Identification & Exploration of designated dimensions and impacts of Essay

Identification & Exploration of designated dimensions and impacts of the Millennium Centre, Cardiff, UK - Essay Example le region cannot be denied as the number of visitors has significantly increased due to the events (athletic, cultural, educational, artistic) that are organized in the Centre on a daily basis. Current paper examines the effects of the Centre’s creation on the socio-cultural, political and economic environment. The effects on the natural environment are also being examined in order to formulate a more complete assumption regarding the role of the Centre in the whole Wales region and the specific gains for the local society. Cardiff is one of Europes youngest capital cities but the history of the city dates back over 2000 years to Roman times. Today Cardiff is a vibrant, multi-cultural centre for education, business, sport and the arts. There has been extensive redevelopment in Cardiff over the past two decades but the city has managed to retain much of its style and architecture. The city is lively, confident and cosmopolitan with a good quality of life and a distinctive character. Located in the east of Wales, Cardiff is a very accessible city and has good road, rail and air links. The town is only 2 hours travel from London using the hourly high-speed train service [1]. The location of the town is being offered for the deduction of commerce and other financial activities as well as for the enhancement of the cultural level of the whole region as it can be considered as the most accessible town of the region. As a result any interested individual can access a specific cultural event easily, a fact tha t has led to the increase of the athletic, educational and all cultural activities in town mostly the last years. More specifically, the population of the town is around 300,000, which grows by 100,000 on "Big Event" occasions. For this reason the local accommodation offered to visitors has been located around the important cultural centres of the town which are the following: the Millenium Stadium (Rugby, Football, Speedway & Concerts), Sophia Gardens (Cricket),

707 discussion 2 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

707 discussion 2 - Assignment Example In addition, tethered PHR also offers patients’ access to medical information and can therefore promote self-care for better quality of health (Health IT, 2013). PHR influence health information exchange though provision of data bank on a patient’s information, from a patient’s records. It therefore promotes communication between a patient and healthcare personnel, with the patient as the source of information. An electronic health record, however, is a maintained database by healthcare facility that uses electronic systems and offers access of the information to authorized care personnel or care facilities. The system therefore facilitates exchange of among healthcare facilities, departments, or healthcare personnel. Consequently, PHR has the advantage of facilitated communication for diagnosis and timely care delivery (Health IT, 2013) while electronic health records has the advantages of minimizing chances of medical mistakes and ensuring appropriate care through updating care personnel (Medicare, n.d.). The main disadvantage of PHR is its limited scope of information transfer and possible unreliability of information source , a patient who may lack medical expertise, while the main disadvantage of electronic health records is possible breach of confidentiality and privacy due to information access by multiple personnel and at multiple access points. Health IT. (2013). Are there different types of personal health records (PHRs)? Health IT. Retrieved from:

Instructional Design Essay Example for Free

Instructional Design Essay The world is a place full of so many different professions that need people to train to be regarded as professionals of a specific area. Doctors, managers, engineers, drivers, teachers, professors, lecturers and so many other professionals are qualified because the people did some kind of training. The training offered by the relevant institutions were not just conducted without guidelines, there were and there are still guidelines showing what is required when one wants to become a qualified professional. These guidelines are implemented in a process that has the specific instructions developed in a systematic manner known as the instructional design. Instructional design is an out line of well organised specific instructions on a specific profession guiding trainers on how to produce quality education and profession in a learning environment (Teaching Center, 2004). An instructional design always have four major steps though different models have different ways of showing these steps. It always has the design and the analysis step, the implementation and the production step, the developing step, and the review and evaluation step (Teaching Center, 2004). Why would an institution look for this kind of a process? Performance of an organisation depends on the employees, and the skills these employees have must be of importance to an institution. Another issue is that no organisation or institution would like to have a bad reputation of producing low quality professional skills, institutions would work towards the standards required by the public. Instructional design helps quality skill and performance production (Whiddett and Hollyforde, 2003). Professional Development Professional development is the manner in which the skills a person requires to maintain a specific line of career are developed or maintained. It is usually offered through continued education and training. Professional development is always a role left to the human resource manager or professional trainers in development departments in the organization. Teachers, lecturers and other educational trainers also play a big role in the professional development. The teachers and education organization trainers offer professional skills to students under various fields of study or profession. They are therefore required to know the steps and instructional designs used for the development of students professionally as Graff et. al note in their book (2006). Professional development involves the formal kind of education for example university education, post secondary education or even polytechnic education that enables a person to obtain a certificate or a credential that will enable him/her to get employment and retain it due to the knowledge the person has gained. The process of professional development therefore involves teaching on the various topics of the profession and other training procedures like practicals and internships (Gaff et. al, 2006). A teacher is required to organise how this professional development will be done on his/her students over a given period of time. There are other ways that professional development could be done, for example personal coaching can lead to one gaining the relevant knowledge and required training for a certain profession. This is mostly done through professional development individual and informal programs. Professional development in a work