Initial Public Offerings Paper Essay Example for Free

Initial Public Offerings Paper Essay In order for a company to build their business, many pursue to either merge with another company or acquisitions from another company. Another option a company should consider when building their business is to make an Initial Public Offering. An initial public offering is the first sale of stock by a company to the public. A company can raise money by issuing either debt or equity (Know Finance., n.d.). Microsoft, Apple, and Samsung have stepped into the stock market by their IPO. These strides are what it takes to raise money and what roles help the company begin an IPO. Most corporations agree to an initial public offering with an investment banking firm by acting in the capacity of an underwriter. An investment banker is a person who works in a financial institution that primarily goal is to raise capital for companies, governments and other entities (Investopedia, n.d.). An underwriter is a person that provides several financial services that includes helping with assessing the value of shares and establishing a public market for first sales (Investopedia, n.d.). An underwriter responsibility is allotting securities issued to the public. There are several risks that are involved in a public offering. Initial public offering stocks is one of the risks involved in public offering (Financial Web, 2014). This is sometimes called going public because the stock is offered first to the public. Share, the risks of the company, can sometimes be profitable, but a risk too. An investor, shareholder, or individual may be at risks if they invest their money within a company that is going public for the first time (Financial Web, 2014). Pricing of good is one of the risks that are involved in a public offering. Pricing goods too high or too low is not acceptable in the public offering. Investors and shareholders will not invest in a company if there are any issues with the pricing. A firm and their investors will lose money their money if the price of goods is priced too low. This may cause investors to pull out of the firm corporation (Financial Web, 2014). Loss of income and revenue may sometimes make the underwriters hold the inventory and additional funds. Long holding period and lack of information are other risks that are involved in a public offering. Lack of information may cause investors to pull out of the firm because the firm failed to provide all of the documents and files. Long holding period may cause a decrease in stock price. The  U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) protects the investors, maintain fair, efficient markets, orderly, and facilitate capital formation (Bridge Capital Inc., 2014). The SEC deals with industries by monitoring, managing the terms of sales by preliminary prospectus and setting rules and regulations for companies. Preliminary prospectus is when the company and the securities are issues to the firm. A firm will have provided their income statement, balance sheets, its current activities, and other documents that provide information about the firm. The Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA) was put in act to increase the success in private litigation for securities fraud. References: Initial Public Offering (IPO) | Know Finance. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.knowfinance.com/ipo/ Investment Banker Definition | Investopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/investmentbanker.asp Underwriter Definition | Investopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.investopedia.com/terms/u/underwriter.asp Financial Web. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.finweb.com/investing/therisksofinitialpublicofferingstocks.com Bridge Capital Inc. (2014). Retrieved from http://bridge.com

Why Smes Sometimes Face Difficulties In Raising Finance Finance Essay

Why Smes Sometimes Face Difficulties In Raising Finance Finance Essay Due to the establish of modern enterprise system and thoroughly in structural reforms of market economy, there are lot of opportunities contained in the market, but it is also existing many unexpected risks, particularly for the small to medium-sized enterprise (SMEs) which has limited resources to resist in this treacherous environment. To survive and adapts to the environment for a SME is to maintain its advantage in meticulous daily management and even more important is to have a long-term view strategic thinking especially in financial strategy. A good finance strategy can help SME to set up and expand their operations, development and also investment (OECD, 2006), further to get funds which make them competitively and can get well results they desired (Park, 2010). Making a finance strategy is very significant to a company; company has to consider both of internal condition and external environment problem and even more factors which are related to company. However, the SME has its particular characteristic, it is not suitable to adopt the same action with a large company; they better to create a strategy which fits to the company according to its demand. Finding a proper financial strategy for a developing SME, not only can help SME to reinforce its essence, the more important is the sustainability of its development. Define company There is no accurate definition for small to medium-sized enterprise (SMEs) and most of countries define it according to specific condition by their way. Nevertheless, there are some particular characteristics (Bank of England, 2001 Brookfield, 2001) about SMEs and they are: The enterprises are not quoted Ownership is often connected between family and shareholder and the business is typically restricted to few individuals. Most of SMEs are small groups business and always achieve self-employment effectively. In the past, the definition for SMEs from European Commission was unequivocal, it was defined by individual country, for instance, Germany regulated the amount of employee under 250 was part of SME, but in Belgium, the number was became 100. However, in the recent years, the data from European Commission shows that the definition has adjusted and is qualified as a SME by some criteria (see figure 1-1) (European Commission, 2010) in headcount, turnover and balance sheet total. definition of SME.JPG Figure 1-1 the definition of a small firm from European Commission Importance of finance Nowadays, the enterprises finance is facing a dynamic, diversification and complicated