International Diversification and the Market Value of New Product

Journal of International Management 17 (2011) 333–347 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of International Management International diversi? cation and the market value of new product introduction Chi-Feng Wang a,1, Li-Yu Chen b,? , Shao-Chi Chang c,2 a b c Department of Business Administration, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Taiwan Department of Management, Fo Guang University, Taiwan Institute of International Business, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan article info Article history: Received 11 January 2011Received in revised form 31 March 2011 Accepted 31 March 2011 Available online 2 May 2011 Keywords: International diversi? cation New product introduction Technological capability Marketing capability Event study abstract Although previous studies on international diversification are plentiful, they mainly focus on the effect of international diversification on overall firm performance, and the results are mixed. This study extends this line of research and explores the impact of international diversification on new product performance.Specifically, we ask if international diversification explains the stock market reactions to new product introduction (NPI) announcements. We find an inverted-U-shaped relationship between international diversification and the announcement returns of NPIs, revealing that the market value of NPIs initially improves and then declines with increasing international diversification. The results also show that intangible assets, such as technological and marketing capabilities, positively moderate the relationship between international diversification and the market value of NPIs.Our study not only highlights the importance of considering both sides of international diversification in affecting investors' assessments of corporate new product strategies, but also shows the possibility of internal capabilities in changing the fixed relationship between international diversification and the market value of new products.  © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction According to the theory of foreign direct investment (FDI) (Caves, 1996; Dunning, 1988; Hymer, 1976) and portfolio theory (Jacquillat and Solnik, 1978; Lessard, 1973, 1976; Solnik, 1974), international diversi? ation will lead to higher ? rm value. However, existing studies examining the impact of international diversi? cation on ? rm performance have yielded inconclusive results. The results on the relationship between international diversi? cation and ? rm performance has been found to be positive (Delios and Beamish, 1999; Grant, 1987; Rugman et al. , 2008), negative (Collins, 1990; Zaheer and Mosakowski, 1997), U-shaped (Capar and Kotabe, 2003; Gaur and Kumar, 2009; Lu and Beamish, 2001), inverted-U-shaped (Brock et al. , 2006; Garbe and Richter, 2009; Gomes and Ramaswamy, 1999; Hitt et al. 1997) and horizontal-S-shaped (Contractor et al. , 2003; Lu and Beamish, 2004; Ruigrok et al. , 2007). To better understand the in? uence of international diversi? cation, we extend this line of research by studying the impact of international diversi? cation on new product performance. Speci? cally, we test if international diversi? cation explains the stock ? Corresponding author at: Present address: Department of Management, Fo Guang University, No. 160, Linwei Rd. , Jiaosi, Yilan County 26247, Taiwan. Tel. : + 886 3 9871000 23816. E-mail addresses: [email  protected] net. tw (C. -F. Wang), [email  protected] fgu. edu. w (L. -Y. Chen), [email  protected] ncku. edu. tw (S. -C. Chang). 1 Present address: Department of Business Administration, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, No. 123, University Road, Section 3, Douliou, Yunlin 64002, Taiwan. Tel. : + 886 5 5342601Ãâ€"5245. 2 Present address: Institute of International Business, National Cheng Kung University, No. 1, University Road, 701, Tainan, Taiwan. Tel. : + 886 6 2757575Ãâ€"53506. 1075-4253/ $ – see front matter  © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10. 1016/j. intman. 2011. 03. 002 334 C. -F. Wang et al. / Journal of International Management 17 (2011) 333–347 arket responses to new product introduction (NPI) announcements. NPIs are an important dimension of innovation output. 3 Firms with the ability to introduce new products are signaled as those with the opportunity for differentiation and future earnings (Chaney et al. , 1991; Kleinschmidt and Cooper, 1991; Subramaniam and Venkatraman, 2001). In order to improve the performance of NPIs, many ? rms are engaged in international diversi? cation activities (Kogut and Zander, 1993; Peng and Wang, 2000). Previous studies have documented that international diversi? cation comes with both bene? s and costs (Contractor et al. , 2003; Lu and Beamish, 2004; Ruigrok et al. , 2007). We suggest that these bene? ts and costs might create both opportunities and challenges for ? rms to develop new products, and hence in? uence investors' assessment of the new products introduced by ? rms. International diversi? cation may have positive effects on NPIs. For example, it allows ? rms to reach outside their domestic boundaries, providing them with more opportunities to gain new ideas in terms of the types of new products that can be developed (Hitt et al. , 1997). Internationally diversi? ed ? ms also have better access to the resources resident in foreign countries that may be necessary for producing these new products (Craig and Douglas, 2000; Peng and Wang, 2000). Furthermore, international diversi? cation creates the bene? t of economies of scale by ef? ciently leveraging the initial investments on new products over a broader market base (Subramaniam and Venkatraman, 2001). In spite of the bene? cial effects of international diversi? cation, we suggest that international diversi? cation may also entail disadvantages when it comes to introducing new products. For instance, cross-nationa l distances increase the dif? ulty for internationally diversi? ed ? rms to transfer technological knowledge between countries. Differential environmental settings among countries might also constrain the ? rm's ability to absorb and apply resources towards new product development. In such cases, new products are expected to be less worthwhile for introducing ? rms with international diversi? cation activities. In addition to investigating the direct impact of international diversi? cation on the stock market reactions to NPI announcements, we postulate that investors' assessments of the value of new products may depend on a ? m's internal capabilities. Extending previous research documenting the importance of technological and marketing capabilities in determining new product success (e. g. , Cooper and Kleinschmidt, 1987; Yeoh and Roth, 1999), we argue that both marketing and technological capabilities assist in enhancing the bene? ts of international diversi? cation while simulta neously restricting its drawbacks with regard to the introduction of new products. We test our hypotheses by measuring the stock market responses to NPI announcements using the event-study methodology framework.The events of NPI announcements are collected for the period 1997–2005. Under the assumption of the ef? cient markets hypothesis (Fama, 1970), NPI announcements bring unanticipated information into ? nancial markets that may change the market value assessments of the announcing ? rms. In response to the new information, changes in stock prices occur, which represent investors' revision of their expectation with regard to the net present value of a ? rm's risk-adjusted expected cash ? ow generated by the new products, or stated differently, the investors' expectation of the wealth impact of NPIs.This paper is organized as follows: Section 2 provides the theoretical background and develops the hypotheses. Section 3 introduces the sample and methodology. The empirical res ults are presented in Section 4. Finally, Section 5 contains the discussion and concluding remarks of this study. 2. Theoretical background and hypotheses International diversi? cation has been suggested by FDI theory and portfolio theory to provide ? rms with bene? ts ranging from the ability to realize scale economies (Grant, 1987; Porter, 1986), the possibility to spread investment risks over different countries (Kim et al. 1993), the potential to arbitrage factor cost differentials across multiple locations (Kogut, 1985) and the opportunity to access resources resident in foreign countries (Hitt et al. , 1997). However, there is considerable theoretical evidence that international diversi? cation comes with both bene? ts and costs. We suggest that that these bene? ts and costs that accompany foreign expansion may create both opportunities and challenges for ? rms in terms of developing new products, and thereby affect the stock market reactions to NPI announcements.In this secti on, we review various theoretical domains in order to identify the channels through which international diversi? cation might in? uence value creation for ? rms in the context of NPIs. 2. 1. Effects of international diversi? cation International diversi? cation provides several advantages towards developing new products. First, international diversi? cation offers opportunities for ? rms to gain new and diverse ideas from a variety of perspectives (Hitt et al. , 1997). Being exposed to heterogeneous customers, technology, cultures, and competitive practices, internationally diversi? d ? rms are able to learn from the experience in foreign operations to ? nd new solutions to bettering product design and improving the quality of manufacturing know-how (Craig and Douglas, 2000). For example, the launch of a new cordless telephone by Sanyo, which had been adjusted to better meet the phone use habits of American consumers (Barkema and Vermeulen, 1998), consequently expanded the company's sales in the U. S. market. 3 Prior studies have used several ways to measure the performance of innovation, which includes R intensity (Hill and Snell, 1988; Hitt et al. 1997), number of NPIs (Cardinal and Opler, 1995; Hitt et al. , 1996) and number of patents (Francis and Smith, 1995). Though they have provided valuable insights, the measures they developed have some limitations in capturing the true value of innovation (Chaney et al. , 1991; Schankerman and Pakes, 1986). For example, R intensity is more related to the input value of innovation but does not directly measure the output value of innovation. Furthermore, numbers of NPIs or patents only measure the quantity of inventive output without considering the quality of innovation.As well, patent counts often represent a very noisy measure of the underlying value of innovation because most patents are not worth anything. The measure used in our study allows us to directly measure the wealth effect of innovation, rather than on ly considering the quantity of inventive output as has been done in prior studies. C. -F. Wang et al. / Journal of International Management 17 (2011) 333–347 335 International diversi? cation also allows ? rms to gain access to resources that may only be available in foreign markets but not frequently obtainable in the home countries to develop new products (Peng and Wang, 2000).By tapping into the technological skills and knowledge that originates from other countries, multinational ? rms may be able to successfully increase their technological strength in developing new products (Hitt et al. , 1997; Kotabe, 1990; Peng and Wang, 2000; Subramaniam and Venkatraman, 2001). Moreover, international diversi? cation provides a ? rm with a wider national network, which helps increase its ability to effectively leverage technological resources and rationalize production processes. These economies of scale can enable the ? m to obtain higher returns from new product innovations (Bartl ett and Ghoshal, 1989; Kogut, 1985). Furthermore, the broader market outlets available to new products create higher returns on the sunk costs of innovative spending (Subramaniam and Venkatraman, 2001), while cash ? ows generated from large-scale foreign operations provide ? rms with the resources needed for extra investment in new product development (Kobrin, 1991; Kotabe, 1990). Notwithstanding the above bene? ts, international diversi? cation can bring challenges to the development of new products. The ? rst challenge comes from the dif? ulty in transferring technological knowledge between countries. The more countries within which the ? rm operates, the larger geographic distance the technological know-how has to be transferred, and the less effective the ? rm will be in developing new products. Furthermore, with increasing diversi? cation, the differences in cultural, economic and technological settings among the countries increase. These differences reduce the effectiveness in assimilating and applying the technological knowledge that is critical for new product development (Chang and Wang, 2007; Hitt et al. 1997); while knowledge diversity can create greater learning value (Inkpen, 2000), differences in knowledge does not guarantee successful learning (Bowman and Helfat, 2001; Chang and Singh, 2000; Szulanski and Winter, 2002). In addition, arguments from the economic law of diminishing returns suggest that the higher degree of international diversi? cation a ? rm is involved in, the more likely it is to be entering markets whose marginal contributions are relatively minor (Contractor et al. , 2003). Beyond a certain point, after already having expanded into the most advantageous markets, the ? m is left with minor or peripheral foreign markets whose resources for and cash ? ow from new product development will exhibit diminishing returns. By drawing on various theoretical perspectives, the above discussions suggest that international