place enhances the individual skills on the processes and tasks at work. These skills that can be improved are such as team management skills, effectiveness skills and the system of and organizations thinking skills. The task skills that can be enhanced by professional development are such as skills on training safety, applications on computer software and skills on customer services (Cindy et. al, 2000). Professional development can also be a choice of the already employed. In this situation the individual under the current occupation undergoes the relevant training to improve his/her skills on the specific profession. Examples of normally desired skills for this kind of professional development are; leadership skills for the managers and skills on specific training techniques on different professions for example the training skills on, metal work equipments, engineers, medical practitioners and many others. There are different requirements for different professions in professional development. The kind of training that a medical student undergoes is not the same as the kind of training an accounting student would undergo. The different fields require different knowledge, skills and internships. An example of a professional development is in the health care profession that involves the development of skills, knowledge and attitude of the students or the workers to ensure that they work effectively and confidently (Work Cover 2003). In order to gain the knowledge, skills and the attitude, the students or the health care workers have to be trained, mentored and supervised. Organisational structures have to be created and maintained as well to ensure team work in the medical field and support for the individuals (National Society, 1986). Another example of professional development is training of customers which is normally done by manufactures with new machines and would like to train their customers on how to use the machine. This is normally referred to as an after sales service that aims to prevent misuse of the equipment, technology or a system (National Society, 1986). Instructional Designs  There are so many definitions to an instructional design. An instructional design can be defined as an organised out line of a teachers or a trainers program on how professional development will be conducted or performed. It can also be referred to as a model developed for a competency based system. Another definition according to a learning and teaching center indicates that an instructional design is an effective transfer tool with instructions used by teachers and learners to organise communication technology (2004). The instructional design is organised based on the profession to be developed, the students to be trained, the time available for training, available resources and the requirements of the course of the specific profession. Why would there be instructional designs? Different professions have different requirements and standards of performance. One has to be a doctor or a manager after learning the skills required in those respective fields of study. The world is changing gradually and the skills required before are either improved or are no longer used, there are standards too to guide the kind of skills in a specific profession. In order to determine if a person has accomplished the requirements of a specific profession and has undergone the training, there has to be a guide to it. This guide is the instructional design. The designs have the instructions on what should be done on the competency systems, how it should be done, the time the system or the professional development requires and is according to the national standards of specific professional requirements. An example is in the information technology field. Information technology has experienced great changes in the technological methods. The technology professionals need a standard method to use in monitoring the performance of information technology firms to determine if they are up to competency standards. Performance of an organisation always depend on the type and quality of skills employed in the firm. Just as other firms need qualified personnel in their fields, its the same way the information technology requires qualified personnel too (Harless, 1970). Evaluating if an information technology firm has the competent group of professionals depends on the kind of training of the professionals. Professionals have to have undergone some kind of training with specified standards qualifying one as a professional. These standards are always integrated in the instructional design, therefore it is important that an instructional design guides the information technology professionals in the evaluation of the competency of the firms. Instructional designs offer guidelines to evaluation as well as guidelines to professional development (Harless1970). When the right guidelines are used in the evaluation of an organisation, the performance of the organisation is sure to be of standard. Instructional Design Models There are various models that can be used to develop instructional designs. Teachers and trainers select the models they find appropriate for the process of profession development. This discussion will only give more information on three models among the many models of instructional designs. The three models are; the ADDIE model, Carey and Dick model and rapid prototyping model. Other models though not thoroughly discussed here are the Rajans and Smiths model, and the Kemp, Rose and Morrisons model (Gilbert, 1978). Carey and Dick model This kind of model does not consider the instructions in an instructional model as separated components, but as a collective system. It out lines the various components of an instructional design. The system of an instructional design as argued by Dick and Carey has so many components as shown. The goals, analysis, contexts and learners, aims of performance, the materials of the instructional design, strategy to be used in the instructional design, design evaluation, design instruments and the process of revising the instructional design (Dick et. al. , 1978). The process of instructional design planning and development requires several steps as Carey and Dick indicate in their book (1978). The first step in instructional design creation is the identification of the goals of the instructional design that a trainer or teacher would like to accomplish with the students. The second step involves analysing the instructions of the design. A third step involves analysing the contexts and the learners then noting the performance aims. The next step in this process according to Dick and Carey is looking for the instruments of assessment and developing them. A strategy is developed, materials for professional development selected, instructions evaluated based on the formulated evaluation method and the instructions revised. The last important step done is the evaluation of the whole system of instructional design as noted by Dick et. al. The formulators of this model believe that the system of instructional design integrates all the components of the system to work together towards the goal of the design, which is desired student outcomes (1978).

