The Battle of Dunkirk

The Battle of Dunkirk Rami Redha The Battle of Dunkirk lasted from around May 25 to June 3, 1940. After the Phony War, the Battle of France began on 10 May, 1940. German armour burst through the Ardennes region and advanced rapidly driving north in the so-called sickle cut. To the east the Germans invaded and subdued the Netherlands and advanced rapidly through Belgium. The combined British, French and Belgian forces were split around Armentià ¨res. The German forces then swept north to capture Calais, holding a large body of Allied soldiers trapped against the coast on the Franco-Belgian border. It became clear to the British that the battle was lost and the question was now how many Allied soldiers could be removed to the relative safety of England before their resistance was crushed. From May 22 preparations for the evacuation began, codenamed Operation Dynamo, commanded from Dover by Vice-Admiral Bertram Ramsay. He called for as many naval vessels as possible as well as every ship capable of carrying 1,000 men within reach. It initially was intended to recover around 45,000 men of the British Expeditionary Force over two days, this was soon stretched to 120,000 men over five days. On May 27 a request was placed to civilians to provide all shallow draught vessels of 30 to 100 feet for the operation, that night was the first rescue attempt. A large number of craft including fishing boats and recreational vessels, together with Merchant Marine and Royal Navy vessels, were gathered and sent to Dunkirk and the surrounding beaches to recover Allied troops. Due to heavy German fire only 8,000 soldiers were recovered. Another ten destroyers were recalled for May 28 and attempted rescue operations in the early morning but were unable to closely approach the beaches although several thousand were rescued. It was decided that smaller vessels would be more useful. The Allied held area was reduced to a 30 sq km by May 28. Operations over the rest of May 28 were more successful, with a further 16,000 men recovered but German air operations increased and many vessels were sunk or badly damaged, including nine destroyers. On May 29, the German armour stopped its advance on Dunkirk leaving the operation to the slower infantry, and the Luftwaffe (Hermann Gà ¶ring, then in great favour with Adolf Hitler, had promised air power alone could win the battle) but due to problems only 14,000 men were evacuated that day. On the evening of May 30 another major group of smaller vessels was dispatched and returned with around 30,000 men. By May 31 the Allied forces were compressed into a 5 km deep strip from La Panne, through Bray-Dunes to Dunkirk, but on that day over 68,000 troops were evacuated with another 10,000 or so overnight. On June 1 another 65,000 were rescued and the operations continued until June 4, evacuating a total of 338,226 troops aboard around 700 different vessels. Source 8 was an artists of the Dunkirk evacuation by Charles cundall, an official war artist. In the painting you can clearly see the smoke from the bombed out harbour there is enough evidence in source 8 to support the interpretation: â€Å"Dunkirk was a great deliverance and a great Defeat†. Source 8 shows how it was deliverance and how it was a Defeat. The source is a painting by Charles Condell he shows lots of ships and people getting to these ships but also show a lot of explosions and mayhem. The deliverance in this painting would be the fact that so many troops are boarding the ships and getting home alive. The disaster in this painting is the fact there are so many dead on the beaches and there are ships on fire. This source cannot however be completely reliable because the painter could not have been on the beach painting this picture so he was either far away or this painting is an image he had remembered from the day. He was also an official war artist so this pa inting could have been used by the government as propaganda to show the British people that despite the bombing and strafing of the beaches the British people never gave up in saving the B.E.F. Source 19 is an account by an RAF pilot of what he saw when he reached the beaches. He mentioned the air attacks on the beaches and said things like

Tui Mkt301 Module 1 Case

TUI University MKT 301 Winter 2012 Module 1, Case Assignment High Involvement: Infinity FX35; Low Involvement:  Starbucks Coffee Explain why the first product you chose was a High Involvement purchase and why the second was a Low Involvement purchase. Describe in detail the process you went through in buying each product. Bear in mind that the purpose of the assignment is to demonstrate the depth of your understanding of the teaching materials. Identify and discuss the differences between the ways you went through the purchase decision processes for the two products.Explain how you might use your understanding of the Model of Consumer Buying Behavior for the two products. High Involvement vs Low Involvement Purchases The purchase of anything is based on the consumer background, lifestyle, and comfort in which is a routine action or something that requires attention. This is generally tied to currency and risk. High Involvement: My recent high involvement purchase was an Infinity FX 35. This purchase was a $57000 automobile that required effort and