diversi? cation no t only create opportunities but also impose barriers to the value creation provided by new product innovation. With moderate levels of international diversi? cation, ? rms can capitalize on valuable bene? ts of knowledge learning, resource access and production ef? ciency in producing new products.At the same time, economic pro? ts rise as the ? xed costs of new product development are spread across more markets (Kogut, 1985; Porter, 1986). However, ? rms that expand internationally beyond an optimal level may ? nd that the costs of international diversi? cation eventually exceed the bene? ts. Firms at this stage often enter countries that are more geographically and culturally dissimilar, which increases the dif? culties of transferring technological knowledge between countries. The value of new product innovation may also exhibit diminishing returns when international diversi? ation is increased beyond the optimal level. Based on the above, this study proposes a non-linear and inv erted-U-shaped relationship between international diversi? cation and the stock market reactions to NPI announcements, suggesting that the market value of NPIs is expected to improve with increasing international diversi? cation at lower levels of international diversi? cation and then decline with increasing international diversi? cation at higher levels of international diversi? cation. For these reasons, we propose our ? rst hypothesis as follows: Hypothesis 1.The relationship between international diversi? cation and the stock market reactions to NPI announcements is inverted-U-shaped, with a positive slope at lower levels of international diversi? cation and negative at higher levels of international diversi? cation. We utilize event-study methodology to capture the valuation effect of corporate new product strategies. This approach not only permits direct investigation of changes in announcing ? rms' shareholder value, but is also suited to conduct cross-sectional analysis of the strategies underlying the value creation or destruction (Reuer, 2001).Applying event-study methodology to NPIs also facilitates comparisons with previous studies on other corporate major strategic events. 4 2. 2. Interaction effects of intangible assets and international diversi? cation Although our theoretical framework should hold for all ? rms, the effect of international diversi? cation on new product performance may depend on ? rms' intangible assets. Scholars in international business have shown that multinational ? rms with greater marketing and technological capabilities may receive higher returns from international expansion (Kotabe et al. , 2002; Lu andBeamish, 2004). Other researchers also document the importance of marketing and technological capabilities in the success of new products (e. g. , Cooper and Kleinschmidt, 1987; Danneels, 2002; Krasnikov and Jayachandran, 2008; Moorman and Slotegraaf, 1999; Yeoh and Roth, 1999). We make advances in linking these two stre ams of study by investigating the moderating effect 4 Previous studies have used event-study methodology to test the wealth effect of major corporate events, such as diversi? cation (Doukas and Lang, 2003; Hoskisson et al. , 1991), divestitures (Benou et al. , 2008), alliances (Das et al. 1998; Kale et al. , 2002), regulatory change (Bowman and Navissi, 2003), NPIs (Chaney et al. , 1991; Chen, 2008; Kelm et al. , 1995), R expenditures (Szewczyk et al. , 1996), and patents (Austin, 1993). 336 C. -F. Wang et al. / Journal of International Management 17 (2011) 333–347 of internal capabilities on the association between international diversi? cation and the stock market reactions to NPI announcements. We suggest that internationally diversi? ed ? rms that have greater marketing and technological capabilities are more able to extract the bene? ts and reduce the costs of international diversi? ation, resulting in higher returns from NPI announcements. Each moderating effect is disc ussed independently below. Marketing capability is related to a ? rm's ability to acquire external knowledge through the processes of gathering, interpreting, and using market information (Day, 1994). Though international diversi? cation gives ? rms opportunities to access new knowledge, ? rms that do not have ability to identify customers' needs and to understand the factors that in? uence consumer choice behavior will not be able to achieve better targeting and positioning of its products.Therefore, ? rms that have invested in developing their marketing capability are more able to integrate the information on consumer needs in diverse markets into new product designs, and thus generate higher returns from the new products (Dutta et al. , 1999). In addition, marketing capability is re? ected in a ? rm's ability to differentiate its products from those of competitors (Kotabe et al. , 2002). A higher level of product differentiation allows a ? rm to charge higher prices for its new p roducts (Day, 1994; Yeoh and Roth, 1999). Furthermore, ? ms that spend more money on advertising and promoting their products are more likely to build successful brands, which are essential to building awareness, reducing the perceived risk that consumers associate with new products, and ? nally increasing the adoption rate of new products introduced (Chandy and Tellis, 2000; Dowling and Staelin, 1994; Sorescu et al. , 2003). This is particularly important for ? rms that are completely new to foreign customers (Helsen et al. , 1993; Srivastava et al. , 1998). Consequently, we expect that NPIs are expected to be more worthwhile for internationally diversi? d ? rms with greater marketing capabilities, leading to Hypothesis 2: Hypothesis 2. Marketing capability will positively moderate the relationship between international diversi? cation and the stock market reactions to NPI announcements. As mentioned, technological capability is also likely to moderate the effect of international d iversi? cation on new product development. Technology capability might represent a ? rm's ability to absorb external knowledge (Penner-Hahn and Shaver, 2005; Tsai, 2001). A ? rm may be able to access certain new knowledge through international diversi? ation, but without the capacity to absorb such knowledge a ? rm may not enhance its capabilities within new product innovation. Since knowledge gained from international markets is often tacit and socially complex (Zahra and Hayton, 2008), ? rms that have established a capability in a particular research skill are better able to interpret and assess the knowledge in that area. Technological capability also refers to a ? rm's ability to apply knowledge gained from foreign markets to commercial ends (Krasnikov and Jayachandran, 2008; Moorman and Slotegraaf, 1999).Kotabe et al. (2002) have stated that ? rms with greater technological capabilities are more capable of ? nding better product design solutions. The technical risks in developi ng new products are more likely to be reduced for such ? rms (Kelm et al. , 1995). Furthermore, ? rms with greater technological capability are more able to lower production costs by improving manufacturing processes. Moreover, technological capability helps ? rms to speed up the product development process and satisfy the market more quickly (Rabino and Moskowitz, 1981). Thus, ? ms that have greater technological capabilities are more likely to enhance their revenues in international markets by providing those markets with new products of better quality. Meanwhile, ? rms that leverage their technological capabilities in the greater scope of the global market may enjoy the bene? ts of economies of scale inherent in the innovation process. As a result, we expect that NPIs are more worthwhile for internationally diversi? ed ? rms with greater technological capabilities, leading to Hypothesis 3: Hypothesis 3. Technological capability will positively moderate the relationship between in ternational diversi? ation and the stock market reactions to NPI announcements. 3. Sample and methodology 3. 1. Sample design We test our hypotheses using a sample of NPI announcement events. We collect the sample data on ? rms listed on either the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) from the Dow Jones News Retrieval Service (DJNRS) database, which provides news-service articles and selected stories from the Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones News Wire, and Barron's. We use the words and phrases commonly used to describe NPIs as keys for a database search routine.Examples are â€Å"introduce,† â€Å"new product,† â€Å"unveil,† â€Å"launch,† â€Å"received approval,† â€Å"to market,† â€Å"test market,† â€Å"begin selling,† along with other pertinent words and phrases. When a repeat NPI announcement from a ? rm is found in a different publication, the announcement that has the earliest date is ch osen as it is the earliest date when the information about the NPI is publicly available (Chaney et al. , 1991; Chen, 2008; Kelm et al. , 1995). The sample period is from January 1997 to December 2005. Four criteria are used when selecting ? rms for our sample: (1) the announcing ? rms should not have other announcements ? e days before and after the initial announcement date in order to avoid any confounding events that could distort the measurement of the valuation effects; (2) daily stock return information must be available from the Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP), with a minimum of 50 daily returns in the estimation period; (3) companies' ? nancial information must be available from the COMPUSTAT ? les; and (4) since we want to test the effect of international diversi? cation, only those ? rms with foreign sales data available from the COMPUSTAT ? les are included. C. -F. Wang et al. Journal of International Management 17 (2011) 333–347 337 Following these procedures, we collect a ? nal sample comprising 3061 new product announcements made by 531 ? rms in 57 industries based on the two-digit Standard Industrial Classi? cation (SIC) codes. 5 Table 1 reports the distribution of the sample by year and industry. Our data shows no obvious cluster by time period. In 2004, there are 530 announcements, accounting for 17. 32% of the total. Observations are nearly evenly distributed through the remaining years. However, our sample shows certain levels of concentration in speci? c industries.The largest concentration comes from electrical equipment (33. 61%), computer equipment (18. 09%), electro-medical instruments (9. 38%), and business services (e. g. , computer programming and the software industry) (7. 19%). These three broad categories constitute nearly 70% of the total sample. As suggested by Chaney et al. (1991), this result is expected since neither the investment opportunities nor their valuation should be random across industries. 3. 2. Measuring the stock market responses to new product announcements We employ the event study methodology to examine the stock price responses to the announcements of NPIs. This approach has been widely used in the management, accounting, economics and ? nance disciplines to examine the impact of ? rm-speci? c events on ? rm value. The event study approach suggests that, in an ef? cient capital market, the market will adjust and result in returns different from those that are normally expected if the NPI announcement has unexpected information content (Hoskisson et al. , 1991). We use the market model suggested by Brown and Warner (1985) to estimate the abnormal returns to NPI announcements. This model captures a ? rm's stock price change after adjusting for general market-wide factors and the ? m's systematic risk (Bowman, 1983; Brown, 1989; Brown and Warner, 1980, 1985). The abnormal return for ? rm i on day t, ARit, is computed by: ARit = Rit ? E? Rit = It ? 1 ? ; where Rit is ? rm i's actual returns on day t, and It ? 1 represents the information set available to the market about the ? rm at time t ? 1. The expected return for ? rm i on day t is estimated by: E? Rit = It ? 1 ? = ? i + ? i Rmt where Rmt is the return for the market portfolio on day t, ? i is the intercept, and ? i measures the risk or sensitivity of the ? rm's returns relative to the market portfolio. We de? e Day 0 (t = 0) as the initial announcement date. We use the value-weighted CRSP Index as the proxy for the market portfolio. The parameters ? i and ? i are estimated using data for the period of 200 to 60 days before the initial announcement date. The two-day cumulative abnormal returns, CAR (? 1, 0), are estimated by summing the daily abnormal returns over the window period of days ? 1 and 0. The equally weighted cross-sectional average abnormal returns on ? event day t, ARt , is further calculated by: 1N ? ARt = ? ARit ; N i=1 where N is the total number of sample NPIs. The cumulati ve average abnormal return over the period (? , 0) is similarly de? ned. 3. 3. Measuring international diversi? cation We use the entropy index to estimate international diversi? cation. 7 The entropy measure of international diversi? cation is de? ned as ? [Pi* ln(1/Pi)], where Pi is the percentage of sales in geographic segment i, and ln(1/Pi) is the weight of each geographic segment. This measure thus considers both the number of geographic segments in which a ? rm operates and the relative importance of sales contributed by each geographic segment. 