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Electronics Recycling and E-Waste Issues

Recycling and Responsible Disposal of Consumer Electronics, Computer Equipment, Mobile Phones, and Other E-Waste

The management of obsolete, unwanted, or nonfunctional electronics equipment is a global problem driven by improving technology and the availability of new and recycled devices along with the toxic materials, resource conservation, and handling/disposal issues at end-of-life. OEMs, consumers, businesses, e-waste management companies, governments, non-profits, and the re-processors all play a role in the lifecycle of electronics equipment. ( http://www.bharatbook.com/Market-Research-Reports/Electronics-Recycling-and-E-Waste-Issues.html )

Consumers have few incentives to reuse or recycle used electronics equipment. In most countries, it is still too easy and relatively inexpensive to throw e-waste in the trash. An optimistic estimate of average recycle rates in about 15%. Inconsistent legislation, minimal controls on the recyclers, and little enforcement has also led to widespread and inappropriate dumping of e-waste in developing countries. Non-profit groups’ activities have brought increased media attention and raised public awareness to the point where changes in approach and attitude of the OEMs, consumers, and recyclers are beginning to have a positive effect on the industry.

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the global e-waste landscape including supply chain structures, legislative and regulatory issues, market drivers and inhibitors, and in-depth profiles for key industry players around the world. Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats (SWOT) analysis is included for key sectors of the market. Demand-side analysis features consumer survey results that focus on consumers’ attitudes, behavior, and perceptions with regard to electronics recycling. Additionally, the report includes granular forecasts for e-waste generation and processing volumes in various regions around the world through 2025.

Key questions addressed:

* Who are the key players worldwide in the e-waste management ecosystem?
* What are the key business models and drivers associated with electronics recycling and end-of-life management?
* What are the estimated volumes of e-waste in terms of “units” (common types) and tons from 2010 to 2025?
* What are the key challenges facing the industry?
* What are the process changes necessary to improve e-waste management?
* What are the behavioral changes necessary to minimize the amount of e-waste and encourage reuse and recycling?
* What are the global political, reporting, and enforcement changes necessary to improve e-waste management?

Who needs this report?

* Electronics manufacturers – OEMs and ODMs
* Non-electronics enterprises trying to reduce their environmental impact
* Semiconductor and component manufacturers
* E-waste recyclers
* Local, state, national, and regional governments
* Environmental and recycling non-profit organizations
* Industry associations

To know more and to buy a copy of your report feel free to visit : http://www.bharatbook.com/Market-Research-Reports/Electronics-Recycling-and-E-Waste-Issues.html

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Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/business-opportunities-articles/electronics-recycling-and-ewaste-issues-1431595.html

This article is about money management and trading psychology. This is the lesson that you never get with 99% of other Forex systems that you have come across.

I find it interesting that most of the systems out there don’t include this because if they actually were successful traders, they would know that this was the key to success and to leave it out makes an incomplete system that won’t work!! This tells me that the people that wrote them or are selling them aren’t traders at all. They are just in the business of selling HOPE!

Well, if you haven’t noticed yet, I am a trader, and I am different than the others. Don’t get me wrong, there are honest trainers out there, I learned from one and I am eternally grateful to him.

So let’s get on with this. First of all, this is my own interpretation of several sources, and the practices that have worked for me. Please read EVERYTHING you can find on trading psychology, and money management. There are a lot of slightly different views but overall, they are very similar and the main important points are all pretty much the same.

There are two main issues that cause 99% of the problems. Can you guess what they are?
If you answered FEAR and GREED, you are correct. These two emotions are probably responsible for 99% of the worlds problems as well but that is beyond the scope of this course À .

So, now that we know what the big obstacles are, let’s try and figure out how to overcome them. In the course of my lessons, I have listed a few but I will put them all together here in one place so that it is easier to follow, and perhaps make it easier for you to develop your own system to help you trade better.

We can’t eliminate fear and greed. They will still be there in your heart and mind, but we can make some rules so that they don’t interfere with your trading success. We can come up with systems and procedures to follow, since we KNOW ahead of time that fear and greed are major problems. I’m sure you have heard the statistic that 95% of all speculative leveraged traders FAIL. This is absolutely true. Here is another statistic that I
believe…100% of traders that don’t know how to overcome fear and greed will FAIL. So does that mean that if I can teach you how to overcome these problems that your chance of success is 100%? Of course not. But I can tell you that you cannot be successful if you don’t protect yourself from yourself.

In lessons 1-3 I have outlined a trading system. The first thing you must do, whether you follow my system, another system, or your own system is to follow the rules of the system WITHOUT FAIL. If your system calls for a certain entry point, do not enter until there is a signal to enter.

Systems are designed for a reason. That is why it is called a system. What do we learn from this? Patience. Perhaps the stupidest thing you can do is enter a trade on a hunch.
This brings us to our first FACT:

The odds are in your favor before you enter a trade. This is true for most trading systems. Void of fear and greed, if you follow each system exactly, you will profit. Some systems may offer better profits than others, but overall you should be able to profit with any system, IF you have no fear and no greed.

This brings us to THE BIG SECRET. Other than omitting trading psychology, other systems also don’t tell you that you are playing a game of odds. Let’s say for example that we are playing “coin toss.” Theoretically, for 100 flips of the coin, 50 will come up heads, and 50 will come up tails. Of course, the first 100 may be 55/45, but the more you play, the closer to 50/50 the numbers will get. Our system for “coin toss” is as follows: We play for 20 hours, and flip the coin exactly 5 times each hour, and for every heads that comes up, we get paid $2, and for every tails that comes up we pay $1. This should be a profitable system. After our game we see that heads came up 50 times and tails came up 50 times. (Stay with me here). So at the end of 100 tosses, we have paid $50 and received $100. A profit of $50.

So let’s say that during our second game of coin toss, we decide that we are going to let the flipper(hint: the market is the flipper) keep flipping the coin for an hour while we take lunch but we are not going to pay or be paid for those flips. During our lunch hour, heads comes up 5 times in a row (which is theoretically possible, and not that unlikely). And now we are back from lunch, and we are down $10 for the hour. Now, theoretically the odds of 5 tails in a row coming up after 5 heads in a row are pretty good because for every ten tosses, you should have about 5 heads and five tails. So now we get 5 tails in a row and now we are down another $5, for a total of $15. So not counting the 5 tosses during lunch, this leaves 90 tosses that we still have to account for and let’s say that they were 45 heads and 45 tails. Our profit for these tosses is $45 (45×2 minus 45×1), now if we take away the $15 for the tosses we didn’t take, and that string of losers, we are left with a profit if $30. So lunch and 5 lousy spins cost us 40% of our profits.

Now this is theory but it absolutely applies to this market. If you are picky about what trades you want to take and what trades you don’t want to take, you are MESSING

WITH THE ODDS. My point for this whole big story about “coin toss” is this: If the conditions are met, TAKE THE TRADE without hesitation. The odds are in your favor, but only if you take ALL of the trades that meets the conditions. When I say ALL trades I know the market is open 24 hours a day and you can’t possibly take every trade. You need to pick a time frame and stick to that same time frame everyday and take ALL trades during that time frame.

I can tell you that in the month before I realized this (my first month of trading real money actually), my total profit was 92 pips. I had an idea of what I was doing wrong so I was keeping track of the trades that I didn’t take along with the ones that I did. I included entry point, day, time, and whether the profit target was hit or if it was stopped out. Don’t get me wrong, I was extremely happy to be in profit after trading for only one month with real money. But then I went back and looked at the numbers for “what could have been.” Guess what? Had I taken every trade that met my conditions, my profit for the month would have been 355 pips! I was not happy. But soon I realized that I had messed with the odds. After realizing what I had done wrong (or not done right in this case) I began to have more confidence in my systems. The very next month my total profit was 515 pips, or a 560% improvement just for taking all of the trades that met the conditions. I think that is enough said about that.

Sorry to stay with the coin flip game here but it actually works very well in teaching these principles. This brings us to
FACT #2. You do not need to know what is going to happen to make money. If we know that we are going to make $2 fifty times and pay $1 fifty times as long as we flip the coin, are we going to play? Of course! Well, all trading systems have similar odds. From my testing, I know that this system on average will produce 9 wins of 20 pips for every 1 loss of 40 pips (that number may vary but that is the maximum loss I ever take). So we know ahead of time that 9 wins at 20 pips is 180 pips, and minus the loss of 40 pips, leaves us with 140 pips profit. Now keep in mind that you may be 8 and 2 this week and 10 and 0 next week. We never know when a loss is going to come. We may even lose every trade for a week, but not lose a trade for the next 9 weeks. Believe me it happens. You do not need to know exactly what is going to happen, you just need to take every trade that meets the conditions and then count your profits at the end of the month/week/year etc.

This section deals with money management as well as psychology. Back to coin toss for a minute. We know that each win brings us $2. And we know that for each win in this trading system we get 20 pips. We know that each tail that comes up costs us $1. And in our system we know that each loss is 40 pips. If we know what our loss is going to be ahead of time, we know what it is going to cost us to find out “what is going to happen.” From this we can decide how much we want to risk based on our account size.

FACT 3: You know how much it will cost to find out. I have decided not to ever risk more than 5% of my account on any one trade. So knowing that, I can figure out how many lots to trade ahead of time based on my account size. It may cost $250 in margin for a 1 lot position but this is not what we are risking, we are actually risking ten dollars times the number of pips in our stop. If our stop is 40 pips, we are risking $400. Now we know that we better have at least $8000 in our account to take a position of this size. If this trade turns out to be a loser, and our balance falls to $7600, we know that we can’t afford to take that trade again because a loss of $400 is more than 5% of our balance. We would need to adjust our number of lots down accordingly to keep our risk <5%. We also don’t want to increase our lot size to try and make up for that loss. Always reduce your risk if your account balance falls. The next thing we don’t want to do is immediately increase our lot size after a winning trade. It is better to trade at the same lot size for 15 or 30 days at a time before increasing lot size. This allows the account to build steadily without large swings in either direction.

FACT 4: There is a random distribution between wins and losses for any given set of variables that define an edge. Your trading system is your edge, but you never know in what order your wins and losses will come. Be prepared for this and accept the losses, knowing that the odds are still in your favor.

This brings us to our final two facts.

FACT 5: Every moment in the market is unique. Yes we use pattern recognition to define our edge but there are so many variables in this market that it is impossible to ever have the conditions exactly the same as any other moment. You could play 100 games of coin toss and no game will have the exact same order of wins and losses, even though they may have similar outcomes.

FACT 6: Because of fact #5 we know that ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN. This is why it is important to follow the trade rules exactly and play the odds.
Every broker/trading system has a disclaimer that says basically “do not trade with money you can’t afford to lose.” The best thing you can do when you open your real money account is to mentally consider that money GONE. If you are not afraid to lose it, you will save a lot of stress and your trading will improve. Only you can determine what you can afford to lose, so just don’t put more in there than you are willing to lose. Compounding is an amazing thing that we will talk about in section 5, and the money will come if you follow the rules. If you start with less, it will just take a little longer but once again you will save a ton of stress.

TRADING WITHOUT FEAR AND GREED

1. I Objectively identify your edges. You have a system here that works, enough said.
2. I Pre-define the risk of every trade. We covered that in FACT #3.
3. I Completely accept the risk. Consider the money GONE.

4. I ACT on my edges without reservation or hesitation. Follow the rules and take every trade that meets the conditions.
5. I pay myself as the market makes money available. Take your 20 pips and be happy, or trail your stop. Even if you are compounding your account, pay yourself something out of your profits each month. It will make you feel better. (On a side note: I take 20 pips for every trade until I am up 200 pips for the month. I do not even think of trailing my stops until I am up 200. Once I am comfortably in profit, I start to look for solid opportunities to trail my stop and grab some extra pips.

