Impact of Firm Level Characteristics

Impact of Firm Level Characteristics Abstract Organizational performance has attracted scholarly attention in corporate finance literature over the several decades. However, in the context of insurance sector, it has received a little attention. Current study examines the impact of firm level characteristics (size, leverage, tangibility, risk, growth, liquidity and age) on performance of listed life insurance companies of Pakistan over seven years from 2001 to 2007. The results of Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression analysis indicate that size, risk and leverage are important determinants of performance of life insurance companies of Pakistan while ROA has statistically insignificant relationship with growth, profitability, age and liquidity. Keywords: performance, firm level characteristics, life insurance companies. Introduction The performance of any firm not only plays the role to increase the market value of that specific firm but also leads towards the growth of the whole industry which ultimately leads towards the overall prosperity of the economy. Measuring the performance of insurers has gained the importance in the corporate finance literature because as intermediaries , these companies are not only providing the mechanism of risk transfer but also helps to channelizing the funds in an appropriate way to support the business activities in the economy . Insurance companies have importance both for businesses and individuals as they indemnify the losses and put them in the same positions as they were before the occurrence of the loss. In addition, insurers provide economic and social benefits in the society i.e. prevention of losses, reduction in anxiousness, fear and increasing employment. Therefore, the current business world without insurance companies is unsustainable because risky businesses have not a capacity to retain all types of risk in current extremely uncertain environment. For the past six decades, Pakistani life insurance companies have shown the impressive progress which not only creates the employment opportunities but also enhances the business activities in the economy. Financial statistics reported the phenomenal growth of Pakistani life insurance companies as these companies comprise 52% and 69% share of entire (life plus non-life) insurance market in terms of net premiums and assets (Insurance Year Book, 2007). In addition, the premium of these life insurers increased by 36% in 2007 (Insurance Year Book, 2007) shows the remarkable progress of life insurance sector of Pakistan. Therefore, what determines the performance of the life insurance industry is an important discussion for the regulators and policy makers to support the sector in achieving the excellence so that desirable economic fruits could be reaped from the help of the life insurance sector of Pakistan. Literature Review The Determinants of performance have been extensively studied in corporate finance literature from the last several decades. For instance; by selecting the sample of US banks, Berger (1995) investigated the impact of capital asset ratio on return on equity. He concluded that capital asset ratio has a positive relationship with profitability. Anghazo (1997) examined the impact of firm level characteristics on US bank net interest margin. The results documented that bank interest margin positively related with leverage, opportunity cost, and default risk and management efficiency. Neeley and Wheelock (1997) explored the determinants of profitability of commercial banks and find that profitability positively related with changes in per capita income. To investigate the performance of banks (Naceur Goaied, 2001)used the sample of Tunisian banks over the period of 1980 to 1995. They advocated that the banks who tried to maintain their high deposits and improve their capital and labor productivity are performed well. Guru et al. (2002) examined the determinants of performance of Malaysian banks over the 10 years period from 1986 to 1995. For this purpose, they selected both micro and macro level characteristics. The results revealed that inflation positively while efficient expense management and high interest rate negatively related with profitability. The results of Goddard et al. (2004) showed that Profit is an important prerequisite for future growth of banks and the banks that maintain a high capital assets ratio tend to grow