How to Survival Middle School Essay

Graduating elementary school is an exciting mile stone, but then comes middle school. Middle school is a very tough place for most people. Hormones start to kick in and work load gets amplified. Drama takes over the school and learning how to balance it all is a skill. With these new emotions its difficult to balance both friends, relationships, and school work. There are a lot of new challenges a student has to take on, but with a few key tips, middle school may be a bit easier to get through. 1. Always Smile- By smiling you are putting out a positive attitude. When one meets a person who is smiling they are more likely to be smiling to. A smile gives you a more approachable feel and can help you make friends easier. If you have a sad or stern face people won’t be as intrigued to come talk to you. 2. Pay Attention in Class- There is so much going on in a middle schoolers life at home and with friends its hard to stay focused. Making sure you listen in class is a big part of doing well in middle school. It is easy to get distracted but you need to remember the reason your at school is to learn. Everything going forward, build upon itself so if your mind is somewhere else you just be confused later on. 3. Prioritize- When entering middle school, friendships change. Play dates stop happening and â€Å"going out† starts. â€Å"Boyfriends† and â€Å"Girlfriends† begin to happen. With your mind focused on new relationships as well as home life, it is easy to stop focusing on school. Doing homework as well as projects before going to spend time with friends is important. Waiting till the last minute doesn’t work if you want a good grade. By getting your work done first, it is more likely to be done well and when your with your friends you won’t have the stress of having undone work. 4. Don’t Tell Unless Asked- People love to talk about themselves! Try your hardest to just listen. As much as you may not care, it will bring you and the person closer. DO NOT tell others what people confide in you, or all trust will be gone, along with any secrets at all. If someone asks you a question, be honest, but try not to talk about yourself. In middle school opinions change quickly and you don’t want to say something you will regret. 5. Don’t Talk Badly About Others- Day to day your thoughts, views, and opinions change on your life around you. By talking badly about someone you make your self look bad. Also if you talk about to many people, your friends will begin to think you talk about them too. Great way to loose friends. In middle school your friends with someone one day and not the next. Stupid arguments happen more often than not and if someone finds out what you said about them (they most likely will, because everyone in middle school has a big mouth) your relationship with them can take a turn for the worse. If you wouldn’t want them to say it about you, don’t say it about them. 7. Plan- Make plans with friends a few days in advance. You still have to come up with the place and time as well as who is going. You want to give your self enough time to ask you parents and get it approved. Nothing worse than having everything planned out, and them mom and dad saying no. 8. Ignore the Drama- In middle school word spreads fast. Monday you will be focused on something completely different than on Wednesday. People are catty and looking for attention, do your best to stay out of it. People will be mean, and if you give them a reaction, you encourage them to continue to do it. By ignoring what they say they quickly get bored, and move on to someone else. Realize that what ever they say has nothing to do with you, their just trying to raise their ego and self esteem by putting someone else down. Don’t let it get to you and go on as if they weren’t there.

Effects of Stress on Grades

Students at universities worldwide oftentimes find stress to be a part of everyday life. Stress is defined as the way one responds to the changes and demands of life either emotionally, physically, or mentally. Stress is registered in one’s â€Å"fight or flight† response. When an exciting or dangerous event occurs changes take place in the body to prepare the person to deal with the stressful situation. After the stressful situation has subsided the body returns to a normal state. The constant stress of being a college student does not allow the body to return to a normal state so a student may never be able to fully relax. This can lead to stress overload (Bower, 2010). Many factors can affect a student’s academic performance and grades. The National College Health Assessment of 2004 shows that the most significant impediment to effective listening, retaining information, and studying is stress. Stress is noted to be the number one cause of poor academic functioning in a student above other problems like depression, illness, eating disorders, death of a family member, and even sexual assault. The study reviewed 47,202 college students and 32. 4% listed stress as the number one barrier to schoolwork (Temple, 2006). Many college students have multiple stressors. Most are taking multiple classes, working full-time jobs, have family members to take care of, are working long hours at unpaid internship sites, or any combination of these. Many college students must deal with the stress of just leaving home and no longer benefiting from familial support. Relationship problems may begin to develop between the student and the friends, families, or significant others that have been left at home. This overload of responsibility and worry can lead to a lack of sleep and improper nutrition, which can cause difficulty in school (Bower, 2010). Proper nutrition may become a problem for a student because he or she may be unable to grocery shop on a regular basis. Other problems with nutrition occur because a student who is living in a dormitory may be unable to cook proper meals and unable to store large quantities of food. Some students new to living without parents may not have the knowledge to cook a decent meal. Others simply do not have the time to eat properly. Without proper nutrition the brain does not function properly and the student may have difficulty concentrating on schoolwork (Womble, 2002). Maintaining employment while attending college can also be a source of stress. This stress may come from working long hours that can make the student too tired to focus on his or her studies or working long hours may lead to attendance problems at school. Mentally focusing on both work life and school life can be exhausting for a student and can lead to increased amounts of stress. The number of hours a student spends at work can be directly related to that student’s grade point average (GPA) because the more time a student spends at work, the less time that student can spend studying (Womble, 2002). Sleep, or lack of, is the most important factor on a student’s GPA. Many college students do not sleep enough during the week to properly rest the body and mind. Lack of sleep has been shown to increase anxiety and stress. Simple sleep patterns like waking earlier during the weekdays than on the weekends have also been shown to affect the GPA of a student (Womble, 2002). Not all college students complain of experiencing stress, many do. Although some stress is good for a person and may be energizing or motivating, it is important for a person to recognize and be able to manage bad stress before it spirals out of control and has a negative effect. Coping mechanisms are important for anyone but may prove to be more so for a college student. Coping mechanisms include sleeping enough, spending time doing fun activities, relaxing, and practicing time management. Developing ones communication, writing, and test taking skills is important to reduce stress. Engaging in physical activity, reading a book that is not school related, or getting a massage are ways to reduce stress and relax. Daily use of a planner to track assignment due dates and upcoming project deadlines is useful for staying on track with studies (Bower, 2010). Coping mechanisms come from within, from something called personality hardiness. The idea of personality hardiness first came to be with regard to protecting business executives from the health effects of stress. This concept involves having a sense of control and commitment. Commitment means that a person can view the world as a meaningful place and he or she seeks to be involved in the world rather than withdrawn from it. Control shows that a person believes he or she can influence events that take place in his or her world. Personality hardiness means that a person may not feel threatened by changes to his or her environment. Theoretically, a student with personality hardiness should be able to adapt to the changes that come with enrollment in school, taking multiple classes, maintaining employment, and family obligations without stress overload. The result should mean that a student takes on the new challenges with less stress and instead turns the stressful events into opportunities for growth and personal development (Hystad, Eid, Laberg, Johnsen, & Bartone, 2009). Two studies have been performed by Lifton and colleagues. These studies assessed the personality hardiness of individuals throughout the college years. These studies had newly arriving college students complete hardiness measures and found a positive interrelationship between persistence and the student’s graduation date four years later. The hardiness scores among those who did not complete four years of college were lower than those who did not drop out. The scores on the hardiness exams were not directly related to scores on entrance exams or high academic ability. Personality hardiness is not based on a person’s academic ability but rather a person’s attitude or the manner in which he or she approaches life’s challenges (Hystad et al. , 2009). Though the information contained in the numerous studies that have been done regarding stress and the college student’s ability to achieve a decent GPA is helpful to understanding stress and how it affects different people there are always exceptions to every rule. Although it is true that every person handles stressful situations in his or her own unique way there are many resources available to help a college student achieve passing grades regardless of the stress factor. At the same time, there are many choices a college student makes that adds to the amount of stress he or she carries in everyday life. Many times when a college student is sleep deprived it is that he or she has made the choice to be sleep deprived. Staying up all night partying is common among college students as going off to college may be the first time the student has had the opportunity to do so and many consider it to be a bonding experience or a way to make friends in a new place. Grabbing a less than stellar meal from the nearest fast food joint or having a pizza delivered is oftentimes a choice that a student makes rather than a necessity. Eating a meal like this is easier than shopping for a meal, cooking a meal, and cleaning up after a meal. Eating on the run may also be what â€Å"all of the other kids are doing† and again it is a way to fit in. Whereas it is true that some students must maintain employment while attending school this may not have to be the stressor that it often is. Time management skills can come in handy when trying to juggle work and school. Taking time to relax is one of the most important and effective ways of reducing stress. This can; however, oftentimes be misconstrued and taken out of context. One of the worst, and most common, pastimes college students use to relax is drinking alcoholic beverages. Binge drinking can be very detrimental to schoolwork as this can do away with a person’s judgment skills, time management skills, and a person’s healthy well-being. Research shows that binge drinking affects approximately 50% of college students (Stunn, n. d. ). Binge drinking can lead to missing classes because the student may be to hung-over to attend or if the student does manage to attend the mind and body may not be functioning at full capacity and may lead to an inability to concentrate and retain information. When this kind of drinking is done night after night it can lead to many absences or missed assignments, which can compound a student’s stress level by having to make up the work or complete the work in a shorter time with little to no instruction This information would be recommended to others in the class because as students stress will be an important factor during not only college years but also in future years as well. It is important that as an individual a person has coping mechanisms to deal with stress to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Research done on the topic of how stress can negatively affect a student’s GPA is important in learning how to better deal with the stressors in one’s life to overcome barriers and achieve the goals he or she has set. Enrolling in college is a big step in which nobody intentionally sets up to fail. Whereas there are many changes that a college student must adapt to there are an equal number of services both on campus and off that will help a student overcome the barriers to effective learning and to become a better student despite the changes in life. Learning ways to manage time, learning to make choices that will facilitate not only a healthy relationship with peers but also a healthy lifestyle, and learning to cope with the sometimes daily changes in life is part of growing up and moving into the adult world.

