How Has Computer Hacking Interfered Modern Society Essay

How has computing machine choping inferred modern society? In this transition I will be speaking briefly about the basicss of computing machine choping from the yesteryear to the present. Computer hacking has changed more over clip ensuing in computing machine outgrowths to corporate system closures. This research paper will be speaking about three major parts of computing machine hacking. The first construct of hacking is the beginning of creative activity. The following portion will be how hacking has affect on the contemporary society. Finally. the last piece of information will be traveling over the hereafter of system choping. What is a drudge you may inquire your ego but non hold an reply or one word phrase for the term? A drudge has ever been a sort of cutoff or alteration. a manner to short-circuit or make over the standard operation of an object or system. The first computing machine hackers emerge at MIT. They borrow their name from a term to depict members of a theoretical account train group at the school who hack the electric trains. paths. and switches to do them execute faster and otherwise. A few of the members transfer their wonder and set uping accomplishments to the new mainframe calculating systems being studied and developed on campus. Choping groups begin to organize. Among the first are Legion of Doom in the United States. and Chaos Computer Club in Germany. The film â€Å"War Games† introduces the populace to choping. A computing machine hacker intends to destroy concerns executing an act much more unprincipled than an enthusiastic life scientist ‘hacking’ off at work or theory. The truth is that computing machine hacking is in fact easy in the general sense. but more consideration must be given. Some facets of choping are used in mundane life and you may non cognize that accessing wireless cyberspace from another person’s history is considered wireless choping even though your adoption there connexion. During the 1970’s. a different sort of hacker appeared: the phreaks or phone hackers. They learned ways to chop the telephonic system and do phone calls for free. Within these group of people. a phreaker became celebrated because a simple find. John Draper. besides known as Captain Crunch. found that he could do long distance calls with a whistling. He built a blue box that could make this and the Esquire magazine published an article on how to construct them. Fascinated by this find. two childs. Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. decided to sell these bluish boxes. get downing a concern friendly relationship which resulted in the initiation of Apple. By the 1980’s. phreaks started to migrate to computing machines. and the first Bulletin Board Systems ( BBS ) appeared. BBS are like the yokel groups of today. were people posted messages on any sort of subject. The BBS used by hackers specialized in tips on how to interrupt into computing machines. how to utilize stolen recognition card Numberss and portion stolen computing machine watchwords. It wasn’t until 1986 that the U. S. authorities realized the danger that hackers represented to the national security. As a manner to antagonize this threat. the Congress passed the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. doing computing machine interrupting a offense across the state. During the 1990’s. when the usage of the cyberspace became widespread around the universe. hackers multiplied. but it wasn’t until the terminal of the decennary that system’s security became mainstream among the populace. Today. we are accustomed to hackers. crackers. viruses. Trojans. worms and all of the techniques we need to follow to battle them. Hackers were classified into three unusual types the first class is called In-house hacker. In-house hacker is an employee who is responsible for operating and keeping the system. who interacts instantly with the system as a coder or informations entry employee and is cognizant of all the system security capablenesss and spreads. He and should be the guard of the system but for different motives he hacks the system and gets what he needs bewraying all the trust given to him. The 2nd type is called ace hacker who doesn’t interact with the system but at the same clip proctors the system on day-to-day footing and has an oculus on what is traveling on and what type of informations is entered at what clip so depending on the entries he decides the minute he should acquire these information and recover them for personal motives while the 3rd type is called professional hacker and this hacker is really strong and capable of acquiring any type of informations. he has the ability of carrying the user or the operator to supply him with the needed information by programming fast ones or user friendly screens and this sort of hackers frequently gets alone preparation specially when being used in military undertakings as what happened in the cold war. Thesiss are merely brief ways hackers have impacted the modern universe we all live in. Within the past twelvemonth at that place have been two major instances right in the country. Both involve extended harm. and both are presently in tribunal. The closest instance is that of Thomas Crandall. otherwise known as St. Elmo’s Fire. Crandall is accused of estroying attending and subject records in a computing machine at Central Technical and Vocational Center. Police charge that Crandall used a personal computing machine at his place to entree the computing machine. He is besides accused of making $ 25. 000 in harm to files at Waste Management Inc. of Oakbrook. Ill. Crandall’s lawyer claims that many other pupils besides had entree to the computing machine. and that to individual out Crandall in unjust. Hackers are responsible of the immense development in computing machine and cyberspace engineering. but these yearss we consider them as stealers and interlopers who penetra ted our ain privateness and used the accomplishments they were buttockss for their ain benefit. Hackers have different sentiments and motives. However. they all portion the spirit of challenge and ever seeking to turn out their capablenesss of making what all believe is impossible possibly because they were mistreated. or uncertainties surrounded their abilities and past accomplishments. Hackers believe that information should be shared and they fight against information owning. Effectss that choping caused and still doing to the society can’t be ignored. Hacking nowadays is taking new stages and the danger is increasing because we are now populating in a society that runs by ICT. and any onslaught to the ICT particularly in advanced states will do critical effects. ICT still lacks a powerful security tools that are capable of tracking. catching hackers. and protecting computing machine systems from their onslaughts. My ain position is that the best manner to protect ICT from hackers is to analyze their psychological science and seek to understand their manner of thought. because hackers are human existences. who have two sides ; evil and good. and they used to demo their good side but all of a sudden they turned to be evil. The grounds which caused the transmutation from good to evil persons should be studied and given the highest precedence in the war against hackers because since we put our custodies on the cause. we can repair it to make for better effects. Peoples can grocery store. earn grades. receive bank statements and pay measures from their laptop or Personal computer. The possibilities are endless when it comes to simplifying life with the aid of the World Wide Web. but at the same clip possibilities are eternal hackers to perplex your life with cyber offenses. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a hacker as both â€Å"an expert at programming and work outing jobs with a computer† and â€Å"a individual who illicitly additions entree to and sometimes tamping bars with information in a computing machine system. † Those three grounds I have stated above were the hackings past present and future. Until engineering Michigans turning the possibility of hackers is limited less.