slowly. A study conducted by the (Sufian Parman, 2009)to investigate the determinants of profitability by selecting the non-commercial banks financial institutions. The findings indicated that credit risk and loan intensity negatively related with profitability while large size and financial institutions with high operational expenses tended to high profitability ratio. (Hakim Neaime, 2005) Observed that liquidity, current capital and investment are the important determinants of banks profitability. (Aburime, 2006) Identified the firm level determinants of profitability of Nigerian banks over the five years period from 2000 to 2004. He concluded that credit portfolio, size, capital size and ownership concentration are important determinants of Nigerian banks. (Kosmidou, 2008) showed that money supply growth has insignificant impact on profitability while GDP and stock market capitalization to assets are significant and have negative relation with the ROA. (Asimakopoulos, Samitas, Papadogo nas, 2009) illustrated that Firms profitability is positively affected by size, sales growth and investment. On the other hand, leverage and current assets negatively related with profitability. Severeral studies also have been conducted to measure the performance of the insurance compnies. For instance; Sloan, A and Conover, J.(1998) deduced that functional status of insurers do not affect the profitability of being insured but public coverage have significant impact on profitability of insurance companies. Chen and Wong ( 2004) examined that size, investment, liquidity are the important determinants of financial health of insurance companies. Chen et al.( 2009) examined the determinants of profitability and the results showed that profitability of insurance companies decreased with the increase in equity ratio. In addition, insurance companies must have to diversify their investment and use effective hedging techniques which help them to create better financial revenues. Research Methodology Sample and Data Currently, there are five life insurance companies operating in Pakistan and all these five companies are selected to measuring their performance over the period of seven years from 2001 to 2007. For this purpose, financial data has been collected from financial statements (Balance Sheets and Profit and Loss a/c) of insurance companies and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Insurance Year Bookà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? which is published by Insurance Association of Pakistan. Model PR = ÃŽÂ ²0 + ÃŽÂ ²1 (LG) + ÃŽÂ ²2 (TA) + ÃŽÂ ²3 (SZ) + ÃŽÂ ²4 (LQ) + ÃŽÂ ²5 (AG) + ÃŽÂ ²6 (RK) + ÃŽÂ ²7 (GR) + ÃŽÂ µ Where: PR = Performance (Net income before interest and tax divided by total assets) LG = Leverage (Total debts divided by total assets) TA = Tangibility (Fixed assets divided by total assets) SZ = Size (Log of premiums) LQ = Liquidity (Current assets divided by current liabilities) AG = Age (Difference b/w observation year and establishment year) RK = Risk (standard deviation of ratio of total claims to total premiums) GR = Growth (Percentage change in premiums) ÃŽÂ µ = the error term Descriptive Statistics Table 4.1 presents descriptive analysis of the firm level characteristic associated with life insurance sector. This study considers performance as dependent variable whereas leverage, size, growth, tangibility, liquidity, age and risk as independent variables. The industry average is provided by mean along with are the minima and maxima for respective year while standard deviation indicates the inter-industry variation of the variables value within the respective year. Table 4.1 indicates that the minimum value of industry mean of leverage is 0.79 in 2004 and 2007 while the mean value is at its maximum level in 2006 at 0.84.The maximum variation in leverage is observed in 2007 valuing at 0.30 and minimum is found in 2003 at 0.19. The variable size constantly shows the increasing trend from year 2001 to 2007. The mean value of size is at maximum level in 2007 i.e. 7.51 whereas minimum mean value for size is observed at 6.02 in 2001. In addition, the inter industry variation is minimum in 2001 at 2.12. Table 4.1 also shows that growth of Pakistani life insurance companies is not consistent in all seven years and mean value of growth is reached 34.84 in 2007 from 11.53 which is observed in 2001. The mean value of performance (dependent variable) is maximum in 2007 valuing