Chaucer 2 Essay Research Paper The Effects

Chaucer 2 Essay, Research Paper The Effects of Geoffrey Chaucer # 8217 ; s Education on the Canterbury Tales The Medieval period was one of transmutation. The great spiritual pilgrims journeies that occurred effected the class of history. Social set-ups were believed to be ordained by God and were non to be changed ( www.aol/barrons 1 ) . Therefore, Geoffrey Chaucer introduces each of the characters in the prologue of The Canterbury Tales and establishes their function in society. The church hierarchy was thought to be of equal importance ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.virginia.edu/literature/ chaucer/defense 2 ) . The church in some instances fulfilled the map of an educational system ( hypertext transfer protocol: //virginia.edu/literature/chaucer 2 ) . Both of these rankings by and large dictated the chances available to people. Therefore, instruction was non ever readily available. Alternatively, people relied on life experiences and common sense to steer them. This was no exclusion with author and poet Geoffrey Chaucer. Though he lacked a formal instruction ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.virginia.edu/literature/chaucer /defense 2 ) , Chaucer rose to a outstanding authorities place ( Anderson 84 ) . In add-on, his literary plants show that he was highly good read ( Williams 1 ) . The effects of Chaucer # 8217 ; s instruction can be seen through his ability to compose work that would appeal to its readers, his use of assorted composing techniques, and his huge cognition of the society in which he lived. McKinley 2 By the terminal of the Middle Ages, a new assurance in the English linguistic communication was evident. Therefore, with this assurance came a higher position for English literature. This was illustrated in 1399 when Henry IV laid claim to the British throne ( Williams 4 ) . He did non execute the ceremonial in Gallic, as had been done in the past, but in English. Geoffrey Chaucer played a major function in set uping the English linguistic communication as a medium capable of the extreme artistic look ( Williams 4 ) . Chaucer wrote in a manner which appealed to his audience. Often called the Father of English poesy ( Anderson 84 ) , Chaucer draws on his ain experiences in the Tales ( www.aol/barrons 1 ) . These experiences frequently colored his work ( http: //www.virginia.edu/literature/chaucer/defense 3 ) . In add-on, his usage of category construction ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.virginia.edu/ literature/chaucer 2 ) coupled with his clear and concise remarks make the Tales more clear ( Anderson 85 ) . Chaucer besides on occasion touched his work with nicety ( Anderson 85 ) . Chaucer was influenced in several ways throughout his life. Geoffrey Chaucer was born in the early 1340 # 8217 ; s, about 1343, to John Chaucer, a comfortable vino merchandiser ( Williams ix ) . He was a member of the in-between category and learned about human nature while functioning as a royal page ( www.aol/barrons 1 ) . Chaucer draws on all of these experiences throughout The Canterbury Tales. He besides dealt with issues of import to society ( Anderson 84 ) . While doing the unheard of rise from in-between category to authorities functionary, Chaucer dealt with many jobs in the McKinley 3 British authorities. In add-on, he traveled all over the continent on diplomatic missions for the male monarch ( Williams 1 ) . Chaucer # 8217 ; s ability to compose on such a wide base of subjects and characters is derived from his huge work experience. The many # 8220 ; Chaucers # 8221 ; : the soldier, the courtier, the man-of-the-world, the diplomat, all aid in his acute apprehension of human personality and nature. All of these influences can be seen throughout his Hagiographas ( Williams 2 ) . Literary influences on Chaucer include the work of Virgil, Cicero, and Ovid, which were among his favourites, and many of which he read in their original linguistic communications. He besides translated many major texts from Latin and French into English ( Williams 1 ) . An devouring traveller, Chaucer visited Italy in 1373 and 1378. Here he discovered the poesy of Dante and Petrach ( Anderson 85 ) . He was really impressed by the work of these two poets and studied them intensively. The Canterbury Tales use several composing techniques and manners throughout. His work is strewn with allusions and metaphors drawn from medical specialty, music, jurisprudence, star divination and scriptural exegesis ( Williams 1 ) . Geoffrey Chaucer wrote in a clip period where it was non peculiarly stylish to compose serious or dramatic work ( Anderson 84 ) . But, Chaucer was non one to follow a criterion, but to put one. His usage of McKinley 4 antediluvian linguistic communication and deficiency of standard spelling rapidly caught on and became known as Middle English ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.virginia.edu/ literature/chaucer/defense 3 ) . Besides, due in portion to Chaucer # 8217 ; s authorship, the usage of iambic pentameter became really popular in British literature ( Anderson 85 ) . A dominant metre of 10 syllables and assorted metrical signifiers every bit good as prose can besides be found throughout the Tales ( Anderson 85 ) . Geoffrey Chaucer # 8217 ; s instruction reached far beyond a traditional schoolroom. His legion life experiences formed his instruction. He worked both as a diplomat every bit good as an creative person. It is these two separate environments that, when combined, form Chaucer # 8217 ; s extended background and cognition of his society. As a page in a royal tribunal, Chaucer learned much about the societal system first manus ( Anderson 84 ) . From an early age, he held assorted places in a royal family ( Williams 1 ) . While on a royal assignment in France, he was captured by the Gallic ground forces and ransomed by the male monarch. Though his work took precedency over his authorship, Chaucer # 8217 ; s instruction in a societal scene transcended into his Hagiographas ( Williams 1 ) . One might get down to believe that Chaucer was, as said in modern footings, a work-a-holic. But it was common in the Middle Ages for writers and poets to work both as creative persons and keep a place in the market place. It was non common to specialise as it is today ( Williams 1 ) . On the contrary, composing McKinley 5 and poesy were merely a portion of the larger image of scientific disciplines. This larger image helped adult male with his true perceptual experience of world, and this was the point of Chaucer # 8217 ; s poesy: : # 8221 ; doctrine as the foundation of his art # 8221 ; ( Williams 2 ) . The church besides took a function as an educational establishment ( hypertext transfer protocol: //virginia.edu/literature/chaucer 2 ) . It served as a critical portion of society. Routine church services were held one time every hebdomad ( hypertext transfer protocol: //virginia.edu/literature/chaucer 2 ) . Chaucer # 8217 ; s ability to compose work that would appeal to its readers, his use of assorted composing techniques, and his huge cognition of the society in which he lived are all evident due to his extended instruction. The Canterbury Tales offer an copiousness of cognition of the period every bit good as a window into certain professions ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.virginia.edu/literature/chaucer 2 ) . While functioning as a historical papers, the Tales blend several degrees of society together ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.virginia.edu/literature /chaucer/defense 2 ) . It has been commented that # 8220 ; the noticeable thing about them ( the Tales ) is their normalcy # 8221 ; ( Anderson 85 ) .

The Struggle of Past Identity in Modern Lebanon Essay

The Struggle of Past Identity in Modern Lebanon - Essay Example Using methods from both the sciences and the humanities, anthropology helps us to understand the world around us. Anthropologists work in a wide variety of settings around the globe, including rain forests, high-altitude environments, rural villages, and large cities. (Headrick 2007) Anthropology studies all facets of society and culture is it tools, techniques, traditions, language, beliefs, kinships, values, social institutions, economic mechanisms, cravings for beauty and art, struggles for prestige. This includes, by way of example, but is not limited to Linguistics is the study of human languages, their synchronic structure,and their diachronic evolution, and linguists dedicate themselves to the description and documentation of live and extinct languages. Linguistic Anthropology is the study of the interrelation of language, culture, and human cognition. It describes the impact of humans on other humans. It basically studies human characteristics generated and propagated by humans themselves. Cultural Anthropology: for anthropologists and other behavioral scientists, culture is the full range of learned human behavior patterns. The term was first used in this way by the pioneer English Anthropologist Edward B. Tylor in his book, Primitive Culture, published in 1871. Tylor said that culture is "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society." Of course, it is not limited to men. Women possess and create it as well. Since Tylor's time, the concept of culture has become the central focus of anthropology. Culture is a powerful human tool for survival, but it is a fragile phenomenon. It is constantly changing and easily lost because it exists only in our minds. Our written languages, governments, buildings, and other man-made things are merely the products of culture. They are not culture in themselves. For this reason, archaeologists can not dig up culture directly in their excavations. The broken pots and other artifacts of ancient people that they uncover are only material remains that reflect cultural patterns--they are things that were made and used through cultural knowledge and skills. It provides in depth studies of and comparisons between living cultures and traditions. It also studies the social organization of people by studying and analyzing the language, economic and political organization, law and conflict resolution, patterns of consumption an exchange, gender relations, kinship and family structure, individuals and their relationship with the past. Different subfields under this category include

Critical Thinking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3

Critical Thinking - Essay Example Quoting those who support marine parks, he investigates the validity of their arguments, like the one that states that most Australians live in cities and cannot come across marine wild life except through such parks. However, Daly asserts that there are quite a number of places where city dwellers can afford to see wild life. In fact, such places are more in number than the number of marine parks. Moreover, most Australians need to travel more to the parks than to the natural surroundings which feature wildlife. Therefore, it is evident that there are a sufficient number of places where wildlife exists in Australia and most of them are accessible to Australians. Moreover, no one has to pay a costly fee to see the animals in natural surroundings – they are absolutely free. Daly contests another view propagated by scientists like Dr. Alison Lane, that people need marine parks so as to conduct scientific research on them. According to her most of the knowledge regarding marine m ammals were conducted at such parks. Daly quotes Jones to assert that such research is useful only as far the life of captive animals goes, and hardly useful for the life of wild animals. Even the biology and life habits of whales and dolphins change in marine parks. For instance, their diet habits are different, they have a lower life span and are more porno to disease. Their social behavior is also significantly different from wild animals, since they are trained at the parks, for providing entertainment for the visitors. Daly states that the research undertaken at marine parks are not reliable because of all these reasons. Daly attacks the view held by the Marine Park Owners association that marine parks attract a great number of tourists. But surveys prove that most of the tourists who visit Australia are drawn to its real wild life and natural

Biochemistry (cardiovascular biomarkers the advantages and Essay

Biochemistry (cardiovascular biomarkers the advantages and disadvantages) - Essay Example lood sugar, ECG and ECHO provide a gross information of the cardiovascular status, estimation of risk and presence of cardiovascular disease is possible only through definite markers of the disease. The ultimate aim of prevention of cardiovascular disease is to prevent end-organ injury like myocardial infarction. Myocardial infarction mainly presents as chest pain. Infact, chest pain is a common cause for attendance to emergency departments. While millions of people present with chest pain every year, only about 10- 15 percent are actually diagnosed with myocardial infarction (Pasupathi et al, 2009). Lack of appropriate diagnostic and clinical tools to ascertain the presence of myocardial infarction has contributed to unnecessary hospitalization, investigations and expenses (Pasupathi et al, 2009). It is often is difficult to rule out acute myocardial infarction from several other causes of chest pain. But, in view of the high rate of morbidity and mortality associated with the condition, it becomes imperative on the part of clinician to diagnose it and treat in promptly (McPherson, 2010). While ECG is useful in diagnosing acute myocardial infarction, it is not a very sensitive and specific test for diagnosing the condition (Statland, 1996). Infact, in more than 50 percent cases, ECG is non- diagnostic with atypical features (Statland, 1996). Over several years CK-MB was the gold standard for diagnosing acute myocardial infarction. However, recent research has tarnished the image of even that test and troponin testing has replaced that (Statland, 1996). As of now, the search for ideal cardiac marker continues and currently, a combination of more than one marker is used to establish correct diagnosis and prognosis. Ideal marker for use in clinical cardiology would be that which is cardiac specific, that which rises immediately after infarct begins, that which after elevation, remains in the blood for some time, that which is easy to measure, that whose measurements

Evaluation of Data Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Evaluation of Data - Assignment Example Interview schedules will be used and will complement the questionnaire to phrase and rephrase questions to ensure that the needed information is obtained. In addition, it stimulates the respondents to think and answer the questions appropriately. The processing of data prepares raw data for statistical analysis and presentation. Kothari, (1988) explains that this stage is appropriate for a scientific study and for making sure that all the relevant data is present for making comparisons and analysis. The checking of questionnaires, coding of responses and statistical analysis will be done. Data computation will be done through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (Morgan, 2011). Descriptive data analysis will be used to show the characteristics of each variable under study. Regression analysis will be used to identify the presence of certain relations among variables such as the adoption a new technologies in hospitals and the reduction of medication errors. Descriptive statistics such as mean, frequencies and percentages will be evaluated using SPSS so as to bring out a clear picture about the study. The research is expected to prove that new innovations can actually reduce cases of medication errors in hospitals. The main development that is expected to reduce medication errors is the bar code method of administering medication. The research will focus on the different innovations that help reduce medication errors. The interviewed nursing students are expected to point out reasons for their medication errors, if any, such as inadequate training and wrong patient details (Lan et al, 2014). They will identify new innovations in hospitals as the reason for reduced medication errors. The research will identify areas which need immediate attention. The research will point out several recommendations to the university and the hospitals where the nursing students were placed. The research will identify problems which lead to medication