New Advertising Tools and Their Advantages

Introduction Technology is carrying new advertising tools a step forward from traditional advertising tools. With the improvements in technology and telecommunication, new advertising tools become the most effective way to find and reach target consumers. Brands become more Interactive and transparent. Like any tool, new advertising used correctly, it lowers investments and responds investments with quick increase in sales. Customization and advertisement-tailoring are another trend in today's society, therefore making new advertising tools more personal for target customers has great effect on sales.According to today's advertising and marketing conditions, it is a necessity to provide. Communication management is one of the most crucial requirements in today's marketing field. If the communication management process does not apply accurately, brand image is influenced negatively. Nowadays, besides the fact that target consumers are exposed to advertising communication, they are bec oming a part of the process as well. Another advantage which is brought by new advertising tools is measurement. Measuring the effects of their advertisements is every company's greatest desire.With online technology and new advertising tools, agreement becomes easier and unbiased. Moreover, measurable advertisements which are provided by new advertising tools enable the observation of return of investment in advertising. Social media channels and e-mail services provide customers easy and interactive communication with companies. Interaction between companies and customers improves quality of products and/or services. In addition to interaction, companies have opportunity to consider customer needs, wants and demands at first hand and answer them in real time.Even usage of social media and the internet advertisements are increasing dramatically; TV commercials and printed ads still reach more people than ever. In this regard, classic TV commercials and printed ads are still more us eful and effective for increasing brand recognition. Another consideration about advertising tools is memorabilia of advertisements. Generally some excellent examples of viral videos stick in customer's mind and the rest is forgotten quickly. II. New Advertising Tools a.Social Media Social media refers to interaction among people in which they create, share, and/or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks. Andrea Kaplan and Michael Heinlein define social media as â€Å"a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2. 0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content†. Furthermore, social media depend on mobile and web-based technologies to create highly interactive platforms through which individuals and communities share, co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated content.They introduce substantial and pervasive changes to communication between organizations, communit ies, and individuals. Diffusion of innovations is a theory that seeks to explain how, why, and at what rate new ideas and technology spread through cultures such as social media. Everett Rogers, a professor of communication studies, popularized the theory in his book â€Å"Diffusion of Innovations† (2003). The book says that diffusion is the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system. The origins of the diffusion of innovations theory are varied and span multiple disciplines.The book explains the theory that there are four main elements that influence the spread of a new idea: the innovation, communication channels, time, and a social system. This process relies heavily on human capital. The innovation must be widely adopted in order to self-sustain. Mass. The categories of adopters are: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards (Rogers 1962, p. 150). Diffusion of Innovat ions manifests itself in different ways in various cultures and fields and is highly subject to the type of adopters and innovation-decision process.According to diffusion of innovations, social media research has three different viewpoints. First, from the perspective of methodology, they design a grand new framework comprehensively considering the components of user preference, social influence, and propagation tendency to covers users with strong diffusion power. Second, from the empirical perspective, they use microbiology as the data source rather than traditional web sites. Third, from the perspective of application context, they apply this recommendation mechanism to online social advertising so as to deliver advertisements effectively.Nowadays, social media is used for sharing personal information, and giving ability of affecting millions of people with advertisements. Now, 87% of companies are using social media effectively to gather customer data, even they can access to c onsumers directly in real time. Advertising campaigns are established based on personal databases and relationships between individuals in social media. Consumers are good advisors on the social platforms which increases brand recognition and trust. For example, on the Twitter, customers are tweeting and firms reply their customers immediately.Also, companies can measure the effectiveness of these tweets. Social media is related with business traffic rise and business exposure. Social media marketing has different effects on individual's social life. While social media sector is improving rapidly, more and more social media companies are being established and that is lawful for the future business partnerships. B. ID Advertising A ID, 3-D (three-dimensional) film or SAD (stereoscopic ID) film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception. ID technology is one of the most popular entertainment technologies in digital age.Glasses-on and non-glasses are the types o f ID technology. ID technology is also a new development for advertisement sector. Nowadays, popularity of ID advertisements is increasing, because it is more effective than normal ID advertisements. ID advertisements allow customers to explore products in every aspect. A higher sense of presence will result n greater enjoyment and an increase in level of product knowledge. Rising in perceived product knowledge and greater enjoyment will result in more favorable attitudes toward advertising.The effect of SAD advertising in creating presence will be moderated by the novelty of the advertising content and design. To sum up, ID and SAD advertising is a new tool and it increases the effectiveness of advertising. C. Online Advertisement Nowadays, advertisements are in consumers' mobile devices, on computers, in online games, etc. On the other hand, even if online platforms are popular, they are not used really effectively. Customers are trying to keep away from online advertisements and positive reactions to online advertisements are decreasing.To prevent these decreasing, billions of online advertisements can be developed differently from traditional ones, because many of them include too much visual and audio property which cannot be ignored and will be an advantage compared to traditional ones. The other way is non-search display advertisements like â€Å"Deceased† by Google. Ads can be given on the convenient sites which are appropriate for the company's content. Some campaigns, called obtrusive (visibility) campaigns, with videos or pop- as are differentiated with their contents.While visible online advertising and context-based online advertising are working so well separately, they are not successful when they are used as a combination. Consumers accepted context-based online advertisements, because they think they can learn something, but they do not like obtrusive online advertising. Also, context-based advertising can help to show the unexpected ac hievement of products like â€Å"Deceased† by Google. To conclude, there are some regulations directed by government about privacy of customers and constraints about gathering information from customers. D.Online Advertisement Tools Pop-Up: Opens a new window above current one. Pop-under: Opens a new window under current one. In-Stream Video & Audio: Part of videos on internet. Takeover: This kind of ad resizes the screen. Nonuser-Initiated Video & Audio: Videos and audios are played themselves as advertisements. Interstitial: When an individual visits a web-site, it appears by itself, while web page is loading. Nonuser-Initiated Background Music: Background music is played automatically. Full-Page Banner Ad: The advertisements appear in size of the computer screen. Interactive: Mutual communication is requested by the ad from its seers.Floating Ad: The users do not run this ad, they exist anywhere on the page for a while (generally 5-30 seconds). E. E-mail Advertisement Emai l advertisement is also an online advertisement tool which has been used for a long time by marketers to reach customers. When used effectively, e-mails are a good way to reach customers. Emails with catchy information are successful. However, considering the fact that consumers are facing so many mails, they can ignore advertisement e-mails from a single company, which comes daily. In this case, company should measure its e-mail effects and it should provide choices between Kelly and daily e-mails.There are disadvantages in e-mail advertising. Spam e- mails and e- mails without subscribe or non-subscribe options. For example, if a company sends e-mails to an unsatisfying customer and the customer cannot non- subscribe it, it will create a bad impact. In conclusion, companies should use e-mail advertisements effectively and they should make e-mails more personal and informative to be successful. F. Billboards Billboard is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typi cally found in high-traffic areas. Billboards present large advertisements to passing pedestrians ND drivers.Typically showing large, ostensibly witty slogans, and distinctive visuals, billboards are highly visible in the top designated market areas. Billboards are highly popular in outdoor advertising. There are three types of displays for outdoor advertising; posters, bulletins, and permanent bulletins. Billboards are changing very fast in recent years. Marketers are creating unique outdoor ads including ID advertisements, unique billboard advertisements apart from searching for efficient outdoor areas to reach their target market. It is claimed that billboards are causing visual pollution.In order to calculate the market value of billboards, marketers must regulation and zoning, traffic and visibility, and market demand. To conclude, valuation of the billboard has three different methods; the cost approach, the sale comparison approach and income capitalization approach. G. CRY C odes CRY code (abbreviated from Quick Response Code) is the trademark for a type of matrix barded (or two-dimensional barded) first designed for the automotive industry in Japan. A barded is an optically machine-readable label that is attached to an item and that records information related to that item.The information encoded by a CRY code may be made up of four standardized types of data (numeric, alphanumeric, byte / binary, kanji) or, through supported extensions, virtually any type of data. CRY code can be read by cameras of mobile phones or other devices which have an application and can access to internet. CRY code delivers related URL to users and provides more advertisement. It reduces cost of advertising and is actually more effective than traditional ones. Some brands use CRY code in their printed advertisements.For example, people access to Coca-Cola's music website by its CRY code for free. For making successful CRY code advertisement and promotion, arresters create a h armless URL and code, so that customers find it safe. CRY codes are examined by marketers in three principal variables; privacy concerns and trust risk. H. Product Placement Product placement, or embedded marketing, is according to the European Union â€Å"any form of audiovisual commercial communication consisting of the inclusion of or reference to a product, a service or the trade mark thereof so that it is featured within a program†.Product placement stands out as a marketing strategy because it is imperative to attach the utmost importance to â€Å"the context and environment within which the product is displayed or used†. This technique of advertising was made to create reality and awareness for the customers. Nowadays, firms invest large amounts for product placements. Visual-only, audio-only and audio-visual combined are three main strategies which are used for product placement. Visual-only strategy consists of product's image, motto, logo or other visual bran d without any sound.At the audio-only product placement, products cannot be seen in the video but brand names are mentioned in dialogues. The final type of product placement is made by combination of visual and audio. This combination must be made carefully in order to to interrupt the normal flow of the media. Product placement provides positive customer reactions, if they do not have negative ideas about products, for instance alcohol or cigarettes in movies. In conclusion, while exposing to media, consumers are positively affected by product placement, if they enjoy experiencing the media.Ill. Company Research a. Y ¶Rasa Y ¶Rasa is the first company which implemented pastured milk cheese production, also known as cultured cheese production, as industrial investment in Turkey. Varieties of cheese, yoghurt, milk, buttermilk, butter and fruit nectar are produced by Y ¶Rasa in factory which is located in Surplus, Balkiest. It has the largest market share among manufacturers of cheese product in Turkey. Y ¶Aras's factory in Surplus the traditional cheese at hygienic and modern facilities, ensuring its continuity have become policy and mission of company.Y ¶Rasa states its motto as â€Å"the haunting flavor†. It has been continuing to produce in European standards and is on the way of being a world brand, since 1908. When they first started, the percentage reserved for new advertising tools from Research & Development budget was 1%. However, they eave increased it to 5% and they aim to increase more within the years ahead. Y ¶Rasa uses 7% of their total sales for advertising budget and 15% of this advertising budget is reserved for online advertising. Faceable, Twitter and Youth accounts and their own web page are used for online advertising.They prefer to use outsourcing for advertising and work with several advertising agencies. They provide to their customer the real-time returns on social media accounts. This is an implementation which make s dissolve customer's doubts away and increase the existing customers' commitment. With efficient usage of social media, they have an advantage in terms of marketing among their competitor. Therefore brand recognition of Y ¶Rasa and their sales increase by time. They also use television, newspapers and magazines to reach their potential customer mass and they assert these are the most powerful channels they use.As it is mentioned before, they prefer to use a lot of advertising tools, several of which have combination of informative, persuasive and reminder characteristics. They aim to inform people about their product and production techniques, persuade and stick in exist and potential customers' mind by their Jingles and motto. They prefer the ads to be minder and persuasive while they are introduce new products to customer. They also want to ensure that the ads are completely honest and suitable brand's mission and principles.Y ¶Rasa uses five approaches. They use â€Å"music al† approach to make advertisements more reminder than traditional advertisements. They use â€Å"slice of life† approach to make their existing and