5 For the industry classi? cation, we follow Hitt et al. (1997) and use the our-digit SIC codes as the indicator of the industry or business segment that a ? rm operates. Therefore, two variables in this study, namely product diversi? cation and industry R&D intensity, are estimated basing on the four-digit SIC codes. However, for the sake of brevity, we report the sample distribution by industry on the basis of the two-digit SIC code s. 6 Other performance measures of new product strategies that are most commonly used in previous studies include return on assets, return on sales, return on equity, return on investment and pro? t margin (e. g. , Li and Atuahene-Gima, 2001; Moorman, 1995).However, these accounting measures have several limitations in measuring new product performance (Chang and Wang, 2007; Kalyanaram et al. , 1995; Pauwels et al. , 2004). For example, the differences in accounting policies across ? rms make performance comparisons dif? cult. These measures are also not risk-adjusted as they do not consider business risks associated with individual ? rms when measuring performance, and they are based on historical accounting data and thus may not adequately re? ect future expected revenue streams resulting from the new products. More importantly, these measures re? ect aggregate ? m performance, making it more dif? cult to directly link them to the effect of speci? c new product introductions. Due to these limitations we employ an event study methodology in order to examine stock price responses to announcements of NPIs. This method captures the ? rm's stock price change after adjusting for the ? rm's systematic risk (Bowman, 1983; Brown, 1989; Brown and Warner, 1980, 1985), as well as re? ects investors' expectations of a ? rm's future cash ? ow related to this new product (Chaney et al. , 1991; Chen, 2008; Chen et al. , 2002; Kelm et al. , 1995). 7 Previous studies have used several proxies of international diversi? ation. The most commonly used measures are the ratio of foreign sales to total sales (Grant, 1987; Tallman and Li, 1996), the ratio of foreign assets to total assets (Daniels and Bracker, 1989; Ramaswamy, 1995), numbers of foreign countries in which a ? rm has subsidiaries (Delios and Beamish, 1999; Tallman and Li, 1996) or a composite index encompassing these three dimensions (Gomes and Ramaswamy, 1999; Sullivan, 1994). However, these measures only capture the extent but not the distribution of international diversi? cation. In this study, we follow Hitt et al. (1997) and use the entropy measure of international diversi? ation to account for the extent of sales in global markets and their weighting. C. -F. Wang et al. / Journal of International Management 17 (2011) 333–347 338 Table 1 Distribution of new product introduction. Panel A. Sample distribution by year Year Number of announcements Percent of sample (%) 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Total 354 279 370 313 232 247 391 530 345 3061 11. 56 9. 11 12. 08 10. 22 7. 58 8. 07 12. 77 17. 32 11. 30 100. 00 Panel B. Sample distribution by industry Two-digit SIC code Industry group 01 12 13 15 16 17 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 33 34 Agricultural production cropsCoal mining Oil and gas extraction Building construction: general contractors Heavy construction other than building construction contractors Construction: special trade contractors Food and kindred produc ts Tobacco products Textile mill products Apparel, ? nished prdcts from fabrics and similar materials Lumber and wood products, except furniture Furniture and ? xtures Paper and allied products Printing, publishing, and allied industries Chemicals and allied products Petroleum re? ning and related industries Rubber and miscellaneous plastics products Leather and leather products Primary metal industriesFabricated metal products, except machinery and transportation equipment Industrial and commercial machinery and computer equipment Electronic and other electrical equipment and components, except computer equipment Transportation equipment Measuring, analyzing, and controlling instruments; photographic, medical and optical goods Miscellaneous manufacturing industries Railroad transportation Motor freight transportation and warehousing Transportation by air Pipelines, except natural gas Transportation services Communications Electric, gas, and sanitary services Wholesale trade: durabl e goods Wholesale trade: non-durable goodsBuilding materials, hardware, garden supply, and mobile home dealers General merchandise stores Food stores Apparel and accessory stores Home furniture, furnishings, and equipment stores Eating and drinking places Miscellaneous retail Depository institutions Non-depository credit institutions Security and commodity brokers, dealers, exchanges, and services Insurance carriers Insurance agents, brokers, and service Real estate Holding and other investment of? ces Hotels, rooming houses, camps, and other lodging places Personal services 35 36 37 38 39 40 42 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 67 0 72 Number of announcements Percent of sample (%) 1 1 8 1 1 1 28 4 2 2 3 6 13 76 118 2 9 2 23 21 0. 03 0. 03 0. 26 0. 03 0. 03 0. 03 0. 91 0. 13 0. 07 0. 07 0. 10 0. 20 0. 42 2. 48 3. 85 0. 07 0. 29 0. 07 0. 75 0. 69 554 1029 18. 09 33. 61 72 287 2. 35 9. 38 41 4 2 144 1 1 120 20 19 10 2 3 3 8 6 14 13 2 18 17 34 5 3 9 6 6 1. 34 0. 13 0. 07 4. 70 0. 03 0. 03 3. 92 0. 65 0. 62 0. 33 0. 07 0. 10 0. 10 0. 26 0. 20 0. 46 0. 42 0. 07 0. 59 0. 56 1. 11 0. 16 0. 10 0. 29 0. 20 0. 20 C. -F. Wang et al. / Journal of International Management 17 (2011) 333–347 339 Table 1 (continued) Panel B. Sample distribution by industryTwo-digit SIC code Industry group 73 78 79 80 82 87 Business services Motion pictures Amusement and recreation services Health services Educational services Engineering, accounting, research, management, and related services Nonclassi? able establishments 99 Total Number of announcements Percent of sample (%) 220 13 4 2 1 10 7. 19 0. 42 0. 13 0. 07 0. 03 0. 33 36 3061 1. 18 100. 00 As data is not available at the country level, we use sales of regional markets to measure international diversity (as used by e. g. , Hirsch and Lev, 1971; Hitt et al. , 1997; Miller and Pras, 1980). Following Hitt et al. 1997), we group foreign markets into four regions based on economic and political conditions: Africa, Asia and the Paci? c, Europe, and the Americas. Although not perfect, this approach allows us to focus on between-market heterogeneity (Kim et al. , 1989). The international market sales data are from the COMPUSTAT geographic segment tapes for the ? scal year preceding the announcements. 8 3. 4. Measuring intangible assets We measure marketing capability as the average marketing intensity (the ratio of advertisement expenditures to net sales) for the three ? scal years prior to the announcements. 9 We suggest that ? ms who invest more in marketing activities are considered to have superior marketing capabilities. We measure technological capability as the average R&D intensity (the ratio of R&D expenditures to net sales) for the three ? scal years prior to the announcements. We suggest that ? rms outspending their competitors in R&D are considered to have greater technological capabilities. We scale the measures of ? rm capabilities by ? rm size in order to ensure that the capability measure does not merely re? ect higher levels of ? nancial resources of large-scaled ? rms (following Moorman and Slotegraaf, 1999). 3. 5. Other variablesOther potential variables that could affect the value of NPIs are controlled. The ? rst is ? rm size, measured by the natural logarithm of total sales of the announcing ? rm for the ? scal year preceding the announcement (following Kotabe et al. , 2002; Lu and Beamish, 2004). We next control for a ? rm's leverage ratio, measured as the ratio of total debt to total assets for the ? scal year prior to the announcement (following Chen et al. , 2002; Chen, 2008). We also control for the degree of product diversi? cation for the ? scal year preceding the announcement. Product diversi? cation is measured by the entropy index (? Pi * ln(1/Pi)], where Pi is the percentage of ? rm sales in business segment i, and ln(1/Pi) is the weight of each segment). Following Hitt et al. (1997), we de? ne business segments as those having the same four-digit SIC codes. The product-speci? c effects are also controlled. This is necessary as some researchers have suggested that high-newness products are expected to create better opportunities for product differentiation and competitive advantage (Kleinschmidt and Cooper, 1991; Meyer and Roberts, 1986), and as such, high-newness products should receive a larger market value than updates of existing products.Furthermore, scholars have argued that ? rms introducing multiple products are more competitive in the product market and seize more market share than those announcing single products. This implies that ? rms announcing multipleproducts announcers may appropriate much of the bene? ts associated with new products, and are thus expected to experience a larger increase in market value than those announcing a single product (Acs and Audretsch, 1988; Hendricks and Singhal, 1997). Moreover, researchers have documented that the ? rst to introduce a new product in the marketplac e usually enjoys ? st-mover advantages stemming from the creation of entry barriers and switching costs, and from high consumer recognition and preference to the ? rst product (Jovanovic and MacDonald, 1994; Lee et al. , 2000). Therefore, ? rst-moving ? rms are predicted to gain a higher announcement return at the time of NPIs than followers do. The aforementioned ? rms that introduce high-newness and multiple products or ? rms that are the ? rst to introduce new products are suggested to obtain sustained competitive advantage. This argument corresponds to Williamson (1999) that ? ms getting ahead of their competitors by providing multiple and new technology, products and business solutions have more opportunities to ensure lasting sales growth. We identify these product announcement types by using structural content analysis on the news content (as in Chaney et al. , 1991; Lee et al. , 2000; Firth and Narayanan, 1996). Based on the analysis of the news content, we create three dumm y variables: NEWNESS, MULTIPLE and TIME. 8 The main reason for using data one year before the announcements is to capture the most recent impact of a ? m's attributes on the market reactions to new product introductions. Several independent variables are measured by the data one year preceding the announcements, including international diversi? cation, ? rm size, debt-to-asset ratio, product diversi? cation and two industry sector dummy variables. 9 Since the values of advertising and R&D expenditures tend to ? uctuate substantially from year to year, we use the 3-year average values of advertising intensity, R&D intensity and industry R&D intensity to reduce the chance that a random and extreme value in one year disproportionately in? ences our measure of intangible assets. 340 C. -F. Wang et al. / Journal of International Management 17 (2011) 333–347 NEWNESS equals one if the product is highly innovative, and zero if it is an update or an enhancement of an existing product (as in Chaney et al. , 1991; Chen, 2008). MULTIPLE equals one for multiple-products announced simultaneously by a ? rm, and zero for single announcements (as in Chaney et al. , 1991; Chen, et al. , 2002). TIME equals one if the announcing ? rm is the ? rst mover, and zero otherwise (as in Lee et al. , 2000; Chen, 2008).Finally, we consider two industry-related factors. The ? rst is the technological opportunity of the industry in which the announcing ? rms operate. Chaney et al. (1991) asserted that the valuation effect of NPIs is higher for ? rms in more technologically based industries, as they are considered to have more innovation opportunities and greater potential for future growth. In contrast, Kelm et al. (1995) found that investors respond positively to new product announcements by ? rms in less-technology-intensive industries because new product announcements by these ? rms are relatively nexpected by investors. Technological opportunities at the industry level are measure d by the average industry R&D intensity (the average values of R&D expenditures divided by net sales for all ? rms in the same four-digit SIC industry) for the three ? scal years prior to the announcements (following Chan et al. , 1990; Kelm et al. , 1995). In addition, we control for the industry-speci? c effect with two dummy variables: MANUFACTURING and SERVICE. MANUFACTURING equals one for announcing ? rms in manufacturing industries, and zero otherwise. SERVICE equals one for announcing ? ms in service industries, and zero otherwise. This is done as several studies have argued that the effect of internationality on performance for manufacturing ? rms is different from that for service ? rms (Capar and Kotabe, 2003; Contractor et al. , 2003). We therefore separate the sample ? rms into service, manufacturing and other industries according to 2-digit SIC codes and apply two industry dummies to control for the industry-speci? c effects. Table 2 presents the means, standard deviati ons, and correlations for all variables for the sample of NPI announcements. 4. Empirical resultsTable 3 provides estimates of abnormal returns around the announcement date and the surrounding days. The results show that innovations such as NPIs are perceived by investors as value-increasing activities. For the two-day announcement period cumulative abnormal returns, CAR (? 1, 0), the new product announcers experience a positive cumulative average abnormal return of 0. 194%, signi? cant at the 1% con? dence level. No signi? cant abnormal returns are observed preceding and following the announcement period. As a result, we use CAR (? 1, 0) as the dependent variable in the following regression analysis.Our results are consistent with prior studies (e. g. , Chaney et al. , 1991; Chen, 2008; Chen et al. , 2002; Kelm et al. , 1995). Table 4 reports the regression results with the dependent variable CAR (? 1, 0). We present the results without centering the variables in the ? rst ? ve mod els, and results with centering the variables on their means in the latter ? ve models. 