at 0.07 and the minimum value is observed in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005 at 0.02. The standard deviation is also not very high i.e. around 0.02 as compare to other variables except in the year 2007 in which it touches it maximum of 0.07. Table 4.2 also provides descriptive results of tangibility, liquidity, age and risk for the period of seven years from 2001 to 2007 for the life insurance sector of Pakistan. The mean values and standard deviations of tangibility is around 0.03 and 0.02 respectively in all seven years from 2001 to 2007.The mean values of liquidity are indicating an increasing trend from the minimum of 1.70 in 2001 to the maximum value at 6.36 in 2007. The standard deviation is also establishing an increasing trend from a minimum value of 0.76 in 2001 to a maximum value of 8.63 in 2007.The mean value of risk is at its lowest level in 2003 at 0.58 with a minimum standard deviation of 0.45 while these values have reached their maximum level in 2007 i.e. 6.35 and 6.51 respectively. Analysis Table 4.2 reports the results of regression analysis in which seven independent variables are regressed by using the data of life insurance sector of Pakistan from 2001 to 2007. The value of R square (0.816) indicates that performance of life insurance companies is nearly 82% dependent on independent variables i.e. size, leverage, growth, tangibility, age, risk and liquidity. Therefore, performance is mainly defined by these seven variables of life insurers in Pakistan over seven years. Table 4.2 indicates that leverage is negatively and significantly related with the performance of the life insurance companies. This predicts that the performance of highly levered Pakistani life insurance companies is not up to the mark. Table 4.2 also shows that coefficient of variable size is positive and statistically significant at 1% level. This predicts that performance of large size life insurance companies is better than small size companies. The negative coefficient of growth indicates a negative relationship between growth and performance. However, this negative relationship is found to be statistically insignificant with the p-value of 0.809. Therefore, growth is not considered as a proper explanatory variable of performance in life insurance sector. The beta values of explanatory variables tangibility and liquidity are 0.507 and 0.001 respectively with the positive coefficient sign. However, tangibility and liquidity are not statistically significant with the large p-values. Therefore, tangibility and liquidity are not Model Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized Coefficients t Sig. B Std. Error Beta (Constant) .010 .051 .204 .841 Leverage -.265 .090 -1.579 -2.940 .008* Size .038 .009 1.722 4.120 .001* Growth -4.69 .000 -.032 -.245 .809 Tangibility .507 .367 .183 1.382 .183 Liquidity .001 .003 .058 .205 .840 Age -.003 .003 -.235 -1.169 .257 Risk .004 .002 .374 1.903 .072** considered a powerful explanatory variable to define the performance of life insurance companies in Pakistan over seven years. Negative coefficient of variable age specifies the Table: 4.2 Regression Coefficients Their Significance level R Square 0.816 Adjusted R Square 0.749 F statistics 12.062 * Significant at 1% level **Significant at 10% level ______________________________________ negative relationship between performance and age of the Pakistani life insurance companies. However, the relationship between performance and age is statistically insignificant. Table 4.2 indicates that the coefficient of variable risk is positive and statistically significant at 10% level. According to the nature of insurance industry, ratio of total claims to total premiums (loss ratio) is used as a proxy to measure the risk of the life insurance companies in Pakistan. Positive sign shows a positive relationship between performance and risk of the insurance companies i.e. performance increases with the increase of loss ratio. Conclusion The current study investigates the impact of firm level characteristics on performance of the life insurance sector of Pakistan over the period of seven years from 2001 to 2007. For this purpose, size, profitability, age, risk, growth and tangibility are selected as explanatory variables while ROA is taken as dependent variable. The results of OLS regression analysis reveal that leverage, size and risk are most important determinant of performance of life insurance sector