managing environment. Managing finance is not only to provide a specific method or device for a firm; it is to assimilate the principle and manner from strategic management. Start from the view of adapting to the environment and using the vantage, to pay much attention in financial long-term problem and strategic problem. In the situation of lacking of the resources for SME, to create a suitable financial strategic and well dominate the limited resource is significant since a better financial systems can help to improve the probability of successful innovation and bring accelerate economic growth. (King, et al., 1993) The focus of enterprises financial strategy is the basic path on future development, goal and goal accomplishment for the financial action; this is the difference between financial strategy and other strategies. The master objective of enterprises financial strategy is reasonably to assemble, dominate and use its resources, tend to balance and flow enterprises capital, also to build the core competitive strength and to achieve the maximization of enterprise value in the end. Some aspects of this goal are related/ connected to each other; from the view of a long-term performance, to seek the enterprises sustainability growth in financial resource and capability, and furthermore to accomplish the rising of enterprises capital value and make enterprises financial capability can sustained, quick and healthily increase, conduce to maintain and develop enterprises competitive advantage. While enterprise building the core competitive strength for their strategic management, they need the support from financial management. The financial management which treats capital management as a significant content, it needs to express the requirement for enterprises strategy and to guarantee its practice. The value of practicing the financial strategy is to retain a health condition in enterprises finance and also effectively in controlling the financial risk. There are twelve types of financing and growth in SMEs and it can be very usefully and provided a great help if it is supplied properly according to SMEs particular requirement (Brookfield, 2001). Initial owner financing (Equity finance) Business angel financing Trade credit Leasing Factoring Venture capital Short-term bank loans (Debt finance) Medium term bank loans Mezzanine finance Private placements Public equity Public debt A company should manage its financing structure in a way that its debt and equity are in balanced manner. This fact helps company to avoid insolvency. Excess of either debt or finance could result in loss of wealth. I will be explaining some of the important methods of financing in following section. Equity finance Equity financing is that the shareholder sells the part of corporate control to introduce the new shareholder by raising the capital (Watson, et al., 2007). The enterprise does not need to pay the interest on principal if the capital is received from equity financing and the new shareholder can share the profit from enterprise as well. Equity financing includes stock issuance, allotment and debt for equity swap. Some features of equity financing, are: Stock equity is firms first right of its property, it is the base for enterprise to absorb the civil liability and to responsibility for firms own profits and losses; furthermore, it is also the base for investor to control the enterprise and to distribute the profit. Equity financing is the base of deciding an enterprise to the outward debt. Certainly, there are some advantages of equity financing that help enterprise in investment and management. Equity financing builds a good system in corporate governance structure, which consists of shareholders meeting, board of directors, Board of supervisors and executives. It is effectively in decreasing the risk of management. In the modern finance theory, stock market is also called open market; it means that the standardization financial products are dealing in a trading area with an extensively institutionalization. It has its criterion and processes it in the condition of information revelation and fare dealing. In financial translation, the more important is publicity and availability of information; and that is why the stock market is better than loan market in both competitiveness of capital price and publicity of information. Venture capital Venture capital is the fund which is collected by private placement and set as the type of organization; invest to unlisted small and medium-sized newly emerging enterprises and in the capital type of both high risk and high reciprocation. Venture capital is different from mutual fund, unit trust and securities investment fund; it has its features in operating of investment and collection, such as, Venture capital absorbs the venture with enterprise; the venture capitalist needs to cooperate closely with entrepreneur and help the firm to make a plan. Management is part of investment. Venture capital is an investment in long-term and poor flowability; venture capitalist and entrepreneur become a common destiny once they invest. Venture capital is high risk and requires the venture capitalist with specialized skill, and need to achieve specialization and programmed in choosing the project, tend to avoid the risk. Before inspect the financial index, the venture capitalist pays more attention in market prospect, development strategy and managing quality. Sharing the bonus from enterprise is not the purpose of venture capital, they make it as a return by increasing the capital when they are exiting; the time for exiting is always when go on public or sell it. Debt finance Debt financing is also called bond financing, it is the way which the firm can raise money for enterprises external finance; and debt can also be conducted and fitted to the requirement of issuing companies and investors (Watson, et al., 2007). It is included long-term bank loans, short-term financing (such as bills, debt receivable, and letter of credit), enterprise Bond and short-term financial bonds, also long-term bond financing, finance lease, discount government loans, government loan, Loans from international financial organizations and private bond fund. The first expense enterprise needs to pay is the interest of capital which receives from debt financing and the principal on the debt will be paid to creditor at maturity (Davis, et al., 1994). The feature of purpose for debt financing is to solve the problem of deficiency in