10 Models 1 and 6 are baseline models that include only the control variables and two measures of intangible assets. Among the control variables, leverage ratio is found to be positively associated with CAR (? 1, 0), though insigni? cant in some models.This result suggests that higher levels of debt lower the expected costs of free cash ? ow (Jensen, 1986), and new products announced by ? rms with a higher leverage ratio are therefore perceived as more worthwhile. Of the two ? rm-speci? c assets variables, both R&D and advertising intensities have a signi? cant and positive impact in most models. Moreover, industry R&D intensity is found to be signi? cantly negatively associated with CAR (? 1, 0). This result suggests that investors respond positively to new product announcements by ? rms in less technology-intensive industries because new product announcements by these ? ms are relatively unexpe cted by investors (Kelm et al. , 1995). Other control variables are not found to have signi? cant explanatory power in terms of the variation in announcement abnormal returns. In model 2 (7), we test the impact of international diversi? cation on the stock market reactions to NPI announcements by including the linear and squared terms of international diversi? cation. We ? nd our Hypothesis 1 is strongly supported, as CAR (? 1, 0) is positively related to the linear term of international diversi? cation and then negatively associated to the squared term of international diversi? cation.This result suggests an inverted-U-shaped relationship between international diversi? cation and the market value of NPIs. Models 3 (8), 4 (9) and 5 (10) test the moderating effects of intangible assets by including the interaction term of international diversi? cation and advertising intensity and the interaction term of international diversi? cation and R&D intensity. 11 Model 3 (8) tests the intera ction effect between international diversi? cation and marketing capability. The statistically signi? cant and positive coef? cient of the interaction term suggests that the market value of NPIs increases when internationally diversi? d ? rms have greater marketing capacities. Thus, Hypothesis 2 is supported. Model 4 (9) tests the interaction effect between international diversi? cation and technological capability. We also ? nd a statistically signi? cant and positive coef? cient of the interaction term. Thus, Hypothesis 3 is supported. To test the robustness of these ? ndings, we simultaneously include the interaction of international diversi? cation and advertising intensity and the interaction of international diversi? cation and R&D intensity in model 5 (10). Results remain unchanged to those in models 3 (8) and 4 (9).It is noted that the â€Å"main effects† between international diversi? cation and the abnormal returns of NPIs remain robust in all models with the additi on of the interaction terms. To gain further insights into our ? ndings, we construct Figs. 1 and 2 by drawing on the results of models 3 and 4. We use CAR (? 1, 0) as the measurement of market value of NPIs. When illustrating the impact of advertising intensity (R&D intensity) and 10 Since some variables are constructed from other variables, we follow Aiken and West (1991) by subtracting each variable from its mean value in the sample to minimize their collinearity. 11To test the robustness of our conclusion, we re-examine the regression analysis by incorporating the interaction of quadratic terms of international diversi? cation and intangible asset proxies. Our conclusions remain unchanged. Variables a Mean s. d. Min Max 1. Two-day announcementperiod abnormal return(%)a 2. International diversi? cation 3. Advertising intensity 4. R&D intensity 5. Product diversi? cation 6. Firm size b 7. Debt-to-asset ratio 8. Newness 9. Multiple 10. Time 11. Industry R&D intensity 12. Service in dustry 13. Manufacturing industry 0. 194 0. 037 ? 0. 242 0. 230 0. 653 0. 012 0. 081 0. 816 8. 541 0. 00 0. 827 0. 302 0. 359 0. 236 0. 236 0. 748 0. 424 0. 022 0. 148 0. 659 1. 860 0. 149 0. 379 0. 459 0. 480 0. 390 0. 425 0. 434 0. 000 0. 000 0. 000 0. 000 ? 0. 781 0. 000 0. 000 0. 000 0. 000 0. 000 0. 000 0. 000 1. 382 0. 317 4. 696 2. 533 12. 060 1. 099 1. 000 1. 000 1. 000 2. 334 1. 000 1. 000 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1. 000 ? 0. 033* 1. 000 0. 102*** ? 0. 071*** 1. 000 ? 0. 004 ? 0. 042** ? 0. 016 1. 000 0. 149*** 0. 092*** ? 0. 158*** 0. 399*** 1. 000 ? 0. 111*** 0. 001 ? 0. 090*** 0. 052*** 0. 075*** 1. 000 0. 036** ? 0. 002 0. 010 ? 0. 003 0. 027 ? 0. 021 1. 000 9 0. 076*** 0. 050*** 0. 015 ? 0. 024 0. 016 ? 0. 100*** 0. 33* 1. 000 The two-day period (? 1,0) abnormal return is estimated by summing up abnormal returns from the day before (day ? 1) to the announcement date (day 0). Firm size is measured by the natural logarithm of net sales. ***p b 0. 01, **pb0. 05, *pb0. 1. b 10 11 12 13 0. 045** ? 0. 022 0. 056*** 0. 039** 0. 024 ? 0. 050*** 0. 170*** ? 0. 040** 1. 000 0. 257*** ? 0. 083*** 0. 252*** ? 0. 042** ? 0. 188*** ? 0. 098*** 0. 031* 0. 039** 0. 055*** 1. 000 ? 0. 382*** 0. 000 ? 0. 137*** ? 0. 206*** ? 0. 020 0. 199*** ? 0. 007 ? 0. 147*** ? 0. 064*** ? 0. 151*** 1. 000 0. 342*** 0. 017 0. 143*** 0. 151*** ? 0. 017 ? 0. 222*** . 009 0. 147*** 0. 068*** 0. 166*** ? 0. 960*** 1. 000 C. -F. Wang et al. / Journal of International Management 17 (2011) 333–347 Table 2 Descriptive statistics and correlations. 341 342 C. -F. Wang et al. / Journal of International Management 17 (2011) 333–347 Table 3 Abnormal returns for new product introduction announcements. Event day Mean AR (%) t-statistic ? 10 ?9 ?8 ?7 ?6 ?5 ?4 ?3 ?2 ?1 0 [? 1,0] +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 + 10 ? 0. 023 ? 0. 005 0. 025 ? 0. 016 ? 0. 025 ? 0. 005 0. 047 0. 001 ? 0. 039 0. 093 0. 101 0. 194 ? 0. 038 0. 058 0. 081 ? 0. 056 0. 027 ? 0. 073 ? 0. 055 0. 053 ? 0. 025 ? 0. 054 ? 0. 4 50 0. 092 0. 471 ? 0. 309 ? 0. 477 ? 0. 099 0. 888 0. 003 ? 0. 731 1. 918* 2. 038** 2. 885*** ? 0. 756 1. 086 1. 329 ? 1. 138 0. 529 ? 1. 403 ? 1. 078 1. 118 ? 0. 471 ? 0. 972 (0. 653) (0. 927) (0. 638) (0. 758) (0. 633) (0. 921) (0. 375) (0. 998) (0. 465) (0. 055) (0. 042) (0. 004) (0. 450) (0. 278) (0. 184) (0. 255) (0. 597) (0. 161) (0. 281) (0. 264) (0. 638) (0. 331) ***p b 0. 01, **p b 0. 05. Values in parentheses are p-values. international diversi? cation on CAR (? 1, 0), we hold other control variables at the average level. If the control variables are dummy ones, we substitute these variables with their modes. 2 Both ? gures provide supportive evidence for our hypotheses. First, the relationship between international diversi? cation and the market value of NPIs is found to be inverted-U-shaped, with the slope positive at lower levels of international diversi? cation but negative at higher levels of international diversi? cation. For example, in Fig. 1, for ? rms with no mar keting capability, at the initial stage, there is a positive impact on the market value of NPIs with an increase of 0. 62% in CAR (? 1, 0) when the level of international diversi? cation increases from zero to 0. 8. Beyond this threshold of 0. , a higher level of international diversi? cation is associated with a decreasing CAR (? 1, 0). In Fig. 2, for ? rms with no technological capability, there is a positive impact on the market value of NPIs with an increase of 0. 63% in CAR (? 1, 0) when the level of international diversi? cation increases from zero to 0. 8. Beyond this point, more international diversi? cation results in lower market values of NPIs. In addition, these graphs illustrate the performance differences across ? rms with different levels of intangible assets. For example, in Fig. 1, for a ? rm with a degree of international diversi? cation of 0. and a level of marketing capability of 0. 3, there is an expected CAR (? 1, 0) that is almost 0. 89% higher than that for a ? rm at the same level of international diversi? cation but with the marketing capability of 0. 1; at a degree of international diversi? cation of 1. 2, there is an expected improvement in CAR (? 1, 0) of 3. 25% when the level of marketing capability increases from 0. 1 to 0. 3. The same procedure can be used to explain the moderating effect of technological capability. In Fig. 2, for a ? rm with a level of international diversi? cation of 0. 4 and a level of technology capability of 1. , there is an expected CAR (? 1, 0) that is 2. 09% higher than that for a ? rm at the same level of international diversi? cation but with the technological capability of 0. 4; at a degree of international diversi? cation of 1. 2, there is an expected improvement in CAR (? 1, 0) of 4. 92% when the technology capability of a ? rm increases from 0. 4 to 1. 6. 5. Discussion and conclusions This paper examines the importance of international diversi? cation in explaining the stock market reactions to NP I announcements. Using NPI announcements from the period 1997–2005, we found an inverted-U-shaped relationship between international diversi? ation and the market value of NPIs, with a slope positive at lower levels of international diversi? cation but negative at higher levels of international diversi? cation. This relationship is moderated by the intangible assets possessed by internationally diversi? ed ? rms. We ? nd that announcing ? rms with greater technological and/or marketing capabilities achieve higher abnormal returns from NPIs. The main effects of the international diversi? cation variables still hold after the inclusion of these moderating factors. In view of recent research having suggested a sigmoid performance effect of internationalization (Contractor et al. 2003; Lu and Beamish, 2004), we test our hypotheses in the framework of an S-shaped relationship by simultaneously adding linear, squared and cubed terms of international diversi? cation in the regressio n. However, our sample does not reveal the S-shaped association between international diversi? cation and the market value of NPI. 12 The equations for the graphs presented in Figs. 1 and 2 are as follows, respectively: CAR (? 1, 0) = ? 0. 0037 + 0. 0157 * ID ? 0. 0099 * ID2 ? 0. 0147 * AD + 0. 1476 * ID * AD and CAR (? 1, 0) = ? 0. 0049 + 0. 0168 * ID ? 0. 0112 * ID2 + 0. 0056 * RD + 0. 295 * ID * RD, where ID = international diversi? cation; ID2 = International diversi? cation squared; AD = advertising intensity; RD = R&D intensity. C. -F. Wang et al. / Journal of International Management 17 (2011) 333–347 343 Table 4 Regression analysis of new product introduction on international diversi? cation. Un-centered results Centered results Independent variables Model 1 Model 2 Intercept ? 0. 0005 (? 0. 072) ? 0. 0042 ? 0. 0017 ? 0. 0037 ? 0. 0009 (? 0. 591) (? 0. 233) (? 0. 525) (? 0. 122) 0. 0178 0. 0157 0. 0168 0. 0143 (3. 156)*** (2. 737)*** (2. 967)*** (2. 486)** ? 0. 0099 ? 0. 0099 ? 0. 0112 0. 0113 (? 2. 188)** (? 2. 175)** (? 2. 434)** (? 2. 455)** International diversi? cation International diversi? cation squared International diversi? cation ? Advertising intensity International diversi? cation ? R&D intensity Firm size a Debt-to-asset ratio Product diversi? cation Advertising intensity R&D intensity Newness Multiple Time Industry R&D intensity Service Manufacturing Adjusted R2 F value Number of observations a Model 3 Model 4 0. 1476 (2. 236)** ? 0. 0001 ? 0. 0002 (? 0. 336) (? 0. 484) 0. 0072 0. 0071 (1. 531) (1. 516) ? 0. 0001 0. 0000 (? 0. 069) (0. 037) 0. 0667 ? 0. 0147 (2. 100)** (? 0. 04) 0. 0090 0. 0087 (1. 878)* (1. 832)* ? 0. 0003 ? 0. 0002 (? 0. 182) (? 0. 138) 0. 0016 0. 0016 (1. 085) (1. 055) ? 0. 0007 ? 0. 0006 (? 0. 466) (? 0. 407) ? 0. 0034 ? 0. 0032 (? 1. 804)* (? 1. 686)* 0. 0020 ? 0. 0007 (0. 032) (? 1. 121) ? 0. 0005 ? 0. 0015 (? 0. 079) (? 0. 252) 0. 0051 0. 0064 2. 20*** 2. 41*** 3061 3061 Model 6 0. 0036 (0. 637) 0. 1629 (2. 458)** 0. 0295 0. 0003 (0. 676) 0. 0073 (1. 569) ? 0. 0009 (? 0. 744) 0. 0527 (1. 673)* 0. 0093 (1. 941)* ? 0. 0004 (? 0. 195) 0. 0017 (1. 141) ? 0. 0006 (? 0. 389) ? 0. 0018 (? 0. 977) ? 0. 0030 (? 0. 519) ? 0. 0012 (? 0. 218) 0. 0005 1. 15 3061 Model 5Model 7 Model 8 Model 9 0. 0022 0. 0032 0. 0030 0. 0042 (0. 392) (0. 567) (0. 517) (0. 726) 0. 0178 0. 0174 0. 0192 0. 0189 (3. 156)*** (3. 081)*** (3. 375)*** (3. 326)*** ? 0. 0099 ? 0. 0099 ? 0. 0112 ? 0. 0113 (? 2. 188)** (? 2. 175)** (? 2. 434)** (? 2. 455)** 0. 1476 (2. 236)** 0. 0333 (1. 978)** (2. 225)** ? 0. 0001 ? 0. 0002 (? 0. 257) (? 0. 410) 0. 0085 0. 0086 (1. 803)* (1. 824)* ? 0. 0001 0. 0000 (? 0. 102) (0. 012) 0. 0709 ? 0. 0185 (2. 226)** (? 0. 383) 0. 0056 0. 0049 (1. 107) (0. 971) ? 0. 0002 ? 0. 0001 (? 0. 109) (? 0. 051) 0. 0018 0. 0018 (1. 221) (1. 2061) ? 0. 0009 ? 0. 0009 (? 0. 641) (? 0. 99) ? 0. 0046 ? 0. 0046 (? 2. 341)** (? 2. 302)** ? 0. 0005 ? 0. 0016 (? 0. 082) (? 0. 265) ? 0. 0015 ? 0. 0027 (? 0. 252) (? 0. 463) 0. 0060 0. 0077 2. 33*** 2. 58*** 3061 3061 0. 1629 (2. 458)** 0. 0295 0. 0003 (0. 676) 0. 0073 (1. 569) ? 0. 0009 (? 0. 744) 0. 0527 (1. 673)* 0. 0093 (1. 941)* ? 0. 0004 (? 0. 195) 0. 0017 (1. 141) ? 0. 0006 (? 0. 389) ? 0. 0018 (? 0. 977) ? 0. 0003 (? 0. 519) ? 0. 0012 (? 0. 218) 0. 0005 1. 15 3061 Model 10 (1. 978)** ? 0. 0001 ? 0. 0002 ? 0. 0001 (? 0. 336) (? 0. 484) (? 0. 257) 0. 0072 0. 0071 0. 0085 (1. 531) (1. 516) (1. 803)* ? 0. 0001 0. 0000 ? 0. 0001 (? 0. 069) (0. 37) (? 0. 102) 0. 0667 0. 0817 0. 0709 (2. 100)** (2. 517)** (2. 226)** 0. 0090 0. 0087 0. 0249 (1. 878)* (1. 832)* (2. 659)*** ? 0. 0003 ? 0. 0002 ? 0. 0002 (? 0. 182) (? 0. 138) (? 0. 109) 0. 0016 0. 0016 0. 0018 (1. 085) (1. 055) (1. 221) ? 0. 0007 ? 0. 0006 ? 0. 0009 (? 0. 466) (? 0. 407) (? 0. 641) ? 0. 0034 ? 0. 0032 ? 0. 0046 (? 1. 804)* (? 1. 686)* (? 2. 341)** 0. 0020 ? 0. 0007 ? 0. 0005 (0. 032) (? 1. 121) (? 0. 082) ? 0. 0005 ? 0. 0015 ? 0. 0015 (? 0. 079) (? 0. 252) (? 0. 252) 0. 0051 0. 00 64 0. 0060 2. 20*** 2. 41*** 2. 33*** 3061 3061 3061 0. 0333 (2. 225)** ? 0. 0002 (? 0. 410) 0. 0086 (1. 824)*