thought to purchase.This vehicle also represents an impact to my debt to income ratio and required a nominal loan that would influence my monthly cash flow over a period of time. High involvement purchase here is linked to high cost, my expression of status and ego. This was also an emotional purchase as I chose to purchase a product that fit my culture, my personal expectations of status and the immediate purchasing power that this represents. I know that a new car would represent a 40% loss of equity within a three year period but this represents a decision that was based on an acceptable level of risk.Recognizing the need for a new car that fit my wants, doing research and test driving multiple vehicles in this class, buying and evaluating post purchase are all solid steps in the purchase decision process (PDP). Actual branding of a luxury sport crossover played the most significant role in classifying this as a h igh involvement product. Low Involvement: Starbucks Coffee is what I would consider a low involvement product or service. There is not much thought put into this type of purchase and skips many of the PDP stages.This product or service is more about segmentation, habits, and brand loyalty. A low involvement purchase has little to no risk or monetary impact based on the individuals involvement. Starbucks Coffee represents a routine action that provides me with a fragmented conversation, a sense of satisfaction, and need to appease routine habits that is driven by the daily urge for caffeine and social interaction. A cup of coffee requires no evaluation process. The individual purchase decision process was night and day for these two products.The Infinity FX35 was influenced by more than one aspect of my decision making process. I followed more of the Do – Learn – Feel process with this purchase as it ended up representing a form of self-satisfaction to me versus and inf ormed decision. I followed fragmented parts of the PDP. I knew that I needed a vehicle within the next year as I was giving my current car to my daughter. Based on a series of events I moved my purchase timeline to the current week. I knew I needed a car in a condensed timeframe and had the resources to buy anything that I would come across.While driving down a street I pulled into the infinity dealer, was captivated by the vehicle sitting in the center of the show room floor and told the sales person to ring it up. There was no information search or evaluation of alternatives as this was a vehicle that grasped at the superficial aspects of environmental influences and individual differences within me. I knew that Infinity was an upper-scaled Nissan vehicle and that I wanted to buy a vehicle that represented a separate class of society as well a sense of accomplishment for myself.The regular purchase of a Starbucks coffee on a daily basis is habit that is perpetuated with a potentia l need to feel accepted by myself for some reason. I routinely drive by the corner store and pass up an inexpensive cup of coffee daily as the big green Starbucks sign draws a reaction of wants out of me. I go in every morning to a small and friendly environment that has warm pastries, friendly employees, and regular customers that are typically all from the same class of society. I do not even attempt to order anything outside of a WhiteChocolate Moca and a walnut muffin while managing to maintain a happy filler conversation with the cheerful staff and routine customers. I do not ever maintain a receipt nor do I care about the impact of such a small routine purchase. In contrast to the vehicle purchase the lack of risk mitigates decision steps. The idea to market an Infinity FX35 is based more on customer driven segmentation. This vehicle is in the same class as the BMW X5, Porsche Cheyanne, and Audi Q7. It is generally out of financial reach and comfort of consumer risk from gener al population.The targeted approach to dealership placement is in large suburban areas that are user related and focus on the buyer’s characteristics. This class of vehicle additionally targets a very diverse size of the potential market by branding and pricing in-between the middle class and upper class. The available or targeted market is based on life style and snob appeal. Most people that are in this target group are fairly well educated and are in a higher income bracket or place more value on self-worth.The motivation for this purchase is based on a high level of thought that focuses on the informative aspects of the product while actually skipping many sub elements in the information search aspect of the PDP. The buying behavior for an Infinity FX35 tends to key in on the influences that lead to a purchase. Environmental influences are culture, social class, and personal while individual differences focus on attitude, personality, and life style. For these reasons, th e PDP has the potential to skip information search and evaluation of alternatives steps based on the buyers fit into the mixed marketing environment and strategy.Infinity its self is marketed as the highest class, lowest priced of Japanese luxury vehicles. This gives them the ability to reach a more diverse segment of the middle class population based on a lower price and class branding. Infinity’s competitive advantage is based on value to the customer