working capital rather than the expenditure under the capital account. Debt financing can be described by two features, The received capital from debt financing is only for using, it is not the property of the enterprise, and the firm needs to pay interest and the principal is repayable. Compare to equity financing, except some specific situations that debt financing may bring creditor the problem of intervention or controlling, otherwise it is barely to have the problem of corporate control. However, debt financing has its advantage for helping the firm in investment and management, The lenders have ability to collect and analyze the states of investment, also can have long-term investigate and oversee the enterprise to avoid the moral hazard. The function of the creditors right is when firm can pay off the debt, the firm will hold the corporate control, whereas of the enterprise cannot offer the debt, the corporate control will be turned to lender. Why do SMEs find financing a problem? Due to SMEs small size capital, the capability for defending the market risk is not as strong as a large firm, plus a faulty finance system, it causes the problem into SMEs finance management (Pissarides, 1999). The main reasons and problem are: No criterion in SMEs finance accounting system In application of finance system in SME exist some problems, which make loose financial control. A loose inventory control can lead to the stagnation of capital and excessive final inventory; the capital of final inventory always in a high proportion if compare to sale revenue. The firm usually loses a large number of assets due to focus on capital much more than assets and even wastes it seriously; moreover, to control the finished products, semi-manufactured goods and low-value expendable without a faultless system. It is negligent in managing the cash and weakness in debt receivable Some of enterprises think that it is good to hold cash (including bank deposit), and better to have more; the proportion of reserve is too high, it makes lot of capital cannot really run in operation, and also causes the capital idleness. In addition, some firms invest too much in real estate and lead to finance difficulty due to could not handle the emergent need of management. Also deficiency in managing working capital creates problems problem capital withdrawal. Difficulty in funding, the capital is insufficient It is not easy to run the SME in a practically environment, especially the unequal treatment in funding between SME and larger enterprise. The banks are not willing to loan to them, particularly the difficulty in guarantee and lack of the specialized agency to offer the assurance service is still the main problem for SME and it obviously happens in some huge investments. Unrestraint in investment The SME is lacking of the ability to analyze the investment accurately and to evaluate the effectiveness of operating the capital. The majority of investment in SME is from banking, due to the respectability of a SME is not as high as a large company, it is an obstacle in attracting the banking to invest or loan to the SME. The mode of management is backward Most of SME is running the business as a family workshop; they are operation the management in a backward way and an old-fashioned thinking way, do not understand and even not willing to understand or learn the modern financial management. The proprietor always treats the enterprise as an extension of familys property; in order to control the business entirely without decentralize the ownership, it causes the lost of the opportunities in growing. Conclusion SMEs play an important role in the general macroeconomic environment, and provide the enormous opportunities for employment. However, due to the small size and limited source, usually SMEs has to face to the challenge in financing problem. For solving the problem, the major impact is from government and the law (Industrial Systems Research). In existing policy has to be adjusted by government; the government needs to reinforce the related law and regulation to implement SMEs development strategy and preferential clause. Furthermore, have to set up the institution for managing and supporting SMEs development. To increase the method for financing; SMEs need to respect the debt from bank and to pay back the debt on time; then to healthy the internal system and raise the handling of material. Lastly, to improve accountants structure and criterion of financial management; enhance the punishment for the illegality to makes they pay attention in financial system.

Entrepreneurs Typically Learn From Failure Business Essay

Entrepreneurs Typically Learn From Failure Business Essay In the literature, there is no specific definition of failure. Every author that will be discussed in this essay has described failure using different parameters. Therefore, it is not possible to use a particular authors definition because their work is based on their different definitions. To begin with, one of the widely accepted definitions of failure is the termination of a business that has fallen short of its goals, thereby failing to satisfy principal shareholder expectations (Beaver and Jennings, 1996 mentioned in Cope, 2011, pp 605). This differs from the definition of Cochran, 1981, mentioned in Cope (2011, pp 605 Carter and Evans 2012, pp 181) who suggests failure as bankruptcy or liquidation as the loss of capital and an inability to make a go of it. However, a similar view is shared by Shepherd (2003 pp. 318), who feels that business failure occurs when a fall in revenues and/or a rise in expenses are of such that the firm becomes insolvent and is unable to attract new d ebt or equity funding; leading to the inability of operating under the current ownership and management. Oxford dictionary defines typical as having the distinctive qualities or characteristics of a particular type of person or thing or informal  showing the characteristics expected of or popularly associated with a particular person or thing. It is typically expected that entrepreneurs will learn from failure. This essay will discuss the reasons the why entrepreneurs fail, the factors that increase the probability of failure, how and what entrepreneurs learn from failure. In the essay, all the theories or literature that has been mentioned is in context to small firms. The reasons they have been targeted is because there is higher incidence of faillure in small firms and are more likely to close than larger ones (Blackburn and Stokes, 2002). To understand success, it is important to understand failure (Carter and Evans 2012). Sitkin (1992) as cited in Shepherd (2003 pp. 318) argues that failure is more important than success for learning. Sir James Dyson, the founder of Dyson Company (Entrepreneur 2012) also believes that a person never learns from success, but they do learn from failure. The causes that lead to business failure have been divided into two categories; internal and external failures. The following table shows the internal and external factors contributing to failure of a business: Internal and external factors contributing to failure cited in Carter and Evans (2012, pp.184) One of the major internal cause of failure is poor management an event that occurs as a lack of entrepreneurial or managerial attention or focus (Carter and Evans, 2012 pp.184-184).Beaver (2003 mentioned in the Carter and Evans. 