by MFI and third section addresses the future prospects for MFI. Each section is based on separate research objectives. Only closed-ended questions are included in the questionnaire. In closed-ended questions Likert-scale method (Proctor, T. 2005) is used for response. Seven different scaling options are included in Likert-scale method to minimize the response biasness. The scales: strongly agree, agree, slightly agree, neither agree nor disagree, slightly disagree, disagree and strongly disagree are assigned ranks from 1- 7 respectively. DATA AND METHODOLOGY Data and Sampling As we have limited MFIs in the country so author has distibuted 80 questionnaires and 54 responses are received (67.50%) from Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore cities. In the above section, the six factors highlighted addressees the external challenges of MFIs in the market of Pakistan. Govt.s due importance to the sector Staff trainings by the MFIs Utilizations of the loans Importance of clients skills development by the MFIs Islamic point of view Local norms Its clear from the table 1(b) that Å“Government is giving due importance to MFI?, out of 54 respondents 78% response positively and 22% in negative. It means Government considers MFI as a very important sector in the country development process. Second question is about Microfinance Institutions staffs training level; there is 50% response in positive and 50% in negative. This indicates that MFI staff working in market needs adequate training. Ultimately, their training may draw some positive impact on MFI sector in specific, and at large it may benefit the countrys economy. Third and the most important factor about the utilization of loan money by client, surprisingly 70% of respondents say that loans are used for investment purpose by client and not for personal consumption. However, 30% of respondents believe that loan taken by client is used for their private consumption. The fourth question is about MFI attitude towards clients skills development shows; only 26% of responses are positive and 74% responded negatively. This result indicates a gap for policy makers of MFIs concluding that they are not putting due efforts in their business because their client is usually not only poor but also lacking management and other skills. Further research can be done on the level of skill of client and the growth of their business and relationship with MFI. The second last question in the first section addresses the perception of the client about financial institute in religious perspective; 80% of respondents are positive that financial intuitions are largely perceived as non-Islamic. This issue can be resolved by focusing on the establishment of Islamic MFIs or marketing the concept of microfinance more aggressively. Final question is about the norms restrictions on the financial sector, again 53% of responses are positive about the existence of such norms and 43% are negative. We may say that in future these norms may go to decline. Internal Challenges The section 2 of the challenges is about the key internal challenges faced by MFI. We have discussed six different internal challenges; the first and probably the most important challenge is about the availability of other cheaper financial resources. 74% of the respondents agree that the availability of other cheaper source of finance is a great challenge for them and 36% responded in opposite. This indicates the fact that the cost of borrowing is high for small borrowers. Effort should be done to make small loans available at some competitive cost in comparison to other financial products. About the limited physical presence of MFI, 87% response is positive and only 13% is negative, which again reveals the gap for policy makers that the limited presence may be the major cause of low performance and growth of MFI sector. The third question is about the general inability of MFIs about risks and standard practices; 52% responded positively about the situation but 48% do not agree. We may say that there is a great need for MFIs to mitigate the risk factors and adopt the standard practices. The fourth question is about the incompatibility of conventional banking with the need of microfinance product; 52% of respondents are positive about the inaptness of conventional banking with microfinance product need while 48% do not agree that there is incompatibility of microfinance need and traditional banking. So we may say that a second majority of MFI believes that conventional banking system can also cater to the need of microfinance product. The second last question of this section is about the availability of quality human resource in comparison to other financial institutions; 48% of the respondents are positive about the availability of quality human resource due to scare funds while 52% do not agree. This shows that availability of quality human resource is not much of an issue in MFIs. Final question is about the lacking in value chain and delivery process of mic rofinance product; a majority of 59% is positive that there are lacking in value chain and delivery process, but 37% are of opposite view and 4% are uncertain about the answer to this question. Prospects/Opportunities The third and the last section is about the opportunities for MFIs, first question is about the promotion of different kinds of business through MFIs; 56% of respondents are positive that MFIs are promoting all kinds of business and 44% do not agree. The second majority of respondents believe that MFIs are not addressing all kinds of business. Hence, there is a need to look at the different kinds of businesses served by MFIs. In the question about the role of MFI,s in reduction of poverty, 83% are positive about the role of MFI in poverty reduction, while a minority of 17% do not agree. The fourth question about the role of MFI in economic growth of country; 100% respondents advocate that MFIs are working for the economic development. 