potential customers feel themselves closer to the company. â€Å"Lifestyle† approach is supplementary to the slice of life approach. They are trying to implement â€Å"scientific evidence† approach and the â€Å"technical expertise† approach to advertisements as a combination. When implementing the combination, they take into consideration all certificates, company principles.One of the most important questions which asked by most of the companies is possibility of calculating return of social media investment. So many studies are being done about this topic but it is not very easy to value a â€Å"like† or a â€Å"follower† exactly. But it can be said that Y ¶Rasa is not only achieved their targets about usage of social media but also their recognition of brand has increased with usage of social media. They decide how long ads will stay on TV or any other advertising channels by taking into inconsideration watching frequency and researches about ads effectiveness.Generally advertisements display for month on TV but there is no time limit for social media ads. According to Y ¶Rasa, range of their advertisements is set by customer; frequency of advertisements is set by Y ¶Rasa and agency by taken into consideration research results and advertising budget. They prefer minimization of positive impact of advertisements. B. Coca-Cola As one of the most highly recognized soft drink brands in the world today, many people love Coca-Cola because of its sweet fine taste and refreshingly nice flavor. Today, it comes in different enticing varieties including Coca-Cola Vanilla, Coca-Cola Zero and Diet Coke.In order to know more about this great product, it is good to learn its history including information on the person who invented Coca-Cola. The consumer world is changing . Consumers do not want brands to communicate one- way. A story should be told. Coca-Cola is one of corporations have brand story. If it is a good story, it is spreading spontaneous. In all of their campaigns, it is wanted to create such stories because they believe and tell each other so that their communication occurs in this way. Otherwise, they do not want to be limited to certain periods of the messages.So, if it is said â€Å"Coca-Cola yammerer iii giddier. † (Coca-Cola goes well with food. ), they do not want to say only three months. After television ad, later on, all year in stores and digital area they continue same communication. For such communication, the necessary approach is used. Generally, musical and lifestyle, more music, are come to the fore. Music makes people happy and â€Å"mutual kappa as (open happiness) is their slogan. Coca-Cola is one of the best example of â€Å"Think global act local† motto. Coca Cola is a global firm but it acts as local company.Especially, Coca-Cola Ramadan ads are examples of this strategy. If the firm is perceived as member of an idea, it can lose some of target group and sales can decrease. Ramadan ad strategy transformed the threat into an opportunity. So, is it developed different strategies for different locations. Sometimes the ad can be informative, sometimes persuasive. Generally, the ad includes the mix of those. Decision depends on target group and products will be introduced. After interviews with the advertisement agency, the advertising tool which they should use is planned.Most of time, music helps advertisements to become informative, persuasive or reminder. Therefore, they care about the music festivals to reach people. The most known of the festivals are â€Å"Rock Coke† and â€Å"Fantasy Genii Festivals† (Fantasy Youth Festivals) in Turkey. The messages can be changed by the time. For example, during Ramadan, the ads are related in family themes, especially big fam ilies. On the other hand, in festive times, the messages are sending to young people, ads are about youth, entertainment and dance. In recent days, the new post is about Christmas.However, generally, it can be said the message must include happiness. As it is seen end of most ads, it is concluded with â€Å"mutual kappa as (open happiness) sentence. The ad time depends on the ad kind. This situation is changeable. Sometimes outdoor advertising need to people, area and legal permits, and it may take a week, maybe one day. When it is used billboards, the ad can be presented during one month. On the other hand, television ads are standardized. According to the ad, it has different time. Christmas ads are on view one or two weeks. The situation is more stable for the internet ads.In the process of advertising using the method, Cola products in general, young, care about healthy vying and vivacious people who have adopted as the main theme discussed are used of advertisements. On the ot her hand, when the main competitor Pepsi is investigated, it is observed its ad strategies generally are interested in famous stars have a reputation across the globe. Finally, Pepsi has been forced to change its strategy because most of time, Pepsi products are perceived as if for rich people. So, Coca-Cola is more effective in the field of traditional advertising.As mentioned above, Pepsi preferred famous people and it brought millions of dollars cost. This strategy did not work, because famous people do not convince as before. Coca-Cola is affecting simple but effective people ads. It interests the culture of societies and accordingly, it acts. In recent times, as a new advertising tool, new product placement system is emerged, popular TV series are used and feedback shows that it is successful tool to reach customers. The other new ad tool is digital media. Digital media supplies to understand what consumer think say and do.Clicks such as like clicks, comment clicks or dislike o nes are not a certain feedback. Click feedbacks cannot be measured as outcome of ad investments. But, absolutely they bring to rise o sales and revenues. At least, digital media helps to take the right steps. Ads contribute the company to recognize, traditional or digital. In the carbonated beverage industry, there should always be ad. Although digital media supplies less cost, it is Just focus of consumers who use more tech. Target group of Coca-Cola is wider, it covers online customers. So, the target group includes people of variety generations.The company uses mix advertising tools such as traditional, digital and outdoor advertising. All of them bring about different benefits. Digital media brings about some benefits to ad world. Every day, evolving network model and social networks help to make users happy. Thanks to profit at zero cost, competition and productivity are rising between businesses. New products and services are tested by online consumers with zero cost, it is di rectly seen problems, suggestions and requests of customers, increasing of brand awareness. These benefits make digital media become attractive.Nevertheless, traditional media is more used to get more consumers. Thanks to traditional media, Coca-Cola Company is leader and it has prestige in its industry when compared to its rivals. Digital area is interesting for the sat two years, for Coca-Cola. After the ideal agencies are determined, they have established a strong infrastructure. For example, this year they invited to official Faceable page for announcing the list of Rock Coke. Then, they announced that the list is not declared until gathering 10 thousand members of camping. It Just took a week to collect 10 thousand members.And then, the list is declared. World revenue of Coca Cola is $95 million. 8% of this revenue is used for advertisement and marketing expenditures. For thirty years, as an outsourcing, Coca-Cola & Pars McCann Erickson have worked together. For expenditures, t hey spend production costs of print, radio, internet and television advertisements as of the first date the advertisements take place. The following amounts reflect the total worldwide amounts spent on print, radio, internet, and television advertising. While choosing outsourcing agency for the ads, success of the agency is important for the first step.Then, the agency must understand what they aim. Innovative and forward-looking characteristics are more significant, because Coca-Cola is leader firm in the carbonated beverage industry. In Turkey, Coca-Cola Company is in a good relation tit McCann Erickson for 33 years. The advertisement's reach, frequency, impact and the other details are arranged by Pars McCann Erickson Agency. The internet ads have shorter time, the other ads on television are more often presented and they usually take time between half a minute and a minute. In accordance with the given instructions, the ad is emerged for the planned aim. . Move Turkey. It produc es fresh dairy products. Whether their employees or their customers, their priority is always â€Å"human†. Big or small, near or far, every one of their clients has the same meaning and same value for the company. Their understanding of quality and performance that constitute their group philosophy leads them to work hard, develop continuously and sustain their preciseness in production and services. Nova's motto and mission are suitable to the â€Å"innocent milk† principle and they are providing completely honest advertisements for their consumers and customers.In this regard, they are trying to be extremely careful. EX. and ITS approved certificates and awards can be seen all of their products to state Nova's principles. Moreover, they are trying to show their products' quality which is top quality, even by EX. standards. It is also named as the highest â€Å"premium quality'. Approximately 10% of their total sales are allocated for the advertising budget. About 2 5% of the advertising budget is allocated for the online advertising budget. When they first started, it was 1. 5%. However, they have increased it to 3% and they aim to make it 5% within the next five years.They prefer to use outsourcing for advertising. The outsourcing company is Refiner Advertising Agency. In the field of advertising characteristics, they are trying to inform consumers about their products and production techniques. Also, they are trying to convince consumers with the artifices and awards they have uniquely in the industry. With their â€Å"mottos and jingles†, they are trying to take a place in their existing and potential customers' minds. These techniques created serious positive impacts on company's sales.When introducing new products to the customers, they prefer to make advertisements more persuasive and reminder than previous advertisements. Move uses five approaches. They use â€Å"musical† approach to make advertisements more reminder than traditional advertisements. They apply â€Å"slice of life† approach to make their existing and potential customers feel themselves closer to the company and products. Lifestyle† approach is complementary to the previous approach. They are trying to apply â€Å"scientific evidence† approach and the â€Å"technical expertise† approach to advertisements as a combination.When applying this combination, they consider all certificates, company policies and customers to choose optimum advertising arrangements. Move is using a website, three main social media tools, including Faceable, Twitter and Youth, and also newspapers, magazines and television advertising. According to Move, they are using their website and social media really effectively than their rivals. For example, Move Faceable page has â€Å"Marimba† (Hello) application. This application provides Move to reassure customers that has doubts and to increase the loyalty of existing customers. It i ncreases Nova's brand recognition.Furthermore, every comment made on social media, every question asked by customers and every tweet is responded by company experts in real-time. They are also developing small add-ones and applications for social media. As a result of these application and developments, sales increased dramatically. In this way, it is an important advantage in terms of marketing. Move generally prepares advertisements in the form of video and presents them to their customers with TV ND social media. Even if their TV commercials remain nearly one month on-the-air, there is no time limit for their social media advertisements.This comparison is the asked by each company is return on social media investment is whether it is possible or impossible to calculate. Too many attempts are made in this regard, but the value of a â€Å"like† or the value of a â€Å"follower† is not possible to calculate. In fact, social media is a marketing tool for the vast majori ty. Moreover, return on advertising investment is the most important criterion. If the targets, which they set before the advertising, re exceeded after advertising and advertising investment pays for itself, they succeed in advertising investment.However they do not use Just this method, they have also other criteria. (Other criteria are classified. ) Also, the return of the low cost digital media is appropriate for their budget and the main feature of digital media is it can be presented to their existing and potential customers in a short time. They try to measure the benefits with advertising investment return and brand value change. Currently, they are not planning to enter to international markets within five years. However, Move has serious plans to enter European markets. While establishing and certifying their company, they prioritize that aim.Therefore, the quality of products which Move produce is at the highest level, the â€Å"premium level† according to ITS and also EX. standards. Like every modern company, Nova's main goal is to attain new generation customers with the help of developing digital media and ensuring the long term sustainability. However, in doing so, they are very careful about two points. First, they try not to disrupt the media channels which are necessary to reach their existing customer base. Second, while maintaining their existing customer base without compromising quality and understanding, they try to impress potential customers.Move sets the new target customer base firstly. While determining new base, they try to preserve their existing customer base. Then, they are doing marketing research. They select random samples to test their demo advertisements. Finally they publish their advertisements depending on the positive results which they obtain at tests. The target customer base determines their range. According to the results of their advertising research and their advertising budget, they decide the frequency wi th their advertising agency. They prefer minimization of positive effects, while setting the impact of their advertisements. . Ã'Å¡liker International Ã'Å¡liker, whose history goes back to 1944, is one of the best loved brand names in Turkey. Founded and built in the 20th century, the Ã'Å¡liker brand, riding on its phenomenal momentum, was carried into the 21st century, seemingly unlimited by time and space. With its roots in tradition but reaching toward the future, Ã'Å¡liker is a name that continues to focus on the sociological and economic wellbeing of the community, but in parallel with that side of its existence, the organization is gaining new meaning. For the timeless Ã'Å¡liker brand, there seems to be no end in sight.The name Ã'Å¡liker became synonymous with happy memories and the intrinsic values of trust, honesty and affinity. Ã'Å¡liker became part of the daily lives of many Turkish families and slowly but surely became entwined in the lives of consumers. Since 1944, the c ompany's industrial, managerial, marketing and sales; advertising and customer relations activities have been based on the corporate culture established by the Ã'Å¡liker name. This is what makes Ã'Å¡liker more than Just a brand name. Ã'Å¡liker International uses 10% of their advertising budget for online advertising. For these