Growth of Venture Capital in India

Growth of Venture Capital in India VENTURE CAPITAL:- Venture capital (also known as VC or Venture) is a type of private equity capital typically provided for early-stage, high-potential, growth companies in the interest of generating a return through an eventual realization event such as an IPO or trade sale of the company. Venture capital investments are generally made as cash in exchange for shares in the invested company. It is typical for venture capital investors to identify and back companies in high technology industries such as biotechnology and ICT (information and communication technology). Venture capital firms typically comprise small teams with technology backgrounds scientists, researchers or those with business training or deep industry experience. VCs also take a role in managing entrepreneurial companies at an early stage, thus adding skills as well as capital . Inherent in realizing abnormally high rates of returns is the risk of losing all of ones investment in a given startup company. As a consequence, most venture capital investments are done in a pool format where several investors combine their investments into one large fund that invests in many different startup companies. By investing in the pool format the investors are spreading out their risk to many different investments versus taking the chance of putting all of their monies in one start up firm. A venture capitalist (also known as a VC) is a person or investment firm that makes venture investments, and these venture capitalists are expected to bring managerial and technical expertise as well as capital to their investments. A venture capital fund refers to a pooled investment vehicle (often an LP or LLC) that primarily invests the financial capital of third-party investors in enterprises that are too risky for the standard capital markets or bank loans. Venture capital is also associated with job creation, the knowledge economy and used as a proxy measure of innovation within an economic sector or geography. Venture capital is most attractive for new companies with limited operating history that are too small to raise capital in the public markets and have not reached the point where they are able to secure a bank loan or complete a debt offering. In exchange for the high risk that venture capitalists assume by investing in smaller and less mature companies, venture capitalists usually get significant control over company decisions, in addition to a significant portion of the companys ownership (and consequently value). STRUCTURE OF VENTURE CAPITAL FIRMS:- Venture capital firms are typically structured as partnerships, the general partners of which serve as the managers of the firm and will serve as investment advisors to the venture capital funds raised. This constituency comprises both high net worth individuals and institutions with large amounts of available capital, such as state and private pension funds, university financial endowments, foundations, insurance companies, and pooled investment vehicles, called fund of funds or mutual funds. TYPES OF VENTURE CAPITAL FIRMS:- Depending on business type, the venture capital firm approach differ. When approaching a VC firm, consider their portfolio: Business Cycle: Do they invest in budding or established businesses? Industry: What is their industry focus? Investment: Is their typical investment sufficient for your needs? Location: Are they regional, national or international? Return: What is their expected return on investment? Involvement: What is their involvement level? Targeting specific types of firms will yield the best results when seeking VC financing. The National Venture Capital Association segments dozens of VC firms into ways that might assist you in your search. Many VC firms have diverse portfolios with a range of clients. If this is the case, finding gaps in their portfolio is one strategy that might succeed. ROLES WITHIN VENTURE CAPITAL FIRMS:- Although the titles are not entirely uniform from firm to firm, other positions at venture capital firms include: Venture partners Venture partners are expected to source potential investment opportunities and typically are compensated only for those deals with which they are involved. Entrepreneur-in-residence (EIR) EIRs are experts in a particular domain and perform due diligence on potential deals. EIRs are engaged by venture capital firms temporarily (six to 18 months) and are expected to develop and pitch startup ideas to their host firm. Principal This is a mid-level investment professional position, and often considered a partner-track position. Principals will have been promoted from a senior associate position or who have commensurate experience in another field such as investment banking or management consulting. Associate This is typically the most junior apprentice position within a venture capital firm. After a few successful years, an associate may move up to the senior associate position and potentially principal and beyond. Associates will often have worked for 1-2 years in another field such as investment banking or management consulting. ORIGINS OF MODERN PRIVATE EQUITY:- Before World War II, venture capital investments (originally known as development capital) were primarily the domain of wealthy individuals and families. Today true private equity investments began to emerge marked by the founding of the first two venture capital firms in 1946: American Research and Development Corporation. (ARDC) and J.H. Whitney Company. ARDC was founded by Georges Doriot, the father of venture capitalism to encourage private sector investments in businesses run by soldiers who were returning from World War II. ARDCs significance was primarily that it was the first institutional private equity investment firm that raised capital from sources other than wealthy families although it had several notable investment successes as well. ARDC is credited with the first major venture capital success story when its 1957 investment of $70,000 in Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) would be valued at over $355 million after the companys initial public offering in 1968. Venture capital firms suffered a temporary downturn in 1974, when the stock market crashed and investors were naturally wary of this new kind of investment fund. THE VENTURE CAPITAL