over its class of competitors. Starbucks coffee is based more on customer driven segmentation on a much broader scale. This produce is no different from many other similar products but is focused on social and habit forming elements.It is not generally out of financial reach and comfort of consumer risk while maintaining status quo as a high end coffee franchise. The targeted approach to Starbucks franchise placement is in a broad spectrum of suburban and rural areas based on a global footprint. The areas that are user related and focus on the buyer’s habits and culture. This brand of coffee additionally targets a very diverse size and global aspect of the potential market by branding and pricing with upper echelon of lower class and the middle class.There is an age value placed on the target audience from 19-36+ and has a socio-economic, demographic and attitudinal impacts on the consumer break down. Even though Starbucks is at the higher end of price for coffee, the available or targeted market is based on value, life style, and snob appeal. Consumers in this target group are seem to have satisfaction out of feeling as if Starbucks branding and association with a fictions lifestyle could appease individual value on self-worth and group acceptance.The motivation for this purchase is based on a low level of thought that focuses on the affective, habit forming, and self-satisfaction aspects of the product while actually skipping most all aspect of the PDP. Marketing stimulus plays a key role in sub dividing these customers in a similar way and have similar needs. The buying behavior for Starbucks branded coffee tends to rely on word of mouth and influences that lead to a purchase. This is not about problem recognition, information search, and skips evaluation of alternatives.This is a direct purchase of a consumer good based on â€Å"FEEL† regardless of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Environmental influences are culture, social class, and personal â€Å"loyalty branding† while individual differences focus on attitude, personality, and life style. For these reasons, the PDP is affected by the product, price, promotion, and place (4Ps). The target market skips different steps based on the category of consumer and how the consumer fits into the mixed marketing environment or strategy.Starbucks survives thru diversity among segment of the middle class population based on a lower price and branding. Starbucks competitive advantage is based on branding and social acc eptance to the customer over its class of competitors. In conclusion, these two products have widely different levels of involvement by the consumer, but the target markets are very similar in nature. These products are associated with a enhanced image of a brand that influences the customer. The PDP and 4Ps may vary, but the target market will always be willing to spend more spend more to maintain self-worth.

How to Quit Smoking

In this modern era, our lifestyle has been changed over years. The world is now moving toward a very advanced and busy lifestyle. This has significantly brought a lot of changes in our human lives due to the stressful life. People nowadays, adapting to new habit so they could cope up with their stress and one of the main bad habit adapted by them is smoking. Although they know they smoking is injurious to their health, they just do not willing to give up the habit. There are a few ways for the smokers to quit their smoking habit so they can live up a healthy and happy lifestyle.Firstly, the smokers must be determined not to smoke more than limited sticks per day as a beginning towards their quit process. The smokers must not buy extra cigarette for themselves so they could smoke whenever they need to. Smokers also should not let themselves to smoke continuously over a time period because it may pursue them to continue the habit. As for the beginning the smokers should lessen the amou nt of stick they smoking day by day so they can get rid of the habit slowly and gently.Secondly, the smokers must replace the smoking habit with some other good habits so they could be able to control themselves when they getting the sensation to smoke. Habits such as chewing the chewing gum may help the smokers to forget about smoking over time. They may drink as much as water as they could so they wonaâ‚ ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t have the feeling to smoke after or before eating. Fresh juices have the properties of overcoming the sensation on nicotine so they may drink a lot of fresh juice to get rid of the smoking sensation. Thirdly, the smokers may try to involve themselves in more outdoor activities to stay active.They can start up jogging as it is a good exercise for the lungs capacity and durability. They can join any kind of sports clubs so they can fill up their free hours with useful activities. The smokers can enjoy their weekend with their family with any outdoor activities such as va cation so they could spend their quality time with their family. As all of us aware, smoking is not a good habit to be continued and adapted by any of us human being due to its nature of destructing the consumers. So throw the habit away and lead a happy life with your loved ones because the life we have now is a gift from the god for us to enjoy and being happy.