Even if they only go 20 and then come back, I still make 5 pips. 20 of those still adds up to another 100 pips.)
6. I continually monitor my susceptibility for making errors. I read Mark Douglas’ book monthly, and make up sheets with my rules on them that I read daily. This helps me to see plain as day when I make a mistake.
7. I understand the absolute necessity of these principles, and therefore I never violate them.
I have included a sheet that you can print out to keep near your computer to read every day. Read these facts and rules every day even if you memorized them.
Finally,

FOUR STUPID THINGS
The first stupid thing you can do is to close a position early because you think it is going to go against you. Just because you have an edge over the market does not mean that price will immediately shoot up or down to your target. Price will move up and down and will even probably move against you before it moves in your favor. If you let FEAR of LOSS get you, you will lose money. If the market is going to take you out, let the market take you out by taking out your stop. That is why it is there. The odds are still in your favor.

The second stupid thing you can do is to close a position early because you don’t think (or you are AFRAID) that it won’t reach your target. If you don’t play the odds properly, you will not realize the full profit potential. What if in our coin toss game we decided that we were going to take our profit for a “heads” at $1 instead of the $2 that we were supposed to get paid? If you remember, our profit was $50 for the first game. If we had only taken $1 for each win, we broke even. That is a lot of effort for nothing. Even worse, if we make some mistakes along the way (we all know that we are perfect traders right?) as we did in game number 2 where our profit was $30, we can lose money by not taking enough profit. Remember that we had a $15 loss for our mistake and 90 spins remaining. If we had taken only $1 for each of our 45 winning spins we would have broke even, minus the $15 puts us down $15 overall instead of being up $30. The system is designed for a 20 pip target, GO FOR IT.

The third stupid thing you can do is to get greedy. As I said in my sales material, if you had shot for 30 pips instead of 20 for the trades I listed, the profit would have been about half of what it was for taking just 20. Interesting how this whole thing works, huh?

Just taking 5 or 10 pips can be considered GREED as well as FEAR since you are so afraid of loss that you get greedy for those 5 or 10 pips compared to the potential loss of 20-40 pips. Don’t let it get you, follow the rules and be happy with your 20 pips.

The fourth stupid thing you can do is move your stop, believing that the market will eventually go in your favor. This is the fastest way to lose money. We are DAY traders. Yes the market may go in your favor but it may move 300 pips the other direction before it does, if it does. This could take weeks or months and you have a limited account balance. If 5% of your account is tied up waiting this position out, guess what. You are missing 20 other opportunities to make money instead of just sitting there waiting, down a hundred pips while you miss the opportunity to make 20 trades for 20 pips each. Maybe you break even, when you could be up 400 pips. JUST DON’T DO IT.

THE BEST THING YOU CAN DO

Once you place your trade, and place your stop and limit, TURN YOUR COMPUTER OFF and go do something else. You are now in automatic mode, and the market will take you out, either for a profit or for a loss. This is the best way to eliminate the temptation to succumb to FEAR or GREED and do something stupid.

The rest is up to you. Only you can decide whether or not to follow the rules and believe in the facts. This lesson is the most important to your success and I hope you won’t take it lightly. If you are trading and following the rules of your system, and not making money, you need to take a look in the mirror. It is not the system that is the problem, it is you. I am not trying to be harsh, but when I was not making money, it was not the system it was me so you are not alone. Don’t give up, because you can be successful if you just work through and figure out the problem.

Did you find this article useful?  For more useful tips and   hints, points to ponder and keep in mind, techniques, and insights pertaining to Internet Business, do please browse for more information at our websites.
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I am Mufiz from Mumbai.

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Introduction

In the United Kingdom, public health services are managed by the National Health Service (NHS). Unlike other countries like the United States, health in the UK is provided under a national health care system. This scheme is funded by the government through taxes and is also operated by the government. This kind of system is founded on the belief that all citizens in the United Kingdom are entitled to medical services. This goes a long way in ensuring that all the necessary medical services are available to consumers at their point of need. The National health care system is also advantageous in that it can provide long term services to those in need of them. The NHS was established with the intention of providing health care for all who needed it at the point of delivery because in the past, health care was not available to all who needed it. Consequently, there was a need to make sure that health care services were more coordinated in the region. There are numerous organisational changes that the NHS has undergone. First of all, it created an internal markets idea where health authorities and doctors were given funding from the government and they could use this to purchase health care from different groups like acute hospitals. However, with time, this scheme was not very effective as there was too much bureaucracy. Consequently, there was a need to bring in reforms in order to reduce inefficiencies and the current system was born; the use of primary care trusts. (Department of Health, 2006)

The Health care system in the United Kingdom is operated by a national budget made by the government. This budget normally includes all the issues that will affect the effectiveness of service provision such as; capital outlays, operating expenses and medical training. Specific health care providers normally operate on set budgets made on a yearly basis.

Despite all these benefits, one must not underestimate all the disadvantages that come with provision of health services under such a scheme. First of all, the total available resources will always and have always been less than the demand for health care. Consequently, there is a need to prioritise issues and allocate finances for the neediest groups. Groups such as the elderly are maintained at a pre-set fee and must therefore be denied certain medical procedures such as kidney dialysis; this procedure is only allowed for those who are fifty five years and below. There are many patients in the UK who have still not reaped the full benefits of a national health care system. Another challenge facing the health care system in the UK is the fact that there is little room for technology within service provision. All these challenges will be examined in detail in the subsequent portions of the essay.

Overview of the health care system in the UK

There are a number of stakeholders that are involved in provision of health services within the United Kingdom. The first being the Department of Health; their main objective is to ensure the well being and health of its citizens. Additionally, there is the National Health Service whose objectives are not clearly laid out. There are also Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) that have been commissioned with the process of selecting a number of health services for their local population in order to ensure the well being and health of the population. PCTs have the option of choosing health care services from any of the following groups (Department of Health, 2005)

social services
voluntary services
private clinics
private hospitals
NHS

In light of these alternatives, there is a variety of health care providers to choose from and these health care service providers need to market themselves in order to ensure that they get commissioned by the NHS trust care. Some of the issues that need to be given top priority during marketing include availability of suitable equipment and employment of new technologies in provision, Possession of well trained staff among other issues. Because of all these differences in priority issues, there is competition among health care service providers.

It should be noted that the government currently has moved towards incorporation of marketing strategies in the process of health care provision. The government has indicated their commitment towards marketing strategies because it uses private providers in the process of reducing the amount of time people spend waiting for services provided by the NHS. The government has also included independent centres in the process of treatment and diagnosis. Additionally, patients have been given choices between the NHS and private care providers with regard to elective services. The Department if Health (2006) asserts that whenever commissioning if health services is done, there should be utmost consideration of contestability. The latter trait is also applicable to medical services provided outside the hospital scenario such as carer services.

The relationship between the National Health Service and its suppliers is not clearly defined. This is because the NHS has some inherent community values between the organisation and its partners, however, it also has to consider the fact that it has to be contestable and market driven. This presents some complexities in the supplier-organisation relationship. There is a need to make sure that both aspects are adhered to. Health care trusts; who serve as health care commissioners, usually establish a criterion that facilitates the structuring of the local market. They are also charged with the responsibility of choosing service providers that will deliver health services that fall within their strategic direction and those ones that will also demonstrate that the organisation have obtained a return on their investment. (Coast, 1996)

What people think about the service

It should be noted that not many patients/clients are satisfied with the level of service provision by the NHS and even other service providers. The organisation subjects most of its patients to long waiting periods. Besides that, there are limited resources hence the NHS has to prioritise which services are more vital. The overall effect of this is that some patients may miss out on vital health services. Other people think that the NHS has not given them adequate opportunities to choose different health car options. Consequently, most of them seem to lack the ability to get better health care even when they can afford to.

Problems and issues of the service

Market research is a vital part of any organisation that wishes to stay ahead of its competitors. There is a need to include the needs of the patient when trying to decide on which health service providers will be chosen for certain medical services. Private health care providers should be acceptable to patients. If the NHS simply chooses its own bidders without consulting the population, then there may be customer dissatisfaction.

Another major marketing issue affecting the health service system, in the UK is the issue of technology and innovation within service delivery; this falls under the ‘product’ portfolio of the 4 principles of marketing. Service innovation is one of the key marketing techniques that any organisation worth its salt needs to take advantage. Principles of marketing are founded on the belief that a product with more value will fetch greater demand from the market. Service providers who continuously embrace innovation will provide consumers with greater value for their investments and this will give them an edge over their competitors. The NHS has not fully embraced those options in its marketing strategy. Consequently, patients are not getting the best quality service from the organisation. Innovation could have been seen through provision of health care for patients in the privacy of their homes. The organisation also has the option of introducing outpatient follow ups. This will ensure that health care consumers receive ‘after sales service’. This could go a long way in reducing the long patient lists since potential health problems could be detected early enough and dealt with. The overall health of the population may improve and this will enhance consumer satisfaction. The organisation needs to embrace the fact that most of its consumers re not satisfied with their level of service provision because they have not been innovative. (Maynard, 1991)

In line with innovation, the NHS has not introduced numerous choices for the consumer. There is a lack of innovation during the process of designing product packages. Issues such as community service are not included in mainstream services offered by the NHS. The result of such an approach is that there is a sort of monopoly by the NHS trusts and general practitioners. The health organisation has not realised that consumers need to determine for themselves which services are more appropriate for them. By increasing choice for patients, there will be more responsiveness among health care providers and the NHS. This is an aspect that is lacking and needs to be embraced.

Innovation is not only applicable to the NHS; private health care providers need to embrace this too. In the past, they have not demonstrated their ability to incorporate new and creative ideas in health care provision. There is also a need to adopt technology in various aspects of their operations. Currently, most practitioners may be seen trying to outsource IT experts when dealing with medical records. This causes serious impediments to the delivery of services a it is too bureaucratic. Patients have complained about how most doctors they approach spend most of their time on the computer rather than on patients themselves.  This means that there is a need to train medical professionals on how to deal with new technologies. In line with this, there is also a problem with the coordination of Information Technology systems. Complaints have brought forward by patients about how different health providers affiliated to the NHS have no coordinated health care records. Therefore, a patient who had done an x-ray in one health clinic and seeks treatment from another health clinic will be asked to carry his or her results manually to the second clinic. This need not be the case; all private health care providers affiliated to the NHS should coordinate their information systems to maximise efficiency and also to prevent undue waiting periods for their consumers. (Dopson, 2003)

The third marketing problem that the NHS has is the issue of consumer education. Most consumers who may opt to go for elective services do not have the knowledge of where they can find these practitioners. The main marketing issue here is promotion. Compared to other public health services like education, there are minimal cases of promotion in the health services sector. Consumers need to know the various health options available to in order to make use of them. The main promotional tactic that has been utilised by the NHS is public relations. Many NHS trusts usually establish community services with their local populations and this is the major route that they have concentrated on. However, there is very little implementation of advertising campaigns by the NHS and other private health care providers. Additionally, there is the use of sales personnel to market health products. The latter strategy could be adopted by private health care providers who offer elective services. They have not promoted their services to various individual in order to let them know what they can offer. (Hyde, 2004)

External forces affecting the problems

Political

The NHS and private service providers are faced with certain political issues. They need to make sure that decisions made are in line with current legislations. If this does not occur, then there may be challenges from the public.  For example, an NHS trust in Derbyshire was faced with court battles from a patient after the primary trust made the decision to procure United Health Europe Limited as their private service provider. The case started in the High Court and eventually reached the court of Appeal which ruled that the NHS should start another process of procurement as they had made the wrong choice when selecting the private care provider because they had not engaged in adequate consultation with the public. This indicates that the NHS was lacking in the area of market research.

The Health Care and Social Care Act of 2001 requires that NHS primary care providers need to engage in adequate consultations with the public whenever there is a need to introduce new services to the market or before market testing. The issue of market research was also highlighted in the case of Morris v Trafford NHS trust. The NHS needs tp make sure that there is full involvement of the local community in any of its decisions.

Another political issue that affects the above marketing issues is conflict of interest. There are instances when commissioners of health services happen to be health providers themselves. This could undermine efforts to choose the most appropriate health clinician or service provider if the person doing the choosing can be chosen too. (Chappel et al, 2001)

Economic factors

The major factor that the NHS has to consider when offering services to the public is its budgetary constraints. The NHS is run by the government and mainly depends on budgetary allocations granted by the government. Consequently, there is a need to make sure that all the marketing services will be conducted within the given budget. This is a major constraint during the process of decision making; most services, equipments, recruitments have to be laid aside just because there is alack of adequate funding. Subsequently, the best decisions need to be made in order to maximise the limited resources available for use by the National Health Service.