International NGO's and Measurement of Impacts Research Paper

International NGO's and Measurement of Impacts - Research Paper Example Many of international NGOs are charitable and development oriented. Therefore, NGO is distinct entities with many special requirements and needs that differentiate them from profit-making organizations. Most of the support of NGOs comes from individuals willing to commit their energy and time to make difference in communities (Lewis, 2006). This implies that Non- Governmental Organizations are heterogeneous in their nature.  Ã‚   Many of major international Non-governmental organizations work within main international organizations in Geneva. Geneva serves as headquarters of major international Non-governmental Organizations. Many international organizations work across fields such as trade and development, environment, education, health, and human rights. Management of international organizations is independent of any form of government (Lewis, 2010). NGOs are not part of the government and therefore not conventional to for profit making. The mandate of a non-governmental organization is to drive development that transforms societies and nations all over the world. Non-governmental Organization requires sound management in order to carry its activities in the most efficient way. Non-governmental Organizations are privately set up with sufficient autonomous in their activities. To get its activities done, international NGOs have sound management through the creation of Boards. The board of international Non-governmental Organizations comprises of leaders who have similar interests in terms of developments. To increase effectiveness and productivity, Non-governmental Organizations strives to bring together leaders and organizations to the board. The principal aim of these organizations is to build capacity through training and develop governance and management tools.  Ã‚  

Policy, Power and Politics in Health Care Essay

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Reading response papers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Reading response papers - Essay Example Merit is key factor for gaining status and even kings have to prove themselves to remain in that position. They place less importance on metals like gold, silver, iron etc. but extensively use their fertile land for cereal crops etc. Their main wealth is under sized live stocks which they value and also use them as trade exchange. They conduct all their public and private business being armed. They believe in monogamy but chiefs can take more wives so as to strengthen tribal power. The feuds and friendships come as legacy. They have different punishment for varying crimes. They welcome all invited and uninvited guests with same fervour. Gaul, Chatti, Uspi, Tencteri etc. were tribes which initially resided across the rivers and mountains but are now considered within the Germania boundary. Chhatti men do not cut their hair and beard till and wear iron ring as a mark of servitude till they kill a man to repay the debt to their parents. Freedom of Germany is paramount to all Germans which they ensure by being constantly prepared for

Best Practices and Strategies Essay Example for Free

Best Practices and Strategies Essay Ex: functional, conglomerate, and divisional. For this list of practices we will use the divisional design. a. Divisional Design aka M form (the M stands for multidivisional): Is made up of separate, semi autonomous units or divisions and each division has its own goals to accomplish. 6) Culture: Refers to the set of values that helps its members understand what the organization stands for how it wants to accomplish what it wants to accomplish, and what it considers important. 7) Human Resource Strategy Implementation: Requires an understanding of undamental individual and interpersonal behavioral process. b. Individual Process: Psychological Contracts; Personality; Motivation; and Stress. c. Organizational system and Process: Understanding of the causes of stress, the process by which stress affects individuals can cope better with stress in organizational settings. d. Interpersonal Group Process: Group Behavior; Leadership; and Communication. Select one (1) the corporate strategies discussed in Chapter 4 and formulate a human resource strategy that will support the corporate strategy. Cost leadership strategy is one that focuses on minimizing the cost as much as possible. This strategy allows the firm to charge the lowest possible prices for its products, thereby presumably generating an overall level of revenue. A human resource strategy that will support this corporate strategy would be: a. Efficiency Ratio: keeping expenses low with earnings being high. b. Learning Curve: maintaining training and continues training of employee’s. c. Good Purchasing approach: acquiring goods or services to accomplish the goals of the firm. . Maintaining latest technology: helps maintain inventory control, which in return helps ensure products to customers. e. Strategic marketing mix to help ensure market leadership f. Superior customer service: series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction. Competitive or above average pay, employee advancement, and employee incentivizes. g. Product leadership: concept which describes delivering state of the art products in the market. Discuss the Fruit Guys business strategy. Identify three (3) other businesses that could use the five (5) questions the Fruit Guys used to determine effectiveness and identify three (3) businesses in which the business strategy would not work well. Provide a rationale for your answer. The business strategy that the Fruit Guys uses is the defender strategy. Defender strategy: works best when a business operates in an environment with relatively little uncertainty and risk and high degree of stability. The goal of the defender is to identify for itself a relatively narrow niche in the market and then to direct a limited set of products or services at he niche. After reviewing the website of the Fruit Guys, their niche is to provide fresh â€Å"healthy brain food† as the fruit guys refer to it as such to the premises of the workplace. As healthy foods to the office â€Å"can boost productivity, improve wellness and help companies improve their bottom line†. The Fruit Guys fills thousands of business of businesses in America with seasonal fresh fruit varying from small family businesses, to major Fortune 500 companies. With their customers sharing their idea on health, and the environment, this helps bring stability to the company, while their employees bring in pride, giving high productivity levels. The five questions that the Fruit Guys have based their strategy on is: I. Have we been respectful to the people we work with employees, coworkers, and customers? II. Have we been responsible to their needs? III. Have we been realistic with them about what we can or cannot do? IV. Can we take personal responsibility for the situation? V. Are we going to be remembered positively? Three companies that could use the five questions to work for their businesses are: a) Car Dealerships (especially Used Car dealerships) b) Construction Companies c) Cleaning Company Three Companies that would not benefit from the use of the five questions are: a) Jc Penny’s b) Walmart c) BJ’S Wholesale Club (ex: Costco) My reasoning behind my choices for the use of the five questions are these companies are more hand’s on with their companies, and actually rely on word of mouth business and repeat business. Without these referrals and repeat business these companies would have to rely a lot on marketing and advertising strategies. My reasoning behind my choices for these businesses that would not benefit from the five questions is because these companies are very well expanded. With many stores in many different locations of one state and through-out many states these companies do not rely on word of mouth or repeat business. As their marketing strategies, advertising strategies, and sales are what continuously brings in repeat customer, and new customers.