Development of Indias Banking System - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2121 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? Introduction With a population of over 1 billion, India is one of the most important countries with accelerating economic growth. According to the World Bank (2009), the annual GDP growth of India has been more than 7% over the past ten years. The financial crises in 1997 and 2008 have revealed the importance of robust banking system towards economic development. Indian Government liberalized the banking system through Indian Banking Sector Reform in 1991. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Development of Indias Banking System" essay for you Create order From the first bank in India in 1786, the development of Indian Banking System has three distinct phases. Early Phase (1786 1969) There were 1100 small banks in India. The Government implemented the Banking Companies Act 1949 to facilitate the functioning of commercial banks. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was authorized to supervise the Indian banking sector and became the Central Banking Authority. Post Nationalization Period (1969 1991) State Bank of India was formed to act as a principal agent of RBI and handle banking transactions in India. Fourteen major commercial banks were nationalized as there was a decline in public confidence during the early phase. Nationalization guaranteed the sustainability of banking industry and aroused public confidence. Post-Liberalization Period (1991 now) Liberalization of banking practices occurred. Foreign banks, ATMs, phone banking, net banking were introduced to make the banking system more convenient and efficient. The development of banking system is transiting. Public-Sector Banks contributes to 78% of total banking industry asset. Private-Sector Banks, on the other hand, are experiencing great progress in internet banking, ATMs and other technology advancements. They are likely to expand in India. Central Bank Reserve Bank of India It was established in 1935 and was nationalized in 1949. It has 8 functions explained as follows: Note Issuance: It has the sole right to issue bank notes of all denominations as an agent of the Government. Government Banker: It acts as Government banker, agent and adviser. It controls the banking system through licensing, inspection and calling for information. It also supervises and controls commercial and cooperative banks. Maintenance of Minimum Reserve Ratio: RBI set the cash reserve ratio is 5% and repo rate is 4.75 % in 2009. Lender of Last Resort: It acts as the lender of last resort by providing rediscount facilities to scheduled banks. Credit Controller: It controls the credit operations of banks quantitatively and qualitatively like open market operations, discount policies and reserve requirements. Settlement of Clearing Functions: RBI facilitates the inter-bank clearing of current accounts in 1050 clearing houses in India. Custodian of Foreign Reserves: RBI sets a limit on money transfer in and out of India under Foreign Exchange Management Act. It examines Indias reserve of international currencies and maintains the official rate of exchange with all member countries of International Monetary Fund. Promotional Functions: RBI is responsible to extend banking facilities to rural and semi-urban areas, and establish and promote new specialized financing agencies. Banking System Banks in India The Reserve Bank of India heads the Indian commercial banks. Banks in India can be categorized into three tiers scheduled commercial banks; regional rural banks which operate in rural areas not covered by scheduled banks; and cooperative and special purpose rural banks. There are approximately 98 scheduled commercial banks, both Indian and foreign, almost 200 regional rural banks, more than 350 central cooperative banks, 20 land development banks, and a number of agricultural credit societies. Commercial Banks Commercial banking is dominated by 28 state-owned banks controlling 69.9% of assets in the sector in 2007/08. Private domestic held 21.7% and foreign banks had the remaining 8.4%. Commercial banks can be categorized into domestic banks and foreign banks. Domestic Banks They include public-sector banks, private-sector banks and savings, mortgage and co-operative banks. The biggest domestic bank is a public-sector bank, State Bank of India with market share 16.83%. The second biggest domestic bank is a private-sector bank, ICICI Bank with market share 9.11%. Public-Sector Banks They have a country wide networks and each has its own geographic stronghold. They provide a full range of banking services and are an important source of short-term funds. State Bank of India is the largest bank providing 16.83$ of loan advances in 2007/08. In 2008, SBI merged its subsidiary, State Bank of Saurashtra, and is increasing its international presence. The introduction of stringent capital-adequacy, income-recognition and