2012 pp. 184) refers to a research done by Dun and Bradstreet in 1991 which proves that the primary cause of business failure in the USA is due to management incompetence of the business owner. This view is confirmed by Thornhill and Amit (2003 as mentioned in Cope, 2011) who also consider lack of management and financial planning skills as the most common causes of firm mortality. Authors like Brough (1970); Stanford (1982); Hall (1992); Beaver and Jennings (1995) as mentioned in Beaver (2003 pp. 117) consider finance, demand forecasting, management, marketing, capitalization at start-up and strategy and planning as the main causes if business failure in small firms. Another view by Beaver (2003 pp. 117) is that if business start-ups are a desperate response to unemployment, rather than based on sound principles and the committed fashioning and management of competitive advantage, it is inevitable that many firms will fail. The external factors of failure are those that are beyond the control of even the most capable entrepreneurs and will trigger problems in new firms (Osborne, 1993 as mentioned in Carter and Evans, 2012 pp. 184). Entrepreneurs tend to attribute failure to external causes, such as market conditions and financial problems through a process known as attribution theory (Carter and Evans, 2012 pp.184). Rosa, Carter and Hamilton (1996 as mentioned in Carter and Evans, 2012 pp.185) interviewed 600 UK small business owner-managers and found that most of the business people tend to blame external factors to their possible shortcomings. The reason why entrepreneurs dont want to be associated with failure is due to the potential danger to their self-esteem (Cannon and Edmondson, 2005 Carter and Evans, 2012, pp. 185). This view has been encouraged due to the social norm of failure being regarded as a negative event and the stigmatization (Cope, 2011). One of the external causes of failure mention ed in Carter and Evans (2012) is bankruptcy of main customer or supplier. Len Rainford, M.D., Sameday UK went through the same problem with his business of warehousing when his biggest customer had gone bust. However, with the help of his banks and accountants, he was able to recover losses and make profits within 3 years. A similar problem was also faced by Vikram Talwar, founder of EXL Service, one of Indias largest BPOs when their only client, Conseco went bankrupt (Bansal, 2008). They were able to recover because of the strategies of the management and help of the investors. Other than the causes of failure, there are certain factors that increase the probability of failure. There are two main independent factors that are important determinants of a firm growth; size and age (Storey, 1994, Carter and Evans, 2012 and Bates and Nucci, 1990). Bates also found that firm age was the strongest single determinant of small business survival among firms owned by white males (Bates and Nucci, 1990 pp. 10). The empirical evidence on the negative relationship between size and age of the firm and the failure rates had been unanimous (Storey, 1994). There have been various studies to prove this relationship for example; the study done by Dunne, Roberts and Samuelson in 1989 (Storey, 1994 pp.92)on manufacturing plants showed that the average failure rate for plants with employees in between five to nineteen was 104.7 % higher than for plants with more than 250 employees. In this case, they had used the number of employees as a factor to recognize the size of the business. A similar study done by Gallagher and Stewart in 1985 as cited in Storey (1994 pp. 92) found that a firm employing less than twenty people was 78% more likely to fail over the next decade as compared to the one employing more than 1,000. On comparison of the size of the firm in terms of the net assets, it was found by Dunne and Hughes (1992 mentioned in Storey, 1994 pp. 92) that the non-survivors over the 1980-5 period con stituted 27% of those with net assets less than  £1m, compared with 14 % of those with net assets exceeding  £64m.In terms of age, Hudson (1987b mentioned in Storey, 1994 pp.93) finds clear evidence that insolvency is a characteristic more suitable for young firms. He found that 61% of the firms that became insolvent did so between 2-9 years after formation and that there was a peak age of 2-5 years. Entrepreneurs who focus more on the success of the more than failure are also more likely to fail because drawing lessons from successes is much more difficult as success does not create an urgent need to enrich current knowledge structures or behaviors and on the other hand it reinforces existing beliefs and routines. (Ellis et al., 2006 mentioned in Cope, 2011). After establishing the causes of failure, it is also important to understand how entrepreneurs recover and move on to learn lessons from failure. Failure causes damage not only financially and emotionally but also relationally and recovering and moving on from failure includes overcoming these costs too (Shepherd et al, 2009 mentioned in Cope, 2011 pp. 613 and Cope, 2011 ). According to Cope (2011) failure does not necessarily produce any long-term negative professional consequences as the key stakeholders accept failure as a fact of life in the start-up community. Cope (2011) feel that this encourages the entrepreneurs who are concerned about the possibility of receiving future support for their ideas as failure is not automatically considered a black mark by other professionals. Shepherd (2003) and Shepherd and Kuratko (2009, pp. 451) use the word grief to define the emotional response to