Sociology Essays Racism Football Sport

Sociology Essays Racism Football Sport Racism Football Sport Real Literature Review The phenomenon of racism in football is not as old as the conflict of racism in society in general, but neither is it as recent as the current worrying situation in which some to believe (Back et al.1998). Back et al. (1998) identified that football grounds have provided one of the largest public arenas in which racism can be openly expressed. It is against this background that the phenonomenon of racism in football has led to wide spread discussion during the past couple of decades within the media, amongst policy makers and in the wider football community. Recently, there has been a increase in the study of sport, racism and ethnicity (Jarvie 1991). Numerous factors which will be explained have undoubtedly contributed to fuel this interest. However, a couple of considerations appear to have been of great importance. Firstly, black sportsmen and sportswomen throughout the world have experienced remarkable successes in international sport (Jarvie 1991). According to Mercer, (1994) and Shohat and Stam, 1994) this may be due to the fact that apparently each positive stereotype has a negative result. Therefore, as black men and women have come to excel in various sports, people of a non ethnic backgroundhave needed an explanation for why what seemed to be an inferior race can outperform a superior one. This may be one of many factors which may have encouraged resentment for their success which in turn could have lead to abuse in a racist nature. Secondly, a disproportionately high level of athletic participation by diverse ethnic minority cultures has often been used by liberal minded sports enthusiasts as an excuse to indicate that there is no racism in these arenas. These authors use these examples to try and illustrate that there is no form or racism in certain sports, however authors such as (Williams 1992, 1994; Turner 1990; Holland 1992a, 1992b, 1995) have proven otherwise. Bairner (1996) and Guha (1997) who are thought to be sporting enthusiasts argue the assumption that sport itself is relatively free from racism and that sport, more than any other sphere of society, enjoys a certain degree of democratization and equality according to Jarvie (1991). However, â€Å"such accounts of sport which make general inferences about the changing nature of racial relations in society based on a consideration of athletic participation rates† (Jarvie, 1991, p. 3) are misleading due to their ignorance of the broader issues of power and domination within society. Although there has been a sizable interest of studies in the area of race and sport in the UK (Chappell et al. 1996; Norris Jones,1998) focusing primarily on the issues of â€Å"stacking† and â€Å"centrality† is useful evidence in a descriptive term. However, in terms of quantifiable data indicating that there is a decrease racism in sport, it would be very nave to gain assumptions that their was a decrease in racism in sport from these sources. Maguire (1991) has therefore recognised that there is a need for greater qualitative as well as quantitative research into the area in the â€Å"hope that a more rounded picture may be produced† (p. 100). Although some qualitative research involving racism in English football has been carried out (Cashmore,1982; Howe, 1976; Maguire, 1991), these studies only concentrated on the experiences of top level Black players. This has been highlights to identify there is very little data on the experiences of racism on lower league footballers. Therefore, this is a worthy study because not only will it explore the different avenues of racism, but will also give a broader picture as to the experiences of racism in lower league footballers. It is believed that non-league football, which consists of the middle section of the football hierarchy in the United Kingdom, would prove to be a grounded place for such a study for a variety of reasons. First, the realities of race relations could well be more real at lower levels of the game than in the polished environment of professional sport (Hoberman, 1997) due to its less cosmopolitan nature (Maguire, 1991). The need to investigate below the top level of sport has been echoed by Horne (1996),who stated that focusing on the lower level of soccer culture may be beneficial in understanding the differing forms of attachment to, and identification with, the game for Black players, as these everyday levels could well be â€Å"important sites for consolidating and possibly transforming racist attitudes† (p. 61). He further stated that investigations at different levels of soccer are needed if involvement of ethnic minorities in sport and in the wider community are to be better understood and appreciated Racism is undoubtedly a sensitive issue and it is important to be clear on what racism is when conducting the research. What is Racism? As quoted from the McPherson report from the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry: ‘Racism in general terms consists of conduct or words or practices which advantage or disadvantage people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin. In its more subtle form it is as damaging as in it overt form.’ (Macpherson, 1999: 6.4) According to Long et al (2000) racism arises from the belief that people can be divided into physical genetic categories that make some superior to others, a belief which is then used to justify inequality. He also goes on to explain that ‘recently racism has been recognised to extent beyond supposed biological superiority to others to encompass notions of cultural differences’ (Long et al, 2000 p. 15). Further to this point Solomos and Back (1996) who conducted a study on racism in society states that racism can be seen as a mutable and changing phenomenon in which notions of biological or pseudo-biological cultural difference are utilised to explain and legitimate hierarchies of racial dominance and exclusion. Therefore there are cases where people do not realise they are disadvantaging people because of their ethnicity. This is can be referred to as everyday, subconscious or indirect racism (Long et al. 2000). It is helpful to look at racism on a broad scale to identify the common trends which may occur and compare them with the experiences of individuals in the UK. Therefore, different types of research such as †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..carried out within various countries in Europe was a practical place to begin with. Racism in football is still a major problem in Poland, Spain and Italy for instance. In the Netherlands: Ajax fans have the tradition of using Jewish and Israeli symbols to express their allegiance(Wikipedia). This shows how the picture can often be complex, as these Ajax fans are for the most part not Jewish, but use Jewish symbols because of the historical connections of the club and the area it was founded in to Jews before WW1. Within Holland fans of teams playing Ajax sometimes exhibit racist behaviour in terms of anti-semitic remarks, even though there are no actual Jewish players at Ajax another example from the literature is those Italian fans from Napoli who supported Argentinians in the world cup 1990, rather than the national team, because their local team hero Maradonna was in the Argentine side. This lack of national loyalty meant that the Northern Italian fans disliked the southern region fans and so supported anyone who played against Argentina. Examples like these two above highlight that it is not always a straight forward picture that we are dealing with in considering racism within football. Local and divided loyalties arise and sometimes exchanged, patterns of illogical racist behaviour can develop according to varying circumstances. Therefore: the racism on display in European football matches is more often than not dependent on the traditions and historic rivalries within white fans’ cultures’ (UNESCO 2000). However, there also may be common practices of racism that can be seen through out Europe and even the world. Therefore common ways to deal with it are applicable: ‘While one must recognize that the problem of racism is different in each country, a Europe-wide initiative to combat the problem must surely be welcomed’ (UNESCO 2000). Even within the UK their are a different patterns and history of racism, and different things being down to combat it. The situation in Scotland or Northern Ireland is different from that in England and Wales. For instance the investigation in 2007, against West Ham fans before the match with Spurs was over anti-Semitic chants. An example of the kind of chants that are sometimes used against Spurs fans are: Those yids from Tottenham The gas mans got them Oh those yids from White Hart Lane† (UNESCO 2000) Localised Racism Authers such as Holland et al. (1995) who considered the impact of racism by far right groups at Leeds united football club and the strategies used to oppose these by the club identified ‘that it is impossible to identify uniform patterns of racism or prejudice or race relations’, rationalize their own choice of focus on the basis that ‘terms such as race, ethnicity and sport have to be specifically â€Å"unpacked† in terms of content, time and place’. There is a general consensus that white players do not experience racism in football in the UK, however there is evidence to contradict this belief. There are in fact identity codes within football culture which reveal quite complicated racial meanings. A prime example is the song ‘I’d rather be a Paki than a Scouse’ which is regularly sung to Liverpool supporters by supporters from Arsenal and Chelsea and Manchester United fans. This song which is sung to the tune of ‘She’ll be coming round the mountain’ is directed at Merseyside fans. The intention is to demote the status people who come from Merseyside from being a normal English society, to one which is frowned upon. Therefore ridiculing the ‘neighbourhood nationalism’ of Scouseness. This is achieved by fans of different ethnicities from London and Manchester to altering the meaning of being a loathed minority which is the stigmatized category of a ‘Paki’, rather than retain their race and be a Scouser. This example ehphasises the complexities of local racialization and racial exclusion. Likewise it also highlights the fact that different minority communities may have a different hierarchal status within local society. . For example, young black men may win inclusion and even command positions of prestige within particular fan cultures while other minorities – in this case South Asians – are relegated to the status of vilified outsiders. (Williams 1992: 24) Williams has also developed a more nuanced notion of the politics of racism within English football. Interestingly he used Phil Cohen’s (1988) notion of ‘nationalism of the neighbourhood’ to discuss the ways in which minorities can win contingent inclusion within local working-class collectivities Reverse Racism The terms of racism, moreover, may in some situations also be reversed and lead to phenomena that are difficult to grasp without a sense of the inherent contradictions of contingent Racialization. For example, it has been noted that a racialized black identity can have a number of advantageous connotations within a masculine culture like soccer. In some circles, the mythical dimensions of the black body (of physical, sexual and athletic prowess) may even make a black identity preferable over a white one in terms of its ability to signify a powerful masculinity (Carrington, 2002). As a result, such racialized identities may sometimes be sought out for short term gains as kind of strategic essentialism (Mercer, 1994). Without doubt, the contingent admiration of racialized black bodies and men is not only a source of possibility within soccer culture, but also one of restraint. Racialized expectations of black performance, for example, position black players mostly in attacking roles, and much more rarely as key defenders or goalkeepers (Maguire, 1991). Moreover, this particular black identity is not available to all black players. In contrast to players of British-Caribbean descent, those of British Asian descent are rarely perceived as potentially talented professional players in any position at all. The latter ethnicity, as Burdsey has shown, is stereotypically taken as effeminate and too frail for soccer (Burdsey, 2004). Long, Tongue, Sprackle. and Carrington(1995) affirm this assumption that racial stereotyping provides a freefall for commonsense racism’ (Long et al., 1995). These assumptions transcend a belief that it true that Asians cannot play football. This in tern leadsindividuals who do not research the subject to believe that these myths are true. These views are the same for black players. Examples include ‘not being good trainers, not being any good once the pitches get muddy and not having the bottle to be defenders’ (Long 2000). A further hopeful note there is that in recent years a Japanese player, Shunsuke Nakamura has been making a considerable contribution towards decreasing racist habits amongst Scottish football fans, merely by his popularity as a player. The friendly chant there of â€Å"Oh, it’s so Japaneasy,† when Nakamura gets the ball makes a welcome change from the racist chants that are otherwise heard in football. His football shirt had become the favourite new buy amongst Children in Glasgow, and they have welcomed him as one of their own, so that: The Japanese midfielder revealed in the pages of the official club magazine, The Celtic View, that he would even contemplate extending his contract with the Hoops, such is the manner in which he has acclimatized to life in the West of Scotland. (Soccerphile Ltd, 2000) In a 1995 England vs. Republic of Ireland friendly match in Dublin saw considerable trouble from hard core group of right wingers, including the BNP and Combat 18 groups. They chanted anti-republican songs that led to such bad fights that the game was actually called off, only half an hour later. Research into such things brings to light the cultural nature of racism in football. It comes out in ways that depend on the wider culture that it is within. Clearly the long history of trouble between Eire and England is the background to the 1995 scenes. In a habit that is similar that outlined in Italy where the northerners call the southerners blacks there is also a tendency towards antagonism between the North and South of England. The chant: â€Å"I’d rather be a Paki than a scouse (Liverpudlian)† is sometimes used by the fans of some southern teams playing against Liverpool. Tim Crabbe, principle lecturer in sport sociology at Britain’s Sheffield Hallam University notes the significance of using such race related words: These insults only work because of the stigma that these racial groups still suffer in the minds of large swathes of white European society. As such, race often stands on the sidelines, ready to be mobilized in circumstances where it is deemed appropriate within the ritualized abuse of a football game (UNESCO, 2000) Dramatic incidents like these focused the public’s attention, and attracted widespread debate in the media about the role of racism among certain groups of supporters and about violence and hooliganism. It is perhaps not surprising therefore that most studies of racism in football tend to concentrate either on the nature and extent of racist abuse in and around football stadiums (Holland 1992a, 1992b, 1995), or are preoccupied with the recruitment activities of extreme right-wing movements (CCS 1981; Leeds Trades Council 1988; Waters 