For What Reason Is the Problem of Evil a Problem for Religious Believers? Essay

a)For what reason is the Problem of Evil a problem for religious believers? (9) Probably the most powerful reason against the existence of The Classical God of Theism (hereafter referred to as God) is evil and suffering in the world. The problem of evil is an ‘a posterori’ argument, established from experience based on empirical senses. It is also synthetic as evil and suffering can be seen around us daily. There are a number of possible reasons for the problem of evil and why it causes a problem for religious believers, making it an inductive argument also. In his book Philosophy of Religion John Hick defined evil and suffering as â€Å"physical pain, mental suffering and moral wickedness† â€Å"The Rock of Theism† is what David Hume called the Problem of Evil as it is a strong argument for atheists to use against the existence of God and such a hard one for theists to address. The challenge of evil is the ultimate challenge to believe in God as it can’t be solved. The problem of evil causes problems for religious believers as it presents four problems, a theological problem as it challenges the nature of God, a philosophical problem as the believer has to accept conflicting claims, a diverse problem as evil comes in different forms with each requiring its own explanation and finally a challenging problem as the existence of evil and suffering is real and happening every day. As there is more than one type of evil that also causes problems for religious believers as God didn’t just create one evil but multiple ones. Moral evil is â€Å"all evil caused deliberately by humans doing what they ought not to do† (Richard Swinburne) e.g. murder, terrorism, war whereas natural evil is â€Å"the evil that originates independently of human actions† (John Hick) e.g. volcanoes, famine, disease. Leibniz coined the term ‘metaphysical evil’, which is tracing back the evil (moral and natural) to their ultimate cause. Monists c laim that the universe is a single harmonious unity that is good and so evil is a mere illusion in our minds, â€Å"evil is not something God has created it is simply the absence of good†. The problem with this is that it seems to contradict our own experience of the world where there is obviously evil and suffering. Another problem for religious believers is that for atheists the problem of evil is convincing evidence against Gods existence as they claim that a loving God wouldn’t have created a universe so full of evil and suffering. â€Å"I cannot imagine any omnipotent sentient being sufficiently cruel to create the world we inhabit† (Iris Murdoch.) There are many problems religious believers face to do with evil and suffering. If God created the world ex-nihilo (out of nothing) then he is totally responsible for it. If He was all powerful then He would have to power to stop evil and suffering, but it still exists and if He was all loving then He would want to stop it, but evil and suffering affects everyone. As evil and suffering exists, either God isn’t all powerful and all loving or He doesn’t exist. In 1955 J.L. Mackie proposed the Inconsistent Triad. He furthered the work of Epicurus and Hume and constructed the inconsistent triad. Epicurus first proposed the dilemma as a riddle and Hume furthered his theory and concluded that â€Å"the Omni qualities of God and evil cannot exist simultaneously but as evil does exist, then the Classical God of Theism cannot†. Through the triad Mackie said â€Å"the conjunction of any two entails the negation of the third†, so logically the triad doesn’t hold up. The theist must recognise what Basil Mitchell describes as â€Å"the full force of the problem†, if one angle can be removed the problem is solved, but while 3 angles remain there exists a logical inconsistency that must be resolved.