the loss of something important which causes behavioral, psychological, and physiological symptoms. The more important the project to the innovator, the more extreme the negative emotional reaction incurred upon failure (Shepherd and Kuratko, 2009, pp. 452). Shepherd and Kuratko (2009, pp. 452) also mention that grief can obstruct learning from failure and in such circumstances; learning from failure involves a process of regulating the negative emotions. This process is called grief recovery (Shepherd 2003, Shepherd and Kuratko 2009). He argues that an individual has recovered from grief when thoughts surrounding the loss of the business no longer generate a negative emotional response. Oscillation between the two models of coping behavior is the most effective in speeding the recovery process. Shepherd (2003) and Shepherd and Kuratko (2009) Involves actively confronting the loss and associated negative emotions in order to work through what happened and make sense of the failure. Shepherd (2003) and Shepherd and Kuratko (2009) Avoiding, suppressing and purposefully distracting oneself from loss-related thoughts, allowing gradual fading of memories related with the loss. Shepherd (2003) and Shepherd and Kuratko (2009 Figure 1: Using Shepherds approach to grief recovery as cited in Shepherd (2003) and Shepherd and Kuratko (2009). The process of oscillation (shown in figure 1) is important as it gives the innovator the benefit of both orientations while minimizing the costs of maintaining either for an extended period and also allows them to learn more from their failure experiences (Shepherd, 2003 and Shepherd and Kuratko 2009). In order to be effective, the oscillation approach requires the innovator to confront the loss and work through the events leading up to the failure; to distract ones thoughts away from the failure event to focus on addressing secondary causes of stress; and to recognize when one orientation has been held too long and be able to switch to the other orientation (Shepherd and Kuratko, 2009, pp.454). Grief is generated not only amongst the entrepreneur but also the team members (Shepherd, 2003). The organizations form support groups through which they provide an opportunity for their members to interact with others who have experienced a sense of loss. By interacting with others who have experienced similar grief-inducing events, individuals can model coping behaviors and build their coping self-efficacy skills (Shepherd, 2003). However, the amount of feedback information available also appears to impact the degree to which grief interferes with the learning process (Shepherd, 2003). People learn using the outcome of action (feedback) to revise their belief systems (Huy, 1999; Kim, 1993; Weick, 1979 as mentioned in Shepherd, 2003, pp. 320). For the self-employed, learning from business failure occurs when they can use the information available about why the business failed to revise their existing knowledge of how to manage their own business effectively (Shepherd, 2003 pp. 320). For example, Ravi Kalakota has learned a number of lessons from the loss of his business, Hsupply.com, such as dont let venture capitalists hijack your vision, dont burn through capital rapidly to achieve short-term growth, and dont underestimate the speed others will imitate your products and services (Gilbert, 2000 as mentioned in Shepherd, 2003, pp. 320). Following the understanding of the reasons for failure and how they learn from failure, it is now important to acknowledge the learning from failure. According to Len Rainford, there is no such thing as failure, its a learning curve. He supports that even if entrepreneurs fail, they start again because they believe in bouncing back from failure and trying something else. An example of this is Sir James Dyson, the founder of Dyson Company. When he invented his first Dual cyclone vacuum cleaner, he spent 15 years creating 5,126 versions that failed and all this paid off in the form of a multi-billion dollar company that it is now (Entrepreneur, 2012). In the literature, the learning specifically points towards the launch of a new venture. It has been repeatedly mentioned by various academics that entrepreneurs who have learned from failure have become more motivated to start another enterprise (Cope 2011, Stokes and Blackburn, 2002) An example of entrepreneur learning from failure is Madan Mohanka, founder of Tega Industries, the worlds third largest company designing solutions in the field of mining equipment (Bansal, 2008). When his company was having huge cash flow problems, and was almost on the brink of bankruptcy, he learnt some valuable lessons. The first one is that an entrepreneur should at least plan for 50% or double the investment, the second one is that if an entrepreneur believes in his/her product and business, he/she should never give up (Rashmi Bansal, 2008). When Madan went bankrupt, he mortgaged his wifes jewelry, but did not abandon the dream. Due to the failure, they learn lessons regarding what they should have done and how they can do it better and this adds value to the entrepreneurs stock of experience (Reuber and Fischer, 1999 in Cope, 2011, pp. 618) , stock of knowledge (Minniti and Bygrave, 2001; Reuber and Fischer, 1999 mentioned in Cope, 2011 pp. 605)and improves the level of entrepreneurial preparedness for the future entrepreneurial activity (Cope, 2005a; Harvey and Evans. 1995; cope and Zacharakis et al., 1999 ;Stokes and Blackburn, 2002 mentioned in Cope, 2011, pp.618). This is done by revising previously ineffective routines, highlighting the mistakes, spotting new opportunities (Gupta, 2005; Politis, 2005) and expanding the skills and knowledge about the entrepreneurial process (Cope, 2011, pp. 618). Many entrepreneurs become successful serial entrepreneurs (Cope, 2011). According to the research done by Stokes and Blackburn (2002); 62% of entrepreneurs who failed, continued as a business owner in some way and almost three-quarters of their respondents also agreed that they have improved their skill in personal management areas like coping with setbacks, self-management and adapting to change. An example of this is Shankar Maruwada, owner of Marketics, an analytics company. When his first business went bust, he learnt his first lesson of failure; things dont as per plan and he and his team used the failure to get it right the second time with Marketics (Bansal, 2008). This proves the positive learning experience of failure. The repeated