whereas ROA has statistically insignificant relationship with profitability, growth, tangibility and liquidity. TABLE 4.1: Descriptive Statistics Years Leverage Size Growth Performance Mean SD Min Max Mean SD Min Max Mean SD Min Max Mean SD Min Max 2001 0.80 0.21 0.45 0.99 6.02 2.12 3.06 8.93 11.53 11.90 3.22 32.39 0.02 0.01 0.00 0.03 2002 0.81 0.20 0.47 0.99 6.21 2.11 3.29 9.07 22.21 23.52 3.68 60.99 0.02 0.01 0.00 0.03 2003 0.82 0.19 0.51 0.99 6.50 2.08 3.57 9.20 37.18 32.62 8.30 90.71 0.02 0.01 0.00 0.03 2004 0.79 0.24 0.38 0.99 6.68 2.09 3.56 9.31 22.20 27.93 -1.78 61.16 0.03 0.02 0.00 0.05 2005 0.83 0.21 0.47 0.99 6.95 2.03 3.96 9.53 31.18 10.30 24.97 48.98 0.02 0.02 0.00 0.05 2006 0.84 0.20 0.49 0.99 7.21 2.02 4.24 9.68 31.79 26.14 3.74 72.78 0.03 0.02 0.00 0.06 2007 0.79 0.30 0.26 1.00 7.51 2.06 4.50 10.03 34.82 9.25 22.44 45.66 0.07 0.07 0.00 0.17 TABLE 4.1 (Continued): Descriptive Statistics Years Tangibility Liquidity Age Risk Mean SD Min Max Mean SD Min Max Mean SD Min Max Mean SD Min Max 2001 0.03 0.02 0.00 0.06 1.70 0.76 1.07 2.65 16.60 20.40 6.00 53.00 1.92 1.33 0.70 3.94 2002 0.03 0.02 0.00 0.06 1.73 0.86 1.14 3.01 17.60 20.40 7.00 54.00 0.83 0.47 0.40 1.34 2003 0.03 0.02 0.00 0.05 2.18 1.11 1.22 3.72 18.60 20.40 8.00 55.00 0.58 0.45 0.18 1.34 2004 0.02 0.02 0.00 0.04 2.24 1.77 1.09 4.85 19.60 20.40 9.00 56.00 3.34 3.08 0.00 7.23 2005 0.02 0.02 0.00 0.04 3.02 2.26 1.15 5.94 20.60 20.40 10.00 57.00 4.70 2.15 1.23 6.36 2006 0.02 0.01 0.00 0.03 3.98 2.72 1.36 7.37 21.60 20.40 11.00 58.00 3.60 3.86 0.51 9.72 2007 0.02 0.02 0.00 0.05 6.36 8.63 1.33 16.33 22.60 20.40 12.00 59.00 6.35 6.51 1.78 16.00 Table: 4.2 Regression Coefficients Their Significance level Model Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized Coefficients t Sig. B Std. Error Beta (Constant) .010 .051 .204 .841 Leverage -.265 .090 -1.579 -2.940 .008* Size .038 .009 1.722 4.120 .001* Growth -4.69 .000 -.032 -.245 .809 Tangibility .507 .367 .183 1.382 .183 Liquidity .001 .003 .058 .205 .840 Age -.003 .003 -.235 -1.169 .257 Risk .004 .002 .374 1.903 .072** R Square 0.816 Adjusted R Square 0.749 F statistics 12.062 * Significant at 1% level **Significant at 10% level

History of Nursing

Nursing has been called the oldest of arts and the youngest of professions (Donahue, 1996). In ancient periods because of maternal instinct women were considered born nurses. They cared for their own family and trained their daughters and other women in their community in the procedures in which they specialized. In the 16th century the meanings nursing included â€Å"a person, or a woman who waits upon or tends to the sick†. During the 19th century, nursing was considered training of those who tend to the sick and carrying out duties under direction of a physician (Donahue, 1996). Today, nursing has become both an art and a science. It focuses on health promotion, professionalism, skills, knowledge and education. It is now a career of all genders and races and one of the highest growing professions in the United States. To understand how nursing has arrived we must first review where nursing has come from. In this paper you will learn about nursing before Florence Nightingale, the reforms that Florence made that changed nursing as a profession, and Innovations in nursing as it continue to evolve. Nursing has its origins in Christianity. According to Joyce (2002), some of the earliest nurses and individuals who ran hospitals were Catholic nuns and monks. Deacons and deaconesses of the church were trained as nurses and went out into the community to provide nursing care. In the 1840s, nursing- sisterhoods were founded to improve standards of nursing in Britain (Joyce, 2002). This organization was of the Catholic nursing order. According to Joyce (2002), St. John's House was an Anglican Nursing Sisterhood founded in 1848, it provided nurses to care for the sick in their own homes. This is considered one of the first training schools. They trained nurses for private work but they gained experience in hospital wards (Joyce, 2002). In the 17th and 18th century, the infirmaries were local houses used for providing employment for the destitute. During this time most people who needed nursing were nursed at home. Those who were not nursed at home ended up in workhouses, with primitive wards, for the sick and infirm. Some of the older hospitals were rebuilt often by private benefactors (Grell, 1997). They appointed private contractors who