FUNDS IN INDIA:- The concept and origin of Venture Capital, trace its growth, and highlight the venture capital regulations. It has briefly explained about the Chandra Sekhar Committee recommendations, various types of Venture Capital Funds and the venture capital process in India. A simple case on first Venture Capital Fund in India, Technology Development Information Company Of India Ltd., has also developed with concluding remarks. Introduction:- The venture capital investment helps for the growth of innovative entrepreneurships in India. Venture capital has developed as a result of the need to provide non-conventional, risky finance to new ventures based on innovative entrepreneurship. Venture capital is an investment in the form of equity, quasi-equity and sometimes debt straight or conditional, made in new or untried concepts, promoted by a technically or professionally qualified entrepreneur. Venture capital means risk capital. It refers to capital investment, both equity and debt, which carries substantial risk and uncertainties. The risk envisaged may be very high may be so high as to result in total loss or very less so as to result in high gains. THE CONCEPT OF VENTURE CAPITAL :- Venture capital means many things to many people. It is in fact nearly impossible to come across one single definition of the concept. Venture capital is defined as providing seed, start-up and first stage financing and also funding the expansion of companies that have already demonstrated their business potential but do not yet have access to the public securities market or to credit oriented institutional funding sources. The European Venture Capital Association describes it as risk finance for entrepreneurial growth oriented companies. It is investment for the medium or long term return seeking to maximize medium or long term for both parties. It is a partnership with the entrepreneur in which the investor can add value to the company because of his knowledge, experience and contact base. THE ORIGIN OF VENTURE CAPITAL :- In the 1920s 1930s, the wealthy families of and individuals investors provided the start up money for companies that would later become famous. Eastern Airlines and Xerox are the more famous ventures financed. Among the early VC funds set up, was the one by the Rockfeller Family, which started a special fund called VENROCK in 1950, to finance new technology companies. General Doriot, a professor at Harvard Business School, in 1946 set up the American Research and Development Corporation (ARD), the first firm, as opposed to a private individuals, at MIT to finance the commercial promotion of advanced technology, developed in the US Universities. ARDs approach was a classic VC in the sense that it used only equity, invested for long term, and was prepared to live with losers. ARDs investment in Digital Equipment Corporation , 1957 was a watershed in the history of VC financing. While in its early years venture capital may have been associated with high technology, over the years the concept has undergone a change and it implies pooled investment in unlisted companies. MAIN ALTERNATIVES TO VENTURE CAPITAL:- Because of the strict requirements venture capitalists have for potential investments, many entrepreneurs seek initial funding from angel investors, who may be more willing to invest in highly speculative opportunities, or may have a prior relationship with the entrepreneur. Furthermore, many venture capital firms will only seriously evaluate an investment in a start-up otherwise unknown to them if the company can prove at least some of its claims about the technology and/or market potential for its product or services. To achieve this, or even just to avoid the dilutive effects of receiving funding before such claims are proven, many start-ups seek to self-finance until they reach a point where they can credibly approach outside capital providers such as venture capitalists or angel investors. This practice is called bootstrapping. In industries where assets can be securitized effectively because they reliably generate future revenue streams or have a good potential for resale in case of foreclosure, businesses may more cheaply be able to raise debt to finance their growth. Good examples would include asset-intensive extractive industries such as mining, or manufacturing industries. Offshore funding is provided via specialist venture capital trusts which seek to utilise securitization in structuring hybrid multi market transactions via an SPV (special purpose vehicle): a corporate entity that is designed solely for the purpose of the financing. In addition to traditional venture capital and angel networks, groups have emerged which allow groups of small investors or entrepreneurs themselves to compete in a privatized business plan competition where the group itself serves as the investor through a democratic process. Venture capital (VC) arms of companies such as Intel, Cisco, Reliance ADAG, Google and Yahoo are increasing their investments in early stage technology and consumer service start-ups in India. Early Days In the absence of an organised Venture Capital industry until almost 1995, individual investors and development financial institutions played the role of venture capitalists in India. Entrepreneurs have largely depended upon private placements, public offerings and lending by the financial institutions. In 1973, a committee on Development of Small and Medium Enterprises highlighted the need to foster venture capital as a source of funding new entrepreneurs and technology. Thereafter some public sector funds were set up but the activity of venture capital did not gather momentum as the thrust was on high-technology projects funded on a purely financial rather than a holistic basis. REGULATORY GUIDELINES FRAMEWORK:- Later, a study was undertaken by the World Bank, to examine the possibility of developing Venture Capital in the private sector, based on which the Government of India took a policy initiative and announced guidelines for Venture Capital Funds (VCFs) in India in 1988. However, these guidelines restricted setting up of VCFs by the banks or the financial institutions only. Thereafter, the Government of India issued guidelines in September 1995, for overseas investment in Venture Capital in India. For tax-exemption purposes, guidelines were also issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the investments and flow of foreign currency into and out of India have been governed by the Reserve Bank of Indias (RBI) requirements. Further, as a part of its mandate to regulate and to develop the Indian capital markets, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) framed the SEBI (Venture Capital Funds) Regulations, 1996. These guidelines were further amended in April 2000 with the objective of fuelling the growth of Venture Capital activities in India. OBJECTIVES AND VISION FOR VENTURE CAPITAL IN INDIA:- Venture capitalists finance innovation and ideas which have potential for high growth but with inherent uncertainties. This makes it a high-risk, high return investment. Apart from finance, venture capitalists provide networking, management and marketing support as well. In the broadest sense, therefore, venture capital connotes financial as well as human capital. In the global venture capital industry, investors and investee firms work together closely in an enabling environment that allows entrepreneurs to focus on value creating ideas and allows venture capitalists to drive the industry through ownership of the levers of control, in return for the provision of capital, skills, information and complementary resources. This very blend of risk financing and hand holding of entrepreneurs by venture capitalists creates an environment particularly suitable for knowledge and technology based enterprises. Scientific, technology and knowledge based ideas properly supported by venture capital can be propelled into a powerful engine of economic growth and wealth creation in a sustainable manner. In various developed and developing economies venture capital has played a significant developmental role. India has the second largest English speaking scientific and technical manpower in the world. The Indian software sector crossed the Rs 100 billion mark turnover during 1998. The sector grew 58% on a year to year basis and exports accounted for Rs 65.3 billion while the domestic market accounted for Rs 35.1 billion. Exports grew by 67% in rupee terms and 55% in US dollar terms. The strength of software professionals grew by 14% in 1997 and has crossed 1,60,000. The global software sector is expected to grow at 12% to 15% per annum for the next 5 to 7 years. Recently, there has also been greater visibility of Indian companies in the US. Given such vast potential not only in IT and software but also in the field of service industries, biotechnology, telecommunications, media and entertainment, medical and health services and other technology based manufacturing and product development, venture capital industry can play a catalytic role to put India on the world map as a success story. WHERE ARE VCS INVESTING IN INDIA? IT and IT-enabled services Software Products (Mainly Enterprise-focused) Wireless/Telecom/Semiconductor Banking PSU Disinvestments Media/Entertainment Bio Technology/Bio Informatics Pharmaceuticals Electronic Manufacturing Retail ISSUES AND CHALLENGES:- Indian Venture Capital yet to be established as a sustainable asset class among institutional investors. Moreover a limited amount of true risk-capital impacts entrepreneurial activity. Exit challenges exist mainly due to shallow capital markets and dull MA environment for small companies. Most importantly, India is yet to create a brand-name for IP-led companies, like Israel has successfully done. THE GROWTH OF VENTURE CAPITAL: A CROSS-CULTURAL COMPARISON The venture capital (VC) industry plays an important role in nurturing entrepreneurship and innovation, and its role varies from country to country. The six countries whose VC industries are analyzed here are the United States and Canada, whose VC industries are mature; Sweden and Denmark, which have established small but successful VC industries; and Israel and Turkey, whose experiences demonstrate the state of the young VC industry in transition economies. The analysis is based on the four main determinants of the VC industry: sources of financing, institutional infrastructure, exit mechanisms, and entrepreneurship and innovation generators. In addition, the special role of VC financing in the biomaterials industry is explained. Understanding the factors that contribute to the emergence of a successful venture capital industry is important for academics, VC associations, policy-making institutions, government agencies, and investors themselves. VENTURE CAPITAL IN INDIA:- In India, the Venture Capital plays a vital role in the development and growth of innovative entrepreneurships. Venture Capital activity in the past was possibly done by the developmental financial institutions like IDBI, ICICI and State Financial Corporations. These institutions promoted entities in the private sector with debt as an instrument of funding. For a long time, funds raised from public were used as a source of Venture Capital. This source however depended a lot on the market vagaries. And with the minimum paid up capital requirements being raised for listing at the stock exchanges, it became difficult for smaller firms with viable projects to raise funds from public. In India, the need for Venture Capital was recognised in the 7th five year plan and long term fiscal policy of GOI. In 1973 a committee on Development of small and medium enterprises highlighted the need to faster VC as a source of funding new entrepreneurs and technology. VC financing really started in India in 1988 with the formation of Technology Development and Information Company of India Ltd. (TDICI) promoted by ICICI and UTI. The first private VC fund was sponsored by Credit Capital Finance Corporation (CFC) and promoted by Bank of India, Asian Development Bank and the Commonwealth Development Corporation viz. Credit Capital Venture Fund. At the same time Gujarat Venture Finance Ltd. and APIDC Venture Capital Ltd. were started by state level financial institutions. VENTURE CAPITAL INVESTMENTS IN INDIA:- The venture capital investment in India till the year 2001 was continuously increased and thereby drastically reduced. It is estimated that there was a tremendous growth by almost 327 percent in 1998-99, 132 percent in 1999-00, and 40 percent in 2000-01 thereafter venture capital investors slow down their investment. Surprisingly, there was a negative growth of 4 percent in 