Emhart business

The possibility of the lock business of Emhart to succeed in line with the power tool and land home improvement of B & B is very slim in the international market place in as much as it is offering a new line of product. Different products take different approaches in the international market. Consequently, there in the need to map out another strategies for the marketing of the new lock and associated hard wares.In as much as Grunewald’s proposal for Emhart business tool is on a global out look, should be given all the necessary approach although not in the same marketing plan and strategy with B & D due to the fact that the products offer vary from one company’s brand name to another. The issue is that, the buyer in foreign markets should are aware of product’s quality and durability before they place orders. In as much as B & D has different product lines and brand names, it is not possible to sell Emhart product in those market proportionately.It will take tim e to penetrate the overseas markets. B & D has performed very well using the three key factors which include â€Å"strategies, managerial and operational activities† â€Å"Black & Decker operationalised its global approach to the identification and development of world products through a process of strategic managerial and operational activities (integrative cases page 655). Consequently, Grunewald should follow these three plans although not in the same approach but on a similar platform due to the fact that his line of products is different from that of B & D with a new brand name.The three plans (strategies, managerial and operational activities) was applied by B & D in the identification and development of world cleans products. So the words to note are, â€Å"identification† â€Å"development† and a â€Å"world clans products. So the first strategy to apply is the product â€Å"identification†. He has identified the â€Å"locks and lock sets† handled by Emhart corporation which he wanted to integrate to a world class company in the marketing of her land wares. The big question is, how he knew that the hard ware will be marketable in the overseas countries amidst stiff competition?.What strategies is he going to apply in order to determine the penetration of his line of product in those markets abroad?. The strategies to be carried out is the identification of a new product. In order words, his product is new in the foreign market. To begin, there is the need to carry out a market research on the products in order to find out the list of countries that have the highest import rate of kitchen hard waves, the exporting countries to those overseas countries on his research list. He must find out the prices they offer, quality, specifications delivery, etc.He must get this data first and based on these findings, he can map out his strategies. He has two options to take either to sets up a production until in those countries or exporting it directly. Although establishing a production unit is more economical in order to reduce cost of about 50% percent. He should also considered the individual government rules and regulation in those foreign countries as regards exports/import activities and in setting up production unit. In either ways he chooses, he should map out his strategies that will enable him complete with other foreign suppliers in those foreign countries.He should get samples of the products that are being supplied to those countries to see if he can make a change, modify, making it keeper than others etc. This is the most important aspect of his marketing strategy. He should do every thing possible to make his line of products more economically be attracted to customers in those countries. This is the first step he should do. He should also put into consideration using the â€Å"4 Ps† which include product, promotion, place and price. In marketing strategic, the product should be con sidered first and then the quality, in order to satisfy the buyer.As regards your place of businessm You should appoint sales representative / distributors in case of exporting to those countries. In the case of setting up production unit, its factory location within and industrial areas become very necessary as local distributors can easily carry his products and sell to whole seller and retailers; he should consider the price of the products and make it very competitive with other dealers both on export to those countries and from the production unit in those countries.There is also the need for its publicity. The products should be advertised both in the electronic media and in the printed media, to enable it penetrate the foreign markets. Also he must find out the bilateral relationship between those countries and his country. It may be that due to economic and political reason, his country is restricted to trade with either of the countries on the import list.He should also und erstand the culture of the people as B & D did and should study the political stability of that country and must ensure that, he insures his investment which should include both insurance from an issuance firm and re-insurance from government agency dealing in export for his national products. This service from the government will assist him a great deal in competing with other suppliers to those regions due to the fact that he could offer goods on credit to buyers and sell at a very competitive price under the government and insurance guaranteeSecure against currency inconvertibility and confiscation of assets by host government in case of setting up production unit abroad. In another development, he may set up the production unit on the export processing zone which can reduce cost unto 60% of the cost and product can be sold both locally and internationally (for exporting to third countries). These are some of the areas to be considered in penetrating the foreign markets as a reco mmendable strategy. The next step is the product development. The product should be developed based on the researched that has been carried out as stated above.It must fulfill all the condition necessary to enable it complete with other supplies â€Å"This stage is an evaluation of the product idea in term of its potential for enabling the company to take maximum advantage of its competitive strong point†¦. † (Don Weller: export product development of international trade center (ITCC) Geneva). The next is the product identification â€Å"world class product† like that of B & D. The very procedure outlined about relating product identification should as well be applicable in all foreign countries since, the culture, consuming pattern, prices varies from one country to another.If this is put into action, then, the product will be marketable in different parts of the world â€Å"Don† of ITC wrote â€Å" product differentiation means selling exactly the same p roduct in every market†. It could be the same hard wave from Emhart but specification, sizes, prices, colour etc, vary from one country to another in considering the above factor. In carrying out the market research, he should apply both desk and field research. â€Å"Desk research basically involves the collection of information from documentary sources published in unpublished†¦ â€Å"according to Don.Today the internet has become a major source for desk research as most library has gone online; information that can be obtained from desk research include, prices of the commodity, suppliers data, information about the political, terrif of those countries etc. The other is called â€Å"Field Research†. The field research should be carried out in the foreign country. In that case, a questionnaire is designed which is given to people in those countries most preferably, the dealers of the hard ware who already had experience in the market.The research will include q uestions that will be asked in order to find out the market position of the country in terms of prices, consuming pattern, quality, specification etc. Therefore, the product identification and development in order to suit the foreign market requirement is the key to Emhart’s success. The next is the managerial ability. The management team should include staff that are experienced in international trade operation. Those that can formulate policies and sound business ideas in caring out their operations Worley wrote â€Å"initiate the inquiring.This phase determines the subject and change. It emphasized member involvement to identify the organizational issue they have the most to address† (page 29). In as much as Emhart is focusing on global market, there is the need to replace old staff with new staff that have the skill in international operation. worley added â€Å"individual level design components† – Skill – varied, the range of activities and a bilities required task completion†¦Ã¢â‚¬  In as much as the required staff are put into place, operation can begin based on the researched that had been concluded in foreign markets on those products.At this function, Gramuld, can follow up the procedures adopted by B & D by opening regional offices and sales representatives in different part of the word. B & D can provide training to the staff that had the relevant qualification and considerable experience. This is the transfer of the â€Å"know how† from B & D to Emhart in their international operations. Gruamud should as has well consult a consultants in international trade who can draw out plans to enable him operate efficiently.

Diabetes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Diabetes - Essay Example e discovered numerous advantages for the diabetes patient in maintaining a stable exercise routine as well as the most beneficial degree of physical involvement and frequency of physical activity, but each of these realizations could have an impact on best practices for physical therapists in working with diabetic patients. In â€Å"Metallothionein-Mediated Antioxidant Defense System and Its Response to Exercise Training Are Impaired in Human Type 2 Diabetes† (Scheede-Bergdahl 2005), the authors discuss the importance of metallothioneins I and II (MT 1) as part of the antioxidant defense system and its relationship to exercise in the diabetic patient. Previous studies regarding these antioxidants have indicated that exercise has only beneficial effects on the production of MT 1, but the research team noticed that none of the studies had actually been conducted on people with Type 2 Diabetes. Further evidence had suggested the possibility that these important chemicals are reduced with exercise in persons with Type II Diabetes. During the study, it was confirmed that levels of MT 1 are increased in the skeletal muscle tissue and plasma of healthy individuals who have participated in a regular exercise program. Participants who had Type 2 Diabetes showed no corresponding increases thou gh. While the study was careful to note that there were no increases or decreases in MT 1 levels in the skeletal musculature in these patients, it was also noted that levels were decreased somewhat in the plasma levels. Decreased MT 1 can lead to oxidative stress, which â€Å"contributes to the development and acceleration of related conditions such as nephropathy, neuropathy, retinopathy and macro- and microvascular damage† (Scheede-Bergdahl 2005). At the same time, tissue samples taken from patients with Type 2 Diabetes indicated increased oxidative stress from the control group with tissue appearing more susceptible to damage. As further research is conducted as to

Past Affecting the Present in Death and the Maiden and Ghosts Essay

Past Affecting the Present in Death and the Maiden and Ghosts - Essay Example Such frustration is expressed many times in the arts and literature, which are the creative means of expressing one’s sentiments. This natural tendency to express frustration over the fact that the past always has an impact of the future transcends cultures and generations. Ariel Dorfman is Chilean, his play Death and the Maiden highlights this frustration. Henrik Ibsen is a Norwegian who belonged to an earlier era and wrote Ghosts, which also dealt with the subject of the past haunting the present. In both Death and the Maiden and Ghosts, the main characters of the story are all troubled by the past. Ariel Dorfman’ Death and the Maiden is set in country that has gotten rid of a despotic ruler after many years of suffering tyranny. While Dorfman does not specifically indicate what country this is, it may be safe to assume that the playwright based his plot on the experiences of the Chilean people in the post-Pinochet era. Whether he intentionally did or did not mention the name of the country, Dorfman managed to push his message across. The playwright knew that it was not just the Chilean people who experienced severe forms of oppression and injustice in the hands of autocratic rulers. Death and the Maiden is a play with only three characters. Its story revolves around the encounter of Paulina, her husband Gerardo, and Roberto, a doctor. Paulina was one of the many victims of a deposed dictator. She was part of the political opposition and was therefore considered by the dictatorship as an enemy. Captured for her political convictions, she was tortured and raped while blindfolded by members of the state forces. In the play, she recognizes the voice of Roberto as the doctor who raped and tortured her. She then attempts to take vengeance on Roberto. Gerardo, however, who takes Roberto to their home, tries to prevent Paulina from killing the doctor. Roberto insists that Paulina has mistaken him to be one who violated her, which Gerardo also believes. The conflict of the story can be found in Paulina’s assumptions and Roberto and Gerardo’s defense against it. Gerardo too despises the previous regime for its gross violations of human rights, but he believes that those involved in committing these should face a fair trial. Paulina, being a victim, has a more drastic and emotional approach to the prosecution of the offenders. Gerardo’s membership in the commission that investigates those who are involved in the killings under the regime is a contentious issue between him and his wife. Paulina is skeptical over the actual results of the investigations, which is what she means when she says â€Å"you hear the relatives of the victims; you denounce the crimes, what happens to the criminals?† (Act I, Scene 1). Gerardo knows that such issue could create problems in the marriage. When Roberto appeares, such issue of how the events of the past must be handled is highlighted in the ensuing conflict. In the entir e play, it is clear that Paulina is more emotional when it comes confronting her past. Although Gerardo himself is affected by it, considering that he is Paulina’s husband, he is not the one violated. It was Paulina who was raped repeatedly by different men who were part of the state’s security forces, including Roberto. It was her who was tortured. When Paulina already has Roberto tied and gagged; the tiff between her and her husband centers on how she considers Gerardo’

Gender Disparities In Hamlet and The Importance of Being Earnest Essay

Gender Disparities In Hamlet and The Importance of Being Earnest - Essay Example Women such as Cecily, Gwendolen and Ophelia are a good example of that. It is clearly seen that those Women are being taken advantage of or are being forced to do something, in order to benefit other personage. This paper will review this statement. A common undertone of Victorian society was how women were seen as fragile and cowardly things and should be treated differently (more gently) than men. â€Å"My dear fellow, the truth isnt quite the sort of thing one tells to a nice, sweet, refined girl. What extraordinary ideas you have about the way to behave to a woman!† (Wilde, 236). In this quote, Jack explains how women are incapable of handling the truth and thus justifies why he should not feel bad about lying to them. Jack constantly lies to Gwendolen, referring to her as a nice, sweet girl, putting her to a lower class than he is. He justifies this by thinking he is protecting her from the outside world. Gender disparity plays out with major undertones in marriage as demonstrated by Wilde. The ability to choose who and when to marry is a good example of the inequalities between the men and women in Victorian society. â€Å"I am in love with Gwendolen. I have come up to town expressly to propose to her.† (Wilde, 1) Jack sees the marriage as necessary for his social standings, impressing other members of the class. Marx sees society as only in classes, and he defines these classes by the amount of capital. The decision to marry is a normal aspect of a man’s life. â€Å"Lady Bracknell; Pardon me, you are not engaged to anyone. When you do become engaged to someone, I, or your father, should his health permit him, will inform you of the fact.† (Wilde, 172). When Cecily tells Lady Bracknell that she is engaged to Earnest, Lady Bracknell tells Cecily her vision. Lady Bracknell, like many in that society, puts woman lower in social class. From this statement, we see th at Lady Bracknell gives the man the main