In addition to this, there is also the issue of competition among private health care service providers. The government gave private health service providers the mandate to offer treatment and diagnosis to patients. This means that they need to make use of various marketing tools in order to stay ahead of their competitors. Most of them still lack the ability to develop adequate marketing strategies to deal with this new development. There are various options that marketers can use to deal with competition.

Another economic factor that affects the NHS is the fact that they have so many factors that they need to include in the decision making process. NHS trusts have numerous partners and stakeholders that they deal with on a day to day basis. As a result, they cannot make marketing decisions to suite themselves alone and then leave out their partners’ view points. They have to adopt consultative approaches within their marketing processes. (Mullen, 2004)

Social factors

It is quite necessary for the NHS to tackle some of the needs that their local communities have. This means that there should be identify some of the needs that their clientele have before they can adopt models for the company. It should therefore be noted that the number of patients is increasing by the day and the NHS needs to find out some of the causative factors from the community itself and then come up with strategies to deal with it. The issue of community involvement has led to one of the major marketing problems facing the NHS; market research. They seem to lack the ability to involve the public in this crucial awareness strategy and have therefore been lagging behind.

Private service-providers need to come up with innovative packages for their clientele. However, this can only be achieved through staff training and development. They also need to ascertain that their staff members have the best possible working conditions and also that they are given good salary packages. This will reduce confrontations within private clinics or hospitals and will also enhance cohesion.

Cultural factors

The people in the United Kingdom have taken up unhealthy lifestyles that are incompatible with healthy populations. Most people are fond of eating junk foods or foods rich in cholesterol. This means that the UK population is particularly vulnerable to heart related complications. Additionally, a large majority of the population engage in smoking hence increasing the cases of respiratory illnesses. Therefore, the NHS needs to prioritise some of these issues. They need to asses the level of prevalence of the above mentioned diseases through market research and then they need to come up with special product packages to combat them. (Chappel et al, 2001)

Technological factors

There is a need for the NHS to embrace more technology in the area of service provision. The field of medicine has numerous applications that can utilise technology. This can be in record keeping, coordination of services by other NHS providers, use of up to date equipments in the treatment and diagnosis phase and also in the administrative process. Countries such a the US do not have a national health care system and they boast of having one of the most technologically advanced medical systems in the world. This brings to light the fact that a national health care system can slow down technological adaptations.  However, with consistent efforts by the various stakeholders in the NHS, then there will be continuous improvement in this area.

Private health providers also need to embrace technology through use of advanced equipments and training techniques for their staff members.

Environmental factors

The major environmental aspect affecting health care providers is in relation to the community. The organisation is expected to participate in community cleaning services in order to serve as an example to the locals. This will boost their public relations and will go along way in promoting their services. Additionally, health care providers need to make sure that they use biodegradable disposing bags for their health related wastes.

Marketing strategies that can solve the problems

The first thing that the NHS needs to do is to adopt a market research strategy. Market research is the process of;

collecting
recording
analysing data that exists in the market (Kress, 1988)

This data will normally involve both consumers and competitors. Most of the time, market research is done in order to find out information before introduction of certain products or in order to come with forecasts. Normally, organisations will need to come up with demographic factors about their clients. Market research should be mainly be adopted by private health care providers. Since the government has given private service providers the mandate to offer health services to consumers directly, there will be a need to come up with the most attractive package since the sector is no vulnerable to market forces.

Some of the tools that the private service providers or the NHS can use to conduct their market research can include the use of questionnaires. They could find out what patients normally look for in a good health care system. In order to reduce ambiguity or diverse answers, there could be a list of these items to choose from. Additionally, the questionnaires could also include information about where consumers mostly go to purchase their health care and what prices are charged. This will give private service providers information about their competitors and will help them to come up with better prices for their services. This will help them in the process of achieving competitive edge. The main advantage of using questionnaires is that they take up relatively minimal time compared to other sources. Secondly, questions are straight forward and uniform. This will help the service providers come up with solutions as fast as they possibly can.

Market research can also be conducted through secondary sources. Here, private service providers can use the internet or company websites in order to compile information about some of their competitors. By conducting marketing research, private service providers will ensure that their prices, products and location strategies suite their clients. The internet is quite a valuable source on some of the strengths and weaknesses of health service providers. In case company websites are not available, then private health care providers can make use of journal article or newspapers containing information about their field of interest. There are also other countries in Europe that have adopted similar health care system to the UK’s. As result it possible for the NHS to emulate some of their marketing strategies in order to improve the public’s health. (Rossi, 1983)

Market research will go a long way in ensuring that two of the marketing problems mentioned above have been solved. The first was the issue of patient involvement in decision making processes. Issues found from the research should act as a basis for some of the changes to be incorporated into the NHS and also among private care providers. The second issue that will be solved is the issue of innovation. Consumers can give their take on some of the services that they would like to see in the NHS or among private service providers. This will ensure that most of these issues highlighted could be lumped up into anew product package. Consumers have numerous and creative ideas that could boost the public health care system in the United Kingdom.

The second marketing strategy that private service providers could adopt is through brand positioning. There are two main avenues available;

intangible brand strategy
tangible brand strategy

Intangible strategies are those brands that are not linked to any particular product. Such brands are usually designed to capture audiences through their names rather than the rationale behind them. The second type of strategy is the tangible brand strategy. These are brands that are linked to specific functions. The most appropriate strategy for private health care providers is the latter. This is because some of the most powerful organisations in the world have adopted this strategy. For example, FedEx has established a tangible strategy that links its name to guaranteed delivery. Citizen Bank has established brand that is responsive and rapid. (Bohmer et al, 2001)

The first step is the process of creating a strong brand image is through a compilation of items that may be most attractive to customers these could include

-properly trained nurses

-convenient locations

-best trained doctors

-has treated people for 50 years

These and many more could act as a platform. The market research strategy mentioned above could also act as a guide and will need more editing and analysis in order to come up with the most popular attributes. Thereafter, the health care providers could compare their attributes with those ones offered by the competitors and deduce which ones will fetch the highest market power. The health care providers then need to come up with feasibility options for different brand options. For example, is they choose the issue of having well trained nurses as their brand strategy, then they must asses what it will entail financially to adopt that trait. This is because possessing well trained nurses is a good motivating factor for patients but may not be very affordable for a particular service provider. (Mitton & Donaldson, 2004)

The issue of brand strategy is quite useful to private service providers because they have now been given the mandate to provide elective services. If clinics, hospitals, etc do not adopt a brand strategy, then they take the risk of disappearing among the other health care providers. Brand strategies will solve the problem of consumer education because they will act as platform for promoting the respective health service provider.

Conclusion

The National Health Service and private health providers have not involved the public in their decision making processes, they have also been slow in promotional efforts. Lastly, the two groups have also done very little innovation in their service delivery. These three marketing challenges can be solved through adoption of brand strategies and through market research. (Fowler, 1993) In the current market place, organisations are becoming highly competitive; using these marketing strategies could put an end to patient dissatisfaction.

Reference:

Department of Health (2006): About us: The Department of Health, retrieved from http://www.dh.gov.uk/AboutUs/fs/en accessed on 30 April 2008

Mitton, C. & Donaldson, C. (2004): Priority Setting Toolkit: A guide to the use of economics in healthcare decision making; London, UK: BMJ Publishing, pp. 35–45

Bohmer, P. et al (2001): Maximising health gain within available resources in the New Zealand public health system; journal of Health Policy, 55:37–50

Chappel, D. et al (2001):  Implementation and evaluation of local-level priority setting for stroke; Public Health. 2001, 115: 21–9

Maynard, A. (1991): Developing the Health Care Market; The Economic Journal, 101:1277–86.

Mullen, P. (2004): Quantifying priorities in healthcare: transparency or illusion? Health Service Management Resource; 17:47–58

Coast, J. (1996): Priority Setting: The Health Care Debate. Chichester; UK: Wiley

Fowler, F. (1993): Survey Research Methods; Newbury Park; CA; Sage; pg102

Kress, G. (1988): Marketing research; Prentice-Hall; London; pg 98

Rossi, P. (1983): Handbook of Survey Research; New York; Academic Press; pg 103- 108

Department of Health (2005): NHS improvement plans: putting people at the heart of public services; a report by Department of Health

Dopson, S. (2003): Leading Healthcare Organizations; Pal grave Macmillan

Hyde, j. (2004): Managing and Supporting People in Healthcare; Bailliere Tindall, London International Journal of Healthcare Management

Interest in Socially Responsible Investing Increases

Many investors have strong opinions that don’t involve their views on interest rates and stock prices. This might include support for a clean environment or concern for the poor and the disadvantaged – just to mention a few well-known causes.

Increasingly, these investors want their holdings to reflect their social, ethical or religious values. They wish to avoid companies that profit from activities they oppose, and support companies that behave in ways they consider appropriate or responsible. At the same time, however, most investors still want or need to earn a reasonable return on their portfolios.

Socially responsible investing (“SRI”) seeks to reconcile these two objectives by helping investors create diversified portfolios designed to deliver an acceptable level of performance, while at the same time excluding companies that don’t meet the their ethical standards. SRI investing recognizes that corporate responsibility and societal concerns are an important part of many investment decisions—particularly with the world’s increased focus on sustainability and climate change, among others.

SRI investors encourage corporations to improve their practices on environmental, social, and governance issues. You may also hear SRI-like approaches to investing referred to as mission investing, responsible investing, double or triple bottom line investing, ethical investing, sustainable investing, or green investing.

Increasing Interest
Over the last several decades many investors have shown an increased appetite for social investors. The Social Investment Forum, a nonprofit group that promotes socially responsible investing, calculates the total number of assets under professional SRI management rose from $629 billion in 1995 to $2.71 trillion in 2007. In fact, the Forum estimates that one out of every nine dollars under professional management in the US today—or 11% of the $25.1 trillion in total assets under management tracked in Nelson Information’s Directory of Investment Managers—is involved in socially responsible investing.

Why has socially responsible investing gained in popularity? One of the reasons may be that investors posed themselves a question similar to this one: while my number one investment goal will always be to create a properly diversified portfolio based on my personal risk tolerance levels,
how can I also do a bit of good for the environment, for the world or to improve the condition of mankind?

A second reason for SRI’s popularity is that some of the nation’s most prominent institutional investors have increasingly added a social focus to their investment decisions. These institutions, many with significant assets and often with great public, political and media clout, often carry both a big stick and use a loud voice. Some have become well-known advocates for social issues and this is often carried out through their investments in socially-responsible projects. An example is found in the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), one of the world’s largest public pension funds. CalPers recently announced support for the United Nation’s Principles for Responsible Investment, a menu of possible global actions on environmental, social and corporate issues.

A third reason for increased interest in SRI is the simple fact that it’s now much easier to access professionally managed SRI vehicles. Many investment firms have created specific investment processes that exclude companies that, in the investor’s view, focus on non-socially responsible or acceptable activities. Once these decisions have been made, the manager constructs a diversified portfolio within the desired constraints. The goal is to deliver performance consistent with the investor’s return objectives and tolerance for risk.

Structuring investments consistent with social, environmental or ethical objectives offer investors a way to align their portfolios to their own objectives. Please call today, for more information on incorporating a socially responsive component into your investment program.

Graeme H. Patey is a Financial Advisor located in Cleveland, Ohio and may be reached at 216-523-3015 or www.fa.smithbarney.com/graemepatey.

Smith Barney does not provide tax or legal advice, and it is important to consult with a tax or legal advisor before investing.

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INVESTMENT PRODUCTS: NOT FDIC INSURED • NOT GUARANTEED • MAY LOSE VALUE

Millions of people dream about owning their own business. Having the independence that being your own boss brings, the security that no one can fire you, enjoying a good income – and for the most successful – the accumulation of wealth and prosperity. Unfortunately, the cards are stacked against a new small business making it big – or making it at all. An endless stream of problems makes competition from large, sophisticated chains too intense. Many new start-ups end as failures.