2001-02 it was continued and a 54 percent drastic reduction was recorded in the year 2002-2003. TYPES OF VENTURE CAPITAL FUNDS:- Generally, there are three types of organised or institutional venture capital funds: venture capital funds set up by angel investors, that is, high net worth individual investors; venture capital subsidiaries of corporations and private venture capital firms/ funds. Venture capital subsidiaries are established by major corporations, commercial bank holding companies and other financial institutions. Venture funds in India can be classified on the basis of the type of promoters. VCFs promoted by the Central govt. controlled development financial institutions such as TDICI, by ICICI, Risk capital and Technology Finance Corporation Limited (RCTFC) by the Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) and Risk Capital Fund by IDBI. VCFs promoted by the state government-controlled development finance institutions such as Andhra Pradesh Venture Capital Limited (APVCL) by Andhra Pradesh State Finance Corporation (APSFC) and Gujarat Venture Finance Company Limited (GVCFL) by Gujarat Industrial Investment Corporation (GIIC). VCFs promoted by Public Sector banks such as Canfina by Canara Bank and SBI-Cap by State Bank of India. VCFs promoted by the foreign banks or private sector companies and financial institutions such as Indus Venture Fund, Credit Capital Venture Fund and Grindlays India Development Fund. VENTURE CAPITAL FUNDING:- Venture capitalists are typically very selective in deciding what to invest in; as a rule of thumb, a fund may invest in one in four hundred opportunities presented to it. Funds are most interested in ventures with exceptionally high growth potential, as only such opportunities are likely capable of providing the financial returns and successful exit event within the required timeframe (typically 3-7 years) that venture capitalists expect. Venture capitalists also are expected to nurture the companies in which they invest, in order to increase the likelihood of reaching an IPO stage when valuations are favorable. Venture capitalists typically assist at four stages in the companys development: Idea generation; Start-up; Ramp up; and Exit There are typically six stages of financing offered in Venture Capital, that correspond to these stages of a companys development. Seed Money: Low level financing needed to prove a new idea (Often provided by angel investors) Start-up: Early stage firms that need funding for expenses associated with marketing and product development First-Round: Early sales and manufacturing funds Second-Round: Working capital for early stage companies that are selling product, but not yet turning a profit Third-Round: Also called Mezzanine financing, this is expansion money for a newly profitable company Fourth-Round: Also called bridge financing, 4th round is intended to finance the going public process WHAT DO VCS LOOK FOR? Venture capitalists are higher risk investors and, in accepting these risks, they desire a higher return on their investment. The venture capitalist manages the risk/reward ratio by only investing in businesses which fit their investment criteria and after having completed extensive due diligence. Venture capitalists have differing operating approaches. These differences may relate to location of the business, the size of the investment, the stage of the company, industry specialization, structure of the investment and involvement of the venture capitalists in the companies activities. The entrepreneur should not be discouraged if one venture capitalist does not wish to proceed with an investment in the company. The rejection may not be a reflection of the quality of the business, but rather a matter of the business not fitting with the venture capitalists particular investment criteria. Often entrepreneurs may want to ask the venture capitalist for other firms that might be interested in the investment opportunity. VENTURE CAPITAL IS NOT SUITABLE FOR ALL BUSINESSES, AS A VENTURE CAPITALIST TYPICALLY SEEKS : Superior Businesses:- Venture capitalists look for companies with superior products or services targeted at large, fast growing or untapped markets with a defensible strategic position such as intellectual property or patents. Quality and Depth of Management:- Venture capitalists must be confident that the firm has the quality and depth in the management team to achieve its aspirations. Venture capitalists seldom seek managerial control, rather they want to add value to the investment where they have particular skills including fund raising, mergers and acquisitions, international marketing, product development, and networks. Appropriate Investment Structure:- As well as the requirement of being an attractive business opportunity, the venture capitalist will also seek to structure a deal to produce the anticipated financial returns to investors. This includes making an investment at a reasonable price per share (valuation). Exit Opportunity:- Lastly, venture capitalists look for the clear exit opportunity for their investment such as public listing or a third party acquisition of the investee company. Once a short list of appropriate venture capitalists has been selected, the entrepreneur can proceed to identify which investors match their funding requirements. At this point, the entrepreneur should contact the venture capital firm and identify an investment manager as an initial contact point. The venture capital firm will ask prospective investee companies for information concerning the product or service, the market analysis, how the company operates, the investment required and how it is to be used, financial projections, and importantly questions about the management team. In reality, all of the above questions should be answered in the Business Plan. Assuming the venture capitalist expresses interest in the investment opportunity, a good business plan is a pre-requisite. METHODS OF VENTURE FINANCING:- Venture capital is typically available in three forms in India, they are: Equity : All VCFs in India provide equity but generally their contribution does not exceed 49 percent of the total equity capital. Thus, the effective control and majority ownership of the firm remains with the entrepreneur. They buy shares of an enterprise with an intention to ultimately sell them off to make