looked after the parish's poor. The individuals would then be employed and in return would receive board and lodging. The infirmaries were often filled with patients from the hospitals who could not be cured. They became so bad that only those who had resigned themselves to death would stay. Usually the infirmary was a freezing cold and draughty room. There were iron beds with thin mattresses, the only furniture in the room. The sick were not cared for properly, the volunteer hospitals were unable to cope with the increasing population and there were no facilities for training nurses (French and Wear, 1991). The growth of the 18th century brought overcrowding in the cities which increased the spread of disease. The building of railways in the vicinity led to the admission of many accident cases and often to a rise in the sepsis rate. Due to the overcrowding in hospitals; bedsores, malnutrition, and infections were everyday occurrences (Grell, 1997). Nurses were seen differently during the eighteenth century. They were not perceived as medical practitioners but as domestic servants. According to Grell (1997), nurses were inferior largely because nursing was historically subservient roles before the 1800’s. The people staffed as nurses were traditionally convicts, widows, and orphans in exchange for food and shelter. Nurses were poorly trained, poorly paid, and the ill were cruelly treated and abused and neglected (Grell, 1997). Charles Dickens novel, â€Å"The Life and Adventures of Marin Chuzzlewit†, tells of Sarah Gamp, a fictional nurse portrayed as an alcoholic who is a nurse midwife and layer out of the dead. She enjoys all of the hospitality given to her with no regard to the individuals to which she is hired to care for. According to the story nurses were ignorant, drunk, and lazy (Dickens, 2011). Although nursing care reform was a concern there were definite issues such as pay, workload, and recruiting quality individuals. The threat of nurse values arose concerning nursing care of the sick, so did the push for change in the quality of nurse selection. The domestic organization was under the direction of a Matron, recruited from a higher order of society and paid according to the position. Nurses were appointed by matrons who tried to find women of good character. According to French and Wear, in 1845 the matron of the Middlesex told the weekly board how she chose nurses. â€Å"They should be between 30 and 45 years of age, strong, healthy, unmarried and unencumbered with children. They should be accustomed to nursing, able to read and write, humane, honest, sober and clean in their work and person (French and Wear, 1991, 268)†. The nature and duties of patient care also was re-evaluated. The duties concerning patient care were the manual tasks of administering food and medicine, changing linen and emptying bedpans, and they also did the basic hospital cleaning (French and Wear, 1991). Pay being low, recruitment was difficult and many nurses were discharged for taking bribes or rollicking with the patients. The ward sisters, were principal nurses in immediate personal response on patients they played the key role. They were responsible to the matron and the steward for everything within the ward which was not a matter for the medical staff. They received differential rate of pay as senior nurses or sisters, typically in the range of five to ten pounds per annum 11 (French and Wear, 1991). By day the nurses performed domestic duties and administered to the wants of the patients. At night ‘watchers’ of a yet lower class supervised the wards, calling the sister who slept nearby if there was an important change in the condition of a patient. If watchers lay down or slept they were instantly discharged. The wages were comparable with the wages of a domestic servant and in certain areas lower (French and Wear, 1991). Reform took its shape in areas of parliament and government concerning wages. According to French and Wear (1991), many nurses required the sick or dying individual to pay them money before they would administer any care. This had become problematic, the Royal Infirmary Governor pushed to raise the wage for nurses. This wage increase would involve the nurse to discontinue this practice and was used to recruit and retain better nurses who took pride in their appearance and character. The change in recruitment strategy was to recruit women from a higher social class (French and Wear, 1991).