Do they know where they are going A Literature Review of 14-19 year

Do they know where they are going A of 14-19 year old choices in Education in Wales - Literature review Example The Welsh education system since 2004 has realized the importance of the quality of education provided to 14-19 year olds as it is a sensitive age and the students need to be prepared for college or the work place. The grooming and education that is provided at this age will define their careers and paths for the future and thus it is of utmost importance that they are provided with ample opportunities and proper guidance. The Welsh Government aims to make 95% of the youth (up to age 25) ready for higher education or the job market by the year 2015 (Hafren). This review will focus on the options available to the Welsh students at this sensitive age and how they can help the students achieve academic as well as life skills. Education for the 14-19 age groups The verb to educate is drawn out from the Latin word ‘educare’ which means to draw out. Thus, education is supposed to draw out the hidden potential lout of blank canvases that are children. The age 14-19 is the most influential age and thus it is when students can be groomed and refined to develop personalities and skills that will enable them to achieve success. According to Richard Pring, the current system of education results in many students remaining untrained and fails to provide them with the skills necessary to excel in higher education or the job market. He believes that it is important to define what education means for these age groups and what results should it provide. According to him, the 19 year olds that the educational system should produce must not only be academic but young people with various strengths and a deep thinking ability concerned about the issues that the world faces. (Pring) Richard Pring focuses on the ‘urgency of debate’ as education has emphasized only in economic efficiency and performance but not on key issues and the development of the mind. It focuses too much on economic gain both by those that provide education and those that receive educat ion and too less than the development of the mind and grooming of students into intellectual beings. The result of a system driven by examinations and results has been deterioration in the learning experience. From the job perspective as well, the system does not equip students with the required interpersonal skills and training that would enable them to succeed in the world. There has also been an element of fierce competition between institutions rather than an inclusive and collaborative mindset resulting in emphasis on programs and results to attract students rather than focusing on providing superior education and working together to improve the system. The system also lacks the professional training of teachers catering to 14-19 year olds. (Pring) Qualifications There are basically two qualification frameworks available to Welsh students, also recognized in England and Wales. The National Qualifications Framework sets out the levels of qualifications recognized by England, Ire land and Wales. These qualifications are accredited by the regulators in all three states. The NQF recognizes entry level certificates, English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), GCSE, Life Skills, BTEC, NQV, A levels and International Baccalaureate among various others. These qualifications focus on academic achievements and certifications. (DirectGov, 2009) The

REFUGEE LAW AND PROTECTED PERSON in Canada Essay

REFUGEE LAW AND PROTECTED PERSON in Canada - Essay Example Firstly, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada together with Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) provides for protection when a person cannot live permanently without fear of persecution (Canadians, 2010). In assessing gravity of Serbians in Croatia, we find that the client meet this constitutional provision. In assessing magnitude of torture and persecution in Croatia, it will be prudent to examine Croatia and â€Å"Ethnic Cleansing† (http://www.cgs.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp/download/cgs01_07_shimizu). In this article, it details how hundreds of thousands of Serbian became victim of genocide. As early as 1941, 750,000 defenseless Serbs were killed in cold blood (Daiute & Turniski, 2005). UNHCR report blames political rivalry during these early phases of anti-Serbian campaigns (http://www.refworld.org/country,,,,HRV,,553f617f4,0.html). In the recent past, the Croatian captured media attention when Whistle blower Chris Hedges came out to highlight plight of Serbians in 1998. The International Criminal Court (ICC) implicated Defense Minister Gojko Susak for the senseless killings of Serbians (http://45lines.com/levar/scare/scare.html). More recently, the cry to end tribulations of the Serbian population continues to grow. Many young and old are living in fear. Roman Catholic Church, the majority rising against Orthodox mainly the Serbians is evident (http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/2011/04/at-last-true-horror-of-persecution-of.html). The report further is supported by the ICC decision that found guilty Anto Gotovina and Mlade Markac of commanding operations to kill the Serbian

Will Revolution in Libya succeed Research Paper - 1

Will Revolution in Libya succeed - Research Paper Example These rights have a foundation independent of the laws of any particular society†1. In Libya, Gaddafi is trying to sustain his power against the will of the people. Majority of the people in Libya are against the dictatorship of Gaddafi because of the human right violation happening in Libya under his administration. It is difficult for the Libyan public to express their opinion freely, if it is against the political administration. Just like in communist China, Gaddafi is trying to impose hue censorship upon media so that the to and fro motion of unhealthy information between Libya and other countries would be prevented. In civilized world like ours, people like to choose their administration through ballots. Gaddafi is trying to prevent people from enjoying such democratic freedoms. ‘Hope for a new government and for more fearless opposition to the regime is reflected in the ongoing protests. Multiple Libyan diplomats and politicians, including the justice and interior ministers, have resigned†2. Many prominent people in Libya joined the agitation which definitely shows that the countdown for Gaddafi administration is already started. Dictators cannot sustain their power for longer period as the examples from Iraq and Egypt is right in front of us. Under such circumstances, it is difficult for Gaddafi to continue in power. Gaddafi is ruling Libya for the last 40 years. He failed to grasp the confidence of the public during his last 40 year administration period. He succeeded in remain in power by suppressing the agitations against him using iron fists. â€Å"Many in Libya still remember how Gaddafi used to execute those who opposed him — or those he felt had opposed him — and would leave their bodies hanging from nooses for days as a warning†3. Even during Ramadan period, Gaddafi killed many innocent people who opposed him. In other words, Gaddafi has less belief in Islamic beliefs and traditions even though he proclaimed to be true Islamic

Bioethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Bioethics - Essay Example This universal prescriptivism results in the form of consequentialism, claiming that the rightness of an action actually depends upon its consequences (Kuhse & Singer, 1999). Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill brought forward classical utilitarianism which states that an action is right if it leads to a greater surplus of happiness over misery than any possible alternative and wrong if it does not (Kuhse & Singer, 1999). By â€Å"greater surplus of happiness†, the classical utilitarian refers to the concept of accumulating all the pleasure or happiness that resulted from the action and deducting from that sum all the pain or misery resulting from the action (Kuhse & Singer, 1999).  Being a consequentialism, particularly a classical utilitarian, I would first of all find out and be completely assured that this was the surest and the only way of retaining enduring happiness to the entire mankind (Kuhse & Singer, 1999). Any utilitarian, keeping in mind the giant mission of achieving contentment of the world’s people would surely accept the job of being the architect of the happiness of the world at the cost of the child’s unexpiated t ears (Kuhse & Singer, 1999). We are already aware that in certain situations it might be possible only to lessen misery and hence the correct action should be realized as the one that will lead to less misery than other possible option.  While making any ethical judgment, it must be universalizable for hypothetical and real situations as well (Kuhse & Singer, 1999). At the time of making an ethical judgment, one is expected to put himself or herself in place of the parties involved and determine whether he or she can still accept that judgement. In this particular case, suppose the father is aware that the torture on his child is the only process left which guarantees the overall welfare of the people all around the globe.

Language and Dictrionaries Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Language and Dictrionaries - Essay Example In his proposal for the new undertaking in lexicography, Richard Chenevix Trench made a bold statement by announcing that it is not the function of a dictionary to provide standards (5). Trench described the role of a lexicographer as one of "an historian of it [language], not a critic" (5), whose task is to "collect and arrange all the words, whether good or bad," and "to make his inventory complete" (6). James A.H. Murray (not the first editor, but who is commonly associated with the beginning of the dictionary) further expounded on the ideas proposed by Trench. Murray explicated that the role of a lexicographer, as a historian, is not simply to record words: but to furnish a biography of each word, giving as nearly as possible the date of its birth or first known appearance, and, in the case of an obsolete word or sense, or its last appearance, the source from which it was actually derived, the form and sense with which it entered the language or is first found in it, and the successive changes of form and developments of sense which it has since undergone. (47) However, the original OED was not able to achieve the truly descriptive model of lexicographical creation. Indeed, as adamant as Trench was on including "all the words, whether good or bad" (6), he conceded that "A Dictionary ought to know its own limits" (56). Trench especially protested against "the drafting into the Dictionary a whole army of purely technical words" (57). Interestingly, these words he did not consider as words but as mere signs (57). Another stratum of vocabulary that was originally banned from the OED was obscene terminology. Indeed, Bryson contends that much of the obscene vocabulary did not appear in the OED until after 1972 (222). Unlike Johnson's and Webster's dictionaries, the OED was no longer a work of a single person but "the combined action of many" (Trench, qtd. in Landau 79). To reflect the fluidity of the language and the mutability of the society, the OED editors continued making adjustments and additions to the dictionary. The first supplementary volume came out in 1933 - five years after the OED was published. In the OED2 preface, the editors recount that most of the additions for the Supplement and for the second edition of the OED concentrated on including more scientific vocabulary, slang, and words from different varieties of English. 1.1 Preface and Front Matter While often overlooked by users, most dictionaries boast a Preface/Front Matter. The aforementioned is often highly informative and as far as the lexicographer is concerned, an invaluable guide to the dictionary and, possibly, previous editions. As one turns to the 8th edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary, one finds that the above stated holds true. Taken together, both the Preface and Front Matter provide a concise and precise guide to the edition and a guide to its distinctive features. The Preface explains the variations between the 8th and previous editions of the dictionary, outlining the changes made to the structure and layout. The breadth of these changes, as listed in the below, are a testament to the extent to which the edition's editors, sub-editors and collaborators determined to reflect the times and ensure that the Concise Oxford

Antony and Cleopatra Essay Example for Free

Antony and Cleopatra Essay Explore the presentation and effects of love in Antony and Cleopatra Antony and Cleopatra is Shakespeares peculiarly fluid and intimate historical retelling of the love tale of the Roman soldier, Mark Antony, and the Egyptian queen, Cleopatra. The male protagonist, Antony, is a noble Roman soldier. That being so Shakespeare introduces him as having many cultural personality traits which in this play are affected, alongside with his judgement, by the love he feels for Cleopatra. From the outset of the play, the audience can see that Antonys judgment has been affected by love. This can be observed from the people in Antonys company. While it is obvious they regard him as a powerful figure they also disapprove of his relationship with Cleopatra. The audience can see this from Philos description of Antonys dotage that Oerflows the measure (1, 1, 2)1. This shows that his obsession with Cleopatra surpasses a sensible level. Philo says that Antonys heart has become the bellows and the fan/ To cool a gypsys lust. (1, 1, 7-10)2 This shows that some of his former greatness has gone as he has been degraded to serving, what others see as a gypsy. In addition to this the word gypsy also reinforces the Romans disapproval of their relationship as gypsy would give the audience connotations of a promiscuous woman. However moments before this Antony is described to have goodly eyes (1, 1, 2)3 which glowed like plated Mars (1, 1, 4)4. Philos reference to Mars the powerful Roman God of war, presents Antony as a powerful, invulnerable God-like being. However this is a demonstration of hyperbole as the reader knows that Antony, no matter how magnificent, is still a fragile and breakable mortal. This use of hyperbole adds humor to the play as the reader identifies the exaggeration and knows that Antony is mortal. This description enables us to see the vivid change in Antonys judgement. As the play progresses the audience can further observe the deterioration of Antonys greatness mainly because of awful decisions made by his affected judgement. This mainly happens because he struggles with the choice of whether to devote himself to a life of work, or a life of love. As a powerful Roman military leader and one of the three Roman rulers Antony should have extremely strong work ethics and ideologies, which in turn means any decisions he makes should favour work and responsibility. However this is not the case and his judgement is often affected by his feeling for Cleopatra. In turn this dramatically affects his actions, which contradicts with his ethics of work and responsibility: Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch of the ranged empire fall (1, 1, 33-4)5. Antony expresses his love for Cleopatra by saying he does not care if the Roman Empire falls. This shows the height of Antonys love for her and the great deal that she has affected his judgement. This is more so as although this comment rejects Rome it also shows its greatness. As Antony is one of three rulers of Rome it should be his primary concern to uphold the Roman Empire rather than dismissing it for love. In addition to this Antony describes the empire as having a wide arch this metaphor illustrates to the audience that he believes that the Roman Empire is strong and will remain strong without him. Thus he can have a more pleasurable and relaxed lifetime. This quotation is also suggestive of Antonys highly regarded position in the triumvirate. This is reveled due to Shakespeares use of the literary technique of iambic pentameter. As it is very complex to write in it enhances the importance of his speech, this is done primarily because he is stating his passion for Cleopatra which he believes is more important than anything else. During Act 3 Antony catches Thidias kissing Cleopatras hand. His jealousy enrages him and he commands his men to Take hence this Jack and whip him (3, 13, 94)6. This is less noble as he displays irrational behavior and angry which are seen as Egyptian traits rather than Roman cultural traits, as Romans are precise, measurable and rational. His treatment of Thidias can be seen as an Egyptian trait mainly because it recalls Cleopatras similar treatment to the messenger in Act 2 scene 5 as she also says: Thou shall be whipped (2, 5, 65)7. This again shows irrationality due to love, which both the lovers share. This parallel implies a similarity in their passionate temperament that can be provoked beyond self control. In turn this shows their height of passion as they both are envious and irrationally jealous, which displays the intensity of their love. In addition to this the lack of self control demonstrated by Antony shows his affect of judgment as Romans see self control as an act of responsibly, which is held just as high as their ethics of work. Despite Antonys less than accurate judgment in previous scenes he is still a Roman at heart and shows certain aspects which benefits Rome and the notion of work. Antony experiences a major emotional struggle when he marries Caesars sister Octavia. Antony participates in the marriage for political reasons hoping to cement himself to his responsibilities. However, he was still caught in a struggle between Rome and Egypt.