Materials Engineering Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Materials Engineering - Assignment Example The bondage between the molecules is broken. In this region, the material can regain its original shape after the removal of the loading or rather the stress. At this juncture, the material obeys Hooke’s law and the stress and strain relate proportionally, and the constant of proportionality is the modulus of elasticity. The structure of the particles is not altered which explains the reason the material regains it original shape after the removal of the stress. It is the region just after the elastic limit. It is characterized by the graph flattening indicating destroyed proportionality between the stress and strain. Plastic deformations creep in, and the material loses the ability to regain fully its shape and size after the stress has been released. It takes place due to rearrangement of the molecular or atomic structure that allows for the new shape and size. Found just after the yielding region. It is characterized by a slight rise of the curve to the ultimate stress point. The behavior is due to the strength of the deformed atoms or molecules having a slight ability to withstand more stress up to the point beyond which complete deformation takes place. The rise of the curve in this region is what is termed as strain hardening. It is the region beyond the ultimate stress point. In this region, a further increase of the stress leads to a reduction of the cross section of the material only in some parts and not the entire material. The constrictions formed are what is referred to as necking. It is the continuous reduction of the cross section area that leads to the breakage and thus separation of the material. Metallic materials are ductile thus has the ability to deform plastically up to some extent. On the graph, it is represented by the region beyond the proportional limit where the elastic limit has been exceeded. Force