Knowledge Management Essay

The purpose of this essay is to answer the questions from the â€Å"Tata Consultancy Services (India)† case study on pages 253-255 of Jashapara (2011) The discussion includes advice regarding a strategic alliance with Cisco. Two of the key elements of this case study which are discussed are describing the current weaknesses in Tata Consultancy Services with an approach to knowledge management and the improvements that are made to eliminate these weaknesses. In the discussion, strategic alliance is explained by definition and examples are provided as well to justify. The advice to knowledge management issues has been discussed. The planning and concepts are communicated and a detailed answer is written to discuss facts with the use of external sources and these have been referenced. Towards the end after all the points been considered, improvements with the linking to knowledge management have been advised. Contents Introduction3 Background3 Objectives3 Scope4 Strategic alliances with Cisco4 Current weaknesses in TATA services5 Improvement on the weaknesses6 Conclusion8 References9 Introduction Background Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, business solutions and outsourcing organization that delivers real results to global businesses, ensuring a level of certainty no other firm can match. Tata Consultancy Services is a leading global IT services, business solutions, and outsourcing company with offices in 35 countries and growing at over 30 percent in revenue terms for the last couple of years. One key challenge arising out of the rapid growth in people intensive business such as TCS has been ever-increasing demands on the IT infrastructure. (www.tcs.com) Cisco Systems is a large corporation that produces computer networking products and services. The Linksys brand of consumer networking products is also an owned subsidiary of Cisco Systems. (http://compnetworking.about.com) Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. It was decided by TCS that to expand their allegiances, they were to make a strategic alliance with Cisco without harming the long-term and short-term goals of each company. The aim of this essay is to provide a practical approach with clear guidance for TCS and decision makers in TCS. It shows how KM can enable an organization to respond effectively to the changing business background and achieve its strategic goals. Objectives The TCS-Cisco partnership has been active since 2003. This partnership focuses on go-to-market activities for a range of Cisco technologies, including the next generation datacenters (Cisco Unified Computing Systems), advanced networking, security and collaboration. It also focuses on  developing replicable go-to-market business solutions leveraging cutting-edge Cisco technologies like UCS, and TCS strengths in IT application services, IT infrastructure services and domain expertise in key industry verticals. (http://www.tcs.com) Scope Includes discussion of advice regarding a strategic alliance with Cisco Discussion includes explanation of strategic alliance and points are raised in relation to knowledge management. Continues to talk about the current weaknesses in Tata Consultancy Services approach to knowledge management. This section is helped by many examples from external resources. Finally solutions on how these weaknesses can be improved are been mentioned. Furthermore this section is supported by many examples and the examples have been referenced. Strategic alliances with Cisco Strategic alliance is an agreement for cooperation among two or more independent firms to work together toward common objectives. (http://www.businessdictionary.com) It is a preparation between two companies that have decided to share resources to undertake a specific, mutually beneficial project. A strategic alliance is less involved and less permanent than a joint venture, in which two companies typically pool resources to create a separate business entity. In a strategic alliance, each company maintains its autonomy while gaining a new opportunity. A strategic alliance could help a company develop a more effective process, expand into a new market or develop an advantage over a competitor, among other possibilities. (http://www.investopedia.com) Investopedia explains ‘Strategic Alliance’ For example, an oil and natural gas company might form a strategic alliance with a research laboratory to develop more commercially viable recovery processes. A clothing retailer might form a strategic alliance with a single clothing manufacturer to ensure consistent quality and sizing. A major website could form a strategic alliance with an analytics company to improve  its marketing efforts. (http://www.investopedia.com) Knowledge Management can make a significant difference between ongoing or successful ventures of any organization in a world of accelerating change. Knowledge Management provides the ability to connect and cooperate complex ideas efficiently and can be beneficial even to expand when using strategic alliances. To make Knowledge Management work in an organization it must be grounded in the realities of the business needs and drivers, and aligned to the delivery of organizational