Buying a franchise represents a different approach to starting a business.  For an upfront franchise fee plus ongoing royalty payments, the parent company teaches its business model and methods to the franchised-operator who shoulders all operating and financial responsibilities of the outlet. Some statistics are impressive: it is said over 40% of all U.S. retail sales are through franchised establishments. While franchise giants like McDonalds, KFC, H&R Block and Radio Shack are familiar, household names, franchises are available in a wide range of industries. The list of 3,000-plus companies selling franchises span over 100 different industry categories.

American Dream … Or Nightmare?
But just as franchising represents a chance to get rich, it’s also a chance to get stung. An alarming number of franchised operators make less than the minimum wage, working seven days, sixty to eighty hours a week, pursuing an expensive and elusive American Dream that turns into a nightmare. Since the ongoing franchise royalty payment comes right off the top, as a percentage of gross sales or a fixed minimum amount, the franchise company gets an assured revenue stream, even if its franchised units are operating unprofitably and are sold over and over again to new, unsuspecting buyers. The internet is filled with comments of the many people who lost $250,000 and more on concepts like eBay Drop off stores (iSold It), 30 Minute Fitness concepts (Curves), The UPS Store, etc. Yet many of these companies continue to sell and resell franchises over and over again. How do they accomplish that? Because there are enough people who think they can “believe” their way to success, even with a concept or business that’s not working in the marketplace. As discussed below, in many cases franchise investment decisions are incredibly based on emotionalism, not on business logic or even common sense.

Ownership And Being Your Own Boss?
Pride of ownership and being your own boss are highly touted phrases in franchise recruitment ads. But these are more fantasy than reality. Although you get all the financial exposure, headaches and stress of business ownership, what do you really own? A franchise owner is merely licensing a trademark (or service mark) from a company that dictates every detail of business operations. So the real boss isn’t you, but the company that sells you their franchise rights . . . and sea of franchise obligations.

Equity Build up?
But at least you’re building up equity, the ownership value of the business as a going concern beyond your investment of money, to compensate for all those years of hard work and long hours – right? Wrong – at least in the world of franchising. The franchise company reserves rights to acquire your entire business at below wholesale prices if their contract is not followed precisely. The acquisition rights provide for predetermined asset-based valuations, like book or liquidation value. These valuation methods provide bare minimum compensation (the used value of some file cabinets, office furniture, equipment, etc.) and are not generally used to determine the selling price of any business.

Absolutely no compensation is paid for established goodwill, the value of a business that is generating $X in profit or cash flow every month after years of effort, investment and expense – thus eliminating the most valuable ownership asset. Of course, you may be able to sell your franchise to a third party for a sales price that includes an earnings-based valuation. But that’s possible only if:
(a) you can find a buyer who is willing to live within the complexities of a franchise relationship, and
(b) you happen to own a franchise that’s showing healthy profits.

What follows is a bottom-line franchise checklist and tips compiled by franchise attorney and franchise expert, Mr. Franchise, based on reviewing over 500 franchise offering circulars and twenty-eight plus years of experience in the franchise industry – including ownership of a very successful franchise. These factors to consider in making a franchise investment will help you eliminate 95% of the companies you are considering. Then, you can concentrate your efforts on the 5% “cream” of the crop” companies that may deserve consideration. This franchise checklist assumes you’re suitable for and willing to live within the confines of a franchise relationship. It also assumes the franchise company:

(1) has itself successfully operated the concept being franchised for at least five years at multiple locations;
(2) is not plagued by franchise litigation and franchise lawsuits from disgruntled franchise owners;
(3) does not have unusually high franchise attrition rates (owners who have “left the system”); and
(4) has a balanced, fair franchise contract.

SOLD It – An American Dream That Turned Into A Nightmare
An example of a franchise company in trouble that failed to meet basic threshold standards is iSOLD It, an eBay drop-off store franchise. The company started its one and only company-owned store in November of 2003. Just weeks later, on December 10, 2003 they filed an application to sell franchises. The California Department of Corporations didn’t say “What are you thinking? You’ve only been in business a couple weeks, how can you even consider selling franchises?” Nor did they require this be disclosed as a risk factor on the cover page of the Franchise Offering Circular, as it should have. Disclosure responsibilities ultimately rest with the company (and its attorneys), and this will become one of many issues in future franchise litigation.

Instead, the Department simply collected its $675 filing fee and issued an order declaring the franchise registration effective the next day – on December 11, 2003. Then the magic of franchise marketing  took over. By 2006 the company had nearly 200 franchised drop off stores in operation and was touted by Entrepreneur Magazine as #1 in their list of “Top New Franchises for 2007” and #17 on their “Hotter Than Hot” franchise list. Entrepreneur Magazine, which requires franchise companies to submit their FOC’s (Franchise Offering Circulars) for supposed review each year before they’re listed, didn’t consider the high attrition rate (franchise owners leaving the system) or the fact that the audited financials in their FOC showed the company hadn’t operated profitably since 2004 as serious negatives and awarded iSold It the #1 listing for Top New Franchises of 2007. How did all of this happen? It’s yet another bizarre reality in the world of franchising.

The franchise company’s audited financial statements for the year ended 12-31-05 showed an operating loss of $1.1 million. Nine months later, in September of 2006, the net operating loss mushroomed to over $4 million.

In its November 3, 2006 Franchise Offering Circular, the table in Item 20 disclosed a total of 10 franchise owners leaving the system, yet a hand count of Exhibit D-3’s “Former Franchisees” revealed a significantly different number – 44. A similar “discrepancy” exists about franchise transfers. Item 20 says 12 transfers whereas Exhibit D-3 discloses 27.

In a long overdue letter distributed to franchise owners on April 5, 2007, CEO Ken Sully painted a dire picture of an American Dream that had turned into a nightmare. Mr. Sully’s letter admitted the company has not been profitable since 2004 (according to the audited financials, the company showed its one and only operating profit of $356,286 in 2004 before the precipitous downward spiral of 2005 and 2006). Over 60 franchised stores have closed and many more are struggling for survival. Mr. Sully observed “Tragically, many individuals who believed passionately in the potential for the category have lost sizable investments, including homes and retirement savings.”

Lost homes and retirement savings? How could such a travesty happen? I counseled a number of persons considering an iSold It franchise and warned all of them against the investment. Fortunately, they followed my advice. The concept was never proven in the marketplace before franchise efforts began, violating the most basic Franchise 101 precept. I also felt the management team lacked strong franchise credentials and the five-day training program was woefully inadequate. Finally, the franchise company was operating increasingly in the red and had a high attrition rate (owners leaving the system). It didn’t take a lot of brain power to see this was an accident waiting to happen. I predicted the bubble would burst and, sadly, it did.

Common sense could and should have prevented so many people from losing so much. Unfortunately franchise sales persons appeal to emotions (passions and potential, to use Mr. Sully’s terms) and strive to keep common sense and business logic out of the buying equation. If a franchise company is able to obtain a ranking on a media list, the sale is even easier. Reprints of high rankings on lists, like Entrepreneur Magazine, are included in the package given to franchise buyers, who are lulled into a false sense of security and begin to stumble over each other in a rush to sign up before someone else takes their desired territory (another favorite closing technique used to sell franchises).

iSold It! amended its FOC at the end of May, 2007 to add some long overdue risk factor language to the cover page of its Franchise Offering Circular. Hmmmm… maybe they read my comments above and did a little research. The new FOC cover page risk factor language says their “franchise system is still new and unproven.” That’s very interesting. How can they say a franchise system, that’s approaching its fourth anniversary, is “still new?” Maybe they’re looking at things from a ‘how old is our universe’ perspective? The word “unproven” is another play on words. The system is most certainly proven in the sense that many people, to quote Mr. Sully, “have lost sizable investments, including homes and retirement savings.” So why not use this quote directly in their Franchise Offering Circular? Answer: can’t sell any franchises that way.

In an August 31, 2007 Business Week article, CEO Sully claimed it wasn’t necessary to disclose these risk factors in the FOC. His reasoning: “We told everybody that this is sort of like the wild, wild West” he says. “It’s a brand-new concept and nobody knew for sure where it was going.” Disclosure was added to the UFOC recently, he says, “because of the number of stores that weren’t understanding the complexity of the business.” Hello? You don’t tell your franchise investors after the fact what you were required to disclose in the FOC before they bought so they could make an informed investment decision. That’s the purpose of franchise disclosure laws. And claiming written disclosure of risk factors in the FOC is not necessary if a prospective buyer hears a salesman’s verbal wild, wild West story ignores franchise disclosure responsibilities and is really an admission the company failed in this regard. With its amended FOC, the company incredibly continues marching forward with franchise marketing efforts.

Now, let’s consider the franchise checklist and factors to consider before any leap into franchising.

INDUSTRY TREND
Is the franchise in a cutting-edge industry that is doing well currently and is projected to do well in the future despite any economic slowdown? Education and home-improvement services are stable categories. Food is over-saturated generally and, except in exceptional circumstances, is not worth the high investment, long hours, headaches and marginal income.

TOTAL INITIAL FRANCHISE INVESTMENT
In general, don’t expect a franchise that requires a five-figure initial franchise investment to produce a six-figure income. As with most things in life, you get what you pay for. On the other hand, don’t assume a six-figure investment will lead to a six-figure income level. Be realistic and conservative. Is the total initial franchise investment range (including working capital) $125,00 or less; and the maximum investment less than $200,000? You can find solid companies in this investment range if you’re willing to look around.

Don’t forget to consider long-term financial commitments, particularly the real property lease (see discussion below under “LEASING AND LOCATION”). Also, the working capital estimate (called “additional funds” in Item 7 of the company’s franchise offering circular) does NOT cover operations up to the break-even point. It only covers a short initial phase (usually only three-months) of operating costs As the break-even point (where revenues cover all operating costs) may not happen for one, two or more years, knowing only what it’s going to take to get you through the first 90 days is not helpful – in fact it may set you up for financial suicide. In many cases, reaching the break-even point can require more reserve funds than the total initial capital investment. Don’t ever forget the name of Item 7 in the Franchise Offering Circular: “Initial Investment.” If you don’t have enough reserve capital to reach the critical break-even point, your entire investment will go down the drain and franchise failure occurs.

One franchise owner in a relatively low investment and low operating cost window cleaning franchise said his biggest surprise was how long it actually took his franchise to be profitable. Going in, he thought it would take 12 to 15 months. It ended up taking twice that time. Fortunately, he had enough reserve capital to make it there, but declined to say what his actual franchise profits or income level were once he reached “franchise profitability.” If you’re operating just above the break even point and making less than minimum wage, is that anyone’s definition of success?

REAL BUSINESS
Is this a legitimate retail business, as opposed to a “work out of your home” operation? The vast majority of work out of your home concepts produce marginal income at best.

FRANCHISE MANAGEMENT EXPERTISE
Does the management team of the franchisor (the company selling you the franchise) have executives with demonstrated past achievement and experience in operating a franchise company (not just persons who have sold franchises)? If not, this is a big RED FLAG. Many companies enter franchising and fail to realize they are in a brand new business – one requiring entirely different management skills and abilities to navigate franchise relationships. A seasoned franchise management infrastructure must be in place. If the franchise management team lacks strong franchise credentials, or does not receive ongoing advice from qualified individuals, you might as well take a trip to Las Vegas with the money you’re intending to invest. Your chances of making vs. loosing money are roughly equal.

NORMAL WORKING HOURS AND DAYS; SUFFICIENT FRANCHISE INCOME LEVEL
Will the nature of the business allow you to work a normal five-day, forty-hour workweek? Life is too short for the seven-day, sixty to eighty hours a week, workaholic lifestyle that destroys health, family and pocketbook. Financially, we’ve calculated the true hourly rate for franchise owners who work these workaholic hours and discovered many are making far less than the minimum wage. One couple who operated a $200,000 fancy pizza franchise in an upscale mall were shocked to discover they were making fifty cents an hour each. Hardly an income level to recoup or justify the franchise investment. Many more fast-food franchise operators make even less, or operate at a loss until their funds, retirement savings, homes, etc. are exhausted. Buying a franchise in a non-food industry doesn’t necessarily improve the franchise profit picture. In a 2006 article “Mail Boxes Etc. Owners Fighting UPS Conversion,” a Mail Boxes, Etc. franchise owner who operated his franchise since 1993 reported profits for a typical MBE store like his were $16,000 per year after paying royalty and advertising fees to the franchise company. That calculates out to about $8.33 per hour for a forty-hour work week, approximately the wage of an entry fast-food worker.