100% respondents are positive that MFIs are not only working against poverty but also playing some other roles too in economy. Finally a 70% of respondents are positive about the alliance of commercial banks and MFIs , 13% do not agree about the allianc e and 17% are uncertain. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION In this study, conclusions will be drawn on the basis of literature review and analysis made through market research. The reasearch is divided into two parts: conclusions and recommendations. Conclusions From this study we conclude that; Government is providing due importance to MF sector. MFIs staff needs training which can impact positively on MF Sector. A majority of 70% believe that loan is utilized in investments activities rather than personal consumption. MFIs have very low attention toward its clients skill development. A majority of population perceive MFIs and other financial services against their religious beliefs. Lastly norms and culture poses threats to MFIs and Banks. Cost of microfinance is relatively high in compassion to other financial products. Standards of practices and processes need improvement in MFIs. Alliance of commercial banking and microfinance is viewed as positive. Recommendations MFIs staff working in market needs adequate training. Ultimately, their training will draw some positive impacts on MFI sector in specific and may also benefit the economy of the country at large. MFIs are not putting due efforts in their business because their client is usually not only poor but also lacking management and other skills. Further research can be done on the level of skills of the client and growth of his/her business to elaborate the different skill levels. There may be a need of Islamic MFIs or marketing the concept of microfinance more aggressively to avoid the potential biasness in financial organizations. Effort should be done to make small loans available at some competitive cost in comparison to other financial products. There is a great need for MFIs to mitigate the risk factor and adopt the standard practices. Limitation of Research This study had the following limitations The author was not able to distribute the questionnaire to company executives all over the country. Time period to conduct the study was very limited. Some of the respondents did not answer the questions seriously Sample size was limited to 3 cities only which cannot be easily applicable to all population of Pakistan. The questionnaire was sent to respondents through e-mail. It was not feasible for the author to conduct the interviews personally. All respondents cant maintain same level of accuracy in answering the questions due to lack of time and interest. It may create little discrepancy to some extent in formulating the conclusions. Refrences www.sbp.org.pk/publications/prudential/micro_prs.pdf www.sbp.org.pk/l_frame/MF_Bank_Ord_2000.pdf Kofi, Annan. UN secretary,.2007. Avalibale atÂÂ  : http://www.diplomatie.be/en/travel/visa/default.asp Herani, Gobind M, Rajar , Allah Wasayo, Wasim, Mohammad Pervez and Shaikh, Riaz Ahmed., 2008. The Nature of Poverty and Its Prospects: Pakistan Evidence. Journal of Global Economy ,4(3), pp. 183-194. Global Monetary and Financial System: Principal Issues. Journal of the Institute of Bankers Pakistan , 74 (2) pp 1-6 Available at:www.ibp.org.pk/journal/Journal-Apr-Jun-2007.pdf Pakistan Statistical Profile Available at: agingandwork.bc.edu/documents/CP03_Workforce_Pakistan.pdf M. Bauer, J. ChytilovÃÆ'Â ¡, J. Morduch., 2008.Behavioral Foundations of Microcredit: Experimental and Survey Evidence from Rural India. American Economic Review,59 (1) pp71-86 Rashed Al Hasan., K.M. Zahidul Islam., 2008. Bridging the Gap between Microfinance and SME Financing in Bangladesh: Unlocking the Potentials. Daffodil International University Journal of Business and Economics, 3.(1), pp 41-57 Shahidur R. Khandker., 2005.Microfinance and Poverty: Evidence Using Panel Data from Bangladesh .The World Bank Economic Review, 19(2), pp263-286 Jonathan Morduch., 1998. Does Microfinance Really Help the Poor? New Evidence from Flagship Programs in Bangladesh, Department of Economics and HIID Harvard University. Available at: www.princeton.edu/rpds/papers/pdfs/morduch_microfinance_poor.pdf Grameen Bank. Available at: http://www.grameen-info.org/ Dugger, Celia W. 2004. Å“Debate Stirs over Tiny Loans for Worlds Poorest.? New York Times. Morduch, J., and Haley, B. (2002), ËÅ"Analysis of the Effects of Microfinance on Poverty Reduction, NYU Wagner Working Paper No. 1014 Available at: http://www.nyu.edu/wagner/workingpapers.html Briefing Note Summary of the Poverty and Social Impact Assessment: Pakistan Microfinance Policy May 2006 Available at: www. pipl.com/directory/name/Tazi/Hind