objectives, which this case TCS requires for the expansion of their organization. It should not be seen as an optional or marginal activity but as part of the organizational essential need, embedded in their business process, which is highly relevant in their solutions. Current weaknesses in TATA services Strategic alliance can cause major problems if not handled properly. As part of the start of the alliance, TCS have to incorporate Cisco’s Data Centre technologies, with TCS’ industry-leading IT services, business solutions and outsourcing. The practice will focus on helping customers develop next-generation virtualized data centers and achieve greater operational and energy efficiency. The companies will also explore new networking innovations to address the needs of large and small businesses for IT services. One of the main concerns was over the alignment of short term and long term goals of both organizations and the value of strategic alliance in the current downturn in global markets. Most staff will need training to adjust to the new systems. The two companies want to cooperatively come up with and supply information technology service solutions to clients that will help their businesses build next-generation data centers by taking advantage of the network as a platform. The two companies are spread out in a wide range of countries and due to this there are a lot of communication issues. Tata Consultancy plans to build a new technology practice focused on Cisco’s industry-leading data center networking and security solutions. The companies also announced the formation of a Cisco Technology Lab at the TCS campus in Chennai, India. These all add up to additional costs but have to be done to train staff into  the new systems Cisco and TCS have to develop solutions that meet the infrastructure and network requirements of global corporations. Both companies have to invest in skills development and training labs to provide an end-to-end solution to meet customer requirements. As part of the new practice, TCS will incorporate Cisco’s Data Centre 3.0 technologies, with TCS’ industry-leading IT services, business solutions and outsourcing. The practice will focus on helping customers develop next-generation virtualized data centers and achieve greater operational and energy efficiency. The companies will also explore new networking innovations to address the needs of large and small businesses for IT services. â€Å"Customers are demanding greater dynamism from their IT infrastructure and application environment to address current challenges and to capitalize on opportunities whenever and wherever they emerge,† said Mr. N Chandrasekaran, chief operating officer and executive director of TCS. â€Å"This strategic alliance will take advantage of Cisco’s industry-leading data center networking soluti ons and TCS’ global network delivery model to help our customers increase the efficiency and agility of their IT operations.† (http://blog.topitconsultant.com) Also some concerns were about improving operational efficiency and productivity, enable business agility, and improve enterprise knowledge. Improvement on the weaknesses The two organizations came up with a lot of strategies, that is plan of action that channels the two organization’s resources so that it can effectively differentiate itself from competitors, accomplish distinctive goals, and achieve higher performance. Managers develop strategies based on the organization’s strengths and weaknesses, and evaluation of opportunities and threats. The Managers primarily make decisions about the firm’s activities, and the development and allocation of resources devoted to these. The TCS-Cisco strategic alliance enables end-to-end IT infrastructure services, united with assurance services, and IT application services enabling seamless system integration of Cisco products. Cisco and TCS plan  to develop go-to-market solutions that meet the infrastructure and network requirements of global corporations. Both companies will invest in skills development and training labs to provide an end-to-end solution to meet customer requirements. Cisco has recognized the low-cost advantage of operating in India as well as high pool technology talent and expertise. Tata consultancy services already provide IT consultancy services to a large amount of countries. The company offers some of the most complex applications and next generation IT infrastructures in the world. Tata consultancy services’ in-depth knowledge of different business domains combined with its technological skills makes it a a very competent organization. One major improvement is that they use various strategies to improve knowledge management they use three main strategies or as they call it â€Å"the three pillars of knowledge management†, which are people, process and technology. In terms of people one of the key values is learning and sharing. The company has introduced three initiatives to promote a greater learning culture. First is the proactive employee engagement program which allows senior managers to have face to face meetings with employees across various functions and grades. The other initiative has promoted a share care grow culture and and encouraged