1988). In addition a number of writers have analysed the phenomenon of the growing presence of black players in football, notably Cashmore (1983, 1990), Woolnough (1983), Hill (1989) and Vasili (1994). While most studies have focused on the issue of fan behaviour, racism is apparent at other levels. Football racism Theories In terms of scholastic writing and in the minds of the general public, racism in football is often associated with the hostile behaviour of groups of hooligans in and around the stadium (Holland 1992a, 1992b, 1995, Garland and Rowe, 2001; Back et al 1999; Jones, 2002). Nevertheless, it has been acknowledged by Brown (1998) that racism exists amongst ordinary soccer fans, players and even amongst referees and coaches (King, 2004). Racism has also been identified amongst referees and coaches and in the institutional regions of football associations such as executive committees of football clubs (Back et al., 1999). Further to this point, a number of writers have analysed the phenomenon of the growing presence of black players in football, in particular Cashmore (1983, 1990), Woolnough (1983), Hill (1989) and Vasili (1994). Although, most studies have concentrated on the issue of fan behaviour, racism is evident at other levels. Authors such as Back, Crabbe and Solomus, (1999) have indicated that the majority of the literature on racism in football overlooks the issue by reducing the problem to a clearly identifiable, overt form in which everyone can recognise as racist behaviour. A prime example would be racist hooligan groups (Back et al., 1999). They suggest instead that racism in football should be considered as a part of global football culture. Interestingly, Back et al. (2001) recognised that identifying racism is a more complex than task than originally perceived. They identified that there lies four domains in which racism can be measured in football culture. These can be identified as the ‘the vernacular’, ‘the occupational’, ‘the institutional’ and ‘the culture industry’. The ‘vernacular’ domain relates to those forms of racist behaviour which can be identified by society as a negative form of abuse within football. These problems include explicit racist chanting amongst fans. This also includes local rivalries which can be identified as a form of ‘neighbourhood nationalism’ (Long, 2000) which can lead to racist behaviours within and outside the stadiums (Crabbe, 2004). An example of this is the 1995 England vs. Republic of Ireland friendly match in Dublin which saw considerable trouble from hard core group of right wingers. The second domain which has been identified is the ‘occupational domain’ which concentrates on the forms of racism players experience at their football clubs. These can include experiences on the training ground and in the chaning rooms. Racist actions which can also be identified in this domain include the process of ‘stacking’ players in certain positions which comply with historic racial folk law views of successful positions for some for ethnic minorities (Maguire, 1991) EXAMPLE The ‘institutional’ arena involves the administration and management of the football. Racial issues which arise from the institutional domain include a lack of access for ethnic minorities towards decision making and policies and at the club. racialized patterns of club ownership, and a lack of representation of different ethnic groups on management and club boards. It also involves the shapes of social networks that can constitute racialized networks of patronage, which hinder access of certain minorities in football (Solomos and Back 1995 and Burdsey, 2004). This is reflected due to the growing number of black and ethnic players, emerging from professional football. It would be natural to think that this development would naturally transcend to the institutional forums of football. However, this has not had a significant impact on management, coaching or in the board rooms (Solomos and Back 1995). The fourth domain, ‘culture industry’, looks at racism involved in biased representations of football players from different ethnic backgrounds in the popular media and patterns of advertising and sponsorship that support them (Hernes, 2005). The four arenas of racialization in football mentioned above bring to light the different ways in which racial exclusion can occur within football. This shows that there has been a development on the notions of racism which illustrate that there is in fact more depth to the origins of racism compared to previous authors such as Williams (2001) who relate racism in football with hooliganism and violence. Therefore, this research has focussed on all the aspects of racism which have been identified in the literature. However, in particular finding out if the more covert forms of racism are existent at lower league football. Initiatives In addition, the Football Offences Act was passed in 1991 which criminalized racial chanting or abuse (Armstrong, 1998). Nevertheless, according to Welsh (1998), the undoubted racialized nature of the fan environment has resulted in â€Å"a generation of black people [having] been hounded out of football by overt racism† (p. xii). Emphasizing this point of a continuing racialized environment, he went on to ask, The Football unites, racism divides initiative (FURD), started in 1995 by some Sheffield United fans focuses on the issue of increasing the participation of people from ethnic minorities in football in a variety of ways. They note: It has long been the case that a number of fans have used Saturday afternoons at football matches to air their racial prejudices but it is now recognised that this minority of racist fans is only part of the problem. (FURD, 1997) They help make it clear that in order to decrease racism in football it is also necessary to get people from ethnic minorities involved, not just as fans, but also as players, mangers, etc. FURD indicates that the UK was the first country to try to tackle racism in football in an organised way. The ‘Let’s Kick Racism out of Football’ campaign was started in 1993, also the ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ came soon after. Now there is a Europe wide effort, the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network. The Let’s Kick Racism Out of Football is now well established within the UK and aims to prevent racism through a variety of aspects. Kick  It Out works throughout the football, educational and community sectors to challenge racism and  work for  positive change. (Kick it out, 2007) They target Professional football players and clubs with advice, and try to get to Young people in schools and youth clubs. However, more specific to this research project, they also attempt to prevent racism within Amateur football, and so stop it growing into the professional side. They also, in conjunction with the most recent developments in combating racism in football try to help various Ethnic Minorities, especially Asians become involved with football. The (SIRC) notes two important points, that racism: an important factor in the problem of football hooliganism itself (SIRC, (2007). The actual extent of racism is virtually impossible to measure as detailed statistics in this context are almost non-existent. The issue of football hooliganism was better known, at least until recently in the UK. Of course it is a less contentious issue, as the vast majority of people can easily condemn it. When it comes to racist hooligan behaviour then the issue become that divisive. Since, it appears many in the UK still harbour racist attitudes in various ways. Another aspect of the literature that has informed the present study is the issue of right wing groups and racism. Groups like the BNP are often associated with racism in football. It is an issue to consider as to why the groups are attracted to each other: Some debate also exists as to whether right-wing groups deliberately target soccer fans as recruits or whether soccer fans are drawn into the groups because of the opportunities they offer for violence. (SIRC, 2007)It appears that some researchers think right wing groups do deliberately target football fans. Others think that they are opportunist and use violence as a way to direct aggression against those they see as their enemies, i.e. ethnic minorities Types of Racism A study in 1999 by Jon Garland and Michael Rowe attempted to consider three aspects of racism in football and efforts made to combat it: the conflation of racism with `hooliganism; the role of antiracist campaigns within the game; and the denial of the problem of racism within football. (Garland and Rowe, 1999: 335). They suggest that although the various efforts by fans and clubs are good, they lack an academic rigor in the way that defines racism and other important concepts. This is not just academic nit picking, but something that actually affects real efforts. For instance there is often too much attention paid to large scale, obvious examples of racism, such as a group of fans self consciously giving the Nazi salute. This at the expense of more subtle examples of racism at the everyday level. They suggest that these everday forms of racism are actually more harmful to individuals because of the impact on their ordinary lives which can cause psychological upset in a way that is, though hard to quantify, deeply felt. Garland and Rowe note that initiatives would benefit from having more sociological thinking behind them: Adopting these perspectives at the local level would help both clubs and fans to develop and sustain more meaningful programmes that suit the prevailing conditions. (Garland and Rowe, 1999: 335). Overt racism among supporters and abuse directed at black players, both of which flourished in the 1970s and 1980s, have declined steeply in recent years in the face of vociferous public campaigning such as the kick it out campaign. EXAMPLE – JOHN BARNES However, Crabbe, (2004) goes on to note that the underlying negative feelings against black players appears to still be there. Also, that, unfortunately in other European countries it is not even implicit EXAMPLE LEWIS HAMILTON 2008. The racism is still very much explicit and in your face. He notes the singing of chants like Get out, get out, queers, niggers, Basques and Catalans in Spain and anti-Semitic slogans written on club walls in Italy. In addition, some researchers think that there has been something of a return to racist behaviour in football in the last few years. (Cowley 2003) comments on the possible cause of this: the present rise stems partly from the growth of racism within society generally The present war on terror has brought about increased suspicion, hatred and outright hostility to Muslim communities in Britain. (Cowley, 2003: 55) Statistics in 2000 from the Football League national fan survey sagest that three out of ten of fans had heard racist remarks aimed at players in the 1999/2000 season. 7% had seen racism towards other fans. These figures are very similar for the FA Premier League. only 4% of all FA Premier League fans surveyed thought racism was getting worse at football matches at that level in 2001. Although, half way through 2001 apparently racially motivated organised groups of fans and others were involved in serious disturbances in Oldham before the Oldham Athletic v Stoke City match. This appeared to be the catalyst which caused disturbances later in northern cities to ethnic minorities who retaliated to these supporters and racist organisations (Williams, 2001). Inconspicuous forms of Racism The focus on different cultural domains and interactions outlined above has particular consequences for the way racist behaviour is understood, and its reproduction theorized. Overt and instantly recognisable racist acts can no longer be taken as shorthand to classify a person as belonging to a deviant group of soccer fans that is characterized by moral degeneration (that is, racist/hooligans). As (Garland and Row, 1999) state, they should rather be seen as expressions of a larger racialized culture of Football. Therefore, the solution to understanding racism does not lie solely in the study of the content, consequences and intentions behind the overt racist act itself. Interestingly it also requires taking into account the cultural context in which such acts become meaningful expressions (Miles, 1997). Further to this point Miles (1997) declared that the cultural context of racism is repeated through continued development of Racialization, which are contained in the unobtrusive, sub-conscious ins and outs of everyday life. These everyday endeavours can range from a simple joke about black players in the changing room to differential racist expectations on the training grounds and the development of mono-ethnic sub-groups of players within mixed soccer clubs and teams (King, 2004). These practices do not necessarily produce overtracism, nor may people identify these expressions with that of a racialized nature. However, by reproducing a racialized situation they are in fact, fuelling the catalyst for overt racist abuse to occur in meaningful ways. Since the potential for meaningful expressions of racism lies in sets of racialized practices and interactions of wider soccer culture, the usual focus on the perpetrator and victim of the racist act needs to be complemented with a similar rigorous attention for the culture in which the act was expressed. Racialization implies a set of differentially racialized cultural contexts it also constitutes a move away from the common assumption that such a context is formed by a single, coherent racist ideology. Instead, it allows for an understanding of the contradictions and incoherencies within and between the expressions of racism in different domains of soccer culture. For example, white soccer fans can racially abuse black players of the opposite team Whilst supporting those on their own team, (Garland and Rowe, 1999) and racist abuse is also common between different non-white ethnic groups and in situations where the white majority is underrepresented (King, 2004). Institutional Racism in football? Back et al (2001) interestingly made some intriguing observations when invited to a Carling No.1 Panel of Chair of the Football Supporters’ Association. The first was that not only did this setting reflect traces of middle or upper class and status but ‘white centredness within the institutions of football more generally’ (Back et al. 2001, p. 162). It is in these exact places, where political decisions, footballing rumours, policies and job opportunities are instigated. During the visit to this setting, Back et al. noted that there was not one ethnic minority descendent sited at the location. Therefore if the most influential people in British football do not have a true representation of society (in this case people of ethnic minority who work in the footballing industry). These boards claim that their decisions are based on holistic approaches which benefit everyone at their establishment. However, if there is no diversity in at the top level of decision making, how can there be a fair conclusion in policies which embodies everyone involved in the game? This proves that the old-boy network is still active and is continuing to work along racial lines (Rimer, 1996). Back et al (1996) go on to state that it is: â€Å"easy for everyone to support a campaign against racism in football when it is targeted against pathologically aggressive, neo-Nazi thugs. It might prove a little more tricky to generate football-wide support if we were to start asking questions about the attitudes in the boardroom, on the pitch, and in the training gro