reference to a better awareness of pressure points warning signs and stresses and strains during the entrepreneurial process is evidence of the productive and practical learning outcomes of failure (Cope, 2011). Failure is also called a trial and error (Gibb, 1997; Politis, 2005 in Cope, 2011) approach for entrepreneurs to understand what works and doesnt work (Sarasvathy and Menon, 2002, mentioned in Cope, 2011) thus increasing the probability of success. Experiencing failure has also been found to lead to more positive attitudes to failure (Politis and Gabrielsson, 2009 in Shepherd, 2003). Studying and learning from failure can help entrepreneurs to avoid falling into unreflective cognitive ruts or learning traps (Rerup, 2005; West and Wilson, 1995 in Shepherd, 2003). A study done by Scholl-hammer (1991) mentioned in Shepherd (2003) suggests that 51 percent of all entrepreneurs in the United States have previous owner-manager experience. This view is also supported by Timmons (1999 mentioned in Shepherd, 2003), who considers failure as a necessary step to success. From the work of various researchers and especially Cope in the field of entrepreneurial learning, it is clear that entrepreneurs who have experienced failure are more prepared than those who have only enjoyed success. Learning from failure but it is not an automatic or instant process and thus requires time in moving on from the understanding of the failure and its causes to generating learning outcomes from it. Processes that fail lead to grief and by using methods like loss orientation, restoration orientation, and oscillation between these two methods, causes grief recovery (Shepherd, 2003). Learning is a dynamic and on-going process and it will take place during and beyond the process of failure (Bower, 1990 as mentioned in Shepherd, 2003, pp. 320). However, entrepreneurs will eventually move on and recover from the grief.

How Have I Changed As A Writer? :: Essays Papers

In the past three months I feel like I have accomplished a great deal. As the semester comes to an end I find myself reflecting not only how I have survived the first semester but also what I have learned. The most important thing I have learned so far is how to become a better writer. I did not think it could really happen to me. I did not think I could handle all the work. I did not think I could actually become a better writer. Some how after all the hours of writing, and putting effort into the papers that I wrote this semester, I became a better writer. I did this because I concentrated on two very important areas, with the attitude of, if I could just become better in those then I would become a better writer. With help from an awesome teacher and a reliable tutor I have become a better writer by improving my skills in the areas of procrastination and content. Procrastination has become such a bad habit for me. It is very hard to stop procrastinating everything once you have gotten into the habit of doing it. Once I had a term paper due for my religion class. It was to be ten pages long and we were told to spend a lot of time doing it. Being the procrastinator that I am, I waited to the very last minute to do it. I waited until the night before to do most of it. Needless to say, I was up very late that night. In this class there was always a part of the paper due on a certain date before the final paper was due. Having things due before the final paper is due keeps me on task and keeps me from procrastinating until the day before the paper is due. There was one paper which we had to get sources for a while before the paper was due and it forced me to keep up with the paper, rather than let it go to the last minute. This class has taught me that the earlier you start the more positive your final result will be.

Florida State and the Future of Gay Adoption Essay -- Journalism Journ

Florida state law currently bans lesbians and gay men from adopting children. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is attempting to get a case before the Supreme Court that could overturn the law. The ban on gay adoption has been in place since 1977, when the state legislature almost unanimously condoned restriction of the rights of its gay citizens. Legislation on the issue was sparked by Anita Bryant's "Save Our Children" campaign, which raged through Florida and even beyond spreading myths about homosexuality and linking homosexuality to pedophilia. At the time of its inception, Senator Curtis Peterson, one of its primary supporters, spoke to the law's true purpose: "The problem in Florida has been that homosexuals are surfacing to such an extent that they're beginning to aggravate the ordinary folks. We're trying to send them a message, telling them:  ¡Ã‚ ®We're really tired of you. We wish you'd go back into the closet" (1). The state's attitude, while becoming more equally divided on the issue, has not changed significantly enough to overturn the law. An appeal was made to a three-person appeals panel, which upheld the law. A request for reconsideration of the decision made to the federal Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, which encompasses the geographic area of Florida, Georgia and Mississippi, was denied. This denial has allowed the ACLU to bring the case before the Supreme Court for consideration. Perhaps most indicative of the law's blatantly homophobic basis is the fact that the state has no restrictions on using gays and lesbians to relieve the burden on the foster care system. The state frequently uses gay couples to provide homes for disabled and terminally ill children, but refuses to recognize that thi... ...ion, it will shape the framework in which we discuss the issue of gay adoption. This is true. We must recognize the fearful power of one to appoint these decision makers without a sufficiently balanced congress- it is the ability to embody political rhetoric within a judicial structure. Rhetoric itself may and does sway public opinion, but its embodiment is the ability to set precedents which may be applied in broad-sweeping generalities, rather than the specifics of a single law. Internet Sources: 1)ACLU, Background information on the specific case in Florida. 2)Let Him Stay, Specifically devoted to the Croteau-Lofton case giving detailed information on the family, laws and legislation affecting the case. 3)Human Rights Campaign, State-by-state information on both current and pending legislation on a wide range of issues affecting the LGBT community.