Socially Responsible Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Socially Responsible Marketing - Essay Example However, another view is that most companies value their reputation and would not endanger their goodwill by making false claims.Moreover,action by enforcers like regulatory bodies or private lawsuits by competitors-even if penalties and damages are not ordered-are costly. Investigations by regulatory bodies or private lawsuits can easily exceed the profits derived from deceptive marketing. Such suits distract company execuitives, further increasing the cost of an ad already challenged as deceptive. These costs damage the reputation and goodwill, result in exorbitant legal fees and distract company executives.Therfore such repercussions induce the marketers to carefully review their ad claims and ensure that they are true and fully substantiated. Anti tobacco campaigns accelerated in the late eighties when litigation exposed a long history of deceit carried out by industry officials regarding their knowledge about the damaging health effects of tobacco use including the deliberate use of new ingredients to enhance the addictive power of cigarettes. This revelation adversely affected the credibility of producers and marketers and brought to light their fallacious claims about the informed and free choice of customers.Likewise, allegations have been leveled against the fast food industry about inadequate disclosures and misleading advertising. Innumerable lawsuits have contended that the fast food marketers do not provide adequate or accurate information about the fat, sugar and the chemical contents of their products. It was also the core point of the argument by Cesar Barber, who filed legal claims challenging McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy's and KFC for his excessive, life threatening weight.(source) In this context, it will be pertinent to examine the marketing policies of largest beverage company in the world. Coca Cola, a very assertive and uncompromising advertiser. Historically cola has been seen as a harmful product, inextricably linked with obesity and rapid bone loss. Like most FMCG companies, Coca Cola is an aggressive marketer with colossal ad budgets, usually roping in celebrity spokespersons. The Case of Coca Cola Another noteworthy aspect is marketing targeted by companies at young impressionable children. Besides conventional advertising, Coca Cola had rolled out ad campaigns aimed at young children. In 1998, Coca Cola came under criticism for its efforts to secure exclusive vending contracts with public schools across America. The promotional campaigns included contests like 'Team up with Coca Cola contest'. The event involved lectures by Coke executives. The company came under fierce criticism for targeting schoolchildren and commercializing school hallways to make them just another place to sell soft drinks. It was also revealed that the Company had promised under funded public schools for the possibility of cash or sporting equipments in exchange of exclusive rights to sell Coke. Such marketing policies of aggressively pursuing the youth as the potential customers seriously undermine and threaten public health. The concern over public health has mobilized a number of groups to hold Coke accountable for its unsavory practices of targeting youth. Opponents of Coke's marketing campaign cite rapidly increasing obesity and diabetes among the US students. Insecticide contents and Environmental

Evaluating Organizational Behavior Research Paper

Evaluating Organizational Behavior - Research Paper Example This paper illustrates that through observing from both internal and external perspectives, individuals understand why people tend to behave in a particular manner within a team environment. PepsiCo. Inc is a multinational corporation from the United States (USA) that deals with food and beverage with its headquarters at New York in the USA. The company engages in manufacturing, marketing as well as a distribution of beverages, grain-based snack foods, as well as other products. The multinational engages in business operations throughout the continent. A focus on the company’s human resource policies proves essential to understanding its organization behavior. With distribution channels and manufacturing units all around the globe, the company realized the reason for successful operation is achieved through enhancing effective human resource policies. The code of conduct and Human Rights Work Policy of the company outlines guiding measures that ensure an embodied companyâ€⠄¢s policy that enhances in dealing fairly and honestly with the company’ s associates regarding wages and benefits as well as other employment conditions. The company provides equal opportunities for associates without tolerance for discrimination and thereby ensuring compliance with all applicable regulations, laws as well as other employment standards. Consequently, the company maintains a â€Å"Speak Up† policy line operational for twenty-four hours and an internet portal to enhance reporting of any alleged or suspected human rights abuses. The company respects workers dignity in the workplace as well as ensuring the associate's rights to personal security, clean, safe, as well as the healthful workplace. The company also provides associates freedom from harassment and abuse of al manners. Fair treatment and honesty are consequently applied in relation to workers wages, benefits and all conditions of employment. The associates’ right to freedom of associatio n also remains a significant point of consideration within the company.

Relection of critical incident analaysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Relection of critical incident analaysis - Essay Example This allows the reflective nurse to look at the exercise and understand what they need to alter in the future, and how they would mature their practice. Thus, Gibbs model gives a practitioner to mentor his/her routine job at each and every level and with an ease as described by the Oxford University Brookes, 2011. To reflect upon this particular incident, it’s helped me to rationalize my approach in the future matters. In the capacity of being a human, everybody commits mistakes. Learning from mistakes is the better way to improve oneself. Reflection upon past experiences provides one with an opportunity to see where one went wrong so that the unfavorable consequences would not have to be faced ever again (Lewis, 2011). The practice increased my work experience along with the knowledge which helped me gain allot in the future. Likewise, it helped me enhance my nursing competencies at a whole new level. The goal of conducting this reflection for me is to improve my therapeutic relationship with patients being a nurse. Therapeutic relationship with patients is controlled by a nurse’s interpersonal skills. Both verbal and body language play a role in it. I hereby choose to reflect upon my experience with Mr. X who suffers from brain tumor. In those days, I was placed in the surgical ward for two weeks in the third semester. One day, all patients moved towards the cafeteria for lunch except for Mr. X. who was lost in some thoughts. I approached him, and asked his permission to help him. He could not understand my language because he had a different language. At that moment, I felt the uneasiness about my situation, I wasn’t in a good mood either, but as it was my duty I had to be patient and at the best of my behavior. Here, the fourth stage of Gibbs reflective model helped me solve the issue and I used eating gestures to deliver my message. As affirmed by Hill and Howlett (2005), an individual should work out the most rational option

Women in Leadership Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Women in Leadership - Article Example Use of softer words has been a source of more trouble to women leaders; this tends to show the audience the level of seriousness and confidence the leader upholds. The nervousness in their talking greatly affects their leadership as they talk mainly about a group of people they show signs of panic. The signs can be captured by the audience and be used to criticize her personality as a leader. Choice of words weaken the women leaders statements, women tend to use words they believe are more humble to create a conducive environment but in turn makes them sound less of leaders. When Margaret Thatcher spoke in an interview conducted by BBC, she sounded uncomfortable in her role as a leader she said, â€Å"Ive been so busy that I havent had really much time to think about it. After all, I know I am still only me, and so do my family. However, I am very much aware of the responsibilities. In addition, a little bit apprehensive. Who wouldnt be, when you think of the names that I follow?" (Humphrey, 2015, p.1). With time Margaret Thatcher, the iron woman had to learn choice of words, which made her an inspiring leader. The class material Women in leadership is related to our article speaking habits that weaken women. For deliberation of leadesrhip, a woman must learn best ways to speak and put across relevant ideas with confidence. A good leader always depicts confidence and courage. Speaking must not derail a woman’s leadership at any cost. Women in leadership must learn to use words that will not demean their authority. The speaking habits that weaken women leadership was discussed in class. This was during a class on women in leadership. I chose this article since women leaders must be motivated to be as good as the male counterparts. Speaking habits must not be the main reason to undermine women leaders in our society. We must encourage our women leaders to learn the best ways and tactics to handle situations by just speaking. They must learn how to

Stress and the Neuroendocrine Response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Stress and the Neuroendocrine Response - Essay Example Prolonged stress tends to impair the learning and memory ability of individuals, which is as a result of reduction or loss of the hippocampal volume. Chronic stress also impacts on the level of dopamine released, which blunts an individuals capacity for pleasure, and increases anxiety facilitating poor decision making (Amara & Kuhar, 1993). Â  Short-term stress in this article is described as stimulation. Transient and moderate stress that leave individuals feeling good. The effect of short-term stress on the brain is the increased activity of the cells in the hippocampus, the region responsible for learning and memory. Another effect of the stimulation has increased the release of dopamine, the neurotransmitter central to pleasure, hence the feel-good effect. Â  The hippocampus is a small region of the brain that is associated with learning, memory, and spatial navigation. It is placed in the middle of the temporal lobe just below the cortical surface. It is structured into two halves, lying on the right and left sides of the brain and has a curved shape. The hippocampus is associated with the formation of long-term memories and three-dimensional space navigation. The impairment of the region can cause memory loss. Hippocampal neurogenesis shows that production of new cells in the brain follows a procedure. During which, newborn cells have acquiesced to regulatory factors which influence cell proliferation, maturation, and survival. Situational and dispositional factors have the ability to control neurogenesis and impact on the hippocampal reliant learning and memory (Freund & Buzsaki, 1996).

Investment Strategy and Portfolio Management - 2 Essay

Investment Strategy and Portfolio Management - 2 - Essay Example The move towards conservatism is a reaction to the recent crisis, as more people worldwide felt that not enough regulation was exercised by the government to control risky instruments and markets. However, there is also a possibility that a more protectionist attitude may characterize the new administration, which may hamper economic growth. The more conservative economic policy may work either way; it could provide a more stable environment for business by eliminating risks, but at the same time it might limit business opportunities. Thus new directions must be carefully watched post-election. According to the Wall Street Journal report, this year’s treasury’s budget deficit forecast, at 12.6%, remains to be the highest in the nation’s history, while forecasts for 2011 to 2011 economic growth appear to optimistic. Tax receipts remain weak because of the poor earnings level in both the business and household sectors of the economy (Norman, 2010). However, the Office of National Statistics reported that the UK economy actually grew by 0.1% for the last quarter of 2009, the first following six quarters of economic contraction. It may not be conclusive that the recession is ended, but it does provide a hopeful sign which may be confirmed in the coming quarters (Angus Reid, 2010) According to Price (2010), the current high levels of US government debt is a cause for worry. The uncertainty in the possible outcome of the credit â€Å"tug-o-war† itself exerts pressure on the market to perform with greater volatility (erratic price movements). Price notes that the supply of gilts is moving upwards consistently, and together with it the UK’s credit fundamentals will continue to quickly deteriorate. What would be worse is the threatened debt downgrade from one of the ratings agencies. This could mean that the UK will be able to source additional debt only at higher interest