Another major shortcoming of disclosures in the Franchise Offering Circular is not telling you how much money the franchises in the network are making. Instead of answering what is the most important question in a franchise investment decision, the franchise disclosure laws make this “optional” for the franchise company to answer or not. If they do answer this critical question, it will be found in Item 19. But don’t hold your breath – more than 90% of franchise companies “decide” not to answer this question. It’s another bizarre reality in the world of franchising. Although they collect complete monthly (and in many cases, weekly) financial profit and loss statements from their franchise owners, and know exactly how much their franchises are making (or losing), more than 90% decide not to share this information before you buy one of their franchises. A number of franchise salespersons have told persons asking this question: “the franchise laws don’t allow us to answer that question.” Nothing could be further from the truth.

And just because you’re a business executive making a 6-figure income now, don’t assume this income level will be duplicated in a franchise investment just because the company “approves” your application. One such executive, despite a plethora of negative feedback from current and past franchise owners who’d lost everything, marched forward with her franchise investment in a 30-minute fitness concept. Despite her 6-figure income, she didn’t invest a dime in professional franchise evaluation advice and stated she was taking a leap of faith, hoping to build her wings on the way down. Build her wings on the way down? Sound’s (and is) crazy, but this happens all the time. Due to the ploys of the franchise salesperson, too many franchise investment decisions are based on emotionalism. Prior business skills, business sense (and even common sense) are short-circuited. Needless to say, if this business executive made a similar investment decision for her corporate employer paying the 6-figure salary, she would be promptly fired.

MINIMUM NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES
Can you operate the franchise business with 6 or fewer employees? Managing dozens (or in the case of some fast-food operations – hundreds) of minimum-wage teenagers who are constantly quitting or simply not showing up for work is a royal pain in the ….. Well, you know what we mean.

LEASING AND LOCATION
For most retail franchises, the triple net lease of the location is the biggest financial commitment, larger than the total franchise investment. Yet, the typical real estate lease and its ramifications are not required disclosure in any Franchise Offering Circular (FOC). For example, an estimate that you’ll need 2,000 sq. feet of space with expected rental of $5 to $10 a foot per month is normally disclosed in the Franchise Offering Circular’s initial investment table as Leased Real Estate $10,000 to $20,000. A footnote to the investment table may say “assumes 2,000 sq. ft. at $5 to $10 a foot.”

But, that’s only the beginning of a much longer story. The lease is normally a 5 to 10 year triple-net lease. So, the financial commitment made when the lease is signed is at least $600,000 (at $5/foot for 5 years) to $2,400,000 (at $10/foot for 10 years). And this doesn’t include substantial, additional obligations to pay all of the landlord’s yearly property taxes, insurance, common area operating expenses, etc. With hundreds of thousands (or even millions) of dollars in financial obligations at stake, personal guarantees and other risks, more than just a warm, fuzzy feeling that everything will work out is necessary.

Key questions to ask here:

(a) is the franchise you’re considering one that can be operated in a low rent commercial business zone? Avoid franchises requiring the costly expenses and triple-net leases of a visible retail storefront and the extravagant rent associated with areas of high foot traffic, like shopping malls. You’ll sleep much better at night.

(b) What’s your total financial commitment under the lease?

(c) Do you have sufficient liquid assets (or a willing, sufficiently liquid third party guarantor) to meet the landlord’s lease qualification standards?

If you don’t, you might as well forget about investing in the franchise. Or even worse, getting involved in a questionable franchise and business model, then realizing you’ve made a big mistake – and discovering you’re on the hook personally for a $500,000+ lease obligation.

A related real estate variant is securing a lease with a sufficient term (with renewal options) to recoup your investment and make a profit. In July, 2005, an attorney in her mid-forties purchased an existing ice cream store franchise for $375,000 believing it to be a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” Trading her briefcase for an ice cream scoop, she attended the company’s 11-day Ice Cream University and assumed operations of the ice cream store. Turned out it was an opportunity – but only to inherit a store with numerous problems. These problems included (but were not limited to) a lease that would expire the following summer and a landlord who’d previously announced the lease would not be renewed. Rather than pay the $100,000-plus in relocation costs, the attorney returned to the practice of law, but is still paying off $350,000 remaining on the loan taken out to buy the once-in-a-lifetime franchise opportunity. Although there’s a franchise lawsuit pending, it’s yet another case of “franchise fever” – this time attacking a professional no less. Who would ever commit to paying $375,000 for an existing retail franchise without checking out the l-e-a-s-e? Sound’s like another bad attorney joke, but I can guarantee she’s not laughing. Business fundamentals were ignored or forgotten in the rush to acquire the opportunity of a lifetime. And I’m willing to bet not a dollar was spent on competent, pre-investment franchise advice.

IMAGE AND LIFESTYLE
How does flipping burgers, scooping ice cream and cleaning restrooms fit the image of what you want to do for a living? Investing in a franchise will be the most important financial and psychological decision you ever make. Many prospective franchise owners fail to realize they’ll be wearing virtually every hat at some point, from salesperson to bad-debt collector, from firing employees to bathroom janitor. The franchise owner is usually the first one to arrive in the morning – and the last one to turn out the lights late at night. And you’ll need to forget about corporate perks like paid vacations, paid holidays and sick pay. In their place, substitute financial pressures, unexpected events and money draining out of your savings and retirement accounts. Does the typical working day and responsibilities of the franchise you are considering fit your personal image and desired lifestyle? You can experience some of this BEFORE you invest by working for a couple weeks in an outlet owned by one of the existing franchise owners.

TRUE FRANCHISE VALUE
Buying a franchise from a “blue chip” franchise company that has spent decades and hundreds of millions on advertising to develop their brand can make a lot of sense. These companies have “true franchise value” that compensates for the long-term disadvantages of ongoing royalty and advertising fund payments. Often these additional payments literally mean the difference between earning a profit and operating at a loss. In unknown franchise chains with little or no brand recognition, you the franchise buyer are building their brand from scratch, and are saddled with severe, long-term competitive disadvantages.

In these unknown franchise chains, you have to ask yourself a simple, common sense question. What value is the company giving you that you couldn’t learn on your own by working at one of their locations as an employee for a couple months? Franchise truth be told, what most unknown franchise companies are selling is just a business opportunity – teaching you how to get into a new business venture. But unlike a business opportunity seller that charges a one-time fee to help get you into business, they call it a “franchise” and charge ongoing royalty and advertising fees like they’re a McDonalds or other blue chip franchise company.

The reality is they’re not a McDonalds type franchise – not even close to one. In the majority of these lesser-known franchise chains, you’d be much better off starting an independent business on your own. You can learn most or all of their so-called “secrets” in the franchise interviewing process and by talking to (and possibly working a short time for) existing franchise owners.

FRANCHISE PROFITABILITY & “SUCCESS”
Dr. Timothy Bates’ study released in 1993 by the Entrepreneurial Growth and Investment Institute in Washington, DC (and another study published in 1996) was the first to compare start-up costs, franchise profitability and franchise failure rates for franchised vs. nonfranchised firms. In his analysis of some 7,270 firms over the test period, Dr. Bates found that startup capital for a franchised business averaged $85,293 compared with average startup capital for nonfranchised firms of $30,156. In 1987 nonfranchised firms reported average pre-tax net income of $19,744 as compared to a loss of (-$1,548) for franchised firms. Dr. Bates concluded “Despite their larger revenues, much better capitalization, and their supposed advantages of affiliation with a franchisor parent firm, the franchisees lag behind cohort young firms in profitability and rates of survival.”

The franchise companies ignore both studies by Dr. Bates, pretending they never happened. Instead, other techniques are employed. For example, some franchise companies use misleading success statistics to sell their franchises. Their promotional materials say franchises generally enjoy a 90% success rate, compared to less than 20% for independent firms. These figures are based on unverified information supplied thirty years ago by a select, non-representative group of franchise companies. A full third of the companies receiving “questionnaires “ elected not to participate. There was no verification of any of the information supplied by the franchise companies, not even random, spot checking. Nor was any effort made to identify franchise companies who, along with the franchise owners in their chain, had gone out of business.

Even more recent “studies” saying nine out of ten franchise owners (90%) consider their franchise to be somewhat or very successful also suffer from serious methodological flaws. These were simply telephone surveys of franchise owners who were still in business and asked to say (with absolutely no definition of the term “successful”) whether they felt their business was “very unsuccessful,” “somewhat unsuccessful,” somewhat successful” or “very successful.” Franchise owners who had gone out of business or bankrupt were not included in the survey.

Even if terms are defined and a representative sample obtained, franchise owners can be a quirky group. Hence the need, as in Dr. Bates’ studies, for review of financial data. I remember evaluating an existing franchise for a client. I asked the current owner of the franchise if his business was successful. He said it was very successful. But his financial statements revealed a different picture. He’d never taken a dollar out of the business for himself, never made a profit in two years of operation, and was on the verge of bankruptcy. Another owner of a bakery franchise, interviewed by Business Week, says being successful in franchising means “adjusting your definition of success.” He says he makes a profit, but declined to say what it is, or if he’s ever recouped his $250,000-plus initial franchise investment. Incredibly, he insists he’s in business “for lifestyle reasons, not profit reasons.” Huh? Probably a quote from the company’s franchise recruitment materials. In the world of franchising “success” and “profitability” are very subjective terms.

FRANCHISE BROKERS WHO FIND YOUR PERFECT MATCH?
Does the franchise you are considering have its own in-house marketing department, or does it utilize outside franchise brokers? The use of franchise brokers is a definite red flag. First, it indicates the franchise company is not very serious about who it lets into the franchise network, or even worse, they’re desperate to sell franchises. Second, franchise brokers receive a substantial commission up to 50% or more of the franchise fee you’re paying the franchise company. Franchise Broker Realities: (1) Their service is definitely not “free” despite these and other similar misrepresentations. It’s really common sense – how could anyone offer a “free” service and survive in business? Unfortunately, the common sense part of the brain tends to short circuit when the franchise brainwashing process begins. The simple truth is if you buy one of the franchises they’re hawking, your money goes to the franchise company, then into the broker’s pocket. If anyone ever calculated how much time they spend to collect their $15,000 or $20,000 commission, it’s probably a lot more than a brain surgeon earns. (2) Franchise brokers definitely do NOT have your best interests in mind. They will do or say whatever they have to in order to close a deal and earn their commission.

Many franchise brokers claim they will help you find a franchise company that is the perfect match for you. In the beginning it sounds good. There’s some personality testing and review of your personal finances. At the end of the day, it turns out they only represent (and steer you towards) a handful of small franchise companies you’ve never heard of before. A detailed analysis often reveals these highly touted franchises produce mediocre or even below minimum wage financial performance. Yet franchise brokers don’t mention this, and individuals continue to rely on their recommendations, believing the broker represents them. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Also, many franchise brokers call themselves franchise consultants. A franchise consultant is usually an independent adviser who offers advice to others (usually franchise companies or firms that want to franchise their business) for a fee. This makes their advice more impartial in theory as long as they are not compensated by third parties. Because they are not legally required to disclose actual or potential conflicts of interest, it’s important ask questions. For example, if you’re using a franchise consultant who is recommending the “best franchises,” are they paid anything by the companies on their list? This could be a commission, kick-back or consulting fee. As mentioned, many franchise brokers call themselves “franchise consultants” to hide their true identity. So, make sure if you’re dealing with a franchise consultant, he or she is not really just a franchise broker in disguise.

FRANCHISE DISCLOSURE LAWS
The franchise disclosure laws, while requiring franchise companies to give you certain, limited information, don’t come close to protecting your interests. For example, as discussed above, Item 7 of the Franchise Offering Circular only requires an estimate of additional funds for 90 days as part of the investment information. But economic reality is you need to know the additional funds you’ll need to reach the break-even point, which can be years away, or your entire “initial” investment will go down the drain. You’d think this type of information would be required by franchise disclosure laws, but it’s not.