Weak Form Efficient Market Hypothesis For Emerging Markets

Weak Form Efficient Market Hypothesis For Emerging Markets Literature Review The issue of market efficiency in emerging markets is of great significance for both foreign investors and policy makers in emerging economies. This project devotes large efforts to produce a thorough and in-depth literature review for this area. This topic is to be investigated from these aspects: theoretical foundation, methodologies of tests and empirical results. Firstly, traditional efficient market hypothesis (Fama, 1970; Makiel, 1973) and behavior finance theories developed in recent decades (Barbris, 1998; Shleifer, 2000) have formed two main schools of thought for the issue of market efficiency. Secondly, the evolution for a series of methodologies is important for testing market efficiency. Thirdly, the empirical evidence is reviewed by consideration three major factors: trade volume and non-linear behavior, structural breaks and market evolution through time. Finally, it also reflects some important policy implications for emerging markets. Many empirical studies have been widely carried to investigate the weak-form efficient market hypothesis for emerging markets, and the results are mixed. Generally, most of emerging markets are found to be inefficient. But for some countries, such as Istanbul, Egypt and Jordan, after correcting for institutional characteristics and trading conditions, such as thin trading and the presence of non-linearity, equity markets are found to be efficient. When structure break factors are taken into account, market efficiency is powerfully rejected for countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Greece and India. There is also evidence showing that initially emerging markets are inefficient, but over time they are moving toward to be more efficient, such as in Estonian, Lithuanian and Russia duo to economic liberalization policies. These results reflect some important policy implications. Infrequent trading and illiquidity of capital markets negatively affects market efficiency, so economic policy makers should devote efforts to minimize the institutional restriction and barriers on capital flow in the financial markets and to impose strict disclosure requirements, so that investors can easily access to high quality and reliable information. Improving liquidity of capital markets can provide lower borrowing costs for investors and greater opportunities for investment diversification with lower systematic risks. In addition, equity market liberalization is important to help achieving market development. It can reduce cost of capital and increase capital productivity with better capital allocation. Introduction: Due to the increasing globalization of financial markets, fast economic growth and adoption of financial liberalization policies for equity markets in emerging economies, it is widely indicated that equity investment in emerging economies can provide superior returns. Past decades have witnessed spectacular growth in both size and relative importance of emerging equity markets. The market capitalization of emerging market economies accounts for twelve percent of world market capitalization and has more than doubled, growing from less than $2 trillion in 1995 to $5 trillion in 2006 (Nally, 2010). By 2015, it is estimated that the combined GDP of emerging-market economies will surpass that of the top 20 developed economies (ibid). In addition, emerging market returns are weakly correlated with returns in developed markets, so international diversification with these emerging equities can give lower portfolio risks (Levy Sarnat, 1970). The potential high rates of returns and diversific ation benefits has attracted large number of foreign fund investors, so the investigation on whether emerging markets function efficiently is significantly important. By knowing degree of market efficiency, economy policy makers and regulators can gain insights to develop right institutional and regulatory frameworks to allocate scare resources efficiently, form favourable investment condition and obtain further economic growth. Therefore, this essay is going to investigate the weak-form market efficiency in emerging markets. The efficient market hypothesis by Fama (1970), Random Walk module by Makiel (1973) and behaviour finance theories are directed related to this issue and form the theoretical foundations. Section 1 will critically give the theoretical review based on the two schools of thought that are EMH and behaviour finance theories. Section 2 will give a brief review of methodologies adopted in literature review. Section 3 will give empirical review of the weak-form EMH for emerging markets. Section 4 will indicate some brief policy implications for emerging economies and section 5 is the conclusion with some directions for further research. Theoretic Review of EMH VS Behaviour Finance Efficient Market Hypothesis Fama (1970) defines an efficient financial market as one in which security prices always instantaneously and fully reflect all available information. No investors can earn expected abnormal return by analysing past known information. Market efficiency is attained by two key forces: investor rationality and arbitrage activities (Fama, 1970). EMH assumes that investors are rational and can process information correctly and efficiently. Although some investors are irrational and may overact or underact to new information, these judgement errors are independent and random, hence can cancel out each other without affecting prices (Fama, 1998). Therefore, on average, the whole market is efficient. In addition, since numerous profit-maximizing investors are competing to analyse, value and trade securities based on all available information to exploit arbitrage opportunities, on aggregate level, security prices are adjusted quickly to reflect the effect of new information (Fama, 1998). Secur ity prices are driven close to intrinsic values. Expected returns implicit in the current price of a security should reflect its underlying risk, and higher returns are earned only as compensations for bearing higher risk. There are two main modules that explain EMH: fair-game model and random walk model (RWM). The fair-game model is expressed as: Zj,t+1 =rj,t+1-E(rj,t+1à ¯Ã‚ ½Ã…“à Ã‚ ¤t), E(Zj,t+1à ¯Ã‚ ½Ã…“à Ã‚ ¤t)=0 (Copeland, Weston Shastri, 2005). Information in à Ã‚ ¤t is fully utilized to determine equilibrium expected returns. On average, the expected return on an asset E(rj,t+1à ¯Ã‚ ½Ã…“à Ã‚ ¤t) equals its actual return (rj,t+1), so that no expected abnormal return can be gained from past information. RWM gives much stronger condition for EMH. It assumes that successive price changes have a same normal distribution and are independent. Its logic is that because new information is unpredictable and reaches market randomly, so under EMH, the resulting security price changes must be also unpredictable and random (Malkiel, 1973; Malkiel, 2003). No profit can be made from past information. There are three sub-hypotheses of EMH depending on the level of available information set (Fa ma, 1991). Firstly, market is weak-form efficient when prices reflect all security market information such as historical prices. Secondly, market is semistrong-form efficient when prices reflect all public information such as corporate news and financial statements. Thirdly, market is strong-form efficient when prices reflect all public and private information. Behaviour Finance Theories Figure1: Conceptual Framework of Behaviour Finance Source: Shleifer (2000) However, behaviour finance challenges EMH because it argues that psychological biases lead to investor irrationality and limits to arbitrage impede exploitation of mispricing opportunities (Shleifer, 2002). Psychological bias results into systematic overreaction or underreacion among investors. Many behaviour finance theories have been successfully developed to explain some market anomalies. Conservatism biases lead people adjust slowly to new information and hence the underreaction to new information leads to short-run momentum, while representativeness heuristic makes investors believe that past good stock performance will continue and people overreact to information (Barberis, Shleifer Vishny, 1998). Additionally, overconfidence causes investors to overestimate the precision of their own analyses and to neglect public signals (Daniel, Hirshleifer Subrahmanyam, 1998). Under positive (negative) private signal (which is shown in following graph), informed investors overreact and se curity is overpriced (underpriced). When public information becomes available, biased self-attribution causes security to be even more overpriced (underpriced). Eventually, public information proves initial investment judgement is wrong, so price is driven back to intrinsic value (Daniel et al, 1998). It explains that overconfidence leads to short-run return momentum and price correction leads to long-run return reversal. Figure 2: Overconfidence and Self-attributed bias Source: Daniel, Hirshleifer Subrahmanyam (1998) Moreover, classification is a human natural instinct to process information (Barberis Shleifer, 2003). Investors naturally classify stocks by styles, so styles returns are highly positive correlated. There are two kinds of investors: style switchers and fundamental traders. Style switchers are unsophisticated investors and chase investment styles based on past relative stock performance. When there is good news about stock X (shown following graph), they will drain funds away from less attractive style Y. It will push up stock Xs price, even higher than its intrinsic value, but further reduce stock Ys price. However, fundamental traders recognize stock Y is underpriced (Barberis et al, 2003). They arbitrage away mispricing opportunities and drive overpriced stocks back toward intrinsic value. Figure 3: Switchers and Fundamental Traders Source: Barberis Shleifer, (2003) On the other hand, limits to arbitrage may obstruct information to be impounded into prices, duo to the fundamental risk and implementation costs. Noise trader risk would prevent rational investors from arbitraging (Delong, Summer Waldmann, 1990). Pessimistic noise trader drive price below intrinsic value, arbitrageurs can buy the asset, but bear risk of further deviation from the intrinsic value when noise traders become even more pessimistic and price goes down even further (Delong et al, 1990). Arbitrageurs usually have short horizon and must liquidate before price recovers, so they will incur loss. The agency problems between professionals and investors also affect arbitrage (Shleifer Vishny, 1997), so not all mispricing would be arbitraged away to lead market become efficient. However, Fama (1998) argues that behaviour finance theories do well only on the anomalies they are specially designed to explain and cannot be generalized to the entire market. Rubinstein (2001) also argues that investor overconfidence would make market à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“hyper-rationalà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. Methodologies Adopted to Test the Weak-form EMH Empirical researches on testing weak-form EMH can be divided into three broad categories. Firstly, they tests security return independence. If time-series pattern of security returns shows insignificant (significant) autocorrelations, then weak-form EMH holds (is rejected) (Copeland, Weston Shastri, 2005). Secondly, they test return momentum effect. If portfolio of stocks with higher returns in the short past continues to earn higher abnormal returns in the subsequent short term, then short-run past returns contain information that could predict future returns, so EMH will not hold (Copeland et al, 2005). Thirdly, they test technical trading rules. If no trading rules that consistently derive abnormal profits can be found, then weak-form EMH holds. A series of research methodologies have been developed to exam the EMH. The runs test is non-parametric, which is used to determine whether successive prices changes are independent. Unit root tests involve three different methods to test the null hypothesis of a unit root: the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test (1979), the Phillips-Peron (PP) test (1988) and the Kwiatkowski, Phillioh, Achmidt and Shin (KPSS) test (1992). Multiple variance ratio (MVR) tests are adopted to detect autocorrelation and heteroskedasticity in returns (Chow Denning, 1993). Empirical Results of Weak-form EMH for Emerging Markets The research results for testing weak-form efficiency on the emerging markets are mixed. World Bank study reports significant market inefficiency for 19 emerging equity markets (Claessens, Dasgupta Glen, 1995). Latin American emerging markets of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico are weak-form EMH (Urrutia, 1995), but under the variance ratio test, RWH is rejected (Ojah Karemera, 1999). Under ADF test, EMH is also generally supported for six Latin American stock markets (Choundhry, 1997). For the emerging markets in Asia, major Asian markets are weak-form inefficient, such as Korea and Taiwan (Cheung, Wong Ho, 1993), Singpore and Thiland (Huang, 1995), but some find it is efficient for Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan (Chan, Gup Pan, 1992). When the observed index levels are used, both RWH and EMH are rejected for three equity markets of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain after adjusting for infrequent trading , but when the corrected true indices are used, RWH is accepted (Abraha m et al, 2002). RWH is rejected in five Middle Eastern emerging markets, Jordan, Morocco, Egypt, Israel, and Turkey (Omran and Farrar, 2001). Weak-form efficiency is rejected for Saudi and Palestinian financial market and inefficiency might be due to delay in operations and high transaction cost, thinness of trading and illiquidity in the market (Nourredine Kababa, 1998; Award Daraghma, 2009). Many researches find that emerging markets are becoming more efficient due to the liberalization policies. Istanbul stock exchange was inefficient in the early times but it becomes more efficient as the country started liberalization and deregulation (Antonios, Ergul Holmes, 1997). 4.1 Thin Trading and Non-linearity It is argued that such mixed evidences of the weak-form EMH in emerging markets are only reliable if the methodologies adopted take accounts for the institutional characteristics and trading conditions of the markets, such as thin trading and the presence of non-linearity (Antoniou, Ergul Holmes, 1997). Ignoring these factors may lead to statistical illusions regarding efficiency. The conventional tests of efficiency based on linear model have been developed to test markets with high levels of liquidity, sophisticated investors with access to reliable information and few institutional impediments (Antoniou, Ergul Holmes, 1997). Therefore they are not suitable for testing EMH for emerging markets with characteristics of thin trading, low liquidity and less well informed investors with access to unreliable information. Thin trading will bring serious serial correlation (Fisher, 1996), so the observed dependence does not necessarily represent serial correlation among securities return s. In addition, prices responds to information in a non-linear behavior especially during the early development stages of emerging markets (Schatzberg Reiber, 1992), so if the return generating process is non-linear but a linear model is used to test efficiency, then EMH may be wrongly accepted. This is because non-linear systems such as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“chaoticà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? ones look very similar to a random walk (Savit, 1988). However, the conventional tests cannot recognize this problem. There are several reasons for the existence of non-linear reaction of price to information in emerging markets. Transaction costs are high, information is relatively not reliable and market is illiquid or there are restrictions on trading (Stoll Whaley, 1990). As a result, investors do not always respond instantaneously to the information, which contradicts the assumptions of investor rationality and linear response of price. Scheinkman and LeBaron (1989) and Peters (1991) also empirically support th e non-linearity of stock returns. A number of studies have researched the impact of thin trading (Fisher, 1966; Dimson, 1979; Cohen, 1978; Lo Mackinlay, 1990). Many empirical studies also have taken account of the non-linearity in price series and remove the impact of thin trading by the AR (1) model proposed by Miller (1994). Antoniou, Ergul and Holmes (1997) find that there is apparent predictability of stock returns for Istanbul stock market, but after considering the impact of thin trading, the random walk hypothesis is accepted and the market is informationally efficient for 1990 onwards. Abuzarour (2005) examines the effect of non-trading on market efficiency for three emerging Arabian equity markets: Jordan, Egypt and Palestine using the variance ratio test and the run test during the period of 1992 and 2004. Both random walk hypothesis and weak form efficiency are rejected when the observed index levels are used. However, when the indices are corrected by the Miller, Muthuswamy and Whaley methodologies (1994 ) to take account for thin trading, weak-form EMH is accepted for Egypt and Jordan stock market but it is still rejected for Palestine. All these empirical researches suggest that markets become more efficient when trading volume is high, information is much reliable and institutional frameworks are appropriate. 