Abolition Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Abolition - Research Paper Example Various activities supported this principle aimed at achieving that goal. The concept is historical because all countries in the world have abolished slavery, as many international organizations among them the United Nations require member countries to ratify abolitionism. Abolitionism was a major reform movement in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The doctrine to end slavery was to free millions of black people detained and used as slaves across the world. Other terms refer to abolitionism among them abolition movement and antislavery movement. The movement started by Africans resisting slave trade and slavery, eighteenth century notions regarding universally acceptable human rights, changing ideas in interpreting Christian morality, and changes in the economy status of the world (Oakes, 2013). This led to abolitionists dividing into two extremes with one group advocating for immediate end to slavery and slave trade while others fought for gradual end to the same. In the mid nineteenth century, the terminology abolitionism referred to the struggle to end slavery immediately. Early stages In the entire America and Western Europe, abolitionism was a rights movement whose proponents wanted to end set slave trade and in the process set slaves free. Bartholomew de las Casas, a Dominican priest influenced Spain to become the first European nation to legislate laws that legally abolished slavery by 1542. However, three years down the line, pressure from the bourgeoisie who were the beneficiaries forced the same country to weaken the laws reversing the gains made by early abolitionists. Evangelical Christians and Quakers fought hard against slave trade and slavery in the seventeenth century terming them un-Christian acts. The movement gained momentum in eighteenth century when rational thinkers among the elite in the society accused the beneficiaries calling the entire process a violation of human rights. It is important to note that although early abolitionis ts put in a lot of effort, the gains were not immediate as centers of slavery still existed. Centers were in Countries in South America and United States as well West Indies. The movement started in England after the Somerset’s case of 1772. Eight years later the state of Pennsylvania enacted laws that aimed at the gradual end to slavery within its area of jurisdiction (Wilson, 1990). Although there was no official law abolishing slavery in Massachusetts, the promulgation of the Massachusetts constitution ended slavery. The European colonization of countries in America increased the dependence on race-based slavery where Africans and their descendants were forced to work the farms. The process reached its apex in the sixteen century. This degree reached Great Britain’s North American colonies in the mid seventeen century. These countries later become the United States. Antislavery movements started because of the rights denied to slaves and other inhumane acts. In the United States for instance, slaves lost customary rights, passed their un-free status over to their children and respective descendants, and served for life. Individual efforts of the enslaved to free from slavery included self-purchase, escape, rebellion, and seeking redress from courts. Some of the early major revolts were in America as early as the first decade of the eighteenth century in South Carolina and New York City. Major efforts towards resistance to abolish slavery and slave trade from organizations in the United States came from Quakers, the Society of Friends who believed and spread the idea that slavery was physically dangerous and sinful to both the victim and the beneficiary. Leaders of the society including Antony Benezet from Pennsylvania and John Woolman from New Jersey

America History Essay Essay Example for Free

America History Essay Essay America History Essay

Structure of the Balance Sheet of Islamic Banks

Structure of the Balance Sheet of Islamic Banks INTRODUCTION Structure of the Balance Sheet of Islamic Banks Liquidity is an important characteristic of banks. By their very nature, banks transform the term of their liabilities to have different maturities on the asset side of the balance sheet. At the same time, banks must be able to meet their commitments such as deposits at the point at which they become due. Thus, liquidity management lies at the heart of confidence in the banking operation. Customers place their deposits with a bank, confident they can withdraw the deposit when they wish. If the ability of the bank to pay out on demand is questioned, all its business may be lost overnight. The importance of liquidity transcends the individual institution, since a liquidity shortfall at a single institution may invoke systemic repercussion causing harm to the whole financial stability of a country. Therefore it is important for banks to have adequate liquidity potential when it can obtain sufficient funds promptly and at a reasonable cost. For Islamic banks, liquidity risk is a signific ant risk owing to the limited availability of Shariah-compatible money market instruments and Lender-Of-Last-Resort (LOLR) facilities. Hence, the recent introduction of commodity murabahah instrument based on tawarruq concept by Central Bank of Malaysia is deemed as an innovative approach to liquidity management. It certainly adds to the list of instruments for Islamic banks to manage their liquidity more effectively and efficiently. This paper reviews the structure and mechanism of commodity murabahah particularly for liquidity management purpose. As will be evident in this paper, this instrument has its own advantage which appeals to certain practitioners who were previously uncomfortable with `inah-based instruments (www.acrobatplanet.com). Liquidity management lies at the heart of confidence in the banking operation. Customers place their deposits with a bank, confident they can withdraw the deposit when they wish. If the ability of the bank to pay out on demand is questioned, all its business may be lost overnight. In general terms, liquidity refers broadly to the ability to trade instruments quickly at prices that are reasonable in light of the underlying demand/supply conditions through the depth, breadth and resilience of the market at the lowest possible execution cost (Pervez, 2000). A perfectly liquid asset is defined as one whose full present value can be realized, i.e. turned into purchasing power over goods and services, immediately (Tobin, 1987). Cash is perfectly liquid, and so for practical purposes are demand deposits, and other deposits transferable to third parties by cheque or wire, and investments in short term liquid government securities (Abdul-Rahman, 1999). The importance of liquidity transcends t he individual institution, since a liquidity shortfall at a single institution may invoke systemic repercussion causing harm to the whole financial stability of a country. Therefore it is important for banks to have adequate liquidity potential when it can obtain sufficient funds promptly and at a reasonable cost (Heffernan, 1996). The concern over liquidity management is also relevant to Islamic bank that holds illiquid assets while its liabilities are liquid, and holds assets unpredictable in value while guaranteeing the value of its liabilities. Thus, since Islamic banks follow the same structure and characteristics of a commercial banks balance sheet, they are not immune from liquidity risk. The potential mismatch between deposits and investment financing exposes Islamic banks to liquidity problems. On the other hand, if the banks maintain too much liquidity to avoid getting into the liquidity problems may in turn hurt its profitability, therefore creating a right balance between the two objectives of safety (www.acrobatplanet.com). Off-balance-sheet financing Also called synthetic leases, this is where a company uses rules from different systems, such as financial and tax, to account for an asset in different ways. For example, I lease a computer from company A. Because I dont own the computer (and I am assuming this is not a capital lease), I get to take the rent expense (for the lease) as a deduction on the books, but I dont have to account for the asset or the debt, therefore it is not on the balance sheet. This is attractive because it creates no debt on the companys books. It is often done through a SPE (Special Purpose Entity). Though lucrative, it has contributed to the demise of companies such as Enron. The lessor (company A) maintains the asset on their books and, if they financed it from another company (company B), the debt as well. Credit card issuers, mortgage companies and various other entities also use a type of off-balance-sheet financing known as asset backed securitization (ABS). The ABS process effectively allows a company to sell a portion of the loans (receivables assets) to investors, effectively removing the assets from their balance sheets (allowing a lower level of reserves, and, therefore capital) while managing the servicing of the debt (http://wiki.answers.com). AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY To study the structure of the balance sheet of Islamic banks To study the On Balance Sheet Financing as compared to Off Balance financing. Critical appraisal of the structure of the Balance Sheet of Islamic Banks. BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS Risk management and liquidity are of crucial importance in the overall banking environment, and they have clear relevance also to the specific environment of Islamic banking. In itself, Islamic banking is of growing significance. Regulators have their own particular perspective on these issues. As a regulator based in London the Financial Statement Analysis (FSA) should focus on the following: The importance of London as a centre of Islamic financing. The overall role of the FSA as a regulator why sound regulation is of critical importance in any financial marketplace, how it can assist in facilitating competition and innovation. Risk management issues in banking: a summary of the key elements involved. Risk management and liquidity issues as applied to Islamic banking. The perspective of the regulator, and why the UK operates a single regulatory framework for all firms. The importance of London as a centre of Islamic financing London is clearly one of the pre eminent centres of Islamic finance, for two main reasons. These are the presence of sizeable Muslim community in the UK; and the importance of London as a financial centre with the expertise to develop new and innovative products. The FSA as Regulator welcomes the development of Islamic finance, and would be happy to see this grow further. Other important centres include Bahrain and Malaysia (www.financeinislam.com). London plays a role in four areas of significance in Islamic banking: Trade assets such as murabaha, istisnaa, and bai-al-salam. The market is probably worth US$ 10 billion in the UK. Equipment leasing asset and partner selection, operating leases and finance leases Real estate where investors are looking for rental and capital benefits. Investment routes include fund management, club transactions, leverage funding, and asset analysis, corporate structuring and tax planning. Packaging and delivering assets engineering solutions. This includes a growing market in securitizations of pools of Shariah compliant assets. The role of the FSA as a regulator The Government has set the FSA four objectives: Market confidence Public awareness of the financial system Consumer protection Reducing financial crime The new FSMA will bring in eleven principles for the handling of business, which set out at a high level how we expect a firm and its management to conduct themselves. In terms of minimum criteria, the FSA has to be satisfied that institutions have adequate capital, adequate liquidity and adequate control over large exposures. Banks of what ever origin must be prudently run and that their management must be fit and proper for the task. Satisfactory risk management, a realistic business plan, and adequate systems and controls need to be clearly demonstrated. The FSA must be satisfied also that each institution is subject to effective consolidated supervision i.e., that one supervisory authority takes prime responsibility for supervising the bank or banking group as a whole (www.financeinislam.com). RISKS, PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES Risk management issues in Islamic banking Senior management in any business must be able to provide effective risk management. The consequences of failure to do so are dire, for example, the collapse of Barings where proper controls and monitoring were not effectively in place: Regulators need to be sure that such risks are managed so as to prevent a worst case scenario such as the systemic collapse of a whole banking system. Critical issues for Islamic banks are the reputational risks and legal risks of non-compliance from Shariah board requirements and/or from engaging in any activities that were not perceived as properly Islamic by the marketplace. The maintenance of trust amongst Islamic market participants is crucial (www.financeinislam.com). Credit risk This is the risk that customers default and cannot service their debts. Banks can also suffer from the excessive concentration of exposures to particular customers, industries or countries. Asset quality should be closely monitored using appropriate management information and systems support. Islamic banks run an asset book, just as conventional banks do, so the same disciplines must apply. Liquidity risk Banks face collapse or severe trading difficulties when they are unable to meet their liabilities. For example, many Japanese institutions operating in London in the late l990s were hit when the Japanese premium increased their funding costs and eroded their liquidity. This did not mean, however, that they became unable to meet their liabilities. For the FSA, liquidity is a key concern. The dilemma for the Islamic sector is that liquidity from the Gulf is currently very substantial, but there is the need to seek out appropriate outlets for it. There is not a clearly defined lender of last resort for Islamic banks that might suffer liquidity problems, although support could probably be found from with in the overall pool of liquidity. Interest rate risk The risk of declines in earnings due to the movement of interest rates, most of the balance sheet items of banks generate revenues and costs that are indexed to interest rates. A key aspect of interest rate risk is also the possible mismatches that can arise between fixed and floating rates. In the Islamic banking context, interest rates per se are not a factor. However, commissions generated on Islamic transactions could also be vulnerable to market movements. Market risk The risk of adverse deviations of the mark-to-market value of the trading portfolio during the period required to liquidate the transactions. Islamic financial institutions take up risk sharing funds, whereas conventional banks take capital certain deposits where repayment must be made. There is the implicit requirement for both parties to a given transaction to share in the loss as well as the profit. Foreign exchange risk The currency risk of suffering losses due to changes in exchange rates. This principle applies equally to Islamic banks. Letter of credit and trade finance for example, a significant proportion of which is denominated in US Dollars, often pose an exchange risk. Currency transaction and translation Factors must be taken into account. Solvency risk The risk that financial institutions will be unable to hold sufficient capital resources to cover their different risks, regulators need to decide what amount is held, supervise, in order to maintain an appropriate level of solvency. Islamic banks need to be clear about the status of their deposits or liabilities. Any capital-certain transactions generate more solvency risk than risk-sharing with investors. Operational risk There is no precise definition, but we view operational risk as being the risk that arises from human error and/or deficiencies in information systems or controls, resulting in direct or indirect loss. In the Islamic banking context, operational risks can impact just as much as in conventional banking, with the additional element of possible operational defects causing failure to comply with the Shariah (www.financeinislam.com). FINDINGS Risk management and liquidity issues as applied to Islamic banking This is a very important area and a number of key regulatory issues are under review. For example, whether liquidity requirements should apply to all on-balance sheet funds, risk sharing as well as capital certain; and how liquidity should be managed for funds, which are held off balance sheet. The basic issue, however, as for any bank is how easily and quickly, and with what penalty, assets can be turned into cash. The establishment of a genuine inter-bank market or markets would be a significant step towards providing Islamic banks with the ability to maintain adequate liquidity without holding excessive amounts of very short-term assets. For example, it was very interesting to note that the Bahrain Monetary Authority (BMA) announced the first issue of its Islamically-structured bonds the Sukuk al-Salaam worth US$ 25mn. ABC Clearing Company BC and ABC Islamic Bank have been active in offering overnight investment opportunities for Islamic funds for a number of years. BNP Paribas and Kuwait Finance House signed a memorandum of understanding for the creation of a US$ 2bn Islamic money market fund (IMMF). Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, and ABN AMRO also plan to launch such instruments. Malaysia has also been developing an Islamic inter bank market. These developments offer potential flexibility to Islamic banks. UK practice is such that the Financial Statement Analysis (FSA) has scope to take account of such developments when agreeing liquidity guidelines with banks (www.financeinislam.com). CONCLUSION There are two different categories of commercial financing from an accounting perspective: on-balance-sheet financing and off-balance-sheet financing. Understanding the difference can be critical to obtaining the right type of commercial financing for your company. Put simply, on-balance-sheet financing is commercial financing in which capital expenditures appear as a liability on a companys balance sheet. Commercial loans are the most common example: Typically, a company will leverage an asset (such as accounts receivable) in order to borrow money from a bank, thus creating a liability (i.e., the outstanding loan) that must be reported as such on the balance sheet. With off-balance-sheet financing, however, liabilities do not have to be reported because no debt or equity is created. The most common form of off-balance-sheet financing is an operating lease, in which the company makes a small down payment upfront and then monthly lease payments. When the lease term is up, the company can usually buy the asset for a minimal amount (often just one dollar). The key difference is that with an operating lease, the asset stays on the lessors balance sheet. The lessee only reports the expense associated with the use of the asset (i.e., the rental payments), not the cost of the asset itself (www.evancarmichael.com). Why Does It Matter? This might sound like technical accounting-speak that only a CPA could appreciate. In the continuing tight credit environment, however, off-balance-sheet financing can offer significant benefits to any size company, from large multi-nationals to mom-and-pops. These benefits arise from the fact that off-balance-sheet financing creates liquidity for a business while avoiding leverage, thus improving the overall financial picture of the company. This can help companies keep their debt-to-equity ratio low: If a company is already leveraged, additional debt might trip a covenant to an existing loan. The trade-off is that off-balance-sheet financing is usually more expensive than traditional on-balance-sheet loans. Business owners should work closely with their CPAs to determine whether the benefits of off-balance-sheet financing outweigh the costs in their specific situation. Other Types of Off-Balance-Sheet Financing An increasingly popular type of off-balance-sheet financing today is whats known as a sale/leaseback. Here, a business sells property it owns and then immediately leases it back from the new owner. It can be used with virtually any type of fixed asset, including commercial real estate, equipment and commercial vehicles and aircraft, to name a few. A sale/leaseback can increase a companys financial flexibility and may provide a large lump sum of cash by freeing up the equity in the asset. This cash can then be poured back into the business to support growth, pay down debt, acquire another business, or meet working capital needs. Factoring is another type of off-balance-sheet financing. Here, a business sells its outstanding accounts receivable to a commercial finance company, or factor. Typically, the factor will advance the business between 70 and 90 percent of the value of the receivable at the time of purchase; the balance, less the factoring fee, is released when the invoice is collected. Like with an operating lease, no debt is created with factoring, thus enabling companies to create liquidity while avoiding additional leverage. The same kinds of off-balance-sheet benefits occur in both factoring arrangements and operating leases. Keep in mind that strict accounting rules must be followed when it comes to properly distinguishing between on-balance-sheet and off-balance-sheet financing, so you should work closely with your CPA in this regard. But with the continued uncertainty surrounding the economy and credit markets, its worth looking into the potential benefits of off-balance-sheet financing for your company (www.evancarmichael.com). The perspective of the Regulator The fundamental stance of the regulator is that the same principles in the handling of risk should apply for Islamic as for non-Islamic banks and financial entities. There has to be a level playing field. For the regulator, risk management in the Islamic context is becoming easier to understand as the following develop: A set of common international equivalent accounting standards. The AAOIFI is a doing a lot of good work in this area but we need to see more harmonization. Greater standardization of products. A clear role for the Shariah Board. For example, if there were to be one Board per country it should assist in giving consistency of interpretation of the Shariah. The FSA has had no applications for authorization from purely Islamic banks. If an application were to be made, it would be considered against our minimum criteria and principles for business. For us, an important aspect of any application would be the effectiveness of the applicants risk management systems and controls (www.financeinislam.com).