FRANCHISE REGISTRATION LAWS
Don’t ever assume that because a company has registered its Franchise Offering Circular in your state, someone at the state has approved or reviewed the document in your favor. Franchise registration is obtained by simply forwarding documents and paying a filing fee – period. In most cases, franchise offering circulars are given an extremely limited review to ensure state-specific disclaimers are present.

I remember filing a registration application for a new franchise company in a state with a reputation for being one of the “toughest” franchise registration law states in the country. After the three-week review period set forth in the statute had gone by, and not hearing anything, I called the examiner assigned to the application. After looking through his files, he finally found my client’s offering circular and application. He apologized for entirely misplacing the file and promised to immediately review the application and call me back. Ten minutes later, he called to say he’d finished and was making the registration effective that day. Ten minutes of review and the franchise company was given the state’s green light. This is not an isolated case – it happens all the time.

WHAT STANDARDS MUST A FRANCHISE COMPANY MEET TO SELL FRANCHISES; ARE THERE ANY REQUIREMENTS TO FRANCHISE A BUSINESS?
Incredibly, the answer is – none. There are no minimum standards or requirements to franchise a business except preparing a Franchise Offering Circular. It’s yet another bizarre reality in the world of franchising.

You and I could have no background in any business, form a new corporation or LLC, capitalize it with only $1, put together a Franchise Disclosure Document and file it with any franchise registration state. While the offering may be subject to an impound or escrow requirement because of the low capitalization ($1), we’d still get “registered” and be able to sell as many franchisees as we want.

In these 14 franchise registration states, we may not be able to receive any money until each franchise actually opened, but simply posting a bond would alleviate this difficulty in the franchise registration states. And in the vast majority of states there are no franchise registration laws, so we’d be able to sell franchises and collect fees with impunity once we compiled our Franchise Offering Circular. The federal FTC Franchise Rule doesn’t protect against this risk either – it only requires disclosure (i.e. provide a Franchise Disclosure Document) and has no registration component or minimum standards for franchise companies.

Basic investor protections and requirements found in both federal and state securities laws for over 50 years were never carried over to franchise investments. While most non-blue chip franchise companies could never even qualify to sell you a single share of stock in their company, they are entirely free to collect unlimited franchise fees, ongoing royalties, equipment and other purchases, as well as cause you to incur financial obligations totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars, or even millions in some cases. This isn’t information you’re likely to find in the glowing articles about franchising and franchise companies prevalent in the media.

CLOSING REMARKS
Remember, you are the only guardian when it comes to your franchise investment. It’s definitely an environment where the phrase “Buyer Beware” applies. So, before you sign on the line and make what will undoubtedly be the most serious financial and emotional commitment of your life, get all the facts and figures.

One couple I counseled after-the-fact, invested $2 million in a new franchise company. The contract they signed gave them no right to terminate, no matter what the franchise company did or didn’t do. Of course, the contract gave the franchise company unlimited termination ability, a right it had exercised. The franchise company’s management team had no one with experience in running a franchise company. Incredibly, the couple had not spent a dime on legal or business advice before investing $2 million. The once friendly franchise company had transformed into a formidable foe and was poised to take over their franchise. Sadly, this happens too frequently in franchise investments. Decisions are made on fuzzy feelings and emotionalism. In an effort to save a couple thousand dollars, franchise investors risk homes, retirement savings, everything they have. Then they scratch their heads in amazement later on after inevitable and often horrific problems develop, wondering how they could have been so nearsighted.

Another indispensable level of inquiry is whether you’re getting true franchise value and whether you’d be better off doing the business on your own. In the overwhelming majority of franchises touted by unknown companies, franchise value isn’t there and doing the same thing independently makes better economic sense and actually decreases the risk of failure.

Finally, and this applies to franchise investments as well as investing in any business venture, develop a plan to succeed but also plan a franchise exit strategy that minimizes financial risk in case things don’t work out. Both plans need to be thought through before the investment is made. Don’t wait until problems develop to start thinking about a franchise exit strategy – by then it’s usually too little, too late.

For more information, visit the Franchise Foundations Website.

© 1990-2008, Kevin B. Murphy, B.S., M.B.A., J.D. – all rights reserved

No flexibility working at a full time job

Your kids have exams and you need to sit down with their studies, but there is an important conference coming up and there is no way you can take off now. You are obviously in a dilemma and do not know which to make your priority. Don’t you wish you could just sit back and help your kids? Well there is a way to do just that, you can make money online.

Or your sister is visiting you and you haven’t seen her for years, but you have exhausted all your leave and cannot dare to apply for more. Your spouse has been offered a wonderful opportunity in another town, but will it be possible for you to relocate and find a job for yourself there? You do not want to be on call 5 days a week at your job, with only the weekend to catch up with your issues at home, so what the other option you have is to work from home to make money online.

You have realized a creative streak in you and would like to explore the possibility of changing your profession, but how do you go about it? Well you will have the freedom and the flexibility to do all this and much more if you opt to make money online. No more waiting for the next lot of leave to come up, you need not miss out on any of the things you want to do. There are various options for work online and you do not have to be without a “job” at all.

The more your work the more you can earn

You have been slogging and working yourself to the bone but you do not see that raise coming. You begin to wonder whether you should tackle the boss for a raise in a subtle way or look for another more lucrative job. You need have none of these qualms if you make money online. You hold the rights to what you want to earn in your own hands and can make as much money as you want to by opting to make money online. The more you work the more you can earn, and if you want to take a break there is no problem.

Set your heart on a snazzy car – but how do you make that extra buck

Now that you have set your heart on a snazzy new car and you just have to have it. You do not mind working harder to make the extra cash but there just does not seem to be a way to do it. You have a regular job, but the options to work overtime or make some extra money are very remote. Well you need not worry about this anymore you can make money online. Without giving up your regular job you can work outside office hours and earn that extra amount. Are you wondering where to find this dream opportunity, well you just have to make money online.

INTRODUCTION

One of the outstanding features of globalization in the financial services industry is the increased access provided to non-local investors in several major stock markets of the world. Increasingly, stock markets from emerging markets permit institutional investors to trade in their domestic markets. Indian stock market opened to Foreign Institutional Investors in 14th September 1992, initially with lot of restrictions. The regulation on them are liberalized and minimized now, since 1993 has received a considerable amount of portfolio investment from foreigners in the form if FIIs investment in equities. This has become a turning point of India stock market. The government of India announced the policy of the government to permit the FII investment in India capital market. According to the SEBI modified the regulation on 14-11-1995. In order to make investment in India equity market they wanted to register with Security Exchange Board of India as foreign institutional investors. It is possible for foreigners to trade in India securities without registering as Foreign Institutional investors, but such cases require approval from Reserve Bank of India or the Foreign Institutional Promotion Board. They are generally concentrated in secondary market.

Domestic market alone not able to meet the growing capital requirement of the country and financing from mutilated institution has lost primary in the emerging in the global order .Besides aimed primarily at ensuring non-debt creating capital inflows at a time of extreme balance of payment crisis. It was to tie over the balance of payment crisis in the early 1990s

Portfolio flows often referred to as ‘hot- money’ are notoriously volatile capital flows. They have also responsible for spreading financial crisis causing contagion in international market. Evan though, the FIIs have been plying a key role in the financial markets since their entry into this country. The explosive portfolio flow by FII brings with them great advantages as they are engine of growth, lowering cost of capital in many emerging market. This opening up of capital markets in emerging market countries has been perceived as beneficial by some researchers while others are concerned about possible adverse consequences.

Clark and Berko (1997) emphasize the beneficial effects of allowing foreigners to trade in stock markets and outline the “base-broadening” hypothesis. The perceived advantages of base-broadening arise from an increase in the investor base and the consequent reduction in risk premium due to risk sharing. Other researchers and policy makers are more concerned about the attendant risks associated with the trading activities of foreign investors. They are particularly concerned about the herding behavior of foreign institutions and the potential destabilization of emerging stock markets.

This study addresses these issues in the context of foreign institutional investors’ (FII) trading activities in a big emerging market – India. India liberalized its financial markets and allowed FIIs to participate in their domestic markets in 1992. Ostensibly, this opening up resulted in a number of positive effects. First, the stock exchanges were forced to improve the quality of their trading and settlement procedures in accordance with the best practices of the world. Second, the information environment in India improved with the advent of major international financial institutional investors in India. On the negative side we need to consider potential destabilization as a result of the trading activity of foreign institutional investors. This is especially important in an emerging country that has embarked upon reforms to open up its market.

OBJECTIVES The objectives of this study were as follows;

(1) To study the role of FII investment in the Indian stock market, ( 2 ) To examine the causal relationship between net FII investment and BSE sensex using granger causality test (3) To examine the causal relationship between net FII investment and NSE sensex using granger causality test (4 )To examine whether FIIs were a channel of global disturbance into the Indian stock market.

TOOLS: Study was carried out with the help of unit root test, co integration test, causal regression and F statistics for FII investment and index from BSE and NSE

LETERATURE REVIEWS

Gayathri Devi .R in 2003, she conducted study on “Causal Relationship between FIIs and Stock Market: A critical study”. It revealed that there was long run relationship between net FII investment and sensex, FII investment did not respond the short-run changes or technical-position of the market and they were more driven by fundamentals, and FII investments did granger cause India stock market. “Selen Serisoy Guerin” in 2006, conducted study on “The Role of Geography in Financial and Economic Integration: A comparative Analysis of foreign direct investment, Trade and Portfolio Investment Flows”.. It found support for the argument that most FDI among Industrial countries were horizontal, whereas most FDI investment in developing countries was vertical and our results indicated that portfolio investment flows compared to FDI, were highly sensitive to change in GDP per capita, this implied that if there was a negative output stock, portfolio investment flows would be more volatile than FDI. A.Julia Priya, D. Lazar and Joseph Jeyapual in 2005, they conducted study on “Role of Foreign Institutional Investors on stock market development in India”, Results revealed that sensex, market capitalization of NSE, Turnover of BSE and NIFTY without market capitalizations were influenced by Foreign Institutional Investors“Suchismita Bose and Dipankor coondoo” in 2004, they conducted study on “The Impact of FII Regulation in India”,. These results strongly suggested The liberalization policies had the desired expansionary effect and had either increased the mean level of FII inflows and/or the sensitivity of these flows to a change in BSE returns and /or the Parthapratim pal in 2004 conducted study entitled as “Recent volatility in stock markets in India and foreign institutional investors. Findings of this study indicated that Foreign institutional investors had emerged as the most dominant investor group in the domestic stock market in India. Particularly, in the companies that constitute the Bombay stock market sensitivity index, their level of control was very highinertia of these flows.

“sandhya Ananthanaryanan, Chandrasekhar krishnamurthi and Nilajan Sen in 2003 conducted study as “Foreign institutional Investors and Security Returns: Evidence from Indian Stock Exchanges”, It found strong evidence consistent with the base-broadening hypothesis.It did not find compelling confirmation regarding momentum or contrarian strategies being employed by FIIs.It supported price pressure hypothesis.

It did not find any substantiation to the claim that foreigner’ destabilize the market. J.S. Pasricha and Umesh.C.Singh in 2001, tried to analyze the impact of FIIs investment on Indian capital market. Their study revealed that FII are here to stay and have become the integral part of Indian capital market. Their entry has led to greater institutionalization of the market. They have brought transparency in the market operations.S.S.S. Kumar in 2001, attempted in his study to find the effect of FIIs on the Indian stock market. The inference analysis of the paper suggests that FII investments are more driven by market fundamentals rather than by short term changers or technical position of the market. As per K. Seethapathi and V. Subbulakshmi study entitled “Foreign investment: Need for focus”, They concluded that, the flows have to pick up. The political will is to be demonstrated by the government. In addition, the regulators have to identify the reasons for failure in converting approvals into actual investments and those issues are to be addressed immediately. E. Han Kim and Vijay Singal in 1997, they conducted study entitled “Are open market Good for Foreign Investors and Emerging Nations?”, Conclusion revealed as. Integrating the emerging stock markets into world markets has had benefits, and will continue to have benefits for both global investor and host countries. The end result of integrated markets a better allocation of resources, improved productivity of capital, and a higher standard of living.