individuals to advance their own ideas and resolve ideas at local level. Finally the last initiative was professional excellence role enhancement ownership culture personal growth employee and learning. Tata consultancy services has another training hub in addition to others as well to further train new recruits in different aspects of software engineering, quality systems and different technologies which is a major improvement. The training included soft-skills development such as leadership and teamwork. The trainers were drawn from different parts of the business with significant subject expertise and experience. Tata consultancy services have also made training centers overseas in line with its global expansion. Also Tata consultancy services have developed a number of ICT interventions to increase knowledge sharing. Some of the main improvements to help with the strategic alliance are to advance knowledge, learning, and skills development. Conclusion The purpose of this essay was to answer the questions from the â€Å"Tata Consultancy Services (India)† case study. The essay started by mentioning a short description of the history of the two companies. The discussion included advice regarding a strategic alliance with Cisco. Two of the key elements of this case study which were discussed. The current weaknesses in Tata Consultancy Services with an approach to knowledge management and the improvements that are made to eliminate these weaknesses have been mentioned In the discussion, strategic alliance was explained by definition and examples provided as well to justify. The advice to knowledge management issues has been discussed. The planning and concepts are communicated and a detailed answer is written to discuss facts with the use of external sources and these have been referenced. Towards the end after all the points been considered, improvements with the linking to knowledge management have been advised. As per the objectives of this essay, the current weaknesses in Tata Consultancy Services with an approach to knowledge management and the improvements that are made to eliminate these weaknesses are discussed. References . 2013. . [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.tcs.com/resources/Pages/filterResults.aspx?topic=Services_Consulting&type=Case%20Study. [Accessed 16 April 2013]. Cisco Systems – About Cisco Systems Networking. 2013. Cisco Systems – About Cisco Systems Networking. [ONLINE] Available at:http://compnetworking.about.com/od/cisconetworking/p/cisco-systems.htm. [Accessed 16 April 2013]. IT Consultants’ Blog at TopITconsultant.com . 2013. IT Consultants’ Blog at TopITconsultant.com . [ONLINE] Available at:http://blog.topitconsultant.com/category/TATA-Consultancy-Services.aspx. [Accessed 09 May 2013]. Mohammad Masrurul, M 2012, ‘An Overview of Strategic Alliance: Competitive Advantages in Alliance Constellations’, Advances In Management, 5, 12, pp. 22-31, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 9

Dr.Faustus as a Tragedy Relevant to All Times - 1186 Words

Discuss Dr.Faustus as a tragedy relevant to all times. The word tragedy finds its origin in Greek spirit,theory and mythology in the word tragedia. Tragedy tends to bring to mind the thoughts of pity and sympathy. According to Aristotle, the famous Greek philosopher emotions of pity and fear are aroused while watching or listening to a tragedy. Tragedy is a play that represents a central action or plot that is serious and significant. These plays involve a main character that is a normal human being with his share of good and bad characteristics. The protagonist is socially active, intelligent and a learned man. A tragic play entails both verbal and dramatic irony. Dr. Faustus was perhaps the most well written tragedy of its times and†¦show more content†¦One of the main aspects of this play is sin. The wrong choices that are made throughout the play are the reasons for the downfall of a scholarly man like Dr. Faustus. But the greed for more of everything, which is material, leads him to be awfully absorbed in trusting the devil and believing that more knowledge power will give him more happiness. Even when he realizes the folly of his mistakes he decides not to repent and continues to commit sins that are uncalled for. Dr. Faustus then fears his damnation when the time arrives for his contract with the devil to end. Marlowe’s attempt to bring fore a man’s mental makeup is undoubtedly mature and alluring. The wrong beliefs, the unrelenting pride and the arrogance of knowing it all are the pit holes any man digs for himself. Although this play was written centuries ago, it still remains as relevant as ever. There is a very famous old saying, â€Å"Pride always has a fall.† This is not just a quotation but stands true in all life’s situations. We are all creations of the same Creator though our mindsets and capabilities may differ. While some remain good accomplish the zenith, others get carried away in their pride of accomplishments and start considering them infallible. The result therefore is failure. In the history of mankind, each incidence of going against nature and pushing the limits beyond the divine limitations has more often than not resulted in loss and