capital gains. Conditional Loan: It is repayable in the form of a royalty after the venture is able to generate sales. No interest is paid on such loans. In India, VCFs charge royalty ranging between 2 to 15 percent; actual rate depends on other factors of the venture such as gestation period, cost-flow patterns, riskiness and other factors of the enterprise. Income Note : It is a hybrid security which combines the features of both conventional loan and conditional loan. The entrepreneur has to pay both interest and royalty on sales, but at substantially low rates. Other Financing Methods: A few venture capitalists, particularly in the private sector, have started introducing innovative financial securities like participating debentures, introduced by TCFC is an example. VENTURE CAPITALISTS INVESTING IN INDIA:- For a very long time, Silicon Valley venture capitalists only invested locally. However, throughout the years, they expanded their investments worldwide. Most recently, Matrix Partners, a leading American venture capitalist firm, had announced a $150 million India fund, where they will provide internet, mobile, media, entertainment, leisure, and travel services to customers in Mumbai. Sequoia Capital, a Silicon Valley-based VC firm, wanted to take advantage of investing in start-up companies and had acquired West bridge Capital, an Indian firm, for $350 million. It is no wonder that venture capitalist investments in India have risen dramatically within the past few years. From 2005 to 2007, VC investments in India grew from $320 million to about $777 million, respectively. Some important Venture Capital Funds in India:- APIDC Venture Capital Limited , 1102, Babukhan Estate, Hyderabad 500 001 Canbank Venture Capital Fund Limited, IInd Floor, Kareem Towers, Bangalore Gujarat Venture Capital Fund 1997, Ashram Road, Ahmedabad 380 009 Industrial Venture Capital Limited, Thyagaraya Road, Chennai 600 017 Auto Ancillary Fund Opp. Signals Enclave, New Delhi 110 010 Gujarat Venture Capital Fund 1995 Ashram Road Ahmedabad 380 009 Karnataka Information Technology Venture Capital Fund Cunningham Rd Bangalore India Auto Ancillary Fund Nariman Point, Mumbai 400 021 Information Technology Fund, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400 021 Tamilnadu Infotech Fund Nariman Point, Mumbai 400 021 Orissa Venture Capital Fund Nariman Point Mumbai 400 021 Uttar Pradesh Venture Capital Fund Nariman Point, Mumbai 400 021 SICOM Venture Capital Fund Nariman Point Mumbai 400 021 Punjab Infotech Venture Fund 18 Himalaya Marg, Chandigarh 160 017 National venture fund for software and information technology industry Nariman. DHFL VENTURE CAPITAL INDIA PVT LTD:- DHFL Venture Capital India Pvt. Ltd. (DVCI) provides advisory, managerial and consultancy services to Venture Capital Funds, Venture Capital Managements and Venture Capital Undertakings, related to Indian Real Estate. DVCI is promoted by Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL), Indias premier second largest housing finance company in the private sector. The Company is presently providing investment management services to DHFL Venture Capital Fund. DHFL Venture Capital Fund was launched in Feb 2006, one of the first private equity Real estate funds in India. The fund is registered with Securities and Exchange Board of India. CANBANK:- Canaan Partners (Canaan) is a global venture capital firm focusing on investments in early stage companies in the technology and healthcare sectors. The firms technology group focuses on digital media, communications, enterprise software, semiconductors, and cleantech. The healthcare group focuses on biopharmaceuticals, devices, and diagnostics. Founded in 1987, the firm has offices in Menlo Park, California; Westport, Connecticut; Gurgaon, India; and Herzliya, Israel. Since inception, Canaan has raised eight funds to date and as of 2009 manages $3 billion in capital. Canbank Venture Capital Fund Ltd (CVCFL) is a wholly owned Subsidiary of Canara Bank. Canbank Venture Capital Fund is Indias First and Only Public Sector Bank sponsored Venture Capital Fund, set up in 1989. The Fund is registered with SEBI. Four Venture Capital Funds with an aggregate corpus of around INR 1200 Million launched till date. The portfolio investments are spread across diverse industrial segments. A Case on Technology Development Information Company Of India Ltd. TDICI was incorporated in January 1988 with the support of the ICICI and the UTI. The countrys first venture fund managed by the TDICI called VECAUS ( Venture Capital Units Scheme) was started with an initial corpus of Rs.20 crore and was completely committed to 37 small and medium enterprises. The first project of the TDICI was loan and equity to a computer software company called Kale Consultants. Present Status: At present the TDICI is administering two UTI -mobilised funds under VECAUS-I and II, totaling Rs.120 crore. the Rs.20 crore invested under the first fund, VECAUS-I, has already yielded returns totaling Rs. 16 crore to its investors. Some of the projects financed by the TDICI are discussed below. MASTEK , a Mumbai based software firm, in which the TDICI invested Rs.42 lakh in equity in 1989, went public just three ye

Persuasive essay on Hard Work -- Essays Papers

Hard work is challenging work. But why does it have to be challenging work? Because challenging work, when intelligently chosen, pays off. It’s the work that people of lesser character will avoid. And if you infer that I’m saying people who avoid challenging work have a character flaw, you’re right†¦ and a serious one at that. If you avoid challenging work, you avoid doing what it takes to succeed. To keep your muscles strong or your mind sharp, you need to challenge them. To do only what’s easy will lead to physical and mental flabbiness and very mediocre results, followed by a great deal of time and effort spent justifying why such flabbiness is OK, instead of stepping up and taking on some real challenges. Tackling challenges builds character, just as lifting weights builds muscle. To avoid challenge is to abandon one’s character development. Now it’s natural that we’ll tend to avoid what’s painful, so if we see challenge as purely painful, we’ll surely avoid it. But in so doing, we’re avoiding some very important character development, which by its very nature is often tremendou...