THEORETICAL REVIEW

Between late 1990 and the middle of 1991, the economy faced severe balance of payment difficulties, coming close to defaulting on its external payment obligations in January and June of 1991. In January 1991, the Government negotiated with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for loans. What followed was the implementation of the conventional IMF-World Bank prescription of short-term ‘stabilization’, consisting of devaluation, temporary import compression, fiscal and monetary compression with a rise in interest rates, followed by more long-term ‘structural adjustment’ measures, seeking to restructure the domestic economy.

The New Economic Policy was an outcome of implementation of the ‘structural adjustment’ program. The ‘economic reforms’ or ‘economic liberalization’ program, which began to be implemented with the announcement of the New Economic Policy (NEP), included wide-ranging changes in industrial policy, trade policy and foreign investment policy, a redefinition of the role of the public sector in the economy and redesigning the architecture of the domestic financial system. By narrowing down the topic, first it concentrates on capital account liberalization.

CAPITAL ACCOUNT LIBERALIZATION

The process of capital account liberalization in India needs to be situated in its wider context, for it was shaped by the reality in the national context and the conjuncture in the international context. In response to the external debt crisis, which surfaced in 1991, the government set in motion a process of stabilization, adjustment and reform. Economic liberalization and structural reforms sought to increase the degree of openness of the economy through trade flows, investment flows, technology flows and capital flows. The process began the introduction of convertibility on trade as quantitative restrictions on imports, except for with consumer goods were dismantled and tariff levels were reduced. It was combined with a liberalization of the regimes for foreign investment and foreign technology. And restrictions on international economic transactions, including capital movements, were progressively reduced. This process was also influenced by the gathering momentum of globalization which was associated with increasing economic openness in trade flows, investment flows and financial flows.

The approach to capital account liberalization in India was much more cautious. What was liberalized was specified. Everything else remained restricted or prohibited. The contours of liberalization of the capital account were, in large part, shaped by the salutary lessons of the external debt crisis which surfaced in early 1991 and brought India close to default in meetings its international obligations. The balance of payments situation, then, was almost unmanageable.

The vulnerability was accentuated by two factors: it became exceedingly difficult to roll-over short-term debt in international capital markets and there was capital flight in the form of withdrawals from deposits held by non-resident Indians. This experience dictated the parameters of capital account liberalization8. It prompted strict regulation of external commercial borrowing especially short-term debt. It led to a systematic effort to discourage volatile capital flows associated with repatriable non-resident deposits. Most important, perhaps, it was responsible for the change in emphasis and the shift in preference from debt creating capital flows to non-debt creating capital flows. To some extent, the liberalization that was introduced was also influenced by the perceived needs of the economy: financing the current account deficit, mobilizing resources for investment and attracting international firms. But capital account convertibility remained, fortunately, in the realm of rhetoric. The Mexican crisis in late 1994 was, ironically enough, a blessing in disguise for India. It was not just an early warning signal. It dampened the enthusiasm of those who advocated capital account liberalization with a big bang. It lent support to those who questioned the wisdom of capital account convertibility that would have been premature in every sense. The contours of capital account liberalization in India were determined by these factors.

In sketching these contours, it is necessary to distinguish between different forms of private capital inflows and outflows, as there are important differences between these categories in the nature and the degree of liberalization. A complete description would mean too much of a digression. For our purpose, it would suffice to consider the contours of liberalization in the following categories of capital account transactions:

• Direct investment,

• Portfolio investment, and

• Non-resident deposits.

Foreign Direct Investment

It is defined as a long-term investment by a foreign direct investor in an enterprise resident in an economy other than that in which the foreign direct investor is based. The FDI relationship consists of a parent enterprise and a foreign affiliate which together form a transnational corporation (TNC). In order to qualify as FDI the investment must afford the parent enterprise control over its foreign affiliate.

The liberalization of the policy regime for direct foreign investment began in July 1991 with two major decisions. First, direct foreign investment with up to 51 per cent equity was to receive automatic approval in selected high priority industries subject only to a registration procedure with the Reserve Bank of India. Second, a Foreign Investment Promotion Board was constituted to consider all other proposals for direct foreign investment where approval was not constrained by pre-determined parameters and procedures. In effect, this created a dual route for inflows of direct foreign investment. The approval was automatic, within the specific parameters, from the Reserve Bank of India, while all other inflows were subject to approval through the Foreign Investment Promotion Board. The access through the automatic route has been progressively enlarged over time. Needless to add, outflows associated with direct foreign investment are not subject to any restrictions, but this was so even in the era of capital controls.

Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI)

Portfolio investment represents passive holdings of securities such as foreign stocks, bonds, or other financial assets, none of which entails active management or control of the securities’ issuer by the investor; where such control exists, it is known as foreign direct investment.

The liberalization of the policy regime was extended to portfolio investment in September1992. To begin with, foreign institutional investors such as pension funds or mutual funds were allowed to invest in the domestic capital market subject simply to registration with the Securities and Exchange Board of India. Guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India permitted such foreign institutional investors to invest in the secondary market for equity subject to a ceiling of 5per cent (subsequently raised to 10 per cent) for individual foreign institutional investors in a single Indian firm with an overall limit at 24 per cent of equity (later relaxed to 30 per cent of equity at the option of the firm) for total foreign institutional investment in a single Indian firm. Foreign portfolio investment further classified into

1. FIIs

2. ADR/GDR, and

3. Offshore funds.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs)

One who propose to invest their proprietary funds or on behalf of “broad based” funds or of foreign corporates and individuals and belong to any of the under given categories can be registered for FII.

• Pension Funds

• Mutual Funds

• Investment Trust

• Insurance or reinsurance companies

• Endowment Funds

• University Funds

• Foundations or Charitable Trusts or Charitable Societies who propose to invest on their own behalf, and

• Asset Management Companies

• Nominee Companies

• Institutional Portfolio Managers

• Trustees

• Power of Attorney Holders

• Bank

Access was provided to foreign institutional investors in the secondary market for debt. Soon thereafter, foreign institutional investors were also allowed investment or placement in the primary market, subject to approval from the Reserve Bank of India, with a maximum limit of 15per cent of the new issue. It was some time before foreign institutional investors were permitted investment in government securities in the primary and secondary markets. This came in 1996-97 and was subject to the ceiling for external commercial borrowing. Subsequently, in 1998-99, foreign institutional investors were also permitted to invest in treasury-bills. There is no reserve requirements stipulated for, or taxes imposed on, these capital inflows. It also needs to be said that foreign institutional investors are allowed to repatriate the principal, the capital gains, the dividends, the interest and any other receipt from the sale of such financial assets, without any restriction, at the market exchange rate. The income tax rate for dividends on such portfolio investment for foreign institutional investors is 20 per cent, which is much lower than the corporate income tax rate for domestic or foreign firms. But foreign institutional investors are subject to a higher short-term capital gains tax at 30 per cent compared with 20 per cent for domestic investors, while the long-term capital gains tax is the same at 10 per cent. Sales of such financial assets for the purpose of repatriation are absolutely unrestricted, provided the sales are through stock exchanges. However, disinvestment through any other route, or in any other form, requires approval from the Reserve Bank of India.

Global Depositary Receipt:

Global Depositary Receipt A negotiable certificate held in the bank of one country representing a specific number of shares of a stock traded on an exchange of another country. American Depositary Receipts make it easier for individuals to invest in foreign companies, due to the widespread availability of price information, lower transaction costs, and timely dividend distributions. Also called European Depositary Receipt.

The option of portfolio investment was also made available to domestic corporate entities from September 1992. Indian firms were allowed access to international capital markets through global depository receipts or Euro convertible bonds which converted debt into equity after stipulated period. This access, however, was not automatic. Individual applications, drawn up inconformity with the general guidelines of the government, were subject to approval. This process remains unchanged.

Offshore Funds:

An offshore fund is a collective investment scheme domiciled in an Offshore Financial Centre, for example British Virgin Islands, Luxembourg, Cayman Islands or Dublin.

Similar facilities for portfolio investment were subsequently extended to Offshore funds, non-resident Indians (as individuals) and overseas corporate bodies, only for investment in shares or debentures through stock exchanges, on the same terms as foreign institutional investors, but subject to a ceiling of 5 per cent for individual non-resident Indians or overseas corporate bodies in a single Indian firm.

Among the various components of portfolio investment, FII comprises the bulk of portfolio inflows. The main objective of foreign institutional investors is to minimize risk and maximize returns by diversifying their portfolios internationally. Major determinants of investment decisions of FII are country and region specific.

Portfolio flows often referred to as ‘hot- money’ are notoriously volatile capital flows. They have also responsible for spreading financial crisis causing contagion in international market. Evan though, the FIIs have been plying a key role in the financial markets since their entry into this country. The explosive portfolio flow by FII brings with them great advantages as they are engine of growth, lowering cost of capital in many emerging market. This opening up of capital markets in emerging market countries has been perceived as beneficial by some while others are concerned about possible adverse consequences.

Among the most active FIIs are Morgan Stanely Asset Management, jardine Fleming, Capital International, J. Henery schorder, templeton, Warburg Pinkers, Internatioanl Alliance and Quantum fund.

Foreign Institutional Investors in India

India opened her doors to foreign institutional investors in September, 1992. This event represents a landmark event since it resulted in effectively globalizing its financial services industry. Initially, pension funds, mutual finds, investment trusts, Asset Management Companies, nominee companies and incorporated/institutional portfolio managers were permitted to invest directly in the Indian stock markets. Beginning 1996-97, the group was expanded to include registered university funds, endowment, foundations, charitable trusts and charitable. Since then, FII flows which form a part of foreign portfolio investments have been steadily growing in importance in India. Other than in the year 1998, the net flows have been positive. The nuclear tests and East Asian crisis did slow down the flows but as stated by Gordan and Gupta (2003), their effects were short lived. That the percentage of total net turnover of BSE, the share of average of FII sales and purchases increased from 2.6 percent in 1998 to 5.5 percent in 2002. The cumulative net FII investment in India as on August 2003 is approximately $17400 million. As of August 2003 net FII investment was 9 percent of the BSE market capitalization which is small compared to the size of the market. However, in the words of Banaji (2002), it is not the market capitalization that matters but what is important is the level of the free float, that is, the shares that are actually publicly available for trading. With floating stock in the Indian market being less than 25 percent, about 35 percent of the free float available has been bagged by FIIs – despite the fact that they invest in just a few highly liquid stocks.

Though India receives hardly 1 percent of the FII investments in emerging markets, the portfolio flows to India have been less volatile when compared with that of many other emerging markets (Gordan and Gupta, 2003). FIIs by adopting a bottom-up approach seem to invest in top-quality, high growth, large cap stocks (Gordan and Gupta, 2003). Sytse et al. (2003) provide empirical evidence that foreign institutional investors in India, invest in large, liquid companies which enable them to exit their positions quickly at relatively lower cost and also that the foreign institutional owners have a larger impact than foreign corporate owners when performance is measured using stock market valuation criterion.

India is one of the fastest growing economies in South Asia, promising a growth of over 9 percent, second only to China, it would not be a surprise to see increased FII flows to India in the future. FIIs are now looking at the economy as a whole, with the macro-economic factors also playing their role in attracting foreign investors. Factors like a strong currency, key reforms in the banking, power and telecommunications sector, increased consumer spending and stable policies are expected to play a major role in attracting FIIs to India. The Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) along with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) jointly monitor the markets and announces the regulatory measures thus making the Indian companies more transparent and more disciplined.

According to the April 2005 report on corporate governance by CLSA Emerging Markets, India ranks fourth with a score of 55.6 percent. Banaji (2000) emphasizes that the capital market reforms like improved market transparency, automation, dematerialization and regulations on reporting and disclosure standards were initiated because of the presence of the FIIs. But FII flows can be considered both as the cause and the effect of capital market reforms. The market reforms were initiated because of the presence of FIIs and this in turn has lead to increased flows.

The Government of India gave preferential treatment to FIIs till 1999-2000 by subjecting their long term capital gains to lower tax rate of 10 percent while the domestic investors had to pay higher long-term capital gains tax. The Indo-Mauritius Double Taxation Avoidance Convention 2000 (DTAC), exempts Mauritius-based entities from paying capital gains tax in India – including tax on income arising from the sale of shares. This gives an incentive for foreign investors to invest in Indian markets taking the Mauritius route. Consequently, we now see investments coming from Mauritius while there were none before 2000.