A Semiparametric Analysis of the Relationship of Body Mass Index to Mortality Essay

Gronniger, J. T. (2006). A Semiparametric Analysis of the Relationship of Body Mass Index to Mortality. American Journal of Public Health, 96(1), 173–178 This article review is on the above cited work. The purpose of Gronniger’s work was to check the adequacy of conventional Body Mass Index (BMI) categories for planning public health programs to reduce mortality. Body Mass Index (BMI) is a measure of an adult’s weight in relation to height, and it is calculated metrically as weight divided by height squared (kg/m2)† (Foster). This work is timely and important because of the wide publicity given to the contribution of surplus body weight to mortality and morbidity, with numerous accounts showing that obesity causes hundreds of thousands of excess deaths and billions of dollars in excess medical spending each year. Obesity has been put on par with smoking as a growing health threat and has become the focal point of many policy initiatives. The studies cited by Gronniger on the subject showed that individuals with BMIs of 20 to 25 kg/m2 were regarded as the reference population and compared their health outcomes with those among overweight (BMIs of 25 to 30 kg/m2) and obese (BMIs of 30 kg/m2 and above) individuals. While Gronniger agrees that obesity is associated with clear increases in risk of mortality, and that overweight is a risk factor for obesity and thus should best be avoided, he states that â€Å"relying on broad categories such as overweight and obesity could provide misleading estimates of BMI’s association with mortality if that association is heterogeneous or not monotonic within categories†. He further stated that the definition of these categories â€Å"grew out of a consensus among various health bodies (including the World Health Organization, the National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) that health risks increase with increasing body weight above a BMI of 25 and become serious near a BMI of 30†. This he showed in his study. Summary For the study, the author used the 1987 Cancer Control and 1989 Diabetes supplements of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to obtain baseline personal and biometric information on the survey respondents which were linked to the NHIS Multiple Cause of Death File, where mortality follow-up information was obtained. Information from this source was available for a total of 33,558 individuals, of whom 1,109 were dead or presumed dead. He then constructed nonlinear estimates of the association between BMI and mortality using a semiparametric regression technique. The results showed that the mortality risk among â€Å"normal† weight men (i. . , those in the BMI range of 20 to 25 kg/m2) was as high as that among men in the mild obesity category (BMIs of 30–35 kg/m2), with a minimum risk observed at a BMI of approximately 26 kg/m2. Among women, the mortality risk was smallest at approximately 23 to 24 kg/m2, with the risk increasing steadily with BMIs above 27 kg/m2. The results also suggested negligible risk differences with minor differences in weight for much of the population. This is contrary to predictions of high mortality risks among overweight individuals as the â€Å"optimum† BMI appeared to be 26 to 27 overall, 23 to 24 for women, and 26 to 27 for men. Interestingly, mortality did not increase sharply with BMI until the range of about 27 or above (33–35 for men), which is well into the range of overweight and obesity. The semiparametric mortality estimates also showed that in US adults the mortality among clinically underweight individuals is quite high, although estimates near the tails of the BMI distribution are imprecise as a result of small local sample sizes. Critique The semiparametric approach used here provides a clearer picture of individual mortality risks because restrictive categories were eliminated and the data were allowed to shape the functional form. Therefore the present results can better be used to consider broad trends over at least several BMI units and to contrast such trends with findings derived from categorical studies. Also the author in his work used information from a valid source from which a complete smoking data was not available. The respondents were only group as â€Å"current† or â€Å"not current† smokers. This would affect the result considering the effect of smoking habits on mortality. Another limitation in this study was the arbitrary character of the intercept estimates derived using the semiparametric approach which would result in complication in interpretation. This however does not cause bias in the results. The present study was also unable to solve the heterogeneity problem, as the BMI can be tied to manifold variables that influence mortality. Many of these omitted risk factors might be correlated with BMI, leading to misestimation and gross error in the calculation of the risk of increasing BMI itself. Therefore one can not actually identify the mortality-minimizing or â€Å"optimal† BMI from this study. Furthermore, this study involves single-point-in-time measures of BMI. Therefore there is no guarantee that losing weight will bring the mortality of a severely obese person’s to the optimal level. Therefore the optimal BMI is only based on the current weight. Finally because of the absence of standard errors, the semiparametric estimates presented here cannot be used in hypothesis testing. Thus the expected mortality at a BMI of 29. 99 cannot be statistically compared with the expected mortality at a BMI of 30. 01. Recommendations To give a more comprehensive result, the actual smoking habits of the sample group must be obtained and considered in the study because of its effect on mortality. Also there is little information about the underweight group in the study. Therefore a more thorough consideration of this group would be appropriate. Conclusion Notwithstanding the limitations in the study, it is a valid research as the results raise questions about whether overweight and mildly obese individuals are classified correctly under current health guidelines. Health professionals are therefore to consider the large number of people involved in the modest mortality differences between BMI units in drafting health guidelines and planning public health programs.