asset-classification norms in economic reform promoted public-sector banks to reveal true positions in financial statements. The gap between strong and weak banks is thus widened. Private-Sector Banks There were 41 private-sector banks and 18 of them were listed on the stock exchange as of 2009. They usually have strong regional client bases and upgrade their technology and services. ICICI, the largest private-sector bank, merged with Bank of Madura in 2001 and Shangli Bank in 2007. Life Insurance Corporation of India raised its stake in Corporation Bank to 27% from 12.32% in 2001. It is expected that more mergers and acquisitions will be found in the coming decade. Savings, mortgages and co-operative banks They are small and contribute slightly to the source of funds for most companies. They tend to finance rural and small sectors and have geographically-restricted operations. New RBI regulations have imposed restrictions on them in 2001 as some urban cooperative banks were discovered to have a high exposure to the stock market. Foreign Banks The biggest foreign bank is Citibank with market share 1.55%. Standard Chartered Bank ranked the second. Citibank, Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC and ABN Amro Bank dominate the sector in the diagram shown below. Comparing the advances of foreign banks and that of commercial banks, it is shown that foreign banks play a small role in banking industry. They accounted for 8.4% of total commercial-bank assets in 2007/08. But the rising net profits of the banks to Rs66.12bn in 2007/08 from Rs45.85bn in 2006/07 suggested the increasing importance of this sector. Foreign banks offer borrowing terms similar to local banks, but their benchmark prime lending rates are 1 to 3 percentage points higher. Foreign banks usually form part of a lending consortium. Foreign banks without a branch presence can conduct business through representative offices. These banks concentrate on providing offshore currency loans and related foreign-exchange products, rather than retail banking or local-currency lending. Investment Banks and Brokerages Investment banks and brokerages rely on advisory business. They have a limited involvement in risk capital. They can weather the downturn without the risk of going out of business. However, if the downturn continues in 2010, some banks may leave the small Indian market. Citi(US) and JM Financial Group have the greatest market share in this sector with their contribution of more than half deal value. Given the growth of Indian market, major foreign investment banks have reworked their partnerships with investment banks to help them to capture a greater market share. Development Banks Public-sector development banks were traditionally the principle source of long-term capital. Development banks provide medium and long-term rupee and foreign-currency financing, underwrite and subscribe to stocks and debentures. Due to the financial sector reform, they offer new services and products, set up organizations to provide a variety of financial services. Some countrywide development banks are Industrial Finance Corp of India and Industrial Investment Bank of India. The Post Office Saving Bank It has the largest retail-bank network, with over 155,000 branches. A growing number of post offices are also connected electronically. Given its large distribution network, India Post now leverages its presence to become a general financial-services distributor. It provides various mutual funds and bonds. It also offers an inward international money-transfer service. Offshore Banks Banks are allowed to set up overseas banking units within the countrys special economic zones functioning as overseas branches of domestic banks. Six domestic banks set up overseas banking units: Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, ICICI Bank, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India and Union Bank. Domestic banks can enjoy a tax deduction on the income from OBUs and advantages of global presence. Banks Deposit Composition The deposits of national banks dominate the banking industry because they are backed up by the government and the public thus have confidence in nationalized banks. However, regional rural banks have a small share of deposits. It is mainly due to the lower income level in rural areas. Although foreign banks have a second smallest share of deposits, liberalization of the banking industry will allow them to expand their business. Competitive Situation More aggressive merger and acquisition are stemming in India. One advantages stemming from merger is the ability to cross-sell a slew of retail products including housing loans, car loans, personal finance and credit cards. Further, merged entity will be able to compete with threats from global players, for instance, HSBC and Citibank. However, challenges of merger are the integration of financial and human resources, as well as satisfying statutory requirements. Also some FIs faced the problem of