The country wise distribution of the FIIs registered in India, with majority of them coming from USA and UK. Chakrabarti (2002) and Rao et al. (1999) point out the fact that due to existing inter-linkages, the source of the FII investment might not be the country from where the institution operates. Nevertheless, the figure gives us an idea of the country wise distribution of the FIIs in India. So as to encourage long term investments in the Indian market, Budget 2003 proposed that investors who buy stocks of listed companies from March 1, 2003 be exempt from paying tax on the gains they make on their investments, provided they hold them for more than one year. With so much to benefit from, the FII investment in India is likely to increase in the future.

Regulation on FII

Investment by FII was jointly regulated by Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) through the SEBI (Foreign Institutional Investors) Regulations, 1995 and by the Reserve Bank of India through Regulation 5(2) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999. The promulgation of legislation pertaining to foreign investment by SEBI in 1995 market a watershed for FII flows to India; this led to a significant increase in the level of FII equity inflows in the pre-Asian crisis period. The SEBI FII Regulations and RBI policies are amended and modified from time to time in response to the gradual maturing of the Indian financial market and changes taking place in the global economic scenario.

In order to trade in India equity market, foreign corporation need to register with SEBI as Foreign Institutional Investors. Without registration they can invest, but cases require the approval from RBI. They are generally concentrated in secondary market. FII are allowed to invest in

a) Securities in primary and secondary market including shares, debentures and warrant of companies, unlisted, listed or to be the listed in India.

b) Units of mutual funds

c) Dated government securities

d) Derivative traded in a recognized stock market and

e) Commercial papers

FII can invest their own funds as well as invest on behalf of their over seas clients registered as such with SEBI. These client accounts that the FII manages are known as ‘sub accounts’. FII sub accounts include those foreign corporate, foreign individual, institution funds or portfolio established or incorporated out side India.

FII may issue deal in or hold off share derivative instrument such as participatory notes (PN). The entities that can subscribe to the PN are : a) Any entity incorporated in a jurisdiction that requires filing of constitutional or other documents with a registrar of companies or comparable regulatory agency or body under the applicable companies legislation in that jurisdiction; b) Any entity that is regulated, authorized or supervised by a central bank, such as the Bank of England, or any other similar body provided that the entity must not only be authorized but also be regulated by the aforesaid regulatory bodies; c) Any entity that is regulated, authorized or supervised by a securities or futures commission, such as the Financial Services Authority or other securities or futures authority or commission in any country , state or territory ; d) Any entity that is a member of securities or futures exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange or other self-regulatory securities or futures authority or commission within any country, state or territory provided that the aforesaid mentioned organizations which are in the nature of self- regulatory organizations are ultimately accountable to the respective securities financial market regulators.

Investment limit

As per the September 1992 policy permitted foreign institutional investment registered FII could individually invest in a maximum of 5% of a company’s issued capital and all FIIs together up to a maximum of 24%. From November 1996 are allowed to make 10 percentage investment in debt securities subject to the specific approval from SEBI as a separate category of FIIs or sub accounts as 100% debt fund investment such investment were of occurs subjected to the fund specific ceiling prescribed by SEBI and had to be within overall ceiling US 1.5 $. The investment was however, restricted to the debt instrument of companies listed or to be listed on the stock exchanges. In 1997, the aggregate limit on investment by FIIs was allowed to be raised from 24% to 30% by then board of directors of individual companies by passing a resolution in their meeting and by special resolution to that effect in the company’s Board meeting. In June 1998 the 5% individual limit was raised to 10%.In March 2000, the ceiling on aggregate FII portfolio investment increased to 49%.This was subsequently raised to 49%, on March 8 2001, Finance minister announced February 28 2002 that foreign institutional investors can invest in accompany under the portfolio investment rout beyond 24% of the paid up capital of the company with the approval of the general body of the share holders by a special resolution.

Benefits and costs of FII investments

The terms of reference asking the Expert Group to consider how FII inflows can be

encouraged and examine the adequacy of the existing regulatory framework to adequately address the concern for reducing vulnerability to the flow of speculative capital do not include an examination of the desirability of encouraging FII inflows. Yet, for motivating the consideration of the policy options, it is useful to briefly summarize the benefits and costs for India of having FII investment. Given the Group’s mandate of encouraging FII flows, the available arguments that mitigate the costs have also been included under the relevant points.

Benefits

Reduced cost of equity capital

FII inflows augment the sources of funds in the Indian capital markets. In a commonsense way, the impact of FIIs upon the cost of equity capital may be visualized by asking what stock prices would be if there were no FIIs operating in India. FII investment reduces the required rate of return for equity, enhances stock prices, and fosters investment by Indian firms in the country.

Imparting stability to India’s Balance of Payments

For promoting growth in a developing country such as India, there is need to augment domestic investment, over and beyond domestic saving, through capital flows. The excess of domestic investment over domestic savings result in a current account deficit and this deficit is financed by capital flows in the balance of payments. Prior to 1991, debt flows and official development assistance dominated these capital flows. This mechanism of funding the current account deficit is widely believed to have played a role in the emergence of balance of payments difficulties in 1981 and 1991. Portfolio flows in the equity markets, and FDI, as opposed to debt-creating flows, are important as safer and more sustainable mechanisms for funding the current account deficit.

Knowledge flows

The activities of international institutional investors help strengthen Indian finance. FIIs advocate modern ideas in market design, promote innovation, development of sophisticated products such as financial derivatives, enhance competition in financial intermediation, and lead to spillovers of human capital by exposing Indian participants to modern financial techniques, and international best practices and systems.

Strengthening corporate governance

Domestic institutional and individual investors, used as they are to the ongoing practices of Indian corporates, often accept such practices, even when these do not measure up to the international benchmarks of best practices. FIIs, with their vast experience with modern corporate governance practices, are less tolerant of malpractice by corporate managers and owners (dominant shareholder). FII participation in domestic capital markets often lead to vigorous advocacy of sound corporate governance practices, improved efficiency and better shareholder value.

Improvements to market efficiency

A significant presence of FIIs in India can improve market efficiency through two channels. First, when adverse macroeconomic news, such as a bad monsoon, unsettles many domestic investors, it may be easier for a globally diversified portfolio manager to be more dispassionate about India’s prospects, and engage in stabilsing trades. Second, at the level of individual stocks and industries, FIIs may act as a channel through which knowledge and ideas about valuation of a firm or an industry can more rapidly propagate into India. For example, foreign investors were rapidly able to assess the potential of firms like Infosys, which are primarily export-oriented, applying valuation principles that prevailed outside India for software services companies.

Costs

Herding and positive feedback trading

There are concerns that foreign investors are chronically ill-informed about India, and this lack of sound information may generate herding (a large number of FIIs buying or selling together) and positive feedback trading (buying after positive returns, selling after negative returns). These kinds of behavior can exacerbate volatility, and push prices away from fair values. FIIs’ behavior in India, however, so far does not exhibit these patterns. Generally, contrary to ‘herding’, FIIs are seen to be involved in very large buying and selling at the same time. Gordon and Gupta (2003) find evidence against positive-feedback trading with FIIs buying after negative returns and vice versa.

BoP vulnerability

There are concerns that in an extreme event, there can be a massive flight of foreign capital out of India, triggering difficulties in the balance of payments front. India’s experience with FIIs so far, however, suggests that across episodes like the Pokhran blasts, or the 2001stock market scandal, no capital flight has taken place. A billion or more of US dollars of portfolio capital has never left India within the period of one month. When juxtaposed with India’s enormous current account and capital account flows, this suggests that there is little evidence of vulnerability so far.

Possibility of taking over companies

While FIIs are normally seen as pure portfolio investors, without interest in control, portfolio investors can occasionally behave like FDI investors, and seek control of companies that they have a substantial shareholding in. Such outcomes, however, may not be inconsistent with India’s quest for greater FDI. Furthermore, SEBI’s takeover code is in place, and has functioned fairly well, ensuring that all investors benefit equally in the event of a takeover.

Complexities of monetary management

A policymaker trying to design the ideal financial system has three objectives. The policy maker wants continuing national sovereignty in the pursuit of interest rate, inflation and exchange rate objectives; financial markets that are regulated, supervised and cushioned; and the benefits of global capital markets. Unfortunately, these three goals are incompatible. They form the “impossible trinity.” India’s openness to portfolio flows and FDI has effectively made the country’s capital account convertible for foreign institutions and investors. The problems of monetary management in general, and maintaining a tight exchange rate regime, reasonable interest rates and moderate inflation at the same time in particular, have come to the fore in recent times. The problem showed up in terms of very large foreign exchange reserve inflows requiring considerable sterilization operations by the RBI to maintain stable macroeconomic conditions. The Government had to introduce a Market Stabilization Scheme (MSS) from April1, 2004.

With the foreign exchange invested in highly liquid and safe foreign assets with low rates of return, and payment of a higher rate of interest on the treasury bills issued under MSS,

sterilization involves a cost. With a rapid rise in foreign exchange reserves and the need for having an MSS-based sterilization involving costs, questions have been raised about the desirability of encouraging more foreign exchange inflows in general and FII inflows in particular. While there is indeed the issue of timing the policy of encouragement appropriately to avoid the pitfalls of throwing the baby with the bath water, there can not be a turnaround from the avowed policy of gradual liberalization, including the cap ital account. All modern market economies have evolved policies to reconcile prudent monetary management with the benefits of a liberal capital account. There is no scope for any diffidence in India also moving in the same direction.

CONCLUSION

The liberalization policies had the desired expansionary effect and had either increased the mean level of FII inflows and/or the sensitivity of these flows to a change in BSE returns and /or the inertia of these flows. On the other hand, the restrictive measures aimed at achieving greater control over FII flows also did not show any significant negative impact on the net inflows, it had found that these policies mostly render FII investment sensitive to the domestic market returns and raise the inertia of the FII flows.

Foreign institutional investors had emerged as the most dominant investor group in the domestic stock market in India. Particularly, in the companies that constitute the Bombay stock market sensitivity index, their level of control was very high. Data on shareholding pattern showed that the FIIs were currently the most dominant non-promoter shareholder in most of the sensex companies and they also controlled more tradable shares of sensex companies than any other investor groups .The sensex, market capitalization of NSE, Turnover of BSE and NIFTY without market capitalizations were influenced by Foreign Institutional Investors. FIIs investment was not across the shares listed in the stock exchange but instead it was very concentrated on the top few company’s shares. Though there was a role by FII on Indian stock market. It was to be taken very cautiously because their influences were on the very few shares in the stock market, which influenced the indicator included in the study but which might not help the Indian economy to grow

The influence of FIIs on the movement of sensex became apparent after general election in India, during this period sensex experienced its worst single-day decline in its history and in the three month period between April to June 2004, it declined by about 17 percent. Moreover, this study also showed that even sharp changes in sensex did not necessarily indicted a significant alteration of actual shareholding pattern of different investor groups even in sensex companies. The activities of foreign institutional investors in emerging economies following the opening-up of the capital account were not simply positive for these countries but could also exert adverse effects. The reasons were derived from asymmetric distributions of information between local and foreign investors and between fund holders and mangers. Foreign institutional investors could be assumed to have relatively little information on specific developments in emerging markets so that ‘diluted information’ and ‘illusive competition’ could result. Their influence on these markets was likely to worsen the relative position of local investors which leads to ‘unbalanced diversification’. Moreover, due to their incentives they were likely to amplify occurring imbalances or even trigger financial shocks leading to what they call ‘obscure risks’ and ‘booming contagion’. The was long run relationship between net FII investment and sensex, FII investment did not respond the short-run changes or technical-position of the market and they were more driven by fundamentals, and FII investments did granger cause India stock market. The FIIs investments are highly concentrate in terms of their market value in very small number of companies. There seemed to be a clear distinction in the FIIs shareholding in nifty and non-nifty companies. There was a wide gap between the actual investments by FIIs and the investments allowed as per the cap.The gap in their investments existed both in nifty and non-nifty companies

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