Harry Potter: Impact of the Books, Themes and Controversies

Harry Potter: Impact of the Books, Themes and Controversies Chapter II The Harry Potter Phenomenon 2.1 How did it start? The Harry Potter phenomenon started slowly, as we have seen Rowling had a lot of trouble trying to publish the book and 12 publishing houses turned her down but she had perseverance and she really believed in the books, in the story and kept on trying. The content of the books was so unique, so fantastic from anything else that it triggered a mass phenomenon. We can ask our selves: what becomes a phenomenon? First of all we need to understand the term ‘cultural phenomenon or ‘media phenomenon. A phenomenon is not an invention of the present, of the times we live in, but it has existed ever since a human collective conscience has existed. Someone found something useful and it was so good and necessary that everybody started using it. For example the invention of the telephone, or the computer, we may not think it this way but the invention of those things brought with them a whole phenomenon. I mean even if Alexander Graham Bell wouldnt have invented the telephone it would still be invented by someone else as it is a very useful and revolutionary device. People need this device and have needed it ever since the beginning of the world. The invention of TV or photo camera are things that the humans needed ever since they know it but couldnt materialized their desire. People would paint in caves things they liked, things they did, things they believed in, they had this desire to capture their everyday life and immortalize it somehow. As time passed people got more and more skilled in the art of painting and could reproduce the reality better and better; technology advanced as well and continued to pursue this ancient desire and now thank God we really managed to invent a device that can capture the reality exactly as it is. The camera is something so useful and needed by the humans that almost every human being posses at least one camera. Phones are equipped with cameras, with voice recording features, with internet etc. Why is that? Because we want to immortalize our experiences, we want to record special events and ordinary as well, we want to take pictures with the people that we love so we can keep them with us forever, we especially like to look back at our past and by having photos taken in the past we can really transport ourselves better. By taking pictures we can leave behind to our descendants proo f of our existence, of how we were, how we looked, what we liked etc. This was only one example of how a phenomenon takes place, how it starts. A phenomenon exists only when it is recognized by the masses. If only a few people, or some groups adhere to it then it is not really a phenomenon. A phenomenon is something that it is so useful, necessary and was needed by the humans for a long time but couldnt really achieve it and then when somebody finally gets to invent/create it, it is rapidly assimilated by everyone. What Graham Bell did was only to continue the collective dream of being able to speak with another person even when that person is not near. The ones that invented the camera followed on a collective, pre-historical dream that of reproducing the reality, the ones that invented the TV and the computer same thing. Now what J.K. Rowling did was to exploit our ancient desires to handle magic, to possess magic, to use magic, among many other features in her books but the magic is the one that triggered the phenomenon. When we look at the influences that her books have we find texts such as: British Folklore and mythology, The Bible, The Iliad, Mac Beth, Emma, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Sword in The Stone, A tale of two cities, etc. many of which have to deal with magic. Magic has always been present in the human consciousness, in the human imagination, what Rowling did is just to exploit these mythologies, these dreams, these manifestations of our imagination. What makes them still so captivating is that we cannot know for sure, even with all technology and knowledge of the physical world, that they dont exist. Magic will disappear from our minds only when we will possess the ultimate knowledge of this world, of how it works, of how it came to existence until then our minds will always fancy a round these aspects of an ‘alternate reality. The ‘alternate reality is the second main reason why The Harry Potter Phenomenon exists. The world that Rowling has created is so vast, so deep, so intense that it can be called an ‘alternate reality. Im not saying that one should really believe that magic exists and take a broom and jump of the roof with it hoping it will start flying, this is not what I mean when I say ‘alternate reality, it is an ‘alternate reality that is to be found when plunging into that world by reading. It is so vast and it has everything in it that you can easily forget about this world and be captivated by that world. Now why do we need to forget about this world and plunge into another, imaginary one? The answer is simple: this world is too ugly and boring, at least the society we live in. We are forced to go to school against our will, we are forced to obey orders by our parents, by our teachers, by the society. We are obliged to work if we want to survive, we have to make a lot o f concessions and all our dreams and ambitions are restrained by other people who laugh at as, by parents, by teachers and all these things really make us sick, we need to escape, we need to getaway from everything in order to not fall into a deep depression. What is the best and safest way to do so? It is to read a book. But not all the books have this feature or capability to help you do so, not all the books depict such wonderful things in such a wonderful way as to make you plunge into them. And here comes the true merit of J.K. Rowling because she really managed to do this. And it is not me that is saying it, actually I dont even have to say it Im not J.K. Rowlings lawyer; but the fact that her books have become a global phenomenon says it all. A phenomenon is something that comes at the right time and it is something that the humans always needed. From here comes the conclusion that we really need magic in our lives, that this society in which we live in is not so perfect and that we need to get away from it at least in our minds. Children come home from school completely exhausted from the many classes they had boring long classes, they come home also with a lot of homework to do as if the hours spent in school were not enough and what is there to do, to really get away from it all? To read a book, a good book, another world to escape to. The same thing with adults: they have lived all their lives constrained and restrained by the society now they continue to work for the society, each with his job and sometime it is just too much there must be something to help them get away from it all. Harry Potter is a Phenomenon because it has the power to fulfill this more or less conscious desire in our minds that of escape. Music has the same power, the same feature and maybe the same purpose. People normally sing about love, about what they dont have and wish to have, about other places etc. When we listen to a song we get transported to the world the singer is singing about or we resonate by having the same feelings, sufferings etc. That is what makes up a phenomenon the mass resonation of something that has always intrigued, haunted and followed us but we didnt know or have the power to express it. In J.K. Rowlings case, however, the success was not so instant and we could not talk about a phenomenon before the year 2000 when the forth book was released. She had local success with the release of the first book and second but the breakthrough did not come until U.S. discovered the books; then it started to become a cultural phenomenon. I said not before year 2000 and by that I mean that with the release of the forth book Harry Potter became a global phenomenon, the premieres of it were really huge all around the world and had widespread media coverage. I think one thing that helped a lot the Harry Potter books to become a phenomenon was the internet. The internet pages that were created by fans had tremendous effect in spreading the publicity. Of course the first and main way of publicity was word-of-mouth, literally people would talk to one another and recommend this fantastic book but the phenomenon wouldnt have started so fast if it wasnt for the internet. Televisions can broadcast some events regarding the books, or radio stations talking about them but what is more truthful than real reviews made by fans who have read the books and were so stunned by them that they felt the need to make websites dedicated to them? If the televisions and radio stations were just doing their jobs these people were doing it because they loved the books. So the ones that have the main credit for triggering the phenomenon are not by any means the media or paid publicity. Thats what a true phenomenon is, it doesnt need too much publicity, everything happens spontaneous and it will automatically have the support of everyone that came in contact with it. 2.2 The impact on the society The impact on society is huge and in almost every field: music, movies, entertainment park, clothing etc. therefore in this subchapter I will describe every aspect in which Harry Potter has left its traces in society. The Fan Sites: The oldest Harry Potter fan sites date around 1997-98. The sites are so sincere and clean that even J.K. Rowling admire them and occasionally awards the ones that are the best. The first site awarded by J.K. Rowling was ‘Immeritus a website devoted especially to Sirius Black. Then Rowling awarded ‘Godrics Hollow then ‘Mugglenet a very good fan site containing: news, pictures, interviews, excerpts from books, quotations, has a very good design and contains all in all everything you need to know about Harry Potter. Another fan site awarded by Rowling is ‘hp-lexicon.org an useful site containing facts about each one of the books, it contains answered questions about various things regarding the HP world and as the name says it, it is like a lexicon with a lot of useful information. ‘The Leaky Cauldron the website awarded by Rowling in 2005 has a very good design, works very well and is mainly focused on the HP news Rowling likes it very m uch and says it is her favorite. Rowling tries each year to award a site that does a good job in promoting and giving useful information about Harry Potter. At one time Warner Bros., the company that holds the rights of the Harry Potter trademark, tried to shut down all fan sites. This attempt was unsuccessful and the company later agreed that it is important that these websites continue to exist in order to keep the fans interested. Probably the company was feeling threatened by the popularity of those sites and wanted to have instead full popularity with their own dedicated site. Of course its all about money, they wanted to have all the revenues they could from every aspect involving HP and could not bear that others were making profit over their brand. The fan sites have indeed ads on their sites from which they get revenue but the money made is probably just enough to cover the expenses of maintaining the site online and its not about making a living out of it. Fan Fiction: refers to works made by fans involving characters, places, story of the original work. These fan works are normally not accepted by the authors and they are tolerated only as long as they are not published because that would be totally illegal as it would mean plagiarism. The Harry Potter books have a whole world of fan fiction works from the most innocent ones to real grotesque ones. There is a huge number of fan fiction works on the net more than a half a million and J.K. Rowling is not against these works but supports them. As we know Rowling is a huge supporter of imagination and believes it to be very important for mental health. There are many sites dedicated especially to HP fan fiction where users can read these works or upload their own creations. There is a fan fiction work called ‘The Shoebox Project to which many fans write and contribute to. It has over 20 ‘chapters and continues or tells ‘untold stories of the HP world. The fan fiction has also a more negative aspect which J.K. Rowling does not agree with. There are a lot of stories of the ‘slash fiction genre which are depicting sexual relationships between characters, relations that normally do not appear in the books and are not even suggested. Nobody can stop others from writing and uploading such stories and therefore there are a lot of websites dedicated to this ‘bad fiction. Role Playing: is a main component in any fan community and it couldnt be absent here. There is real life live action role play and internet based playing. Fans have come up with a so called ‘muggle quidditch which is similar to the quidditch game in the books but of course it is on the ground. The fans hold tournaments and give away prizes to the winners. There are also card games, puzzles and games of that kind invented for the fans. There is a vast internet based role playing community which puts up games related to the books, to Hogwarts, to the characters etc. Wizard rock: is a specific genre of music which emerged in 2000 with the music band ‘Harry and the Potters and has since gained a widespread interest so much that today there are over 700 bands belonging to this genre. The listeners are mostly HP fans and the lyrics are mostly based on the books. Harry Potter theme park: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is the name of the HP theme park that had its opening 18 June 2010 in Orlando, Florida. It is a park having real life proportions where people can go and have fun eating the ‘Hogwarts specialties, visiting Diagon Alley, visiting Hogwarts, the different shops etc. It has roller coasters, tours in the castle and visitors encounter the ‘whomping willow, dementors, and witness a quidditch match. The investement costed 200 million dollars and the park was built on a huge space. The park has received very good reviews both from the fans and nonfans and good reviews from newspapers and specialized reviewers. They reviewed it as a unique experience which is very close to the experience of the books and the films. 