4.2 Structural Breaks Research on efficiency for emerging markets should not only take account for institutional characteristics and trading conditions, but also should take account for the structural breaks in the underlying series that arise from the liberalization. Ignoring structural breaks can lead to wrong inference that these indices are following random walks. Many emerging countries are liberalizing their financial markets with various degrees (IFC, 1997) and such structure changes would have affected their equity markets (Bekaert et al, 2002; Henry 2000). For instance, huge shocks occurred for equity index level for Greece, Malaysia and Philippines in late 1980s and early 1990s, which are around the same year of their market liberalization. As Perron (1989) have demonstrated that traditional standard tests for RWH in stock prices have low power against the alternative hypothesis in small samples, and the problem is especially serious when structural changes are involved. Thus failure to consider these breaking points may wrongly support the RWH. Therefore, many empirical researches try to incorporate the structural breaks factor by more powerful test methods, such as the Zivot- Andrew sequential test (Zivot Andrew, 1992). Chaudhuri and Wu (2001) adopt both the standard ADF test and Zivot- Andrew sequential method to test the EMH in seventeen emerging markets: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Greece, India, Jordan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe. Results for the ADF test without breaks to each series tend to show non-rejection of the RWH. However, results for the Zivot- Andrew test with structural breaks show that RWH can be powerfully rejected at the one percent significant level in ten markets: Argentina, Brazil, Greece, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines, Taiwan and Zimbabwe (Chaudhuri Wu, 2001). 4.3 Market Evolution Although structural breaks have been taken into account in many researches, it is argued that standard techniques are still not fit to test the weak-form EHM for emerging market, because they are not able to evaluate the evolving efficiency in emerging markets. It is also argued that methods such as a time varying parameter model and Kalman Filter technique not only can indicate the movement of stock returns from inefficiency to efficiency, but also can measure the timing of the movement towards full efficiency(Rockinger Urga, 2000; Zalewska-Mitura Hall, 1999). It is generally agreed that emerging markets are evolving from inefficiency to efficiency with the higher disclosure degree of firm practices, high trading volume and lower institutional barriers to trade (Cornelius, 1994). According to Laurence (1986), the methods of OLS or GMM test market efficiency over the whole period and hardly capture the tendency towards efficiency, so under these methods, early inefficiency would wr ongly lead to the conclusion that there are profit opportunities based on the past asset price movement. In addition, the variance of the error process in the conventional test models is not constant over time, so if this changing variance structure is omitted and has a serial correlation property, then market efficiency would be incorrectly rejected (Hall Urga, G2002). Hall and Urga (2002) deal with these problems by using the Kalman Filter and combing the time varying parameter model with a standard GARCH-M model (generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity in mean). They apply this procedure to the two indexes of Russian stock market from 1995 to 2000. And find that with regard to RTS index (Russian Trading System), the market is initially inefficient and it takes about two and a half years to become efficient, while for the ASPGEN Index (Skate Press Agency General), the market is still predictable. There is evidence of a tendency towards being efficient. Kvedaras and Basdevant (2002) also investigate the market efficiency in the three Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania by using the time-varying variance ratio statistic robust to heteroscedasticity based on time-varying autocorrelations. They find a clear trajectory to weak-form efficiency in the Estonian and Lithuanian capital markets. Its relatively small inefficiency ca n be explained by transaction costs and information acquiring costs (Grossman and Stiglitz, 1980). In the Latvian market, it is inefficient even at the very end of the analyzed period. Policy Implications These results have some important implications for developing effective institutional and regulatory frameworks. Since infrequent trading negatively affects market efficiency and liquidity in emerging markets, economic policy makers should pay attention to minimize the institutional restriction and barriers on capital flow in the financial markets, impose strict disclosure requirements and ensure that investors can easily access to high quality and reliable information. Improving liquidity of capital markets can provide lower borrowing costs for investors and greater opportunities for investment diversification with lower systematic risks. In addition, equity market liberalization is important to help achieving market development. It can reduce cost of capital and increase capital productivity with better capital allocation. Conclusion 6.1 Short Summary In conclusion, as two main schools of thought in modern financial theories, there is a hot debate between efficient market hypothesis and behaviour finance. EMH asserts that financial markets are informationally efficient and equity stock prices instantaneously and fully reflect all known information. While behaviour finance argues that psychological biases lead to investor irrationality and limits to arbitrage impede exploitation of mispricing opportunities, so market is not efficient. There are wide empirical researches on the issue of market efficiency in emerging markets with mixed results. It is generally found that most of emerging markets are still inefficient, but after correcting for institutional characteristics and trading conditions, such as thin trading and the presence of non-linearity, some researches find that equity markets are efficient for some countries such as for Istanbul, Egypt and Jordan. When structure break factors are taken into account, market efficiency i s powerfully rejected for most emerging countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Greece and India. There are also some evidence shows that duo to economic liberalization policies, many emerging markets are moving towards more efficiency such as Estonian, Lithuanian and Russia. 6.2 Limitations of Empirical Researches and Proposed Further Research However, there are some limitations involved in these empirical researches. Some researches ignore whether the distribution is normal or not. Others using equally weighted indices may bias the results. The possible auto-correlation might be due to the noise traders but doesnt imply return predictability (Cuthberston, 1996). Most of these studies focus on the test of time series of equity return to investigate EMH, but don not investigate the momentum effect or the profitability of technical trading to earn abnormal return. Therefore, further research can be extended in several dimensions. Firstly, it suggests trying to combine the tests of momentum effect or technical trading rules with the time series tests to make more robust conclusions. Secondly, since most of researches focus on traditional EMH, it can consider the factors of investor behaviour, such as psychologies bias and limits to arbitrage to do further in-depth testing of EMH. Finally, further researches for more novel and accurate methodologies of testing EMH are significantly essential. Weak Form Efficient Market Hypothesis For Emerging Markets Weak Form Efficient Market Hypothesis For Emerging Markets Literature Review The issue of market efficiency in emerging markets is of great significance for both foreign investors and policy makers in emerging economies. This project devotes large efforts to produce a thorough and in-depth literature review for this area. This topic is to be investigated from these aspects: theoretical foundation, methodologies of tests and empirical results. Firstly, traditional efficient market hypothesis (Fama, 1970; Makiel, 1973) and behavior finance theories developed in recent decades (Barbris, 1998; Shleifer, 2000) have formed two main schools of thought for the issue of market efficiency. Secondly, the evolution for a series of methodologies is important for testing market efficiency. Thirdly, the empirical evidence is reviewed by consideration three major factors: trade volume and non-linear behavior, structural breaks and market evolution through time. Finally, it also reflects some important policy implications for emerging markets. Many empirical studies have been widely carried to investigate the weak-form efficient market hypothesis for emerging markets, and the results are mixed. Generally, most of emerging markets are found to be inefficient. But for some countries, such as Istanbul, Egypt and Jordan, after correcting for institutional characteristics and trading conditions, such as thin trading and the presence of non-linearity, equity markets are found to be efficient. When structure break factors are taken into account, market efficiency is powerfully rejected for countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Greece and India. There is also evidence showing that initially emerging markets are inefficient, but over time they are moving toward to be more efficient, such as in Estonian, Lithuanian and Russia duo to economic liberalization policies. These results reflect some important policy implications. Infrequent trading and illiquidity of capital markets negatively affects market efficiency, so economic policy makers should devote efforts to minimize the institutional restriction and barriers on capital flow in the financial markets and to impose strict disclosure requirements, so that investors can easily access to high quality and reliable information. Improving liquidity of capital markets can provide lower borrowing costs for investors and greater opportunities for investment diversification with lower systematic risks. In addition, equity market liberalization is important to help achieving market development. It can reduce cost of capital and increase capital productivity with better capital allocation. Introduction: Due to the increasing globalization of financial markets, fast economic growth and adoption of financial liberalization policies for equity markets in emerging economies, it is widely indicated that equity investment in emerging economies can provide superior returns. Past decades have witnessed spectacular growth in both size and relative importance of emerging equity markets. The market capitalization of emerging market economies accounts for twelve percent of world market capitalization and has more than doubled, growing from less than $2 trillion in 1995 to $5 trillion in 2006 (Nally, 2010). By 2015, it is estimated that the combined GDP of emerging-market economies will surpass that of the top 20 developed economies (ibid). In addition, emerging market returns are weakly correlated with returns in developed markets, so international diversification with these emerging equities can give lower portfolio risks (Levy Sarnat, 1970). The potential high rates of returns and diversific ation benefits has attracted large number of foreign fund investors, so the investigation on whether emerging markets function efficiently is significantly important. By knowing degree of market efficiency, economy policy makers and regulators can gain insights to develop right institutional and regulatory frameworks to allocate scare resources efficiently, form favourable investment condition and obtain further economic growth. Therefore, this essay is going to investigate the weak-form market efficiency in emerging markets. The efficient market hypothesis by Fama (1970), Random Walk module by Makiel (1973) and behaviour finance theories are directed related to this issue and form the theoretical foundations. Section 1 will critically give the theoretical review based on the two schools of thought that are EMH and behaviour finance theories. Section 2 will give a brief review of methodologies adopted in literature review. Section 3 will give empirical review of the weak-form EMH for emerging markets. Section 4 will indicate some brief policy implications for emerging economies and section 5 is the conclusion with some directions for further research. Theoretic Review of EMH VS Behaviour Finance Efficient Market Hypothesis Fama (1970) defines an efficient financial market as one in which security prices always instantaneously and fully reflect all available information. No investors can earn expected abnormal return by analysing past known information. Market efficiency is attained by two key forces: investor rationality and arbitrage activities (Fama, 1970). EMH assumes that investors are rational and can process information correctly and efficiently. Although some investors are irrational and may overact or underact to new information, these judgement errors are independent and random, hence can cancel out each other without affecting prices (Fama, 1998). Therefore, on average, the whole market is efficient. In addition, since numerous profit-maximizing investors are competing to analyse, value and trade securities based on all available information to exploit arbitrage opportunities, on aggregate level, security prices are adjusted quickly to reflect the effect of new information (Fama, 1998). Secur ity prices are driven close to intrinsic values. Expected returns implicit in the current price of a security should reflect its underlying risk, and higher returns are earned only as compensations for bearing higher risk. There are two main modules that explain EMH: fair-game model and random walk model (RWM). The fair-game model is expressed as: Zj,t+1 =rj,t+1-E(rj,t+1à ¯Ã‚ ½Ã…“à Ã‚ ¤t), E(Zj,t+1à ¯Ã‚ ½Ã…“à Ã‚ ¤t)=0 (Copeland, Weston Shastri, 2005). Information in à Ã‚ ¤t is fully utilized to determine equilibrium expected returns. On average, the expected return on an asset E(rj,t+1à ¯Ã‚ ½Ã…“à Ã‚ ¤t) equals its actual return (rj,t+1), so that no expected abnormal return can be gained from past information. RWM gives much stronger condition for EMH. It assumes that successive price changes have a same normal distribution and are independent. Its logic is that because new information is unpredictable and reaches market randomly, so under EMH, the resulting security price changes must be also unpredictable and random (Malkiel, 1973; Malkiel, 2003). No profit can be made from past information. There are three sub-hypotheses of EMH depending on the level of available information set (Fa ma, 1991). Firstly, market is weak-form efficient when prices reflect all security market information such as historical prices. Secondly, market is semistrong-form efficient when prices reflect all public information such as corporate news and financial statements. Thirdly, market is strong-form efficient when prices reflect all public and private information. Behaviour Finance Theories Figure1: Conceptual Framework of Behaviour Finance Source: Shleifer (2000) However, behaviour finance challenges EMH because it argues that psychological biases lead to investor irrationality and limits to arbitrage impede exploitation of mispricing opportunities (Shleifer, 2002). Psychological bias results into systematic overreaction or underreacion among investors. Many behaviour finance theories have been successfully developed to explain some market anomalies. Conservatism biases lead people adjust slowly to new information and hence the underreaction to new information leads to short-run momentum, while representativeness heuristic makes investors believe that past good stock performance will continue and people overreact to information (Barberis, Shleifer Vishny, 1998). Additionally, overconfidence causes investors to overestimate the precision of their own analyses and to neglect public signals (Daniel, Hirshleifer Subrahmanyam, 1998). Under positive (negative) private signal (which is shown in following graph), informed investors overreact and se curity is overpriced (underpriced). When public information becomes available, biased self-attribution causes security to be even more overpriced (underpriced). Eventually, public information proves initial investment judgement is wrong, so price is driven back to intrinsic value (Daniel et al, 1998). It explains that overconfidence leads to short-run return momentum and price correction leads to long-run return reversal. Figure 2: Overconfidence and Self-attributed bias Source: Daniel, Hirshleifer Subrahmanyam (1998) Moreover, classification is a human natural instinct to process information (Barberis Shleifer, 2003). Investors naturally classify stocks by styles, so styles returns are highly positive correlated. There are two kinds of investors: style switchers and fundamental traders. Style switchers are unsophisticated investors and chase investment styles based on past relative stock performance. When there is good news about stock X (shown following graph), they will drain funds away from less attractive style Y. It will push up stock Xs price, even higher than its intrinsic value, but further reduce stock Ys price. However, fundamental traders recognize stock Y is underpriced (Barberis et al, 2003). They arbitrage away mispricing opportunities and drive overpriced stocks back toward intrinsic value. Figure 3: Switchers and Fundamental Traders Source: Barberis Shleifer, (2003) On the other hand, limits to arbitrage may obstruct information to be impounded into prices, duo to the fundamental risk and implementation costs. Noise trader risk would prevent rational investors from arbitraging (Delong, Summer Waldmann, 1990). Pessimistic noise trader drive price below intrinsic value, arbitrageurs can buy the asset, but bear risk of further deviation from the intrinsic value when noise traders become even more pessimistic and price goes down even further (Delong et al, 1990). Arbitrageurs usually have short horizon and must liquidate before price recovers, so they will incur loss. The agency problems between professionals and investors also affect arbitrage (Shleifer Vishny, 1997), so not all mispricing would be arbitraged away to lead market become efficient. However, Fama (1998) argues that behaviour finance theories do well only on the anomalies they are specially designed to explain and cannot be generalized to the entire market. Rubinstein (2001) also argues that investor overconfidence would make market à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“hyper-rationalà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. Methodologies Adopted to Test the Weak-form EMH Empirical researches on testing weak-form EMH can be divided into three broad categories. Firstly, they tests security return independence. If time-series pattern of security returns shows insignificant (significant) autocorrelations, then weak-form EMH holds (is rejected) (Copeland, Weston Shastri, 2005). Secondly, they test return momentum effect. If portfolio of stocks with higher returns in the short past continues to earn higher abnormal returns in the subsequent short term, then short-run past returns contain information that could predict future returns, so EMH will not hold (Copeland et al, 2005). Thirdly, they test technical trading rules. If no trading rules that consistently derive abnormal profits can be found, then weak-form EMH holds. A series of research methodologies have been developed to exam the EMH. The runs test is non-parametric, which is used to determine whether successive prices changes are independent. Unit root tests involve three different methods to test the null hypothesis of a unit root: the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test (1979), the Phillips-Peron (PP) test (1988) and the Kwiatkowski, Phillioh, Achmidt and Shin (KPSS) test (1992). Multiple variance ratio (MVR) tests are adopted to detect autocorrelation and heteroskedasticity in returns (Chow Denning, 1993). Empirical Results of Weak-form EMH for Emerging Markets The research results for testing weak-form efficiency on the emerging markets are mixed. World Bank study reports significant market inefficiency for 19 emerging equity markets (Claessens, Dasgupta Glen, 1995). Latin American emerging markets of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico are weak-form EMH (Urrutia, 1995), but under the variance ratio test, RWH is rejected (Ojah Karemera, 1999). Under ADF test, EMH is also generally supported for six Latin American stock markets (Choundhry, 1997). For the emerging markets in Asia, major Asian markets are weak-form inefficient, such as Korea and Taiwan (Cheung, Wong Ho, 1993), Singpore and Thiland (Huang, 1995), but some find it is efficient for Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan (Chan, Gup Pan, 1992). When the observed index levels are used, both RWH and EMH are rejected for three equity markets of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain after adjusting for infrequent trading , but when the corrected true indices are used, RWH is accepted (Abraha m et al, 2002). RWH is rejected in five Middle Eastern emerging markets, Jordan, Morocco, Egypt, Israel, and Turkey (Omran and Farrar, 2001). Weak-form efficiency is rejected for Saudi and Palestinian financial market and inefficiency might be due to delay in operations and high transaction cost, thinness of trading and illiquidity in the market (Nourredine Kababa, 1998; Award Daraghma, 2009). Many researches find that emerging markets are becoming more efficient due to the liberalization policies. Istanbul stock exchange was inefficient in the early times but it becomes more efficient as the country started liberalization and deregulation (Antonios, Ergul Holmes, 1997). 4.1 Thin Trading and Non-linearity It is argued that such mixed evidences of the weak-form EMH in emerging markets are only reliable if the methodologies adopted take accounts for the institutional characteristics and trading conditions of the markets, such as thin trading and the presence of non-linearity (Antoniou, Ergul Holmes, 1997). Ignoring these factors may lead to statistical illusions regarding efficiency. The conventional tests of efficiency based on linear model have been developed to test markets with high levels of liquidity, sophisticated investors with access to reliable information and few institutional impediments (Antoniou, Ergul Holmes, 1997). Therefore they are not suitable for testing EMH for emerging markets with characteristics of thin trading, low liquidity and less well informed investors with access to unreliable information. Thin trading will bring serious serial correlation (Fisher, 1996), so the observed dependence does not necessarily represent serial correlation among securities return s. In addition, prices responds to information in a non-linear behavior especially during the early development stages of emerging markets (Schatzberg Reiber, 1992), so if the return generating process is non-linear but a linear model is used to test efficiency, then EMH may be wrongly accepted. This is because non-linear systems such as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“chaoticà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? ones look very similar to a random walk (Savit, 1988). However, the conventional tests cannot recognize this problem. There are several reasons for the existence of non-linear reaction of price to information in emerging markets. Transaction costs are high, information is relatively not reliable and market is illiquid or there are restrictions on trading (Stoll Whaley, 1990). As a result, investors do not always respond instantaneously to the information, which contradicts the assumptions of investor rationality and linear response of price. Scheinkman and LeBaron (1989) and Peters (1991) also empirically support th e non-linearity of stock returns. A number of studies have researched the impact of thin trading (Fisher, 1966; Dimson, 1979; Cohen, 1978; Lo Mackinlay, 1990). Many empirical studies also have taken account of the non-linearity in price series and remove the impact of thin trading by the AR (1) model proposed by Miller (1994). Antoniou, Ergul and Holmes (1997) find that there is apparent predictability of stock returns for Istanbul stock market, but after considering the impact of thin trading, the random walk hypothesis is accepted and the market is informationally efficient for 1990 onwards. Abuzarour (2005) examines the effect of non-trading on market efficiency for three emerging Arabian equity markets: Jordan, Egypt and Palestine using the variance ratio test and the run test during the period of 1992 and 2004. Both random walk hypothesis and weak form efficiency are rejected when the observed index levels are used. However, when the indices are corrected by the Miller, Muthuswamy and Whaley methodologies (1994 ) to take account for thin trading, weak-form EMH is accepted for Egypt and Jordan stock market but it is still rejected for Palestine. All these empirical researches suggest that markets become more efficient when trading volume is high, information is much reliable and institutional frameworks are appropriate. 4.2 Structural Breaks Research on efficiency for emerging markets should not only take account for institutional characteristics and trading conditions, but also should take account for the structural breaks in the underlying series that arise from the liberalization. Ignoring structural breaks can lead to wrong inference that these indices are following random walks. Many emerging countries are liberalizing their financial markets with various degrees (IFC, 1997) and such structure changes would have affected their equity markets (Bekaert et al, 2002; Henry 2000). For instance, huge shocks occurred for equity index level for Greece, Malaysia and Philippines in late 1980s and early 1990s, which are around the same year of their market liberalization. As Perron (1989) have demonstrated that traditional standard tests for RWH in stock prices have low power against the alternative hypothesis in small samples, and the problem is especially serious when structural changes are involved. Thus failure to consider these breaking points may wrongly support the RWH. Therefore, many empirical researches try to incorporate the structural breaks factor by more powerful test methods, such as the Zivot- Andrew sequential test (Zivot Andrew, 1992). Chaudhuri and Wu (2001) adopt both the standard ADF test and Zivot- Andrew sequential method to test the EMH in seventeen emerging markets: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Greece, India, Jordan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe. Results for the ADF test without breaks to each series tend to show non-rejection of the RWH. However, results for the Zivot- Andrew test with structural breaks show that RWH can be powerfully rejected at the one percent significant level in ten markets: Argentina, Brazil, Greece, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines, Taiwan and Zimbabwe (Chaudhuri Wu, 2001). 4.3 Market Evolution Although structural breaks have been taken into account in many researches, it is argued that standard techniques are still not fit to test the weak-form EHM for emerging market, because they are not able to evaluate the evolving efficiency in emerging markets. It is also argued that methods such as a time varying parameter model and Kalman Filter technique not only can indicate the movement of stock returns from inefficiency to efficiency, but also can measure the timing of the movement towards full efficiency(Rockinger Urga, 2000; Zalewska-Mitura Hall, 1999). It is generally agreed that emerging markets are evolving from inefficiency to efficiency with the higher disclosure degree of firm practices, high trading volume and lower institutional barriers to trade (Cornelius, 1994). According to Laurence (1986), the methods of OLS or GMM test market efficiency over the whole period and hardly capture the tendency towards efficiency, so under these methods, early inefficiency would wr ongly lead to the conclusion that there are profit opportunities based on the past asset price movement. In addition, the variance of the error process in the conventional test models is not constant over time, so if this changing variance structure is omitted and has a serial correlation property, then market efficiency would be incorrectly rejected (Hall Urga, G2002). Hall and Urga (2002) deal with these problems by using the Kalman Filter and combing the time varying parameter model with a standard GARCH-M model (generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity in mean). They apply this procedure to the two indexes of Russian stock market from 1995 to 2000. And find that with regard to RTS index (Russian Trading System), the market is initially inefficient and it takes about two and a half years to become efficient, while for the ASPGEN Index (Skate Press Agency General), the market is still predictable. There is evidence of a tendency towards being efficient. Kvedaras and Basdevant (2002) also investigate the market efficiency in the three Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania by using the time-varying variance ratio statistic robust to heteroscedasticity based on time-varying autocorrelations. They find a clear trajectory to weak-form efficiency in the Estonian and Lithuanian capital markets. Its relatively small inefficiency ca n be explained by transaction costs and information acquiring costs (Grossman and Stiglitz, 1980). In the Latvian market, it is inefficient even at the very end of the analyzed period. Policy Implications These results have some important implications for developing effective institutional and regulatory frameworks. Since infrequent trading negatively affects market efficiency and liquidity in emerging markets, economic policy makers should pay attention to minimize the institutional restriction and barriers on capital flow in the financial markets, impose strict disclosure requirements and ensure that investors can easily access to high quality and reliable information. Improving liquidity of capital markets can provide lower borrowing costs for investors and greater opportunities for investment diversification with lower systematic risks. In addition, equity market liberalization is important to help achieving market development. It can reduce cost of capital and increase capital productivity with better capital allocation. Conclusion 6.1 Short Summary In conclusion, as two main schools of thought in modern financial theories, there is a hot debate between efficient market hypothesis and behaviour finance. EMH asserts that financial markets are informationally efficient and equity stock prices instantaneously and fully reflect all known information. While behaviour finance argues that psychological biases lead to investor irrationality and limits to arbitrage impede exploitation of mispricing opportunities, so market is not efficient. There are wide empirical researches on the issue of market efficiency in emerging markets with mixed results. It is generally found that most of emerging markets are still inefficient, but after correcting for institutional characteristics and trading conditions, such as thin trading and the presence of non-linearity, some researches find that equity markets are efficient for some countries such as for Istanbul, Egypt and Jordan. When structure break factors are taken into account, market efficiency i s powerfully rejected for most emerging countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Greece and India. There are also some evidence shows that duo to economic liberalization policies, many emerging markets are moving towards more efficiency such as Estonian, Lithuanian and Russia. 6.2 Limitations of Empirical Researches and Proposed Further Research However, there are some limitations involved in these empirical researches. Some researches ignore whether the distribution is normal or not. Others using equally weighted indices may bias the results. The possible auto-correlation might be due to the noise traders but doesnt imply return predictability (Cuthberston, 1996). Most of these studies focus on the test of time series of equity return to investigate EMH, but don not investigate the momentum effect or the profitability of technical trading to earn abnormal return. Therefore, further research can be extended in several dimensions. Firstly, it suggests trying to combine the tests of momentum effect or technical trading rules with the time series tests to make more robust conclusions. Secondly, since most of researches focus on traditional EMH, it can consider the factors of investor behaviour, such as psychologies bias and limits to arbitrage to do further in-depth testing of EMH. Finally, further researches for more novel and accurate methodologies of testing EMH are significantly essential.