relying on an increasing cagey market to raise capital. As FIs were funding long-term projects with money rose short term, there was a critical asset-liability disparity. RBI then proposed to convert financial institutions into universal banks recently. A reverse merger with their own subsidiary banks will now give FIs access to low-cost funds. The trend of mergers and acquisitions will prevail in the coming years. Economic Conditions Indian banks balance sheets are not directly exposed to sub-prime mortgage leading in US. The GDP and GDP per capital are expected to grow in the coming decade. The global financial crisis does not undermine the banking industry in India in a great extent. The assessment of the banking sector risk is rather low compared to that in Asia and Australasia in 2009. The expansion of consumer credit does not pose a high risk to the banking industry as the level of debts per customer remains low. In contrast, RBI moved the focus of its policy from boosting economic growth to containing inflation. Interest rates are expected to rise and tighter monetary policy are expected to be implemented. Conclusions The liberalization of banking system has (1) strengthen the banking sector (2) provide more operational flexibility to banks (3) enhance the competitive efficiency of banks (4) strengthen the legal framework governing bank operations. This well-developed banking system is favourable when it comes to expansion in India. However, a keen competition is found in India. Each sector has various existing banks with strong customer loyalty. Numerous state-owned banks and FIs are the dominant players in India. Despite the stable Indian economy and the steady and slow movement towards liberalization of banking system, the Government will probably strengthen the financial regulatory system sufficiently before a complete liberalization. Therefore, it is concluded that India is not suitable for expansion. References World Bank (2009). Word Bank in India. Retrieved November 25, 2009, from https://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/SOUTHASIAEXT/0,,contentMDK:22398481~menuPK:2246552~pagePK:2865106~piPK:2865128~theSitePK:223547,00.html India Finance Investment Guide (2009). Introduction. Retrieved November 25, 2009, from https://finance.indiamart.com/investment_in_india/banking_india.html Maps of India (2008). Banks in India. Retrieved November 25, 2009, from https://business.mapsofindia.com/banks-in-india/ Kamath, G.B. (2009). Emerald. The Intellectual Capital Performance of Indian Banking Sector, pp.4. Retrieved from, https://www.emeraldinsight.com.eproxy1.lib.hku.hk/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?contentType=ArticleFilename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/2500080104.pdf Bank of India (2009). Main Functions. Retrieved November 25, 2009, from https://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/AboutusDisplay.aspx#MF OneIndia News (2009, July 28). RBI Keeps All Key Rates Unchanged. Retrieved November 25, 2009, from https://news.oneindia.in/2009/07/28/rbi-keeps-all-key-rates-unchanged.html Hubbard, R.G. OBrien (2006). How the Fed Reserves Manages the Money Supply. In Macroeconomics (2nd Ed.), Money, Banks, and the Federal Reserve System (pp. 451-452). United States: Pearson International Edition. NK Infobase (2009). Reserve Bank of India. Retrieved November 30, 2009, from https://money-transfer.in/reservebankofindia.html Economist Intelligence Unit (2009, July). Country Finance, India. Domestic Banks, pp. 14. Retrieved from https://www.eiu.com.eproxy1.lib.hku.hk/report_dl.asp?issue_id=1784732363mode=pdf Economist Intelligence Unit (2009, July). Country Finance, India. Foreign Banks, pp. 14. Retrieved from https://www.eiu.com.eproxy1.lib.hku.hk/report_dl.asp?issue_id=1784732363mode=pdf Economist Intelligence Unit (2009, July). Country Finance, India. Investment Banks and Brokerages, pp. 16. Retrieved from https://www.eiu.com.eproxy1.lib.hku.hk/report_dl.asp?issue_id=1784732363mode=pdf Economist Intelligence Unit (2009, July). Country Finance, India. Development and Postal Banks, pp. 18. Retrieved from https://www.eiu.com.eproxy1.lib.hku.hk/report_dl.asp?issue_id=1784732363mode=pdf Economist Intelligence Unit (2009, July). Country Finance, India. Offshore Banks, pp. 20. Retrieved from https://www.eiu.com.eproxy1.lib.hku.hk/report_dl.asp?issue_id=1784732363mode=pdf Subhash, D.V. (2002, February). Birth of a Universal Bank. Retrieved 2 December, 2009. from https://search.ebscohost.com.eproxy1.lib.hku.hk/login.aspx?direct=truedb=bthAN=7210765site=ehost-live Economist Intelligence Unit (2009, October). India: Banking Sector Risk. Retrieved 28 November 2009, from https://www.eiu.com.eproxy1.lib.hku.hk/index.asp?layout=displayIssueArticleissue_id=1514868936article_id=1664868951 Scribd (2009). A Report on Non-Performing Assets Challenge to the Public Sector Banks, pp. 10. Retrieved December 2, 2009, from https://www.scribd.com/doc/8817767/A-REPORT-ON-NPA-IN-BANKING