Groupon †Daily Deal Aggregator Business Model Essay

Objectives 1. Choosing a company with an Innovative Business Model Groupon Groupon is a deal-of-the day website that features discounted gift certificates usable at local or national companies. It is based on the daily deal aggregator business model. Groupon was launched in November 2008, and the first market for Groupon was Chicago, followed soon thereafter by Boston, New York City, and Toronto. By October 2010, Groupon served more than 150 markets in North America and 100 markets in Europe, Asia and South America and had 35 million registered users. In addition to generation of revenues, offering daily deals on Groupon has proved to be beneficial for various businesses. Start-ups have gained market share by offering lucrative deals for customers on Groupon and attracting them to their businesses. Once these businesses gain their initial share of customers, it becomes easier for them to retain these customers and even attract new ones, with the help of providing quality product or service. Various businesses, domestic and international, have gained by often providing daily deals on Groupon. 2. Analysing the Business Model and Identifying the Innovation The Groupon Innovation Groupon is a daily deal website considered to be one of the top ten innovative Business Models with a huge user base of 83 million across 43 countries. Groupon sells coupons in a very unique way; As mentioned above, Groupon follows Daily deal Aggregator Business Model which enables groups of people who want to purchase a particular product or service to sign up and then seek a volume discount from vendors. These discounts are in the form of daily deals/coupons for products or services. Daily Deal websites typically  offer a single product or service a day for a discount and these deals become valid only after a pre-specified number of people sign up to avail this deal. When the deal expires, or sells out, the offer is gone. Daily Deal websites typically offer one product or service a day for a discount. This Business Model reduces risk for retailers who post the offers; They can treat the coupons as quantity discounts as well as sales promotion tools. Groupon makes money by keeping approximately half the money the customer pays for the coupon. For example, an $80 haircut could be purchased by the consumer for $40 through Groupon, and then Groupon and the retailer would split the $40. That is, the parlour gives a haircut valued at $80 and gets approximately $20 from Groupon for it (under a 50%/50% split). The consumer gets the haircut, in this example, from the parlour for which they have paid $40 to Groupon. Unlike classified advertising, the merchant does not pay any upfront cost to participate: Groupon collects personal information from willing customers and then contacts only those customers, primarily by daily email, who may possibly be interested in a particular product or service. Groupon breaks into new markets by identifying successful local businesses, first by sending in an advance a number of employees to gain data about the local market; when it finds a business with outstanding reviews, salespeople approach it and explain the model, and use social marketing sites such as Facebook to further promote the idea. Groupon’s biggest strength is its user base which has grown due to its First Mover Advantage and affordable deals. The question, however, at present is the sustainability of the business model. According to the CEO, Andrew Mason, Groupon is trying to â€Å"fundamentally change the way that people buy from local businesses in the same way that e-commerce changed the way that people buy products.† 3. Analysing the Market Scenerio Present Scenerio in the market The emergence of dozens of competitors to Groupon, with customers frequently playing one site off against another, diminishes the competitive differentiation between them. In addition, merchants whose goods and services are featured on the sites are now being courted by more players, making them less loyal and less likely to be prepared to pay rich premiums for the sites’ directing new customers to their store locations. Further, the benefits to both customers and merchants are likely to drop as the market is flooded with same kind of offers. Moreover, some of its big rivals are backed by some major funding and engineering resources. LivingSocial is backed by Amazon – it grew gross revenues 32 percent from August to September, bolstered by a blockbuster Whole Foods deal. Smaller players like TravelZoo and Bloomspothave their own advantages; They tend to be more focused on a particular niche. Apart from competition, there are also the issues of taxation; States including New York have decided merchants should collect sales taxes on the full face value of items purchased, not the price that consumers actually pay.