2.3 The controversies Legal disputes: -The first problems J.K. Rowling had surrounding and involving her books is copyright infringement accusations. The American author Nancy Kathleen Stouffer had written two books in 1984 which (at least the title) resemble to some realities in the Harry Potter books: â€Å"The legend of Rah and the muggles† and â€Å"Larry Potter and his best friend Lily†. The word muggle is a word often used in the HP books and the names Potter(â€Å"and his best friend Lily†) and Lily have also a sounding importance in the books, Potter being Harrys last name and Lily the name of his mother. The resemblances go much further than being just some similarities between names as the word Muggle was used by N.K. Stouffer to refer to a humanoid species and Larry Potter is a dark haired boy wearing glasses very similar to Harry Potter. Other similarity found in N.K. Stouffers book is a castle by a lake resembling Rowlings Hogwarts. The interesting fact is that Stouffer never got to re ally publish the books, only parts of â€Å"The legend of Rah† in a booklet to a company which soon went bankruptcy preventing her to get her books published in or outside U.S. Rowling first went to U.S. in 1998, 1 year after her book was already published and 8 years after she got the inspiration to write these books. -A trial was started during which it was proven that Stouffer had manipulated her original work inserting the word muggle and other changes in her manuscript as to resemble the Harry Potter books. She was also found with false and untruthful testimony and was fined $50.000. She later tried to recourse but was refused by the court. -Other problems surrounding these books rose when Warner Bros. demanded all the fan sites to be closed because their respective owners (which were children, teenagers) had no right to use the trademark. Somehow this thing was settled after some scandals in the media and Warner Bros. started to make a difference between a commercial use of their trademark and the non-commercial use as it is in the case of the fan sites. -Unauthorized and fake copies of the books have been circulating in China. Apparently where it is success everyone tries to steal a little and be ‘part of the success. â€Å"Harry Potter and Bao Zoulong† is the name of a Chinese fake sequel of Harry Potter which came out in 2002 and was published and sold publicly. This book had in fact no connection with the HP books it was a translation of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien but with all the characters names changed to the ones from HP. The fake was rapidly denounced and Warner Bros. sued that publishing company which was fined to the extremely small sum of $3.400. -In India also one author tried to publish a book called: Harry Potter in Calcutta where Harry gets to meet various figures from the Indian culture. Warner Bros. reaction was prompt and made the author stop publishing the novel. -The attempt to stop copyright infringement was not so successful in the case of the Russian writer Dmitri Yemets who published a book called â€Å"Tanya Trotter and the Magical Double Bass† which intentionally resembles Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. Warner Bros. tried to get the book out of publishing and succeeded in not having it published in English but the book was still sold in Netherlands, Belgium and Russia. This ‘copy of Harry Potter has sold over 3 million copies and has a relative success in Russia where the writer has written 12 more sequels. -A successful fan site which began its activity as a lexicon for the Harry Potter world wanted to get all the facts there published in book form which would therefore be illegal so Warner Bros. again had to defend the copyright infringement of their trademark. The case was much debated and judged and in the end it got a semi-positive result: they can publish the guide but under a name which suggests its nature: â€Å"The Lexicon: An Unauthorized Guide to Harry Potter Fiction and Related Materials†. This was possible as the Court and law cannot restrict others to write about others works and that this should not represent in anyway a copyright infringement. -Another case which could have turned out bad for Warner Bros. was when the estate of Adrian Jacobs sued Bloomsbury for  £500 million stating that Rowling has plagiarized a scene from †The Adventures of Willy the Wizard: Livid Land NO 1† and used it in Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire. However in 6th January 2011 the lawsuit was dismissed because there were simply not enough resemblances between the two books. In fact Rowling hasnt even heard about that book and that author until 2004 when the charges were made (4 years after her book was published). This was in a way similar to Stouffers case where she accused Rowling for plagiarism. What happens in fact, in my opinion, is that it is impossible to write something completely ‘from another planet as to not resemble in anyway other works or to retell some ideas, you do that unconsciously and when you write 4000 pages of fiction it is impossible for many ideas there not to resemble others but that doesnt mean it i s a ‘direct plagiarism it is not even an indirect one it is purely a coincidence because the world cannot be so infinite so that everyone can invent something that has never been said. -Black mailing attempt which ended after a gun had been fired (yes were still talking about Harry Potter) is another issue in this world of copyright infringement business. A guard from a book distribution centre managed to steal a number of pages from the 5th book 6 weeks before its release and tried to sell them to a journalist from The Sun and/or try to black mail Bloomsbury. The appointment got serious when the guard fired his gun, luckily the journalist was not wounded but the guard got arrested. -Other accusations came from Asda a UK supermarket chain complaining that the books are too expensive and that they cost at least half more than what usually a bestseller for children would cost. I mean how stupid can such an affirmation be? First of all J.K. Rowling is not writing for children, she never intended to write for children if the books came out that way thats a different thing. How can you compare other childrens bestseller books to Harry Potter when each of the Harry Potter books broke all the records in matter of selling number, selling speed and stayed in newspapers bestselling lists for years? And another thing, how many pages does an HP book have and how many does a usual childrens book have? What sort of material and format has been used for the HP books and what material for other usual books? So, in my opinion, Bloomsbury did a right thing to cancel all the orders made by Asda (about 500.000 books) if they started to quarrel about the price ($30/book). Religious debates: Probably the main accusations brought to J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter books are from religious groups; many different religious groups have something to say against the HP books: Evangelicalism : The Evangelical Christian groups are targeting their accusations mainly at the themes of witchcraft and magic that the books are full of or exclusively about. They recognize the moral features of the books, the valuable lessons about courage, love etc. but they dont like the world in which all these take place. They say that pagan rituals and witchcraft are clearly denounced by the Bible. They say that the Potter books open a doorway that will put untold millions of kids into hell or are comparing the Harry Potter books to rat poison mixed with orange soda. Other Evangelical Christian newspapers portrayed Rowling as a Satanist and her story inspired by Satan, that she has sold her soul to the devil and received much wealth. They made a picture of 3 children sitting in a circle with a Satanist symbol in front of them and with Harry Potter books near them; they made it circulate among Christians as a â€Å"proof† on their views. Suggesting that reading Harry Potter makes you a Satanist: â€Å"Mrs. J. K. Satan-said that as she sat in a coffee shop one grey day, wondering what to do with her empty, aimless life, it hit her: Ill give myself, body and soul, to the Dark Master. And in return, he will give me absurd wealth and power over the weak and pitiful of the world. And he did!† Catholicism: Catholic leaders had no official position on Harry Potter in the beginning later however bad reviews started coming: It is good that you enlighten people about Harry Potter, because those are subtle seductions, which act unnoticed and by this deeply distort Christianity in the soul, before it can grow properly; Behind Harry Potter hides the signature of the king of the darkness, the devil; â€Å"The books make a false distinction between black and white magic, while, in reality, the distinction does not exist, because magic is always a turn to the devil; Despite several positive values that can be found in the story, at the foundations of this tale is the proposal that of witchcraft as positive, the violent manipulation of things and people thanks to the knowledge of the occult, an advantage of a select few: the ends justify the means because the knowledgeable, the chosen ones, the intellectuals know how to control the dark powers and turn them into good This is a grave and deep lie, because it is the old Gnostic temptation of confusing salvation and truth with a secret knowledge. Orthodox: the Greek Orthodox Church denounced the books as Satanic: these books acquaint people with evil, wizardry, the occult and demonology; It is beyond doubt that Harry was made to resemble a young savior. Upon his birth people try to kill him, he is forever subjected to injustice but always supernaturally manages to prevail and save others. Let us reflect, who else is held to be the unjustly treated God?; Official liturgies were held to pray in order to heal the young minds from the attraction towards these books which dealt with ‘real magic and reading or reciting the spells found in the books was like praying to the devil and that the poor, innocent minds got possessed. A Russian orthodox writer defended the books saying that they contain moral, Christian values and that the books do not encourage to any pagan practices. This position was held by other orthodox priests as well. Anglicanism: Representatives of Anglicanism had mixed reactions, from forbidding the churches to be filmed as to not have any connection to Hogwarts and Harry Potter to praising the books and seeing the clear difference between imagination and reality: These sessions draw parallels between events in the world of Harry and his friends, and the world in which we are seeking to proclaim the gospel to young people [] To say, as some have, that these books draw younger readers towards the occult seems to me both to malign J. K. Rowling and to vastly underestimate the ability of children and young people to separate the real from the imaginary Islam: in 2002 the books were banned in schools in United Arab Emirates being labeled as un-Islamic, containing elements of fantasy and magic which are against Islamic values. In 2007, hours before the release of the final HP book the police force found and defused a bomb located near a shopping centre in Pakistan. However the police dont know for sure if the target was indeed the HP premiere or not. 6 days after this event a newspaper in Iran criticized the Iranian minister of culture for accepting the HP books in their country claiming that the publisher of HP is of Zionist origin. The newspaper further described the books as a Zionist project on which was spent billions of dollars. In 2009 a documentary on Iranian television about Harry Potter said: The creation of new stories, based on mythical themes of witchcraft and devil worship, has always been a tool used by contemporary Zionists, and it is once again used in recent years, now more visibly than ever, targeting innocent chil dren and youth. Judaism: in the Judaic community Harry Potter has received mainly favorable reviews: in a society in which adolescents are precociously adult, and adults are permanently adolescent, Harry Potter has reclaimed the kingdom of childhood, proving that you dont have to betray to enchant; the HP books are â€Å"a force for good†; etc. The only thing that angered the community was the setting of the premiere of the last book on a Sabbath day. Rowlings response to all these accusations: â€Å"I absolutely did not start writing these books to encourage any child into witchcraft. Im laughing slightly because to me, the idea is absurd. I have met thousands of children and not even one time has a child come up to me and said, Ms Rowling, Im so glad Ive read these books because now I want to be a witch.; People underestimate children so hugely, they know its fiction. When people are arguing from that kind of standpoint, I dont think reason works tremendously well. But I would be surprised if some of them had read the books at all. In U.S. many schools banned the reading or possessing of Harry Potter books because of the fear of the occultism the books may contain. The HP books are, according to American Library Association, the most challenged books of the 21th century. A solution for the banning problem which has been adopted is to let the parents of each child choose what books their children can read from the school libraries. However parents and paranoid people were still against the books: Its against my daughters constitution, its evil, its witchcraft Im not paying taxes to teach my child witchcraft. It is interesting how people can react like that when there is something which apparently touches their religious beliefs but when it is something like teaching 7 graders about sex there is nothing wrong about that or when their children stay all day in front of the computer or go out and never tell with whom they hang out. It is far more dangerous to stay inside and read a fantasy book than to do all those things right? Politics in Harry Potter: Education versus indoctrination Some say that after the 9/11 Rowlings books have abounded of ideas regarding freedom of speech, the dangers of dictatorship, about heroism and sacrifice. One odd thing indeed for me too is that after the books were released Rowling said in an interview, when asked, that Dumbledore was in fact gay and that she always saw him that way. The audience applauded and cheered but many scholars had a different reaction and probably many fans too were hurt by this disclosure. There was no sign in any book that Dumbledore was gay and now suddenly she ‘reveals his sexual orientation, she says: â€Å"I always thought of Dumbledore as gay. Dumbledore fell in love with Gellert Grindelwald, and that added to his horror when Grindelwald showed himself to be what he was falling in love can blind us to an extent he was very drawn to this brilliant person, and horribly, terribly let down by him.†; It is what it is. He is my character and as my character, I have the right to know what I k now about him and say what I say about him. An American pro-activist organization, among others, said that Rowling is trying to indoctrinate young people to tolerate gays. Racism, ethnic cleansing and Nazism The books contain indeed these themes just look at the first one: Racism, is present from the first book when Harry finds out about the ‘muggle bloods and ‘pure bloods, the fight at Hogwarts between the two and the overall coverage of these aspects till the end of the series. Draco Malfoy especially is a promoter of the ‘pure blood and he doesnt lose a chance to remind the ‘muggles of their ‘filthy origins. Voldermort does only recruit pure bloods and wants to kill all muggle bloods, the founder of Slytherin wanted to cleanse the school of muggles and placed a huge snake in the basement used for killing muggles (in the second book). On the other hand the muggles, as if Rowling tries to defend them, are normally more skillful in magic than the pure blood wizards, they have a good sense of what is right and what is wrong, they are intelligent and moral. Has Rowling made all this on purpose, does it have any reference to the actual racism in the world? This is what she said in an interview: I do not think I am pessimistic but I think I am realistic about how much you can change deeply entrenched prejudice, so my feeling would be that if someone were a committed racist, possibly Harry Potter is not going to have an effect. And criticizing racism she said: People like to think themselves superior and that if they can pride themselves in nothing else they can pride themselves on perceived purity. Regarding Nazism she compared Voldermort to Adolf Hitler and said: Well, it is a political metaphor. But I didnt sit down and think, I want to recreate Nazi Germany, in the-in the wizarding world. Because-although there are-quite consciously overtones of Nazi Germany, there are also associations with other political situations. So I cant really single one out. Evils of war About this Rowling said: I very consciously wanted to show what is one of the great evils of war, which is that totally innocent people are slaughtered Another great evil of war is that children lose their families. Social activism Rowling has worked at the non-governmental organization Amnesty International which is fighting against the abuses on the human rights and this is somehow portrayed in the HP books through Hermione who tries to defend the rights of the abused house-elves and protect the magical creatures. Hermione is starting