Fruits And Vegetables Industry Of India

Fruits And Vegetables Industry Of India INTRODUCTION India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world after China. Since the 1980s the international trade in fruits and vegetables has expanded rapidly. The number of commodities as well as the number of varieties produced and traded has drastically increased during the past 25 years. There is an overall increase in the demand of fruits and vegetables for consumption both in fresh and the processed form. Also there is a wide diversification in production pattern globally. Income in this sector is increasing which is driving the supply. In spite of being one of the largest producers of fruits and vegetables in the world, the export competitiveness among the Indian producers remains low. But with new marketing initiatives, the post-harvest losses and wastage due to poor infrastructure facilities such as storage and transportation are reduced to a considerable extent, yet a lot needs to be done in this sector. Supply constraints, yield gaps and huge logistic costs affect our competitive and comparative advantage in world trade market. Rs 50,000 crore worth of produce gets wasted every year in the absence of a proper value chain for food processing. The government is working on 30 cold chain routes countrywide to enable integration of the sector from farm-gate to the retail outlet. Apart from these many private sector companies have taken initiative to bridge this gap, many among them are Safal, Pepsi, Bharti, Reliance, Bayer and etc. PROJECT TILL NOW DRAWING OF SUPPLY CHAIN OF INDUSTRY STUDYING VARIOUS INTERMEDIARIES IN CHAIN ISSUES AND CHALLENGES FACED BY INDUSTRY PENDING CONTENTS FRESH FRUITS AND VEGETABLES CHARACTERISTICS FRUITS AND VEGETABLE SUPPLY CHAIN IN INDIA INTERMEDIARIES IN THE MARKET OTHER PLAYERS ISSUES AND CONSTRAINTS IN FRUITS AND VEGETABLE MARKETS COLD CHAIN FRESH FRUITS AND VEGETABLES CHARACTERISTICS Perishability of products: Involvement of many bio-physic-chemical processes make its highly vulnerable to damages at short intervals and thus contributes to products limited shelf life. Seasonability of production: The inconsistent supply due to the close involvement of many biotic and a biotic factors of production break the cycle of the produce availability in the market throughout the year. Bulkiness of products: The bulkiness of the fresh produce adds to the transportation, handling and packaging charges. Along with makes its prone to pre and post harvest damages in the supply chain accounting up to the extent of 20-40 percent. Quality variation of products: No adherence to GAP practices leads to variation in quality Irregular supply of products: Seasonability and non planned insufficient production creates gluts and shortages in the market. Small Holdings size scattered production processing: As majority of the Indian farmers falls in marginal and small category. FRUITS AND VEGETABLE SUPPLY CHAIN IN INDIA INTERMEDIARIES IN THE MARKET Producers: Most farmers or producers, perform one or more marketing functions. They sell the surplus either in the village or in the market. Some farmers, especially the large ones, assemble the produce of small farmers, transport it to the nearby market, sell it here and make a profit. Middlemen: Middlemen are those individuals or business concerns which specialize in performing the various marketing functions and rendering such services as are involved in the marketing of goods. Village commission agent Market commission agent Wholesalers Village commission agent These are agent which directly purchase from farmers, these agents are appointed by marketing commission agent to purchase on their behalf. Marketing commission agent These agent are appointed by government to do purchasing, this is because to ensure that fair price in market prevails Wholesalers: In india government have prohibited wholesalers to directly purchase goods from farmer. They can purchase good from market commission agent. Whole selling is the one that covers activities of all individuals or businessmen, which sell to or negotiate sales with customers, who buy for resale or industrial use. His position is that of an intermediary between manufacturer and retailer. Wholesalers are classified as: Local wholesalers, who deliver their purchases to local retailer. Provincial wholesalers some time called as distributor selling to the retailers of a particular district or a state. National wholesalers located at a strategic place and distribute goods all over the country. Sub Wholesaler, are smaller wholesaler who purchase from bigger and larger wholesaler, generally concentrated in smaller markets. Retailers: He is the last link in chain of middleman, who sells directly to consumer. He takes title to goods, sells and sets up business usually amidst the consumers groups. He buys his requirement usually from the wholesalers. Retailers in producing areas may have direct contact with producers and buys goods from them for resale. Main function: Selling the product of members. They also undertake outright purchases. Provide storage facilities for storage and grading Save cultivators from exploitation by traders and help farmers in getting fair price for their produce. Performing functions of processing of raw produce. OTHER PLAYERS Pucca Arhatia: He is the real purchaser in the wholesale market. He his buying for his own behalf, or acting for some business, like firms in consuming markets. Big industries play them as their agent and order him to purchase certain quantity within a given range of price. When pucca arhatia trades on his own, he dispose of his produce brought by him through dealers in different parts of country. Katcha Arhatia: He also advances money to the cultivators and village banias on the condition that the produce will be disposed off through him alone and hence charges a very nominal rate of interest on the money advanced. Katcha arhatia charges commission for services rendered by him. Important link between the village cultivator or traders on the one hand. Village Merchants: He is an important agency in the collection of produce and more so when the mandi is situated at a considerable distance from the village. He advances from his shop either on credit or for exchange of food grain or so price given for cultivators produce. The quantities of agriculture Production collected is either disposed off in the mandi or retained for resale in the village in the processed forms, such as rice, flour, oil etc. Itinerant Traders: They are small merchants, who move from village to village and buy the produce from cultivators house. They give a lower price than selling in the nearby market and in setting transportation take into consideration, the factors such as cost of transportation, market charges and profit margin ISSUES AND CONSTRAINTS IN FRESH FRUITS AND VEGETABLES MARKET: Lack of basic infrastructure for example cool chains, logistics and supply chain management. The infrastructural problems, pertaining to the cold storage facilities are dual as some places dont have the cold storage while some places have the problem of underutilization of the existing cold storages. The utilization is even lower than 30 per cent of the total capacity in many cases. Development of competitive international transportation, linked to domestic air transport or road and rail transport would help in reduction of post harvest losses. Presponderance of Intermediaries in the channel results in unfair and exploitative practices in marketing of fresh produce is very common. Lack of proper grading and quality control system. Scattered productions and sometimes in isolated places where even the transportation facilities and other infrastructure is not sufficient for the perishables. Lack of unity and organization skill among the farming community, which proves a major impediment in the formation of cluster groups and co-operatives. Inefficient Imperfect markets: Due to prevalence of many intermediaries and malpractices followed by them in the price fixation and auction of the perishables in between the marketing channel results in upraise of consumers price in the producers share. Concept of consumer packaging practically unknown in domestic markets : Improper pre and post harvest handling without any sound packaging leads to heavy loss ranging from 20-40 percent of the produce at the time when its reaches the final consumer. Lack of forward backward linkages: Absolute lack of the much needed quality inputs and extension backup at proper time and after harvest processes. Ignorance to new methods of cultivation and dependence on traders for extension knowledge. Perishability and Storability: Having limited shelf life due to its typical bio-physic-chemicals constitutions, fresh fruits and vegetables penetration is restricted to the certain niche markets and stakeholders. Besides the presence of insufficient numbers of storages and cool chain facilities adding to the woes. Low exports : Emergence of many competitive markets with comparative advantages in awake of the globalization and the imposition of different Tariff and Non-tariff barriers to save the domestic industry by the protection list nations using sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS) as their benchmark resulting in the limited exports of the perishable commodities. The window of international demand for the horticultural products is very small. Thus a planned strategy is to be made to target the markets during that period. Freight charges: High air freights are also hindrance for cost effective exports. For the exports large fluctuations in the production of fruits and vegetables causes problem in being a regular trade partners. Long marketing channel: Prevalence of many of the intermediaries in between the supply chain robbing the lions share of the producers by deeply penetrating the consumers pocket Non-functional AEZ: Even after 10 years of starting of the Agri-Export-Zones in deferent specific production pockets of different produces, full implementation is at its nascent stage due to many socio-political reasons. Thus the final benefit doesnt reaching to the destined. Poor Post harvest care handling of the produce: Improper pre and post harvest care and handling leads to heavy loss ranging from 20-40 percent of the produce. Absolute lack in co-ordination b/w production targets of concerned department action plan of the marketing directorate Prevalence of primitive methods of selling and price fixation like, secret sale, private negotiation, under cover etc. Meager involvement of Government other co-op. marketing agencies alike to the private agencies COLD CHAIN What is cold chain? Cold chain may be defined as a logistic system that provides a series of facilities for maintaining ideal storage conditions for perishables from the point of production to the point of consumption in the food chain. This is generally absent, but critical segment in Indian logistics infrastructure. Why are we suddenly talking about Cold Chain? We have realized that there is great amount of wastage happening post Harvest. This wastage is being estimated at 25% of total produce or approx Rs. 50000 Cr US $ 10 Billion. Indian Agriculture sector accounts for 26% of countrys GDP, produces 64% employment and 18% of countrys export. India is 2nd largest producer of Fruits Vegetable in the world. India is the 2nd largest vegetable Exporter. Indias share is only 1% of World trade. Why there are Losses in Post Harvest of Horticulture produce? Shortages of Cold Storage facilities and Refrigerated transport lead to inefficiency in handling perishables which manifest it into wastages. Some estimates say that the post harvest losses of fruits and vegetables alone in India is more than the total production of fresh fruits and vegetables in Great Britain.