Business :: essays research papers

â€Å"Website Comparison for Banking† There is a big difference in nice-looking websites and websites designed to market business effectively. The many similarities and differences when viewing websites help end users determine who to conduct business with. Some of these include the look and feel of each website, the user friendly options, the navigation and accessibility when searching for a particular category or business. In this paper, we have compared and analyzed three different banking websites Washington Mutual, Compass Bank and Bank of America in an effort to summarize their effectiveness and to determine which website in our opinion would draw consumer interests. Washington Mutual   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When evaluating Washington Mutual’s website, there was one feature that stood out more than the websites for Compass Bank and Bank of America; their advertisement for Free Online Banking. This is centrally located on the web page because it is in a bright color and is toward the top of the page which is eye catching to the viewer (WAMU, 2005). Many people today choose to do banking on-line to not only save money on checks and stamps, but it is also less time-consuming. By offering this service for free, Washington Mutual has more chances to gain new customers than other banks, which may currently charge for on-line banking. For those existing customers, the login screen to obtain account information is fairly accessible. It is located on the top right hand corner of the web page and also gives the chance for the user to inquire on the password in case they have forgotten it (WAMU, 2005).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Even though Washington Mutual does have a couple of features that stand out in comparison to the other two banks, we believe that their website could be more user friendly if there was not so much information crowded together which makes it harder to read. They do have access to pertinent information for those trying to locate specific information such as home loans or location information, but it does not stand out and it is not eye catching for the end user. This may deter someone from opening an account with Washington Mutual simply because of the setup of the web page. Pictures and icons are very important for websites because they can catch the viewer’s attention and it also makes their browsing experience a better one. People want to access their bank information or any other banking needs as fast as possible.

What Motivates Obama?

Mr. Sampson Psychology 6 November 2012 What motivates Obama? Barack Obama, the first African-American president, can in some ways be an inspiration to many people. But, many people do become curious about what motivates Barack Obama. Many people would not be able to try and run for the most responsible and prestigious job in the world, especially if you were under the circumstances that Obama underwent. Understanding theories of motivation can help us understand why people choose to do the things they do. First, looking at Barack Obama's personality will help us to understand a little more about him. Obama is a very charismatic speaker.He tends to speak on a level where many can understand him. Obama is a well-known writer and has spent time as a civil rights attorney, as well as a Constitutional law professor and served seven years as an Illinois state senator. To many, all of this success would have seemed out of reach. Obama was born from a white mother and a black father. This wa s at a time when interracial unions were not liked. Barack's mother raised him because his father left them when Obama was only two years old. He lived in Indonesia for a bit with his mother before moving in with his grandparents when he was ten years old.Barack's grandparents lived in Hawaii at the time. We must look at certain theories of motivation. First, the phsychoanalytic view, or better known as Freud's theory of motivation, can be used. The theory can be brought down to four basic propositions. They are the principles of (1) determinism, (2) drive, (3) conflict, and (4) the Montalbano 2 unconscious. Obama may have had an instinct to succeed and may have fought hard to climb to the top of the career ladder, but Obama's fate may have already been chosen by an unseen force.His actual instinct may have been something different, but society deemed the way he went to be the way to succeed. The closest thing to satisfy the instinct in today's world may have been success in his car eer. Aggression may have had a role as well. Obama was unable to vent his aggression in a way that society deemed appropriate. He may have fueled his drive to succeed with it. Conflicts within himself may have started when he felt that he could not have other things that others had, being African-American in a time of racial inequalities.This may have led to Obama's motivation as well. His unconscious may have also led him to be anxious and to let out his anxiety by striving for success. Another theory of motivation is the humanistic view. From the humanistic perspective, the supreme motivator is the striving to actualize and perfect the self. Obama wanted to make himself the best that he could be, wanting to break racial barriers along the way. He wanted to show everyone his full potential. Obama did this by growing as a person, putting to use what he was best at and learned how to be good at other things as well.Obama wanted to be liked and accepted by others. He showed that he wa nted that by being a public servant and help to others. His motivation started by his needs. He obviously needed to start working for basic necessities. This grew into belonging, self-esteem needs, and finally self-actualization needs. These steps are from the hierarchy or Maslow's Need Hierarchy. Last, but not least, is the diversity view. This is another theory of motivation. This theory argues that human beings are motivated by many different things. Obama was motivated because of his race.He wanted to prove his worth to others. Maybe he was motivated for his wealth, or Montalbano 3 he was encouraged by those around him. It could have been a mixture of things. Many things can influence a person to do the things that they do. A person is motivated by basic needs. Obama was motivated to run for the presidency because he needed to feel accepted by others. The press is a situation for need expression in the environment. When others encouraged Obama, he found himself a likely candidat e for the presidency. This further fulfilled his need for acceptance.The more he was encouraged, the more he felt that need fulfilled. He felt accepted. This is also seen as tension-reduction. Wanting to achieve and be successful is one of Obama's psychogenic needs. In conclusion, many theories of motivation can be applied when you try to see the reasoning behind Barack Obama's decision to run for president of the United States. Without some motivation, Barack Obama may have not become anyone of any importance at all. The psychoanalytic view, humanistic view, and diversity view have all helped Obama with him becoming the president. Works Cited Barack Obamamotivation. † Barack Obama Motivation. N. p. , n. d. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. . â€Å"Theories of Motivation. † Theories of Motivation. N. p. , n. d. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. . â€Å"The Personality Analyst. † Does President Obama Have the Motivation to Succeed? N. p. , n. d. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. .